Despite the cold, some cyclists still braving winter commute
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Tue January 05 2010
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Posted Jan 5, 2010
- 9,662
St. Paul, Minn.
by Tom Crann, Minnesota Public Radio
A week after a winter storm dumped snow
then ice then more snow on the region, Minnesota drivers
are frustrated with caked ice and snow on the roads. The
sub-zero temperatures make roads nearly impossible to
clean off. But if you thought driving a car in these
conditions was hard, consider with bicycle commuters are
going through.
"This has been a tough winter for cycling just since we
got that big snow followed by the rain followed by the
cold," said Bob Aldrich of Freewheel Bikeshop in
Minneapolis. Aldrich and a growing community of winter
riders are still biking to work every day, regardless of
how cold it is, or how icy the roads are.
Aldrich's advice for his fellow bikers: "If there's any
one thing you need to do it is to use studded tires.
There's a really significant difference between riding
with studs and without, not the least of it is
psychological."
Studded tires on a bike work just like they do on a car,
gripping especially well when there is snow and ice
covering the road. Also just like a car, a bike needs
regular maintenance to stay in good working condition,
particularly in the winter. And the same stuff cities use
to make the roads passable can really gum up the works on
a bicycle.
Chains and gears can get bound up with sand, salt and
grit. "If you can really thoroughly clean that stuff once
a week, you'll do yourself and your bike a huge favor,"
Aldrich said.
Dorian Grilley, executive director of the Bicycle Alliance
of Minnesota, is continuing his daily, 13-mile commute
into St. Paul this week. He has an answer for anyone who
said he's crazy.
"Many of the roads are plowed down to the asphalt,"
Grilley said. "You really do need either studded tires to
ride in the icy conditions that we've got now, or bare
asphalt. What's wonderful about the bike trails is that
the cars don't get out there and pack them down before
they're plowed, so very often the bike trials are able to
be plowed right down to the bare asphalt."
But what about the bitter cold? Dorian Grilley said, even
when it's this cold, temperature isn't the thing he
worries about most.
"The biggest challenge I think is staying safe; it's
certainly not staying warm," he said. "People don't
realize you generate a lot of heat when you're bicycling
and as long as you have something that breaks the wind on
the front, you should be able to stay warm."
Bob Aldrich at Freewheel Bike Shop agrees.
"This morning I had on my cycling shorts, a pair of power
stretch tights, and a pair of wind pants over that," he
said. "Long underwear top, a very lightly insulated
jacket, and then a windbreaker over that; not a whole lot
different than how you might dress to go cross country
skiing, except you're going to probably have one
additional layer,"
Even with studded tires, a clean drive train, and all the
right clothing, it sounds like quite a challenge to ride a
bike in Minnesota in January. So why do they do it? Dorian
Grilley said, "I do it to stay fit and to enjoy myself in
the out of doors. People don't get out enough in the
wintertime, and it's a great way to stay fit year-round."
But Bob Aldrich has a different reason. "You get to walk
around with a little self-righteous burning beacon of
virtue in your heart because you didn't drive to work that
day," he said.
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