Winter Wheeling

I recently said the heck with taking the city bus to work and, instead, dusted off my "winter bike" and rode it the 2.5 miles from my home to work in downtown La Crosse. Was fun and, even better, it was faster and cheaper than the bus. I've found that one of the keys to winter biking (in addition to riding a bike with wide tires and fenders) is to ride on little used side streets (in this case, South Sixth Street) where auto traffic is light. And, of course, having lights on the bike when riding in the dark.

Hurray! Back On My Bicycle!

On Tuesday, March 11, after two months of using the city bus service to get to and from work I was finally able to use my bicycle again. It sure felt good to “be in the saddle” and the streets were clear and dry (see attached photo looking north on Sixth Street from Division Street) so safety was not an issue. January and February were not bicycle friendly in La Crosse due to what seemed an endless cycle of snow and subzero temperatures, turning the city’s side streets (where I ride 99 percent of the time to escape annoying auto traffic) into narrow ice skating rinks. Not owning a car by choice (Egad! How unAmerican!) I’m glad I have the option of city bus service when the weather is too crappy for bicycling but the bus takes me twice as long (30 minutes) to get to work compared to bicycling. The added time is due to having to wait for the bus followed by its indirect route to the downtown area. None of that with my bicycle as there is no waiting involved and I can make a beeline for downtown. Plus, the exercise of pedaling has to be better for me compared to sitting in a bus seat. And not to bash the bus service further but bicycling also allows me to come and go when I want without paying attention to the bus schedule . . . especially in the evening when the buses run on a hourly schedule. In short, I am one happy camper now that spring is just around the corner with the promise of decent bicycling conditions. Oh, I forgot to mention that besides saving time, bicycling also saves me $2.50 in daily bus fare . . . money that I can now spend on candy and comics.

Singing the Winter Blues

It's been a long time since I've experienced a winter like the current one. It seems like we've been in one endless cycle of snow and zero temps since December 1. The photo with this blog was taken this past Sunday of my neighbor lady shoveling her sidewalk during whiteout conditions as Mother Nature dumped more snow on La Crosse. Now everywhere I look I see nothing but white, white, white due to huge piles of snow smothering the landscape. I want spring with temps above 50-degrees, green trees and chirping birds. Speaking of birds, I've rarely seen a bird in the past couple weeks and want to feast my eyes on a Robin soon to give me hope that spring is just around the corner. Yes, wonderful spring: when I can ride my bike again and not have to dress like Nanook of the North when I venture outside. Hope "springs" eternal.