Snow storm

So I knew there was a storm coming. It was expected to arrive right when I leave for work. When I woke up it was raining. By the time I suited up and got out the door, there was a coat of snow on the ground. I thought, "no biggie. It can't land that fast." Yeah, no. I was wrong. There was a good two to three inches on the ground by the time I reached the shop. A half hour later than normal. I fell once, walked a few hills, pushed a car out of a ditch, and couldn't see freaking anything. Between the sleet, the snow, and my glasses fogging up; it was an adventure for sure. Next time I think I should take my mountain bike to work... I am.*edit* holy smokes! How could I forget that I had three deer run out in front if me and would of been plowed over by the last one had she not have slipped on the ice. Talk about a freak out moment. Did I mention I have a terrible fear of dying by deer?

Light Em Up!

Do you need lights to commute? No...BUT! I'm a firm believer in the brighter the better mentality. I've commuted with and without and it seems that people give you more room when you're lit up. I light up at all times, day or night. I also think in the event that you would get hit. It would be hard for the offender to argue that they couldn't see you if you're lit up like the fourth of July. I use two of these attached to both chainstays on the bike. I like having the two lights close to the ground to help spread the light on the roadway. This is probably the coolest idea for a light. It's basically the same Planet Bike reflector but, it's suspended so it's always level. I have it attached to the back of my helmet and usually have it on the "constant" mode.
The great thing about the reflectors is... They're cheap. Which is a hard thing to come by in the cycling world.
I have a total of 4 battery powered reflectors rounding out the rear. One on the helmet, two on the chainstays, and one mounted to my rack. That is a green reflector I got from my wife's grandfather. I run that on "constant" mode, also. I like having some constant lights, it's supposed to help people can judge my distance.
  The roads I ride on are not lit well if at all. I live in a small city and my work is around farm land. I go from street lights to no lights in two miles. Up until last week I was just using a Serfas 500 usb headlamp. The battery on the 500 setting only lasts about 70-80 minutes. You have to charge it pretty regularly. The cord is too short to charge it on the bike so, you have to take it off of the mount every time you charge it. It's held up so far {about 6 months} but I'd imagine the mount will wear out sooner or later.
 The light does the job but, in the rain when you're competing with car headlights reflecting off of the pavement surface, it's just not enough. I leave my house at 6 am. It's dark.  I just got this little light for my Birthday...  It's a claimed 1200 lumens. It is way brighter than my Serfas 500. I now use this as my main light and the Serfas as a blinkie. The cord is long enough to stow the battery on my rear rack. Since it's an actual battery pack it lasts a good long time. I went a couple of days before I had to recharge it. It has four different settings, high, medium, low, and blinkie. The blinkie is way too fast at night. I think it would give seizures. The handlebar mount is just a thick rubber washer. It works but, could be improved on. I mount it on the underside of my handlebars and it doesn't move like it did when I had it on the top. Oh? Did I mention it's under 20$? I've only had it for a week though. Time will tell if it holds up. For 20$ though I could have five for the price of the Serfas.

I got these off Amazon for about two bucks. I don't have much faith in the quality of them but, they're cheap and I'm a gambling man. I like the idea of having a light that can be seen from the side. Although,  getting a good reflector and facing it out on each chainstay would probably be a much better idea.

bummer

See it? Yeah, there is a crack right below my cleat. These shoes from Mavic aren't even a year old yet. I have heard that Mavic has a two year warranty. My LBS were I bought them seems to think it won't be a problem. I should find out sometime this week hopefully what to do.

New Socks for cold weather

I'm super excited to try these neoprene socks out on my frigid commutes into work. I've tried everything. From wool socks to plastic bags to duct tape.{more about that later} Nothing keeps my feet comfortable. By the end of the ride my feet are freezing. Wool just doesn't do a great job of wicking away the moisture and in turn my feet get wet and cold.
I've read on Amazon reviews that these are the socks that people who run in Minnesota in the dead of winter wear. They look huge but, they fit perfect when I tried them on. Of course next week is supposed to be pretty tame temperature wise. Hopefully, I'll have another post up soon about how fantastic these are!

Seirus Innovations Neosock Black Large

Introduction

Welcome to Right 2 Bike!  What's the name mean? Right 2 Bike stems{pun} from the fact that I don't like turning left while I'm riding on the road. I try to plan my routes with the least amount of lefts as possible. If I do need to make a left I try to make it as safe of an intersection as possible.

Anyway, it's January 31st in the northeastern part of the country and it's been brutally cold.. We had lows hovering near 0 with a -5 to -20 wind chill. We've also been getting hammered with snow. 

I picked the perfect winter to decide to commute to work in! I've been commuting to work three times a week for the last three springs and summers. 2014 I decided to bump it up and commute five days a week and see if going down to a one car household would be a viable option for us. Commuting five days a week has bumped my mileage up from 51 miles a week to 85 miles a week.

This is the Fuji Delrey that started it all. A friend of mine gave me this bike. I put about 60$ into it to get it up and running. It was sitting in his garage for years. Regrettably, I sold it over the summer when I stumbled up an aluminum framed Specialized Sequoia Elite that needed some love. I'll get another steel commuter one day.

 

Since, we're in the dead of winter and it's hard to find a collective site with all the ins and outs of staying warm and staying safe on your commute; we'll be focusing on that in the next few weeks. I don't claim to have all the answers but, I'll be giving honest reviews on the gear I use and share in the successes and failures.