Changing Seasons

The weather lately in Northern California has been kind to those of us who don't want to face the fact that summer is over. Even as each day grows noticeably shorter than the last, even as I find myself cycle commuting home in the dark, there's still a trace of denial. Wearing shorts into the heart of autumn in Northern California is a gamble: You may be comfortable or you might just find it too darned cold and damp. It all depends on the vagaries of the weather systems over the Pacific. Almost to the end of October, there's no denying it now: We're well on our way to winter.

I subscribe to the notion that there's no such thing as poor cycling weather, only poor preparation. Reluctantly, the woolen leg and arm warmers have been taken out of storage, along with heavier woolen socks. Wearing the right clothes certainly helps deal with darkness and chilliness, but acquiring the mental attitude toward winter cycling is what matters most. You don't need to enter a state of denial or embrace severity and deprivation, but it is helpful to find a way to actually enjoy cold weather riding.

Cycling home on Doolittle Road at 8pm the other night, the still waters of the San Leandro Bay were mesmerizing. The Oakland A's were playing some team or another and overcast skies reflected the lights of the Oakland Coliseum, transforming them into a soft orange glow. The Oakland city center was visible in the background and despite the chill, the visual effect was of being inside a peaceful cocoon.  Then a UPS semi-truck blasted past me and shattered the moment. At least it wasn't raining ...

We already experienced an unseasonably wet weekend a month or so ago. It was dry when I awoke for my early morning bike commute so I packed some light-weight rain gear and decided to give it a go. There was a headwind on the ride in. Winds out of the Southwest usually signal rain for the Bay Area. My first and only lesson of the day was limited to flying touch-and-goes in the pattern at Oakland. We accomplished five takeoffs and landings before the rain reduced the visibility and forced us to terminate. I hung around the airport, waiting for the front to pass. When the rain subsided, I began the trip home only to be caught in a couple of downpours. Remembering that this sort of riding is mostly a mental game, I took solace in the wise words of a former student named Allan: "You reach an age where that which does not kill you comes damn close ..."

The main challenges of winter cycling are shorter days, night rides home, and cold, damp air. Having grown up in the Midwest and endured several blizzards, I know the temperatures in the Bay Area are relatively warm. What makes 40 degrees feel so bone-chillingly cold is the high relative humidity. So I look for distractions from the discomfort. Like spotting the dim outline of a family of raccoons crossing the street in front of me with an ungainly, ghoulish gait. Or the sight of a mother deer and her fawn, standing still in the shadowy darkness of a North Berkeley front lawn, waiting for me to pass.

As December approaches, know that the nights will become colder. Know that rainy weather will envelope Northern California. And know that dedicated cyclists everywhere will adapt and endure. If on some stormy, wet night, you see a cyclist, clad in rain gear, bicycle lit up like a Christmas tree, inexorably making their way through the streets of San Leandro, Alameda, Oakland or Berkeley, well that could very well be me. But don't despair. It's quite possible that I'm actually enjoying a nice winter ride home.

TTCBCOAB #44 & Finding the Way Up

My wife fell and broke her wrist yesterday, so grocery shopping was done by car today. I did an earlier trip by bike, carrying a lighter than usual load: 8 pound bag of dog food, 2 pounds of dog biscuits, and a Schilke B-flat trumpet.

Looking UP

Two weeks ago, while waiting for my iPhone to be restored at the local Apple Store, I had plenty of time to browse the aisles (It's entrapment I tell you, entrapment!). That's when I noticed the Jawbone Up. It's one of a new class of electronic activity trackers that are tapping into growing awareness about how movement (or lack thereof) affects human health. Some studies indicate that being inactive at a desk (or at the controls of an aircraft) for hours on end can have a health outcome similar to smoking cigarettes. What I've noticed about human beings (myself included) is that it is easier to change our behavior if we enhance our awareness of our behavior. I've seen this with hybrid vehicles: Give a driver real-time feedback on how much gas they're burning and they are more likely to reorder their driving goals and adjust their driving technique.

The Jawbone seemed like a pedometer on steroids, so I bought one for my wife who had broken her mechanical pedometer and had given up tracking how many steps she was walking per day. After watching her use it for a week and announce proudly one day that she had walked 16,000 steps, 1000 more steps than the average Amish man, I was impressed! She had rededicated herself to being active and, more importantly, was enthusiastic about it. There were other features that helped me decide I wanted to try a Jawbone, too.

The device is unobtrusive. A lightweight bracelet you wear, preferably on the wrist of your non-dominant hand, it contains accelerometers and other electronics that, together with iOS- or Android-based software, can track your daily activities, your sleep, even the food you eat. I chose to wear mine on my right wrist, even though I'm right-handed.

To find out how active you've been or how well you slept, you plug the Jawbone Up into your iPhone, iPad, or Android device and launch the free Up application, available for iOS and Android. The device plugs into the audio jack and a separate USB charger is provided. The fully-charged battery lasts about 10 days. There is a single push button that you use (in Morse code fashion) to access the basic modes: Awake, Sleep, activity timer, and Power Nap.

Once you've synced with your iOS or Android device, the app will give you an overview of your activity and some details about your sleep the night before. It will also tell you the current state of you battery charge.

I've found the information on how much sleep I've been getting to be very interesting. In short, I was not sleeping as much as I thought so I've adjusted my schedule to sleep more. I've blogged before on the subject of adequate sleep. There's plenty of research that shows most people need more sleep than they are getting. And when people don't get enough sleep, one of the side-effects is that they actually don't realize that they are impaired. I do quite a bit of physical activity with bike commuting, so quality sleep is especially important. After adjusting my sleep schedule I've found that I seem to be recovering more completely from the previous day's ride.

The app lets provides a historical view of your activity that is both intuitive and inspiring. Recently, the Up app was updated to share data with other fitness apps, including the one I use to track my cycling - MapMyFitness.

There are a few other useful features. One is an activity alarm that reminds you to move when you've been sitting for too long. You can adjust the inactive interval with the Up app. When you've been inactive, the bracelet will vibrate to remind you to stand up, walk around, or at least stretch or wiggle in your seat (what I do when teaching in a small aircraft).

You can activate the Power Nap feature by pressing the bracelet button twice, once quickly followed by a slightly longer second push (in Morse code lingo, this would be dot-dash). Again, the Up app lets you set the maximum length of the Power Nap feature and the bracelet will vibrate to wake you at what it thinks is the optimum point in the nap.

This brings up the last, and I think one of the more useful features: The Smart Sleep Alarms for morning wake-up. You set the time you want to wake up for different days and the bracelet will vibrate to wake you at what it thinks is the optimum point in your sleep cycle within a 20 minute window of your desired wake-up. I get up earlier than my wife does and the vibrating bracelet wakes me while allowing her to continue to snooze. Pretty awesome ...

These new activity monitors promise to change the way we live, work and play. Given that most of us work long hours, inside rather than outside, and we're often sitting for extended periods, having more information on how we are treating our bodies in our competitive society and workplace can allow us to influence our individual health in a positive way.