I ride to and from work just about every day. We had a solid month where the weather didn’t get above freezing, even during the day. That meant every evening as I was gearing up at the office at least one person would say, “you’re crazy.” or “you’re insane,” and the ever creative, “there’s something wrong with your head!”

For a while I’d just reply, “yup!” Then, I thought about it. These same people go skiing and don’t think that’s crazy. In my opinion skiing is even worse because you’re out playing in the snow. I usually remind whoever is calling me crazy that while I might be crazy I’m actually quite warm. At which point I bore the person with a winded description of my gear.

Last week we had a day in the 60s and it’s been over 40 every day since last Monday. A few fellow riders actually rode in last week. I even rode home with another rider. Something I haven’t done in a long time. While the weather is supposed to drop back into the 30s this week I think the worst of the winter is over.

The other night I stayed late after work.  The cleaning crew was there and they had a little boy of about eight with them. I was all geared up and getting ready to leave. It was pretty cold that day. I heard the kid ask the woman with him in amazement, “Why does he have a bike?”

The woman answered, “He’s going to ride it home.”

“Doesn’t he have a car?” he asked.

“No,” she replied.

I didn’t catch the rest because they went out of earshot.

Honestly, the most interesting thing to me about that exchange was his amazement.  Like I said, he was probably seven or eight years old. Even at that age he was already under the impression that cars are an expected part of life. Even at that age he thought I was abnormal for not owning a car and riding a bike. Granted, I am abnormal for riding my bike in twenty degree weather. At least in Harrisburg I am.

On my way to work today my bike took a dump.

I heard an ambulance coming up behind me, so out of habit I starting pulling over to the right. I was even slowing down to a stop like I would in a car. The sirens can be disconcerting when I’m riding. It’s a good thing I did slow down. Right when the ambulance passed me all of a sudden things popped and snapped and panniers were flying everywhere and my wheel locked up. My bike came to a grinding halt. It was bedlam!

My first thought was that it was somehow related to the ambulance. The loud siren and then my bike locking up. As far as I can tell it was a coincidence I didn’t have much time to look at it. I fiddled with it for a minute and ended up walking the bike to work.

After some investigation I sort-of found out what happened. I say “sort=of” because I found out all the symptoms, but I still can’t figure out what caused it all. A screw that holds my fender to my rack broke. I think it must have fallen out a while ago. The bracket got caught on the tire and bent the whole way back to my brakes. It locked up the tire. I’m still a little baffled as to how my pannier broke. There is s a knob type thing that tightens to the side of the rack. The entire brace that holds the knob to the pannier snapped into pieces. I’m hoping I can get just a new piece.

There are pictures explaining the aftermath below.

I must have been a  funny site later that day at work. I was outside my cubicle with my bike flipped over. I had the wheel off and my hands were covered in grease. Luckily we had the perfect sized screw in the warehouse. I got the fender all fixed up. I’ll have to see about the pannier.

To top it off, it started sleeting/snowing. I rode home in a wintery mix with a pannier that didn’t want to stay on!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I wrote a post a while back about adventure. I still consider this an adventure! Every day you don’t know what will happen. Will my bike disassemble itself? Will it sleet on me? I guess I should get used to sleet. Puxatony Phil says we’re in for six more weeks.

Yesterday morning I woke up to some snow on the ground. Just enough to suck. Plus, they were calling for more snow to start in the late afternoon/early evening. Since I had already walked to work once, I decided to just walk.

I was about three quarters of the way there when a van pulled up in front of me. It was a co-worker (co-worker 3 [it's a running theme]) on her way in. It turns out she turned around to get me. I feel a little sneaky. I was wearing my balaclava in such a way that my entire face was showing. I did that in case a co-worker might pass and pick me up. It worked. I thanked her profusely for turning around.

Then at the end of the day co-worker 4 asked me if I wanted a ride home. He heard that I walked in. I accepted the ride. I thanked him profusely too. Tomorrow I’m even going to put a thank you note in both of their mailboxes. I don’t want there to be any doubt I appreciate every ride I’m given.

After standing up co-worker 2 I couldn’t bring up the nerve to ask him again. I had made up my mind that I wasn’t going to ask anyone for a ride. For pretty much the entire week last week, my girlfriend was “stuck” at her parents’ house. She was having her car worked on and the shop was taking his sweet time. I realized something. People that have cars are at the mercy of a very complex machine and the chosen few that can fix them. I like being car-free. I have poised myself to be self sufficient. Where I am not self sufficient I am learning creative work-arounds.

There is a lesson in all of this. It’s the same lesson I heard when I was dating around. When you stop looking is when you find a girl. It works with getting rides too. When you stop asking for rides is when you get them.

It snowed quite a bit over Monday night and it turned into ice all day Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

This is my first winter weather situation not having a car.

Yesterday I worked from home, so that helped. This morning I had to MC our company staff meeting, so I needed to not only be there, but I needed to be there early. I live on a huge hill. One of my co-workers lives at the top of the hill. She said she would give a ride, but text me if they were too bad. I couldn’t gamble on that. I needed to be at the meeting early! My girlfriend ended up giving me a ride on the way to her work. That means I was there at 7:00 am. The meeting started at 8:30 am. I was 1.5 hours early for work.

So this evening I am going out for wings with a buddy. We go every Wednesday. So he is going to get me from work.

In winter weather situations I need to share rides. I think one of the most interesting things about being car-free is being on other people’s schedule when I do share a ride.  It is a challenge I hadn’t considered. I wasn’t about to ride on a sheet of ice this morning. That means I had to come in when I had a ride. Same with leaving work. If I am getting a ride home then I need to go when my ride goes. It’s interesting. I have to be as kind as possible while I’m at their mercy. After all, they are going out of their way to hook me up with a ride.

This all makes me think that a post about Time Management is in order.

Does anyone ride with studded tires? Especially on a road bike? I’m very curious about how they expand my winter riding capabilities. What are the limitations?

This evening I put on all of my winter gear, turned on my blinkies, and rode off into the dark, cold night. Like I said in my previous post, riding in the cold isn’t that bad. It’s all about the gear. I feel like I’ve done a decent job of getting appropriate gear.

Still, I started to second guess myself when rubber hit the rode. Can I do this any time I need to go somewhere? Is the money saved really worth the winter riding? Can’t I just wait until Spring? It helped me put things into perspective.

I’m at a critical juncture. My car has been posted on Craigslist. I already have two offers (though with Craigslist you can’t take offers too seriously). If I am going to decide to not sell the car then this is the time.

As I was riding along in the cold I started thinking about some of my original posts in this blog. This is back when I thought the car would never be drivable. I laid out all of the arguements as to why I should sell my car. I’m clinging to those arguments. I’m selling the car. Money is still my top priority here. I can’t wait to see how much money I will save! Excercise, the environment, and, honestly, this blog are other reasons I’m selling my car. Combined, these are still enough of a reason for me to go car-free. I’ll find a way to make it work despite the obstacles, uh hem, cold.

Then I thought about all of the comments in this blog. Many of them were from people that have already gone carless. They all said similar things. “You won’t believe how much you save,” “It’ll work.” All the more inspiration!

So no more time for second guessing. Now it’s time for action.