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Marc’s Remarks on Cold Weather Cycling
Ann Arbor is the perfect city for commuting by bike. Bicycling Magazine ranked Ann Arbor 14th of America’s top 50 cycling-friendly cities and it currently holds a Silver ranking from the League of American Bicyclists for being a bicycle-friendly community. As the cold weather sets in this year, all the great reasons for commuting by bike in Ann Arbor still remain.
There are some big changes in your commute that come with the winter months. The first is going to be your choice of clothing. With the right layers you be surprised with how little clothing you can wear and still stay warm. Layer up too much and you’ll be soaked in sweat before you get to your destination. The best advice is to start out slightly under-dressed, and therefore feeling a little cold. In a couple miles you’ll be warmed up and comfortable. You can also use your level of effort to regulate your temperature. If you are too cold you can pick up the pace and work harder. Over heating? Slow down for the next few miles and you will cool off fast.
Another change the winter brings is the effect the elements have on your bike. While we stay in shape and feel empowered pedaling throughout the cold, rust and corrosion threaten our components and potentially our frame every day we ride. Getting in the habit of keeping the chain well lubricated and periodically cleaning the salt off the frame, rims and other components is the first step to maintaining your bike through the winter. Plan on replacing brake pads, chain, and possibly your rear cassette in spring to keep the bike rolling into the warm months.
There may be some new equipment that will help make cycling through the winter safer and more enjoyable. With limited amount of daylight for riding, a set of lights is one of the most important gear needed in the winter. With models of front and rear lights covering a wide price range, the most basic lights will serve to draw attention to you and let drivers know where you are. Fenders will help keep road grime off you and your bike and can be fitted to most bikes. Some riders also choose to switch to a different set of tires as the fall rolls in. More aggressive tread patterns can offer increased traction and more stability for when the snow falls.
The best advice for winter commuting is to just keep riding this fall and into the spring. It is way easier to adjust slowly to the changing conditions than to take a few months off and start commuting in January: it just won’t happen. So stay on the bike this winter, keep in shape for spring, and teach mother who is boss, on a bike!
Okay, so it’s been a while again.
Sorry!
But, to be fair, it’s been really busy. REALLY busy. Because it’s spring! And everyone loves spring. Everyone. Even though that means that it’s forest fire season in New Mexico.
Bambi might not be so excited.
Speaking of forest fires, it is now Prescribed Burn Season in Michigan. Well, it’s a little early. The big burn season is coming up soon. Just like the Spring Classics season of cycling. Actually, they probably start around the same time. Maybe Tom Boonen wins Paris-Roubaix because a team of naturalists wearing heat-proof suits are scorched-earth-ing the Carrefour de l’Arbre behind him.
Anyway, that’s great. Fires! Yay.
Also, what’s great is coffee. I thought of some trivia about coffee. Did you know:
- …that “coffee” was the first entry ever for Stuff White People Like?
- …that it takes approximately 140L of water to grow the beans for one steaming cuppa?
- …that the Starbucks siren logo was originally topless?
- …that Kona coffee is the only U.S. grown and processed coffee available?
- …that all this information came from Wikipedia and is therefore incontrovertible?
Also, next time you find yourself dancing strangely, you can blame it on the coffee buzz, like Kaldi and his goats.
Wicked coffee-bean-fueled electro-rave with a herd of goats? Yes, please.
Enough with the coffee trivia – on to the vegan meat-substitute of this blog post: We had our first coffee shop ride on Saturday. It was great! (More of you should come next time… Espresso on Dennis!) We met up at the Packard store parking lot at 9:00am, cameras and helmets and panniers at the ready, for a slow and steady jaunt into downtown toward Comet Coffee. We staffers were joined by two bright, new faces, Sarah and Keaton. It was a sunny morning that warmed right up into a brilliantly toasty afternoon. And the coffee hit the spot.
Seriously: CHECK OUT COMET COFFEE. I think it’ll be the regular stop, if only for the heart-shaped foam in Jess’ macchiato.
...And they're off!
Up along Huron Parkway.
ZZZOOOM ACTION SHOT!
True enjoyment.
Lovelovelovelove.
That's where the magic happens.
Brewing some fresh java for some other patrons.
It’s a wonderful thing.
May 2, 2009 @ 9:00 a.m. Be there or be woefully undercaffeinated. And have NO dance party with your goats.
There will be more posts. Promise. With the Two Wheel Tango Cinco de Mayo Sale coming up, there’s bound to be cool stuff to talk about. And other reasons for you to come in and see our bright, smiling faces. And for us to see your bright, smiling faces. Both. Maybe the brightness of our smiling faces combined could create sun-like fusion better than the large hadron collider. At least maybe with less of a risk of earthly annihilation.
If the end of the world looks like Tron, I'll be fine with it. As long as Jeff Bridges is there somewhere.
Speaking of colliders, you ought join me in my appeal for Pizza Bob’s on State Street to name a collider after the LHC. Seriously. I bet it would be delicious.
BYE!
Sam.
Southeast Michigan has the dubious distinction of having some of the most heartbreakingly (and wheelbreakingly) bad roads for cyclists that I have experienced. This is especially true following any hard winter months such as these. After a good fifteen miles or so this morning, I couldn’t help but feel a renewed sense of antipathy toward the Pothole, Universal Symbol of Pinch Flats and Broken Spokes and Sore Bottoms.
Beware the shmergus.
Wikipedia – the Holy Grail of public ‘knowledge’ – has the following to say about potholes, or shmerguses (really, Wikipedia?):
“The formation of potholes is exacerbated by cold temperatures, as water expands when it freezes and puts more stress on cracked pavement. Once a pothole forms, it grows through continued removal of broken chunks of pavement. If a pothole fills with water the growth may be accelerated, as the water ‘washes away’ loose particles of road surface as vehicles pass. In temperate climates, potholes tend to form most often during spring months when the subgrade is weak due to high moisture content.” (More after the link.)
We have cars. We have cold weather. And we have moist weather. Thus, we have potholes, and potholes aplenty. But, armed with our new knowledge and a few handy tips, we can be prepared and get ourselves through these trying times. This from the Two Wheel Tango staff:
(-) Get involved with city government! Advocacy goes a long way, and with a pro-cycling mayor at the helm, cyclist-sympathy is more powerful than ever. City Council meetings are the first and third Monday of every month at 7:00 pm.
(-) Always be prepared! A patch kit, spare tube, and frame pump or CO2 pump will save your ride nine times out of ten.
(-) Tire care is a must! Keeping your tires at a slightly higher pressure will help prevent pinch flats. Also, you’ll want to make sure to pump up your tires as frequently as you ride, to guarantee that high pressure.
(-) Invest in some wider tires! Force is disbursed over a greater area when you hit bumps and stones, and wider tires are designed with that in mind. Isn’t physics grand?
Hope this helps, at least until all shoulders across America are six feet wide and paved with chocolate. Smooth, pothole-free chocolate. No peanuts. No salmonella. Just chocolate.
Ride safely and ride often!
– Sam
First off, let me just say how BEAUTIFUL it is today! If I didn’t get to ride into work day (first time commuting since the new year!) I would be kicking myself… I rode my Specialized Globe which I have a new found love for- GOD that bike is sweet! (Fenders, generator hub lights for tonight’s ride home, rack, oh yeah.) I’m amazed every time by how much crap I can load onto it. I’ve got a change of clothes, shoes, yoga outfit, towel, 32oz glass jar for H2O, lunch AND dinner, and a huge pink yoga mat situated on the rack, with Arkel panniers. If I didn’t have to go home for the dog, I’d be tempted to go on a 3 day adventure…
But I digress! My point of writing this was to discuss the HORROR I felt in one section of the commuter so-called “bike path” on Huron Parkway. Usually this path is clear, salted (sorry Earth), and a great way to get to work (Packard and Platt) from the northside of Ann Arbor. But today, however, in the downhill section of the paved path that has a guard rail heading south, on the west side of the street I got a free thrill of compromised front wheel stability on my loaded commuter. The maintenance in that section is apparently lacking to say the least– it’s downright DANGEROUS! Unless you are on a mountain bike, but even then I’d say it’d be safer to walk through that messy snow and ice crammed section, or take it to the streets before you get to the hills on the path. Definitely not something you want to ride through as you’re flying down that hill… made me thankful for health insurance.
Who’s in charge of bike path maintenance?
I checked out the city’s Community Standards page, which seems to place the city’s department of snow and ice removal at fault.
(Five minutes later.) I just called the 24-hour “hotline” and left a message about the hazardous situation of the path. If you too encounter such snow/ice within the city on designated bike paths, you can register an official complaint by calling the Ann Arbor Community Standards department at 734. 994.1788.
– Jess
Two Wheel Tango 
