As I’m sure you’re aware, today was the first day of a new presidency. At first glance, it doesn’t appear that there will be much change, at least for a while. Troops will continue their fight in the middle east, unemployment is still on the way up, and the markets are continuing to tank. I still have one hope though, and that is for our country to become less car-centric over the coming years.

This country for decades has been focused heavily around our cars. They let us get around quickly (unless there’s a traffic jam), cheaply (unless gas is $4 a gallon), and easily (unless there’s no highway to the destination). Hundreds of millions of cars hit the road every day as we commute to work, some for long trips and some for short, yet only a tiny number of people hop on their bike for the commute. So many of us are only a few miles from work, where biking can be faster than driving, yet excuses about time prevail. I found this online today, no source was attributed.

Waltzing around the cycle blogosphere it seems odd that so much terminology has spawned regarding what is, in fact, a simple pursuit. Is it a result of the decades old tendency in North America and other non-bike culture countries to nerdify cycling because it has primarily been viewed as a sport or a hobby for closed groups of “enthusiasts” – and not a reasonable and basic form of transport? Perhaps.

Let’s straighten things out, shall we? What you see in the photo above, taken in Copenhagen, is something we call a “cyclist”. Not a “bicycle commuter”, nor a “utility cyclist”. Certainly not a “lightweight, open air, self-powered traffic vehicle user”. It’s a cyclist.The Copenhagener above is not “commuting” – or at least she doesn’t call it that. She’s not going for a “bike ride” or “making a bold statement about her personal convictions regarding reduction of Co2 levels and sustainable transport methods in urban centers”.

She’s just going to work. On her bike. And that’s what she’s riding. A bike. A “cykel” in Danish.She doesn’t call it “my city bikes” or “my Alternative Transport Vehicle” or “my Dutch bike” [whatever THAT is… not even the Dutch call them Dutch bikes, not to mention tens of millions of Chinese] – it’s just her bike. When she bought her bike at her local bike shop she didn’t have a “fitting” at the “full service workshop and showroom”. She probably walked into the shop and said, “I need a bike”. The chap working there probably shrugged, glanced her up and down and said, “you’ll be needing a 52cm”. “I like the black one, over there…” “That’s a 52cm” “Great. How much?”And off she went with her new bike. He didn’t offer her any fancy, expensive “bike gear” or “accessories” and he didn’t try to dazzle and confuse her with inaccessible, nerdy technerd abble in order to make more money. He doesn’t even have “cycle clothes” in his shop. He assumes she has clothes in her closet at home. A wooly hat for winter. A summer dress for… well… summer. She needed a bike. He owned a bike shop. It was over in 20 minutes. Although he probably adjusted her seat for her.

The bike she chose was a black one. Probably a good, reliable Danish brand like Kildemoes or Taarnby. It certainly wasn’t a “TerraTurbo Urban Warrior X9000”. It was just a bike. What it is called isn’t important to her. Just the fact that it works. She doesn’t know how much it weighs. Nobody she knows or has ever met could tell you how much their bike weighs. Likewise, she doesn’t know how far she rides each day. It isn’t interesting. She rides at a good pace, not too fast to cause a sweat, and the ride is nice enough. She likes the fresh air and she often sees friends on the bike lanes. She loves crossing The Lakes and seeing the transformation from season to season. That will suffice.

She doesn’t wake up and make a decision to “commute by bike to work today”. It’s just a part of her day. She just walks out of her flat and gets on her bike. If it has a puncture, she’ll walk it down to the local bike shop to get it repaired and then take the bus or train to work. Picking it up in the afternoon.

She isn’t an activist, doesn’t belong to a cycling organisation with a long acronym and she doesn’t even think about the fact that she lives in something called a “bike culture”. She’s just a cyclist. Riding her bike to work. She’ll be doing the same tomorrow. If other cities had more of these kinds of cyclists, they’d find that a “bike culture” would be achieved a lot more quickly.

I can’t say I’m 100% like the person described, nor would I want to be. I enjoy cycling as a hobby and as a workout, and enjoy riding to and from work rather than driving. We need more people like this. Imagine what would happen to our obesity rate if even 10% of people who live within 10 miles of work hopped on a bike instead of getting in their car every morning. How much money would be saved from going to overseas oil cartels, and how much wear on our crumbling roadways would be reduced. Stressed out from a long day at work? Great, work it out on the ride home and enjoy your evening with your family rather than stewing about it all night.

I understand that the chances of serious progress on this front are small, but every morning I see more and more people on their way to work, choosing to take their bike rather than their car. And every time I do, it makes me just a little bit more hopeful that this movement will continue to grow.

Yesterday, as most of you know, was very cold in Denver, along with a few inches of snow. In the morning, it was in the low teens, and the snow was very light, dry, and unconsolodated. I decided to bike, and only added a couple minutes to my standard ride in. Things were substantially different on the way home.

By 3:30pm, the snow had been packed down everywhere by drivers. Some of it had melted (either due to the sun or icemelt dropped by plow crews) and refrozen, as it was cooling off again. I can’t imagine it getting worse and still being able to stay upright on a bike without studded tires. Several times I was absolutely positive I was going down, yet only once did I actually hit the deck. Montview was untouched by plows so instead of a nice bike lane, it was rough partially refrozen slush thrown by cars. Not great conditions for a road bike. I took the sidewalk along Colfax for the last couple miles, and got a big thumbs-up from an enthusiastic pedestrian.

Lesson learned: stay off the bike next time it snows.

November was a great month for biking to work. I biked in 17 days (of 18, due to the holiday), and drove today just because I need to be able to get around more quickly to book it out of town after work. I’ve driven far more due to the start of ski season, but that was anticipated. I’ll be entering December with 69 days biking to work since June 25, and only 30 days of driving in that time period (only six of those since the Oct. 1). My goal for December is 21 days (of 22 work days). I won’t be disappointed with 20.

Still haven’t pulled the photos from Berthoud, but with the long weekend I should have them up in a few days.

Late last night and early this morning, Denver got its first dose of snow for the season. It’s been a long time coming, and will hopefully be the first of much more to fall. On another note, today was my 62nd day of biking to work (18th in the past 3 weeks) since June 25th. It’s been three and a half weeks since I last filled my car up with gas, and I have around 5/8 of a tank left. I’m fortunate to have a job within five miles of home, making for a quick and easy bike commute.

Here are some tips for making it through the next few, cold months:

Wear an appropriate amount of warm clothing, preferably with a snug fit. You don’t want to be dressed to warmly, or you’ll be sweating by the end of the ride, which is never a good thing (especially when it’s cold). A tighter fit will reduce wind resistance, making the ride that much easier, especially in the windy mornings that Denver has almost daily in the winter.

Ski gloves. Several companies make warm gloves made for cold-weather cycling. Forget them, just use a pair of cheap ski gloves. The hand shape is right and they’re much warmer.

Clear safety glasses. These would have been very handy this morning, but I managed to forget them at home. Blowing snow (especially compounded by 15-20mph bike speeds) can be blinding and painful.

A face mask, for colder mornings. So your face doesn’t freeze. I’ve got an under armor neck/lower face one that’s perfect, or a full-face if it’s really bad. Alternately, just don’t shave. Beards are nature’s face mask, and even just a couple days worth of stubble can work wonders.

Good shoes. I use the Shimano MT70, available from BackcountryOutlet.com for at least half off. They’re the perfect commute shoe – comfortable to walk in, with two-hole cleat compatibility and with a goretex membrane. My feet were still cold this morning, so wear heavy socks if it’s really cold.

A mindset towards avoiding braking, when it’s wet. Wet brakes don’t work as well, plus they wear down much faster than when it’s dry. A fixed-gear bike would help with this, but the right riding style helps immensely as well.

If you have a mountain bike and are really serious about it, there exist studded tires. These are available at Backcountry and other retailers, and will make you nearly indestructable in even the worst conditions.

Winter has finally arrived in Denver, so go make the most of it!

Injury sustained while on the search for lunch yesterday. Endo on the bike which led to an open head wound in the 1/2″ x 1-1/2″ range and more blood than I think I’ve ever bled. Got a nice shiner developing too. Now it’s superglued closed and beginning the long, slow healing process.

Good times.

I should’ve expected it. Yesterday was day 50 of biking to work since the end of June. At the end of the day I went to get on my bike, only to find that the rear had flatted out, and wasn’t holding air. I wasn’t thrilled, especially since they’re supposed to be super tough tires and auto-sealing Goo tubes. I had to get a ride home, and I started checking what the problem was with the tube. Turns out there was a tiny puncture on the seam of the tube. Patched it and it has held air since.

Tomorrow shall be day 51.

Today was my 50th day of biking to work since June 25 of this year. This month, I have only driven four days (one being the first day of a new job, two on days when I needed to be able to get around more quickly to deal with furnace problems, and the last being due to unexpected cold and strong winds).

The goal for 2009 will is to break 200 days, which averages out to less than four days a week (261 working days in a year). This will be far easier than before, as I am less than five miles from home by bike rather than more than 16. My last fillup was a full four weeks after the prior one. That will increase for the winter with driving up for skiing, but my gas usage for commuting to work has decreased to nearly nothing.

In the next few days, I’m going to hit 1000 miles on my bike since June 1, 2008. I’m around 910 as of three hours ago; my weekend plans should bump me up to at least 950, which will put the 1000 mile mark on Monday or Tuesday. I never realized this would happen so quickly when I started my ridiculous mission on June 25th (when I was in the 200-250 mile range). Good times.

I also have pictures from camping and hiking up Mt. Massive last weekend to put up. Sorry for the huge delay, life has been busy but I’m going to shoot for getting them up this weekend.

Last night/early this morning was the annual Moonlight Classic bike ride around Denver. I went down early to meet up with some people off CraigsList for a few beers. They turned out to be space cases, but I met a few other people at the bar with a brain in their heads. The first wave was coming up so I went over to watch a little after 10. Shortly thereafter I met up with another group of people for the ride. It was a blast riding around town in the middle of the road at midnight going 10mph with impunity. There were lots of random stops and holdups for god only knows who/what, and a stop at a bar (which was packed) so we had to cut the ride short. It was about 2:30 when we all made it to the finish line, pounded some burritos, and took off. The whole thing was surreal.