Nantucket and the bike

Winter on Nantucket does not allow for much outdoor training on your road bike.  Most roadies and triathletes dust off their cross or mountain bike and head for the trails while others grease up the indoor trainer and fire up the latest season of Dexter.  However, this year’s weather has allowed for continued outside riding into the 2nd week of January.  But, the island wind is trying to make up for the warmer temperatures.

This past Wednesday I met Nantucket’s newest cyclist Emily for an early 7am ride.  28 degrees shouldn’t be that bad right?  (This pic was taken 3 days earlier when it was 52 degrees and light wind, amazing day)

I’m rather ashamed of my cold threshold, my fingers and toes are extremely wimpy.  So I wasn’t taking any chances and grabbed my last bagel, ate it, then used the bag to keep my toes warm.  Yes, I even have neoprene booties, told you I was a wimp.

Then I doubled up on the gloves.  Looks like I’m going skiing right?

Emily and I had a great ride for about an hour then headed back to the rotary.  With most things numb I “had” to stop by The Green for a quick warm-up.  10 minutes and a macchiato later I was ready to hit the road again for another loop because the sun was above the tree line…warmth.

There is something peaceful, quaint, and serene about Nantucket in the winter.  On one hand I wish more people would come here to enjoy it, on the other hand it’s kinda nice to have this secret island to ourselves.  Few cars passed me once I passed Wauwinet rd, had to stop by the flooded Windswept cranberry bogs for a shot.

Sconset’s famous sundial…

The winter ocean has such a nice quiet blue…

After 2 1/2 hours pedaling around the wintry, windy grey lady I felt at ease…thank you bagel bag.

Could we keep the bike commuting going even on Christmas day?  Why not?

Courtney and I decided to pedal around the island to explore the island, run some errands, and keep our xmas day tradition of catching a movie.  With layers upon layers in case the wind took the temp below 30, we set out on our Trek DS bikes.  These bikes are fast enough to get around on the road but able to handle light mountain biking as well.  We also use these puppies to guide our bike tours as well.

From Tom Nevers, we tackled the Moors on our way into town.

Then through to the trails between Milestone and Old South roads…

…and a quick walk through the labyrinth for a little meditation, almost got lost in there…

Mom needed someone to step in as Quality Control and try her cookies, so we took it upon ourselves to take a break and watch the end of the Celtics game (I lost track of how many chocolate no bakes I ate).  The smell of defeat was still in the air after mom destroyed, I mean flat out annihilated us, in Scrabble.  

After the snack stop, is was off to downtown to catch the afternoon matinee of Tom Cruise’s recycled Mission Impossible series.  Was pretty good popcorn flic for xmas day I must say.

Now for the commute home back to Tom Nevers, but first a quick pic of the rarely quiet Main St with all the nicely lit trees.

Overall, about 3 hours of riding through Nantucket’s bike paths, dirt roads, sandy trials, single track, and even the cobblestone (circa 1840s, not sure how they handled those with horse and buggy).  We are glad we took the afternoon to enjoy the quiet island and each other…by bike.

Roald Dahl wrote this classic in 1975, and I spent my early childhood reading it over and over again.  Riding home tonight, with the moon’s spectacular sky performance above, I was brought back, connected if you will, to the adventurous times of my youth.

You see, night commuting is a whole other ball game.  This time of year on Nantucket you pretty much have the road or bike path to yourself.  This feels as if you have the entire world at your taking, just as you felt as a kid exploring a forest alone, or playing in your own backyard.  The past week has provided these experiences each time I commute home.

Tonight it took me 50 minutes to arrive home where it usually takes 20-25 depending on Mr. Wind.  I stopped 3 different times to take pictures, and once just to take it all in.  2 planes had left “jet stream” smoke right in front of the moon, as if they were traveling to it.  This was my show, my night theater.  

Pretty sure I would have missed it all if not on my bike.

Easy.  No Problem.  What’s the big deal?

This is how I felt at the start of my first week of my winter commuting challenge.  Nantucket and wind go together like peanut butter and jelly, but not this week.  Smooth riding to work, around town, and back home everyday.  No rain either.  You might say that I became a bit cocky, but then things started to change.

Einstein had it right.  In order to not waste his brain’s energy on the process of choosing his wardrobe each day, he always wore the same thing.  Following in his footsteps, I have always tried to put little thought into dressing myself.  How would I prepare for two different jobs requiring different dress codes.  I lived too far away to go bike home between jobs.  Taking 25 minutes to plan this out every morning was killing me, but part of the “challenge,” so I let it go and did my best.  Tried to ride in with the fedora the first day.  Ended smashing it up too much, so that was the end of that.  Can’t wear the sport coat on the bike, or could I?  You get the picture right?

Caffeine Alert!  How do I travel with my frothy latte in its paper cup and plastic lid (compostable if you get it all at The Green)?  I’m a big 10am, and sometimes 2pm, latte drinker, which used to hangout in my truck’s comfy cup holder.  Tried to carry it in my left hand, which I was able to do but it slowed me down and did not allow for quick breakage if needed.  So I thought, why don’t I  guzzle down 1/3 of the latte and stuff it in my water bottle cage.  Great idea until I had to run over potholes, half the latte ended up on my shoes.  

Not really major ordeals here I know!  However, these and other small situations continued to present themselves.  Over time I figure this will all be figured out and become second nature, but until then I’ll continue to search for Einstein commuting on my bike.

Commuting on an island that is 4 x 14 miles can’t be that hard right?  20 minutes will get you anywhere, there are great bike paths throughout most of the island, and with the small community of 10,000 year round residents everyone will wave and nicely yell hello…right?

Yes and no.

The majority of the islanders live at most 4-5 miles from their work.  There are some exceptions for those who live on the far western and eastern ends of the island, but this is a small percentage.  Because of this close proximity to pretty much everything, no one really commutes by bike or walks because the guilt of driving (gas guzzling) isn’t really there.  Sounds backwards I known, but I lived this lifestyle for 8 years!  Before I started commuting, I would put 6,000 miles on my truck per year.  Right now, I have 54K on my 2003 Dodge Dakota.

Now that I have a bike touring business, commuting comes naturally…but not year round! So last week I challenged myself to rock out the commute, shoot for 7 days/week, and see what happens.  At first it seemed like it would be a breeze since I can leave my truck at my bike shop in town with a commute of only 4.5 miles.  But it wasn’t as easy as I thought.

• Do I bring a change of clothes or do I wear my nicer attire for my winter office job?
• On days that I split my part time restaurant job with my part time office job, do I bring 2 sets of clothes?  Can I carry all of this on my back/bike?
• Groceries? 
• When someone rudely honks do you fire back with profanity or do you stay silent understanding that they just don’t get it?
• Rain?
• 4:30 on the east coast its pitch dark, how many lights do you need to be safe?

Stay tuned as I will report the good, the bad, and the ugly on my weekly bike commutes.