spivonious

Cold ride in this morning, but clear skies and little wind. My wife was scared that some crazy Black Friday shopper would hit me, but traffic was actually very low. Either they were already at the stores, or they had already finished.

timvan_78

have been driving to work all week.

Last friday afternoon I crashed my BMX hard.

Hard head-hit (time to replace helmet!), scraped face and all knuckles. No post-concussion symptoms so I should be good to go, BUT both knees are messed up in different ways. The right knee feels like a "pulled muscle" type dull pain, which somewhat limits movement but is getting better. The left one is the show-stopper now: sharp pain when you touch it. I might get an x-ray.

cehowardGS

Glad you survived it..

Glad you had the helmet on too. My last crash, I went head-first into a curb at about 20+mph.. The helmet hit so hard, is sounded like a gun shot.. I survived with just scrapes...

bomgd3

About 25-30F in Connecticut today. I biked to work in a balaclava, bright orange jacket, and bowtie sticking out from underneath. I must have looked really funny riding through the ghetto on my way to work!

cehowardGS

This morning, it was about 20f, it was COLD. I went the layered and baggy way this time. I could have went with the tights and layers, but the peeling off would take time. The baggy gear was more comfortable..I had on big baggy sweat pants, underneath, two set thermals and padded shorts.. Up top along with the two set thermal shirts, I had two pullovers, and one had a face mask and hood built in. then I came with another hoody, and another fleece loose shirt. In the picture I have one around my waist.. Plus, you can't see the massive cold weather gloves. I was taking the pictures with my smartwatch shooting at a big mirror glass.
The ride was good and I was dress perfect for the mean cold 20 degrees!!

arsprod 

Michellin Man?! If I had to wear that much clothing I'd take the bus! Try some hi-tech stuff. 20f for me would be 2 maybe 3 layers, and I'm a wimp

cehowardGS

Good points and good advice. .. However, the old man loves to go "yo" sometimes.. I could have hooked up 2 pairs thermals underneath Under Armour Cold Gear tights, and then bike shorts. Up top, 3 thermals, and under armour coldgear top, and along with tight fitting fleece with ski mask, double socks. But, I am not on group ride, I am on a cruising semi-commute. Before I got to work, which I called in late, I stopped and ate. Peeled off a few layers, and just chilled in the warmth for about a hour..Putting back on the loose and baggy was easy. But, if I was outfitted in the tight stuff, it would have been really a hassle taking it off and putting it back on in public..

BTW, if you hit it out there in 20 degrees, you ain't no wimp, not by a long shot!!

cehowardGS

Hey man, the ghetto rides are really good. My old neighborhood in the city could be classified as ghetto. About 3 or 4 times a month, I head out to work a couple hours early(5 am), and ride swiftly through the old neighborhoods.(Nobody is out at that time of morning, in addition, I don't let anybody get close to me in that area either) It is a trip down memory lane each time. I ride pass the school I went to 68 years ago!! That was kindergarten.. Then on to my elementary school, where I use to live, etc.. Awesome ride. One time I dared to stop and take some pictures.. I was real careful too..

The "ghetto" really hit some warms spots with me...

QNelson

Speaking of which, some urban youths commented on the quality of my posterior in tights today. Not sure if they were yelling "nice ass" to be nice or mean. Either way I'm glad they notice, I've been trying to improve it....

FBinNY 

Is it safe to assume you're female?

QNelson

Why would you assume that? Can a man not have a finely crafted derriere?

FBinNY 

I didn't assume, which is why I asked. Meanwhile, you didn't answer.

QNelson

Fair Enough, I hope the attached video will answer your questions.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7m...men-in-tig_fun

arsprod 

Hope everyone had a good weekend and Thanksgiving (if you celebrate). A balmy 34F this morning and I way overdressed. I'm ready for someone to invent a smart fabric that has pores that open and close depending on temperature, sort of like that electrostatic, self-healing paint. Or I guess I could just pay better attention in the morning

tarwheel 

First bike commute today since Nov. 22 since I had Thanksgiving week off work. I ended up taking two weeks vacation in November so I wouldn't lose the days, and the weather was much colder than usual the entire time. Still rode a lot of miles but had to dress warm and left much later than I would normally.

I was tempted to drive today because my legs and knees were sore from a tough group ride yesterday that started with temps hovering at the freezing mark. We must have started too fast before warming up, which makes my knees sore every time. Anyway, the ride this morning probably helped my legs because I took it easy. I find that my legs recover better from an easy ride more than just taking the day off.

dramiscram

I was able to take my bike this morning, I took the summer bike but I did regret it a few times on my way. I didn't fell but came close once or twice and there was still a lot of snow at some spot on the road.
Tonight they forecast 1-2 cm of snow, the ride home should be... interesting.

Tomorrow I guess I'll take the winter bike

droy45

Not good this morning. 2 inches of heavy wet slush and freezing rain. I figured cars would be off the road everywhere and I was right. Glad I decided to drive because I'm afraid of out of control cars hitting me. I should be ok the rest of the week to resume commuting. I hated to drive but safety was more of a concern for me. So far I'm having a terrible day at work too. I think the bike ride in the morning sets me up for a better day overall.

no motor?

Nice ride in this morning, but it looks like it's going to be colder this evening and wetter if I don't leave before the storm. It's a good thing I've got some extra layers with me.

Telly

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Do you ever feel like you're followed by one specific cloud which is just pouring on you all the way to your destination?
That's probably what happened this morning on my way to work. After having rained all evening, the weather seemed to improve and by the time I was leaving home, it was almost cleared up.... almost! The minute I started cycling, it suddenly got really dark and the skies just opened up with pouring rain. Thankfully the temperature was in the low 20's (C), but the rain just wouldn't give, and of course the roads started to flood making it a difficult commute to work.

When I reached my office building, then and only then did the rain stop, and by the time I stowed the bike in the garage and made my way up to the office, the weather had again cleared just enough to let a few rays of sun through.

All in all, it could have been much worse, but it's day's like these that I feel like Charlie Brown just as Lucy pulls the football back! lol

spivonious

The ride home last night was very pleasant. It's definitely getting darker now; The sunset was completely finished by the time I left work. I am definitely satisfied with my MagicShine MJ-808 light. It might not be the 1200 lumens they advertise, but it's definitely just as bright as a car headlight. It's one of the newer models that has a high-medium-low toggle instead of high-low-flash-off toggle.

A bit warmer today...thermometer read 38F when I left. Visibility was a bit worse due to some haze, but no incidents on the way in.

dramiscram

Last night on my way home I ran out of battery after 3 kms, I have 3 battery pack, I always keep two on the bike and the third is at home on the charger. I forgot to switch the batteries yesterday morning... Fortunately it was snowing a lot and everything was white so the light was not so bad on my dark rural road. In 1-2 cm of snow my 700x25 slick tires did fine.

This morning I took the winter bike and was glad I did, last night snow turned into frozen slush this morning. With a mild 1° celcius the ride was still great but much slower

Telly

Probably the worst commute of the year (except for random mechanical failures)!

Ridiculously strong head/side-wind of 50 km/h, gusting at time to around 80 km/h; this both ways since the winds shifted during the day, made cycling extremely dangerous and almost knocked me down a few times. Needless to say that I was totally knackered by the time I reach my work, and had to make a pit-stop on the way back (coffee break) so I could get a caffeine boost to make it home!

Things are going to be -a bit- better tomorrow but this wind is not going to make my life any easier! lol

Ky_Rider

Nice 12 mile ride to work. Temps were very mild for Dec. I had to take off my new googles after a few miles because I was sweating. Going to take advantage of the warm weather today and ride home too. I rarely ride both ways in the same day because my commute takes over an hour each way and my legs can't take that everyday. We're expecting snow by the end of the week.

arsprod 

34F, wet from rain yesterday and last night, and really foggy - fog made the beam coming out of my headlight look like a light saber (pretty cool actually).

I almost never do this but I stopped and took a picture. Check out these new work stations the city has put along the trail. I counted 3 spaced about 1.5 miles apart (a little too far I think) and very cool. If you can't tell, it's a workstand, manual pump (bolted to the cement), and all those little hair looking things are various tools connected to permanent cables. I don't know how long these will last (this one for instance is close to a not-so-great area) but kudos to the city of Indianapolis!

tarwheel 

Tough ride this morning as my legs have been inexplicably tired and sore the past two days. I actually had to get up during the night and take some Vitamin I (ibuprofin) because the pain woke me up. Over time, I've found that the best recovery technique is to continue riding but slow it down. So that's what I'm doing until my legs return to normal. Part of the issue may also be my new commuter bike, which I am still dialing in the fit on. I am starting to suspect that the saddle is positioned wrong, either too far back or forward. Need to take some measurements of my other bikes and compare with the new one. It's not easy measuring saddle setback in relation to the bottom bracket, or at least I have not found a simple way to do it.