- 10 C = bike to work. Halleluja - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14531770
I biked to work today, after a month of taking transit almost every day.

I don't like taking the metro - though I'm glad its there. But February has been -25 C with icy roads and brown slush. I still managed to bike to work twice.

But now its a crisp and bike- friendly -10 C, and the roads are clearing up.

My life is back like a lover who's been away for a few weeks.
#14531773
You are tough, Qatz. I couldn't imagine biking in that temperature, but -10 probably feels tropical to you Canadians and your ungodly weather.

I wish I could bike it to work. This morning I waited after three F trains passed to get onto the train, because there were so many people and too few trains. Usually I will just pile onto the train like all the others, but I just couldn't be bothered to have someone breathing down my neck all the way to Queens, so I waited for the next less-full train.

Also, this is the first Monday I've worked in 2015. One would think I would have a case of ze Mongays considering my getting-a-train experience and the fact that my milk stank and so I couldn't drink a proper cup of tea this morning as I do every morning before work. But no, I feel rather pleasant.
#14531897
Actually, for 2 months of the year, it's too hot. For 4 months, it's too cold. But that leaves 6 months of cycling paradise.

I feel sorry for people who have to sit in a car or on a train in the morning. Starting the day sedentary kills your mood and energy level for the whole day.

Unless you're a phys ed instructor.

If everyone biked in the morning, there would be no war, no pollution, and lots of hot sex.
#14531915
I've had a friend who has ridden a bike to work, no matter where he was, in the city for 25 years, in any and all weather(down one side of the river valley and up the other). He's a healthy SOB, that's for sure. He's always thought that if he can't work out, he can at least stay fit by riding to and from work. It's worked.

I'm cycling again too(on a bicycle), and even if it's hot(cycle in early AM), I'm going to get out there and take a nice ride by the canals and river. I see the attraction.

I don't know about sex on a bike. That sounds truly dangerous.
#14531921


QatzelOk wrote:Actually, for 2 months of the year, it's too hot. For 4 months, it's too cold. But that leaves 6 months of cycling paradise.

I feel sorry for people who have to sit in a car or on a train in the morning. Starting the day sedentary kills your mood and energy level for the whole day.


I would like to bike to work but riding into that part of Queens just doesn't feel very easy to do, I did it once on a day-off and when I got to Queens, I couldn't find my way to the museum. Riding back on the 59th St bridge was fun though, it's pretty steep when you head back into Manhattan.

As for having to sit in a train, I don't hate it as it gives me time to read and I usually have music playing to drown out the masses.

What's the hottest temperature usually during those two hot months?
#14532325
Last summer, I biked about 100 km one day, when the temperature was 41 C with the humidex.

I had planned to make this 120 km trip for months, but had to go slow that day, stop in air conditioned restaurants twice (to eat and to not die of heat exhaustion) and the slower speed meant that I had only gone 100 km when 9 pm rolled around. So I called a friend who got me in a car with a bike rack.

There are two months of beware-of-heat-and-sun weather. Which is how I get calloused feet playing beach volleyball every summer.

But biking on snow and ice in the middle of the winter is special in its own way. The roads are much quieter, the parks are peaceful, the cars go much slower, and you can use a lot of suburban sidewalks as bike paths.

Image

This is a 3 km "ice bridge" (where the river freezes deep enough to let cars and trucks cross) that I crossed last weekend on an 8-hour bike ride at -10 C. With the wind at your back, this is really pleasant. When the wind is in your face, you feel like you're in hell. So I usually plot my rides by looking at wind direction before I decide in which direction I'm going.
#14532363
When I was 15, my girlfriend was at band camp 35 miles away.
I rode my bike there and back just to break up with her.
This is a constant reminder of 'how friggin' stupid I can be'.
#14533256
QatzelOk wrote:I biked to work today, after a month of taking transit almost every day.

I don't like taking the metro - though I'm glad its there. But February has been -25 C with icy roads and brown slush. I still managed to bike to work twice.

But now its a crisp and bike- friendly -10 C, and the roads are clearing up.

My life is back like a lover who's been away for a few weeks.


I am the mirror image of you.

I just stopped riding my bike in the last few days, as my back wheel has decided to start dying.
#14533509
Pants, when a wheel starts dying, it's time to get a new wheel.

It's normal to have to change a few parts when you use your bike in snow and ice and chemical melters.

It's the chemical melters that do the most damage.

The road abrasives can flatten tires, but all the ice bumps will do that as well.

Because Montreal has had a frozen slab of ice on its road surfaces for the last 2 months, I've had to change tubes about five times on the run in the sub-zero weather. Sub-zero is comfortable when you're moving and wearing gloves, but when you stop to change a flat and take your gloves off... and the tire is super-hard because it's cold... and it's dark and cars are looking at you like an alien... and... and... I guess I've done enough martyr-soliloquoying for now.
#14533712
Yes, you have done enough talking to yourself.

I know exactly how to fix my wheel in order to keep riding for the rest of the winter. I have probably cycled through more winters than you.
#14533854
Pants-of-dog wrote:Yes, you have done enough talking to yourself.

I know exactly how to fix my wheel in order to keep riding for the rest of the winter. I have probably cycled through more winters than you.

Well then why did you make it sound like "a broke wheel" would make it impossible for you to carry on?

You sounded like a girl on a trike.
#14533860
QatzelOk wrote:Well then why did you make it sound like "a broke wheel" would make it impossible for you to carry on?

You sounded like a girl on a trike.


You have a habit of trying to belittle others.

I have raised many girls and they have all ridden tricycles, and I am proud to be told that I can compare myself to these fine people.
#14533861
QatzelOk wrote:
Image

This is a 3 km "ice bridge" (where the river freezes deep enough to let cars and trucks cross) that I crossed last weekend on an 8-hour bike ride at -10 C. With the wind at your back, this is really pleasant. When the wind is in your face, you feel like you're in hell. So I usually plot my rides by looking at wind direction before I decide in which direction I'm going.


Damn. That sounds like a most excellent thing to do. I doubt I could because I feel the cold like grandma. You're tougher than me. FFS.
#14984654
skinster wrote:Damn. That sounds like a most excellent thing to do. I doubt I could because I feel the cold like grandma. You're tougher than me. FFS.

I don't think this is true. I'm not tougher than you.

I used to think it would be crazy, dangerous, and maybe impossible to ride a bike in the winter in Montreal. But because of our bike network, and because most of it is snow-cleared, it's not only possible, but very fun.

Thing is, you have to get acclimatized to something as outside your comfort zone as riding in snow.

It took me ten years to get totally used to it, and now, I often find winter riding more fun than summer riding. Why? Because with so many different surfaces and road conditions (slush, ice, bumby ice, loose snow, brown sugar snow on black ice, asphalt...), it's more of a challenge, your brain is more engaged, and you get a better workout in a shorter time.

Pants-of-dog wrote:I have probably cycled through more winters than you.

This is my tenth winter of cycling. How about you?
#14984662
While biking is not my thing, I switched to walking to work everyday back and forth (4 miles each way) during wintertime in chicago. There is something peaceful about just forgetting about everything, covering every inch of your body with 2" worth of insolation, putting some music and just walk for hours.
Losing 40 pounds in 3 months was a plus as well =)
Godstud wrote:I don't know about sex on a bike. That sounds truly dangerous. :D

Challange accepted!

QatzelOk wrote:Because Montreal has had a frozen slab of ice on its road surfaces for the last 2 months, I've had to change tubes about five times on the run in the sub-zero weather. Sub-zero is comfortable when you're moving and wearing gloves, but when you stop to change a flat and take your gloves off... and the tire is super-hard because it's cold... and it's dark and cars are looking at you like an alien... and... and... I guess I've done enough martyr-soliloquoying for now. :lol:

Why do you hate your life so much! No wonder you think cycling in cuba is safer :lol:
Joke aside be careful. I have seen of plenty of pedestrian vs car accidents and usually, the pedestrian is at a disadvantage. Safety first.
Last edited by XogGyux on 31 Jan 2019 04:41, edited 1 time in total.
#14984665
You might be able to do it on a motorbike, but on a bicycle? :lol:

Speaking of which. I really need to oil and grease up my bicycle. I put on a lot of weight a year or so ago and stopped riding it. I'm back in shape again, and need to burn away a bit of the fat I have left over. Cycling's a good way to do it.

I've got til April(Songkran water festival) to lose all my belly fat, and I'm working hard to get there.

The only down-side of cycling here is that it's hot and the sun burns my pale white skin unless I take a lot of precautions, aside from standard traffic ones.
#14984781
XogGyux wrote:While biking is not my thing, I switched to walking to work everyday back and forth (4 miles each way) during wintertime in chicago. There is something peaceful about just forgetting about everything, covering every inch of your body with 2" worth of insolation, putting some music and just walk for hours.
Losing 40 pounds in 3 months was a plus as well =)


Excellent! Not only did I also get into much better shape when I replaced mass transit with cycling, but I also rediscovered my city and the people who live in it. Riding around in cars and trains, you get a very impersonal and constrained view of everything and everyone.


Why do you hate your life so much!

This makes no sense, especially in light of what you just wrote about your mid-life discovery of walking.

No wonder you think cycling in cuba is safer :lol:

It's safer than anywhere I've ever cycled, except the bike paths of Amsterdam. This is because cars are strictly regulated because... um... they're extremely dangerous to everyone who isn't in one. In Amsterdam, like in Cuba, people walking, cycling (or riding a horse, in Cuba) are in the vast majority.

Image

Joke aside be careful. I have seen of plenty of pedestrian vs car accidents and usually, the pedestrian is at a disadvantage. Safety first.

Plowing into people with metal boxes isn't my idea of safety. But it certainly is the definition of safety that car companies would like us all to have.

By the way, the constant flat tires problem I mentionned earlier has been resolved. In order to bike on mixed icy conditions with ice pot-holes, and in order to bike on developing countries roads that are full of pot-holes and equally mixed conditions, you need to have a very strong rear rim on your bike, like the kind of rear-rim that electric bikes or motorbikes have. That's all. The rest of the bike can be discount crap, but you need a really good back rim.

On icy conditions, you also NEED a front studded tire.

Strong rear rim, studded front tire, and winter biking is as fun and carefree as skiiing.... IF your government actually cares about anything other than receiving bribes (campaign contributions, funding, etc) from the car and oil industry, that is.
Last edited by QatzelOk on 31 Jan 2019 16:39, edited 1 time in total.
#14984783
QatzelOk wrote:I biked to work today, after a month of taking transit almost every day.

I don't like taking the metro - though I'm glad its there. But February has been -25 C with icy roads and brown slush. I still managed to bike to work twice.

But now its a crisp and bike- friendly -10 C, and the roads are clearing up.

My life is back like a lover who's been away for a few weeks.


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