I've been a bad, bad blogger

but a good cycling commuter! This morning, I resigned myself to taking the T in. I was all dressed in my business attire at 6:50 a.m., sighing at the slush and ice that was taunting me on Beacon Street. I was sad at the thought of sitting on the dirty T with other miserable people on their way to work. That's when I decided to pack up my messenger bag, throw on some spandex and suck it up. The ride was fine and even though I left 10 minutes later than I usually do, I got to work at the same time I always do. I attempted to take the bike path, but it was covered in snow, which will not fly on road bike with road slicks. Parts of the ride were unpleasant and ridiculously windy. Actually, the worst wind was when I was about to turn right before heading into the parking garage. That section of my ride is like a wind tunnel. It was literally so windy that it held me at a stop while I continued to pedal forward. RAD.

Anyway, a few things keep me going when I am feel low on the bike hype. Oddly enough, one of them is my co-workers. They often ask if I rode in today. The answer is always yes (with an exception or two). I'd like to keep it that way. Another is seeing the usual bike commuters along my ride. Orange messenger bag guy who passes me on Beacon Street, riding clipless on his fixed gear, I salute you. Extremely large dude who always wears that electric blue ... jumpsuit that I always see crossing the Mass Ave. bridge, rock on. In front of him is always riding-on-an-upright-bike flannel shirt and beard dude. There are a few others, but those are the most notable. I wonder if anyone looks out for blue-bike-blue-jacket-blue-bag-blue-bandanna girl in the morning. The final thing that I look forward to is my ride home at night because it's always breathtaking and makes me feel like I'm a part of something. Take a look for yourself.

Not commuting, but hey

Today was just really nice out, so I called up a biking buddy (Derek, in case you're wondering) and asked if he wanted to head out on a cycling adventure. He did. We met up at NU and rode out from there. It was just a really gorgeous day and we saw a lot of neat things. You can finally see what my majestic ride looks like in the photo above -- bonus points if you can tell me where it is!

By the time I got back to my apartment, I had ridden about 20 miles. Not bad for a wintry Saturday in Boston.

p.s. At the end of this day, I ended up riding 35ish miles. That's half of what my biking commute mileage is per week. Oops.

staying warm

Disclaimer: I am unusually warm most of the time. Find what works for you.

So, I've been thinking, what exactly do I do to keep warm? And honestly, I don't have the answers but I have some ideas. This morning, I saw that it was 23 degrees. This is what I wore:

• synthetic wool socks (I am vegan, you know)
• InSport spandex pants
• Winter boots
• Long sleeve Underarmor shirt
• Short sleeve shirt over the long sleeve
• Thin polyester hoodie
• GoreTex windproof/waterproof shell, with the arm vents unzipped
  
• bandanna tied around my neck
• Thinsulate gloves

That's it. No hat. No super heavy jacket. I was on the edge of being too warm. When I passed the bank sign on Beacon St. at 7:20, it said that it was 20 degrees. I feel like this is a bit ridiculous that I'm sweating in 20 degree weather wearing so little.

Riding back home today, at a tropical 31 degrees, I had to stop to take off my GoreTex jacket because it was just too much.

My advice? Layers! Layers! Layers. I always dress one layer less than I think I would wear if I was just walking outside. Pedaling your bike is like wearing that extra layer. You can always take that extra layer with you if you think it might get colder on your ride back.

My other advice: windproof and water proof things are wonderful things indeed. You just need to know when to use them, depending on what you're already wearing and what the weather is like. Windproof/waterproof things tend to keep things out ... and in. I feel like they somehow create a magical forcefield that keeps feeding heat into your body. Put on too many layers underneath a shell and it is like a furnace is inside your jacket.

Gloves. Mittens. You need them. Suck it up and buy a nice warm pair. If anything is going to get mighty cold first, it's your fingertips. And it's going to be the so-freezing-and-numb-it-hurts kind of cold.

Face/head coverage is also pretty key. I am perfectly content to ride with a bandanna around my neck. If it gets too cold on my face, then I pull it up. If it's just sitting there on my neck, I use it to wipe my nose since it will inevitably drip from the cold. Everyone wins. I rarely wear a hat under my helmet. I've had good luck with wearing thin polyester hats, though.

Also, long johns, spandex, leggings, whatever, underneath are ESSENTIAL. Sometimes I forgo the extra layer of jeans on top if I don't fee like dealing with it. This winter I've said this more than once: "I've just accepted wearing spandex under my jeans everyday is a fact of my life."

Ride on!

warm weather and hills = riding home in a t-shirt and jeans

Imagine my reaction when I pulled up the weather forecast on my computer at 5:15 this morning and saw that the temperature might hit 60 degrees. For all my fellow New Englanders, I hope you got to share in my joy and spent at least one minute outside while it was warm and sunny.

In any case, when I headed out this morning, I just threw on some jeans, a t-shirt and a light jacket. I can't wait until it's t-shirt/jeans weather on a semi-consistent basis.

I usually ride down Beacon and take the Mass. Ave bridge to get to Cambridge from Brighton. Today, though, while happily pedaling I was just reading the side street signs to myself (join me on my thought process)... Darmouth .... Clarendon ... Berk -- OH DEAR I HAVE COMPLETELY MISSED MASS. AVE, I am not even close. I honestly didn't even notice until right then. I blame it on the weather.

Not taking Mass. Ave means one thing: time to climb some hills! Now, I'm from Fitchburg, MA. I am no stranger to hills. Fitchburg residents are highly aware that the city is the second hilliest place in the United States, after San Francisco. Fitchburg is also home of the Longsjo Classic. Despite this, I am more afraid to bike in Fitchburg than I am in Boston, for a multitude of reasons.

I digress. There's a reason they call it Beacon Hill. Every time I think that my 42x16 gearing is ridiculously easy, my legs screaming with lactic acid climbing this hill kindly remind me that it is, in fact, not. This is the only painful (up)hill on my commute TO work when I go this way, but this is certainly not the case on the ride home. The ride home all the way up Beacon is just one long, slow climb, with a few sudden increases in incline and one downhill worth noting.

The one thing I really wonder about this downhill is the light. The downhill I'm talking about is approaching the intersection of Washington St. and Beacon St., heading towards BC. It's a pretty sharp decline and you can definitely catch some serious speed. Right after this intersection is an uphill. Without fail, I cruise down this hill, only to see the yellow light of doom ahead, followed by the red. In all my time cycling to this intersection, I have never had the joy of zooming down this hill and then up the next with that momentum behind me -- until tonight! I wonder what I did tonight to finally make it happen.

It's amazing how the number of cyclists increased dramatically because of the weather. I'm so glad that people are riding, but when the weather's cold, tough it out, everyone! Riding in the winter is totally doable, 66 degree weather or not. You just have to be prepared.

Next post topic (unless I slam face first into a car or something): how not to freeze while riding in the winter.

And we're off ....

Today was the coldest day yet for the Winter 07-08 season. It was something like 3 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside, but it felt like -11 with the windchill factor. In any case, I put on two pairs of spandex pants, jeans, warm socks and boots for my lower body. For the upper half, I wore an Underarmor turtleneck, underarmor long sleeve T-shirt, fleece and a ski jacket. I wore a pair of gloves, with mittens over them. I found this combination to be the warmest. I also rocked a face mask -- today was probably one of the few days I could get away with wearing that without looking like a thief.

So the ride from my place to Northeastern (remember, the library book?) was pretty pleasant, but I got to campus way too early. I locked up my bike and proceeded to tap on the glass door and flash my book. Thankfully, a librarian was kind enough to open the door and take my book.

Phew. It was around 7:30 a.m. when I dropped off the book so I decided to just bike to work and get there early. It would certainly not take me an hour and a half to get there and then change at work. How wrong I was ...

About a mile and a half from work, I got a flat. I tried to repair it, but to no avail. Oh well. I walked my bike to the Galleria and locked it up there. My strong aversion to being late to anything makes me leave my apartment WAY too early. I anticipate ridiculous scenarios and today included one of them. Since it was STILL early, maybe 10 past 8, I decided to go get some coffee in the mall. I paid for my coffee, walked to work.

Just as I was crossing the last major intersection, I felt my pocket. No wallet. Okay, maybe the other pocket. Nope. Nowhere. I lost my wallet. Total bummer. I still had some time, so like an idiot I sprinted around trying to find it but I had no such luck. I also lost my security card to get into work, as I had just put it in my wallet while walking. Thankfully there wasn't too much in it -- my debit card, my license, my school ID and my CharlieCard. All of those things are replaceable and I have everything on its way to being replaced ... but I just can't shake the weird feeling of my personal information floating around somewhere.

People at work were kind enough to offer to swipe me onto the T at the end of the day, but my parents picked me up and we had dinner and sorted out a few things. Let's hope day 2 of cycling goes better. I'm going to try the mountain bike this time in hopes of avoiding flats.

7.4 miles in the morning

I realized today that I truly do not miss riding the T at all. I live right at Cleveland Circle and usually I make the trek to the Reservoir stop on the D line (because I'm convinced it is quicker), but I was feeling lucky and hopped on the C. I let a friend borrow my iPod for the next few weeks while he is on vacation, so I was left listening to inane conversations while the trolley remained above ground. I did manage to get a good amount of reading done today on my commute which brings me to a small complaint about the NU Library.

I checked out This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin on December 10, along with a few other books. All the books are due January 7. Well, except for TIYBOM now. I got an e-mail today notifying me that the book is now due tomorrow because the book "is needed by another patron." Now, I have no problem returning the book because someone needs it, except, uh, the library is open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m right now. Normally Monday-Thursday, the library is open 7:45 a.m. to midnight. I read this e-mail when I came home from work around 6:30. I work 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. in Cambridge. If I don't return the book tomorrow I owe NU 2 dollars for each day that it is late. I can't return the book unless the library is open since we have no return slot (unless there is a secret one I don't know about, dear readers). So now I have to adjust my bike ride/commute to stop by Snell Library before heading over to Cambridge. Thanks NU. What if I was a freshman and wasn't even allowed back in my dorm yet? Or still on break? Or just, you know, doing that co-op thing that Northeastern students do.

Co-op cycling adventure

Since moving into my apartment this September, I have used my bicycle as my main mode of transportation. I am known among my friends as the girl that rides her bike everywhere.

My ride to good old Northeastern University is about 4 miles. It takes between 20-30 minutes to get there, depending on traffic and what route I take. Had I taken the T, it would have taken me 45 minutes to get to Hynes ... and then walk 15 minutes to campus. My other T option would take me an hour or more to change trains at Arlington, and pray that the E train appears sometime within the next hour. I can count on one hand the number of times I have traveled using the T when I needed to get somewhere. All of those times were for job interviews. Good thing, because I landed a job in Cambridge that I start tomorrow morning.

All of that was long winded way to get to where this post is going; I am dedicating this blog to my experiences commuting to work via bicycle. The first day, I will be taking the T in because although I know my work has showers and places to lock bikes, I don't know where the showers are and I don't need to be worried with the logistics on my first day. I'll save that for the second day of work. I can guarantee the second I step onto the T, I will immediately regret my decision and think to myself the entire time that I would be at work so much sooner if I had just ridden.

So, the commute is a little longer than what I'm used to but not by much. It's a little more than 6 miles (between 6.2 and 6.8 depending on what route). I don't think it will be a big deal. Admittedly, I have a limited amount of experience with traffic in Cambridge. Give me some Brookline yuppies on Beacon St. crossing without looking, the ridiculous pedestrian traffic in Longwood medical area or angry commuters on Route 9/Huntingon Ave and I'm at home. I actually haven't ridden the routes I have planned yet using my handy Boston bike map and Google Maps but if I'm not too tired after my first day of work, I want to go for a test ride.

I think this will be an especially interesting adventure since Boston winters can be brutal and I am really dedicated to avoiding the T as much as possible.

Happy New Year!