Week 8 (January 12-16)

Back in the game.

I was very happy to record the first bicycle commute in 2009 on Monday of this week, but for the rest of the week, the high only ended up being 7 degrees. This is deceiving though, as it was registered on Friday afternoon, while negative temps reigned supreme the rest of the week (ranging from an overall high of -1 to a low of -24 on Friday morning). That's a bit too cold to get out there on the bike so I spent the rest of the week carpooling with the wife and riding the LRT home with the exception of Saturday's ride in.

Monday - Bicycle
Tuesday - Car & LRT (AM carpool)
Wednesday - Car & LRT (AM carpool)
Thursday - Car & LRT (AM carpool)
Friday - LRT both ways
Saturday - Bicycle

Monday's commute in was nothing special. Morning temperatures were around 5 degrees which was not uncomfortable, though a lighter fleece may have been better. I could stand to tweak my glove and sock situation though, as my hands and feet were a little cold (hands more so than feet)

The commute home provided much more excitement. The air wasn't extremely cold (~12 degrees?), but the road conditions were quite worthy of any superlative characteristic applied to them. I had difficulty riding east on 6th Street since it had barely been plowed and tire ruts in the snow made me fishtail considerably. I opted for the sidewalk and limped down to 10th Avenue before I got on the Hiawatha LRT trail. Overall that was nice and easy, some spots with drifting made me fishtail a bit but not I could breathe easy as I was out of the way of traffic.

I took this trail to the Greenway which was also relatively clear (small amounts of snow but manageable - they must have cleared at least once during the day). Getting onto 34th Avenue was difficult if not impossible. I had to deal with more tire ruts and extreme fishtailing so again I went to the sidewalk. Some sections had been cleared, making my life much easier, but there challenging intervals for those that hadn't been scooped. As long as I maintained a good speed I plowed through without difficulty.

When I got home I realized that my feet were frozen. I hadn't worn the plastic bags over my socks to keep the wind off and most of my attention had been spent trying to stay upright on two wheels, not on avoiding frostbite. I've gotta remember that.

When I rode on Saturday conditions had improved markedly. Plows had been through several times, and although there was much snow pack on the streets, the studded tires had no problems forging me ahead. The north wind did make me work a little harder.

I'm excited for the week ahead. The forecast has highs in the double digits, so hopefully I'm able to bike in three or four times.