Are you a Winter Cyclist....

If not...perhaps this gal will inspire you. 



Also, Reno is NOWHERE as cold as Indie, AK.  So what's your excuse!?

Commuter Credentials....If you rode yesterday and today, you have them!

Yeah...so I don't have fenders on the Fargo right now.  You know, because I was all set for the cyclocross season that got nixed due to the bike vs. car crash and resulting shoulder issues that have dragged on.  Turns out that's not supper cool when the snow and slush roll in!! 

Note the residual snow on the helmet!  I actually wrung water out of my socks and gloves!  So much fun though!

Tire tracks into the drive way....cause.....proof I really rode!

 

The back yard last night.  The sun shade sails were about to break due to the snow load so I had to drop them.

Getting ready for the snowy commute this morning.  I had an issue with installing the rear fender.  Not cool.

The river path...better plowed than the streets!  Tons of downed branches though.

Uh oh.  Caught up with the plow.

The footprints make the most difficult riding...bouncing you around and making a slide out very possible.

Another morning commute....detours and other cold weather riders.

There is some road work on Mill St. just east of the Automobile museum that detours traffic into the bike lane (just a heads up).  It's short and doesn't cause any real issues.  However, it always makes me wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to require this type of lane shift to have a sign out front that states bicycles may use full lane (or similar).  Anyway, just a thought.  

In other news, 36 degree temperatures don't scare off all the other bicycle traffic!  I saw 5 people out on my way to work, including this guy.  I'm always pleased to see other riders making the effort.  This one is even better because he's the newest guy working at my office and he bumps the "nutter" winter riders in our office to two!  If anyone's doing the math....this means we have increased ridership in our office by 100 percent!  What can I say....I take what I can get!

So buck up...throw on some layers...get a good light and enjoy the only traffic free lane on a road near you!

An adventurous morning bike commute.

Ok, I will admit that the commute today was challenging.  The neighborhood roads in Reno are never on the plow list, so they become hard packed, rutted ice.  I didn't stop for a picture of this because it is best to concentrate on not eating it.  The studded tires on the Xtracycle definitely help, but you can still find yourself kissing terrafirma in short order.

Once you make it to more traveled roads you might find a two-track type area where you can at least get out of the ruts.  You then have to be very careful in regards to overtaking traffic.  They too are focused on the two-tracks and don't tend to pass very safely.

Finally, I make it to the river path.  It is usually plowed within 24 hours of any snow!  It was clear sailing from here, or so I thought.  This is what I encountered on the rest of the commute....

The path had a road closed sign at the ice rink.  A construction crew was doing some concrete cutting.  You can't go around the other side of the rink so you're forced to cut through.  I walked to be polite.  Really there was nothing to the "construction" that required a closure.  The worst part was their large truck blocks your view of traffic in the cross walk (or more importantly, traffics view of me trying to cross).

A bit farther along, just across the bridge at John Champion Park, another road closed sign!?  This one you really have to go through, as there is no way back that doesn't involve a 2 mile detour on roads that aren't friendly even on nice days.  Apparently they are scooping out something in the river and hauling it up the path.

The only bad part about this one is envisioning how much damage this does to the path.  It's not build to handle 10 ton trucks!

When I finally got to Rock Blvd. (which has bike lanes)....the bike lanes are the location the snow is pushed to.  This leaves you exposed and basically riding in traffic, so it's a bit nerve fraying.

So that's how a standard 6.5 mile commute turns into an adventure!  A few obstacles never hurt anyone eh?  They did make what is normally a ho-hum commute into something interesting!

Commute conundrums...but not really!

I'm slightly annoyed this morning by the weathermen in Reno.  They seem to be able to predict a storm, but only give or take 24 hours.  This prediction is limited only to the fact that the storm will occur and that snow will fall above 8000 ft....they are incapable of predicting if, when, and where the snow from the storm will fall below 8000 ft.

I only complain because when selecting a bike from the quiver, snow is important.  For example, yesterday I left the xtracycle (with fenders) at the office, opting to ride the mountain bike home.  This choice was made on the dire predictions for many inches of snow....even in the valley.  This choice was also made based on my traumatic commute on Monday, in fencer packing heavy snow and slush!  So this morning when I left the house I was properly situated on the mountain bike with 2.3 tires, no fenders to pack with snow, and low pressure tires!

The problem was the roads and weather looked like this...

Please note the beautiful sun and lack of snow.  Also note the streets are relatively wet, meaning fenders would be nice.

The river path looks even better.  Again, note the sun and lack of snow.

Not even wet!

So basically, I was forced to have a good time hopping a few curbs and cutting portions of the trail.  Totally fun and a nice change of pace on the morning ride!  So remember, never trust the weatherman and ride any bike you like!  Even when your not on the right bike it's still fun to ride and better than being in line on the entrance ramp to I-80!

Wintery Bicycle Path perfection.

Nothing special today.  Given the conditions yesterday, I was kinda thinking it might be an icy mess out there.  Really it wasn't too bad.  A little ice here and there but mostly just ice crystals on the roads with a few patches of "real" ice. 

The real news is the bike path was already plowed (again) within 24 hours!  Awesome job Reno parks department.  They seem to do a better job than the plow drivers on the streets....meaning they plow the path from edge to edge.  If the guys on the streets did this, the bike lanes wouldn't be boarder line unridable, due to the snow and large chucks of ice!