Bixi surprise

Yesterday, I finally used my Bixi membership in the way I intended when I bought it. Ironically, it was a day Toronto had its first real snow.

I usually try to keep cycling in winter, but only when the roads are relatively clear or the snow is packed down, and not when visibility is an issue. On those days, I will take the TTC to work. Last year, the Tank got really cranky in the cold weather and refused to shift out of low gear, which made biking a frustrating experience, so I took the streetcar most days. The lack of exercise was irritating, so I began walking home after work. It usually took me just over an hour and I'm pleased to say the winter pudge wasn't as bad last year as it usually is.

It's been a very mild winter so far this year, so I haven't needed to take the streetcar in, nor have I have had the chance to put the Opus through her winter paces yet. There have been a few low-temp days, and she seems to have the opposite shifting problem from the Tank: she'll shift into higher gears but not down into lower gears. I'm not sure if this is a gearing problem or if it's due to the grease freezing up in the grip-shifter, but at any rate being stuck in a mid-gear is less irritating than in a low one.

Yesterday morning, winter finally stopped hitting the snooze button and I woke to traffic reports of icy conditions and snow blowing about. I looked out my window and saw... not a lot, because the wind was picking the snow up and blowing it around in a way that would be very pretty were it not that I had to go out into it. I decided that it would be a TTC day.

By afternoon, the streets were clear enough that I wanted to bike home. This is why I bought a Bixi subscription, I said to myself, except that because of the very small service area, biking all the way home is not possible. I fumed about this for a few minutes... then it hit me. I could bike part of the way home and walk the rest, since I was planning on walking the whole way anyway. I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out. I'm hoping that the cold froze my brain cells and that it's not just age.

So I took myself to a Bixi dock somewhat near school -- I couldn't remember where the closest dock was and wound up taking one from Bay and Wellesley. My soft briefcase and bag barely fit into the front rack, but the bungee they provide kept them in snugly. I took out a bike only to discover that the seat post was frozen and I couldn't adjust it. The seat was a bit too low, which made biking into the wind in third gear too hard. Fortunately the grip-shifters were working fine and I could shift between gears easily. I took my usual route home along Harbord, remembering just in time to turn south onto Bathurst instead of continuing straight through.

Bixi has moved a bunch of stations for the winter*, and one of the new locations is Bathurst and Dundas, which is a bit closer to home than the Kensington Market station. Docking the bike was much easier this time, and I walked the rest of the way home. The whole trip took about 35 minutes, 10 of which was spent trying to remember where the Bixi stations were close to school and the last 15 spent walking home from Bathurst. Huge time savings!

I'm happy to think that I've found a practical use for Bixi at last and that I might save my subscription after all. 2 down, 18 days to go.

*They've moved them for snow-clearing purposes. The new locations have extended the service area a bit. I hope that come spring they will leave them in place and put the old ones back. In another bit of irony, one of the new stations is at the Distillery.