Weather Out There

So my plan after leaving my office job was to be able to maintain my “weather and clothing” posts. The flaw in that logic is twofold: I’m riding for transportation less, and I’m able to wear casual clothing while doing it. The concept that started this blog (two months ago, so long ago!) was to help novice commuters with less generic advice than is normally offered. So, I will continue to offer advice based on the weather conditions, but chances are I won’t be exercising that exact advice.

Weather

The last few days have seen some downright summertime weather, with morning temperatures in the 60s and highs up to 80. As I’ve mentioned before, in those situations, I recommend one of two approaches. If you have a gym membership or don’t mind braving the filth of a Planet Fitness locker room, ride in whatever you feel like and shower or change when you arrive at your destination. I did this when I first started working downtown, and while I tried it in both summer (hot!) and winter (dirty), I found that it made riding to work downright cumbersome.

My preferred strategy is to ride more slowly, and maximize airflow over the body to keep the skin cool. Since I used to work in a “business casual” office, that meant riding in a T-shirt and then putting my collared shirt on when I got to my destination. Wearing lighter shoes, such as sneakers or loafers without socks, made a huge difference versus the waterproof walking shoes I wore all winter. I just wore my regular office pants, rolled up to avoid grease. As always, I recommend using a bag that attaches to the bike as this is both cooler for you and also neater for your clothes.

I always found it difficult to avoid sweating when the temperature exceeded 70 degrees on my ride in. For that, it’s all about mitigation, namely, ride slower.

I’m not usually a list person, or if I am, I prefer prose. Today, I’ll make an exception and try to summarize the top things someone new to transportation biking should be aware of.

1. Learn how to ride safely on the road. My mantra is be visible.
2. Get a bike that fits, and keep it in working condition. There are lots of factors for a good bike fit, but for commuting and getting around, generally you want a bike that keeps you sitting more upright so you can see and be seen (how fashion-conscious!) on the road. If you hear squeaks of agony (from the bike) or the brakes aren’t snappy, get that taken care of by a shop.
3. Figure out routes that work for you. You’re going to be taking different roads than if you were walking or driving. While Google Maps has biking directions, I find them to be generally pretty bad because of their slavish devotion to marked bike routes (a nearly meaningless distinction, usually). Find what works for you be trial and error and talk to other bikers.
4. Decide how you’re going to carry things. Don’t put things on your back if you want to arrive presentable. Don’t put things on your handlebars if you want to survive. Instead, get a rack with panniers or a basket.
5. Figure out dress that works for you. I know this is particularly an issue for ladies, but you’ll have to prepare by wearing much cooler outfits (when you’re rocking and rolling along) and much warmer outfits (when it’s windy or cold and you’re not generating as much heat).

That about sums it up. Now I can stop blogging, forever. 🙂

In other news, I posted my instructions for the Large Panniers for CETMA rack. Whether you make these bags or a different roll-top type pannier, I hope these instructions are helpful.

Weather (from 3/20)

Temperature: 81

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Long sleeve T-shirt, jeans, loafers (w/o socks)

Comfort: Awful. As you might imagine, the best way to deal with this temperature is light fabrics and short sleeves. I was in a black T-shirt and jeans. Don’t do that.

If I were commuting to an office at a morning temperature above 70, I would neatly store my button-up shirt, and untuck the undershirt, and take it slowly. Or, if you’re going far enough, plan on changing clothes.

Today is the first day of spring! (I’ll put a “winter” tag on this post because it pertains to yesterday, though). Fair weather bikers, rejoice!

Weather

Yesterday was truly spring-like: it felt like 70 during the day, but by 7 pm it was already quite cool. That meant that you really needed to layer or expect to be very uncomfortable at some point.

Temperature: 70 / 50

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Long sleeve T-shirt, Jeans, loafers (w/o socks)

Comfort: I was very much on the warm side during the day, and borderline on the cold side by the evening. I’d say, I need to take my own advice.

So as you may recall, the blog is in transition right now. My last day at the old job (downtown Boston) was Friday, and I start working at Hub Bicycle Company on Wednesday. That means no commuting, although I’ll get out today for some errand-running. I’ll update this post a little later with the weather/comfort. It’s much warmer, so there will be no jacket, but the question is whether long sleeves and jeans are too much.

Yesterday, I went for farewell drinks with my coworkers. Some were very concerned about my transportation home after a few drinks. In the end, I had fewer than one drink per hour (beer is so heavy!), and I had an uneventful ride home. However, it made me think about biking under the influence.

Now and again, I see references to how dangerous this is as an activity, but anecdotally, it’s not really taken as seriously as DUI. In fact, the parallels between the two are numerous, mostly because biking for transportation is so similar to driving for transportation. What one loses in the dangers of high speed in a car, one also loses in the protection of an enclosed vehicle. The exception is that a drunk biker is a much smaller threat than a drunk driver.

The police unsurprisingly don’t take BUI seriously. I have a friend who tells of riding his bike while visibly intoxicated: an officer pulled up behind him and announced “Sir, walk your bike or I will take it away.” While humorous, can you imagine a policeman treating drunk driving so cavalierly? (Perhaps you can, I don’t know of any DUI perpetrators personally.)

What are your thoughts on BUI? How do you prepare for an evening with drinks? I know I’d always be the designated biker if I could transport people home from the bar in a bakfiets.

I'd always want to be the designated biker if I had a bakfiets to carry people home in.

Weather

Temperature: 38

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Same as the rest of the week: light spring jacket, EVO Drone Gloves, loafers

Comfort: Decidedly underdressed. Some spirited riding kept me from shivering, however it seems willpower alone may not make mid-March into the spring season. I’ll have to wait until next week for that. It is very interesting, though, how ensuring you’re warm before going outside can make such a difference in comfort. My ride last night felt much warmer, even though the conditions were similar and my outfit was the same.

Sorry for the lack of substance here. I’m actually pretty swamped here at work as my last day is Friday. I will, however, be starting my job at Hub starting Wednesday, so you can find me there most weekdays after that (and Sundays once the shop opens 7-days-a-week).

I’d like to write a “tale of two commutes” comparing my bike ride in (Inman Square to Government Center by way of the Longfellow Bridge and Cambridge Street) to my fiancee’s by car (same starting point, also the Longfellow Bridge, but then Charles Street, Boylston and ultimately to Chinatown). We often leave the house a few minutes apart and leapfrog one another until we part ways at Charles Circle.

Weather

Temperature: 40 degrees

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Light spring jacket, EVO Drone gloves, loafers

Comfort: Again, on the cold side starting out, but comfortable within a few minutes. Yesterday evening, I was downright cold until much later in the ride.

The warm weather gave me the opportunity to ride with my fiancee for the first time in a while. Yesterday, we rode Somerville Ave, Elm Street, and Mass. Ave to around Alewife Station and back again. The traffic on Mass Ave going out (around 6:45) was  generally light, however it tends to pile up at lights, followed by long stretches without any traffic. On the way back (around 8:15), the traffic was so light that we were comfortable riding side-by-side for most of the route. This brings me back to my (safety-ignorant) days of riding on Hampshire Street in Cambridge side-by-side, both of us completely in the door zone. Yesterday, needless to say, we took the lane, and there were few cars to object.

Weather

Temperature: 47

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Light spring jacket, Rockport shoes.

Comfort: Excellent. I didn’t wear gloves, and started out a little chilly, but, as usual, warmed up.

Weather

I didn’t wear a jacket today! Although still on the cool side, it was a day in which you step outside and say “yep, it’s spring”.

Temperature: 47

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Long shirtsleeves, loafers. No gloves, no jacket.

Comfort: Good! My hands started out cold, but as usual, the braking and shifting kept them moving, and general body heat warmed them up.

Although today is a springlike day, I thought I would reflect on the EVO Drone gloves I’ve been wearing. The exact product name escapes me (and google is no use), so I’ll have to fill that in later. They’re made of thin Nylon fabric, which is pretty good about not sucking up rain. They have the “hunter” thumbs and index fingers, which are good for checking your phone without taking the gloves off. What makes them truly useful is the attached outer mitten – I’ve found this allows you to stay warm and extra 10-15 degrees of outside temperature by defeating the wind and holding in heat. It’s an air impermeable synthetic that is sewn into the wrist of the glove and folds into the top when you’re not using them. (If you’re neat, they don’t look bulbous, either!) Although the seam on these covers has a bad habit of ripping under normal use, this hasn’t compromised the performance of the glove. You can see in the attached picture how I can get a few fingers through that cover after a few months of riding. They’re not too expensive (around $30?), and Hub Bicycle Company in Cambridge carries them. Of course, now that it’s just about spring, you’ll have no occasion to use them…

The gloves do a great job of keeping your hands warm, despite the covering sprouting some holes.

I suppose now that I’m overtly recommending products, I should announce that I’m moving from my current, non-bike related job to start working at Hub Bicycle Company. I’ve been going there as a customer since a few months after the shop opened two years ago, and as I became disenchanted work in the soul-stealing financial industry, I also discovered that I’m cuckoo for bikes. I can safely say – as a customer – that it’s an awesome bike shop, but don’t believe me, believe Yelp. I’m going to be working there full time starting later this month, which means I’ll be reporting more second hand on bike commuting (on customer attire, as the shop is walking distance), but there will still be plenty of errand running and general transportation riding.

Weather

Temperature: 57 degrees

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Light spring jacket, timberland shoes, light Pearl Izumi gloves, messenger bag

Comfort: I was definitely too warm. Every time the weather changes I relearn the lesson: slow down, wear less. Today would have been OK without a jacket.

It was windy today, and should be more so later, according to the forecast. There were tons of bikers out, and I expect many, many more next week.

I left my house this morning to feel a lot of squishiness in the tires; although tires don’t need a lot of inflation in the winter once a month seems to be the outer limit. Since I was already around the corner, I just rolled over to the gas station and pulled out one of these handy dandy adapters (no pump on me!) and put some free air in there. (Free as in beer, not as in speech.)

Shrader, Presta Adapter: helpful to have for using non-bike shop compressed air.

The most adventuresome three-season bikers were out today on their thoroughly rusted bikes. It was a very slow march down Hampshire Street, with many winter coats in attendance, and very satisfying (for me, anyway) passing as I flew over the Longfellow Bridge. While there was generally good behavior, namely stopping at lights and not “shoaling” to cut to the front of the line, there were a few serial offenders who kept leap-frogging. To quote some other Boston Biker blogs, “don’t cut in line,” and “I want to mount a bottle of triflow on my handlebars.”

Weather

Temperature:  45 degrees

Road condition: Dry

Clothing: Light fall jacket (with a long sleeved shirt), Pearl Izumi gloves, Timberland shoes, messenger bag.

Comfort: Lovely! I was glad for having sleeves, as the jacket I have tends to expose my wrists (the humanity!) and send air up my arms. I ditched the gloves once I was in Boston.