Riding in the New Year: January 2018 Rides

[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.

[Crankin]

It's going to be really warm here this weekend, like 50 or so. We got about 5 inches of snow today, but it was hovering at freezing, so not sure what the next couple of days will hold. The local nordic ski place says they'll be open tomorrow, not sure about Friday, when I am not working. I am tentatively supposed to meet my friend in western MA Friday, but I have to wait to get a better idea of the conditions there, about 65 miles west of here.
It looks like my choices this weekend will be riding or snow shoeing. I am afraid the roads will be a mess of melting snow and of course, I'd have to clean my bike... we will see.

[emily_in_nc]

We've had some chilly mornings here in central Florida lately, though afternoons have been nice. Since we prefer to leave on our rides no later than 10:30 am (traffic gets a lot worse later), we have to go when it's still chilly (to we wimps!) Yesterday we actually took off on a ride with temps below 60 (I know, LOL, for those of you in most of the US! ) I was wearing tights, wool socks, base layer + Ibex jersey + wind jacket, and ear band. By the end of the ride, the temps had risen to 69, but I still had on all my clothes, though had vented at the neck. I would have peeled layers off, but the wind kicked up big time and was in our face for the return trip, so that made it feel cooler. This morning we had a freeze and are under a wind chill advisory with feels like temps in the 20s. High is to be 54, but that won't be until 3 pm or so. No riding for us today!

[ny biker]

NWG I am impressed!

Emily, I would have been dressed similarly. And yes that cold wind makes a big difference.

I rode 45 minutes on the trainer last night. The first 20 minutes flew by, and after that I couldn't wait to be finished. I was listening to my own music while watching the video of Coach Troy cycling in Lake Placid. It was my first time using this spinning video. I was hoping for beautiful scenery but most of the frame was pavement and Coach Troy, with just some pine trees around the edges. And somehow it was all down hill or flat. It's a long video since he was riding the bike part of an ironman course, so I'm hoping other parts are more interesting and challenging. Anyway I got in a decent workout, which was the whole point.

Still not sure what I'll do this weekend. Re: Crankin's point about having to clean the bike, I also hate having to clean up after riding in messy conditions. I take my bike to the shop once a year for a cleaning and tune up; I used to do it in January when they're not busy, but then was reluctant to ride outside in February and March when the roads tend to be a mess. So now I wait until March for the big cleaning.

NWG, how often do you have to clean your bikes, with all your winter riding?

[north woods gal]

I store the bikes in our cold room, so the temp stay below freezing, most of the winter. That means the snow and moisture never melts on the bikes, so cleaning is only needed, every now and then. Dry snow tends to be much easier on a bike than liquid moisture as long as it doesn't get a chance to melt. In really cold weather, it doesn't stick to the bikes, much, other than some on the tires. I do use a broom, though, to brush off any snow before bring the bike, indoors. Now, if I stored the bikes at room temp, I'd have to get pretty religious about wiping them down after every use in the snow, same as riding in the rain. They rust real quick after a ride in the snow if that snow gets a chance to melt.

The other reason for storing the fat bikes at cold temps is to maintain predictable tire pressures. This time of year, I usually run the tires at only 8 psi or so, sometimes even lower. One psi makes a lot of difference in the way the bike deals with the ice and snow and the way it handles. I usually check tire psi before every ride to match conditions. Higher psi makes for faster speeds and better handling, lower psi makes for better traction, but harder pedaling. Takes a special low psi gauge to be properly accurate and, of course, lots of experience as to what psi to use for given snow conditions. Tire design is also part of the equation. Some designs do better in some conditions, not as well in others. That's why I use several different fat bikes with different tires for snow riding. All in all, it's kind of the equivalent of knowing what wax to use on the skis for a given type of snow, though not quite as involved. Changing psi is a lot easier than waxing skis.

If I stored the bikes at room temp and set tire pressure when the tires are at room temp, I can actually lose enough tire pressure after the tires adjust to the cold air to drastically change the psi, even enough to cause a pinch flat on tires where I'm using tubes. (Ask me how I know.) Oh, yeah, snow biking is a very different world than regular biking.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, I would have been dressed similarly. And yes that cold wind makes a big difference.

Thanks! It's funny watching all the different levels of clothing people have on on our rides here. On the day I described above where we had all the layers, we saw people dressed like us and people wearing shorts and short-sleeves (brrrrr!) I am sure some folks who live here just don't own winter cycling wear, and some people just hate to wear it. I really hate bundling up for rides and much, much prefer to wear shorts and a single jersey on top, but I hate being cold!

Today is still up in the air whether it will be warm enough to ride by 11 am. We won't go if it's not 55 by then. If we miss today, every other day for the next week looks much milder, so we'll make it up later!

Sorry you're having to ride on the trainer, NY. We used to have to do that during the winter in NC, and anything over 45 minutes is excruciatingly boring and tough to me!

[Geonz]

I'm impressed w/ 45 on the trainer!

I *found* the trainer last night (well, my friend did... it was propped between a door and furniture so "lost in plain sight.")

50 degrees this a.m. and the storms were through in time for me to ride in... on the bike that the generator light doesn't work on because the Transport was so cruddified in the last 50 degrees and stormy episode that when it froze, everything froze. Even when it melted, it... has issues. It's at the shop to stick nuts in the basket holder, put on new rear brake pads (we talked about changing that wheel but... not yet... ) and general maintenance.

Yes, my stupid generator light blinks on if there's a big bump. I need to figure out which contact needs to learn how to actually contact...

... and I shall endeavor to clean this bike 'cause today is sloppy, too... at least a 3-minute swab down of the chain. I'm having serious "not enough bikes" with only my longbike (that I'm riding) and my 7500FX hybrid in Known Riding Condition.

I chatted up Larry Varney about getting one of his trikes but I'm not ready to spend 4K on a vehicle.

NWG I am impressed!

Emily, I would have been dressed similarly. And yes that cold wind makes a big difference.

I rode 45 minutes on the trainer last night. The first 20 minutes flew by, and after that I couldn't wait to be finished. I was listening to my own music while watching the video of Coach Troy cycling in Lake Placid. It was my first time using this spinning video. I was hoping for beautiful scenery but most of the frame was pavement and Coach Troy, with just some pine trees around the edges. And somehow it was all down hill or flat. It's a long video since he was riding the bike part of an ironman course, so I'm hoping other parts are more interesting and challenging. Anyway I got in a decent workout, which was the whole point.

Still not sure what I'll do this weekend. Re: Crankin's point about having to clean the bike, I also hate having to clean up after riding in messy conditions. I take my bike to the shop once a year for a cleaning and tune up; I used to do it in January when they're not busy, but then was reluctant to ride outside in February and March when the roads tend to be a mess. So now I wait until March for the big cleaning.

NWG, how often do you have to clean your bikes, with all your winter riding?