Forums

Today’s Ride

2008-12-06T21:44:09-05:00

Today, I rode about 3 1/2 miles on Iron Horse starting at Woodbine going south at about 8:30 this morning. Powdery snow drifted lightly over the trail as I battled winds about 15 mph and had to blink continuously with snow hitting my eyes… Should have worn glasses! Temps in the upper teens put windchill factors in the below zero range when heading into the wind. I was really glad I wore my face mask! When I arrived at my destination after 5.5 chilly miles, my body was just slightly overheated and perspiring lightly, but my fingertips and toes were hurting. It reminded me of a little winter bike riding poem I made up a few years ago:

My thumbs is numbs!
My toes is froze!
My finger tips is got the nips!
Who’d a thought I’d be so hot!

It just points out the delicate balance needed when riding in cold temps. Too much effort can lead to excessive perspiration, which can impair the insulating ability of clothes and result in hypothermia. Just enough effort is needed to keep the body temperature up to operating range, but not so much as to perspire. If you feel sweat forming you need to either ease off or open up some layers.

It also shows that the extremities are at the highest risk for frostbite because circulation is not high enough to keep them warm with the windchills generated riding at cruising speed. As long as they hurt you are not frostbitten, but that is a signal to warm them up by riding with one hand behind while clenching and opening the fist a few times, and then switch hands, etc. on your way to the next shelter. Even with several layers on hands, it can be a pain for some people. You need to make sure that the outer hand layers are sufficiently large to avoid restricting blood flow to the fingers. Mittens are helpful by keeping more heat mass together. Less exposed area that way. Those hand warmer packets are nice too. They are about $.50 or so a pair and extremely nice feeling when it is near zero.

The ride home was much nicer at about 3 PM. Winds were mostly at my back and temps had risen 8 or 9 degrees as well. I didn’t put on my mask going home since it interferes some with peripheral vision. Unfortunately, the roads I had to ride on had been salted… Yuck!! Now I gotta wash the bike and lube the chain! The trail had accumulated nearly an inch of snow in many places, and was slick, so the normal precautions of: “Accelerate slowly” “Use brakes lightly” and “Turn very gently.“ were needed. I slid a little a few times, and even went down when I was only a few hundred feet from home, slowing and turning at the same time, when my front wheel slid. Fortunately, I was almost stopped, so all I did was sort of fall over., (remember laugh-in?) Now I have a bruise on my upper right thigh where something in my pocket came between me and the concrete. Concrete alone would have been preferrable as it would have spread out the impact over a much larger area. -Note to self…—-> Take stuff out of jeans pockets before riding in snowy weather. <—- I probably would not have gone down if I’d been riding my mountain bike instead of my skinny tire road bike. Even my old 27 inch Fuji would probably have been ok.

All in all not a bad ride. I just thought of another point worth discussing. If there is a choice, start your ride going into the wind in cold weather. If you are 10 or 20 miles out all warm and toasty, and turn around into a headwind you just might not be able to generate enough body heat to counter the windchill on the way back. At that point, it is too late to find out. If, on the othe hand, you are riding into the wind first, you can tell if it is too cold for you in a very short while, and in relative comfort, you can turn around and go home for more layers.

I hope this gives some insight as to a few of my thoughts on successfully riding bicycles in winter conditions. Hopefully it might just encourage someone who is hesitant to try.

Oh yeah, just be sure to wash all the salt off & lube the chain after you finish.

Any Memorable Bike Rides of 2008 That you would like to Share?

2008-11-23T22:55:29-05:00

For me my last few days commuting to downtown Dayton was the best rides I had in a long time. I got to ride with some good fellow cyclist that over the years our path corossed a few times. It was the companey that made it nice.
When I was commuting 5 and 6 AM in the morning I would come across some interesting people and activity that most path users would not see. My commute was Santa Rosa to Wagner to Stroop to County Line to Spolding / Iron Horse, Creekside, Mad River Great Miami River. An easy route but very dark at the times of my commute. Then my hours changed and I enjoyed the path even better.
Now my work is on Conunty Line and the commute is around 2 something miles I find it easy to explore the neighborhood on the way to work.
My wife and I like Corwin area to ride the tandem. With the gas prices being high we tend to ride around our neighborhood this year.
Does anyone have a favoret loop or bike ride?

Iron Horse @ Galewood Street. ???

2008-11-19T00:38:28-05:00

Since they put in the 5-inch curb and have us ride some sidewalk to get to the Iron Horse bike path, you will notice that they have put down some straw to cover the newly sown grass seed just before the bike path, thus, you have not only to ride on the sidewalk, but go over some grass that will soon turn into a rut. It appears that there is not a legal entrance to the Iron Horse bike path. It appears that something is being said by the Parks department on this one and as it looks now, it is going to cost us more money to put an apron at the street.
A caution note: the straw is very slippery in the morning chill for us recumbents. The front wheel tends to track straight on top of the straw.

Good news is that my wax chain lube is not reacting to the cold yet. It is about 6 to 7 PM when I leave work and find that so far things are working very well on the bike now that I am using light weight clean lubes.

Initial Meeting for “Friends of Little Miami State Park” November 16th

2008-10-26T20:25:55-05:00

Here’s information I received today from Simeon at Corwin Peddler about a meeting to gauge the amount of interest in, and people that want to be involved with, the Friends of Little Miami State Park Group.

************************************************

As you are probably well aware “The Little Miami State Park” is a wonderful asset to our Local Communities, our State and our Nation. We frequently meet many people who have travelled thousands of mile just to use this State Park. However “The Little Miami State Park” is showing it’s age and has many current and future maintenance needs. Unfortunately we cannot rely on sufficient funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to keep this trail maintained as many of us would wish.

The Park Management has asked for us to help support them by forming a “Friends Group of The Little Miami State Park”. A Friends Group is the only efficient way to raise funds locally and have its contributions spent on a specific State Park. With the support of the Friends Group, ODNR and the Park Management, we hope to return “The Little Miami State Park” to it’s former glory and also enhance it’s facilities.

I have attached an image of a poster announcing:

Initial Meeting of this Friends Group which will be held on Sunday November 16th, 7:30 PM at “The Corwin Peddler”, 69 Maple Street, Waynesville, OH 45068

Purposes of the meeting are to:

1. To elect a Board of Directors
2. Evaluate Community support for a Friends Group
3. Establish what resources are available to this Friends Group.
4. Get a list of interested people and find out what talents and connections they are able to use in support of this Friends Group

I am also asking that all interested people contact me (Simeon Copple) via e-mail Friends at TheCorwinPeddler dot com to tell me if you plan on attending. We will be offering refreshments and may need to move the meeting to another local facility if the number of attendees exceeds our capacity.

If you are interested in offering your services by becoming a Board Member, such as President, Treasurer, Secretary, Attorney, Media Specialist, etc. please include that in your e-mail.

I strongly encourage you to distribute this e-mail to any friends or acquaintances, that you think will be able to help us, and I do apologize in advance, to those people who get multiple copies.

I look forward to meeting you on Sunday November 16th, 7:30 PM at “The Corwin Peddler

Sincerely,
Simeon Copple

The Corwin Peddler LLC
69 Maple Street,
Waynesville, Ohio, 45068

Website: http://www.TheCorwinPeddler.com
e-mail: Info at TheCorwinPeddler dot com
Phone: (513) 897-3536
Fax: (513) 897-3536

Something New on Iron Horse Path

2008-11-02T21:42:05-05:00

The entrance to the path just off of Galewood Street has the temporary fence removed, however, there will be no driveway apron at the entrance. You have to us the sidewalk for about 5 feet.
On another side note, The first wooden bridge that crosses over the stream does get damp but not getting too slick yet, but be careful for the morning ice (frost) is making for a slight challenge in the morning.

Do you help clean-up?

2008-10-06T11:30:54-05:00

Do you help clean-up the trail when you see obstacles or debris?

Or is your riding time limited enough that you just make do and ride through?

I’ve been guilty of the later many times since my rides with my honey start late in the evening and always seem a bit rushed for time. Anytime I’ve actually tried to move debris seemed to occur on a weekend when the ride was more leisurely.

How about you?

Greene County Trail abundance

2008-10-24T20:23:35-05:00

What has made Greene county one of the leading counties in the state for bike trail development? Are there unique drivers/impetus or a concentration of cyclists?

Little Miami State Park Survey

2008-08-06T20:39:26-05:00

A survey for the Little Miami Scenic Bike trail (Hedges Road south to Kroger Hills—near the trail south end) is available at Xenia Station.

Please take a few minutes to complete a survey and mail to Columbus. No surveys have been received this year, so the bike trail may be droping off the Parks radar screen.

Closed section

2008-09-09T10:59:57-05:00

The section of the trail south of Xenia (Hedges to Richland rd.) is indeed closed and has been for about a week. Finally got to a newspaper yesterday and today. Bellbrook Ave. parking area is available for northbound and the Spring Valley parking area at the ballfields for those heading Southbound. You don’t have to go to Corwin to find a place to park as was stated in the news acticles. Ride to the Pedaler for your ice cream!

.............jim

Bellbrook-Spring Valley Connector

2008-09-11T17:20:37-05:00

About 180 people attended last night’s meeting. There are 3 potential routes, one along SR 725, one on the north side of the Little Miami River and one on the south side of the Little Miami.

If you want my notes from the meeting, e mail me at billoldhausen at yahoo dot com