Friday, December 4, 2009

Week Fourteen - Day Five

When I checked the weather report this morning, this splashed across my screen under a big red warning banner:

WINTER STORM WARNING: City of Edmonton - St. Albert - Sherwood Park Issued at 4:26 AM MST FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER 2009

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP SOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS NORTHERN ALBERTA THIS MORNING BRINGING SNOW BLOWING SNOW AND STRONG WINDS. THIS IS A WARNING THAT DANGEROUS WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS...LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.

AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP RAPIDLY SOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL ALBERTA TODAY. THIS FRONT WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY SNOW, STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 10 TO 20 CENTIMETRES CAN BE EXPECTED IN MANY REGIONS BY FRIDAY EVENING. THE FRONT WILL ALSO BE ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS RESULTING IN WIDESPREAD BLOWING SNOW AND NEAR ZERO VISIBILITIES. THESE REDUCED VISIBILITIES WILL BE MOST PRONOUNCED IN EXPOSED AND RURAL AREAS. THE WINDS WILL SLOWLY BEGIN TO EASE EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. IN THE WAKE OF THIS COLD FRONT MUCH COOLER AIR WILL SETTLE OVER THE PROVINCE ON SATURDAY. THIS WINTER STORM CAN PRODUCE POOR TRAVELLING CONDITIONS. PERSONS IN OR NEAR THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR UPDATED WARNINGS.

By the time I left the house to drop my daughter off at daycare, at least a couple of cm's of snow had already accumulated and much more was falling. It was honestly quite beautiful - fluffy white snow falling peacefully to the earth through the dark early morning sky. But I knew traffic would be insane, there would be a whole lot of accidents today, and once the wind kicked in and visibility dropped to zero, all hell would break loose.

So I let my bike (and my poor thighs) rest today, and I drove. Unlike other times I've driven in, it felt soooo goooood to do it today. I arrived at work feeling fresh and happy, smiling, holding a fresh latte in hand. And whatever cyclists I saw today, unlike the other times I've driven in and felt jealous of the cyclists I passed, today I felt nothing but gratitude that I wasn't them!

I only saw one cyclist this morning, and it was on campus. The automatic thought that popped into my head as I saw him plow through the snow ahead of me was, "That poor guy . . . err, that poor, crazy guy!" As an aside, I can tell how bad the weather is based on how long it takes into my ride for me to spot a cyclist: in the summer, I see them earlier on in the ride because they're starting from as far west as, or farther than, me, and as the bad weather progresses I only see them starting downtown (about 2/3 into my ride), or only on the High Level Bridge (about 3/4 into the ride), and today it was only on campus! Since the wintry weather hit last week, I have only rarely seen cyclists in the downtown-ish area - it has almost exclusively been on the Bridge and on campus. For some reason, this makes me feel good - as though I'm the only one willing to brave the wintry weather for a ride all the way from the west end! Perhaps that's not the case at all, but I'll take whatever victories (real or imagined!) I can get.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Week Fourteen - Day Four

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 35 min.
TIME BACK: 33 min.
WEATHER: clear, -14C (-21C with windchill), 13km/hr wind there; clear, -10C (-19C with windchill), 24km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: double pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer, waterproof shell, scarf, lobster gloves, ski goggles (goggles and waterproof shell in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
(I wrote this first part right after my morning ride)
Fuck! This. Is. NOT. Fun.

My toes froze on the way to work this morning. I can barely move my legs when I'm biking. I feel like I can't breathe because it seems no matter how hard I'm panting I can't take in enough air. I move so slowly. Every fucking block I ride is an effort. I had to downshift to 9th fucking gear just to get up that tiny hill by the High Level Bridge, and even as I crawled up that hill I felt like I was dying from the effort. I'm chilled to the bone from the ride and I don't really warm up again during the day, especially because I keep having to drink so much (water-cooler-chilled) water all day. My thighs are freezer-burnt (seriously, even hours after my last ride they were bright red and stung in the shower last night). I'm not even sleeping that well at night! Between my daughter and whatever the hell is wrong with me, I keep waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble falling back asleep. And my freakin' finger still hurts from the fall last week! Stupid sprain. Fuck! And I keep forgetting to bring in milk for my coffee at work so I've been using this hideous Coffee Mate powdered shit. Come on, LIFE! You SUCK!

Sadly, THIS is what brings me consolation. I have it in my head all the time, it makes me smile, and it's awesome. But, really? I need a rapping banana to cheer me up? Is this what my life has come to?

(The following was written after arriving home for the day and having a big, hot, yummy dinner)

Ahhh, feeling much better now. I had a decent ride home - it wasn't too bad, really, even got to get my speed up in a couple places! I outpaced a truck for about a block, and in an effort to catch a green light before it turned yellow I managed to bike faster than I thought it was possible for me in this temperature. Some parts of the ride were still painfully slow, but it didn't feel like such a chore on the way home today. Maybe it's that it was the end of the day and I was already awake and warmed up, whereas in the morning my body was still half-asleep and working at that slightly-below-normal body temperature we crazy humans tend to drop to overnight. Maybe it's the relief of knowing I was going home, whereas in the morning I was biking to work and maybe the motivation just wasn't as high (even though I love my job). Who knows?

I did try a couple things to lessen the general shittiness of winter riding. First of all, I started gear-shifting like a mo-fo. I usually cruise around in one gear and only downshift one gear if I'm going uphill. Today, though, I was shifting gears when going over snow, when faced with tiny inclines like the gradual almost imperceptible slope of a mostly flat road, and generally any time my thighs started to protest against their vigorous effort. I even downshifted three gears to climb the hills on either side of the High Level Bridge today, crawling along at about the same speed as a pedestrian might take those hills. But what can I do? My thighs are tired - sore, achey, overworked - and I need to take care of these bad-boys so I can continue biking without injury (and without absolutely hating it). Also, I abandoned the waterproof shell because I think I've been over-dressed, at least in the torso region. That seemed to help, actually - I felt a whole lot less restricted in my movement and also less sweaty by the time I got home.

Another thing I need to consider is whether I'm eating enough. I've heard that winter biking is a whole different game: between the additional effort of biking in wintry weather and the body's effort to maintain its heat during long exposures to the cold, a winter cyclist burns a whole lot more calories than a belle-weather cyclist. Since I started calorie-counting last week, I've been eating in the range of 1,500 calories a day (at least on biking days; I tend to eat a bit more on the weekends). Since my regular belle-weather commute would burn over 700 calories a day for me, and given that I'm likely burning a fair bit more than that now that it's cold and snowy, I'm thinking the 1,500 calories a day thing is probably not going to work for me long-term. In fact, it's probably contributing to my lack of sleep, my inability to bike faster, and the perpetual worn-out feeling in my thighs.

So, more food for me! Tragic, I know . . .

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Week Fourteen - Day Three

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 33 min.
TIME BACK: 32 or 36 min. (can't remember exactly when I left!)
WEATHER: clear, -13C, 6km/hr wind there; clear, -8C (-13C with windchill), 11km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: double pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer, waterproof shell, scarf, lobster gloves
NOTES:
Try this little experiment: put your hand in the freezer for a minute - or, if you're living on the Canadian prairies, step outside without gloves. When you can't really feel your hand anymore, try making the tightest fist you can. Note how slowly your hand moves, how inflexible it feels, and how no matter the strength of your will, it just will not make a tight fist.

Whatever principles are behind the frozen-hand experiment that make the muscles work slower and prevent you from making a really tight fist are also behind the reason I felt like I was travelling through water on the way to work this morning. The ice wasn't too bad, there wasn't much snow to slow me down, but the whole time I still felt sloooow. I took 33 minutes and up to 36 minutes for my 8km commutes today no other reason than because I couldn't go faster. I'm not sure if other cyclists are going through the same thing, because I was passed by one oncoming cyclist in the downtown area this morning who whipped by me at some remarkable speed with legs pumping as though impervious to the cold. I was flabbergasted by his ability to bike so fast when I felt like I could hardly move.

What was especially brutal was the tiny hill coming off the High Level Bridge. It's small, and it's not steep, but even then I dropped down to 12th gear and had to get out of my seat and climb that hill standing to reach the top. I felt like I was dying by the time I actually got to the stairs, and then I had to lug my frozen bike up 32 steps (yes, I have counted, and no, I don't have OCD). I was panting so hard I could feel the saliva on my tongue freezing, which - by the way - is not a feeling I would recommend (in fact, it's kind of creepy).

I know the temperature is supposed to dip over the next couple weeks. I know it's going to get positively frigid, with high's in the -20C range (and I don't bike during the time of day that it's at the highest temperature). I know at that temperature tires lose their ability to grip the road and find traction, and it's imperative for me to wear something over my mouth so the cold air doesn't rush into my lungs and leave internal injuries, even burns. And I know that at that temperature, I will be sluggishly crawling along the road, my muscles barely working, and I'll ask myself (as I'm doing more and more these days), "Is this really worth it?"

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Week Fourteen - Day Two

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 33 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, -5C (-12C with windchill), 20km/hr wind there; cloudy, -3C (-9C with windchill), 20km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: thermal pants under yoga pants, turtleneck, waterproof shell, lobster gloves, scarf
NOTES:
Thoughts Running Through My Head During the Commute Today
  • (upon sliding a bit on a completely uncleared and remarkably icy swath of road that happened to be the designated bike path) "Fuckity!"
  • (on same icy swath of road) "Nice cycling infrastructure, city. You could be more supportive!"
  • (upon seeing an oncoming cyclist bend his way around an icy corner wearing nothing but a toque on his head) "No helmet, Jesus!"
  • "Buuhhhhh, this is too hard."
  • "Thighs . . . hurting . . ."
  • "HEY! I'm gonna catch up to you, sucka!"
  • (moments later) "How the hell did you get so far ahead of me? What the hell!"
  • "Lost cause . . . she's got two blocks on me now. How is she going so fast? Freak."
  • "Sooo tiiiiiired . . . and this is even the easy ride. I'm going to be facing the wind on the way home! Buhhhhh."
  • (on the way home) "Wind! Bah!"
  • "I got to keep it goin', keep it goin' full steam" (quoting a line from the Beastie Boys song Intergalactic Planetary that I routinely repeat to myself while biking)
  • "Has it really only been a week that I've been biking in snow? A week?? I have months left of this. How bad do you really want it, Johnson?"
  • "Oh thank God, the last neighbourhood! Almost HOME!"
  • (pulling up to the house) "Yay, made it home without falling again! Just wish it wasn't so damn hard. Mmm, dinner . . ."

MONTHLY CHECK-IN

WEIGHT LOSS THIS MONTH: 7 lbs.
WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 23.5 lbs.

So close! I wanted so badly to get to 8 lbs lost this month, despite knowing that almost two weeks of the month was spent eating poorly and not commuting, given my daughter's illnesses and my inability to control myself when I'm bored. I ended up cheating this month, weighing myself at a mid-way point in the month after my daughter was well again, sometime close to the third week of November, and at that point I had lost one whopping pound. One freakin' pound! I thought the whole month would be a complete write-off. So I vowed to spend the last slightly-more-than-a-week that was left in the month working hard and trying to make up for lost time. And I did work hard - I was calorie-counting most days (couldn't quite maintain that on the weekend, unfortunately), and biking harder than ever with the snow and ice on the road. I'm actually quite proud of myself that I managed to get my weight loss up to 7 lbs from 1 lb in so little time! Still, hoping to average out to 8 lbs of weight loss a month, I take this month's weight loss as the slightest of disappointments.

Now that it's December, I'm facing a much-shortened month of bike-commuting that's full of Christmas parties, baked goods being brought to work, and various social engagements that lend themselves to over-eating. My goal is to work hard for the next three weeks or so - continue calorie-counting, continue commuting as much as I can - and then weigh myself on the 24th. That way, I won't have to do my monthly weigh-in right in the middle of the holidays! I figure that'll be fair. I'll try to lose weight in the first three weeks of the month so I can relax a bit and enjoy my holidays at the end. Then I'll have the whole month of January to work off whatever I put back on during my week of holidays! Works for me!


Monday, November 30, 2009

Week Fourteen - Day One

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 29 min.
TIME BACK: 35 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, 1C (-3C with windchill), 13km/hr wind there; cloudy, -1C (-7C with windchill), 24km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, turtleneck, waterproof shell, double gloves (missing one on the way home!), scarf
NOTES:
It snowed this afternoon. As I was leaving work, a co-worker warned me, "It's awfully slippery out there. Be careful!" Shit. I pulled on my double-gloves and noticed that one of my running gloves, which usually has a powder-blue cotton glove tucked inside, was all naked in there. Somewhere along the way between locking up my bike this morning and getting into my office, I lost one of the "double" parts of my double gloves. Alas! My left hand would have to be a little bit chillier than the right on the way home from work today.

The terrain on the way home was a combination of slush, fresh snow, and ice, which made for some pretty cautious riding (hence taking 35 freakin' minutes to get home!). On the way to work this morning, the roads had been largely cleared between the rain and the mild weather last week, leaving only half-block patches of ice cover to contend with on some of the side roads and nothing to slow me down on the main roads. On the way to school, I rode slowly and cautiously over ice, and even on clear turns I tended to slow down just in case there was any ice I couldn't see. So when I hit a run of clear pavement, I pushed myself to pedal hard, telling myself repeatedly, "make it there under 30!!" By making up speed on the dry pavement that I lost on the ice, I managed to get to work in 29 minutes - wahoo, yay me! But the ride home, with the added new snow, was slow, cautious, and loooong.

The crazy thing is that as I was riding home, slowing down dramatically to cautiously wince my way around a curve in a residential road in the neighbourhood of Oliver (just north of the river valley and the High Level Bridge), I looked up just in time to see an oncoming cyclist whip through the turn and speed past me. Really, Mr. Tight Pants, was that necessary? As much as my first inclination is to mutter "jackass" under my breath whenever I see better cyclists than me, this time I was just truly confounded. How the hell did he make that turn so fast without wiping out? The turn wasn't really icy, per se, but there was definitely some snow cover that may have melted and may have turned into ice in that general area. Is it that he had a speedy combination of studded tires and confidence, so he didn't feel the need (like some people do) to practically stop his bike and walk it around the curve in case there might be ice on the road? Seeing this guy got me thinking: maybe I don't have to be that cavalier, but perhaps I could stand to be a little more confident on the bike, especially when riding with studded tires.

I think what I could really benefit from is to try goofing around with Mike and the Studs sometime. I should just find a calm, car-free piece of road or sidewalk and practice making hard stops, speeding up and dramatically slowing down, making sharp turns, etc. If I do that, I'll be able to determine the limits of the studded tires: what I can get away with and what I can't, at what point I fall over, etc. That would be remarkably helpful to know. I'll then be better prepared to make the combination of the fastest safest ride I can have, and that's exactly what I need as a daily commuter.