A measure of Quinn

At first I posted this picture by itself, with no supporting text, thinking the image was pretty much self-explanatory. But perhaps a little explanation wouldn't hurt. At school, Abbey has been learning about measurements and units of measurement, particularly length, weight, and volume. This was the product of one of her assignments. They were to select an object to measure using standard and non-standard measurements and create a poster. Obviously, she chose her little brother. What could be more fun than using him in some sort of experiment? Just wait until they start learning about molecular biology and she decides to clone him.

This is winter!!

Now this is more like it! This is why we thought it would be fun to live in Michigan!


Last night the forecast was for 4 to 8 inches of snow during the night, and then another 3 to 7 during the day. Shortly after 7 a.m. this morning Abbey was out of bed to look outside. I think she said, with a nice crescendo, "Whooaaa!!" She and Quinn, still in pajamas, headed out with a meter stick - ok, a ruler - to check the depth on the table on the deck. Right at four inches, but it was still snowing hard.




After coffee, and a quick breakfast of grapefruit and bagels, granola and yogurt, we were pulling on snow gear and gathering the sleds.




We headed down the street and around the corner to the sledding park. We were first on the hill, which was not a surprise since it was only 8:30 on Sunday morning. The snow on the east hill was about six inches deep at the top of the hill, with a drift on the slope more than a foot deep. Being first on the hill doesn't mean getting the fastest sledding, but it's fun to flop around in the powder. Poor Quinn couldn't get back up the hill on his own.


The air was cold and the north wind was fierce. The sun was hidden behind clouds and billions of flakes of now. It looked like blizzard. Maybe it was. The snow plows were out in force. All of the roads in our neighborhood were soon plowed.


It took several slow runs down the hill to pack the snow enough to make a good run, but then it was fast and fun. Quinn's little sled is very fast and tracks well. Sometimes it rolls if it gets into a rough spot. It was given to us by one of our neighbors last winter. Abbey was using a large round red dish sled, also from our neighbors.






We didn't last too long this morning before we headed home to shovel the driveway. After lunch Abbey got a call from her friend, Mya, who lives in one of the houses across the street from the sledding park, so we pulled on our snow gear and headed back to the hill. This time Cindy came, too.

Mya's little brother, Logan, is about Quinn's age, and he joined us on the hill. He's on the left with his red sled in the image below. Mya and Logan had similar sleds, one red and one green. They were toredo shaped and rounded in cross section, so they did pretty well in deep and rough snow.


The sun was trying to shine, and the snow had stopped falling, but the wind was still blowing strongly. We found that the slope on the north side of the park was less crowded and somewhat sheltered from the wind. The snow was nearly two feet deep on the north side, but once we had cut a couple of sled runs, we had a blast. Mya's house is on the right in the image below. You can also see Logan right after a crash.


Even Mom and Dad had good time sledding. This kind of fun is not something you should outgrow. Here's Cindy spraying some snow on the pink dish sled.


Quinn, Mya, and Abbey. Quinn just recovered from another face plant.


We don't have any sleds big enough to hold an adult and a kid, so to ride together we had to make a train.


Down we go!! The houses in the background in the image below are across Hatch street to the south. Hatch, by the way, has a reasonably wide shoulder for cycling.


Abbey and Mya went side-by-side on their tummies on the big red dish sled. It's the best sled for adults because it's big, but it's not real fast.


After an hour or so of sledding, we headed home. Mya came with us and we used some climbing 'biners and some rope to drag the kids home on the sleds. No, not with a car or even a bike. Cindy and I ran like a team of sled dogs, but we didn't get any pictures. Should have given the camera to the kids.

Here's our house in the snow. I had to shovel the driveway a second time.


The view down the street. The road slopes away from our house, making it a nice hill for bicycling and skateboarding, but it's not steep enough for sledding.


Here's the house across the street. It's empty and has been for sale, but at the moment it appears to have been taken off the market. We think it would be nice if we could buy it, or if Grandma Sharon could buy it, so she could move in there. So far we haven't figured out how to make that work.


Well, it's time for dinner and warm cranberry bread, and maybe some hot cocoa.

Bicycling

Back on the bike today. Yesterday, too. At least for the ride in. Just taking it slow and easy along the icy path along Dobie. At 30 F today, with mostly dry roads, it was a nice ride in. I was too stressed and tired after work yesterday to ride home - I called and had Cindy come get me. So much for my low emission commute.

Lots of traffic near the high school at 7:30 but the bike lane helps. Is it not legal for high school students to bicycle to work? Or just not socially acceptable? This should change. Maybe high schools should have cycling teams.

Walking

Today I walked to work again. This time I took the southern route instead of the northern route. I left at 7:15 and arrived at 8:03. Check the last post, but I think that's the same time it took on Friday. We live almost straight east of my office, but there's a river in between, so the only routes are those with bridges. Walking this route was much more pleasant that the other.

It was hardly even below freezing today - maybe 30 F. Just a little new snow. I probably could have bicycled pretty easily. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow. Even the sidewalk on Dobie seemed traversable. Maybe I should resign myself to riding the sidewalk at a near-walk pace, just to see if I can do it.

I got a ride home from Cindy this evening because we needed to get Abbey to her piano lesson.

I'm anxious for spring to get here so we can back to tandeming. I'm thinking about randonneuring again, too, but it's not a very realistic goal for me right now. Maybe in a few years.

Lost man seeks new society

The ride home from work on Wednesday was discouraging. With some additional new snow, my bike lanes on Kinawa Drive were full of brown slush. The sort of stuff in which the front bicycle tire floats around in a very scary way. So to maintain control of the bike, I had to ride on the edge of the traffice lane. Kinawa Drive has a center turn lane, which gives some extra space for cars to go around cyclists forced out of the bike lane by slush. But after Kinawa there's Dobie Road. As I think I wrote in the last post, Dobie is very narrow, has no shoulders, no center lane, and the asphalt is crumbled and full of holes. The sidewalk on the west is a good path for bikes since there are no driveways, but the sidewalk is dark, oncoming headlights are bright, and the layers of snow make it very difficult to ride. There is not sidewalk on the east. I chose the road. There were long lines of cars approaching and behind me. Some cars passed me, forcing the oncoming cars to swerve to the side, honking horns. Some cars passed me leaving no space between their mirror and my head. I like riding my bicycle, and I'm not afraid of riding in traffic. But this was pushing my limits. It's too bad our roads are not designed to accomodate slower forms of transportation. Bikes, velocars, mopeds and scooters, little electric cars, what else?

Thursday I took the bus to work. Left the house at 7:15, arrived at work at 7:45. Faster, safer, and easier than biking, costs $1 a trip. It's public transportation, not a Single Occupancy Vehicle. It fits within my self-imposed boundaries of social and environmental responsibility, but it's not as fun as riding bicycle, and it doesn't provide much exercise.

Today I walked to work because I missed the bus. I guess I haven't fully characterized the variability of the bus schedule, and I cut it too close. The walk was nice. The sidewalks had a couple inches of new snow. I found the constant roar of traffic and spray of slush from the car tires onto my legs to be somewhat annoying. I left the house at 7:15 (same time as yesterday) and arrived at the office at 8:03. Not bad. I will consider other routes that might be more pleasant, but slightly longer, in the future.

Imagine how healthy and happy we'd all be if everyone could just get out of their cars and ride a bike or walk. It would be a better world. What's wrong with us?

Cold and dark winter commute

Winter has arrived and bicycling to work means riding in the cold and dark in the morning and in the evening.

Yesterday morning the wind was blowing with gusts up to 40 mph from the NW. My four mile route to work is indirect; I ride south then west then east then north. Mostly. Riding west into the strong wind made slow going. Riding south the gusts blew me sideways. For warmth, I wore my snug Icebreaker wool top under a close-fitting Gore cycling jacket. On top of that I wore my fleece-lined nylon jacket. On my lower half, I wore cycling shorts under mid weight tights. Neoprene booties over my cycling shoes and PI lobster mitts under Gore-Tex shell mitts - ancient ones from Cindy's days at Outdoor Research. I have a thin balaclava that works under my helmet. It keeps my ears warm through the 20s F but below that another layer is required. Well, yesterday, despite the wind, the temperature was above 30 F. I thought it was colder when I was getting ready to ride. I hadn't checked the temperature. I was plenty warm.

On my way to work, traffic was backed up, I assumed as a result of icy roads. Usually, when traffic is slow and the roads are icy, I just get in line and crawl along with the cars. With the cold wind, however, I decided to take advantage of the wide shoulder to get ahead. Turned out the traffic was piling up because a tree had blown down in front of a car and the car had run into it. A girl on her way to the high school, I think. To get past the wreck, I had to dismount and drag my bike over the trunk. It was not a small tree.

After work, on the way home, the air temperature was around 30 F. The wind was still blowing but was generally favorable to my ride home. I stuffed my jacket into my panniers to avoid overheating, as I had in the morning. Then I spent too much time unlocking my bike and packing my panniers outside with my mittens off, so my fingers were cold before I started riding. Aside from cold fingers that never warmed, the ride home was nice.

Today, in the morning, I checked the temperature before I left. It was 23 F but the wind was not blowing as hard as it had been yesterday morning. I traded yesterday's fleece-lined jacket for a light nylon shell as my outer layer. I was quite comfortable.

There's been some snow and some sleet, so the roads have patches of ice but are mostly dry. The short stretch of sidewalk I use along Dobie Road will soon be, as it was last winter, unrideable. The snow accumulates on the sidewalk as slush, it holds footprints and tire tracks, then freezes. It becomes so rough and hard that riding on it becomes very difficult because the bumps, footprints and tire tracks, force the bicycle's front wheel to turn unpredictably. Even the studded tires don't really help. Soon I'll be riding the road. That stretch of road is so rough and narrow and carries so much traffic in the morning that I usually avoid riding it. When I do decide to ride in the road, traffic gets backed up. Motorists don't like to wait for space to go around me - some get angry and some will pound their horn, other race their engines as they pass. Some wait politely for a clear spot to pass me. Most just ride past me with about 3 inches to spare, as if I weren't even there. It can be stressful. The adjacent sidewalk is wide and runs along a natural area, Dobie Preserve, so there are no driveways crossing the path, which is the biggest hazard to bicycles forced onto the sidewalk. I think this path is very safe, except for a slight risk of crashing into pedestrians wearing headphones or walking dogs, or both, and weaving side to side on the path. But once the snow and ice cover the sidewalk, I'll be on the street.

This evening, my ride home was again cold and dark, but quite pleasant. As usual, I didn't get out of the office until 5:45, so much of the after work traffic had subsided. The wind wasn't strong, and the temperature was around 25 F. When I reached Dobie, I chose to ride the road instead of the sidewalk. The traffic is lighter at this time of day, so riding on the road is generally better. And because the sidewalk is only on the west side of the road, riding to the north on the sidewalk means riding into oncoming headlights. It's very difficult to see the sidewalk. The road seems safer. Tonight the cars were patient, too.