When I told some friends was going to try and continue to commute to work in the winter on my bicycle I was told, you can’t do that! Since I’m pretty hard headed at times I took that as a challenge and set out to prove that it could be done and I was going to do it.
Since I always rode my motorcycle until it snowed I knew how to handle the cold. But I wasn’t counting on was how much different it is just sitting on something blasting along at 60 something miles per hour and pedaling something at 18 mph or slower. The clothes I had for the motorcycle were too big, heavy and hot for bicycling in the cold. So a new wardrobe was in order. Funny how little it takes to stay warm when you are working at riding a bicycle at times in deep snow. Who knew at 10F a person could sweat?
I did know though that the summer road bike with it's skinny little 23mm wide slick tires wasn’t going to cut it so I had to get another bike (N+1) for the job. It was just pure luck that I found a used Scott (my last name) mountain bike at a second hand sports store. While I knew the knobby tires used for dirt riding would probably work in the snow I wasn’t so sure about ice. A little searching on the ‘net revealed they make studded snow tires for bicycles. Who knew?
Studded tires and fenders installed. Winter bike clothing kit bought and off I went.
We’ve had a rather mild winter here as far as snow goes. It hasn’t been all that cold with 2F being about as cold as it has been when I hit the roads for my morning commute. And you know what? It’s been a lot of damn fun!
Even as much fun as this is I’m like everyone else and can’t wait for spring so I can get the road bike back out. I miss going fast! With 40lbs of bike and gear there is no such thing as fast.
fasthair
.JPG)
Posts
