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Happy New Year everyone! As I posted sometime last Spring, I was laid off which led to a strange time for me--no bike commuting. Now how could I write a blog about commuting when I was really just going out for rides all Summer. I felt a little strange every time I sat down to write something I kinda felt like a poser. But I'm back baby! And back with a longer commute, which is good and bad somedays as many of you know. I mean, yeah, there are days I have no desire to slap on the 3-4 layers of clothing one needs to ride in 10 degree weather, but why do we do it? because every day I'm out there, I'm not sitting in a car burning fossil fuels. Every day I'm out there I get some fresh air, some exercise and a story to tell my daughters of things I saw on my ride. I do it because it gives me a sense of accomplishment even before I set foot in the office, so no matter what goes on during the day, I know I've at least I've got that ride home to forget (or revel) out it. So as I was saying, my new commute is a bit longer--about 16.5 miles one way. Now it's fine in the morning, it take me about an hour to do it, but at night when it's dark and sometimes snowy or windy, it might take a little longer, but whatever. Because the new commute is so much longer, I tend to ride in a more directroute, which sucks for a couple reasons. The first is that I'm riding along Rt 1-- bleck. It's busy and the cars tend to fly by at near highway speeds, so I get a little windblown from some of the trucks, but I have a reverse commute from most of them so at least I can see them coming. One other good thing about it is that the shoulder is HUGE. So that's a bit more safe at night. As soon as it's lighter out at night I will take another less traveled route on a secondary road, but this time of year there is barely any shoulder with the snow and ice build up. Speaking of which, by now I would normally have on my studded tires, but I've been running my big-ass Continental Contact 35's and still loving them. These tires came stock on the Salsa Casseroll and I've loved them since the first ride. So smooth and forgiving on the road, but without much rolling resistance and you can jack up the psi to over 100 on them plus they're nearly puncture resistant. So far, an awesome commuter tire. I bet I have well over 1500 miles on them with nary a sign of wear. With that said, I haven't seen the need for the studs yet. They handle nicely in the snow too. The studs really hook up best on ice and not just snow and tar. Studs tend to slide a bit on bare tar as one might expect. The bike is still performing beautifully. I hate to see it get slammed with salt and sand, but what's a guy to do? I do try to clean it when I get home if it's wet out, but so far it's been pretty cold so everything is frozen. There were a couple of days that were snowy--too much snow to even ride--yes I do bail on the nasty days for safety reasons-I had a plow-man really lay on the horn during one storm and realized that it's probably not all that safe to be buried under his wake. I'm also getting use to all the comments from new co-workers again "where are you riding from?" and "don't you know it's too cold for biking?" Mind you my new contract position is at the corporate headquarters of one of Maine's (and the Nation for that matter) premier supplier of outdoor gear and clothing since 1912 ;). I just tell them, "just owning the clothes doesn't warrant the lifestyle, you have to use them." That usually shuts them up. Nice folks though and it's great to be part of a great team again. That's about it from here. I wanted to pass along some bike related news from LA. Lets hope this indictment doesn't worsen relations between biker and motorists, let's hope it sets a precedent. Ride safely.
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Cheers mate - maybe bump into you again on Cadillac this summer ;)
Alys