Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1611:
The last few weeks of commuting have been mostly uneventful. Over the last month we've had a minimum of 3" additional snow each week added to what's already on the ground. Last snowfall total I heard put us at 64" received so far this season. We've started to see some daily high temps poking up above freezing, which has started to melt a little bit of the snow. I'm hoping for a slow warm-up this spring to try and prevent flooding. If we suddenly get a 60°F day we're in trouble.
There was no melting happening this morning. It was 12°F air temperature plus a 20 mph cross wind. The humidity was again pretty high for temps this low (80%) which meant the temps felt even colder than it really was. The humidity has been higher than normal for most of this winter. I wore an extra layer of thermal underwear under my pants. I arrived at work chilly, but not frozen.
The sun has melted off most of the rutted ice on the pavement, except for areas along the edges. The center part of the roads and trails are pretty much ice-free now. The big exceptions are under bridges, along the north side of tall buildings, and dense tree areas. In those spots the rutted ice is still pretty severe as the sun doesn't get a chance to do its thing. I rode the winter bike with studded tires.
I didn't sleep well last night. I think it was a combination of the time change and the stress of life. I wound up only getting about three hours of sleep, and very little of it was consecutive. I'd snooze for 45 minutes or so, and then my brain would turn on and I'd find myself lying awake for a long time and thinking about things. It's dumb of me to lay there in the middle of the night obsessing about stuff I can't control, but when it happens it's fruitless to try and convince my mind of that fact.
When I rolled out of the garage and turned on my headlight the button immediately turned red, indicating low battery. That was concerning, as I just charged it up the previous evening. I think the battery on this light is reaching end-of-life. I've already purchased its replacement, but I'm trying to milk the old one as long as I can. Sure enough, the light died completely about halfway to the office. Of course it went out right in the middle of a big icy stretch, leaving me navigating the area in the pitch dark. I finished the remaining four miles to work using my backup light I keep zip-tied to the top of my helmet. It's been a few years since I've had to resort to the backup. I'm glad it had enough of a charge to get me there.
The Take-A-Look mirror I have attached to my pair of clear glasses has been getting looser and looser, causing the mirror to frequently fall off. I thought about using a little bit of tape to keep it in place, but decided to try a slightly more elegant solution. I cut a length of heat-shrink tubing and put it over the area where the mirror attaches to the glasses, then shrunk it down. It is extremely secure now, and if I need to replace the glasses I can easily remove the mirror by just cutting the tubing. No sticky tape residue to deal with. I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with this idea. Little accomplishments like this make life more enjoyable.
