The previous post by Tokolosh was excellent. I share his sentiment about commuting at this time of year.

I left this morning in a panic when I couldn't find one of my neoprene shoe covers, not because I needed it today but because snow is expected early next week. I feared I had dropped it- I read in one of these threads about someone losing their precious balaclava and I empathisized, one cannot live without these things when the temperatures start dropping.

As I left it was sunny and, to me, relatively warm, perhaps 28F. There was some breeze but it was gorgeous. There were few, if any, cyclists on the bike path, mostly weekend joggers and walkers. The Dr. Paul Dudley White bike path (someday I should create a thread just about this visionary physician), is wonderful when there's not a soul on it. It is, in my opinion, poorly maintained, has sections of inferior design and has not solved the crossing roadway issue at all- in fact, it basically ignores it but it's still great.

I got to my rehearsal and two others in the cast had cycled in so at least I'm not the only total geek in all my gear and crap. Winter in general seems to require so much "stuff". I looked over at the corner of the studio where I had dropped my things and it looked like someone had unpacked a suitcase from a polar expedition. At a certain point in rehearsal I noticed an odd smell, like old sneakers. I was in the middle of a scene and I kept getting these odd whiffs and I'm like oh, **** what is it? is it me? -the shoes, what? When the scene was over I surreptitiously checked myself and finally tracked it down to of all things- my hands! My gloves! They're big skiing gloves and my hands do sweat in them most days. Man, got to wash those gloves! Old man Winter.

The ride home. I have a choice- city streets or bike path. The bike path is dark and has sections with water and the dreaded ice. The streets on a Saturday night are loaded with pedestrians on one section where there are bars, clubs and cheap restaurants filled with college kids. Lots of parked cars line the road, the subway runs down the center of the road (above ground), there are stores etc. It's definitely take your lane and put your pedal to the metal and get into the slipstream of traffic when possible and maintain a steady 25 mph as best you can. All the while keeping safe distance from the cars in front, watching for jay walking pedestrians and keeping the jerk in the car behind you from muscling by you simply because you're on a bike. I opted for the bike path. I was the only one on it. The river looked like black ink. There is a point where Harvard University is reflected in the water and a footbridge crosses the river. It is stunning to look at on a clear, cold December night. The puddles were not completely frozen over and the mud would crunch as I rode through it. There were short sections of black ice forming as I moved west and the temperature dropped.

I rode through the section I call "Watership Down" where suicidal rabbits dart from the left and right. I was once again ever thankful for the bike path, for the chance to imagine a world not so littered with automobiles. I rode my last mile or two on main roads and back streets. Having only one section where I must assert myself and take my lane in the face of drivers who are looking me straight in the eye and despite my left arm seemingly stretched half way across the road right in front of them still swerve round me rather than let me take the left fork in the road. And for all of that I wouldn't trade places with them for all the world. If they only knew.