75% bikes, 25% food
Bikes Rule!
Saturday on my ride to work, I was pedaling up a snowy side street. A guy was in his driveway, brushing snow off the family Taurus wagon. Seeing me, he turned and, pumping a fist in the air shouted, “Bikes rule!”
At that particular moment I’s just hit a patch of brown sugar snow (see below) and was struggling a bit to maintain control, so all I could get out in reply was, “You bet!”
Snow riding
I’ve discovered there are a couple of different types of snow conditions that are absolutely miserable. One is what I call brown sugar snow. It’s a layer that looks like light brown sugar as hardpack begins to break up. It clogs the treads of my tires turning them into slicks. At that point, all hope of control is lost. The bike’s front wheel is easily deflected then, and to some amazing degrees. I go wherever the bike wants to go. Usually, we want to go to roughly the same place, so it works out fine.
Another troublesome type is mashed potatoes snow. It has the same consistency as the food and just as your spuds stick to the spoon, the snow clogs the treads.
I’ve discovered what it sis about ruts that’s such a problem. It’s that the snow packed in the bottom isn’t level. It’s rounded. The edges of the car tire dig deeper leaving a crown in the middle of the rut. The more one tries to ride in the center of the rut, the more one is thrown to the side. The trick, it seems, is to ride along the edge of the rut.
Interestingly, a type of snow that’s particularly difficult for cars presents no problem at all for me. That’s greasy snow. It looks for all the world like someone spread a tub of axle bearing grease on the road. It occurs at lower temperatures, right around the point where road salt stops working. Cars and peds slip and slide in greasy snow. My studs bite into the pavement though, and I can (and do) ride almost as easily as if the road was dry. This is one of the times when I can feel the tires squirming against their own studs.
Slush, hardpack and ice are no problem at all for me either. The tread pushes slush out from under the wheel, it chews right into the hardpack, and the studs really shine on ice.
Coming home from work on Saturday, I stopped for groceries. Riding home, I followed many bike tracks in the snow along University Ave. They were weaving back and forth a lot. Near as I could tell, this was due to a combination of low traction and low speed—and probably the low traction causing the riders to go a t a low speed. Meanwhile, I rode along, fairly straight, between 11 and 13 or so, which is my usual pace with bulging panniers.
All in all, the snow tires have been well worth their cost. Because of them, I’ve not (yet) been stranded due to conditions and with only a couple of exceptions, they make make riding in the snow just as pleasant as riding in the dry.
Running hot and cold
Where I’m still having difficulty is in staying cool enough when I ride. Thursday through Friday was the coldest we’ve seen so far this season. Riding home from Sully Branch on Thursday, it was 9°F (-13°C) and Friday morning, the ride to work was 4°F (-15°C). On top I wore a long-sleeved t-shirt, a business shirt, a fleece and a windbreaker. On the bottom, I wore plain old white waffle longjohns under my jeans. One pair of socks and my hikers on my feet, my winter weight cycling skullcap and helmet on my head. And the Magma lobster gloves on my hands. Oh, and on Thursday I wore a scarf to seal the gap around my neck.
There was not a square inch of my body that wasn’t sweating after just two miles. My nose and cheeks get cold initially, especially if I’m into a headwind, but after a mile, they warm right up again. I just can’t figure this out. It’s like I’m cycling in July.
I think that what’s really confusing me what cycling has done for my circulation. I learned recently that one of the things that building an aerobic base does is make capillaries. Besides transporting oxygen, nutrients and waste products, they transport heat. Heat is getting to places in my body that it’s never gotten before.
So I’m trying to dress for two different adjustments. One, cycling in below freezing temperatures which I’ve never done before, and two, dressing what’s essentially an unfamiliar body. I’ve never been warm before between September and May. Even just walking to The Corner Store, I dress in January as I used to dress in October, so I know there’s this second component to the issue.
I remain completely amazed by what cycling has done for this old body of mine.
‘Splain sumpin’ to me
Why is it that there are tortilla shortages in Mexico, and the prices of milk and meat are going up here, because more corn might be diverted to making ethanol for fuel at some point in th future. Yet, earlier in the month, a record cold snap in California wipes out the citrus crop, and Sunkist California navel oranges are on sale at $1.99 for a four pound bag?
For that matter, why are Sunkist California navel oranges cheaper than New York State apples? Fuel costs for shipping the darned things across the continent should cancel out the apples to oranges comparison.
I might even understand it if they were crappy oranges. I don’t ordinarily buy navels because they’re usually dry and stringy. Not these. These are as sweet, juicy, flavorful and tender as my favorites, Valencias.
I think I’ll have another.
