Comments on: Winter Cycling

By: bart

bart — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 10:15:24 +0000

oh, yes ! a velomobile would be ncie !

By: bill

bill — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:16:35 +0000

Thanks, Mary! For those who don’t know, Mary runs the excellent velomobile.com and velomobile.net sites.

One other comment: I’ve ditched my gloves and am now using mittens for winter riding. They’re more cumbersome, but the most basic windproof mitten is warmer than the highest-tech glove out there, in my opinion.

By: Mary Arneson

Mary Arneson — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:45:37 +0000

Despite having velomobiles, we’ve been riding “open” bikes this winter. (The velomobiles provide great protection from cold rain and from extreme cold, but they need secure and roomy parking facilities, and they aren’t agile in traffic.) We’ve added “Down Low Glow” lights to three of our bikes and find that they really improve your visibility. I also use dual headlights, mounted side-by-side, so that if one goes out, there’s a spare. Generator lights can be great, especially with hub generators to power them, LEDs to provide a useful amount of light, and a “standlight” capacitator to keep you from going dark when you stop. Bottle generators can wear the sidewall right off a tire, as I’ve found with the one that I have.

DLG photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/velomobiling/sets/72157594370873052/

By: bill

bill — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 16:03:17 +0000

For lights I just use battery-powered ones on the front and back. I think the front one is a Cat Eye and the back is from Bike Planet. They don’t provide great illumination at night, but they allow me to be seen.

I’ve wondered how well generator lights work, like the kind on European-style commuter bikes.

I look forward to the arrival of my new bike – a Surly Crosscheck cyclocross bike that Mike’s Bikes is outiftting as a commuter bike.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:12:18 +0000

Great post, and great blog. I’m a Northfielder and I’m happy to say I’ve biked every day since October. Not that I really like sharing the road with the Mayflower Hill SUVists, but still, it’s a good way to get to work at Carleton. I sure wish I’d read this post about a month ago, though: I just cannot hit on the right combination of clothes for these cold mornings. I’m going to try some of your suggestions. What about lights, though? What do you ride with?

Keep up the good work; maybe we’ll cross paths sometime.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:09:31 +0000

Great, now I want a Velomobile! Just what I needed!

I confess I’ve been a chicken about riding in the recent cold snap, but you’ve given me some encouragement.