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.