The day I had to keep going

As far as cold bike rides go, today's could have been way worse.

I'll be the first to admit my unabashed wimpiness when it comes to the cold.

As soon as the heavy coats come out I just can't handle it anymore. It's too much for my little hands and my ears. And since I'm the one who takes the kid to school in the morning, why should he be cold so I can prove to myself that I can really tough it out by biking?

So it should surprise no one that I've chosen driving over cycling every day since this season's first real cold snap.

You can imagine my despair when we found the car wouldn't work one day last week.

I had a moment. Like, maybe 10 seconds there where I rested my head on the steering wheel, closed my eyes and gathered myself. And then the little guy and I just loaded up and biked in. Simple as that.

I closed the cover on his trailer and gave him a blanket, but he didn't complain. Not even one time.

The only surprise: My ass got really, really cold. Anyone else's ass freeze on extremely chilly bike rides? Even with extra layers? Lordy, that was unexpected.

Also, the only thing wrong with the car was the battery. Simple fix.

Winter Weather Logistics

The snow that has covered the city streets here in Springfield mostly melted away over the weekend. With much of the snow gone (for now), I thought this might be a nice time to reflect on some of the logistical challenges that we faced during our recent bout of winter weather.

Since becoming a one-car family, Ginger picked up a new job that requires her to commute to the Branson area three times a week. This means that for those three days, I'm responsible for getting our son to preschool and myself to work without a motor vehicle. In mild weather, this is not a problem; I hitch the trailer to my road bike, load up the boy, and off we go. In rainy conditions, the trek is a bit soggy, but not terrible. Winter weather is a bit more tricky, though.

The first few days after the snow fell, I hitched the trailer to my mountain bike and made my usual commute. But even with 2-inch knobbies, the mountain bike gets bogged down in loose snow, and I pitifully went down in a few inches of powder trying to get home on the second day. I was also a nervous wreck during the trip to preschool, absolutely certain that my son and I were going to be struck by someone driving like an idiot in the poor road conditions.

After giving up on the bike, Ginger spent a few days working from home, and I was able to use the car for the commute. But one of the final days in which the roads were still covered, I was without a car, I had given up on travelling by bicycle, and if I walked, I knew I was going to be carrying the boy on my shoulders most of the way. So we took the bus. There's a bus stop right around the corner from our house, with the next stop just three-or-so blocks from my son's preschool.

The bus schedule worked out perfectly with our normal morning routine, and the kiddo loved riding the big bus. As a bonus, he didn't have to wear his seat belt, which made it that much more cool. I think as far as efficiency and safety are concerned, Springfield's Transit Services will be my go-to commuting method during winter weather from here on out.

So I was wrong...again

A couple months ago, I wrote a post that reflected on a year of cycling in Springfield. I then posted an update a few weeks later discussing my recent rash of flat tires. And now I'm going to add another addendum.

I was maybe a little harsh on the Ozark Greenways; insinuating that, however great they may be for recreational riders, they're pretty much useless for commuters. About two weeks after I posted that comment, I had a business lunch down on the south side of town - near Battlefield and Lone Pine. I loaded up and pedaled over to Fremont, which took me to the Mercy campus. I headed east on Seminole until I could hop on the Galloway Trail, which took me the rest of the way to Battlefield. At that point, I cut through a couple parking lots and arrived at my location. The ride was brisk, but I don't mind that a bit. And riding across town was a great break from sitting at my desk in the middle of a weekday.

The moral of the story is that I spoke way too soon about the Greenways' capacity for bicycle commuting. It's not like I'll be using that route every day, but I can't deny that my ride was a commuting-related activity. The Galloway Trail was a super handy way to get where I was going, and I hope that I can schedule another lunch down in that area so that I can make use of it again.

How a grocery run went wrong

Beautiful day today. Had a great commute. Tall boots over slim khakis with a bomber and a scarf. Easy peasy. I may have flashed my shapewear to passing motorists, but whatever.

When I got home Cody was working on our taxes, and I needed to run to the store for a baguette and some bananas. Since Cody was busy I loaded the little dude into the station wagon and drove over to the Hy-Vee. I'll just say here that it is not easy to wrangle a toddler at the store. My boy loves to stand up in the cart, touch things on the shelves and beg to be held so a quick run to get groceries can be exhausting.

When we finally got home I was trying to get the groceries out of the car while herding the boy into the house and so I was a little distracted when I slammed the trunk door straight down on my own head so hard I bit my tongue. I have a nice goose egg now and am in a terrible mood.

This never would have happened if I had just biked to the store. I'm not sure I'm confident enough to take the little dude on the bike by myself, but if I can save myself a goose egg it'll be worth it.

Let's talk gloves

It was pretty chilly and pretty windy on Friday so I chickened out on biking to work. I did take a walk to meet Cody for lunch, though, and came across another cyclist with the best idea. 

She was wearing some day-glo mittens.

I was so mesmerized by the sight of them that I didn't realize this cyclist is an acquaintance of mine. She later told me she was wearing some hunting mittens. This is so great for several reasons. Firstly, they're extremely practical because nobody will see you signaling your turns or merges into traffic if they can't see your hands.

Secondly, they're pretty inexpensive and easy to find. You may not be able to find them over at the Target, but you can find them at the local Bass Pro or probably Menard's and several places around the Information Superhighway. Like here:

These you can find for $13 at Sears.

These you can find for $12 at nulime.com

These you can get at Amazon for about $40.

And these you can get for $19 at starruniforms.com.

If you don't like the weather, wait a day or two

It amazes me that in one week we can go from a commute like this:

To one like this:

Missouri weather, eh?

Cody and I did have an fun week, despite the rain and snow. For Valentine's Day Cody got me a new tripod and a springy dress I begged for. I got him an e-reader that he didn't beg for, but got anyway.

In other news, we are working on some fun-type stuff that you can join us on this spring. Details will be forthcoming.

Also, there are reports of adding Phase II of the Ash/Windsor Bike Boulevard, a $460,000 proposal that would include a bike boulevard from the MKT Trail to the Parkade Plaza. Exciting things are afoot for the Como bike community.

This is the day I biked in a snowstorm

I've said it many times, I do not bike in the rain. It's just too messy.

But how bad could biking in the snow be? Turns out it's not that bad. It wasn't that cold this morning, and with a pair of sunglasses to shield my eyes and makeup from the precipitation, it wasn't what I expected. When I got to the office I felt great and grabbed another one of my kind and photographically gifted coworkers and begged him to take my picture.

So I trotted into the office, changed from boots to ballet flats and got to work. After a while I looked over at my boots and saw this.

Gross, right? That's what I thought, too. But I suppose it's understandable considering my lack of fenders and the wet road conditions. At least the boots protected my pants from road goo.

My pocketbook wasn't so lucky.

Again, ick, but not so terrible. It's a leather bag and an easy cleanup.

And then I looked at my coat.

And I remembered why I don't bike when it's precipitating. It's going to take forever to get this shit off of my coat.

And look at my poor bike. This cleanup might even take longer.

In other, happier news we have added some additional items to the shop, per some requests. There is now a messenger-style bag that actually appears to be in stock, some glassware and also some black shirts. Cheers!