It was sleeting this morning as I biked to work in significant amounts. I have two boxes of old books to drop off to a 2nd hand book shop and 30kg of nuts and bolts to pick up on the way home. I could leave it for a dryer day, or I could just pop it in my bike trailer which has a waterproof bin on the back and keep everything perfectly dry. I do like my gumboots and extra length Oringi jacket which keeps me nice and dry for shorter trips too. It doesn’t breathe too well on longer trips but great for trips round town in the hosing rain. I make bike trailers and am always keen to help others doing all their load carrying by bike, so get in touch if you ever want to have a go on the free trial, or get one made
Steve’s sleet had turned to snow by the time I set off for work. I donned my coat (on special for $300), overtrou ($150) super warm gloves ($80) opshop hat ($2) and Mitre10 Gumboots ($25). For me to be able to bike in all weathers for the rest of my life cost less than $600. This is about 6 full tanks of petrol- or I guess about 2-3 months of driving for a regular driving person. Biking really does tick all the boxes: health, finances,clean air, reducing congestion, social capital it’s great fun (especially this morning in the snow!) it builds resilience, independence and future proofs transport needs. Why wouldn’t you go by bike?
I like biking in the snow; there’s something about the snow flakes in your face that’s just kind of cool. I don’t like cycling the day AFTER snow, when things are usually a bit icier – the trick is smooth straight lines of motion…
Well I was all rugged up this morning and ready to bike off into the breach for the work day when it turned out that my kids’ schools were shut, but wife still needed to go to work. So I went for the “quick car run” option instead, to drop off and pick up some stuff from uni before returning home… except it’s never really that quick in rush hour (esp. on a snow day); it probably would have been simpler to do the trip by bike!