Tag: snow

Snow Fever

It really has only been winter here in DC for about five days. The rest of the time the weather has been rather warm. So it was a nice surprise to see snow falling outside my window. Still in my jammies, I curled up with a book and felt the winter vibe. Of course, it was in the 30s outside and the ground was warm so the snow melted on contact. Still, it was pretty.

After reading for a while, I hooked  my TV up to the new HDTV cable service. All I can say is that the enhanced picture convinces me that old football players are hurtin’ in the looks department.

My chore done, I put on some riding clothes and headed out into the snow. I didn’t have anywhere to go but I did want to check out the shifting on Little Nellie. It has been sloppy for a couple of years now and getting worse. Last weekend I cleaned the bejesus out of the chain and the derailleur wheels. A few weeks ago, I replaced the cable and housing that lead to the rear derailleur.  Replacing the housing is important because the routing of the cables on a Bike Friday goes down under the bottom bracket then up to the derailleur. This creates a trap like the one under your sink. Gunk gets in there and causes the cable to stick which causes the shifting to be messy.

I was going to take the bike to a local mechanic that I think highly of but he is away for a couple of weeks. So, I decided to check out the situation myself. I found that the shifter cable and the brake cable crisscrossed twice. This means that the shifting could interfered with when I used the rear brakes. So I undid the brake cable and moved it.

Off I went into the snow. Weee. Actually, Weeeeeeetttttt! The snow was melting on contact. My feet were soon soaked with ice cold water. I made it about 8 miles before heading for home. The shifting seemed to work just fine.

DSCN4665.JPG
Riding in the Snow with Lobster Glove in Mouth

Now where are those jammies and my book?

Springtime in Washington

Springtime in Washington

I rode to work in a snow storm today. It was beautiful. The snow accumulated in the oddest places on my bike. I reached down for a drink and my water bottles were covered in 1/2 inch of snow. There’s something to be said for drinking cold, cold water mixed with snow crystals. This picture was taken once I made it to the parking garage. The ride home was less enchanting. The snow had turned to a strange kind of rain: not quite sleet, not full on rain. I was dressed for the weather but I’d rather be riding in shorts and a t-shirt by this time of year.

15 Miles In

!5 miles in.

If I’m lucky I average 12 miles per hour. Each ride in takes 75 minutes.

There is no music. There is no news. There is no “Traffic and weather together on the eights.”

Just my bike and me and a ribbon of pavement from home to the office.

LIke this:

I breath. I shiver. I sweat. My legs spin. Pedal, pedal.

I turn. I huff and puff up a hill. I turn again. And again. And again.

I look for deer in the woods along the road.

I hear a dog bark.

I stop. I wait for traffic at a cross street.

The coast is clear. I go.

Repeat.

I swoosh down a steep hill. My face is cold. Tears well in my eyes. I am flying blind. Neil Young was wrong. Flying on the ground is right.

I cruise through an S curve, first right then left.

I survive the Parkway crossing. Cars rush by. Hurry, hurry. Can’t wait to get stuck in the Old Town traffic bottleneck.

On to the Mount Vernon Trail. The Dyke Marsh boardwalk. Sun rising over the PG County hills to my right. Red wing blackbirds making a racket. Mama and Papa goose waddle next to the culvert under the Parkway. Soon there will be babies. Fuzzy green goslings.

The serpentine trail guides me. Cars rushing to my left. Trees stilling to my right.

The Hoppy Guy runs with his improbable gait.

Past the Belle Haven bald eagle nest. No one home. Geese on the river. Ugly National Harbor scars the far river bank. Ugly Porto Vecchio scars the near one.

Down into Jones Point Park beneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Masses of concrete swooping somehow overhead. Making concrete attractive isn’t easy.

Around Fords Landing and down Union Street in Old Town. I ride past the coffee zombies at Starbucks. Beans! Beans!

Back on the trail past the construction site at the old Sheet Metal Association building. No longer covered in ugly army green metal. A brick façade is going on today. A forklift next to the trail raises a stack of dry wall panels high. Please don’t drop them on me.

Around the powerless power plant. Another boardwalk. And another. A mallard waddles across the trail and splashes into the beaver pond where the trail used to be. The umpire in my mind calls, “Safe!”

Snow is falling. Big puffy flakes attack my glasses. One, then another goes into my eye. Cold tears.

Even light snow muffles the sounds of the airport and the cars rushing by. Pedal, pedal.

The forecast has scared away most of the bike commuters. I am alone but not lonely. Along the river now. The city to my right is obscured by a fog of a billion swirling flakes.

Black ice ahead. Tense up. I ride across without touching the brakes or turning the wheel. No problem, thank god. Falling would suck.

Across one more boardwalk this one covered in the white dust.

Up the hill to Rosslyn. Like football, it builds character. Not really. They just tell you that so you won’t complain.

Down the sidewalk dodging the smartphone walkers. Tweet. Bing!

Into the garage. Around the cars waiting to be parked. Wave at the attendant.

15 miles in.

Back Out, Day 10: A Wovely Day

It snowed last night. At daybreak we had about 6 inches of snow on the ground. The bottom inch was very wet so this was particularly heavy stuff. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been having back spasms for about ten days now. I was little worried that my back would not be up to clearing all the snow. So I bought a Wovel.

Today, I put my contraption to the test.

Madman with Wovel
Madman with Wovel

Damned if it didn’t work like a charm. 

It took a while to get used to, but after about 15 minutes I was shoveling like a maniac. Of course, I looked a bit like a maniac but if I gave a damn about appearances I wouldn’t ride a recumbent bike. The important thing is shoveling with my Wovel didn’t hurt my back at all. My triceps and legs got a bit of a work out though.

Mrs. Rootchopper used a conventional shovel to clear the steps in front of the house and remove snow from around the perimeter of the cars. A neighbor came by and cleared a path on the sidewalk across the street with a small snow plow. I cleared the sidewalk on my side of the street with the Wovel. It probably takes twice as long to clear snow with a Wovel than my neighbor’s snow plow. (My Wovel is quieter and  won’t run out of gas.) It’s at least twice as fast as using a conventional snow shovel.

I’ll have to go back out later today and have another go when the second wave of snow comes through, but I am actually kind of looking forward to it.

Wovel on!

Here are some more pix.

February by the Numbers

I biked 494 miles in February. All but 48 miles of that was bike commuting. I rode to and from work 15 times, 8 times on Little Nellie and 7 on Big Nellie.

For the year I have ridden 1,084 miles with 34 bike commutes. I don’t think I’ve ridden more than 32 miles in a day.

As the weather improves, my bike commuting pace will slow down a bit. I have another college safari to do at the end of the month, plus a full slate of high school girl’s lacrosse games, a business trip, three nights of a high school musical, a college student move out, and various and sundry high school graduation events. I hope to average at least ten bike commutes per month.

Oh, and I forgot, as I was writing this, a weather forecast appeared on the TV. We are supposed to get snow next week. I may get to try out those snowshoes I bought after Snowmaggedon after all.