Results of my biking experiment

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

About this time last year, I decided to start biking to the university, rather than taking the bus or being driven. It was a pretty simple choice: Saskatoon summers are pretty, I had a refurbished bike, and I was becoming increasingly health and environmentally conscious. Even nicer was the fact that my entire bike-ride would be along/over the river, which is just beautiful. The ride ranges from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on weather, especially wind.

In about July, I suggested to my then-girlfriend that I was considering trying to continue to bike through the winter. She flat out told me that I wouldn’t be able to. That I was too weak-willed etc. Needless to say, this kicked my pride into gear and served as my single most powerful motivation even though we broke up in August.

So, I did it. I got studded tires, a nice face-mask, and I biked all winter. In our biggest blizzard, I was offered a ride by a nice guy in a truck. I accepted because it’s impossible to bike in a heavy layer of freshly-fallen snow. That’s the big difficulty–snow. Cold isn’t a problem, since you heat right up. Neither is ice, since I had studs on my tires.

Here I am now, having biked for basically a year. About a month ago, I made myself a back fender out of a two-litre ginger-ale bottle and a front fender out of an Orange Crush one (pictures on request). Now, I have no splashing at all. Around the same time, I got an mp3-player to replace the radio to which I listened (I only put one ear-bud in, so I can still hear around me). Since I work on campus all summer, I plan on continuing to bike.

Differences (not all directly attributable to biking):

  1. I feel really good about myself.
  2. I have something of a butt.
  3. I’ve gained ten pounds.
  4. I get gasps of approbation when people find out I biked all winter.
  5. I’ve saved a lot of my parents’ gas money and a lot of their time.
  6. I’ve increased my freedom by not needing to rely on a shared car.
  7. My resting heart rate has dropped from about 96 to 75.
  8. I am far more conscious of the weather, and especially the wind.
  9. I really appreciated the arrival of spring.
  10. I’m in better shape–I’m no longer uncomfortably winded when I arrive home.

So, in general, pretty awesome. And think about it–that’s only 20 minutes of exercise a day, 5 days a week!

Just thought I’d share.

2

Here’s my question. Don’t you sweat? When you get to university, aren’t you all hot and yucky? I would bike to work - I work pretty far from home but there is a bus system that takes bikes that I would take part of the way, but work is business casual. So I hate the idea of arriving to work all hot and nasty.

Do you have this problem? What do you do?

3

Used to commute 30 miles a day. Almost, took the afternoon operating ferry back which shortened the return trip.

I found the problem with winter is your water bottle freezing.

4

I broke my arm pretty severely on my bike (open compound fracture of the ulna and the radius) but I got right back on. But now I have my limits. It has to be above 20F. Ice and snow have to be mostly off the path, and if it’s raining like a motherfuck in the morning, I drive in. I reached the limits through experience. But even with them, here in minneapolis, I bike the 5.34 miles in probably 75% of the time. Well, this winter was a brutal one, but last winter was a cinch, so it averages out.

5

That’s awesome! Good job!

A LOT of people here bike too, even in winter. I bike to work in the summer as does the hubby (although he’s a tri athlete, so it’s not really much of a push for him). We just moved last fall so my new commute is about 20 km’s or so, which doesn’t take very long. I just hate the HILLS! Hahaha.

Keep it up!

6

I biked 17km each way for 2.5 years, whatever the weather (10-12 years back now). I didn’t have to contend with snow, though, just some bitterly cold frosts and lots of Waikato fog.

I continued biking to work one week even though I felt a bit sick and had a sore stomach. I had my appendix removed that weekend :smack:

Couple of weeks off (nurses were impressed by my BP and resting heart rate, ~50 as I recall) and then back on the bike.

I was gutted when my next job required a car, so I joined a gym and did spinning, instead. I don’t bike much now, but as I lose weight and get fitter, I might get a new bike for some off-road cycling in the New Forest.

Si

7

Congratulations! It feels good, doesn’t it? I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now, although I take the train on days that look like rain.

Anaamika: In my case, I carry work clothes in a backpack and change when I arrive and before I go home again.

8

That’s so cool. Glad to hear you can do it.

I’m still looking for a job where I can bike to work.

9

Good on you, mate!

And Saskatoon is lovely to bike through, no matter which bridge you take across to the campus. (Well, now that I think of it, the Circle Drive bridge wasn’t built when I was there - it doesn’t look too friendly for cyclists.) My parents used to live in River Heights, and I can remember biking all over the city as well as out of it.

I have yet to devise a safe way of carrying all my gear (a suitcase too big for carry on full of piano, guitar and voice music, plus cords, tuner, metronome plus a guitar that I don’t even feel safe carrying in a gig bag, let alone on a bike) - once I figure that one out, I’m set.

10

I used to cycle about with a guitar in a hard case. I used a webbing bandolier over my shoulder and a belt round my waist to keep the guitar on my hip and just high enough to avoid the handlebars. It was a bit lopsided, but I rode up and down some pretty steep hills in Hamilton like that. A pack frame to place the guitar on my back was an option, too, but in the end I changed churches to a local one - just a bit less stress.

Si

11

I, for one, would like to see pictures of your homemade fenders. And, how clever you are to devise and execute such a thing! Heh, it was quite awhile before I got a clue that my backside was often spattered with mud from no fender.

12

I bike to work, we have a shower and I take my work clothes and a towel in a panier bag.

13

Check out www.xtracycle.com

14

Well, you can’t bicycle on Circle Drive anyways, so the bridge itself not being bicycle-friendly isn’t really a problem. If you’re just wanting to cross the river at that point (say to get from Lawson Heights to the U of S campus) on a bicycle it’s not a problem.

15

Pardon the hijack, but where’s that one? Is it further downstream from the Railroad bridge by the weir? I just remember the Idylwyld, Victoria, Broadway, University, and the 33rd street railway bridge. Do they have that cool looking contraption under the ‘new’ (to me, anyway) Circle Drive bridge?

I obviously need to visit again.

16

Sorry, I assumed Circle Drive Bridge referred to the “new” (in 1983) bridge. That’s its official name. The Idylwyld bridge is officially the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge and unofficially either the Idylwyld bridge or the freeway bridge. That one isn’t terribly bike friendly either, but the Victoria and Broadway bridges are just a couple blocks over.

The Circle Drive Bridge is north of the weir, connecting Circle Dr N on the east bank to 42nd Street (now officially Circle Drive as well) on the west. The suspended walkway between the traffic lanes was added last year. They added a third driving lane in each direction, using what had been walkways on the sides for the needed space, and stuck this contraption in between. Messed up my commute for two solid years, hence the caption on the picture. :stuck_out_tongue:

Google Maps link

17

Ack. I had a reply, hit “post,” and it disappeared. Oh well.

Here are pictures of the fenders and the bike as a whole. It’s not in great shape anymore, and it squeaks badly if there’s any humidity in the air or if the temperature drops below about 15 C. I talked to a bike place, and they put in -40 C grease and told me that it’s probably a flaw in the mechanism.

18

I commuted by bike varying distances in Atlanta for 16 years. There are a couple ways to deal with sweat.

Obviously don’t cycle in your work cloths.

Go slowly on the way there, hammering is for the way home!

Once you arrive at work don’t change immediately, wait until you stop sweating.

When you arrive drink cold water first thing to cool your body down.

Keep deodorant and whipes in your desk.

In the winter leave the house dressed so that you are cold when you start and comfortable once you arrive.

19

I’ve been cycling to work for about 15 months now, 18 miles a day round trip. It really makes you appreciate the changing seasons, doesn’t it? We don’t get much in the way of winter here in southern England, the coldest I’ve encountered has been about -5C (23F). However, whereas last April was about the wamest and sunniest month of 2007, this year spring has not yet sprung (we had snow at the beginning of last week and sleet and hail since then).

20

Yeah, there were some extremes, here. At least one day -50 C windchill while I biked (proof: here–look up January 29th in Saskatoon), but usually closer to -20 or -30 C. Not as bad as you’d imagine, really.