About a week ago, Ian started dropping hints that he would like to ride his bike to school even during the winter. It was a mix of not wanting to ride the bus (apparently some kid started smoking on the bus ride home last week and the bus driver yelled at the kid) and not wanting Mom and Dad getting after him to get more exercise.
He originally was thinking a fat bike, but knowing what I know about the subject, the right answer is really putting studded tires on his mountain bike. He’s not looking to go ride trails in the wilderness, just riding the 8 km back and forth. A fat bike would be a lot harder… and more likely to be stolen.
Yesterday, after going to Market Mall to get the port fixed on his MacBook Air, we went to Bow Cycle and talked to Brian in the parts department. He immediately steered us in the right direction. We had Ian’s bike in the car, so I got the service guys to install the tires. It took three of them about 20 minutes. It was totally worth donating $20 to their beer fund. When Ian got home, he went for a ride around the block. His learnings:
- Riding at -14 requires gloves.
- The tires worked.
I decided to get some studded tires for my gravel bike to join in the fun while we were there. We didn’t have my bike so I had to do the installation myself last night and this morning. Ian rode down to Sobeys for Tammy as an experiment, but I wasn’t ready yet. After lunch, the tires were installed and I took a test ride this afternoon with Ian. It was a good experience, but the conditions were pretty ideal. We’ll see how it goes. Ian’s planning on riding every day, but I’m just thinking about the odd recreational ride.
I hope that Ian enjoys the challenge of winter riding and that he stays upright. Warm clothes are now on the Christmas shopping list.
Updated
Today (Monday) was Ian’s first “commute”. It was -13 in the morning and -9 coming home. I was glad to see his blue GPS dot arrive at school. The path conditions were really good, so it was just about staying warm. His legs were still a little cold (thermal underwear under sweatpants) and his upper body was a little warm.
I took some personal time at the end of the day and jumped on my bike and rode to meet him about halfway home. That was fun.
Good idea for winter weather.