Winter Commuting, Part Uno
- Now is the time to winterize your bike, while it’s still hot and last year’s goods are on sale. It’s a two part process- winterize the bike and winterize you. I live in a mild climate with good weather year round and hardly need fenders and winter parts but there are always days where I need full body, limb, and face coverage so if I need these things, there is a good chance that you do too.
- The basics for fall/winter commuting are pretty simple: fenders, lights, rain gear, warm clothes, and possibly a pedal swap. If you are in your first season of clipless pedals and you live in an area that gets lots of fall rain and thousands of pounds of slippery leaves fall because of that, you might consider getting a pair of platform pedals with toe clips and keep the straps loose for winter. If you need to get a foot on the ground fast, clipless pedals I foul weather, slippery conditions, and commuter traffic can kill the buzz of playing out in the rain on your own terms.
- I am a fan of fenders year round to keep gutter filth off my ass and I use SOMA Euro Trip Fenders. They have their plusses and minuses, the main plus being that since they are plastic they do not dent or bend like metal fenders and they do not make that metallic rattling sound (a good fender shouldn’t anyway). The minus us that the hardware is a bit fragile and putting a rear rack on with the fenders can tear the hardware to pieces, as my local shop boys found out when they tore the crap out of mine. Which is also why you should carry your own multi-tool- it saves you over-hormonalized boys in too-small and too-tight pants on mail-order bikes from trashing your delicate hardware just because you forgot one allen wrench and you are so anxious to get your rack on that you don’t wait until you get home. They also do bend and sort of stay that way, like they have been trained, like early-80’s bangs trained with hairspray, and it’s a bit of a battle to get them straight once that happens. The real plus is the hardware comes off the fender instead of breaking, so you if you hit a door frame, your hardware releases instead of rips off- I bought them because I am clumsy like that. You can see them here: http://store.somafab.com/euro.html
- I think next time I think I will get Planet Bike fenders which are a ply-something compound so not-metal but with attached hardware from someplace like REI.com, where I can pretty much get clothing and gear in one stop. You can check out REI’s good selection of Planet Bike stuff here in their cycling category page. I like buying from REI because they take good care of their people, are responsible stewards of fun, and also because Planet Bike also donates a lot of $$ to bike stuff- so you do a lot of good with one purchase.
Need a jacket? Check out the REI Jacket Sale and Clearance!
- Lights need to be brighter this time of year, not because it gets darker early, but if the weather sours, so does visibility. Spend good $$ on a light- it will save your life. REI has a healthy selection of light here although they don’t carry Knog lights, which I like, whatever light you choose for winter needs to be really water-resistant. I will say this now so you don’t have to write me an email later saying that you wish you knew how much you were going to spend on batteries, so if you commute more than 5 miles each way almost every day, year round, get a rechargeable light. I sm sure that you love a nice helmet strap as much as anyone and the added boon of the light attached to your head, should you go that way, is that your light follows your eyes. If your winters are hell- put one light on your head, one on your ride can call me when you get home safe. I like the NiteRider MiNewt Mini-Plus Light.
- Rain gear has two purposes: to keep rain off you & to keep all of the crap on the streets off of you. So if you ride to work without rain gear on the day after a storm, unless your city drains like magic sand, you will get soaked from standing water full of all the junk that didn’t make it out to your local rivers and lakes yesterday. In rain I wear a GoreTex shell that is black, which is a bad idea. No one can see me but luckily I am super-fat, so they can see something approximately the size of a Mini but with two wheels, so I have gotten away with it thus far. This year I may slap some reflective tape on the back and call it a day but get something that is bright. Like annoyingly bright. I’d say more about this but these guys have nailed it. Showers Pass make some ultra-deluxe rain gear and possibly the sexiest urban cycling jacket ever (and matching cap!) and my favorite place to shop for weather gear is www.teamestrogen.com. They have rocking sales.
- What do you do about your shoes? Well, I spent good money on a jacket and I just slip my feet into a couple of plastic bags like he kind from your produce aisle. I am not keen on big ol’ shoe covers for rain. And here we don’t get “rain,” we get “torrential monsoons” once per year, so I can live with it, but rain down my crack will ruin my day. I wear inexpensive Sierra Designs rain pants, available from any outfitter worth their salt.
- Warm clothes = layers made up of modern fabrics, silk, or wool used together to create a barrier that traps heat and releases moisture. You do not want to ride in the rain only to stay dry and freeze in your own sweaty mess. You do need to have a base layer on if you expect to be comfortable. I wear a merino wool undershirt, then arm warmers, then a long-sleeve Merino wool or fleece-lined jersey. On the bottom I wear cycling knickers or fleece-fronted knickers and a pair of Dickies over those that I roll up over my shoes. The Dickies dry fast. And I feel less like someone wearing tight fleece pants in traffic. I wear some nice argyle socks and show a little ankle or calf. It keeps it real when the air hits my skin. I wear full-finger gloves year round when commuting and in winter I put liner gloves inside them. I wear a beanie under my helmet that I bought from the kid’s section in old Navy five years ago. I wear a fleece tube around my nose and mouth to keep my nose from running down my face. Wear the sturdiest freaking shoes you can find with soles like motorcycle tires. Logger boots work, as long as it works and allows you to wear some plastic bags and argyle socks, it will work.