Winter Biking II

I was standing at the hall closet this morning, indecisively looking from winter hat to helmet. To bike, or not to bike? On the biking side: sunny, not so cold, not so windy. On the not-biking (taking the T) side: the hill on Beacon up to B.C. It just wears me out, even thinking about it. And I haven't biked much in the last few months, victim of a self-reinforcing dynamic: the longer I go without biking, the less I want to bike. I just know I'll be too physically tired to teach very well.

The T won. That hill looms large in my commute. Cold? I've been colder. (I used to live north of the Adirondacks.) Ice? Snow? I can cope. It's hills and wind... no, the prospect of hills and wind that gets me every time.

But as I got off the T in town, what did I see on my walk to work? Inspiration: I saw 9 bikers. From 8:25 too 8:40 am on an average but sunny day in late January. And on campus (Northeastern), full bike racks. I looked longingly at an Xtracycle outside the law school. It was outfitted with a space-age childseat.

Boston bikers are an inspiration. They'll go out in anything. I even saw a few on Monday, the day we got 2 inches of rain. Not a day goes by that I don't see a few hardy bikers in town.

It was a half-day of work for me, so I'd planned an afternoon of errands, which, inspired by all those bikers in Boston, became an afternoon on the bike: Bank, post office, home to get the trail-a-bike, and then the school to pick up offspring. What a lovely afternoon!

Proof: biking encourages biking. I see other bikers, and instead of teetering towards car, I teeter towards bike. I realize I can do it, too. I'm reminded that instead of tired after the 8 mile trek up hill and down dale, I'm energized.

How would my day have gone if, while looking at my closet in the morning, I'd happened to see a biker going by on my street?

Inspire me, Newton bikers! (Suburban Bike Mama's been inspiring me lately, but she doesn't live in my neighborhood.)

Biking to Brown, Oak Hill, and Newton South

Have an idea how to make biking to school safer? Are you a student (or do you have a student) at Newton South or Brown Middle School?

The Newton Bike and Pedestrian Task Force is hosting a forum on Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 PM in the Newton South auditorium. Bike Newton will be on hand as well.

The Boston Globe covered the story Sunday.

What is it like, biking to Newton South and Brown and Oak Hill? How can we get bikers across Route 9 safely? How can we make Parker Street safer for bikers? The forum hopes to get input from parents and students and forward suggestions to Mayor Warren, Alderman, and city planners.

Winter Biking

Winter biking for me pretty much involves eyeing my bike at the back of the garage and thinking to myself, "Who am I trying to kid? Why haven't I put my bike in the basement for the season?"

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.

Salt: The Enemy of Bikes

I have let my bike go far too long without a wash this winter. But it is kind of hard to wash a bike in freezing conditions. It is a hassle to turn the hose on since it is shut off in the basement. And while I have thought of organizing a group ride to the local you-do-it car wash and use the high pressure sprayer, the Allston one is the only one I can think of close to Newton and that is out of the way. Yesterday I came up with a workable solution: I used a hand sprayer pump from sears, kind of like this one. It worked reasonably well in getting a jet of water in between the fenders and tire, and along the chain inside the chain guard. Any other good ideas out there for a good way to wash a bike during the winter?

Good News from AASHTO

What better way to start a blog than with good news?

Of the top ten topics for AASHTO (State Highway Transportation Officials) for 2010, here's #10:

10) Creating more livable communities
The Administration has made livable communities a key aspect of their agenda. In June of 2009, EPA, HUD and USDOT entered into a Sustainable Communities Partnership to help improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Efforts by state DOTs in the coming year will include building transportation enhancement projects such as bikeways, pedestrian walkways, historic restoration and beautification projects; improving metropolitan mobility; ensuring more transit services are available in rural areas and to serve aging populations; and adding capacity to our transportation network to reduce congestion and the amount of time commuters, truckers and other drivers are stuck in traffic and so have more time with their families.

You can read the full story here.

Let's make sure Mayor Warren, all the Aldermen, and necessary folks in Planning and the DPW all know about this national priority.