Nice day for a ride

Plopped the kids in front of a DVD and stole away for a quick ride this afternoon.  

The roads are really nice right now.  

I put these moustache bars on my road bike for the winter.  They are mitten-friendly and are an absolute blast.

Spooky winter woods... 

A Good Ride

In the summer, pretty much every commute is a good ride.  The air is warm.  You can speed along without having to look out for patches of ice and snow.  It's never dark out.  You smile a lot. 

In the winter, however, you can go days on end without a good ride.  It's cold, dark, and lonely, and you often wonder if it's all worth it.  Oh, I know I'm supposed to say that every ride is a "good ride," and I suppose they all are to the extent that you get to breathe fresh air, exercise, save the planet from vehicular destruction and all that.  But a ride that feels good on a soul level - those are few and far between this time of year.

Last night, I had my first good ride home in over a week.  The arctic grip had loosened a bit. The wind had abated, and there was a faintly perceptible lightness to the air.  I don't know what it is about really cold air, but it has a thickness such that you can pedal with all your might and yet you still don't seem to be going anywhere. I haven't been out of my middle chainring since November.  (I'm sure my Neanderthal era mountain bike outfitted with heavy studded tires and full panniers, together weighing a click less than a loaded school bus, doesn't help matters.)  It's been so frustrating lately, hopelessly spinning my wheels through this cold weather, that I've taken to riding out of the saddle a lot more than I do during the summer, just so that I can feel like I'm making some progress.  But last night was different.  I hammered on the pedals and I moved.  My tires skipped across the pavement.  I went fast.  I smiled.

This morning was similarly delightful, and I saw more cyclists out than I've seen since before the snow came.  I know it won't last, but the good rides last night and this morning are tiny glimpses of that ecstatic delight that a winter commuter feels when the spring finally arrives. Then I look at the calender in disbelief that it's not even winter yet!

You still riding?

If you're a year-round bike commuter in Milwaukee, you already know that from now until the thermometer hits 65 again you will be the regular recipient of one question from co-workers and acquaintances.  That question is: "You still riding?"  I suppose it beats the stock "how's it going" or "what's up" that usually follow the initial greeting, but after a while it becomes a tiresome question to answer.  I know that I should relish the opportunity to share with others the "good news" about bike commuting and how it is surprisingly easy to do even during the winter (if I can pull it off, believe me, anyone can).  But it does get awful tiresome.

If in a feisty mood, I'll respond with snottiness.  For instance:

"You still riding your bike to work?"

"Yep.  You still driving your car to work?"  

       or...

"Hey, I saw you riding your bike today!"

"Oh yeah?  How 'bout that.  I saw you driving your minivan today!"

But that's not a nice way to behave, so usually I answer the question by reciting my general winter riding rule: "I ride unless it's below zero."  I'm not even sure if that's really my rule because, come to think of it, I haven't had many opportunities to ride below zero (although it does sound unpleasant).  Maybe I share that rule with others because people are comforted by the idea that even insane people have boundaries, however unreasonable those boundaries may be.

I know the real winter weather hasn't yet begun, but riding around in the chilly weather has been so fun lately, my answer ought to be "Hell, yeah, I'm still riding!"

Late November on the Oak Leaf Trail

Beautiful day today.  Low 20s.  A little windy, but the skies were blue and the sun felt good.  

 

2010 Milwaukee Bike Plan Approved

Good news for cycling in Milwaukee!  The City of Milwaukee's Common Council approved the 2010 Milwaukee Bike Plan yesterday.  Read about it here.  For more information about the Bike Plan, look here. 

Fenders

Back when I was a kid growing up in Southern California, the only folks who had fenders on their bikes were leathery old white guys weaving down the Venice Beach boardwalk on beach cruisers high on airplane glue. That was the '70s, and unless you had a racing-style "ten speed" bike with skinny tires, you weren't shi'ite. Nowadays, utility bikes are becoming more popular, and, as a result, more bikes are sporting fenders. This is a good thing. 

I'm a firm believer in commuting in whatever bike you got. So if you've been meaning to try out the bike commuting thing and all you have in your basement is a carbon fiber time trial bike or a rusty old Huffy, then go ahead and ride it for crying out loud. It'll work for the time being, and then you'll figure out what exactly you need to make bike commuting more of a long-term reality. I commuted for a while in the Midwest without fenders and it worked out fine, but once I installed fenders on my bike, I found that I was able to ride more days and arrive at my destination looking considerably more dignified. Nothing like being drenched from your crotch down with brown street water (even when it's not raining) to make you realize that fenders are required equipment. 

I'm always happy to see other bike commuters out on the road. When I see a commuter riding a bike with fenders, however, I smile. I interpret it as the rider's declaration that his or her bike is a respectable mode of transportation, which it is. Plus, I think fenders look nice. Fenders are cheap and most bike shops carry a good selection of them. They're easy to install if you feel like trying it yourself. Otherwise, the bike shop will do it for you.

How to bike commute if you have to wear a suit to work

photo by .faramarz

I'm from Southern California, so it goes without saying that I hate wearing a suit. That's not to say that I'm a slob. I harbor no fantasies of being able to stay home all day in my PJs. I like to put on nice clothes, get out of the house, and project a respectable (albeit false) image of myself in public. I just think there's something weird about wearing a color-matched wool body suit, buttoning up my shirt to the point of semi-strangulation and topping it off with a completely useless band of colorful fabric tied around my neck. I mean, you can't even wash the outfit without hiring someone who is trained in the chemical process known as "dry cleaning." 

Look, I knew when I signed up for law school that I would have to wear a suit from time to time. However, coming out of law school I wound up getting a job with an old school, suit-and-tie-all-day-even-when-you're-in-the-office law firm. Just my luck.

Having to wear a suit at work poses interesting logistical issues for the four-season bike commuter. First, let me say that unless I'm riding from my office to the courthouse, I never ride in a suit. I know that it's fashionable nowadays to engage in Web-inspired fantasies of importing elegant Euro-style cycling to America. Cycling in a suit is feasible in a place like Denmark because their 50-pound "city bikes" never top 6 miles per hour and the commutes there are generally flatter and shorter than they are here. Plus, Europeans don't have the hang-ups we Americans have about body odor. In America, commutes can be long, hilly, and downright sweaty. Suddenly that dashing Euro-man cycling in the suit doesn't look so dashing any more. In fact, now he looks like a lunatic. And he smells bad, too.   

So here's what I do. I keep every suit I own in my office. This works out well because I've been able to declare my home a "suit-free zone," which contributes to my overall piece of mind when I'm at home. During the summer, I commute in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and change when I get to the office. I keep all my ties and my dress shoes in my desk. I get my suits cleaned at a cleaners near my office. As for my dress shirts, I wash them at home because I'm cheap. I roll the shirt carefully and place it in my pannier (bike bag) before my ride. Rolling the shirt - as opposed to folding it - keeps it from getting wrinkled.

If I have to go to court in the middle of the day, I'll ride across downtown to the courthouse with my suit on, Copenhagen style. My commuter bikes all have platform pedals (no toe clips or clip-in shoes) so I can ride in dress shoes. At the end of the day, it's off with my suit and back into my causals so I can sweat to my heart's delight. Logistics during the rest of the year are not much different, except that I trade my shorts in for old khakis or cords. In the cooler months, I'll wear my dress shirt on my commute because I don't sweat much and it's just easier.  

That's all there is to it. So even if you have to wear a suit at work (my condolences), you, too, can be a bike commuter!