But the other day there was a car snafu in which I ended up car-less with plans that involved a car. Ordinarily, I'd just shrug and change plans, but these plans involved a promise to a six-year-old to rent ice-skates and try out the new Newton Highlands ice rink on Lincoln Street. "Sorry, we don't have a car," wasn't an option.
So I had to eye that bike in the garage and the trail-a-bike hanging nearby in a new way. How would they perform on a snowy, icy sidewalk? How would I market a three mile round trip at 19 degrees to the offspring?
As it turned out, it wasn't as bad as I'd thought. I checked routes on a map, got the offspring all pumped up about an adventure, we suited up the way we would for a round of sledding, I grabbed my capacious bike bag, and we were off.
There are two things you need to keep in mind when biking in the winter:
1. Cold.
2. Ice.
The first one's not tricky. We already suit up for sledding and walking to school, and suiting up for biking has only one difference: the sleek black "skull caps" we wear under our biking helmets. Everything else is just off-the-rack winter wear.
The second takes a little more thought. I don't have special tires for snow and ice, and I don't want to have a dangerous slip near traffic, especially not with precious cargo. I plotted our route on back streets. We had two unavoidable blocks on Centre between downtown and Comm. Ave., but crossing on foot and back again kept us on clear (ish) sidewalks: if we slipped, we'd be far from moving traffic. It was a drag that we had to cross twice to stay on clear sidewalks, but hey, that's the price of an adventure! For the heck of it, on the return trip we attempted a traverse of a snowy sidewalk, pretending we were explorers attempting an Antarctic crossing by bicycle. Success! (If the Ross Ice Shelf holds on long enough, maybe we'll actually get to do it in our lifetime.)
Ultimately, what I found out is that winter biking is neither as unpleasant nor as dangerous as I anticipated. It just takes a few more minutes of planning.
3 comments:
hooray for winter biking! How was ice skating? where did you rent the skates? can an adult walk on without skates? My 3 yr old has skates, I do not but would love to take him.. Or maybe I should wait for the husband who owns skates and *can* skate well to boot. But then 6 yr old would need rented skates.... Or likely- she'd hang in the snow as she is anti skate right now...
( bern helmets come with winter inserts. good for skating, skiing and winter biking... just saying that way you don't have to put your bike in the basement is all. :-) )
Bern helmets: I'll look! Rent skates at all season sports, corner of Comm. Ave. and Centre. But you can walk on the ice in boots. Might need to wait til temps get back down again; surface might be a little slushy today.
If you want to bike in the winter and look good at the same time, or just look at pictures of people who can do both, there's no better place than http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/.
Me, I won't win any fashion awards, either for bike or outerwear, but these people are an inspiration!
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