COLD!

Lovely ride to work this morning. I left at about 6:20, so the traffic wasn't bad, but it was cold. Thermometer read 15˚ and the wind was blowing 20 mph, directly into my face. If you believe in wind chill (I don't really--that is, I believe in it, but it's a silly number; we don't report wind chill in the summer, do we?), anyway, if you believe in reporting the wind chill, it would have been -2˚F.

But it was a perfectly nice ride. Why? Layers, my dear, layers. Medium-weight turtleneck, medium-weight cotton sweater (I know I know wool would have been better), windbreaker on top; lined nylon pants over my regular pants on the bottom; insulated boots with wool socks on my feet; and, finally, on my head: thin polartec cap, thin wool neck gaiter pulled up over my nose and cheeks, and clear ski goggles. Not a square centimeter of skin was exposed, so I didn't get cold.

(By the way, despite my general acceptance of the premise that wool is always better, the polartec/merino face mask that I sometimes use really is better than the all-wool one because it wicks the moisture from my breath to the outside of the mask, keeping the mask dry where it touches my face. Even though the wool mask still provides some warmth when it is soaking wet, the dry polartec mask is nicer. I have started to wear it more than the wool one on really cold days.)

My battery-powered halogen front light (an old Specialized model that they don't make any more) and Princeton Tec "Swerve" rear light (very bright and visible from all angles), along with my flashing Reelights, made the ride in the dark perfectly ordinary.

(I have been experimenting with front lights on the slush mobile. I've considering getting a dynamo light, but I go through so much snow in the winter that a dynamo has a hard time gripping the tire, even with a wire roller, I suspect.) I tried a Cateye EL300 (LED), but it's just not bright enough for everyday use. So I'll keep using my Specialized halogen light, which needs freshly charged batteries every morning, reserving the Cateye for those times when I forget to recharge the batteries.)

Bike Fetish?

I normally sneer at people (usually men) who are into frou-frouing up their bikes, but I have to say these fenders are pretty gorgeous. They'd look good on the Rambouillet. 
http://www.velo-orange.com/vo45hapofe.html

Free Pedaling

I think Grant at Rivendell goes a little overboard about some things, but I'm right there with him on the subject of not fastening feet to pedals.

I'm nearing the end of the my second 5000-mile year with loose feet, and I like it better than ever. Mostly I don't think about it. My pedaling is smooth and circular, my knees never hurt, I never feel like I'm losing significant power. I only miss being attached to the pedals at stop lights (when I can adjust the pedals for a quick start) and on fast descents when I forget I'm in an easy gear. Otherwise, I am happy as a clam with my wide MKS Touring pedals, which I have on both the touring Trek and the Rivendell. (I had the sportier short MKS pedals on the Rivendell, but they weren't wide enough for my boats.)

In the winter, of course, I wear big old rubber boots over my penny loafers, or rubber-bottomed insulated boots. No way to use clips there. In summer, a nice pair of retro New Balance running shoes with smooth soles work beautifully.

I wonder if biking fatalities due to car collisions are caused, in part, by the biker being fastened to the bike? Rather than being thrown clear, perhaps the biker tumbles with the bike on top of him, which causes fatal twisting and trauma. I've never heard anyone propose that, but there's a certain logic to it. Click-in pedals are easy to get out of if you're ready for it, but perhaps a sudden unforeseen impact by a car happens too fast to pull out.

This wouldn't be a problem with toe clips and straps, which let go nearly automatically (unless the straps are pulled absurdly tight). But these days, click-in pedals are all the rage. Perhaps it's just me being a clod (I fell multiple times during my click-in pedal experiment), but I can imagine even experienced cyclists being locked in to their pedals during a fall. And I can imagine that being in a pas de deux into the undergrowth with a 25 lb bike could be very bad for your health.

Why Do I Care What You Wear?

I don't really care.

OK. I care. But only because I feel like your wearing a garish spandex race suit with matching top and bottom is somehow a criticism of my baggy shorts (with cotton boxers), neon-yellow polyester t-shirt with stylish breast pocket for my pencil holder (actually, I don't really have a pencil holder in the breast pocket—clip-on sunglasses, yes, pencil holder, no), and New Balance running shoes with white tube socks.

But really, you don't care what I wear, do you? You just think I'm an outsider, a non-biker who happens to be on a bike. Since I'm not in the approved uniform (and now even my helmet is non-standard round), you don't give me a second thought.

See? I'm the one with the problem! I think it's spandex envy. When I think of joining local rides, I don't do it, not just because I'm an anti-social jerk but also because I'm afraid someone will offer advice about how much better my biking would be in spandex and click-in pedals. (Like the bike store guy who, when I was buying toe straps to use for lashing things to my bike, recommended that I try click-in pedals because . . . well, he didn't really say why. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I don't even use toe clips any more.)

I don't want to argue, and I don't even want to convert the world. I have now ridden well over 10,000 miles in baggy shorts, unattached to my pedals, and I like it. But I guess I have an image problem.

When I wore the uniform, I felt pretty cool in tight biking shorts and jersey and shoes that go CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK because of the cleats when I walked in them. My knees hurt, it's true, and the shorts had no pockets and weren't supposed to be worn with undies (and why is that a good idea for most of us?). But I felt like a member of the biking fraternity. I suppose that's much of the appeal for hobby bikers. Suit up and go for a Saturday morning ride, the longer the better so you can brag about it.

Oh well. My problem not yours.

In The Bleak Mid-Winter

Winter is REALLY here. Eight inches of snow on the ground; temperature in the teens. I have been on break this week, so I haven't officially been commuting, but I have been biking here and there. So far, so good.

I have to say, there's something lovable about the slush mobile. It's a big old honking tank of a bike with big black fenders, fat knobby tires, moustache bars, old-fashioned generator light, brakes that only sort of work, bent crank. But it gets me through the snow in fine form; it's even fun to ride.

To make it a clean sweep, I put the plastic-topped Avocet women's touring saddle on the slush mobile. (All my bikes now have Avocet Touring II women's saddles). It's perfect! No need for the extra saddle pad when riding in work clothes any more. It is wide where it needs to be, cushy where it needs to be.

I bought a new helmet (above). I wanted a helmet without the bizarre aero baffles and fins on the back. I don't care about vents on my commuting helmet, and I want the back of the helmet to be round. The only time I fell last winter (on ice), my head whapped down on the back. Luckily, my silly aero helmet padded the fall, but I can imagine the swoops and fins causing the helmet to be knocked askew, and my head to be knocked silly.

This lovely helmet is shaped like a helmet should be shaped: like a helmet. It's comfy, my goggles go around the outside, and it was only $16 from Nashbar.