So go ahead, ride through the snow: Guys will respect you for your fortitude. Girls will love you for your courage. And your mother will think you’re nuts.

There are bike-friendly routes to be found in Norfolk. In fact, there’s a whole network that is passed by, unnoticed, by speeding motorists: parallel side streets and slower byways, where the speed limit doesn’t exceed 25mph, and the streets are bare of traffic-controlling yellow and white lines.

I’ve been a cyclist for years, worked as a bike messenger, even ridden a hundred-mile century. But I’ve never blended into a “paceline,” the fast-riding groups of would-be racers that cruise the streets in single-file, hunched over the handlebars and pedaling like locomotives.

Continued from Part 1
True to its reputation, the streets of Norfolk are no place to ride fast.
We start and stop along Lafayette Avenue, avoiding potholes and broken glass, never getting much past 14 mph. Riding in a group has some advantages over riding solo. You can take a whole lane and the drivers don’t honk [...]