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I’m Just a Fair Weather Rider

01.18.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 11 Comments

Finally, the weather moderated yesterday and I got out to ride, for the first time in eight days.  It felt good, although I could tell I had spent too much time off the bike.  The ride seemed to require more effort from me.

This isn't me.

There was no way I was going to miss another day, though.  Last week was a total washout for me, with cold temperatures during the day, and several days of non-stop rain.  Some of my friends reported via Facebook and Twitter that they had gotten out on the roads and put in some (or many) miles.  But I couldn’t motivate myself to do so until the sun came out and the roads dried off.

Okay, I guess I’ve known all along that I’m just not enthusiastic about riding in lousy conditions.  I’ve also decided that’s not a problem.  We have decent enough weather most of the year that I can ride much more than many of my biking acquaintances farther north, so all I really have to do is sit tight for a few days (or in last week’s case, eight) and I’ll be able to get out there again.

So I’ve taken stock of my biking likes and dislikes.  I’ll ride in temperatures as low as 40ºF (4ºC), although I don’t like it.  I make it a point to avoid riding when it’s raining, or threatening rain, or if the roads are still wet from rain.  I have faced the truth:  I’m just a fair weather rider.

It looks like my mileage in January will be my lowest in months.  On the bright side, this may also be nature’s way of telling me that I’ve been too wrapped up in biking, and it’s time to back off a bit.  We’ll see.

 

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Categories // Cold weather Tags // cold, rain

Musings on a Rainy Day

01.16.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

The email and message boards lit up Saturday evening with ride cancellations.  We’ve had several wet days in Central Texas, with a fine mist falling all day Friday, and heavier, steady rain Saturday.  Rain again Sunday.  We certainly need it, but it sure throws a monkey wrench into things.  As the organizer of our club’s Sunday ride put it, “I have no problem riding in the wet myself, but it might send the wrong message if we as a club go ahead with our ride in these conditions.”  A local bike shop announced that its Sunday shop ride was cancelled for the first time in their history.  So not only will I not ride, but some long-delayed yard work is going to be delayed even further.

My attention isn’t focused on riding right now anyway.  Thursday afternoon, while driving home from the car dealer’s where I paid a lot more than I expected for some service on my car, I was rear-ended.  A woman pulling out of a parking lot assumed I was moving forward (I was stopped at a light), and looked left for oncoming traffic.  There was none, so she turned out of the lot – right into my rear bumper.  I had just celebrated making the final payment on the car a week ago, and I was already in a foul mood about the cost of the service.  Now this.  But when I looked at the damage to her car, the great German word – schadenfreude – came to mind (taking joy in the suffering of others).  Her crumpled fender, hood, and headlight were in far worse shape than mine.

Auto insurance has gotten easier to deal with in recent years.  State Farm called me Friday, asked what body shop I had in mind, gave me the shop’s phone number as well as the extension of the person who handles State Farm claims, and said a rental car would be ready at the shop whenever I took my car in.  I guess the fact that the woman was also insured by State Farm helped.

The trip to the body shop Monday will have to fit in around a trip to the dentist.  I’m getting a new crown put in to replace a bad tooth, and the temporary one they put in last week is causing me a lot of discomfort.  They’ll fix it, but it makes finding time to ride a little more challenging.

The good thing is that the forecast for Monday calls for improvement.  The rain will be gone, the temperatures will be milder, and it’s a holiday for some of us – myself included.  Somehow, I’m going to find time to ride.

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Categories // Odds 'n ends Tags // cars, rain

Driving Near Bikes

10.24.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

I don’t know what it is about cars when they’re around bikes, but drivers seem to behave irrationally.  And it’s even worse when the weather is bad.  My wife and I had that experience on yesterday morning’s ride.

It looked like it might rain, so we opted to just head over to the Veloway and do a few laps.  I was planning to meet up with a friend, John T, so Pat started her lap before me. John T and I got caught in the rain on our third lap, and we took cover under a shelter at the Veloway entrance.  I figured Pat would have finished her one lap and headed home, so should be safe and dry by that time.

When the rain eased up, I said my goodbyes to John T and headed home myself.  On the way, the road leads up to a large supermarket.  I was in the marked bike lane, following another biker.  Two cars pulled even with us.  It was obvious they were going to turn into the supermarket parking lot.  When the first one turned his wheels, the biker ahead of me pulled into the lot — doing a slick emergency right turn.

Instead of waiting for me to pass him so he could turn into the lot also, the second car turned right in front of me.  Now I had to do the emergency right turn.

On a dry day, cars always wait for cyclists to pass before turning into the lot.  They might be impatient about it, but they’re good about waiting the three or four seconds it takes us to pass them.  In the rain, you’d think they would be more careful, knowing that the wet conditions could cause trouble for bikes, and even cars, if they don’t watch out.

When I got home, I told Pat about being cut off.  “That’s funny,” she said.  “That happened to me, too.”

She was getting into a left-turn lane behind two cars at a stoplight.  She heard a third car, but instead of settling in behind Pat, the third car squeezed around her, then cut in front of her in the turn lane.

Geez Louise, wait a cotton-pickin’ second, will ya?  For it’s just a matter of a few seconds we’re talking about here — how long it would take me to pass a car before it turns into the parking lot.  How long it would take Pat to complete her left turn from the turn lane, and then allow the driver behind her to pass.  Three seconds?  Maybe five?  Not a major chunk of your day, pal.

The League of Illinois Bicyclists decided to tackle the problem head-on.  They made a video aimed at drivers — telling them what to watch for when driving near bikes.  Good stuff.

I only hope it gets some distribution so more than bicycle league members will see it.

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Categories // Safety Tags // cars, rain, Safety

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