Wisconsin Weather

Well you know I never blog about the good weather in Wisconsin, so it must be snowing again... I almost posted last week with temps in the 70s at the start of November, just because it was so nice, but I didn't. However, it was in the 70s for three days in a row, then the 50s, and now we're on out third day in a row of flurries. Not flurries of sunshine. So far nothing sticking, but it is supposed to get more frigid, and maybe get up to an inch or two over the next couple of days.
Soon on tap also is replacing the brake pads and rotors on the Volvo. It would have been better when it was in the 70s!!!
And with this talk of snow, I'm looking at more of the 700c Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106 35mm tires for Dr. Katie's bike.

The Garage Project

So I've had the goal since we moved into the new house of being able to park my Volvo in the garage. The garage is not big, and besides the car we want to keep bicycles and the lawn mower inside. There is a low ceiling in the garage, and I'm pretty sure it is not structural. The ceiling supports run perpendicular to the roof beams. I'm not sure what exactly is holding up the roof, but it doesn't seem like it would be these ceiling beams. Before I started this project, I took out some shelves that extended two feet out from the back wall of the garage.

I cleared out the attic area on the small side of the access, and removed the floor boards. Then I used my new reciprocating demo saw and cut out the beams. This allowed me to hang the bikes up higher, and park the car below them.

I saved the lumber, and removed all the nails. Too bad I don't have room to put any shelves in the garage!

Here is a picture from the "attic" looking down through the narrow access.
In the Next photo, I've taken off the "floor" boards.
Now, I've used the new sawz-all and taken out two of the beams!
There is a much better view into the "upstairs" storage area.
Success! It fits! But the car is so leafy and dirty...
Here is where we will keep the commuter bikes for easy access.
Notice that in this picture the car is clean, and in the garage so hopefully it will stay that way!

I back the car into the garage so that I can open the door to get out. There is no passenger-side access to the car while it is in the garage. The garage is quite narrow, and as I'm backing in, there are only about 3-4 inches to spare between the mirrors and the garage door frame. My brother won't be allowed to move the car in or out of the garage!
This project is pretty much done. I need to mount a support for the commuter bikes to that they don't fall over while propped on the wall, and I think I'll repair the concrete where the garage meets the driveway. There is a pretty decent curb there now.
The next projects will be car-related, as I need to work on brakes, oil change and spark plugs and wires.

My New Commuter

So, finally I've found time to post about my new cycle. It has disk brakes, an internal 8-speed transmission, and I put on a custom carbon fork to make it lighter and smoother. I also added a luggage rack on the back to hold panniers, and fenders to keep myself clean and dry in inclement weather. All-in-all, it is a pretty nice ride. I'd like to maybe get some longer cranks (they are only 170mm, but I have 175mm on my other bikes, those these feel like small circles). It was $750 for the bike, $45 for the rack, $45 for the fenders, and $200 for the new fork. It brings the total up to about what Katie's commuter bike cost. But we save about $50/week by not driving to work, so they bikes pay for themselves.
My total is now five bikes. Four in Madison, and my old mountain bike back at my parents' house. I will be getting rid of Ol' Red sometime, which will leave me with just the nice road bike, the fixed-gear (regatta bike), and the commuter.
This step of adding more bikes has led us to the decision to get rid of the Honda. If you are in the market, look at this on Craigslist.

Ice Bike 2008

The rain last weekend cleared much of the snow off of the ice on the lake, and made it tempting for me to head out onto the lake. Many days there are hordes of ice-fishermen in the middle of the lake, almost forming a small town. I'm not sure why, but they tend to clump together. Maybe these guys are just always taking them to the same place.

Part of the ride on the lake was on a tin layer of crusty snow which provided pretty good traction. The rest was on bare, slick, shiny ice that would have made a zamboni driver jealous.

It was a bit tricky at times where the ice was shiny, but not smooth, on the way back to the path I rode at a pace no quicker than a walk. but I did stay upright. I probably could have gone faster, but I'm old and afraid of falling...

So, how long does the ice usually last? Check it out here...

Finally, a recreational bike ride!!

It warmed up to about 10 degrees today and it was sunny and not too windy. Also, I got some new windproof biking tights in the mail (thanks punkin!). Finally, my friend Amy had some pictures of the bike trail from a ride shed taken yesterday (it was part of her daily commute). The conditions were good (not like my normal commuting bike path) so I decided to go for a ride. So I rode for about 13.5 miles on the singlespeed Raleigh with studded tires. There were definitely spots on the the ride where the studded tire saved me. While the southwest commuter trail itself was great (I'd say "groomed" would be the best description, and it was groomed nice and tight, so there was maybe 1/4 inch of packed snow. There were only a few places where there was shiny ice, and those were out past the beltline highway. Once I got out to the Capitol City Trail, I took a left and rode out to the Seminole Highway before turning around. I saw a fox on the trail where it goes through the forest near the marsh.
On the way back I went by the stadium, and followed the path along the lake, which is my normal commuting route. The lakeshore path was horrible!! Much of it was shiny ice, cast in the shape of footprints and bike tracks. The effect was as if they tried to make a hockey rink, but put in uneven mounds the size of golf balls and baseballs. It was pretty hairy. My bike bounced dangerously along the path, the tires sliding into ruts and struggling for traction. But the studs dug in and found their way and I stayed upright the whole way. The ride was 13.6 miles and was pretty enjoyable apart from the rough quarter mile or so.
My pricey gloves worked well, and my fingers stayed nice and toasty. The new tights did an admirable job. I'm pretty sure they weren't designed for riding when it is 10 degrees. I'm pretty confident they'll keep me warm when it is 40. I could still use better face protection and a better jacket, though. Tonight is supposed to be -14, so I won't be riding in the morning.
Thanks to Amy for the pictures!

Drive? Bike? Crash? Fall? Ice.

The roads today are the worst that I've ever seen them here. The rain and snow that fell on the weekend have frozen solid, and the city didn't act fast enough to get the stuff off of the roads, so it is like an ice rink on most the roads, even the big ones. A section I drove on this morning was actually like driving on Disney's Autopia on ice. I would have slid to the kerb if the big rail of ice between the wheels had not been keeping me headed in the right direction. There was ice in the ruts and everywhere else. People were sliding all over the place, and I had trouble directing the car in the right direction on several occasions (this should be figuring into car selection, I know). In the end I made it home without incident, but decided that I didn't want to deal with the conditions and traffic on the way home, so I decided to bike into the office.
It was around zero degrees as I headed in this morning, and conditions were better suited for crampons than biking. Ice was forzen in the shape of footprints and tire treads betweeen a trace and up to one inch thick on the roads and paths. In most places the ice had some snow, which gave it a bit of grip and texture. On one stretch of road the snow was like heavy sand, and a bit greasy-feeling, making riding in a straight line difficult. The ride in was not too bad, overall.
The ride home was a different story. In many places the ice had been heated by the sun, melting the surface and eliminating the texture that had been there in the morning. There were many more places with smooth, slippery ice, and it was a much more nervous ride on the way home. It will be several days before the roads are better. It will be Thursday or Friday before the temperature rises above the magical 15-degree mark where salt will be able to melt the ice and make the roads grippier. The normal high temperature for today is 32 degrees. Today we reached 6.
No crashes or falls took place for me.

BRR Cold...so cold...

It dropped from 30 degrees yesterday to -8 this morning. I can't bear to go outside, so I've spent much of the day on the internet. I'm looking for the perfect songs to play at the wedding (everything has to be perfect for the wedding, including the songs) but I've also been looking at this and that, much of the eRandomness that abound on the internet.

I came across Sacramento's Velocab. The drivers are independent contractors. They rent the cab and the company cell phone for $5.00 and then hits the street. Fares are $2.00 for the first block and then $0.50 for each block afterwards. All fares go to the driver. (I think the cab owners make their money thru advertising). So the question is, how much money do you think a cabbie earns in an average day? They're only in operation from 10am-6pm, so they can't really cash in on the happy hour or late night crowd.

I wonder how it would go in the snow.

Speaking of snow, more is on the way!!!

New Cycling links added

So Kevin L. sent me a link to a VeloNews story about a cyclist in Milwakuee who almost got hit by a plow while riding. The guy had some video cameras on his bike and took them to various agencies in town to at least get some sort of apology. The video is pretty scary, but not any more so than almost being hit by any vehicle while cycling, which happens far too often. People just don't leave enough room. I'm lucky that my bike commute (when I bike) is only about two miles, and is mostly on paths instead of roads, but on the longer rides we take when Wisconsin finally warms up, people just don't leave enough room.

I've included a link (on the right of the page) to a couple of bike-specific links, and a few more may becoming. Jeff's bike page also has some good links to other Wisconsin riders. They all appear far more motivated to ride in the winter, as it seems they have been taking longer rides all winter! And Jeff is even riding on a Cannondale not much newer/older than Ol'Red.

You can find it on the web!

Looking for information about my "new bike" I found all sorts of enthusiast information about the Raleigh Super Course, including this brochure page:

Finally- A bike with snow tires!

When I first moved to Wisconsin I purchased some studded snow tires (700c Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106 35mm) from Nokian, a Finnish tire manufacturer.
I was very excited to put these tires on my red Cannondale. Ol' Red is a bike I purchased used for $350 in Seattle. I raced the bike a few times in Seattle, and when I moved out to Wisconsin I started using the bike as a commuter. I added lights and fenders, but otherwise kept the bike pretty much the same. It is a fairly quick commuter, but is essentially a race bike from the early 1990s. It is kind of like using a sports car for your commute. It is not too practical or roomy, and the ride can be harsh, but it is light and fun to ride. There are no eyelets for fenders or racks, so I've improvised with some cheap clip-on fenders, but I get muddy if it is wet and my cargo capacity is limited by the size of my bag.
When the studded tires arrived I was disappointed to find that they would not fit on the bike. The low-clearance nature of a racing bike did not allow clearance for such large tires on the bike. There was not enough room at the top of the fork or in the rear triangle.
So, since my $50 tires would not fit on the bike, I started looking for a new bike. I couldn't really afford to spend too much money on a new bike, so I delayed and delayed buying a new bike, and eventually spent two and a half winters riding, still on the same slick tires. If conditions were too treacherous I wouldn't ride (I mean, I have a nice car) but I would ride when there was snow. (Here is Ol'Red with the racing tires (trying to ride on the lake).)

This mostly worked out for me. I have become a pretty good rider by learning to stay on top of a bike and making it go the direction I want it to, even when conditions are pretty tricky. I had a pretty good record of not falling. I fell once on black ice in December of 2005, but then not again until November of 2007. Both of the falls in November were on ice, and there was no warning. Each time I fell I slid 15-20 feet on the path after falling. It was slick!!

I had kind of given up on winter cycling. Especially because Madison has had an extra-snowy winter thus far and the city and the university have done a poor job of clearing roads and paths. So just as I had resigned myself to a winter of driving, I received the gift of a new bike!! My friend Amy had an old Raleigh road bike frame from 1979 or 1980. It was a 10- or 12-speed with working shifters, but no wheels. She told me I could have it if i wanted it, so iI told her I'd take it if my snow tires would fit. I took the bike home after returning from Peru, Dallas and Cocoa Beach (It had been 80 in Cocoa Beach and 10 below when we got to Madison) and found out the tires would fit!

I bought some new wheels (single speed w/ flip-flop rear) and took off the shifters and dérailleurs. I bought some new brake levers and bar tape, and spent a couple of days cleaning the bike up and putting everything back together.

The new bike is heavier than Ol' Red, by a long shot, but it almost feels like driving a bulldozer in the snow. The traction is (obviously) far superior to that provided by the slicks. Also, the gearing is a little bit heavy for the tires and conditions. I will probably need to get a smaller chain ring for the front, as I am currently running 42X18. The fixed gear side is only a 14 tooth cog, so that will be tough even with slicks on!Here are some pictures from riding my bike on the lake on the way to work today (about 1000m on the lake). The snow was deep enough that my feet were in the snow on the bottom of each pedal stroke! The gearing was a bit heavy, and I really had to work to keep momentum up. Disconcertingly, I rode over a couple of places where the snow was slushy underneath. (The lake is frozen solid, but it warmed up to about 15 degrees today and this causes some of the salt compounds to melt and run off into the lake (or on to the lake in this case).) It was a lot tougher to ride where the snow was slushy. I was considering a ride across, but it has started snowing again, so the ride home will be enough of an adventure!