Bicycling in Bloomington

 I did not get to ride much this week. I was away two days and the other days, I needed the car. Tomorrow, I will commute to work just because I want to. However, my wife will have to pick me up because I will be on campus until 7 PM. I rode on my trainer four mornings.

Today (Sunday), it was 22^o when it was time to exercise. I decided to run instead of riding. I am going to try to run more this year. I ran for about 85 minutes which is long for me, especially considering I have done only 2-3 3-4 mile runs since Thanksgiving.

Running in Bloomington is somewhat like biking. Generally, it’s a pretty good place to run. Today, I ran on the sidewalks for almost the entire run. Many sidewalks were icy and snow-covered. I have been running for more than 35 years. Prior to coming to Bloomington, I lived in PA, MD, and CT. Each has substantially more snow than Bloomington. I’ve learned how to handle ice and snow when running, so it doesn’t bother me. In fact, it’s a good skill to practice regularly.

Bloomington has an ordinance that requires property owners to clear their sidewalks of snow and ice after snow. It is not enforced and few property owners clear their sidewalks. This behavior causes pedestrians (and unskilled runners) to run or walk on the street with the cars. A dangerous situation.

However, it doesn’t snow often and not much when it does. So, outdoor running can be done most of the year.

 It was a cold weekend in Bloomington, so I did not ride outdoors. Saturday is typically a rest day for me. Sunday, it was zero at 8 AM, so I trained indoors. I did two DVD sessions over 1.25 hours. The second session was rated 9.5 on a 10 scale. It was challenging but it’s often fun to be challenged on a bike.

Today (Monday), it was cold again, so I trained indoors. I was going to commute to campus by bike but I had so much stuff to bring in that all of it didn’t fit in my backpack. I had to drive. I’ll be away until Thursday, so not much riding this week.

Saturday morning, I attended at presentation by “walkability expert” - Dan Burden. He designs Walkable Communities. He included a fair amount of information about bicycling in his presentation. His suggestions for improving transportation flow included creating narrow lanes for car traffic, slowing speed limits, and creating more bike lanes. However, his bike lanes are different from those in Bloomington. He recommends 6″-7″ depending on the roadway and parking. Wider bike lanes would also mean the road debris might get moved farther to the right, and allow safer use of the lanes. Changing  the roadways to slow speeds and improve traffic flow and at the same time, increasing bicycling and pedestrian use is a very good goal for all cities.

During his presentation a thought came to me - why do we consider biking, walking, and mass transit as “alternative transportation?” It would be better to consider car and truck traffic as alternative transportation.

 This week was reasonably good far for commuting. I was able to commute Monday - Wednesday. Today, the snow was too wet. Tuesday, however, I had to transport the bike home. When I got to a stop light about 1.5 miles from home, my rear brake would not work. Squeezing it felt like on the cables were moving and the calipers were stuck. I checked to sure the brakes weren’t rubbing and continued to work.

When I got to work, I tried to diagnose the problem. Almost immediately, the brake cable went limp and I couldn’t seem to fix it. It was about 20^o, so I decided that it would be better to fix it at home. My wife picked me and the bike up on her way home from work. When I got the bike into the garage and re-strung the brake, it worked fine.

Wednesday, a similar problem occurred on the commute to work but I decided not to be concerned about it. Going home, the brake worked fine. I guess the problem is related to the cold weather. I need to stop by the Bike Garage and ask them about it.

Mitch Rice, a fellow Bloomington biking blogger, wrote an article for the IU News Room that describes his winter commuting - Bike Riding, Weather or Not. I recommend it.  

Mitch is more likely to ride on wet days than I am. I don’t mind the wet much but the possibility of frozen fingers on the roads makes me cautious. I can’t remember how many times I said to myself - a body in motion stays in motion - as I crossed an ice patch that I hadn’t seen in time. I generally ride home as the sun is setting and on the shady parts of Sare Rd, the ice causes serious concerns.  

So far this year, I’ve been fairly active even though I haven’t been out on the bike often. I rode the trainer or ran 5 days each week. This year, I decided I needed to be more flexible, so I started doing yoga. It’s harder than I thought but I’m starting to see some benefits. I hope that when biking season starts, I am better able to look behind me and that my leg muscles are more flexible.

Enjoying all the weather but looking forward to the warmer, sunny days.

 My guideline for bicycle and bad weather is 15^o as the minimum when sunny and dry and 35^o when raining. Today, the average temperature on my two thermometers was 34^o and there was a rain and snow mix when I wanted to go out at 9 AM. Usually, I would run when I can’t bike but I’m resting a small injury to my calf, so I rode indoors.

I like riding indoors for a few reasons. First, it gets me on the bike. But, mostly because it’s so efficient. For a long time, I had a trainer but didn’t use it often or like it much when I did. Last year, my daughter bought me a Troy Jacobsen DVD for my birthday. After using it a few times, I learned to like riding indoors with the direction that comes from a DVD. Since then, I’ve accumulated 4 additional DVDs and each works well for me under different circumstances.

Today, I rode a virtual reality ride - 17 miles in about 50 minutes. The ride starts relatively easy where my HR was in the 120s. After about 15 minutes, my HR went into my lactic threshold that I assume is between 135 and 140. For most of the ride, my HR was 145 - 160. At my age, my max HR is less than 160, so this was a demanding ride for me. It would be very unusual for me to ride that hard outside. With the warmup and warmdown, it was a good hour of riding.

Similarly, when I ride indoors in the morning, I can choose among workouts that range from about 35 - 50 minutes. Each is a little different and each emphasizes different aspects of riding. For example, a couple workouts have one-legged spin sets that I would never do on my own. For a day with limited time to exercise, a 30 minute hard spin session on a trainer is very efficient.

Generally, Bloomington has reasonable weather for riding but for those days when the weather is bad, when I have to exercise before sunrise, or when I just want to spend my time most efficiently, training indoors with a DVD works for me. Of course, nothing beats a nice day outside on the bike.

 Today was the first commute on my bike for what I guess might be almost a month. Some minor health issues, holidays, bad weather, and the need to run errands that couldn’t be done on a bike resulted in a long break from commuting. I think that most years, I have an extended period when I don’t commute. I hope that my regular commuting pattern is back.

Today was relatively pleasant. I had sun and mild temperatures both directions. Got home just at sundown. Any day on a bike for a few miles is a good day.

 Warm Winter Day

Today was very warm for January. When I started my ride at about 9, the temperature was nearly 50^o. When I finished about 11, it was 53^o in my backyard. I rode almost 28 miles following the same route as last week. I didn’t take the Bloomington rail trail home but chose a more direct route.

The roads were wet and gritty. My bike was dirty when I got home and I could tell the grit was getting into the drive train in the last few miles. Fortunately, by late afternoon, the temperature was about 60, so I was able to clean the bike and lube the chain, etc. The bike is ready for commuting this week.

Some details:

• The traffic was very light. I hardly saw a car before 10:30.
• Down by Lake Monroe, the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the ride. It looks like most ice on the Lake had melted.
• For the past two rides, I’ve used my small chain ring (2 to climb the Stipp Rd hill. For years, it was not unusual to slip out once or twice on steep hills when the roads had winter grit on them. In the little ring, I can sit back comfortably and never push hard to climb the hills. I’ve learned to tolerate a little slip from my mountain bike riding but it’s still scary on a road bike.

I don’t think I’ve ever ridden 58 miles in January, so this might be a good year for biking for me.

 Winter Riding

Generally, I think Bloomington has good riding weather. The summers can be hot but the temperatures are tolerable. The fall and spring have nice weather, for the most part. And, it’s possible to ride through most of the winter. For me, I don’t ride often in the winter but I still try to commute each day.

However, some days, the weather makes riding too difficult for me. Today was one of them. It was about 4^o this morning. That’s colder than I care to ride but I know that it can be done. My fellow Bloomington bicycling blogger, apertome, rode this morning. I didn’t ride for three reasons. First, it was too cold and I’ve been recovering from a cold. Second, yesterday’s snow caused some ice and snow buildup along the sides of the roads. For the parts of my commute on Sare Rd, it’s dangerous enough without losing the sides of the road. Third, I had to go to the far side of town for an errand before going to campus.

While I don’t get to ride outdoors much in the winter (besides commuting), I often ride a trainer. For a long time, I had a trainer but didn’t use it often. I didn’t much enjoy spinning indoors because it seemed almost pointless. Last year, I got a few indoor bicycling DVDs and my attitude changed. The DVDs provide the structure needed to make a workout work.

I think that my time on the trainer using a DVD is more efficient for improving my bicycling than most outdoor rides. I noticed on my ride last Sunday that let my mind wander while riding and often forget to push a little harder or use correct form. (By the way, I think that’s a good thing for the most part.) Indoors, the instruction and changes during the workouts require focus. I find the time goes fast. The room I exercise in is generally 50^o or cooler in the winter and I am completely sweated after 30-40 minutes.

So, while I miss riding outdoors, I don’t miss riding.