Fall/ Winter 2011 Commuters

[Melalvai]

Schwalbe marathon winters.
I watched the bike shop mechanic putting the tire on and decided right then that I'll pay someone to put them on and take them off at the beginning and end of every winter because I don't want to!

[Tri Girl]

I rode today. It was 17 degrees when I left, wind chill around 10. I got too hot, tho, because I had on two wool sweaters, my wool coat and my ultra thick mittens and scarf. Had to undo the jacket halfway there.
I only have a 2.5 mile commute. I sometimes wonder if drivers think I'm a homeless person (there are more of them riding bikes in my city than bike commuters).

[Thorn]

Two new milestones in a week -- snow and single digit temperatures (NOAA said I left home this morning at -0F -- which we all know is colder than +0F

So far I can put up with the cold, but I'm still trying to come to terms with the snow. I'm getting a bit more comfortable riding in the stuff, but I'll still probably work at home during the next storm -- one step at a time.

Tires -- the bike shop sold me Kenda Klondikes because they couldn't source Nokian or Schwalbe. Big, heavy beasts. I swapped out to Schwalbe Marathon Winters I ordered online. Much, much less rolling resistance and on the old snow that's one street, just as effective.

And, Melalvai...yes, mounting the Schwalbe was *tough*...but worth it.

[7rider]

Was 21 F (-6C) this morning for my ride in.
Had to break out the AmFibs for the ride. Fingers were a bit cold, but otherwise was fine. This has been a pretty mild winter so far, and I think this was my coldest ride in this season. Of course, if it gets up to the mid-40s (7) for the ride home, I'll be sweating buckets with those tights. At least I can leave a top layer in the pannier.

Got mad props from the ladies in the gym and my coworkers, tho.

[kmehrzad]

I rode today. It was 17 degrees when I left, wind chill around 10. I got too hot, tho, because I had on two wool sweaters, my wool coat and my ultra thick mittens and scarf. Had to undo the jacket halfway there.
I only have a 2.5 mile commute. I sometimes wonder if drivers think I'm a homeless person (there are more of them riding bikes in my city than bike commuters).

LOL, and with all the clothing you were wearing, drivers might think you were wearing all the clothing you owned. Not to knock what you were wearing, I'd need much more than that to keep my body warm. I don't tolerate cold well at all.

[Melalvai]

Beautiful snow and it was almost as warm as it could possibly be and still be snowing. The snow was coming down thick so it was this lovely blanket and even where cars had passed it was like mine were the first tracks there. My studded tires are wonderful. I really enjoyed biking this morning.

[carlotta]

I haven't really been posting since it hardly feels like we've had winter (and I haven't had any excitement or anything out of the ordinary), but I had my annual love/hate realization that spring is coming this morning.....

Love: light jacket, light gloves, shorts+knee warmers for the ride in so I don't have to haul the heavy gloves/shoe covers/full tights in the pannier on the ride home because the temperature shifts. Not having the water bottle freeze. Spending less time getting ready to ride and more time riding. Having more commuters and people out for rides in the mornings, especially the faster ones to give me something to chase :)

Hate: headphone-wearers/clueless joggers/runners/dog walkers/stroller-pushers/rollerbladers/cyclists/etc that will populate my main route home until it gets chilly next fall (and on rainy days in the summer, I love those for chasing the fair-weather trail users away :).

All complicated by the closure of a piece of important connector trail for the next few months...I don't mind (and often use) the alternative road route, but pushing all the trail traffic onto streets without bike lanes/shoulders gets interesting...especially when I can tell they don't ride on the road much and weave in/out of parked cars, pass on the right of turning traffic (including a school bus...), etc. I can get from home to work with 2-3 miles of residential streets and 8 of trail, and there are a LOT of people who make a similar commute in the spring/summer/fall that are currently pushed into being road users for an extra 2 miles of major roads...

Hrm. That got long and kind of crotchety-sounding (get off my trail!!), not really the intent, just things I think about while I'm heading in and I guess I felt the need to get off my chest :)

[redrhodie]

Carlotta, I feel that way too. And another thing, I like winter for the lack of roadies; yeah, my own peeps. It's so nice not getting passed for weeks at a time. When you see one out in winter, it's like seeing a rare bird of your own flock. In spring, they're like seagulls.

[Blueberry]

In spring, they're like seagulls.

MIIINE MIIIINE MIIIINE MIIINE

(sorry, I couldn't resist - Nemo reference)

[Melalvai]

carlotta, I'm a little envious of your fair weather traffic congestion. We don't have enough bike/ped traffic around here to get congested even in fair weather. But I am working on changing that!

This afternoon I rode with my daughter to her clarinet lesson, just for the heck of it, because it was nice. I left her there and came back home. At the stop light, I saw a driver across the street edge forward more and more with her left turn light blinking and I thought "She's going to try to get her left turn made before I get very far into the intersection". The light turned green and, still watching her, I went, prepared to stop on a dime if she pulled out in front of me. She really wanted to, I could tell, but she saw that she would hit me (if I didn't stop which I would have) and she waited.

Right behind me was an SUV and she had to wait for him too. But he was impatient behind me, and couldn't pass me until we'd gotten past the line of cars going the opposite direction waiting to get through the intersection (waiting on the left turner who had had to wait on us). As soon as we were past he roared around me.

Seems like there were a lot of impatient people on the road today!

Since I was basically just riding to enjoy the weather, I felt very smug & superior to them.