Winter Break

Friday the 13th I took my final exam for autumn quarter. Now I have three and a half weeks off before winter quarter, 2014. For winter and spring, my class is scheduled at mid-day four days a week, so I can ride the bus both ways and won't have to use my bike to get home, but I do want to ride semi-regularly for exercise and recreation.

I'll have to harden up again. As a commuter it was routine for me to get out on the road in the dark every morning and ride through heat or cold, wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow, etc. then ride home again in the dark after work, adding or removing layers of clothing as necessary. Now I have to talk myself in to getting my bike out for a recreational ride, and I'm getting whiny and wimpy.

Instead I've been fattening up. A little bit, not that much. I did make one interesting dietary discovery in my yoga class, though. When training for long bike rides I've often been told "eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty". Poor nutrition and hydration affects physical performance and attitude, and can cause adults to become as whiny, quarrelsome or tearful as any tired, hungry, thirsty six year old.

Yoga class really proved the value of a good diet, or rather the consequence of a bad one. A couple of times this winter, I've had buttered toast and coffee for breakfast, then spent the day running errands and doing chores, grabbing a donut and coffee along with my groceries, lunching on a bagel and cream cheese and coffee while running the laundry, returning home with less than an hour to change clothes before leaving for the yoga studio. Realizing I was hungry and should probably eat something healthy before class, I finished off a carton of yogurt and rushed out the door. In class I found my legs shaking with effort while holding lunges or warrior poses. I've had plenty of bike rides when I felt inexplicably sluggish and discouraged, but never "bonked" totally, but it was during those few moments of sustained effort in yoga that I could really feel that my muscles weren't getting enough fuel to support my weight.

At least it's a dry cold

When I got home Monday (the night of the WCC signboard below) I discovered the furnace switch was broken, and I had no heat. Luckily, I do have a poufy comforter and sleeping bag so I was able to sleep comfortably with the two. Then the next morning I had to sit around at home waiting for the furnace repairman, who did show up promptly and replace the switch quickly, so I have no complaints.

What the signboard doesn't show is the wind chill factor, which was probably enough to bring temperatures down to zero Farenheit. It's not uncommon to have windstorms with gusts in the 30-50mph range here, but they don't usually last more than one day or night. Last week the wind hardly let up for six days. Saturday morning when I went out for a coffee break the Nooksack River was dotted with patches of ice drifting down stream, and the Christmas tree at Riverside Park, though it seemed to be firmly anchored, was in danger of blowing to pieces before it was even lit up for the first time.

Wednesday I bicycled to school and back, lost another glove someplace, and had to ride home with just a glove liner on my right hand and a wind-shell glove with no liner on the left. Since then I've been holed up at home, studious and warm, with only daily excursions to the coffee shop for exercise and social life.

I've never seen ice on the Nooksack River in the eighteen years I've lived in the county. Today, Sunday, is warmer and calm. Some rain is predicted for later next week, which reminds me that rain and temperatures in the low forties is really not more comfortable than dry, freezing weather. The long-range forecast is for snow over New Year's weekend.

Unrelated Incidents

Monday night on my way home I came upon this unfortunate scene near the Cost Cutter grocery store in Ferndale. The bike wasn't damaged and it didn't look like there had been an accident with a car. Maybe the rider suddenly couldn't stand fighting the strong winds any more and abandoned. Or maybe he was arrested for not having proper lights and reflectors, although I seriously doubt Ferndale police enforce bicycle safety laws so rigorously.

I gathered up the bike and parcels. The food would have frozen overnight, in case the rider wanted to come back in the morning.

These photos are from a scene I happened upon about a month ago, when I went out for coffee on a Sunday morning. This is the intersection of Main Street and Hovander Road, below the railroad overpass. When I'm biking home from Bellingham I frequently come through this intersection, taking the left fork of the Y to make a tricky left turn just past the barriers, to cross the bridge on Main Street.

This must have happened early Saturday morning. It's difficult to tell where the car was coming from, or where the driver intended to go. Possibly he/she came up on the intersection too fast and was confused by all the arrows, walls and barriers. Or maybe he/she tried a free-form U-turn. Some sort of mental impairment seems likely, too.

The lamp post hasn't been replaced yet. It was more decorative than functional, though, so maybe an upgrade is being considered.

No such thing as bad weather . . .

. . . only the wrong clothes.

I'll be getting out my full winter-commuter wardrobe for the ride home from class tonight. After a sunny Thanksgiving day came three days of drenching rain. For today, Monday, they're predicting snow in the evening. Except for a walk to the cafe this morning, I've spent the day studying indoors, but I'll have to venture out just as the afternoon is beginning to turn dusky.

Fall quarter is almost over, though - only this week and next, four more class sessions, then the final exam at the end of next week. It's gone by so fast! My classes seemed to demand more study time outside of class than I remember, but maybe that's just evidence of how unmotivated and irresponsible I was during my first pass through the undergraduate years.

Winter and spring quarters, my class is scheduled for mid-afternoon, so I can ride the bus both ways, and won't have to bicycle home at night. I'll still need to fit in some regular time on the road, but I can choose the weather and ride in the day-time.

Just two minutes ago, the rain started again, with temperatures in the 40's. Time to start steeling myself for another school-day.

Later:

It was snowing a little when I left Ferndale by bus. Three hours later, when I headed home, the skies had cleared and a strong, cold wind was blowing from the north.

It was an invigorating ride home. My fingers and toes ached from the cold at first, but a few minutes of pedaling got my blood moving and my extremities warmed up, except for my nose and cheeks.

Thanksgiving Eve

I was supposed to have class 4-6pm this evening, or so I thought, but when I arrived on campus I found most buildings were dark. Only the advising and registration offices were open, this being registration week for next quarter. I had a brisk bike ride both ways, about fifteen miles total, which is a good thing because I've gained a little weight since summer and need to keep my metabolism revved up for the holidays. I went to a yoga class yesterday evening, and may go again on Friday morning after the holiday, if I can get going early in the morning.

Possibly the early school closure was due to early snow and good ski conditions on Mount Baker, inspiring students, faculty and staff all to head for the hills for the four-day weekend.

Mental Processes

One Bike to Work Day several years ago, a young woman I worked with in a business near the Bellingham airport, tried biking to work for the first time. She had to ride across a busy freeway overpass, and hadn't had her bike cleaned and tuned before the big day. Naturally, her chain jammed as she was crossing a freeway entrance during morning rush hour. She arrived at work a bit late and pretty shaken, saying she did not feel safe going through the freeway crossing, and would never try again. I'm not sure how she got home; probably someone with a car gave her a ride.

Some time later, she was telling me about the car arrangements in her household. She and her husband had a small two-door car, which he used for daily commuting to his office. They also had a BIG 4x4 pick-up truck. She mostly drove the truck, since she only worked part-time and sometimes needed to haul bales of hay or gear for her horse, which she boarded some place out in the county.

One day when the truck was in the shop, she said, she drove her husband to work in the small car, intending to use it for errands during the day, then pick him up after work. That afternoon, as she was approaching an intersection, an on-coming car in the left-turn lane accelerated to beat her through the intersection.

Her first thought, she said, was: "You don't do that to me, because I can kill you."

Second thought: "Oh, wait, no, I can't! I'm in the little car."

This is a good explanation for the actions and reactions of many drivers, and an illustration of the danger of assuming that other people think like me.

New Shoes

My new Giro Petra cycling shoes got their first test in the rain this evening. The uppers are part mesh, and let in enough water to get my socks soggy, but I'm hoping they (the shoes, I mean) will dry out fast. I'll just have to remember not to leave home without my shoe covers for the next several months. I'm pleased with the shoes so far. They're more comfortable for walking than most of my street shoes. The soles have enough tread to catch on the pedals, but the material is a bit smooth and plasticy, so my feet slip off at awkward moments, especially if it's wet; I'll probably put cleats on them soon. They fit high around the front of the ankle, so the tongue rubs a bit when I walk, but with my toes dipped down while pedaling that's not a problem.

I've always liked cute, chunky oxford-type shoes, a big style advantage for a bicyclist. When I first started commuting by bicycle, riding five miles each way, I wore Skechers or similar shoe styles. The nubby tread was enough to keep my feet on the pedals without straps or clips, and the soles weren't too thick, without the wide over-hanging heel that athletic shoes often have - the cushy heel can bump against the crank arm and knock your foot off the pedal.

Then I started riding with Team in Training, training for the 200-mile Seattle-to-Portland ride. By the time I got to the point of doing forty or fifty mile rides, the knuckles and tendons in my feet began to get sore, and I realized I needed some real cycling shoes with stiff, substantial soles.

I bought a pair of men's Shimano mountain biking shoes, which are still in pretty good shape, though the padding at the heel is worn. The men's sizing wasn't a problem, and the shoes were on sale for ten or twenty dollars less than comparable women's shoes. Six years is a long time for a pair of shoes to last, so they were a good buy, but my feet are six years older now, and don't fit in to them so well - the joints at the base of my toes have widened, making bumps like small bunions by my big and little toes. So that's my excuse for buying the Giros.

I also had a pair of women's Pearl Izumi X-Alp mountain biking shoes. I wore those without cleats, and often wore them at work, doing light warehouse work and even at my coffee shop job. They had light mesh uppers, and got drenched and saturated many times, until they began to smell so bad I threw them out. But I did get a lot of mileage out of them for two or three years.

update: The Giros were dry by morning.