I managed to squeeze in a bike commute this week to check the box for January. Conditions were quite good for the time of year. I rode my Niner RLT and encountered very little ice on the roads, so it was only 10-15 minutes slower than it typically is during the summer. It was about 24 degrees for the start of the ride home on Tuesday and 16 degrees on the ride in the next morning. Very little wind both ways with a few flurries. I took the most direct route to/from the express bus, which ends up coming in right at 15 miles each way.
These commutes are a nice way to infuse a little adventure into the weekly grind. Riding into the city in dimming light and in light snow had a nice feel to it. Getting ready takes longer, but I still managed to make the bus that I hoped to ride from downtown to home. I picked up a new rear tail light for my bike this fall, the Knog Blinder, and it gives me a lot of confidence that I am being seen on roads in the winter. Bright with some good flashy settings and the battery is long lasting, even in the cold.
There’s a place close to my work where train cars that have been tagged with graffiti get parked, presumably for removal of the graffiti. But there can be some pretty cool graffiti awaiting removal that I can check out more closely when commuting by bike:
Sub-urban Adventure 