I posted my own personal chronicle of this historic winter in Boston to our local Metro Boston BF thread:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
My winter commuting has been stalled by work and family issues, and only about six 14-mile Kenmore/Norwood rides have been done in February. But during this historic winter I did get in rides under the worst circumstances of the weather, and posted about them on other threads. Now that winter is receding, I want a single chronicle of those rides since they required all the gear and experience
(“gear and gumption”) I have accumulated during my decades of year-round cycle commuting:
- Lowest temperature, 1° F
- Heaviest snowfall, Sunday during Snowpocalypse II (2/15), while the snowbanks of Snowpocalypse I (1/27) were still around and snowplows couldn’t keep up.
- Commuting after Snowpocalypse II (just one picture)
- Riding during rain in the 30’s° F...
Originally Posted by
noglider
Rain just above freezing is one of the worst conditions…
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
So true, especially for my hands…
Originally Posted by
irwin7638
Cold is not bad, wet is not bad, but the two combined are deadly.
Not a post, but notable because I had purchased some good waterproof gloves in December, and they kept my hands pretty dry, and warm enough.
- A ride during a snowfall immediately preceding Snowpocalypse I
- A (non-bicycling) family fun day during Snowpocalypse I when the city, including the (T) shut down.
- Riding pot-holed, high traffic volume, dark morning rush hour streets...
Originally Posted by
rholland1951
Since the snow has piled up, I've noticed (while driving, mostly) that many drivers seem to think that conditions license them to reinvent the right-of-way rules. I'm seeing a lot of creeping out of parking lots and side streets across streams of on-coming traffic. On the bike on Friday night, I got cut off a lot. Perhaps we can add visible weather and piles of snow to texting and booze on the list of causes of distracted driving. Poor dears have brain overload.
Well, this winter IMO brought out the worst in drivers, mainly because of the narrowed roads, besides all those other frustrations, and my ratio of [bicyclist] blessings to curses has just about inverted. Not that there were many more uncaring cagers out this winter than in the nice weather I think, but the stresses of winter driving were a higher threshold to reveal those with a lower tolerance.
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 03-31-15 at 04:48 PM.