one monkey typing

Now that I have figured out how to set the beam direction on the light properly, I find that I can ride quite comfortably with the light at 50% power on the gravel, 25% on paved road. That will increase my runtime, and it gives me some more power to use when it's snowing or whatever.

I swung by the hunting clothes section at Meijer last night and noticed some bright orange, thinsulate lined gloves. I wasn't looking for gloves, but they were $9, available in XL, and most of my gloves are a bit on the thin side and are dark (not visible when signaling turns) so I picked up a pair and wore them this morning. They're toasty warm, and claim to be waterproof. I might pick up another pair while they're available. They're basically orange ski gloves (OK, *cheap* orange ski gloves).

The boots I wear riding when it gets really cold are also from Meijer's hunting selection (2 years ago). They had a decent looking balaclava but I think I'll wait, it'll probably go on sale soon enough. I have a balaclava but it's a bit thin for below-zero temps. It's kind of silly that a balaclava should cost 2x what a pair of gloves do. The gloves probably have as much material and clearly far more work involved in making them. It's volume driving down prices I guess; they make a hell of a lot more gloves.

It was about 17*F this morning on the way in. It's starting to get to cold toes temps. I think when I have to face temps approaching 10* much, it's time to switch to platforms and wear the boots. They're not my favorite thing to pedal in, but they do keep my toes warm.

Tom and I built a model electric motor for his science fair project. We still have some work to do. Hard drive magnets are not ideal for a large motor, because they're just too small. We went to Harbor Freight and found a welding support magnet set which consisted of two 2"x4"x.75", 50 pound pull ceramic magnets in a bracket for $7.99; a bargain! They got the motor working pretty well. The only problem now is that it won't self-start; the attraction to the steel bar of the armature is too strong for the electromagnet to overcome, and I don't think we should run any more voltage through the wires or we might fry the windings (we salvaged the wire from the head actuator coil of the 4G hard drive we stole the original magnets out of). We picked up the magnet wire assortment from Radio Shack while we were out so I think we need to put more windings on that coil. The thinnest wire in the set is a fair amount thicker than the hair-thin stuff we've used so far. Also I think maybe we should shorten the armature.

We also made the "Beakman's World" electric motor, which is just some magnet wire, a magnet stuck to a C cell, and a couple of paper clips. Actually we made two; I made one just for fun while Tom was over playing Wii next door this afternoon, then Tom saw it when he came home and wanted to make one himself. They're a little fussy to get going but not bad.

I also found that Harbor Freight's cheapest reflective vest is also by far their best; $4.29 buys a vest with some damn good reflective stripes on it. Anyone who runs or cycles at night should grab one or two. ( picture behind the cut )

Wednesday was my first day of riding in the slush. Tuesday night I put the studded tires on (at 2150 miles on the odometer).

Last Friday I put on full fenders and a front mudflap. This helps IMMENSELY. With just the "mud guard" on the front and a solid rack on the back, I'd pretty much written off riding in sloppy weather, but with the full fenders it's not a problem.

The "wintery mix" was coming down pretty well, very wet, by the time I got home. The only real discomfort at all was that it was basically raining ice pellets, and they hurt my face when I was riding into the wind. Also I was wearing half-finger gloves and my knuckles (but not my fingers) got cold. But I didn't really get wet until the last mile, where I was riding on a fairly slushy road, and the cars passing me were throwing up big sheets of slush which covered my legs. Still, it wasn't really a problem, it just sheeted off the windbreaker pants. My sneakers got wet, but when I got home the neoprene shoe covers I ordered were waiting, so that shouldn't be a problem in the future.

All in all, the winter riding is NOT a problem. You generate a surprising amount of heat, so you don't get cold, in fact my biggest problem is figuring out exactly how much clothing to wear; a couple of times already I've had to slow down a bit because I was overheating. I particularly tend to wear one too many layers on my legs. It's tough to step out into the dark morning and get on a bike when it feels like your legs are freezing, trusting that you'll be warm enough in 15 minutes.

Riding with the studded tires is interesting. A little more rolling resistance (not much), a lot more noisy. Riding through slush takes considerably more effort. My time for the trip was up from about 38 to 44 minutes, and my legs are letting me know about it today. So come spring I should be in pretty good shape! I'm going to get some fairly narrow tires for next year. The studded tires I have on now are actually more narrow than the hybrid tires I've been riding with.

I moved my Nashbar LED blinkie up to the back of my helmet (love those plastic quickties), and put a new one by Bell (same thing, different case) on the seatpost. I switched back to my 2.3 AH battery one day last week when I realized that I'd forgotten to charge my big battery overnight. For now I'm going to leave the 2.3 on, as I've found that riding with just the 3 LED white light on my helmet is NOT a problem on the paved roads. I flip on the halogen for the gravel (for pothole avoidance) and when there's an oncoming car. All told I have the halogen on for probably 20 minutes of the 40 minute trip. The 3 LED has been running on the same 3 AAA cells for 3 months now. Sure wish LED headlights were practical, but thus far they're pretty expensive and have a limited lifespan.

Eventually I think I'm going to get a new battery, a NiMH pack probably, that can handle 30 to 40 watts of light and give me 2 hours of runtime, then put on a 2nd light, probably a 10W flood. I'm thinking that I can run with the 10W most of the time, and use the 20W (or maybe both) when I get into busier areas. Dual lights seem pretty common, and it protects against having a bulb burn out leave you either running blind or changing a bulb in the dark in the freezing cold.

Nokians on (new)
Odometer: 2150