Happy New Year!

Well, I am eight months into my year of everyday bike commuting to work. Yesterday's commute put me at 2340 miles of commuting, and produced my first crash on the ride home.

I was riding down Keaton Street, through a residential neighborhood, about a mile and a half from the lab, thinking about how speed on a bike is relative. Specifically, I was thinking of how much more effort was required to cruise along at 16 mph on the wide wheels and tires I have on the pink bike, as compared to the orange Peugeot.

This had me thinking about how much slower the Surly Pugsley might feel. "Of course," I thought, "in conditions which require a Pugsley, you probably wouldn't be too concerned with speed, anyway."

Just then, I hit a stretch of road which, due to freezing, thawing, and repeating over the last few days had turned into a 50 yard long Slip-n-Slide (except the water was sitting on top of a sheet of ice rather than a sheet of plastic). The front tire slipped sideways, and I abandoned ship.

Luckily, I saw what was happening, and wasn't taken by surprise. I basically just pushed the bike away, and hit the deck spread-eagled and slid to a halt. I was kinda embarassed, so I just picked the bike up, and took off again.

Other than a bruise on the inside of my right thigh, from the top tube, and a slightly stiff wrist, I was unhurt.

I actually had to get off the bike and push in a couple of spots where I ride on bike path through city parks. The high winds we have had these past few days had drifted snow across the trail, 2 feet deep and too loose to support the bike. My normal 40 minute ride took 57 minutes. But, it was a good ride, overall.

I'm about to get everything ready to head over to Kaladi Brothers for the NYD ride. It's currently 1.5 degrees F on my front porch (according to my digital thermometer), so I am hoping it will warm up a bit once the sun comes up. At least I'm not in Alamosa, where the current temp is minus 22F!

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