Wotta Week

I have ridden my bicycles, exclusively, for the past week, and it has been fun, but a bit exhausting. Not only have the cold temps (below zero in the morning, not too far above, in the afternoon), but all of the clothes-changing wears me out (mentally, at least).

I mentioned, a while back, that I wear 25 to 27 different items of clothing, to ride in this kind of weather:

1 helmet
1 balaclava
1 bandanna
2 shirts
4 arm warmers
2 glove liners
2 gloves
1 pair of bike shorts
2 leg warmers
4 socks
1 pair of wool pants
2 shoes
2 shoe covers
1 vest
1 jacket
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27 items

(Sometimes I wear one set of arm warmers and a fleece jacket, rather than the vest, and that cuts the count to 25.)

I put all of that on, ride to work, then take all of that off and dress for work. At the end of the day, I take off my work clothes, put all of the bike clothes back on, and ride home. Once I am home, I take off all of the bike clothes, shower, then dress in normal clothes until bedtime. I undress one more time, to go to bed.

That's eight different times that I either dress or undress. Every. Damn. Day.

It's a bit complicated, but necessary in order to stay warm. That is probably one major reason why I like to commute on the fixed-gear mountain bike, with studded tires, so much. The bike is as simple as my clothing is complicated.

With no shifters, derailleurs and associated cabling, the fixed-gear bike is pared down to basics (even with the two brakes that I run on mine). I basically just have to put air in the tires every 7 or 8 days, and adjust the occasional bearing every few months.

People ask me why I don't ride the fat bike, instead of the fixie. When there is actual snow on the roads, the fat bike is awesome. But, the combination of warmish roads, during the first snowfall, along with the bitterly cold temperatures, resulted in the roads having quite a bit of ice on them, sometimes under snow, sometimes not.

The wide tires are great on snow, but no better than any other tire on ice. Hence, the studded tires come out. Plus, the fixed-gear drivetrain allows me to slow down, or even stop, without hitting the brakes. This tends to reduce the slips and slides at stop signs.

It looks like I will be commuting a few more days, on this bike. We have a slow warmup coming, but I don't think that the roads will be motorcycle-friendly for a while.

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