I was in a rut, cycling-wise, before this weekend. On Saturday, I headed out for a road ride, even though we’d gotten a few inches of snow the day/night before. I was a little unsure what to expect; most of my riding this winter, except for commuting, has been on trails or gravel roads.

Fortunately, it had been warm enough that the main roads had little to no snow on them. State Road 45 was clear completely. Mt. Gilead, a side road, had some snow, but it wasn’t too bad. Still, I was riding the Trucker, with slick tires, so I had to be extra careful.  Interestingly enough, the hills were the *easiest* part, as they had large amounts of sand and salt on them. The flat sections were largely untreated, and as such has some snow and ice.

In the first few shots, you can see the progression of the road conditions, going away from town.

Here you can see that I’m enjoying myself. It felt great to ride the Trucker after spending so much time commuting on The Beast.

More importantly, the scenery was tremendous. I’ve ridden through this area dozens of times before, but it’s never looked like this.

You can see how thick the sand is, on this steep, winding downhill.

I made my way over to Bethel Lane, another back road … and the road conditions were OK at first, but quickly deteriorated. Icy snow and snowy ice made for very little traction. I was impressed at how well my slick tires handled these conditions, especially at one point when I stopped and put a foot down, only to have it nearly slide right out from under me.

At one point, my rear tire suddenly slid sideways. I recovered without falling, but it was nerve-wracking. I just had to go very slowly for a few miles.

I stopped to take a break for a minute and realized icicles were accumulating on my fenders. I had to break the ice off the front fender, as it was starting to rub the tire.

I was worried about the hill that I would have to ride down to get to Lake Griffy. The road there was in slightly better shape than Bethel Lane had been, but not by a whole lot. Once I reached the bottom of the hill, the road was clear and I rode across the causeway. The lake was frozen and a lone fisherman was out on the ice.

The road up the hill on the other side of the lake, back toward town, was clear and easy riding. Well, easy except the fact that it’s a big hill.

Within a few minutes, I was back in town. It’s a bit jarring to turn the corner after riding past a lake and through a forest, and suddenly see one of the busiest roads in town. That’s one thing I love about Bloomington, though, you don’t have to go far to get to what is essentially the middle of nowhere.

From there, I rode home, basically following my commute route. Some kind soul had again plowed the bike path. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a vast improvement over what it’s like when left alone. Whoever is responsible for this: thank you!

All in all, a great ride. Just a bit over 18 miles, but it felt like more, given the conditions.

I have discovered the coveted secret of winter bicycle commuting. I have discovered two pieces of gear, which, used properly, keep me comfortable from about 30 degrees Fahrenheit, all the way down to 0 degrees. I almost didn’t even write about this, considering the uber secret nature of this information. But no one is talking about these incredible pieces of technology, so I have decided to share my discovery with my readers. You won’t find this information anywhere else.

So, what are these two items, which together form the holy grail of comfortable winter bicycle commuting? Brace yourself, and I’ll tell you: a windbreaker and a sweater. Yes, really.

For some time, I experimented with different layering schemes. Eventually I found this windbreaker + sweater combination, but I didn’t realize exactly what I’d stumbled on. I wore this combination for some commutes in the 20s. Then it got colder, in the teens. I thought “surely, I need to add another sweater.” I wore an extra one, and I was too hot. Once temperatures reached down into the single-digits, I again thought I needed two sweaters. Still too hot!

Today, I once again strayed from the formula. It was 30 degrees during my commute this morning, and I thought “surely, if a sweater is enough in single-digit temperatures, it will be too warm now.” I didn’t wear the sweater. As you might have guessed by now … I was cold.

Now that I think things through more carefully, I realize that the same gear could extend to a higher temperature range, as well. Just the jacket, without a sweater, should be good from about 35 to 55. A sweater alone should get me up into the 60s. Above that, there’s no need for either a windbreaker OR a sweater.

Therefore, I conclude that I can go from 0-60 in a sweater and a windbreaker.

Aside from commuting, I haven’t done much riding in the past couple of weeks. I have been busy, and also a bit lazy. I’m also having some sort of foot issue that’s not keeping me off the bike entirely, but it is definitely making me tread more lightly and avoid longer rides. I’d like to do some hiking, but that’s definitely not an option until my foot gets better.

I did get out for about a 17-mile ride with Dave on Sunday. It was mostly on paved roads, but we hit a bit of gravel as well. There was more snow away from town, more than I expected. The paved roads were clear, but the gravel was snowy and icy, and just beautiful. I rode my new mountain bike, and I have to say, the 29er handles better on the roads than my old 26″ mountain bike. My tires made hilarious noises on the pavement, though, I sounded like a tractor rolling down the road. There was only one noteworthy photo from that ride; here it is.

And here’s a photo of the bike path from my commute, sometime last week. Here you can see that it snowed, people walked and rode on the snow, and the snow melted and refroze. The rough ice was bumpy, but otherwise no problem, with the studded tires on my commuter.