Commuting - How was your February?

I had an almost perfect commuting record. I walked to work one day because it was too unsafe to bike. Lowest temp was -26C, the highest was probably around 10C. Total mileage: 182km. (6km down from Feb 2006 of 188km).

Kinda soggy, pretty cold most days, nice weekends for getting out and doing long rides. And then last night it started snowing. I haven't tabbed up my mileage for the month, but I was up to 150-something by the end of last week.

mine was really crappy... i missed almost 10 commutes due to black ice. i gotta remember to get the studs for both our bikes BEFORE black ice season hits again next spring. i was set to buy them last week and the LBS only had one left. by the time they ordered them in they wouldn't be necessary anymore.

this year i had one for the front of both of our bikes and i found out that, while it is better than nothing, it is still not good.

actually hopefully by next year we both have a dedicated winter bike on which the studs will stay permanently mounted between november and march.

Out of town the first week in February, but commuted in to work on all the other days. The weather was not ideal (lots of rain) but still the commutes weren't bad with the rain gear on. I'm just looking forward to the days when I don't have to spend 20 minutes before and after the ride getting dressed and packing for the short 7 mile ride. I don't have a good start to March though... woke up this morning with a couple of inches of snow on the ground... the streets looked OK but I wasn't sure if I would hit some icy patches.. I wasn't willing to risk it since I'm riding slicks and my commute in includes a hill that I descend at 35 mph hour.

bah, bad month, only 15.5 out of 19 work days. Had 3 days with appointments that were important and/or far enough away that required borrowing a car or taking the day off of work.

BRUTAL for me. I got in 3 days! And one of those days was hell at -5F and 9" snow. The MUP has been snow and ice covered and when it wasn't, the temps were all below 0 and I was sick. Terrible month!

Not as good as January. I had the flu and lost a week of riding. But March is looking good!

I drove to work on the 27th, first time in a year. I had a power supply blow in my computer and had to go an extra 30 miles to pick one up.
I was really looking forward to commuting today; the forecast was for freezing rain all night, with 1/4" on the ground and continuing rain, changing to thunderstorms during the day. Finally, some interesting weather. Unfortunately I woke up to a power failure, and had to drive to work because if the power didn't come on by noon at home, I had to head back and get the generator running, then go to work again. Of course, the power came on at 10:30.

Oh well, now I guess I've had my two days off for the year.

What's this "too unsafe to ride" thing of which you speak? My feeling is that if it's too dangerous for me to ride, it's WAY to dangerous to drive. I can keep control much better on my bike than in a car, and I can dodge better on a bike too. Especially on ice.

I biked every workday except two where I telecommuted.

Al

What's this "too unsafe to ride" thing of which you speak? My feeling is that if it's too dangerous for me to ride, it's WAY to dangerous to drive. I can keep control much better on my bike than in a car, and I can dodge better on a bike too. Especially on ice.
Hehe, you missed the part in my OP where I said I walked on that day :)

I managed to ride everyday. It was sloppy, though. And when it wasn't sloppy, it was cold. But it was still fun.

Crappy. After a nice January, when I got cycled in to work 11 out of 17, I was only 6 out of 15 in Feb.:(

I got out of a good routine and had too many activites after work. It's tough to bring a bowling ball on my bike.:D Also, some bitter cold temps had me gunshy after one tough ride; also, a business trip took away several opportunities.

Still, I remain on pace with 2006, having come in 16 times so far, not counting today.

Nothing can explain my month far better than awesome. This is the first month I have had my bike. I commuted everyday. I have hardly even touched my car besides having to take my fiance to school while her car was broke down(She does not have a bike). But once her car was fixed, no driving for me. It was all riding. Weather was amazing as well. 70s in the day, 40s at night(I have to ride home late at night). Bike feels great. Now my commute and errands arent far due to the proximity of everything to me. But I have enjoyed Feb.

Can't complain. I only missed 2 days due to a couple snowstorms. However, February will be remembered as a bitter cold month her in the St. Paul, MN. Many of my morning commutes were sub-zero, with the lowest being -17F. I certainly learned a few things about extreme cold! Logged 534 miles for Feb.

March is off to a bad start as we're in the midst of a blizzard. We're expecting 16-18 inches of snow. Between today and tomorrow, this will be my first back-to-back driving since May 2006. I plan to get some spinning in to take care of my cycling addiction.

Pretty tough month for me. Total 525 km, skipped two days cause of the snow. Got a nice patch of frostbite on my cheek. Basically, I'm sick of winter now, can we please at least have a chinook? :)

Great! Had not been outside on the bike from 19-DEC to 04-FEB. Rode 18 days in Feb. 15 days to work by bike, 5 days to work by foot, 1 day to work by car (had a doctor's appointment and it was icy). Rode 8 miles on the 28th to get 500 miles for the month, then walked to work because of incoming snow storm.

My Feb was pretty bad.
4 days out of 20 total workdays. I'm calling it 4 for 16 because I had 4 days where I had meetings out of the office, dentist appts mid-day etc. Still pretty bad. The cold doesn't bother me (I was over 70% for Dec/Jan) but the ice skeeves me out a bit. If I'm living in the same place and/or able to bike commuter next winter, I will have studded tires.

Averaged about 3 days a week commuting. We had many days in the mid 30'sF with rain and it was just too easy to bag it and drive in. I'm kind of disappointed in myself because last winter I barely skipped any days at all.

Pretty tough month for me. Total 525 km, skipped two days cause of the snow. Got a nice patch of frostbite on my cheek. Basically, I'm sick of winter now, can we please at least have a chinook? :)
high of 6 for saturday :)

I broke a wheel halfway through the month... Other than that i figured out how to commute on my bike and did it a few times. Currently waiting on new wheels to arrive. :)

Mine wasn't good at all. After a GREAT winter so far, February was almost devoid of outdoor rides. (You guys in Canada are a lot tougher than I am). Got my first commute in yesterday, and took 2 hours because of about 2 miles worth of MUP that was completely covered in snow and ice. My commute is 43 miles RT, so I use street tires, and can't really do ice and snow.

That's the bad part.

Good part is - found a detour on the way home to go around the bad part, and by this weekend, that stretch should clear up. With improving weather, I should be on the rebound, and will be commuting more often as part of my training for a big century in June.

It sucked! But it's made me stronger for Spring!!

Only missed about two days due to too much ice. Snow wasn't the big problem.

Snow...and it's still snowing...got another 6" last night

Ranged from cold and snowy/icy to BEAUTIFUL.

580 miles and 26,882 feet of climbing logged for the month. :)

It sucked :mad:

mine was really crappy... i missed almost 10 commutes due to black ice. i gotta remember to get the studs for both our bikes BEFORE black ice season hits again next spring. i was set to buy them last week and the LBS only had one left. by the time they ordered them in they wouldn't be necessary anymore.

this year i had one for the front of both of our bikes and i found out that, while it is better than nothing, it is still not good.

actually hopefully by next year we both have a dedicated winter bike on which the studs will stay permanently mounted between november and march.

I feel pretty good about myself then for commuting every day this February. I will admit to straying from my normal backroad route to use the main roads in order to avoid the unplowed conditions after the few inches of sleet we got mid-month. I've since stuck to those roads to avoid the continuing black ice issues (not that they don't exist on the main roads but there's much less as long as you stay away from the shoulder). My average speed has jumped up by almost 1.5mph and my commute time has barely changed even though I'm riding an extra mile and change each way.

A dedicated winter bike would be nice but an extra set of wheels with the studded tires and cassette already mount is nice too (no need to have two sets of lights or mounts). I just wish my spare wheels were the same width so that I didn't have to adjust my brakes at each switch (which takes all of 30 seconds).

Horrible. Patello-femoral syndrome, or whatever it's called has pretty much prevented me from riding most of the month. <sigh>

I missed one commute in Feb. due to a chain suck issue. I was running late and frustrated anyway. I got halfway down the driveway and there goes the chain. if I wasn't upset already I probably could have taken care of it right then, but I messed with it for a while and made it worse. So, I drove to work that night but when I got out to my car in the morning there was between 1/8 and 1/4 of ICE coating it so I just walked home and got the picked up the car later after the ice started to melt. When I got home (in a better mood) it took 2 minutes to fix the chain problem.
other than that, Feb. has been fun. a few decent snowfalls and drifts created quite a fun time. there's absolutly nothing like plowing through a 2 foot drift on a bike when there's 2 cars stuck in it. I just can't wait to get my studs off. every time I think about it we get more ice/snow. It's currently raining, but it will be icy when I go to work tonight.

The last time I drove to work was last summer when I had to pick up a large item at lunch. But then, I've not got the climate challenges that many of you do -- except a few rain drops here and there. Feb was warmer than Jan, so it was a good month.

Mine was fantastic. Lowest maintenance bike month I can think of. <knock on formica>

We had the obligatory cold snap that required breaking out the sweatsuit for one day. I think I remember one rainride.

It was the third-snowiest February on record here. There was only one day (Valentine's Day) that I telecommuted instead of riding, and that was only because I didn't trust the cars that were on the road.

I feel pretty good about myself then for commuting every day this February.

you should! :beer:

hey you thinking of this at all this year?

http://pittsburghpedalpushers.blogspot.com/

Well mine was a mix of good and bad.

On Feb 1 I wiped out in apparently marvelous fashion on an icy bridge. Several cagers stopped to help but all was fine with me and bike. After that the snow began to melt and I even snuck in 4 or 5 lunchtime rides. Then around mid month... I broke a spoke and totally blew the repair job (I know it is simple but I could not for the life of me true the wheel). Ended up taking to the LBS and having them due a tune up while I was there. Got one ride in after that before the sickness hit. Now more than a week later I officially have bronchitis. I am getting better but I may not ride next week to allow my body to recover. It will be hard. I saw 62 degrees in the forcast...

I can't complain. In the shortest month of the year I almost bested my monthly record. I logged 433 mile in February (4 mile shy of my personal best). It was a chilly month (at least for Texas). The lowest temp I had to ride in was a balmy 24 degrees. Most mornings were in the 30s or low 40s with return trips in the mid 50s to high 60s, but virtually no rain all month (which we need badly). All in all in was a good month on the bike.

Nice month - I missed a week because I was in TO without my winter ride and didn't want to trash my bike there with salt - otherwise I logged in about 300 km. Lotsa snow for calgary but it was generally fun and pleasant.

Very wet.