Riding in the New Year: January 2018 Rides

[north woods gal]

Single digits for highs, these last few days, but, yup, still riding. Really, though, it's not too bad, since I can bail out and be back inside in minutes. Be a lot more serious an issue if I was 15 or even 10 miles out and started have problems with the cold, or worse, a breakdown. I'll wait for more reasonable temps before I head out farther down the road.

I'm usually good for about 45 minutes to an hour in these temps, just fat biking around our trails and neighborhood roads, but it's still a good workout and it is every day. It's basically just enough to keep me in good bicycle shape, anyway, without having to resort to the indoor trainer. (Uugh!)

We've been in something of snow drouth these last couple weeks. What snow we have is getting thin, old and crusty, so the XC ski and, especially the snowmobilers, are crying the blues. The fat bikes actually like the hard packed, crusty stuff, though. Fly right along ... no waxing needed ... dirt's as good as snow ... even ice, no problem ... great winter riding machines, these fat bikes.

[ny biker]

My parents are only a couple of miles from the LI Sound but they are on a hill. I never met my grandfather, who had the house built when my father was 12, but he was in the merchant marine as a young man so I suspect he considered flood risk when he chose to live on higher ground. As it turns out, they only got 8" of snow with this storm (the reports of 16" were for a town in New Jersey with the same name as my hometown) but there was some flooding near the sound. The main risk for our family during floods is that it's not possible to go anywhere until the water recedes, and if things are really bad there would be no help from the fire or police department in an emergency.

Around here we're now just waiting for the cold air and wind to go back where they belong. It might actually warm up enough for a night ride later in the week, but the roads right now are white with salt, so regardless of air temp I will need a good cleansing rain before I can do much riding outside. All that salt is bad for the asthma. If we don't get rain, maybe next weekend I'll be able to take the mountain bike out, maybe on the C&O canal towpath.

So, today instead of a bike ride I did the next best thing and went to the LBS. I ordered this helmet in white...

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...olorCode=black

...and used a gift card from Christmas to help pay for it. I was able to try it on in the store but they didn't have the color I wanted in stock there. It seemed pretty comfortable and I like that it comes with a removable visor.

[Crankin]

Why is the weather not cooperating? I am glad we will have some normal weather in the 30s for a few days, but Friday we leave for Franconia, NH for the long weekend and x-country skiing. It will be 36 and raining, even up there. Saturday, even worse, 27 and freezing drizzle. With a 2 foot base of snow, Saturday might be salvageable with good grooming, but with the freezing rain, ugh. It will be close 60 here on Friday, but pouring out, so, even if I was at home, I couldn't ride.

[ny biker]

Well it's still a week away, so things might change between now and then. For us it just says 40% or 50% chance of rain for Thursday-Saturday. Then colder again, though not as bad as this recent cold snap has been.

[Crankin]

We are thinking of rescheduling... the forecast is looking worse and worse. We have been going to this inn for years, so it hould be doable.


ETA:
OK, our friend (the male half) does not want to cancel, citing the strict cancellation policy... which we know they would make an exception for us. So we will take the "make the best out of it" attitude. Hopefully, our new snow shoes will arrive before we leave, as that is usually doable when skiing is not. They are scheduled to be here Wednesday.
At least, I will get to ski today and Wednesday.

On a cycling note, we have decided to do a semi supported trip of Prince Edward County, Ontario, this summer. We were getting frustrated deciding on other, bigger trips. We had thought about a trip to Santa Fe, but I don't do well at altitude and I don't want that to ruin something that is expensive. We will take our time driving up there, have our own bikes, and the company will transport our luggage and have emergency back up. We did a trip like this in Vermont and we really liked it.

[ny biker]

Sounds like fun. Planning spring and summer cycling is one of my favorite things to do in January and February. I was updating my calendar yesterday with some rides that I do every year (and four concerts that I have tickets to). I don't think I'll be doing any bike trips, though, not even an overnighter.

[emily_in_nc]

Crankin, that does sound like some awful weather for your NH weekend. Sorry about that! Hope it will be better than expected.

It was finally warmer today, and I could have ridden (DH did), but it was so windy, and I had a long list of other errands/chores planned already, that I decided to wait until tomorrow. It will be in the 60s, still breezy but not as much wind as today. I can't wait! It is very rare for us to miss a full week of cycling due to weather, and we have just done so -- not a great start to the new year. But there will be lots more time to ride, and it could have been so much worse. It was 9 degrees again in western NC, where my mother lives, this morning. They have just had brutal temps, so we're very very glad we aren't there.

[Geonz]

I *did* get out 1/1 because the busses don't run and ... I wanted provisions. So about 2 miles for the grocery run.

Then commuted the next Wednesday because it was 15 degrees in the morning and that was a heat wave... though going home there were some Not Much Fun tenth of a mile stretches where I had to take the lane 'cause of snow... wasn't bad, just wasn't the usual easy peasy.

Then... snow and ice and back on the bus... and it *wasn't* so bad that everythign was cancelled so I could chat w/ the regulars who know I"m a foul weather rider. Talked about singing and losing Willie SUmmerville an awesome gospel song leader last year and just doin' the people connecting thing. Yesterday's freezing fog ... but today FIFTY DEGREES! I even got out for two perimeter laps at lunch ...

... and I"m thinking of doing Calvin's CHallenge... which means I better turn on the afterburners...

[ny biker]

The 50 degrees reached us today. Right now would be perfect for a bike ride. Except right now is a work day. I'm sure my retired friends are in heaven, but not me. Not sure when the rain will start tonight -- TV news says pm commute, Weatherbug says later -- but it's irrelevant since tonight I am making up the session with my personal trainer that I canceled due to ice on Monday.

The latest for the weekend is that the cold air will hit very early Saturday morning. So it probably will be too cold for a bike ride on Saturday.

I have not gotten the indoor trainer out of storage because I was planning to have the new floors installed in my condo (finally) so I'm supposed to be putting things into storage, not taking them out. But the holidays made it really easy to procrastinate a bit longer with the floors, and now the earliest it would be scheduled is March. So I think I will take the trainer out of storage now. I rode 40 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym last night, which was okay, but the gym is too overheated for a good interval workout. (I am still waiting for someone to explain to me why gyms are always so overheated in the winter. Hello we are exercising! We provide our own heat! Think of the money you'd save on utility bills if you didn't have it so hot that I am sweating while standing still!)

[ny biker]

One more day of wintry weather and then better conditions are on the way. We got a dusting of snow today, but with temps below freezing the roads are all white with salt. So we are expecting good riding weather this weekend but I may still be stuck indoors if the roads are not clear by then. And with no rain in the forecast, they might not be clear. We'll see. Right now I'm coughing quite a bit just from driving on the salted roads.

In the meantime, the indoor trainer is sitting in the middle of my living room right now. I programmed the thermostat to not warm up my apartment tonight. So when I get home I will set the bike up and get in a workout.

[north woods gal]

Hope you can get out for a ride, N.Y.

One thing I really, really don't miss about bicycling in the city is the road salt. That stuff does nasty things to bike parts. They use sand on our rural roads, up here, instead of salt. That I can take.

My trainer sits ready and waiting for me to use it, if and when, but have managed to get outside and ride, even in some crazy cold weather, so haven't used it, yet. Yup, that's right. I'm still bicycling, daily, and have set a personal record for days of bicycling in below zero weather and the winter isn't even over, yet. To be sure, they are SHORT rides, but they are rides.

[rebeccaC]

Just commutes and urban riding for me…..we did have a good rain storm come through which made for two days of interesting commutes. Our storms are nicer than the other ones posted about this month …..50’s/60’s with even heavy rain is nicer than cold and snow...well, for me! Yesterday I rode into downtown L.A. for some photography and to spend time handing out personal hygiene kits (hand/face wipes, sanitizer, deodorant, lip balm, menstrual pads and tampons, also multivitamins and advil) to homeless women. The appreciation given is always an uplifting emotion!

nwg..here’s a photo from yesterday’s ride to show what downtown L.A.’s January is like



and of course a stop at salt and straw on the way home



leaving tomorrow for some work in the mojave desert and that will give me a couple of good rides on some of my favourite roads

[emily_in_nc]

Salt and Straw...lucky you! Drooling...

We've had two wonderfully warm riding days with temps in the 70s even at the mid-morning starts! Amazing how much difference a 90-degree shift in the wind can make, though. Yesterday, SE winds made for a fast and fun ride, but today's SW bluster made our return trip a real slog, as we're pretty much heading NE out and SW back, in general (with some twists and turns along the way). Still, thrilled to be able to wear shorts and SS jerseys for two days, at least! Tomorrow is our laundry, gym, and errand day, and by Thursday, we'll be layering once again...such is winter in Florida. At least there's no snow or ice to contend with!

[north woods gal]

Thanks for the pics, rebecca. January and flowers. What will they think of next?

Our storm didn't quite live up to the forecasted 9" of snow. It was more like 5", but it was a very fine grained snow and driven by a strong wind. 5" of snow is still in the doable range for the fat bikes - usually - but this was nasty. Lots of fishtailing, even with my most aggressive tire bike. I might try some shoveling or even break out the snow-blower, but keeping up with Ma Nature as far as trying to clear trails is a losing battle for me and the hubby. Way too physical for both of us at our age. Looks like I'll be mostly fat biking riding our local roads after the plows have come through. Let them do the work.

I did use the fresh snow for some cross country skiing, though. At least the skis don't care about the snow depth, other than it takes a lot of work to break the trail, initially. With each pass, though, the skiing gets easier.

So, bottom line, looks like the rest of our long winter is going to be more of an equal mix between the skis and the bikes.

[ny biker]

I followed that snow storm on social media, as it hit the day a relative moved (i.e., drove his pickup truck) from Nebraska to Chicago. Fortunately the worse road conditions were farther north and he made it okay, with mostly rain. Then the storm passed through here yesterday, all rain, which was a good thing because it washed most of the salt from the roads.

I ended up with no bike ride last weekend. I did the women's march on Saturday, which was a beautiful warm and sunny day. Then I was going to go for a ride on Sunday but just couldn't get motivated. I have to learn a bunch of new IT-related things for work as quickly as possible, and I think that contributed to my preference to stay inside. Also it was cloudy and just cool enough to make me unsure as to how many layers of clothes I would need. And as Crankin said, not getting in much cycling in January-February helps me start out with a better attitude in March.

I do still need exercise, though, so will hit the indoor trainer again tonight. This time I will try a different portion of Coach Troy's Lake Placid video. But first I have more work-related training videos to watch.