Props to Winter Bicycle Commuters

William Petroski of the Des Moines Register has a nice article profiling some winter bicycle commuters in Des Moines (Cold doesn’t deter tough cyclists):

Gary Hlavka, a civil engineer for the city of Des Moines uses a mountain bike with studded tires when his commute requires maneuvering through snow. He rides a recumbent bicycle after the streets are cleared.

Chris Guevara, who lives on Des Moines’ south side, is also a regular winter bicyclist, riding downtown daily to his job at Principal Financial Group.

Ernie Fisher of West Des Moines has been riding his bicycle to work daily, year-round, for 42 years. Most of those years involved a 17-mile round trip when he taught at Monroe Elementary School in Des Moines. Now it’s back-and-forth jaunts totaling about five miles to his post-retirement job as a West Des Moines school bus driver.

Petroski reports that, although there are no official statistics, estimates are that perhaps a few dozen ride in Des Moines, and that winter bicycling is gaining serious momentum in other Midwest cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, and Madison, Wisconsin.

Here in Kansas, we have Dave, Jack, Keith, Noah, and Warren writing about their commuting experiences, and surely many other who don’t have their own blogs. Anyone else care to share?