Well, I've been meaning to write a full post about bike commuting for awhile now, but haven't gotten around to it in part because I didn't have any good pictures to go along with it. Then when I did get one picture I put it up as a mini post with a promise to write more later. But lets face it, I'll probably never get a bunch of good bike commuting pictures because I'm rarely, if ever, going to take the time to stop riding, dig out a camera and take a picture before I go on my way. And neither is Beth, and no stranger is going to stop and take off his or her gloves to take photos for us on a cold dark morning. So no good pictures, but what I do have are questions, so I guess I'll use that as the basis for a post. Actually, it's pretty much the same question from everybody, so this should be pretty easy...
"why ride?"
Its always some version of this. Sometimes the implication is that I'm stupid, sometimes that I must be really hardcore, sometimes a super-environmentalist and sometimes just insane. But it boils down to the question of why a person with a perfectly good car in their driveway would leave that car in the driveway and set off over snow and ice in total darkness at temperatures down to a few degrees below zero. It's actually not any of the reasons people assume, and although its probably easiest to refute the idea that I'm super tough or that I do this because of strong environmental convictions, hopefully I can argue that I'm not stupid or crazy either.
First, the environmental aspect. It's 6 miles, roundtrip, by car to drive to work, so thats a maximum of 30 miles a week. I'm not saying thats an inconsequential distance, but for someone who is willing to drive 160 miles roundtrip to
go snowboarding, or over 200 for a weekend getaway (this coming Friday), its tough to cite environmental concern as the justification for biking to work.
As far as being really tough, unfortunately I'd say that the discomforts of biking are pretty minor - comparable, actually, to the discomforts of driving. So far this week, I've had one ride where I was cold on my forehead because I didn't have my hat pulled down far enough, and other than that I was either just fine or even too warm while riding. By comparison, it would have been a lot colder to sit motionless in the car for 5 minutes waiting for the engine to warm up. I guess that this works as my argument for not being stupid or insane, too, in that biking in the winter is actually a whole lot easier than it would seem.
For example, it seems like slipping tires would be a big problem and sudden crashes a constant risk. But for the most part traction is just as good as any dirt trail in the summer. Of course, for the few icy patches there are 294 steel studs in each tire, which are a luxury I don't have in the car. All in all, its more than enough for a surefooted ride.
Then there's the question of being cold, but again it turns out to be easier than I expected to stay warm. Here's what I wore Monday morning when it was a couple degrees below zero:
- thin ankle-length socks
- bike shoes with neoprene covers
- bike shorts
- windproof, non-insulated pants
- t-shirt
- long-sleeved athletic shirt
- light fleece jacket
- paper-thin flourescent yellow jacket for visibility
- thin hat with ear flaps to fit under bike helmet
- neck gaiter
- cheap leather mittens
Basically, the only extra layers on that list are the shoe covers, neck gaiter, bike shorts and reflective coat, but out of those things only the shoe covers are something I had to buy to stay warm while biking. In fact, I actually take off layers in the morning between walking Bella and leaving for work.
Darkness is the other potential problem, but except for a couple hundred feet of trail at our local park the route is lit 24 hours a day. On top of that I have my Day-Glo jacket and 2 blinking lights on my bike plus a headlight bright enough to light my way on unlit trails. Beth's got three flashing lights and a headlight so bright that sometimes I think she's a car behind me. So every car, truck, skier, dog-walker and moose can see us coming from a mile away.
In the end, what it comes down to is the fact that biking to and from work is just a lot more pleasant than driving. I don't have to sit in a cold car waiting for it to warm up and I don't have to clear snow and ice off of the car in the pitch darkness. There's no traffic to worry about, and with their studded tires our bikes might even handle better in the winter conditions than our car does. By biking I get to stretch my legs out before I spend the day behind a desk. At the end of the day, biking gives me a chance to switch out of work mode as soon as I start pedaling, but when I drive I generally don't feel like I've left work behind until after I'm home. Seeing the occasional moose at the side of the trail is pretty cool, and yesterday on the way home I saw a fox sneaking across the frozen creek that runs alongside the trail (although apparently my sister saw a fox in DC the other day, which makes this a little less unique). At the end of the day I feel pretty good about having gotten some exercise and burning off some steam on the trails definitely seems to help me sleep better. All-in-all, I'd say I bike to work because I like the ride!
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turns out starting this post inspired me to try to get a couple pictures yesterday on the ride home:
Beth demonstrates the proper form for red cheeks and frozen eyelashes
a self-portrait while riding - if it were snowing my facemask wouldn't be so gross, but all that ice came from me
Beth (in front) and Bryn riding in front of me as we get close to home - the brightness of the reflective strips on Bryn's pants actually confused the camera and made the trail look a lot darker than it actually is
