Tough Commute
by Tim Ek on January 8th, 2009
0.6 degrees F @ 7:30 a.m.
So, when I hear about the commutes in big cities being horrible, what with traffic jams, road rage, snipers and general debauchery I empathize. Then, I think, “wait a second, I really don’t have it that great either, or do I?”
Here’s the deal. I’ve been commuting to work for over six years on various bikes depending on the season. So let it be known, I’m not complaining, I’ve brought this on myself. As a born and bred citizen of Duluth, Minnesota I’ve learned to embrace the seasons throughout the years and believe me when I tell you, when they come, they have been known to bring the RUKUS. Now, spring has always been the life giving season it’s know for, and summer tends to be short, but exquisite! To me, fall is nice and in fact I enjoy being outdoors in the cooler weather, but I also can’t help but think, “Man, this is the lead up to winter”.
Since its winter now I figured that’s what I’d focus on throughout this post. We Minnesotans try to stay active in the winter, mostly to pass the time in order to get to spring. I’ve dabbled with other activities and am currently an avid snow boarder, but my true love still belongs to the bike. Therefore, I continue to bike throughout the winter months for training purposes, for fun, for transport and just for some general suffering.
The winter commuting routine starts with an extra early wake up, a glance at the temp followed by my emotional swing, either up or down depending on whether it’s above or below 10 degrees F. Over the years I’ve found that 10 seems to be the magic number. Anything below 10 hurts and above it is tolerable. Of course quality clothing is essential and donning them takes nothing short of 20 minutes. Invariably I’ll find one of our two cats burrowed under the pile while I dig through about $500 worth of high tech gortex and windstopper material. Eventually, it’s a leg over the Surly 1×1 single speed and out the door to the lung sucking vacuum of the northern cold. Now, if the shower didn’t quite wake you this always does. It’s like a bag of nickels to the face by the time I hit the end of the driveway. I’ve been commuting on days so cold that I’ve lost a patch of skin while removing sunglasses. I’ve lost feeling in my fingers and toes in a matter of 15 minutes. The bite of cold has been so painful that it’s difficult to describe and has almost brought me to tears. O.k., maybe actually to tears a couple of times. The coldest commute of the 2008 has been 46 below with the wind chill, which equals 19 below not counting the wind. One of my worst commutes ever was at 11:00 p.m. during a late winter ice storm. The roads were completely ice covered and I was riding sans studs. I went down 8 times on a six mile ride that night, talk about frustrating.
Yes, that's an EVOMO sticker
It’s not always bad though. For example, one summer morning I was heading to work when I encountered a 12 point buck standing in the road. He watched me approach, all the while standing his ground. As I passed him, a mere 5 feet away, we looked into each other’s eyes, a mutual respect, just me, him and the road.
I’m often told that I’m crazy. I wonder to myself if they’re the crazy ones. How many sunrises do they miss in their cars? How many of their problems go unresolved while they drive their cubes? Are they as happy as I am?
So, my response to winter is, “Go ahead and bring the RUKUS! I’ll still be here”.
Long live EVOMO…
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That uis way too much Rukus for me. You can keep it.
Way to bring it man! This past year our one car died and it kinda forced me to ride my bike to school each day. (I even built a single speed just for that purpose) I was averaging about 15 miles a day and I got the same response as you did with everyone calling me “crazy.” I don’t know… they are the ones paying for a gym membership to stay in shape, paying those high prices for insurance and gas…etc. Who’s the crazy one? Good write up!