the GOT bike

 We're just about two thirds through winter, and it has definitely arrived.  The last couple years have had little to no true winter in my area, and I found I didn't mind.  This year too has been quite mild, but in the last week it has truly felt like winter with some snow followed by freezing rain, then a little more snow.  The roads and rail trails have not yet been fully cleared, and that can make getting along with motorists as one gets along on a bike more challenging.  Most people in their warm, dry vehicles are pretty understanding that the constricted road width means a bicycle and rider may present more of an obstruction than usual, but of course, most is not all, so there is that roughly 15% who make their outsized presence extremely known. My first time living in the Five College area I was a student and UMass, and for my last three semesters I was renting a room in a house about three miles from campus, my commute starting with a chilly downhill in b...