Random Notes on Snow Commuting

It's quite likely that one week of snow is all Whatcom County will have this winter, but the wind continues stronger and longer than usual. One storm produced gusts up to 65mph; sustained winds of 25-35mph are normal, with gusts in the 45-55mph range. My lights flickered once during a storm, and last Monday the electricity was out for about four hours, but that turned out to be because someone has messed with the main switch outside my apartment.

So now that spring is on the way, here are some lessons I've learned about riding in snow:

Most days I was loading my bike on the bus to get in to work, then riding all the way home at night, when there is no bus service to Ferndale. One night the eight-mile trip home took almost two hours, instead of 35-40 minutes; then I was awake past midnight because I was so fired up from the ride. Riding in headwinds slowed me down, too. A couple of times I had to stop on the road because the headwind was too strong to fight, and on freeway overpasses I had to put my head down to my handlebars to keep from getting blown sideways.

Wear lots of layers and cover your head and face. Wicking inner layer, at least one fleece layer, wind and rain resistant tights, leg warmers, with baggy rain pants and a rain jacket over all. Plus layers of gloves and socks, but not too tight. I gave up on cycling shoe covers and wore a pair of Totes rain boots, which were fine in the snow but not so good in rain.  Put your pants cuffs over your boots or shoe covers, otherwise rain or melted snow will run straight into your shoes.

Stay in middle gears and keep your speed steady, don't try to accelerate, stop or turn suddenly. On fresh snow or smooth packed snow on level ground, you can get to ripping along pretty fast with very little effort, which is really fun. Then just as you're thinking, "Hey, this is easy. I'm GOOD!" a car will pull out or a light will turn red close in front of you and you'll discover how suddenly you lose control.

Ride with your lights on, even during the day, and don't assume car drivers are in control. I mentioned before how instructive it can be to examine the tire tracks of cars sliding on the road - sometimes gravity and momentum take over. Watch out for the other guy, don't try to beat cars through intersections, listen for cars coming up behind you, and be ready to get out of the way if they seem to be drifting toward you.

If one of your tires is worn or has smoother tread, put the one with more tread on the front wheel. My first thought was that I'd want more tread on the rear "drive" wheel, but you need it on the front "steering" wheel.

A few years ago, when I was riding between Lakeway Center and Slater Road, a late snow storm came up in the afternoon, so I rode home without really being well prepared for it. Along the way, I noticed my bike seemed to be skipping a few beats - I was pedaling steadily, but the rear wheel didn't catch sometimes. After about five miles, I could only pedal a few strokes before I'd be spinning my feet around with the back wheel just drifting, not engaging at all. By this time I was in town, near the Broadway fire station, so I just walked the last mile or two home. My best guess was that the rear hub wasn't sealed properly; as I rode friction melted the snow piled up around the gears, and water seeped inside until the wheel and the gears didn't engage at all. This turned out to be an $85 repair job, which I could probably do myself now, if I bought the tools as well as the parts.

True Grit

The snow lasted barely a week, beginning the evening of Sunday the 15th, through Saturday the 21st when the drizzle started.  It was a tiring week for me, though I'm now convinced my new bike was a wise investment.  I'd been riding my snow-equipped K2 hybrid to keep my new bike nice, but by Saturday I was having such terrible back and leg pain and cramping, I wasn't sure I could make it through my shift.  I'm scheduled for some ten-hour days in the next few weeks, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to take it.  On Sunday, when the roads were mostly clear but gritty, I got back on my Surly.  By the time I got to work my spine was beginning to un-kink and my leg felt stronger.

I'm still resting and recovering this week.  I'm sad to think of retiring the K2, but the difference in the fit is so dramatic I think it's time.  And the Surly is payed fer now, too.

Yesterday's Weather

Sunday evening - my parking spot at work

All day today the wind has been gusting between 25 and 55 mph, blowing powdery, sandy snow.  I ventured out to the laundromat, which was closed, and the cold made my fingers ache in a three-block walk.  The trip wasn't a complete waste, though.  Along the way, I saw what I thought was a huge snowball, about three feet in diameter, skidding and tumbling across an icy street like a tumbleweed.  I caught up to it in the Pioneer Center parking lot, and it turned out to be a white garbage bag filled with styrofoam packaging.  It was blown around in circles for a while until I got ahead of it, caught it and returned it to the dumpster it came from.

Little birds were chirping frantically in the alley this morning.
I left some breadcrumbs outside, and they beat a path to my door.

Monday I walked to the grocery store, with a rest stop at a coffee shop.  I thought the WTA buses wouldn't be running because of the MLK Day holiday, but I was wrong.  Still, I didn't feel like going far from Ferndale.

The Main St. bridge over the Nooksack gets icy and slick.

The sidewalk isn't much better for biking - too much lumpy packed snow.

A view of the river from the bridge.

Major streets are kept clear, but the ploughs pile dirty, crusty, lumpy snow on the bike lanes and sidewalks.

Lake Wobegon state of mind

Whatcom County has always reminded me of Lake Wobegon - a place of strong women, good-looking men, and above-average children.

I'm not a regular NPR listener (honest!), but I used to tune in to Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. Keillor did a monologue or homily on each show.  One that has stuck in my mind was about driving home to Lake Wobegon for the holidays.  Just as he's leaving the city it begins to snow, but being a Minnesotan Keillor presses on.  He describes the traffic and the snow becoming too thick for his wind-shield wipers.  He rolls down the window and uses an ice-scraper to clear a patch until the snow gets too heavy even for that.  He drives on for a while with his head stuck out the window and snow blowing in his face, and finally he opens the car door and leans out, driving in the tire tracks on the road.  He goes on this way for a while until at last he realizes that he's driving in the path of his own left front tire.

This is a useful parable for the many people who are going through involuntary lifestyle changes now, and probably a good metaphor for how things went in the ditch:  too many bankers, developers, builders and home-buyers all driving blind in their own tire-tracks.

I'm thinking of this because the snow is here.  It started Sunday when there is no bus service to Ferndale, so I biked to work in several inches of fresh snow.  Although there was a bit of blue sky in Ferndale, as I got closer to Bellingham it was cloudier and snowing pretty fast.  By the time I rode home, around 7:30pm, it was clear and cold and there was a glaze of ice on the roads.  It's been a while since I've ridden in temperatures low enough to make the bones in my hands and feet hurt, but the ride only took about an hour.  Overnight it we got several inches more and it's expected to continue through Wednesday.

It's interesting to see the tire tracks of sliding cars.  They loop right on to the road shoulder, go sideways, then pull up straight going the wrong way in the opposite lane.  At one intersection a car making a right turn had slid through the crossing, over the curb and on to the sidewalk, then crossed the road back in to the right lane.  I saw a huge 4x4 truck drive around a curve with its right wheels on the sidewalk and its left wheels in the bike lane.  Drivers seem to hug the right-hand side of the road in snow, I suppose worrying about head-on collisions with other cars, but they don't leave much space for bicycles.

There was one comfort on my commute yesterday.  I rode Pacific Highway, parallel to I-5, because it has less traffic and a lower speed limit than Northwest Drive.  Someone else had ridden ahead of me earlier in the day, so I had a wide knobby tire-track to follow all the way, going both ways.  I've seen several other bike commuters on Northwest.  Maybe on my days off I'll go for a recreational ride and look for the tracks of companions.

Winter Wonderland

Christmas eve I took a ride to see the
lights, but my camera doesn't do well at
night.  This is my best shot.

It seems there's no escaping the weather as a blog topic.

Tonight on my way home from work I rode an extra mile around town to make the odometer on my Surly turn 1500 miles.  I believe I saw snow flakes in the streetlights - I'm not sure because I was riding without my glasses, which fog over in cold weather.

When I first started riding the CrossCheck last September, attractive men who spotted me stopped at intersections would do a double-take, look me up and down and say, "He-e-e-ey, nice bike."  Now it's too cold for them to roll down their truck windows.  If we get serious snow I'll be back to riding my doughty, serviceable K2 for a while.

I admit to a weakness for porta-potty humor.

January 4, around 1pm

Wind-and-rain storms like this make snow seem appealing.

First it's "I don't mind the snow as long as it's dry."

But then when the snow comes it'll be "I wouldn't mind rain if it would just warm up a little."

Mount Baker in ski season

Strange Signs

Lately my posts have been very verbose,
so I decided to start off the new year with
something more visual.

Window-shopping in Portland, OR

Skagit County, WA

Portland again