Bicycling in Bloomington

 I have not been on the bike since last Tuesday. It’s the weather !!

I don’t particularly mind cold weather and wet weather is generally fine. But, cold, wet weather causes problems for me. My morning commute from home to College Mall Rd has a number places where the road is narrow and shaded. There are a few consistently dangerous spots on Sare Rd that seem to gather moisture during the day and freeze overnight. If Sare Rd had little traffic, it would be possible to avoid the ice but the road is heavily travelled, and narrow and curvy in places.

I have some experience riding in ice and snow and after doing it for awhile, I decided it wasn’t much fun. Of course, it’s not much different from off-road riding in many ways. Last Friday, it snowed and iced. I drove my spouse to work and was driving towards my office when I saw a bicyclist riding on 7^th St. I’m fairly certain it was my fellow Bloomington biking blogger - Ear to the Breeze. The look on his face was similar to what I feel riding down a rooty, rutty, rocky hill on a mountain bike. His words.

A second reason that I don’t commute in wet weather is because I often need the car to arrive a meetings in clean clothes. I work in a building that is more than a mile from most of my meetings. It’s always faster to ride than drive to the meetings. When the roads are dry, it’s fun to ride. But, I don’t like to arrive at meetings with wet, gritty pants from wet roads.

Together, the cold, wet weather has prevented me from riding for a week. I’m happy that I can ride the trainer and run occasionally. And I’m looking forward to better weather.

 I was able to commute to campus yesterday and today. Yesterday, I waited until the snow stopped in the morning and had a pleasant sunny ride in. During the afternoon, a number of heavy snow showers covered the ground and made the roads wet. The temperature dropped over the day.

The snow and colder temperatures caused my drive train to be covered with frozen snow. It seemed to function well after the crust broke. The ride home was in a snow shower but it wasn’t terrible. I am always concerned about drivers when snow or other conditions might distract them but the commute went fine.

This morning, it was 13^o when I left for campus. It was sunny but windy. I wasn’t cold except for my hands but they weren’t as cold as last week. I tried a different pair of gloves. This evening’s commute was cold but I was glad for the chance to be riding outside.

Interesting thing happened on the way home. I stopped for the light at College Mall and Moore’s Pike. While waiting my turn behind 6 cars, a bicyclist passed me and rode to the front of the line. After the light changed, I figured that I should catch up to him so there weren’t 2 bikes 15-30 yards apart and causing problems for cars on the narrow part of Sare Rd. He wasn’t riding as fast as I was, so he slowed traffic. As a result, a car was caught beside me and had to drive partially in the other lane. Even worse, as the cars slowed for him, I didn’t so I was going faster than the cars and creating more problems. A bad situation. If he had waited in line, he would have done the right thing, and we could have travelled the narrow road together for more safety. Oh, well.

Tonight, snow is predicted, so I guess that I might not ride again for a couple days.  

 I rode outside only two days this week. Monday, I commuted to campus. It was 12^o when I left home. When I started up the street, I noticed that my chain and cogs were completely rusty. The last time I rode, it was muddy and wet and I forgot to clean the bike. Also, my front tire had little air. I forget about maintenance when I don’t ride often.

The low air was a benefit in a way. Gravity usually takes me up to about 27 mph going down the hill on Sare Rd. Monday, I reached only 20 mph. It was so cold that I was grateful to go slower.

I was warm riding in with a sweater and a windbreaker. But, my hands got cold after 2 miles. The third mile really made them cold. When I got to campus, I struggled to make the cable and lock work in the cold and with cold hands.

I also commuted to campus on Saturday. It was a nice day, so I was happy for another chance to ride to work. The rest of the week, the road conditions were not so good or I had commitments that required a car.

As usual, I rode on a trainer most mornings. So, my bicycling is doing fine, even if my riding isn’t.

This coming week looks like more of the same. Wet weather predicted for tomorrow. It’s possible to ride through the winter in Bloomington because it rarely gets too cold but the wet, cold weather makes riding on the busy roads a bit challenging.

 This week, I was able to commute only once. While I did not get out much this week, I was able to ride indoors Monday - Thursday. Today (Sunday), it was cold (16^o in backyard) and windy at 8:30 AM when it was time for me to go out, so I decided to ride indoors.

Riding indoors is not as much fun as outdoor riding but it’s at least as challenging for me. Most DVDs that I watch use some form of interval training. Reps range from 20 seconds to about 2 minutes. The videos have a variety of sets of high speed spinning, one-legged throws, pyramids, builds, and other forms of intervals. The sets range from tolerable to very challenging. I have a couple DVDs that are more than 40 minutes but most of those I do range from 30-40 minutes. That’s a reasonable amount of exercise time in the morning.

I have one DVD that is a simulated ride of about 17-18 miles. It’s similar to riding with a Testosterone Tom, so there a no breaks. The uphills are done in the big ring and small cogs; the downhills are high speed spins in more reasonable gears. But, there is no rest for the entire ride. The video is about 50 minutes.

I’m starting to miss riding outdoors but I believe that I will be in reasonably good shape when the weather improves.

 My January riding was more than usual but less than I hoped for. I rode at least 81 miles but almost 60 miles were done on two Sundays early in the month. However, I don’t think I recorded all my commutes, so the mileage was a little higher. While the mileage wasn’t high, I rode indoors on 21 days. Usually, indoor training is more efficient than outdoor riding but it’s not nearly as much fun.

More rides were possible in January but I chose alternate activities. For example, the past two Sundays (my long exercise day), I ran for at least 75 minutes. This morning, the temperature averaged 25^o on my two outdoor thermometers, so I chose to run. I have often gone for rides at that temp, but I’m trying to do more running this year.

I generally ride as early in the day as I can. During the summer, I try to get out at first light. In the winter, I try to get out as close to 8 AM as I can. This morning, I would have experienced a lot of ice on the roadsides if I had gone for my typical winter ride. I could tell because I ran along some of the route. Later in the day, the same ride would have been much more pleasant.

Winter weather in Bloomington generally is not too bad and many days, it’s nice after the sun has warmed the air. For those who ride in the afternoons, it’s possible to ride comfortably through most of the winter.