BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 39 min.
TIME BACK: 40 min.
WEATHER: overcast with light flurries, -15C, 9km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, -13C, 6km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: fleece pants, thermal underwear, wool ski socks, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer, waterproof shell, lobster gloves, balaclava, ski goggles (waterproof shell in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
Yesterday, after reading my blog as she does every day, my mom e-mailed me saying something along the lines of "Okay, you proved you can bike in the cold - now STOP, for the love of God, STOP! Your daughter will become an orphan unless you STOP BIKING RIGHT NOW!!!" As much as she worries (read: panics) more about my safety than I do when it comes to bike-commuting, I can definitely agree that a lot of yesterday's ride just didn't feel safe. I stuck to sidewalks more than usual yesterday, which turned out to be a good thing because the parts of the trip where I am required by law to pass from the road onto the sidewalk (i.e., while going over narrow bridges), I would have been unable to do this if I had actually been on the road since massive snowbanks blocked the road-to-sidewalk path.
Last night I assured my mom that while I would not stop bike-commuting, I would dedicate my ride today to sticking as best I could to the sidewalks. To ease her worry - and, I'm not going to lie, to feel a bit more secure myself! - I planned to throw all regard for the city bylaws to the wind and ride on the sidewalks. Screw you, city! Pile up snowbanks in MY bicycle paths, will you? Feel my wrath!!
Most of the sidewalks were actually quite clear, and it was a great relief to me to know that even if I did fall at any point during the ride, the likelihood of getting hit by a car was decreased substantially. I stuck mostly to the sidewalks along major routes, rather than sticking with my regular route through residential neighbourhoods, because I figured the major route sidewalks would be more consistently cleared than those in the residential areas. This was largely the case, except for a few really bad blocks. One of them was a patch of sidewalk in front of a storefront and small parking lot that was rutted with large, deep, tractor-wheel tracks that had frozen solid. This part was extremely treacherous, and as I tried to negotiate my bike over this horrid terrain I skidded and got stuck and nearly fell a couple times in quick succession. Another part was along a busy road where it seemed nobody thought to actually clear the sidewalks in front of their homes, so whatever path existed (where it existed at all) was a narrow path trampled down by brave pedestrians. For both those parts, I just got off my bike and jogged with it until the next block where the path was actually cleared of snow. Pedestrians wouldn't have a problem on terrain like that, but my poor road bike was seriously suffering.
Of course, the sidewalks are not without their perils. I had to negotiate around pedestrians on narrow, slippery paths through snowbank-edged alleys, and any time the sidewalk intersected with a road (i.e., every block), I had to ride perpendicularly over frozen moguls of car tracks made through hard-packed snow and ice. Every time - and seriously, I mean every time, which means every single freakin' block, I shook my head to myself as I guided my bike as best I could over these concrete-hard, uneven, slippery, speed-bump-esque features.
The good news about all this is that guiding Mike over such uneven, slippery terrain has been a fabulous workout for my core. There are muscles in my abdomen I didn't know I had until they started hurting from all the bike-balancing I've been doing in the past couple days. Also, all this rough going has made me very curious to try mountain biking. I've always thought of people going down mountains on wheels so they can go faster as completely insane, but now I can see the appeal. The physical challenge, the mental problem-solving, the incredible skill that must be involved - all very cool! Perhaps I'll look into trying it come spring/summer . . .
Then again, maybe I should have kept that to myself - I believe my mom just had a heart attack reading that last line!!
Firstly: you should ride where you're comfortable and where your discretion dictates is the safest for you and everyone else. If that's the sidewalk (given the states of the roads versus the states of the sidewalks), then go slow and safe and you'll be happy and safe.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I don't know of any bylaws that require you to ride on the sidewalks. There are bridges along 102 Ave that allow you ride on the sidewalk, but you're by no means required to, and if you're not very careful with merging, it can be dangerous to switch between the road and sidewalk.
You can even ride the deck of the High Level Bridge, though you won't make any friends doing it (and, during rush hour, you won't be going anywhere, either).
Just wanted to clarify that.
Cheers!
Thanks for the clarification, Edmontonbikes. I haven't taken any courses on bicycle commuting so when I saw the sign with a bike and a pedestrian on it, as well as an indent in the curb that was placed to allow road-bikers to get onto and off the sidewalk on each end of the bridge, I made my own deductions about what that meant.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading on the city website about traffic laws for cyclists and discovered with some element of horror that bikes are welcome onto high-speed arteries like the Whitemud, the Yellowhead, and the city's highways. That seems horrifically dangerous to me, but I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to riding beside cars at all, let alone when they're going really really fast. I do know some people bike-commute from the suburbs along the highways, and while this is something I would never ever ever ever do in a million years, I have to say I admire those cyclists' balls! (figuratively . . .)