Biked to work every day this week!

Finnally, I have realized my short term goal of biking to work every day in a week.  After my failures of doing so during the National Bike to Work Week and the Wisconsin Bike to Work Week, I was more than a little disheartened.  However, this last week the weather helped, as we had no rain.  Every day seemed the perfect day to ride!  OK, not quite.  The last few days were quite windy coming home.  Winds out of the Southwest kept me from pushing it too hard on the bike ride home.

I have also not figured out what’s going on with my crankset, as it keeps creaking.  I’ve taken it apart on several occasions lately and will now have to take it apart again.  I thought I was tightening it up enough, but perhaps not.  Well it also could be worn out.  I’m not sure how long splined bottom brackets are supposed to last, but perhaps I should invest in a new one. A new bottom bracket, what a reward for biking to work for a week.

Commute by bicycle turns to Ride-share

I feel like I have let myself down. Yesterday I noticed an odd skipping that happened occasionally while riding the Trek 770 that I occasionally use to commute. So I made a derailleur adjustment and thought I would ride it today. Just outside of town, the chain started skipping again when I changed gears to go up a hill. I stopped, made an adjustment and road on. About two mile later it started happening again. I stopped, checked for a frozen link, found none, made another derailleur adjustment and road on. Less than a mile down the road it was happening again! I just continued to ride as at this point I was more than half way to work.

Three fourths to work and my chain breaks! I hadn’t thought of checking for a break. Rats!

Luckily a cycling friend had passed moments earlier on his way to work. He commutes by car three days a week. I called him on his cell phone and he turned around, came back and picked me up. We put the bike on the top of the car and we were off ride-sharing on our way to work.

Better still, he had fixed up the bike last year for his daughter to ride, and as she is spending a semester abroad, I borrowed the bike back and was using it occasionally. He had now wanted it back for his son to ride. I had been promising to give it back for a month, as I wanted to give it a thorough cleaning first, and now it is on his car. Sounds like I got out of a cleaning job.

What a beautiful week to bike to work! I started the week off Monday morning with a great ride into work and then a warm and sunny bike ride home from work.  Shedding my balaclava and tights on the bike ride home and letting the sun kiss my snow white legs (I know, not a pretty picture) felt great!

Tuesday I commuted with a friend as there was heavy fog in the morning, so no bicycling. By afternoon the fog had cleared up and it was bright, warm and sunny.  I felt terrible not biking home.

Wednesday started out with fog, but this time I asked my friend if I could take the bike with.  He agreed, and when the work day was done there I was, biking to Platteville.  I was headed that way to pick up our car that had some work done on it.  What a ride! Warm, sunny and I was on a Trek 770 (an old Reynolds frame with the Superbe Pro groupo) which made me think of cycling in the old days when I was young, had time, and was in far better shape.

Today, I rode to work on the old Trek 770 without booties over my shoes.  It was cold on my feet, but the ride home will be great I am sure.

So far, 67 miles for the week. To all those reading this, get out and enjoy the nice weather! There should be snow on Saturday.

If I am going to do this I would like to do it with some degree of realism.  I do not want to spend a lot on new equipment, but I do want to be safe and fairly comfortable while commuting.

The Bike:

OK, I am a little more comfortable with bicycles than most people.  I have six bikes.  Yes, six.  They are not all new.  In fact, I have only ever had five new bikes, four of which I still own the short list of which are a 1982 Schwinn Le Tour from my eighth grade graduation, a 1984 Trek 760 road bike I built when I was in highschool, a 2001 Trek 5200 road bike (my mid-life crisis bike), and a 2006 Gary Fisher Cake 2 mountain bike (won by a drawing, at the 24 at Nine Mile 24 hour race).  The other two are an early 90′s Trek 2100 road bike and a 2000 Schwinn Moab mountain bike.  I use them all!

I have mostly commuted on the road bikes and have lately favored the 5200 because it is so much fun.  The mountain bikes I use for around town or actually mountain biking and the Schwinn Le Tour is a strict around town bike.  However, upon the recent snow I am thinking hard about which bike I would like to use on snowy, icy days.  The Le Tour may work if I can get some studded tires for it.  Otherwise it will have to be the Schwinn mountain bike as the fisher is just too nice to subject to the salt and road grime.

Clothes:

Foot ware:

I mostly use my newer (both ten years old with hundreds of miles on them) road or mountain bike shoes, but will take out the old ones (twenty years old at least) when riding leisurely on one of the older road bikes.  The shoes correspond with the bikes because the pedals only fit with the respective cleats.  The older the bike, the older the pedal and corresponding shoe.

Closer to the skin are socks.  Get good socks!  I always use good socks made with material that will wick the moisture away from my feet.  I usually take it very easy on the way to work so my socks don’t get sweaty.  As such, once at work you want the socks to look good.  I have some very colorful cycling socks that are very comfortable, but when meeting with clients, wearing bright blue and yellow socks looks a little odd peaking out between your shoes and pants.  Get darker neutral colored socks like black or gray (without skulls or sperm on the side).  Or keep socks at work to change into.  You will always want clothes to change into at work so socks are an easy thing to keep at work along with pants and shirts.

As it is cold now, I also use booties.  Not baby type booties but neoprene shoe covers that help to keep your feet warm.  I have used them for years and they work great even in below zero weather.

Head Gear:

The helmet is always a must.  I don’t care if you fancy yourself to be a “Cyclist” or not, everyone should ware a helmet!

Under the helmet on cold days I use a hat or, better yet a balaclava.  I swear by my balaclava.  Gives you hat hair, but keeps me very warm and prevents frost bite!

I also use sunglasses on nearly every day.  Not just for the sun, as rain, snow and if you are going very fast, insects are deflected away from your eyes by the simplicity of a cool pair of shades.

Gloves:

I never used to use gloves, but ten years ago I started and it has made a huge difference.  When I was younger doing 75 miles on a summer day to visit a young woman whom I met camping and of whom I had a crush on was a good day! However, I would arrive home with my hands numb.  Even years later biking in the rain my hands would go numb from gripping the handlebars tightly.  Now, with the assistance of a good pair of gloves, I don’t have to grip the bars so tight because the leather of the glove assists in the gripping.  Gloves don’t have to have much padding, but a good pair of gloves will make you much more comfortable on the bike.

Layers:

Now for the real stuff.  Shorts make the commute easy, OK bearable.  I used to bike in running shorts.  How many hundred miles did I bike not knowing the luxury of a good pair of bicycle shorts.

Then the Jersey.  Any wicking material will do as long as it is fairly light.  In other words, it doesn’t need to be a tight multi-colored Tour De France want-a-be.

In cold weather I will wear a pair of tights. They keep your legs warm! They do fit like woman’s nylons I’m told, but they keep you warm. And in cool weather I ware a heavier layer on my upper body.  Usually this is a long sleeve jersey or another long sleeve active ware.  Wicking! Have I mentioned that your clothes should be wicking!

On very cold days a shell for your upper body is a welcome cover against the cold wind.  Until recently, I used a shell I bought for $15 when I was twenty.  Last year, the shell ripped as I passed through a wooden fence. It was faded and now had a foot long hole where no hole should have been. The shell worked fine for all those years of biking running and skiing, but after using the new shell twice I understand again why good clothes really do make a difference.

My short advice: always dress in layers and purchase the most comfortable clothing you can.

Road my bike to work today and it had just started to snow as I was coming into Fennimore. At 2 p.m. nature was telling me it would be an interesting ride home.

Left right at four and started the ride home. The ride started out very nice; not slippery, cold, but not to wet and my new shell was working great. Just out of town it started snowing much harder until there was about a quarter mile visibility. Sounds were very muffled from the snow and the sky was a beautiful gray with yellow and steal blue highlights. My sunglasses were doing a good job keeping the snow and slush out of my eyes.

In Wisconsin you never know what type of weather you are going to get. One morning I woke to find that fog had enveloped our fair town of Lancaster and there was no way I was going to be able to bike to work. When I went out on the porch where I keep my bike another surprise awaited me. The fog had left ice crystals everywhere, including on my bike. It looked beautiful, but I did have to clean my bike again.