Mea Culpa

Sigh... Yesterday I got all crabby about the impending doom all the news people were forcasting. Then, I wake up this morning to pictures of the massive back-ups on 270 because of the slippery roads.

Should I just apologize for taking the dire warnings lightly, or should I complain that where there are constand warnings about the weather, people begin to take them lightly?

From the Columbus Dispatch

A light coating of snow combined with freezing temperatures to turn freeway bridges throughout Franklin County into sheets of ice last night, causing crashes everywhere.

There was a chain-reaction crash on a bridge in the eastbound lanes of I-270 north, about a quarter-mile west of I-71. About 20 vehicles were scattered over the highway in pinball fashion, as one after another hit ice and spun out, hitting other vehicles.

"It was ice and I just could not stop," said Pat Shirp, whose SUV rammed the back of a car driven by Aaron Hurney, who slowed when he saw the crash.

A second set of cars crashed less than a half-mile away, on the Outerbelt at I-71.

Southbound Rt. 315 had multiple crashes, including one south of Kinnear Road, one at Ackerman Road and another at the Riverside Methodist Hospital curve. And westbound I-670 near Downtown was covered with wrecked cars.

There were no serious injuries reported.

Mary Carran Webster, Columbus' assistant director of public service, said city salt crews went out about 10 p.m., though she said many of the overpasses on Rt. 315 had been treated with brine earlier in the afternoon. The Ohio Department of Transportation is responsible for salting most of the freeways in central Ohio.

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White Death

I woke up around 3:00 this morning. There was a light dusting of snow outside. I did not even think about it. After all, the weather people have been calling for snow for a few days now. This little bit of snow wasn't really any cause for concern. After falling back asleep, the alarm clock went off around 6:00.

At 6:00, there was maybe 1/32 of an inch of snow on the ground. I did not think much of it until I turned on the television. Oh boy, it was only then I realized the peril we were all facing. Slippery roads, low visibility... Please leave early to make sure you don't die on your way to work.

Despite the warnings of certain death, I still go on the bike this morning. I rode in the weather that causes normal people to hoard bread and eggs. It was cold. There was a short period where the snow fell pretty heavily. I escaped unscathed.

The best part? Riding over the Route 70 overpass and seeing traffic backed up. I know that when traffic is backed up at the Wilson Road overpass, I am actually making it to school faster than I would if I were driving.

All this over a light dusting of snow...

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Are you still riding?

The e-mail came a few days ago. It was simple. It only said, "Are you still riding?"

The answer is yes. I'm still on the bike whenever I get the chance. This past month has been nuts. There have been several things that have come up that took up most of my time.  First, there was a brief hospital stay.  After that, my son got very ill.  Finally, major issues at school were occupying almost all of my free time.  That's my past month in a nut shell.  

But I have been riding.  I'll tell you what, commuting in November is very different from commuting in the summer.  Ohio weather is predictably unpredictable.  Here are the temperatures for a recent ride...

My house when I leave at 6:45 am:  32 degrees F

School when I arrive at 7:30 am:  38 degrees F

School when I leave at 4:00 pm:  60 degrees F 

I pretty much need three different outfits for one day's commute.  This is the fun time of the year to be on a bike.

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Words of encouragement

Today's commute was wet. Very wet. Total downpour type of wet. I was riding down Trabue and a truck pulled up next to me and said ...

"You're f---ing crazy!"

Then, through my rain soaked glasses, I saw a thumbs up coming from the window.

My day started of great because of this guy.

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Yesterday's windstorm (with Xtracycle pictures)

I have ridden my bike in countless thunderstorms, in a blizzard, and now, in hurricane force winds. I was lucky. Nothing bad happened to me other than a mess of tree limbs and leaves in my back yard. We only lost power for a few minutes.

Here are some pictures of yesterday's storm.

This is the fountain in the neighborhood pond. Usually it sprays about ten feet straight up. Not yesterday. It sprayed about ten feet to the side.

This is one of countless trees that were snapped.

A street sign was also destroyed.

Another tree cut down by the wind.

My neighbor's tree and playset.


















What is one to do after a storm like that? Go out and help the people who need it. The Xtracycle was the perfect tool for helping neighbors. The yard sweeper (I took off the bag because it was like a sail!) fit perfectly on the wide loader. The snapdeck was the perfect place for a rake. The other freeloader held the sweeper's bag, a small saw and yard waste bags.

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All hail the Superflash

There probably only a few commuters who have not heard of Planet Bike's Superflash. This is one amazing light. I have had mine since last spring and cannot imagine riding without them. I ride with one on my seatpost and another on my rear rack.

At night, this light will light up the neighborhood. I cannot tell you how many times I have been stopped at a stoplight and car will pull up to me to say I look like a police car.

At night it is easy. Bright lights are obvious. The real test came this week. Wednesday brought us the remnants of hurricane Faye. A pretty good rain was pouring down on me. It was overcast and gray. You probably know the creepy not quite light, not quite dark scenario. I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but I think this is when I am least visible.

At a stoplight, a driver commented on how visible I was. She told me, "I could see you as soon as I pulled out of Panera." I figured that was somewhere between a half mile to three-quarters of a mile.

Another driver asked me about the lights because he also rode. He said he had never seen anything like it.

This morning was another test. The two days of rain left Columbus with a heavy fog. When I got to school, my neighbor emailed me. He wanted to let me know that my bike was more visible than all other cars on the road.

If the brightness on this light is not enough to convince you to get one, keep this in mind... Planet Bike donates 25% of its profits to bicycling advocacy. That's not enough? How about free shipping on all replacement parts? Still not enough? How about free shipping if you are a member of any bicycling advocacy group? Planet Bike doesn't just have a great product, they also have a great company.

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Ohio weather, you gotta love it

Yesterday  I had to run some errands.  I think I was out of the house for a tad over an hour.  While I was on the bike, I rode through rain, hail and snow.  I love this stuff.  

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Biking in a blizzard

As a Boy Scout I learned a very important phrase. "Be Prepared." My friends and family all laughed when I would diligently put one bottle from every six pack into storage. It took a while, but I ended up with more than 150 bottles of beer. (The two other boxes also contain beer.) My family may be out of milk and lunch meat, but I have plenty of beer.Even so, I felt the need to go out today. Getting milk and lunch meat would have been nice, but the real reason I wanted to head to the store was so that in 50 years, I can say, "You kids have it easy today. Fifty years ago, I rode my bike in a blizzard." This ranked among the top 50 stupid things I have done.
The snow is about knee deep. I figured if I was in the tire tracks left by the cars, I would be fine. Wrong. Even though the cars made a decent path, the snow was still about 3 inches deep. I was sliding all over the place. I fell more than once.

My wife snapped another picture as I slid down the street. She liked it because she likes to see people fall down. I liked it because the guy in the background watched me as I rode past and just shook his head.

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Snow Days

Today's trip was more of a "I have to get out of the house" trip. School was canceled on Tuesday because it was cold and snowy. It was probably to treacherous to be out. It may have been a good thing to call off school. Today, it was... well... it was just a tad bit worse than it was when they called off school because the roads were too wet.

Still, I went out. It was not as bad as I would have thought. In fact, I would have ridden a little further if I would have been able to shift gears. I took the Univega out and the derailleur and the rear cog ended up frozen solid. This was the only time I wished I owned a fixed gear bicycle.

Rides like this are what grounds me in cycling. It was cold, but not unpleasant. In fact, I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be out in the weather. Really. I was on the bike in 20 degree weather and snow covered roads. But it was fun. The lady who yelled "You're crazy!" was right on target.

A while back, another blog asked "why do you commute?" When an overwhelming majority answered, "Because it is fun." Someone had the nerve to complain. Waaahhh.... you should ride because it is good for the environment. You should ride because the evil oil companies will suffer. Nope. I do it simply because I enjoy it.

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It's too cold to ride

I woke up this morning and read the thermometer. Eighteen freaking degrees. It got colder and windier all day long. This ten degrees is a load of crap. The weather station is saying the wind is 27 mph. That's pretty steady. The gusts are about 40 mph.

10 degrees plus 27 mph winds equals -11 degrees wind chill.

A wind chill of negative 11 means I am staying inside.

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Dude, there is something seriously wrong with you.

I have not had much of a chance to ride during the last week. It has been a little bit sad and a lot cold. Last Monday I had one of my best rides in a long time. It was the trip home from church. When I left, it was cold and starting to snow. When I was one my way home, it was colder and snowing even more.

I have come to enjoy riding in the cold. It is not nearly as bad as anyone would think. Instead it is almost enjoyable. It's not the attention whore "look at me" kind of enjoyable. Instead, it is "here I am, where no one dares to go" kind of enjoyable. Imagine going for a walk in some fresh snow. It is the exact same feeling, except more intense. I was riding, surrounded by 30 degree temperatures. I watched the snow fall onto me and my bike. My arms were covered in snow. I saw snow blowing across the road, then I rode through that snow.

It is fun.

Today was the simple trip to Kroger. It was about 20 degrees. I've been trying to find the lower limit of riding. I think this is it. It was cold. It was damn cold. Not too cold for the short trip, but too cold for anything much further. As I left Kroger, some guy told me, "Dude, there is something seriously wrong with you." Nothing too wrong. Just a perverse please from riding in the cold.

Gas savings to date: $7.63

CO2 saved to date 47.99

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Too cold to ride today

I don't care what this says. The high temperature in my neck of the woods was a brisk 15 degrees F. That was without the wind chill. I am sure you can look around on the internet and find someone who would be out during weather like this, but I am not one of those people.

Instead, I stayed inside all day. I cooked a killer pot roast. I played around on the internets. While playing around, I found this website that gives some interesting statistics about bicycle commuting.

There are a couple of interesting facts (all cited) on the website, but these three really made a point to me. I know I often harp on the environmental aspect of cycling, but the health aspect is equally as important.

• Behind tobacco, the leading cause of death among adults is a sedentary lifestyle
• 61% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. 13% of kids 6-11 and 14% of kids 12-19 are overweight. Obesity os second behind tobacco in U.S. health risk, contributing to 300,000 deaths a year.
• The number one strategy for reducing a sedentary lifestyle is to shift from driving to walking and/or bicycling

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