Week of wind
While the lake effect snows—particularly in Oswego County to the east of us (See (Daily Fishwrapper 2/11 article with two photo galleries and a video and BBC News Online 2/13 article and videos)—have gotten all the headlines, here in R-Town, it’s mostly been just plain cold and windy.
Yesterday was the first day in over a week where the temperature broke 20°F (-7°C) and and first day where the winds—at least for part of the day today—were below 20 MPH (32 km/h).
Sure, we’ve gotten some snow every day. Enough of it that, unlike last year, we didn’t have to import any for the annual Coldrush winter festival (slogan: Winter is cooler than summer!) But the foot or so of snow we got during the week doesn’t compare with the eight feet they got an hour’s drive to the east.
I was finally able to fine-tune my winter riding gear to where I was comfortable during and after every ride this week. The coldest I rode was 9°F (-13°C). I wore plain white waffle longjohns under my jeans, and a turtleneck shirt under a business shirt, with my fleece and windbreaker on top. I had just my winter weight cycling skullcap under my helmet, my Louis Garneau Magma lobster gloves on the hands, and I added Lava Socks to a regular pair of socks before stuffing my feet into my thinsulated hiking boots.
This is less than I used to wear for the bus in temperatures just above freezing. And it’s almost too much for the weather this week. I was unzipping things after a mile every time I rode.
I didn’t ride the TNUA this week. I just didn’t feel like battling the wind. Sustained winds have been relentlessly high all week, and plenty gusty on top of that. A couple of nights, the gusts were so strong, my building was creaking like a sailboat or something.
Although my commutes are all fairly short, battling high winds on part of every trip became tiresome. On Thursday, the winds actually changed throughout the day so that I had direct headwinds in part of each of four legs of travel during the day. Twice, I had long uphill grinds into winds in excess of 30 MPH. It was not fun.
Adding to the pleasure were fully loaded grocery panniers on the way home that night, increasing both the mass to be moved and the surface area I had to move through the headwind. And the first part of the ride home from the grocery store is uphill. It’s a long grinder which then dips under the railroad mainline, then a shorter, steeper grade back up on the other side.
On the long grinder, I was in my lowest gear, 28-23, pedaling as hard as I could, and barely achieving wobble speed. On the short downgrade to the underpass, I decided there was no shame in walking the bike up the hill out of the underpass. Just then, the wind relented enough that I was able to pedal up to the stoplight at the top of the hill. And it resumed as I started down University Ave.
Despite the additional snow this week, the winds helped clear the ice from the fire escape. Since Thursday night I’ve been able to use it again.
You know how ice cubes shrink in the freezer if you don’t use them? Well, that must be what happened to the ice on the fire escape stairs. It wasn’t warm enough to melt (and it’s in the shade all day) so all that could have happened was wind erosion and whatever it is that evaporation from solid directly to vapor is called. Thursday I cleared enough to use the stairs and Friday night I cleared them completely.
Of course, I still had to use the front door because moisture from cooking seeps into the kitchen door locks, freezing the tumblers in place any time it’s under 15° or so. Still, walking myself down the fire escape, around the building, up the front stairs and through the apartment so I could open the kitchen door from inside is a vast improvement over dragging the bike up through the front stairs. Especially with a backpack and two panniers fully loaded with groceries.
The winds also delayed towing Yellow Bike to the LBS. I’d planned on this week. It won’t happen until next. On the other hand, it let me cool down a bit and decide it’s far cheaper for me to buy the tools I need to pull the cranks and buy the new crankset myself rather than have that done at the LBS, and buying the new cranks from them.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
All the online shopping I did when it looked like I’d be moving to that loft, is paying off. I’m ordering this bench/shoe rack and hat/coat rack set from Ikea, and Delta’s Vincent Dual-Bike Storage Rack. These will go together on the wall where my desk currently resides. With any luck, these will solve the problem of bikes and bike stuff scattered all around the apartment.
The desk will move across the room to where a storage cart and the stereo live. In the bedroom, the book shelf will move across the room to make space for the storage cart and stereo. And the hat/coat rack I currently have in the kitchen will move to the bedroom as well. This should also increase the pressure both to get rid of my freezer and to clean out my credenza.
It won’t solve an essential problem with this place—access and egress through the narrow galley kitchen—but it should make better use of the space I have. Since I haven’t had a space just for bike stuff, it’s proliferated all around the place. There are bikes and bike stuff in at least two places in every single room. Yes, that includes the bathroom.
I’ve also decided that I’ll box up most of my dishes, cups, glasses and flatware, and store them in the basement. As long as there is clean stuff available to use, I don’t wash dishes. I’ll keep enough for two meals here, and stash away the rest. That may not eliminate the issue of dirty dishes littering the kitchen counter, but it will reduce the volume.
Finally, I’ve decided I’ll give official bike clothes a try, but I don’t have a good place to put them. I have to go through the closet and dresser, thinning my wardrobe once more. What’s amazing is that except for replacing jeans and socks, every two or three years I can dump a third of my clothes and I still have more stuff than I wear.
