Kodama

Once again overcast and headwindy but for some variety it was raining today. Not too hard of rain, more like a persistent heavy misting. The wind was a bit higher though so it was really being blown into my face.

On a side note even tthough I have been commuting for years this was the first year I commuted year round. Today, St. Patrick's day was the day I started last year, so I have successfully commuted year round this year. Happy Guinness day everyone!

brennser

damp, dreary day in DC - quite appropriate for St Patricks day really

trekkie820

Dodging drunks and drunk drivers here in BG...cold and grey day

ollo_ollo

Overcast again today but no wind or rain & the sun broke through late in the afternoon. It was 60F on the way home. Don

blueline

Shorter than expected. Nice ride in this morning. Was looking forward to the late morning ride home on a beautiful spring day (got well into the 60's today). Decided to pump up my tires. Pumped up the front tire. Pumped up the rea(ssssssssssssssss). What? No!No! I've got to pick up my daughter, I don't have time for this.

Well, somehow the valve stem separated from the rest of the tire at the joint while I was pumping up the rear tire. The bike is only two months old and the tube failed. Oh well. The good news is that my wife and I share an office and I could just put the bike in the back of the car, go to the LBS and get a couple of tubes and a new floor pump with gauge (I was thinking about getting one of these anyway), and take the bike home to work on it. One of these days I may even get a work stand...

Chris L

About 50 metres after leaving home this morning I had to take some serious evasive action to avoid a dropkick careering out of control down the wrong side of the road. Can someone please explain to me one more time why turds get the vote in Queensland?

Other than that, relatively cool morning for the time of year kept the temperature pleasant, the rest was pretty uneventful.

froody

Had a good ride in this morning. It was foggy, but not as foggy as yesterday. Worked a little late, so didn't head home 'til 6. It was pretty dark and foggy on the way back, which made for a couple of slightly nervous moments. The big thing was that my glasses kept accumulating all this water from the fog. The some car's headlights would almost completely blind me because of the water on my glasses. What do people do about this?

Kodama, congrats on making it the entire year!

Tim

Chris L

This might be a stupid question, but are they a totally necessary eye-sight aid (i.e. prescription glasses)? When my sunglasses fog up on big climbs, I just take them off and put them in my jersey pocket.

Big tropical squal arrived as I was about 4km from home. Rain is a good thing, but I'm undecided about a sudden 60km/h wind gust just as I'm pedalling flat out to make a set of lights.

mjw16

Cool this morning (temps in the low to mid 30's) but felt rather balmy and comfortable. I misinterperated a safety cone in the middle of the trail as a prank, however I soon realized that it was put there as a warning that the wooden bridge had a thin coating of ice. I hit it at a decelerating speed of about 13 mph and fish tailed a bit but managed to not go down. The rest of the ride was uneventful and, although I rode a little more cautiously, I made great time. I'm also really happy with the performance of my new rear fender. It does a great job of keeping that annoying road spray off my back.

ArtM

On the way home last evening, had a deer cross in front of me. There were three more waiting to cross, then number two took off. Number three wanted to get in front of me, so it headed up the road in the woods and took off across the road. By this time there was a 6 foot chain link fence on the other side of the road. I thought the deer might try to jump it, but instead the deer just lowered its head and hit the fence full force with its shoulder. It bounced off the fence, and landed on its feet. It then followed the fence until a break and headed to the hills.

The fourth deer just waited until I had passed and casually crossed the road.

This was more exciting than the ride home in the sleet and rain...

mtessmer

Cloudy, gloomy, light mist in the air, we had a snow/rain mix over night but the roads are jus fine, it's above freezing. All in all it was a nice commute in this morning. They say we might see the sun later today, that would be nice.

mtessmer

One swipe with a finger usually does the trick for me.

naisme

Mine was like mtessmer's, cept it was the middle of the night when the rain and sleet mix were falling. I don't have a secret to the glasses thing. Chris, I don't feel comfortable without them, especially riding in the rain, here in MN, where the streets still have sand on the sholders. I scratched my cornea on a ride and haven't ridden without some form of eye protection. My problem last night was my gloves weren't dry or clean and I just made a bigger mess on the lens'.
In all it was a great ride: wet cold rides are always great, cause you appreciate coming home to a warm house.

TeleJohn

Try coating the lenses with RainX windshield treatment.
It makes the water bead up and not stick to the glasses.

ollo_ollo

Flukey weather today. It was windy with a fine mist on the way in at 6:00 Am, 2 hours later we had a downpour of Biblical proportions for about 20 minutes (my dear wife called & made me promise to get a ride home if it was like this later in the day) but when I left for the day at 11:30 AM the sun was shining brightly with puffy white clouds. Supposed to be showeres for the remainder of the day
Don

Hants Commuter

Ride in was like yesterday through a still mist all the way. front wheel started rubbing the brakes, when I stopped to check what was going on I noticed the front wheel was working itself loose (Its a nut fitting)

Ride home was a bit getting a bit windy. The forecast for tomorrow is for winds in excess of 60mph. If the forecast holds true then I think I'll take the car tomorrow.

Kodama

Thanks, hopefully just the first of many.

Today was like the rest of the week has been: overcast, windy upper 40sF except that the wind is really high today. 15-20mph steady with gusts up to 30mph. Just about the strongest headwind I can recall facing. My ride time was about 5min longer than normal and was much more effort. Just more of a workout I guess. I sure hope that it stays the same for the ride home -- it will be the fastest ever

froody

Way less fog this morning. In fact, it was more overcast than foggy. Hopefully that means tonight will be a bright ride as well.
Chris, I'm pretty blind without my glasses.
mtessmer, I'll try that next time. I must admit I didn't think a finger swipe was even worth trying.
TeleJohn, I might try the RainX. I'm a little hesitant sticking chemicals on my glasses. If it keeps being foggy I'll have to try something, though.

Thanks all,
Tim

ET_SoCal

Froody, you fog moved up here this morning
But was 49 degrees and calm, so not too bad...

Great job Kodama !

Ed Holland

Very strong gusts of wind on the ride this morning. I decided against taking the scenic route along the country lanes in favour of the bike path. This was a good move, as it was impossible to maintain a straight course at times.

Have a good weekend folks,

Ed

Kodama

Today completes 5 days of strong headwinds for the week. Today was a high steady headwind not quite as strong as yesterday but the second highest of the week. Partially sunny though, with big fluffy clouds being blown about in the wind. Spring here in the PNW is always windy what with the heat sink of the Pacific ocean causing airflow as the hemisphere heats up. Anyway looking forward to the tailwind tonight! (no jinx please)

ollo_ollo

It was much colder this morning, 36F, rain showers & gusts of wind: I rode in between 2 heavy showers & left my rain gear strapped on my rack! It was much nicer from lunch time on, sunny with intermittent showers. Don

naisme

OMG!
I had forgotten what it is like to get a good bike buzz going. My commute was another best time for the route I took, I added 2 miles to my regular ride, so I did 25, and was so... juiced/jazzed/pumped/high. Then I got out of work early, and kicked up a notch and flew to a meeting, and then flew home. It was on the ride home that I realized I was heading for a bonk, and it was too late to down a Powerbar, so it slowly crept in on me, the wobbles, the frogging legs, the light headedness, and I just smiled, and thought of circles, making circles with my feet for that last 3 miles.
As I topped out the last hill I came flying down it to beat the yellow, just, and tried to crank it for home, but the tank was on fumes, and sadly I couldn't turn the 48x18 much further. Heck, getting off and putting the bike away took calories I didn't have to spare.
I LOVE THIS STUFF!

naisme

Today's commute was just going out for some errands in a good stiff wind out of the NW, glad I didn't have to ride to work in that! Gusts upto 30, and me on the fixie. Got home and fixed some rice salad, and a blender full of smoothies, sat down to the TDF DVD and let the wind rattle the windows.

mtessmer

Man, that was some wind wasn't it?!? My house made noises like I've never heard. Anyway, great commute this morning. Spring may have sprung but it was a little cool this morning 15F (-9C). It's suppose to get up to 40F/4C today and the sun is shining. I took off my winter knobbies over the weekend, boy, does that ever feel different.