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Name / Occupation / Age

Tanya Quinn/ IT Coordinator / 34

What do you use your bike for?

Everything! Commuting, shopping, visiting friends, crazy long day rides sightseeing small town Ontario, camping etc.

How often do you ride?

Pretty much every day. It’s my main mode of transport. Some days when I’m more local, I walk.

How long have you been commuting by bicycle and what made you decide to start?

It was six years ago that I became seriously committed. I had been taking the streetcar to work and I found it slow and unreliable. At first I was in bad shape, since I rarely got any exercise, and the streetcar I would have passed me while I was red-faced and lying on the boulevard trying to catch my breath. I kept doing it every day because I bought a bike computer and was fascinated watching my mileage go up and up. After 2 or 3 weeks it wasn’t so hard anymore.

What would you say to convince someone who is considering commuting by bicycle to go for it?

Just pick a nice day and try it out! Or try your commute on a Sunday. The perception of what it’s like to bike in traffic always seems worse than the reality.

When did you start commuting in winter and why?

Other people were doing it, I figured how bad can it be? The first winter I was commuting I had a long commute so I did half bike and half transit to avoid the unpleasant parts of the TTC trip.

Other than a few numb toes, a dry day at zero degrees Celsius works out well for a cyclist. This year, a day-by-day adjustment of clothing has been complicated by the chaotic temperature changes. Still, it helps to get on the bike as often as possible to keep a sense for what clothing works for the current weather.

I was too warm for most of my ride, so take my clothing list with a grain of salt:

• ski socks
• bike shoes
• light pants
• wool t-shirt
• sweater
• fleece jacket
• shell jacket (wind/rain "proof" and extremely yellow)
• cotton gloves
• helmet

I know it isn't any different from 10 or 15 degrees, somehow the air feels cleaner at these temperatures. It's invigorating to take a deep breath of cool air while pushing myself up a big hill.

One of the downsides to the cooler weather is the affect of cold air on the eyes. My eyes tend to water a little more easily as a cold wind blows at them. It may be time to start wearing glasses to avoid braking on the downhills.

This morning I counted 9 cyclists during my suburban trek. On a warm summer day, I see 16 to 25, and in the depth of the winter, I see 4 or 5. As unscientific as this "study" is, it's encouraging to see that I am not the only one enjoying this weather.

It's starting to cool off now, and that means starting to think a little bit more about what to wear when riding the bike. Cycling in Toronto isn't an all year activity for everyone, but it's very easy to have your bike commuting include 8 or 9 months per year. The challenge in this weather is keeping warm at the beginning of the ride, but not getting too hot and sweaty later on.

As long as it's not raining, October weather can be very comfortable, even ideal. With the right layers of clothing, the cool air can pass through when moving, keeping you cool, while providing enough insulation at the start and while stopped.

Here's my outfit for a day like today:

• light pants
• normal sport socks
• cycling shoes
• wool t-shirt
• old wool sweater
• helmet
• gloves

Today, was the first day I wore gloves. Bare hands would have been bearable, but I like to err on the side of warmth.

The wool t-shirt is the only thing I wore that I would consider special clothing. I'm sure other undershirts would be fine today, but I find the layers of wool to work out very well in terms of air flow at the right times. You can sometimes find wool t-shirts on sale, or find something similar at army surplus stores.

A Foggy Finch Hydro Corridor

Cycling was made a little bit more practical Thursday as a fog hung over the city. Cars were slowed down, maybe out of cautiousness or because of congestion. Cyclists could move along with the cars or trickle past. This Septemberish October is making for very comfortable cycling.

Today started out with the sad news that a TTC employee was killed on the job inside the subway tunnel. The whole story isn't in yet.

This led to the closure of the Yonge subway for a few stops. Interestingly, the city closed Yonge Street to car traffic south of Lawrence to keep it clear for the bus shuttles. I went to the intersection of Yonge and Lawrence to see what this would look like. I even had my camera with me, but I was surprised to see things in general order, and traffic not really backed up. I didn't bother taking a picture.

The shuttle buses were packed, and were leaving from York Mills. When I arrived there, I could see more evidence of the strange situation.

There was a steady flow of people and more than enough to fill the shuttle buses.

After passing York Mills, everything seemed to be relatively normal.

Then came the afternoon commute.