Bishbike

Quick and chilly 25 mile out and back to Concord in between new house stuff and teaching. Not much else to report. No turkeys, turtles, or errant drivers.

rholland1951

Ugh! Anybody ride in this stuff? A tip o' the hat if so...

As an anodyne for this coprophagous weather, here are a few pictures from Sunday's ride that don't involve cranberries...

Peeping through the fence at the Shawsheen River.


The Minuteman had a carpet of leaves in spots.


Greeter, Maple Street, Carlisle.


Beavers in residence, also Maple Street.


Curve Street cyclists starting young.


Summertime has done gone bye (Curve Street).


Up hill and down dale on Route 225; I clocked 34 mph on one of the hills (down).






Sure was a pretty day for a ride. The weatherman is making promising noises about the weekend. In the meantime...

rod

DBrim

I was planning on it and at the last second I changed my mind. Good thing, too, because my commute home would be all headwind. Part of me wants to ride the tailwind to work tomorrow.

jimmuller 

I haven't ridden since Monday. External influences, only one of which is the weather (that is especially nasty right now), have been getting in the way. I'm glad some of you are getting out.

David325

Riding to and from school today was an adventure. Pretty nasty out today and yesterday..

rholland1951

Bravo!

rod

DBrim

Finally got out for the first time since Monday, on my abbreviated morning commute (half a mile on either side of a bus ride). Lots of limb damage in Salem but both tires are still full of air. Tonight will be one of the few commutes left with daylight, and tomorrow will probably be a ride up the North Shore into either Gloucester or Rockport to get away from the crowds in Salem. The Marblehead Rail Trail, my go-to for weekend leisure rides, probably won't be passable for a few days.

rholland1951

Got out for 10 miles on the Minuteman tonight, a dry path except for a few puddles in the usual spots, all the big downed limbs had already been moved and the twigs and leaves that remained made for an interesting travel surface. A few flocks of migrating adolescents in Arlington, presumably connected with the high school football game in progress, a few other cyclists out, but generally pretty quiet. Too quiet, really, some of the species that make up the Night Chorus seem to have hopped a flight to Aruba, and there were stretches of unaccustomed silence that at times seemed a little creepy. Must be a Halloween thing... Kept a quick, but not blistering, pace. It was an enlivening ride.


rod

rholland1951

Had a 25-mile loop through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, and Lincoln today, all I could think of that I had time for, keeping a slow pace since my lungs seem not quite back to normal yet after the lingering chest cold. Cool, bright, and breezy, good day for a ride. The Egg is still hanging in there.


Paused in Depot Park to figure out the rest of the route. The refurbishment of the Depot is coming along; wonder if they'll restore the signals when they're done?




Enjoyed the familiar pleasures of Virginia Road, Concord, and Mill Street, Lincoln.






I was startled at how low the North end of the Cambridge Reservoir was, even after the last few days of heavy rain. I guess the drought that the local weather people occasionally mentioned was no joke.


rod

DBrim

Did 24 miles from Salem out to Rockport. Enjoyed an Italian Ice before taking the commuter rail back. Broke my single ride climbing record (1201 feet) according to MapMyRide. Pretty good day, and it was nice to be away from the bustle of Salem this time of year.

sherbornpeddler

I rode a stationary indoor bike a few times this past week and this morning went for a 6AM two mile walk. At 12:59:30 PM I easily found motivation with nearly insignificant, hardly worth mentioning, mildly helpful whisper of the benefits of enjoying the outdoors.This was ever so slightly illuminated by the glare that seemed to be coming from my Very Significant Other who coincidentally was positioned precisely between where my head lay on the couch and the Pats pre-game TV show. I made my decision to air up the tires of our bikes and insist my VSO join me for a ride. As a result of my discipline and willpower we rode south across Bogastow Brook to Forest Rd in Millis, east to Causeway St and the Charles River in Medfield, and finish the 14 mile loop going northwest on "the flats" crossing the Charles again on Death Bridge back into Sherborn. The flood plain colors were spectacular, the Fall air and wind invigorating and both Very Significant Other and I admired the merits of Fall riding and my fine decision making.

jimmuller 

Very fine decision making, sbp. It was a lovely day. (A very wise man told me (and my sweetie told me to mention this) that there only two ways to argue with a woman. Neither one of them works.)

We couldn't ride today. Played a show at Nashoba Winery in Bolton. A cool and windy but otherwise spectacular New England late October day. I get to ride my commute tomorrow for the first time since last Monday.

DBrim

Today was the first time I commuted in *both* directions (previously, I've bused in and biked out). Work doesn't have showers, but I want to find a way to keep this working. Bought some cleansing wipes for next time, which should help. Soon it will be the only way to ride in the daylight during the week, so it'll probably continue to some degree.

jimmuller 

Today I did my bike commute for the first time in a week. It was lovely. Cool this morning but not unpleasant. Took the Peugeot because it has generator-power lights, nice bight B&M LED's, plus I could also run a battery power blinky on the rear and the new 650 lumens Light&Motion LED headlight I bought a few weeks ago. I had a suspicion I'd be late coming home today and sure enough I got held up in a meeting so I couldn't leave until 10 minutes to 6. Well, it would give me a taste of what commuting would be like after DST stops. The ride home was quite pleasant. I was glad to have the extra lighting.

The stretch of the MM I rode was quite busy, a steady stream of oncoming LED's. I kept my hand over the L&M light for much of it, probably should just have turned it off. Once I hit the main roads again it was nice to have on. The trip was uneventful, which is always good. Serene even.

Tomorrow should be warmer.

rholland1951

I don't know how your L&M is mounted, but I keep the brighter of my two lights mounted just loose enough so that I can adjust its angle while riding; this allows me to emulate the high-beam/low-beam trick we all learned from driving. That's helpful on the MM, where you really want the long view when nobody's coming (it's DARK out there, and invisible pedestrians like to hide in it), but don't want to blind on-coming traffic. Downside of this is that a good bump often requires adjusting the beam angle.

How do you like the L&M?

rod

jimmuller 

How do you like your eggs?
I like them a lot, thank you.
No, I mean how do you like them cooked?
Oh, I really prefer them cooked.

Oh wait, you asked a real question. I like it a lot, thank you. It is BRIGHT on full brightness, perhaps too bright for many situations. Considering that by the time I got home last night the level indicator on the back was flashing which means "critical", I should probably run it at medium or even low output most of the time.

I do wonder about the longevity of the rubber mounting strap. I'm tempted to unmount it every night so I can plug it in though last night I rigged an extension cord so I could leave it on the bike.

And since you asked about mounting, I used it for two weeks on a T-bar thingy which clamps to the handlebar. Why? Because I like handlebar bags for carrying lunch and stuff, and if I put the light on the handlebar much of its output would hit the bag and thus hit my face instead of the road. The T-bar has a clamp which goes on an off the handlebar easily, more easily than the light's mounting strap anyway. But it would tip forward when I hit bumps unless I inserted a bit of rubber under the clamp and kept it tight. So it was B+ solution, which is why I tried something different yesterday.

Yesterday I tried mounting the light on the left-side drops, mounted sideways and rotated in its mount to point downward. That worked well in conjunction with my generator LED headlight, and I could cover it with my left hand easily. Its negative points are that the yellow side markers now pointed up and down, and I wonder how quickly the rotation axis could become too loose. Again, it's longevity. I'll probably go back to using the T-bar.

I have not yet tried its helmet mount, and probably won't.

In a nutshell, or shall I say in an eggshell, I like it a lot.

nun

This felt like one of the last warm days of the year. Out on the Minuteman Bike Path and then onto Concord for coffee and cake. Back via Rt2A and Mass Ave with a final climb up Park Ave.

rholland1951

10 miles on the Minuteman tonight, comfortable air, lots of riders, walkers with and without dogs or baby carriages, runners, skaters, just about everyone (including the dogs and baby carriages) showing lights. Was struck by how much of the trailside nightscape is actually lit up (in places by Nixon-era sodium-vapor crime lights, with their infernal glow), and tried to photograph some of it. Also managed to get some chain lube on my nose, but have no pictures of that.






rod

DBrim

Day two of morning commutes. It's fun to see things in a different light than usual on the way in:


Of course, it wasn't bad on the way out, either:


I'm settling on good layers but if I continue in the morning I'm going to need to accelerate the purchase of the next level of warmth. The last few mornings, in the mid 40s, I've been going with leg warmers and shorts, which is probably good for another 5-10 degrees. I think I might get rain pants to layer on top before I have to go full thermal tights when it gets even colder.

Meanwhile, the weather people are already making noises about snow and October isn't even over yet.

rholland1951

DBrim, that's some beautiful commute you've got!

Re dressing for Winter cycling, there's a ton of information, opinion, and experience that has been posted on the subject, and much of it can be found at Bike Forums' Winter Cycling forum. It's a somewhat tricky subject (say multivariate optimization, somebody), since you're trying to get the right amount of insulation, moisture wicking, and wind-blocking for the temperature, wind speed, humidity, precipitation, and level of physical effort met in each ride. Ignoring any variable can lead to discomfort or worse; this is one of those practice-makes-perfect things, you get better at it the more you do it, and some of the learning experiences are apt to be memorable. I find that my clothing mix changes with, roughly, every 5-degree drop in temperature, and definitely changes with wind speed. Riding in snow can be fun, but I try to avoid riding in cold rain.

Most folks end up with a mix of wool (merino wool for anything touching the skin) and various synthetics, although there are other approaches. Clothes designed for cross-country skiers often work for Winter cycling. My own choices have run to base layers of merino wool, mostly from Smartwool, and synthetic outer layers, mostly from SportHill. In particular, the SportHill 3SP XC Pants are useful, once the real cold weather sets in. Note that both the wool base layers and the synthetic outer layers come in several weights, and degrees of insulation and wind-blocking. Try to cover the range. Some days, you'll simply add more layers: one-layer days (mostly already past for this year) give way to two layer days (mostly what we have now) which give way to three-layer days (coming soon). Conditions drive your choice of how many layers, and the weight and wind-blocking of each layer.

Hands, feet, head, and face end up being special concerns.

Hands: I tried a ridiculous number of gloves over the first couple of years; most of them didn't work quite as well as I hoped they would. The standard wisdom to avoid tight gloves is correct: air pockets insulate. The Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Softshell WxB 3x1 Glove probably gets more use in real winter weather than any other glove I've got, although at some point I switch to mittens; the gloves are expensive, but functional. The store brand REI down glove is, if anything, warmer, at a fraction of the price. Finally, I picked up a pair of Empire Wool and Canvas ICE Bike Mitts: these are freakishly large, freakishly warm, and get gratefully worn a few times per season. The Empire Wool and Canvas site is worth browsing for alternatives to the merino wool/synthetics dominant paradigm, and is simply fun. Those boys are from Duluth, so they know from cold.

Feet: If you're running platform pedals, you may find yourself wearing boots on the bike; if you use cleats, there are some exotic alternatives (e.g., Lake). Merino wool socks help, socks liners are good in some cases, some folks use external booties. Again, avoid combinations of shoes and socks that are too tight; you want the wool socks to be able to do their insulating job, which they can't do if they're squashed.

Head & Face: A simple skull cap (beanie) can make you feel much warmer. As the temperature drops, a balaclava (merino wool) or face mask adds comfort, and, at some threshold, prevents frostbite. At low temperatures, some of us find ski goggles really useful; the cold, dry air can lead to cold, dry eyes, which are no fun and don't work as well as warm, moist eyes.

YMMV. Enjoy!

rod

jimmuller 

I did my commute again, as usual. This morning was fogggggyyyyy, so foggy I had to take my glasses off once I got to Arlington. It was both serene and eerie.

The run home was also interesting. I managed to scrape a pedal against a curb approaching Four Corners in Woburn. It didn't hurt the pedal or me but it just sliced through the leather toe strap. (In a moment I must go replace it.) So I threaded the free end though the outer loop on the pedal cage and attached the now-free buckle to it to hold it in place, then pulled some of the other end through the bottom of the pedal so I could get my foot into it, then continued on my way.

The MM offered a hazy, mysterious green-and-gold dusk experience, not quite dark enough to actually require bright lights, but not bright enough to let me see much without them.

I tried a new route from the MM to Waverley Sq to avoid Rt 60 completely. I took a right on Lake St, went under Rt 2, went left on Cross to Belmont Center. It was a nice run except that the first few blocks of Cross was heavily cratered. Then the traffic level in Belmont Center was off-the-charts ridiculous. I've been seeing drivers lose patience with each other this week, and in B.C. they had reason to. After some delay I made it across and took a left on Common then right on Waverley. Not a bad run either except that the first block was heavily uphill (with a surface under repair too) and I hadn't downshifted accordingly. Next time I'll know better! Of course when I got to Waverley Sq the traffic was just like B.C. I stood and waited and stood and waited and stood and waited until finally everyone had to stop in both directions and I squeezed across. Even so, it was a nice run home!

Hugh Morris

Cold dry eyes? Not so much. Cold crying eyes? Very much. Ski goggles are my savior below freezing. I'd wear them at 50 degrees if I didn't care what people thought but let's be real I need to look super cool on my bicycle...

Biking to work circa 2pm was toasty. Biking home in the rain circa 11pm was less toasty, and infinitely more wet. Washington st to cambridge st to brighton st to comm av to mass ave to huntington a few blocks, back in reverse order. More than thrice passed at red lights by casuals who'd run said light--with varying degrees of success (clean shot vs honking braking driver, and everything in between)--and I'd have to wait for a clear shot to pass them once cars and I got in motion again.

All of these offenders were moving so slowly that once I passed them I never saw them again, and I don't think I move THAT fast... If they're in a rush they'd be better served by pedaling faster, not rolling reds.

thewilson 

1A along Marblehead?

DBrim

Lynn Shore Drive, Lynn/Swampscott line

sherbornpeddler

Yesterday we rode from here

to Alewife then decided to ride the Somerville Community Path to 123 College St for a Bento Box.

On the return trip on the Minuteman we stopped to admired the sculpture Rod made famous then

rode back to our start in Bedford.
Splendid 24 mile ride with diversity of characters and scenery and at crossings, uniformly polite motor traffic.
While we were at Yoshis the TV was on and we learned of Mayor Menino. News coverage covered a lot of things but at that moment foremost in my thoughts were his appearance at neighborhood elementary school bicycle promotions, leaning out the window of his SUV at a local neighborhood playground to talk with kids on the first day back from a hospitalization and riding his bike from from his Hyde Park home in the pre dawn hours. Biking fit Menino's expertise in neighborhoods.