26 when I left home. Even now (8:45) it's only 29. I think I saw 3 other riders over the entire 14 miles.

Crisp air felt good once I stopped coughing my lungs out :p

I rode today for the first time (commuting) in a couple of months. I finally got my new commuter to replace the one that was swiped. I decide on a Kona Dr Dew becuase of the Hydrolic disc brakes. It was a sweet ride although cold. It was nice to be back in the saddle again.

Welcome back. I hope you don't feel too bad tomorrow :)

I rode in at 6:00 AM, 27 degrees, and it was an amazining morning, the moon was HUGE sky was clear. Outside of having to wrench on my garage door that had frozen to the pavement thanks to the 1/2 inch of hail from last night, the ride was excellent.
I was aware that many motorists didnt defrost thier windows well before taking off, but Im alot lower to the ground than most of you , so I guess thats just me.
Sorry to hear about your ride gettin swiped, hope you have better luck this time.

...thanks to the 1/2 inch of hail from last night, the ride was excellent.


You had HAIL? Dang, the skies were clear as a bell here. Last night was my holiday :) , so no commute this morning. Thinking about going for a walk today instead of a ride, just to vary my routine.

East Hill

I rode in, left a little later than usual (7:15 a.m.). Wore an extra layer and felt fine except at times I wish I had something on my face.

Still, better than the ice last week...

Welcome back. I hope you don't feel too bad tomorrow :)

Surprisingly the legs felt fine this morning :D must of been all the walking I did while off the bike. I did have a "first" happen on my commute last night. I have heard stories but it's never happened to me. While heading eastbound on Pacific in Everett last night. Some clown threw a bottle at me. Missed me by about 10 feet, shattered right in front of me. The real pisser was since the traffic was so heavy I was being nice and crossing the bridge on the sidewalk.

This morning felt colder than yesterday for some reason. For the first 4 or 5 miles, I was actually thinking that I should have gotten the lobster-claw gloves this year, since my fingers were getting pretty cold. After a few miles, though, I got all warm and toasty and actually had a nice ride in. Not having the rain and wind to deal with is a rare treat this time of year.

Bottles and other stuff...yeah, they suck. Sometimes you've just gotta wonder about people. It's usually kids, but I've been buzzed and yelled at by pretty much all types of people. 10 feet is pretty bad aim, though. I hope you were able to miss the broken glass, or that you have Kevlar tires.

I rode in this morning at 4AM. When I finished I decided I should have worn two pairs of socks, but I stand by my decision to wear my shorts.

One interesting finding was that the duwamish river was actually icing up a bit around the edges.

Wimped out and wore my balaclava this morning -- it was at the bottom of my box of "old Midwestern winter gear I never use any more." Good decision.

I crossed the I90 bridge right about 7:30 this morning, and had a great view of the sunrise hitting Mt. Rainier, plus a full moon in the West. I actually stopped for several minutes at the top of the Mt. Baker tunnel just to admire the sunset coming over the mountains.

Great morning for a commute.

Logistically difficult (kid-shuttling and timing) so I drove. I hate driving on a day that would see good use out of my damn studded tires. Tomorrow is another day, though.

I rode... it was great! 17 degrees when I left. My only complaints are slightly cold toes and fingers. What a beautiful morning! I'm excited for the return ride home.

A nice crisp ride, crunchy along the edges where the ice was :D .

It took me about 20 minutes to warm up, but had a nice ride after that. Yeah, it's nice looking at the sun come up on Mount Rainier!

East Hill

Mount Rainier--taken today about noon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/roudy/20080122_16.jpg

Didn't ride...today was a run day. It was so nice though that I did set a PR for one of my favorite hilly 5 milers. I see it's supposed to be similar tomorrow, the rebuilt C'Dale is coming to work with me for a lunchride. Can't wait!

Mount Rainier--taken today about noon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/roudy/20080122_16.jpg

Oh, I'm stealing this for the Foo thread! I love seeing those lenticular clouds :D .

East Hill

Sweet rides home between Bellevue and the Sammamish Plateau on the last couple of nights, under the gorgeous full moon! I'll take the chill and a little ice over the rain any day. Riding my road bike this week as opposed to my wide-tired MTB commuter, since it's dry and the commuter bike seized a wheel bearing last week (probably a faulty overhaul on my part). Forgot how much faster and lighter the road bike is! My route is mostly ice free now, except at the junction of Newport Way and and Lakemont Blvd, which turns into a skating rink every time there's subfreezing weather- even if there's no ice anywhere else. Weird.

I'll take the chill and a little ice over the rain any day.

+1

Within reason, of course.

I wimped out earlier in the week, but when Wednesday rolled around I ran out of excuses and headed out for an afternoon ride in the glorious cool (38°) sunshine. I even traveled some roads I hadn't ridden before as part of my 37-mile loop from Bellingham. Mt. Baker was at its best, as were the Twin Sisters. I had views from many places on my route.

From Bellingham I headed out Marine Drive, then across Kwina Road, turning north on Hillare, then west on North Red River, then north on Lake Terrell Road. At Mountain View I turned west, then north on Rainbow which meanders a bit and becomes Kickerville. At Aldergrove I turned east toward Ferndale, where I turned south on Church Rd to Mountain View, then east into downtown Ferndale and across the Nooksack. Then south on Hovander Road to LaBounty to Rural Ave. Crossed Slater and continued on Rural back to Marine Drive and back home. There was very little traffic and I got home about 4:30 pm.

Mark, that is one of my favorite rides! I followed the route described on www.seattlebiketours.org for Birch Bay, which is almost the same. I took Aldergrove west... which no longer exists. It was a fun adventure. Sometimes I forget how beautiful those wide open spaces in the county can be, especially meandering along the Red River.

I've been busy moving to a new apartment, so I only rode Monday of this week. I can't wait until next week to get back on the bike and commuting again!
Looks like I'll be throwing the snow tires on my bike this weekend once I get my furniture moved into the new place. Supposed to be snowing all next week, and the new place is 600' higher than the current place, so we'll definitely be getting some snowfall.

Snow?

And I was gonna do another long (for me) ride this weekend. Not in the snow though. Sorry.

love riding on days like we have had this week. No rain and the cold air is invigorating.

17F baby. 'Invigorating'. That's the word people were tossing around in my dentist's office this am.

I'll take cold over rain anyday

Not me. I'll take the rain and warmer temps. I can live without the winds, though.

Not me. I'll take the rain ......

You are a sick individual :p

Mark, that is one of my favorite rides! I followed the route described on www.seattlebiketours.org for Birch Bay, which is almost the same.

We're blessed with lots of good places to ride without spending lots of time getting out of town. I've ridden to Birch Bay via a long loop through Lynden and then back down by Intalco and the refineries. That's a longer ride, and with a wind from the west Birch Bay-Lynden Road may not be much fun.

I like riding past those BIG patches of two inch thick ice. I haven't been on Big Soos Creek for the last few days because some spots there are incredibly nasty.

East Hill

With the good weather I've been having a bit of fun, seeing if I can beat the Metro route 271 between Bellevue and Issaquah on the ride home. Sometimes we'll meet at 3 different places as we leapfrog each other. The fact that I win sometimes says more about the bus route than my riding abilities.

Its so nice today I am leaving work ar 2 (Gasworks) and riding over to Alki via Interbay and the waterfront. This will be my first decent ride since October. I hope my legs will last the 15 short miles :D

The days must be getting longer, it was up to 18F before I hit the road this morning. I have to say I definitely prefer the warm (30s) rain to teens. Although at least there's no wind, whew.

I just got back from my Gas Works to Alki ride, 15 miles and I am pooped. This was the longest ride I have done since September and I am out of shape. To long out of the saddle, time to get back in shape for the sumer ridding season.

Otherwise you couldn't ask for a better January day for a peddle. Nice and brrisk and lots of scenery to gawk at.

After spending the week in Ellensburg (9 degrees) I couldnt wait to get back to our thirty somthing degree rain and ride. I took my trike and rode from des moines to downtown and back, 28 miles, it was wet, I got soaked and it was awsome. saw a couple of riders out there bucking the wind and rain with me, good on ya.

I haven't ridden since January 1. I started the year out strong but got way to busy at work. :mad:

Snowed all day today and looking for more tomorrow, been anywhere from -2 when I get off work to the high teens. Back to the trainer... :(

rode in today, snow, ice and frosted windows, Very exhilerating. sometimes being low to the ground is kinda skechty.

65* to 71* Cloudy Wind 3 to 14 mph.
Cranked out 50 road miles.
Smiled the whole time.

Surprisingly the legs felt fine this morning :D must of been all the walking I did while off the bike. I did have a "first" happen on my commute last night. I have heard stories but it's never happened to me. While heading eastbound on Pacific in Everett last night. Some clown threw a bottle at me. Missed me by about 10 feet, shattered right in front of me. The real pisser was since the traffic was so heavy I was being nice and crossing the bridge on the sidewalk.

Glad they missed you with that bottle. That story reminds me of last summer when some kids drove behind me on the river road. At the last second one of them stuck his head out of the sunroof and screamed at me. I got the last laugh though - his sunglasses flew off and smashed to the ground. I just smiles and waved. :D

65* to 71* Cloudy Wind 3 to 14 mph.
Cranked out 50 road miles.
Smiled the whole time.

So what are you hanging out on the pacific Northwest page just to rub it in? I dont doub that Texas has nice weather but you ever seen a hill before?

I rode around several times today. Snow, slush, ice then freezing rain. Tons of fun! I took out 3 of the steeds today. The trike for a grocery run, The ol' Grizzly mountain bike for a store run and a BMX to my buddies house. I'm lovin' it!

I rode around several times today. Snow, slush, ice then freezing rain. Tons of fun! I took out 3 of the steeds today. The trike for a grocery run, The ol' Grizzly mountain bike for a store run and a BMX to my buddies house. I'm lovin' it!


And now--nothing! It's warm enough that I think all the ice melted, even.

East Hill

And now--nothing! It's warm enough that I think all the ice melted, even.

East Hill

Maybe by you it did... Redmond Ridge to Woodinville I still had quite a bit of packed snow/ice on the road. I'm lucky (again) with my commute because I can take residential streets for about half of it so there's very little traffic. The downside is that these streets don't get plowed or have any chloride melter-solution sprayed on them. So my parking lot and side street are still nasty. Out on Novelty Hill it's fine, then when I go through the Trilogy development to get to Woodinville-Duvall Rd, it's horrible again. The rain melted a lot of it, but the hills still had a lot of packed tracks on them.

I'm not taking the ice spiker tires off just yet...

Maybe by you it did... Redmond Ridge to Woodinville I still had quite a bit of packed snow/ice on the road. I'm lucky (again) with my commute because I can take residential streets for about half of it so there's very little traffic. The downside is that these streets don't get plowed or have any chloride melter-solution sprayed on them. So my parking lot and side street are still nasty. Out on Novelty Hill it's fine, then when I go through the Trilogy development to get to Woodinville-Duvall Rd, it's horrible again. The rain melted a lot of it, but the hills still had a lot of packed tracks on them.

I'm not taking the ice spiker tires off just yet...

Wow! Amazing, as I said, I think all the ice has melted here :eek: .

I am content to let others deal with snow and ice :p . I know, that's terrible of me to say :o .

East Hill

Missed all the snow in Everett yesterday. By the time I got home last night it had all melted. This morning commute was not that bad. I didn't run across any ice, just wet pavement.

Last night's commute home was pretty slow for me. I made the decision not to go for any speed records since the street was pretty glassy looking (7:30 PM until about 9). I just took it easy. Interestingly enough, vehicle traffic was also significantly lighter than usual.

This morning was a different story, though. I woke up ready to bag it for the day and then see that it's 37 outside! Yay! Good ride all the way into town, until I blew a tube about a mile from work. Now I get to spend my lunch hour patching the tube. Still, a good morning for a ride in.

I have to say I prefer 33F and sleety/slushy to 17F and ... anything. If I wanted to live in Montana or Minnesota I'd move there.

I am content to let others deal with snow and ice :p . I know, that's terrible of me to say :o .

East Hill

Hardly. If I had my choice, it would be dry and 72*F for every ride I took. Unfortunately, my weather control device is on the blink, so I have to deal with what I get.

Besides, I like having been moved up a "looney grade" at the office. Yesterday I went from being "The bike guy" to "That effing crazy bike guy."

I got my first "I decided I'd better come on in since (I knew you were there) and you ride a bike" comments yesterday. I don't think I'm the effing crazy bike guy; I'm the guy you don't want to be embarrassed by guy :).

Hey all! I'm the newbie in Tacoma. Thought I'd introduce myself. I just got my own bike this weekend and I'm pretty stoked. After reading your posts yesterday, I realized that I was being a wimp - letting the snow keep me off the road. So this morning I rode to Home Depot for a few small items. The rain had melted most of the snow - just an inch of slushy stuff in a few shady spots on the trail. But it felt awfully cold and the wind was pushing me backwards and then it started to snow on me :( But then the sun came out :D And then it hailed :rolleyes: Overall it was great and I'm loving the "new" bike. I saw two other crazy bike people while I was out, and then another one rode by my house in a torrential downpour a few hours later, that effing crazy bike guy.

Cheers and glad to meet ya,
Heather