OMG

55F, sunny, 23mph wind gusting to 35mph: Yeah, sure. I'll happily -- well, maybe not happily, considering the wind -- ride in that for miles and miles and miles.

19F, sunny, windchill of 8F: Oh HAYELL no.

Call me a wuss. I can take it. I can also keep my toes, fingers, and nose.

Wow.

The wind died down a bit for last night's ride home, but the temperature dropped as well. I've gotten too used to the temp still being warm despite the sun's departure and that bit me in the ass last night. My windbreaker and mid-weight shirt were fine in the morning sunshine, but not so fine in the night's chill. Add in that my ski gloves were still damp from the morning ride because my glove liners were in Scott's backpack from our trip to the ER last week (I got a little dehydrated thanks to stomach flu) and it wasn't an entirely pleasant ride home. I actually wore my scarf for the entire ride which is a first. I'm usually shedding and unzipping layers as I travel.

However. After reading this post from a bike commuter in Edmonton, Alberta, I shan't complain too loudly. When I saw the picture, I thought, oh, what a pretty white scarf and then I read that the white fluff was her frozen hair. Yikes!

The upside of commuting when it's really cold is that I don't have to scrape ice off my windshield. So, that's something...

Ice, ice, baby

This morning's commute was pretty easy even with the "wooden" (I suspect Trex or somesuch) bridge being covered with crunchy ice. I followed Rootchopper's advice to "stay loose" and crossed the bridge without incident. I'm sad that my helmuffs don't work as well under my Bern helmet, but my wool cap works just fine and keeps my sweaty hair covered during the walk from garage to cube. Happily, the fog was merely damp and not of the frozen variety.

Got buzzed by a cement truck who passed me on a blind corner and then made a right turn directly in front of me. Couldn't wait the few seconds for me to pass your turn, dude? Thankfully, there were no cars (or people) coming around that curve.

I discovered that the MapMyRide app was shorting my commute distance by two-tenths of a mile. Yeah, that doesn't seem like much at first, but it does add up. I've recalculated my commute mileages and have added five miles to my end-year total. Whoo hoo! (Shush. I've got a mileage goal I'm working toward [and am not going to hit, darnit!])

So anyway, here are my 2011 stats. I'm looking forward to comparing them to the end of 2012. I'm sure these don't match up with any of the lovely bike bloggers I follow, but there's nothing wrong with that. (It's not a competition. It's not a competition. It's not a competition.)

CC the Schwinn
May: 22.99
June: 14.58
July: 3.54

Rose

July: 47.33
Aug: 53.81
Sep: 105.67
Oct: 229.37
Nov: 159.65
Dec: 160.36

Rose total: 756.19
All total: 797.3

Seminar, test ride, & snow

On Sunday the Bike Me DC meet-up group convened on the Vienna branch of Spokes, Etc for a "Winter Cycling" seminar. The staff went over the usual information of which clothes and accessories will keep a cyclist warm, plus the idea of layering so one can cool off as the exertion increases the body temperature. They also covered winter bike maintenance. I hadn't thought to check the brake pads for bits of gravel and other detritus which gets washed up/blown onto the road and/or trail. They covered lights (of both the "see" and "be seen" varieties) and reflective items. I didn't feel comfortable piping up with ideas for cheaper alternatives for clothing and accessories during the seminar itself, but Scott sent a couple of non-standard-sized cyclist women in my direction for info on the products I use and where to purchase them (Novara vented windbreaker and Canari padded cycling shorts for instance...). I'm all for supporting my local bike shop(s), and trust me I do buy lots of bits and bobs whenever I succumb to bike hypochondria, but sometimes they don't offer the larger-sized cyclist the gear she wants and/or needs.





Bike Me DC at Spokes
<vanity>My hair looks pretty good from the back</vanity>  
After the seminar, Scott and I went our separate ways in the store. I browsed through the road bikes and asked the closest associate, Nate, if he could pull out a Specialized Dolce for me to examine. He happily pulled down a Comp style and gave me tons of information about the bike. I mean, tons. He picked up the bike and handed it over to me. WOW! As light as I thought Rose was compared to the Schwinn (before I loaded Rose down with all her commuting gear), this bike was even lighter! Nate explained how the shifters worked -- I've ridden a road bike once, as a tween, and it was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life -- and gave me a run-down of the components. We geeked about last year's Backroads Century (he did the full century; I did the 30 mile route) and he said I should skip the half century and train up for the full century this year since I'm already putting so many miles on my commuter. And then he said the most dangerous thing of all: did I want to take a test ride down to the W&OD and see how it handled.




Dolce Comp Compact I'm not wild about the colorway being almost the same as Rose's, but I'll deal. #firstworldproblem

*gulp* Okay. He gave me a helmet, I rolled up my pants leg and left Scott as collateral, and then hit the sidewalk for the most beautifully smooth ride I've ever known. Again, as smoothly as Rose felt, compared to the Schwinn, this ride was Uh-May-Zing. I hardly felt the brick sidewalk as I pedaled along and played with the shifters and brakes. I turned around at the trail and rode back to the store as I didn't want anything to happen to the bike on a test ride.

I was smitten. I was sad to give her back to Nate, but if it comes down to a mortgage payment or a bike, I will pay for the bike the mortgage. But! I now know where my bonus is going. And yes, I know I said that I wouldn't buy another bike until I'd had Rose for a year, but I do need to get used to the bike before I ride a hundred miles on it, don't I?

In my mind, I've already named the bike "Nancy". I'm not sure why as it's not a particularly fast-sounding name but it felt natural. In fact, because it's called a Dolce, I feel like I should name it something Italian. We'll see what happens when I actually get one home.

In other news, it's been snowing off and on this afternoon and it's been more on for the past half hour or so. The grass and cars have a decent covering and the parking lot is wet. The deeply closeted daredevil side of me wishes I'd been feeling well enough to bike in the cold air this morning so that I could feel all bad@ss on the commute home.

A mostly good start

The hubster and I hit the trail on New Year's Day to return a few items to Tarzhay. The weather was sunny and warm when we left and I wore fingerless gloves and left the windbreaker at home. Scott runs colder than I do and wore more (and warmer) layers, but was still comfy on the ride over. When we got rolling, I had a ball updating him on how fast my cycling computer said we were going. I'm thrilled to bits that I'm a lot faster than I thought I was.

The trail wasn't choked with people, but there were more than the usual number of winter folks enjoying the mild weather. We got to the shopping center without issue, returned items, and then purchased a few more. We left the store and noticed the sky had clouded, the wind had picked up, and it was starting to drizzle. Scott suggested we seek refuge at Eastern Mountain Sports so he could browse sale items. He wound up not buying a thing while I picked up four pair (buy three, get one free!) of Smartwool snowboarding socks (because thick wool socks are a winter cyclist's best friend) and a Bern helmet. I've been lusting after the women's Berkeley model, but every one I tried at REI hurt my head. The men's Brentwood, on the other hand, fit beautifully and I walked out with the matte red with black visor version.

When we left EMS, I definitely regretted leaving my windbreaker and full finger gloves at home. The rain was heavier and with all the car traffic, Scott and I put our headlights on blink mode. I had to tell him to put the light on steady when we hit the trail, though. Blinky lights on a MUP are unnecessary and rude, I think.

The rain starting pounding down after we crossed 28 and we passed a few other cold and wet cyclists. Scott asked if we could skip our planned ride to the recycling center. Oh my, yes, that was off the table. And, of course, after warm showers and dry clothes, the sun came back out. Unfortunately, I'd broken a spoke somewhere along the way home and I wasn't going to ride anywhere until that got fixed (which it was yesterday when my bike shop was again open).

Grateful

Today I am grateful for wool glove liners, insulated boots, and helmuffs. I am also grateful for not wiping out on the icy parts on the W&OD trail. I'm not sure if one should traverse ice slowly or at speed; I chose slowly.

It was 27F with little wind when I left home this morning. My winter ride clothing choices are improving and I had a nearly perfect layering system today. Unfortunately and despite the vents on my helmet, my head is still getting too hot and my hair is pretty damp when I get to the office. I think my only option for keeping my hair dry is to go helmetless and that's not really an option if my husband and my lack of grace have anything to say about it.

Oh! Something cool (in the fun way, not the temperature way) happened this morning. I've never been able to ride hands free. I've lifted both hands off the handlebars for mere seconds, but that's as far as I've gotten. This morning, while pedaling through the neighborhood before the trail, I reached up with both hands to adjust my scarf. It wasn't until I put my hands back on the handlebar that I realized I'd just ridden hands free. Whoo hoo! I tried a few more times on the trail and kept losing my nerve, unfortunately. I guess, for me, hands free will have to be one of those things I don't realize I'm doing until I realize what I'm doing.

You take the good, you take the bad

I'm going to start with the bad: I broke Rose's right pedal this morning. Must've taken off too hard at the stoplight. I felt a sickening crunch, looked down, and saw a chunk of the pedal missing. Bugger. She's still rideable, hopefully; I mean, I got to the campus and parked her just fine. Ah well, it's been about a month since I was last in my local Spokes Etc...

The good: Rose is decked out for Christmas.




I found two sets of battery-operated, old-fashioned looking lights at Target last night and remembered about the wreath-looking candle rings amongst my Christmas decor yesterday. A third of a pack of tiny black zip ties later, et voila: Christmas Rose! The two guy commuters I passed today didn't notice, but the girl commuter smiled at my cheerful basket.

I haven't gotten brave enough to wear a Santa hat over my helmet. Maybe next week.

Cheer!

On Friday, Scott was trying to muster up enthusiasm to go to the gym. I suggested that he instead meet me on the way home and we could bike through a few neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. He liked that idea and that's exactly what we did.

He didn't want to wait at the proposed meeting place and instead met me a little further than halfway. We nearly passed each other on the trail, but he recognized the Christmas lights adorning my basket. He also mentioned that he could see my headlight from the time I turned off the street onto the trail, a distance of just over a mile. And that was on medium power! Heh heh heh. Another fun thing was that I was able to keep up with him as we rode up the Rte 28 overpass. I've never been able to keep up with him. Yay!

We jumped off the trail at Church and rode the sidewalk down to the next neighborhood. We (okay, I) oohed and aahed at the pretty lights and amusing yard displays. I wish I'd taken my camera, but I'm not very good at taking night shots anyway. The funniest set-up, though, was a yard full of inflatable penguins, snowmen, and a Frankenstein monster with a jack-o-lantern at his feet. Scott didn't notice the monster as we passed and did a u-turn so he could boggle at it as well. On the way home, we passed a Santa on a Harley. Our neighborhood is lighting up even if our street is still pretty dark. If we get another warm snap, I'd like to tour through the neighborhoods on the other side of the boulevard. There's some seriously tacky stuff other there.

Winter biking just got easier

The Nite Rider MiNewt.600 and Radbot 1000 head- and tail-lights arrived Friday night and I finally got to test them out last night.

Oh. My. Gosh. The first phrase that comes to mind is "Do not look into laser with remaining eye". Yeah, 600 lumens at point blank is kind of intense. With that important safety lesson under our belts, Scott and I took the lights outside for a test. I pointed the headlight at the woods across the street. Even with the local street lamps, I could still see the illumination created by the headlight. Scott climbed the hill into the woods for me. The reflective bits on his helmet stopped reflecting at 275 lumens but I could still see the glow at 400. At full blast, I'll be lighting up deer in the next county!

I put my old head- and tail-lights on his bike and we took off for the trail so that I could road test the new lights and also see what my bike would look like to an oncoming vehicle/cyclist/pedestrian. When we got to a fairly dark patch, we swapped bikes and I had Scott ride up a quarter of a mile or so and then ride back to me. Thing the first: my little Bell WO blinkies are NO match for the Radbot on steady. The blinkies disappeared in after only a few feet. Thing the second: damn, that MiNewt is powerful when pointed straight ahead even at 275 lumens. Thing the third: my Planet Bike Blinky 3 DOES stand up to the Radbot's steady glow; I was happy to see some blink action in addition to the steady. Thing the fourth: other commuters (we were passed by four as we stood off the paved trail adjusting and readjusting lights) are using dazzlingly bright headlights so it may just be a part of the commuting game and I'll be giving as much as I've been getting. I'm not especially happy about that last point and I'm going to do my best to keep my headlight from pointing directly at other cyclists' and pedestrians' eyes. On the other hand, I'm thrilled to bits that a whole new world of night riding has opened up for me. This is very exciting.

Something else that will might make a winter bike commute doable is the NVRPA's purchase of a snow plow for the W&OD. Whoo hoo! When I was jogging last winter, I had to change my route from the trail to neighborhood streets when we got snow because it took FOREVER for VDOT (or the local authorities) to send a plow down the trail. I'm not sure how (or even if) all of the forty-five miles of trail will be plowed -- my guess is that it will be for the inner suburbs -- and there's not much info aside from the mention of the plow purchase. To be perfectly honest, I'll most likely stick with the 4WD truck when the snow flies and ice attacks, but it would be nice to have the option of going out for a ride. We'll see if the late January/February winter crazies drive me to purchase studded tires. ;)