Getting an early start on bike season
I’m writing this week’s column in large part because it will serve as sort of a historical record for myself. In future years, I hope to look back at these words as proof of something: I don’t have to wait until spring is halfway over before I take my first bike ride of the year.
Ever since I started bicycling again on a regular basis about three years ago, I’ve I had in my head that I can’t really take the bike out of the garage until April or May. In truth, this is more about inertia than it is about the weather outside.
We all know that weather in Wisconsin can change drastically from day to day, and there’s really no guarantee that mid-January will be cold and snowy or that mid-April will be warm and sunny. Temperature swings of 20 or 30 degrees are not at all uncommon, and the appearance and disappearance of snow and ice can literally happen overnight. With that in mind, I decided to take my bike out for its first ride of 2021 on March 14, two Saturdays ago. It wasn’t a very long ride, just up and down a few city streets near my home in Colby. The ferocity of the wind kept me from venturing too far out. When you’re out biking, it doesn’t take long to realize that traveling with the wind and traveling against it are too very different experiences. The first half of a bike ride (with the wind) can make it seem like you have super powers, while the return trip (against the wind) will make it seem as though your tires are treading through molasses.
Still, this has been an abnormally mild late winter/early spring, with steadily climbing temperatures and only a few mild snow storms. As soon as the forecasts show 50s and 60s, it’s hard to ignore the call of that bicycle in the garage. This past Saturday, I decided to expand my riding area into Abbotsford, and I found it to be a mostly easy ride, except for the perpetual wind tunnel created by the Highway 29 overpass. Heading south, it felt like my tire treads were crawling through quicksand.
The next step was to take a trip to work on the back of my bike. Monday’s warm temperatures and gentle wind made for a near-perfect afternoon commute. I toyed with the idea of doing it again on Tuesday afternoon, but the threat of rain kept me in my car, which turned out to be a good decision. The rain is continuing to keep me off the bike for now, and with temperatures dipping back into 40s and 30s this weekend, it may be a few days before I’m out riding again.
But there is hope in the 10-day forecast. Easter weekend could see highs in the mid-60s, so I’d feel downright wasteful if I didn’t try to sneak in a ride or two in between visiting with family and going to church. Suddenly, the bike-riding season in Wisconsin seems a lot longer...as long as it doesn’t snow, of course.
OUT FOR A WALK
KEVIN O’BRIEN
EDITOR
