Back to the Cold

Guest Blogger – Phil Kriz

We recently returned from Phoenix where we visited my parents and sisters to see the ice still on the streets and snow in the mountains.

The ice and snow reminded me of a recent question from my Aunt Connie.

Knowing that we ride our bikes - A LOT- she recently asked “What do you do when winter hits?”


Well, luckily I have a very motivated partner, and we have several choices to choose from.

The Outside Option

On the weekends if the temperature gets to 40 degrees or above, we put on a lot of clothes, attach fenders to our bikes, pack even more clothes - just in case. Then we ride a 55 mile loop around Denver using bike paths and surface streets in order to stay out of the mountains and avoid the freezing wind chill of long down-hill descents. BRRR!

Fenders . . .

Lots of layers . . .

The great thing out living in Golden is that even on days like this we will see LOTS of other cyclists all bundled up and out riding.

I have noticed that the nastier the weather the more smiles I see on the other riders.

Especially the girls!

The girls usually have this look that says “Riding my bike is the best thing EVER!”

Very motivating!

The other motivating factor when riding with Joanne on a winter day is trying to keep with her! She rides her cyclo-cross bike (which is built more like a regular road bike) and I ride my mountain bike - which is just not built for speed and is slightly heavier than her bike, too. I can manage to stay with her on the flats, but get dumped on the hills.

She always waits for me at the top, with that classic girl smile that says “Riding my bike is the best thing EVER!” and “Beating you to the top is even BETTER!”

We did a 2 hour ride yesterday and plan to get in another 4 hours today. There is still some ice on the roads, but the forecast calls for 50 degrees and a little bit of sunshine, so riding outside sounds 100 times better than our other option - another 2 hours sweating in the basement pain cave.