Biking into fall

Early November, and it's well and truly Autumn in Boston. Many of our trees are still green, others are completely naked, but most are a bit colorful and somewhere in between. The weather is finally perfectly chilly and clear by and large, with 30s in the morning and 40s-50s later on.

Perfect weather for biking, in other words! My birthday wool jersey is now a staple, and I can wear it almost everyday without getting all stinky (of course, I air it out at the office during the day and also overnight at home).  It's from Earth Wind & Rider. I also have a nice wool beanie from Kucharik, and I have some wool tights from them on the way.

Of course, the time change last week means that I'm riding in the dark a lot more, but it's not a big deal, really. I tend to keep to Mass Ave on the way home if it's really dark... for some reason I feel like that's going to be safer than heading up Broadway via Davis Square because there's MORE traffic and cars are necessarily slower. More bikers too. 

The nice thing is that, while I haven't really managed much weekend riding because there's just so much fun stuff to do with the family, I've been averaging three to four days of commuting by bike each week, putting my weekly mileage between 60 and 75 - not bad! 

I've also been thinking about how I'll keep in shape when the snow starts falling... should I try snow-shoeing or XC skiing? Jury's still out. Those would still be weekend pursuits, though, but I'm going to try walking to Alewife for my commute, which is about 3 miles each way, I think. And that should be much easier now that the bike path will be plowed, at least part of the time!