(no subject)
Dec. 29th, 2022 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretI've engaged a lawyer who thinks there's a chance of a plea that would keep my license. I'm not living on that hope, but it sure would make my life a lot easier. We'll see how it goes. My court date's been pushed back to March.
In the meantime, I've been using a mixture of my bike and uber to get around, while I figure out about getting car fixed or getting a new one. I'd like it to be more my bicycle than uber, for budget and fitness reasons.
It turns out, to my surprise, that biking in December is not quite as hellish as I'd imagined. With gloves, a balaclava, and a good jacket and layers I'm not feeling that cold even when the temperature has been down in the twenties and the wind is kicking up. It does mean that I need to be particularly careful on the return trip because going home is after sundown, but I've accumulated a lot of lights and reflectors on my bike and person over the past few years. Cars seem to be having an easy time seeing me and steering around me.
Two Thursdays ago it was raining steadily but not that hard, so I decided to risk it and ride home. It was an odd mixture of really fun (especially with the wind behind me) and really annoying. If I'd had waterproof pants it might've been an all-out success (and so I went out and acquired waterproof overpants for future rides). But it was definitely a gamble, because lightning started a couple hours after I got home and I don't want to be out riding in a thunderstorm. Friday it rained hard all day and I opted for uber, and the following week as well I skipped the bike on days with rain. Also I'm out of shape after not riding much this year; After the first two days of riding, I got home and I was happy with my progress, and then two hours later my leg cramped up and I couldn't walk for about twenty minutes. But I've been feeling better since then, and hopefully I'll work my way back into shape. I think I've biked close to 150 miles in the last three weeks, and it's been pretty fun. It definitely has me thinking that even if I keep my license, I should still try to bike to work a few times a week.
I've given some thought to picking up an ebike if I'm looking at a whole year of this- poking on amazon, I could get a cheap one for $500 and it would probably make commuting easier on days when I'm tired. If this is going to be my life, I also need more cargo capacity. I have a bag mounted above the rear wheel of my bike, but it has limited space, I chose it to give myself the ability to do a quick pickup of a few items at the store, because I had my car for if I was doing a full trip. I can't do a real grocery run on my bike. But an alternative is grocery delivery- I tried out Amazon Fresh last week and it seemed to work well, though selection was somewhat limited in some areas. But I can pick up kosher meat and cheese and things from the kosher market down the street and plausibly rely on delivery for almost everything else.
In the meantime, I've been using a mixture of my bike and uber to get around, while I figure out about getting car fixed or getting a new one. I'd like it to be more my bicycle than uber, for budget and fitness reasons.
It turns out, to my surprise, that biking in December is not quite as hellish as I'd imagined. With gloves, a balaclava, and a good jacket and layers I'm not feeling that cold even when the temperature has been down in the twenties and the wind is kicking up. It does mean that I need to be particularly careful on the return trip because going home is after sundown, but I've accumulated a lot of lights and reflectors on my bike and person over the past few years. Cars seem to be having an easy time seeing me and steering around me.
Two Thursdays ago it was raining steadily but not that hard, so I decided to risk it and ride home. It was an odd mixture of really fun (especially with the wind behind me) and really annoying. If I'd had waterproof pants it might've been an all-out success (and so I went out and acquired waterproof overpants for future rides). But it was definitely a gamble, because lightning started a couple hours after I got home and I don't want to be out riding in a thunderstorm. Friday it rained hard all day and I opted for uber, and the following week as well I skipped the bike on days with rain. Also I'm out of shape after not riding much this year; After the first two days of riding, I got home and I was happy with my progress, and then two hours later my leg cramped up and I couldn't walk for about twenty minutes. But I've been feeling better since then, and hopefully I'll work my way back into shape. I think I've biked close to 150 miles in the last three weeks, and it's been pretty fun. It definitely has me thinking that even if I keep my license, I should still try to bike to work a few times a week.
I've given some thought to picking up an ebike if I'm looking at a whole year of this- poking on amazon, I could get a cheap one for $500 and it would probably make commuting easier on days when I'm tired. If this is going to be my life, I also need more cargo capacity. I have a bag mounted above the rear wheel of my bike, but it has limited space, I chose it to give myself the ability to do a quick pickup of a few items at the store, because I had my car for if I was doing a full trip. I can't do a real grocery run on my bike. But an alternative is grocery delivery- I tried out Amazon Fresh last week and it seemed to work well, though selection was somewhat limited in some areas. But I can pick up kosher meat and cheese and things from the kosher market down the street and plausibly rely on delivery for almost everything else.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-29 06:44 pm (UTC)Maybe an odd question, but I always have trouble when biking to work that I arrive all sweaty regardless of the weather, worse than walking in the heat -- do you habitually bring a change of clothes, or is it just about cold enough that it doesn't matter?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-29 06:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-29 06:59 pm (UTC)We’ve been using Amazon Fresh a lot this year, and it’s mostly reliable (that is, they’re frequently listed as being out of things but if it is in inventory when I place my order it almost always arrives, which has…not been true of other places I’ve tried to order from). Searching is sometimes wonky but now that I have an established list of “things you’ve ordered before” to click on it works pretty smoothly.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 02:44 pm (UTC)It might be helpful if you don't mind asking your friends about bags.
I currently have this rack and bag, so I was thinking it might be nice to get these matching panniers that ought to just clip on to my existing rack. But I'm open to other options.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-01-16 01:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-15 03:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-01 01:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-08-01 03:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 12:51 am (UTC)I have found that e-biking is a huge difference between exercise and, well, frankly, a normal commute that is not entirely unlike walking, even in heavy San Francisco winds. I imagine that it would suck in the winter, in the similar ways that walking sucks in the winter. On the other hand, the electric assist can allow for pretty heavy bikes, which are a lot more stable in road conditions. I don't know if you have tried one when visiting another city or some such, but they seriously revolutionized the way that I move around, personally. (Even if, yes, that's how I got a concussion; don't e-bike drunk & reckless, I suppose)
The only reason why I don't own an e-bike is because the bike share works great, there are stairs on both sides and, honestly, I just don't want to commit to biking home after work reliably. If the bike share wasn't an option, I'd be ordering one yesterday.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 04:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 04:20 am (UTC)Good luck. I hope that you get your license back and don't have to think about this anymore. :/
(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 01:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 02:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 04:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-12-30 07:42 pm (UTC)