B-r-r-r-r

I have a couple of friends who are still riding their bikes to work this week.

I have not. Probably won't, either, for a few more days.

It's just too darned cold for my tastes.

I didn't used to be a cold-weather-wimp. In younger days, I was able to deal with temperatures down into the single digits wearing little more than a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled. I was a high-strung kid, burning hundreds of calories just standing still (well, as still as I could stand at the time). I'm still more tolerant of cold than many folks I know--to a point.

As I get closer to fifty, my tolerance for cold decreases. It's a fact of life.

I pressed my temperature minimum down a bit this year, with better gear. If the low temperature would stay above twenty or so, I'd be fine. Spending an hour on a bike in ten-degree weather (not counting wind chill index) doesn't appeal to me.

If my commute was fifteen or twenty minutes, or half an hour, I'd probably go ahead and ride. I don't know what it is about that extra half hour that buffaloes me into driving, but I just don't enjoy the prospect.

I mean, the bike is plenty reliable. It's not like I am using a crappy bike that breaks down all the time, and flats have been thankfully rare on this route. The headlights don't much like the cold, but the biggest problem coming from that is a short stretch behind Pewee Valley (Of course, my sense on the headlights could be left over from times using the SOTA Circa 1995 Vista Light set that's now on the Raleigh. The new lights on the Vanguard may be more cold-tolerant--I haven't tried them yet).

I could go multi-modal, I suppose--TARC has a line that would get me about halfway there--I just need to get organized a bit to use it...and use the Raleigh, since the Vanguard won't fit on a bus-mounted bike rack. After all, that's one reason I bought the Raleigh--to make it possible for me to go multi-modal.

At the time I bought the Raleigh, I was working in the urban area of N'Awb'ny. I was riding through the urban area, not out in the 'burbs. "See me" lights were far more important than "see where I'm going" lights. The multi-modal route now would have me riding the more challenging part on the Raleigh--the darkest segments, the hilliest segments, the narrowest roads--and that is taking the fun out of the idea.

I'm off work tomorrow, and will spend most of the day working on some last-minute weatherization chores around the house. Maybe I can tinker around with the bikes a bit--move the light set over on a short-term basis, re-install the small panniers that I took off since I use the trailer with that bike so often, and set up the Raleigh to be my multi-modal commuter for a while.

We'll see.