Commuting - Extreme Commute CLub: Week 9

Here's a little Christmas Carol for the season;

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From mechanics bending near the earth
To touch their tools of gold!
"Peace on the roads, good will to bikes,
For vehicular cycling is King!
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the studded tires sing.

Still down the bike lanes they come apace
With powerful legs clipped in
And still their tensioned wheels spin on
O'er all the gridlocked world;
Above its slow and bumpy road
They fly on rubber and steel.
And ever o'er its blaring horns
The blessed bikers ride.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! I have not heard anything on the condition of our fearless leader, but here's hoping Mars' surgery went well.

Well I am done commuting for 2005 and finished up with 3,252 miles. My crash and subsequent recovery cost me 194 miles on the year. How did everyone else do -- more or fewer miles than expected?

So did anyone get any new cool bike toys -- or even better yet cool new bikes? It's also time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions, but I think we'll save those for next week's thread.

I just wanted to keep this thread going, but I'm glad to see no one has been commuting to post here. Ride safe everyone.

My last commute for 2005 culminated with my water bottles freezing up. This was my first commuting in winter season and it has taken 3 months to get the sub freezing wardrobe wired. The last item/toy are gatorskin socks which will be worn for the first time in 06. My commute is 18 miles one way. Happy New Year.

I'm all set to commute tomorrow (SOME of us have to go to work!) I even dropped off a week's worth of clothes at my office this afternoon, so I have no excuse, um, unless...

I'm all set to commute tomorrow (SOME of us have to go to work!)...

I'm right there with ya, velo :D

Just a word of caution tho, with less traffic on the roads the average speeds are higher out there, and many drivers are weekenders not your regular commuters, so lets be extra carefull!

I hope santa has been good to you all. I have a promise from Mrs Cyclaholic that if I'm a good boy for the next 12 months santa will bring me one of these next year.....

http://www.supernova-lights.com/en/products/p99d/index.html

just how good do you think I'll have to be? :eek: ;)

C'mon Velo get in those last miles for '05. If you've got to go to work at least make it work to your advantage. And at least the next couple of days weather looks pretty good.

YEAH! I did it! I don't keep track of miles, but maybe next year. I just like to ride my bike.

The only thing EXTREME about my commute (the weather is awfully nice) is that my EXTREMEly annoying in-laws are in my house, and so I was EXTREMEly motivated to get up early and GET OUT before they got up. It worked.

Oh yeah, and my brother got me booties, so when it gets cold again, I'll be ready.

Finally rode my new bike into work, oh what a difference. Hope everyone had a nice Holiday. I am glad that the Yule holiday is behind us and that the days will get longer.

I did it again! What fun, I'm so glad to be back in the swing of things. Today my feet got a bit cold toward the end of my ride, so I'm looking forward to trying out the booties next time. It was 30F when I left the house at a beautiful sunrise. I stopped to take some photos, but the batteries in my camera need recharging.

I rode the Jamis Coda, no need for the icebike at this time.

I'm hovering around 1750 miles right now. Still 2 commuting days to go. I did over 2300 in '04. I lost a bunch of miles in '05 due to working from home for about 6 weeks in prime commuting weather (August/September) due to my wife's back surgery. I sloughed off a lot of other days too.
I'm shooting for at least 2000 for '06, I'd like to hit 3000+. Someday I'd like to hit 4000.

I hit 2190 miles since June 22nd '05

Started counting after the yearly "Bike to Work Day"

I'm closing in on the 3000. Haven't ridden in a while, but the stars aligned and I was able to commute in this morning. Commute is 16 miles one way.

I wish I knew how many km I rode this year. Between not having a odometer on my winter bike and the computer on the main commuter resetting to zero by accident I don't have a clue how many km. Near as I can figure I would be around 4-5000 Km. For the last while, my commute has been very pleasant to say the least. No snow, very little wind and temps around -5C make for easy commuting.

I should end with just under 7,000 miles for the year. About 50% of the 7,000 miles were commuting. 40 miles round trip adds up.

Hello all,
I thought I would give you all an update on my epic experience with the surgeon. I had my procedure last Wednesday. It was gruesome. They used local anesthetic, so I was awake the whole time. Quite horrid.

Now, I walk like a guy who is 90 years old and I can no more bike than fly to the moon. It's amazing how all our bits are connected to other bits, so moving one thing can hurt something else far away and seemingly uninvolved.

The doctor tells me that I will be able to get back on the bike in 6 weeks. It really sucks looking at my beautiful and beloved bike sitting morosely on the porch. I think I see recrimination in her eyes. I've tried to help her understand... but I think she thinks I'm rding that ****** Cannondale again. I can tell you all this - you never miss something more than when you can't do it.

I hope you all got nice cycling gifts. I got some wicking shirts and a spoke wrench. I'll be chiming in from time to time. Thank you Newbie for doing the threads.

Wow !
I havent been checking into the XCC lately because once again
I am not worthy but when I do I see accidents, operations and other
unsettling stuff :eek:
Was your operation cycling related, MARS ?
Are you going to fully recover, MDNewbie ??

I certainly hope the New Year brings better health to you.

Hi All. Long time no post.

Up to last week, i've taken a few weeks off the bike, save for the occasional ride here and there. And i've gained back 10lbs to show for it. D'oh!

Lately i've been part of the Lunch Hour ride club. I've found a couple of routes around Columbia, MD that give me a good workout for about 1 hr of ride time. I'll be back to commuting when it gets warmer.

Wow !
I havent been checking into the XCC lately because once again
I am not worthy but when I do I see accidents, operations and other
unsettling stuff :eek:
Was your operation cycling related, MARS ?
Are you going to fully recover, MDNewbie ??

I certainly hope the New Year brings better health to you.

Haha, Lem, no the surgery had nothing to do with cycling! :) Good to see you posting, are you doing any riding at all?

Hey guys and gals. Sorry I've been M.I.A. as of late. "The Man" has got me workin' a !@#$%& of a shift this week so no ridey-ridey for me. Plus I got a sweet Austro-Daimler frame for X-mas so I've been hangin' out over in the SingleSpeed/Fixed forum.

I hope you all had a great holiday! Ride on.

Haha, Lem, no the surgery had nothing to do with cycling! :) Good to see you posting, are you doing any riding at all?


Glad you are/ will be Ok, MARS !!
Im still riding...a 10.00 beater I purchased from a little Rutlet down the road from me.
A blowout today due to riding on a tire I knew was bad :eek: :mad: My own fault !!
I was up in Burlington yesterday.....Be glad you didnt have to ride in that weather :roflmao:

5 miles each way x 5 days a week x 50 weeks of the year gives me a total of 500 miles commuting. But then again I never was part of the VLCC, for obvious reasons. Recently I've been adding in an extra 5 in the morning for fun which should counteract occasional necessary bus usage and public holidays..

This morning the traffic was thankfully calm as a large amount of ice was littered curbside on my route. There is a promise of snow tomorrow that I have eagerly been anticipating. Hopefully this should prove to be some kind of training for Canada, where I'll be the week after next. I aim to maintain my record of continuous riding with only necessary exceptions.

Incidentally, can anyone recommend a good route from Pickering to downtown Toronto?

In the winter I only ride one-way (a.m.) and take my bike home on the Metro in the evenings. This week I commuted by bike on Tuesday and Wednesday, and left my bike at the office on Wednesday night. It was pouring down rain on Thursday, and I had a dinner function to go to anyways, so I drove to work with the intention of taking my bike home in the car. Well, I managed to mangle my brake as I was fighting to get the bike into the trunk (next car will be a hatchback).

Today I was planning on riding in, but each of my bikes currently has issues. My regular commuter is brakeless, my road bike is having derailleur problems, and my icebike is just not appropriate for 50-degree weather (studded tires and such).

It will be a bike-repair weekend. Too bad Santa didn't bring me that repair stand I had on my list.

Any of you DC commuters going to Hains Point on Sunday morning? Apprently there is a long standing New Years tradtion of doing 33 laps and calling it a century.

[QUOTE=The Seldom Kill]5 miles each way x 5 days a week x 50 weeks of the year gives me a total of 500 miles commuting. QUOTE]

I get 2500 by that math. Of course, I am using "new" math.

Hey Mars, nice to see you've recovered enough to pop in for a visit. I can sympathsize with the no biking blues. Since I only have one bike I avoid any jealousy among bikes. Remember to take it easy and recover fully before you jump in the saddle.

Lem -- I am almost 100% now. Antibiotics did wonders to knock out the infection and almost all traces are gone. A minor accident, turned into a major inconvenience.

Velo -- I'm glad you got rolling again, even if you'll spend New Year's repairing your stable. So far the DC winter has been pretty nice the bikers (and I'm not going to spoil it by complaining about a grey rainy Christmas). For the masochist in all of us, the New Year of commuting should start out with rain on Tuesday morning.

Fatguyracer -- I might be at what Tibike describes as, "the most boring century on the East Coast". I probably won't do all 33 laps, but if I ride down, do a few laps and then ride back home it could be a nice little ride. If the weather is good Tibike thought he might be there.

Well Santa was very good to me and offered unexpected bounty. In addition to the rain gear, Sealskin gloves and bike tools I asked for I got a pair of Pearl Izumi rain pants, Mt. Borah windproof tights and Sealskinz socks. A very small part of me actually hopes it rains just so I can try out all of my new toys.

After a wonderfully restful week (and eating and drinking way too much) I'm ready to get back to commuting. I decided before Christmas that I was not going to weigh myself again until mid-January -- and I'm just as glad I don't know how much damage has been done by holiday overindulgence.

Have a safe and happy New Year everybody.