Congratulations to Cheryl Young, winner of a signed copy of On Bicycles. Velo-elves may have already delivered your prize! They were wearing lots of layers when they started pedaling away from On Bicycles HQ because it’s chilly! And winter has only just started. Now that we’re in the cold, wet, dark season I feel a lot more resistance to getting out the door and riding where I need to go. Overcoming the psychological obstacle is always the hardest though, as I have learned how to stay dry and warm in all kinds of weather.

Big puffy ski mitts: my cold weather riding favourites!

First and foremost I have some puffy ski mitts that keep my hands toasty and warm. After using these for the last year I am convinced that keeping all the fingers together in a mitt is the most comfortable hand covering for riding. I don’t find myself needing to do any fine motor actions (requiring individual fingers) and the mitts themselves are like big white paddles – great for signalling!

I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold so I keep my ears, cheeks and neck well swaddled. A couple years ago I started making something called the “Little Rad Riding Hood” for friends and relatives and since I just recently acquired a serger (thanks Graham!!!) I can make them to order. It is a thin hood with long ends which can be wrapped around the neck as a scarf Primarily a functional item, it can appear medieval or hijab-like but it is supposed to keep the ears warm with a little more style (and less menace) than a balaclava. If you’d like to try one I can offer them for $30 plus shipping. Leave a comment or email me at amy(AT)onbicycles.com for details. So far I have made them in red, purple and maroon velveteen, purple lace velveteen and blue bamboo rayon.

I also love wearing several layers on the inside: a tank top & t-shirt, preferably long-sleeved and made of wool (or silk in my fantasy clothing dreamland) plus a pair of arm warmers to keep the draft from whistling up my arms. I’ve seen a few women wear a stretchy knit “belly warmer” that bridges the gap between the shirt and pants /skirt, but I’ve never worn one.

Buster: How long are YOUR sleeves? My sleeves are THIS long!!

Socks! Long socks, thick socks, two pairs of socks. Keep those feet toasty and you’ll be a happy rider. I haven’t worn booties (waterproof shoe covers) the last year or so, preferring to simply wear boots, though I do have a pair of booties (and a nice pair of bicycling spats from Fabric Horse). I think my commutes have been short enough that I haven’t needed ‘em… but they are at the ready if I have to take a long ride in the rain.

Socks made by Mom! The best kind.

I do not spend much money on clothing – and especially not on specific bicycle clothing – but buying the highest quality rain gear you can afford seems like a smart investment. I’ve had my $300 rain gear for about 10 years now and it’s almost time for a replacement set. I’d estimate that I’ve worn my pants and jacket at least a thousand times, putting the cost at about 30 cents per wear.

Stay warm and toasty out there! Sending you my best wishes for the holiday season & 2013!

I'm sending you this copy of the Enlightened Cyclist Adele. This book right here.

Congratulations to Adele Peters who suggested that On Bicycles TV should interview Rod Kirkam “Grandpappy of Cycling in Vancouver.” Thanks for the suggestion and comment Adele – I’ll send you a copy of The Enlightened Cyclist

I’ve heard through the grapevine that Bike Snob NYC, Eben Weiss, author of The Enlightened Cyclist, is working on a new book due out in 2013.

In the meantime, and in the spirit of giving, I’d like to give away a copy of our own book (the work of 33 cycling writers) On Bicycles – 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life.

To be entered to win the book, just tell me how riding a bike has changed YOUR life. Feel free to answer briefly or at length. Has cycling helped your personal development? Do you make different choices in your life because you ride a bike? Have you had negative or positive experiences? I’m specifically interested in non-sports cycling. Practical or transportation cycling is what we’re mainly discussing here. But if you want to share your story and the cycling you engage in is mostly recreational, well, that’s ok too.

On December 7 we'll give away a copy of On Bicycles. This book right here – cat not included.

Leave your story in the comments here – and a winner will be selected at random in one week and announced on December 7.

As for me, since I’ve been a cyclist most of my adult life, it’s not that I’ve had a dramatic change from one sort of life to another, but because cycling is my daily transportation and I’ve spent several years engaged in creative cycling advocacy, I tend to see things “from a cyclists eye view” – I perceive things like streets, media, clothing and people’s behaviour from a bicycling perspective: I have developed a mental filter that helps me imagine how they work for someone on a bike.

A lot of the time we forget that each of us sees the world from a unique and very subjective place – based on our experience, our genetics, and senses, etc. No one perceives the world in exactly the way we do. And that is why it’s so valuable to share how we see it – so that we might better understand one another – and get a fuller picture of this amazing life we share.

Because I am an advocate for cycling I also try to see the cycling experience from the outside. I try to imagine what a pedestrian or car driver would experience when interacting with a cyclist. And I have to admit that very often it’s easy to understand the negative reactions (fear, anger) many people have toward cyclists. That’s one way cycling has changed my life. It has also given me better spatial awareness and the ability to listen and look for what’s coming at me from all angles – which keeps me alive on busy streets. I’m really blessed to have that sensory awareness, as well as the physical fitness and coordination that cycling provides. I’m grateful for that – though I probably could do a little more yoga and stretching to ease the stiffness I feel some mornings.

So I am looking forward to hearing from you!
How has cycling changed your life?
Win a book!
See you later!
Bye!

I have one copy of the Enlightened Cyclist to give away. To win this copy please add a comment with a suggestion for someone else you’d like to see interviewed by On Bicycles TV. We’ll put the top ten answers into a draw and announce the winner in two weeks (Nov. 26).

When we started filming we found that one of our rented lav. mics wasn’t working – so that’s why we included questions on inter-titles. We also wanted to keep the video short so you’d be more likely to watch it. I won’t bore you with the reasons why it took us forever to get this video edited and share it with you – but yes, we are aware that it is a little dated. But it’s holiday gift giving time – so a great moment to purchase some copies of The Enlightened Cyclist and On Bicycles for your friends and family.

Here’s a re-post of my earlier trailer blog entry:

In April, I invited the Bike Snob NYC, also known as Eben Weiss for a ride around Vancouver and an On Bicycles TV interview about his latest book, The Enlightened Cyclist. Weiss was in Vancouver promoting the book with a BRA (Book Related Appearance) and bike ride. I discovered that The Bike Snob isn’t nearly as snarky in person as he is on his blog, though he’s very funny, and it was a thrill to have a rare sunny day (we prayed heavily) to show him around on his first trip to Vancouver.

If you haven’t heard of him yet, Bike Snob NYC is the wise-cracking blogger persona of Eben Weiss, who developed a cult following of devoted fans in cycling circles as an anonymous and somewhat mysterious online figure from 2007- 2010. In May, 2010, with the publication of his first book, Bike Snob — Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling, Weiss unmasked himself and also started writing a column for Bicycling magazine and making public appearances in addition to his blog. A curmudgeonly wisecracker, Weiss pokes fun at anyone who does anything the least bit silly on or near a bike (that includes pretty much all of us, including Bike Snob, himself), but his appreciation of practical cycling becomes obvious once you navigate through all the roadie jokes, hipster mockery, absurd Craigslist ads and “Fred”-baiting. Weiss has a foot firmly clipped into the racing scene, so those references are lost on me, but I still enjoy a lot of what he has to say, and appreciate his journalischtick – most recently in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

His latest book, The Enlightened Cyclist — Commuter Angst, Dangerous Drivers, and Other Obstacles on the Path to Two-Wheeled Transcendence, steers clear of racing and focuses on the way practical (transportation) riding is perceived, marketed and celebrated. Weiss’s style alternates between entertainingly clever and laugh-out-loud funny. I’m so glad Weiss cares enough about the subject of utility cycling to use his considerable talent to make it fun and accessible, while still covering a lot of important and useful ground in a transportation dialogue. In the chapter, “Reviled: the Backlash Against Cycling,” Weiss says that people who ride bikes are usually perceived by the public / portrayed in media as one of the following stereotypes: the hapless wussbag, the homoerotic fitness dork, the self-important, tree-humping enviro-douche Luddite, or the freakish man-child.

In this book Weiss employs the theme of religiousity with well-recognized biblical metaphors and language (Adam and Eve, Revelation, Communion, Genesis, Leviticus, Transcendence, Confession) to illustrate his point that cyclists are, in his words, “the Chosen Commuters – not because we’re better but because we have an important perspective and occupy a crucial vantage point…”

As a female reader and someone who has created media for and about female cyclists, I feel that Weiss reflects on women’s part in and perspective on cycling too infrequently. Naturally, Weiss is a guy, in a male-dominated cycling population, sport and industry, so this is not unusual. But given Weiss’ intelligence plus his obvious care and concern for the future of cycling, I expect him to see a little further than all the other “Bros.” I realize that asking Bike Snob NYC to look more closely at anything is an invitation for razzing and ridicule, but I hope he’ll at least try to study the psyche and behaviours of female cyclists a little more in the future.

Those of us who ride bikes, and especially those of us who proselytize about it can be overly earnest and Weiss characterizes this general attitude as smugness (and even provides a formula by which one can calculate one’s smugness quotient). If you’ve traveled within any major North American city by bike in recent years, you’ll recognize the ring of truth in this lampooning, even if it stings to watch someone kicking your sacred cow. What I love about the Bike Snob is that his writing persona is equally crabby and critical toward everyone. Whether intentionally or not, Weiss alerts bike riders of the dangers of hubris, an eternal threat to eager heroes and heroines. In our passionate and sometimes missionary fervour, we can sometimes be our own worst enemy. Thankfully the Bike Snob has his work cut out for him keeping things in perspective and reminding us to laugh at ourselves.