Commuting, Riding, and Related Activities
January 18, 2008 at 2:41 am | In Commuting, weather conditions |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 20o, 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.
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Aside from commuting, I haven’t done much of anything during the week. I know I’ll regret it once it starts getting warmer again and I try to go on a longer ride. I’m lucky I have a low-traffic commute, that makes it easier for me to keep riding.
Comment by Apertome — January 18, 2008 #