Bicycling in Bloomington

 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.