Michael R. Head ([info]suppressingfire) wrote,
@ 2008-10-15 09:29:00
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Current location:Hawthorne, NY
Current mood: hungry
Current music:Gentle spin of the ventilation fan
Entry tags:cycling, personal

Biked to work for the first time today
I biked to work today. Not too bad... there's a pretty serious grade right up front, but the rest of the ride is fine. The showers at the office are decent.

It's a ~3.3 mile trip and, if I'm reading the topo maps right, a ~300' climb. It took about half an hour. Hopefully I can bring that down before it gets too cold. I'll be in this job until Jan 31 and would like to bike at least few days a week until then.

Anyone have suggestions for cold weather biking?


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[info]yehoshua
2008-10-15 02:19 pm UTC (link)
Barring physical problems or really terrible traffic engineering, you can certainly bring that down. My current commute is a hair under 2 miles and if I hit all the lights green I can make it in six minutes (yes, I've timed it).

For cold weather biking: good synthetic base layer, a fleece that would be comfortable if it were 25° warmer and a shell garment like a wind breaker are my riding basics whenever the temperature dips below 40°. Note that, by this math, there are temps when I'm skipping the insulation or wind breaker. Mix and match, man.

Check out your local bike shop for caps designed to be warm and cover your ears while fitting under a helmet. You can also make your helmet a bit warmer by putting packing tape over the vents (either all of them or just the ones in front). I wear skiing gloves on my hands because I'd rather my fingers be too warm than too cool (I like being able to use the brakes).

For feet, honestly, just save a couple of bread bags and put them between your socks and your shoes. It's way cheaper than a most of the fancy solutions, but the tech is almost identical.

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[info]suppressingfire
2008-10-15 03:02 pm UTC (link)
Cool. Yeah, I'm extremely out of shape: about 15 lb. over my former "usual" weight of 185. And I seem to be carrying it all over my belt buckle.

About half the ride is on a proper paved bike path through the woods, 1/3rd is on regular 30mph city streets, and the remaining 1/6th is on a 4 lane highway, so I do expect to bring that time down by quite a lot.

There's a nice little bike shop (http://www.tarrytowncycles.com/homepage.html) about a block from my apartment and another a few blocks further (http://mtbike.mountainzone.com/bikeshops/detail.asp?bid=89534) that I intend to check out this weekend. If their prices suck, I'll probably go online.

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