Greg M

28 when I walked out the door this morning. I like the cooler drier temps more than the warmer
damp temps we've been having this week. No ride home today, the crew is picking me up later
and were heading up to Vt. for some snowboarding. First trip of the season!

Rick@OCRR

Good temp. at 54 Deg.F when I left the house this morning (5:15 AM) but it should be a lot warmer (80's?) by the time I ride home this afternoon. Not too crowded on the Metro train either.

Rick / OCRR

redvette

Lol! Pedal faster!

PatrickGSR94

Yesterday afternoon/evening was so much better than the morning. Wind at my back, made it home in 1:06 as opposed to 1:29 coming in.

My layers were iffy, though. Temp was around 50F. I had on just a long-sleeve jersey and wind breaker jacket. Bike shorts and then thin tights. Legs were fine. I was sweating pretty bad after about 5 miles so I stopped and took the jacket off and stuffed it into my jersey. About 5 miles later I was getting pretty cold so I put the jacket back on. By the time I got home I was sweating almost like I do in the summer. Crazy.

thelazywon

Check this out, the zipper mobile was broken down today, and my entire division was crippled by the traffic. It took some people 4 hours to get to work. I just heard traffic was still backed up for miles and miles.

I had a very pleasant 1hr 14 minute bicycle commute, my mind wandered beautifully, and I was at peace with my world. How you like them apples?

walrus1

Second worst day of riding ever. I got stuck behind a lady on a comfort or cruiser bike. I didn't get a chance to pull around her due to traffic but she suddenly pulled out of the marked sharrows and continued to bear to the right farther from them. I figure she is getting out of the bike lane and speed up. Then boom she swerved into me! We both hit the brakes and we only brush off of eachother. I stop try to enquire it's ok only get a few muttered what, whys. I eventually get yes and nothing else out of her, apologize and move on with my life. She was wearing a giant puffy jacket with the hood up and I could barely see her face so I can't imagine she had any peripheral vision. I'm furious with myself. One I should have better anticipated her movements. 2. I should have factored in the fact she was wearing a hood and had no peripheral vision. But at the same time most people a. don't wear hoods when its 45+ degrees out b. don't fully exit the bike path to swerve right back in.

The Brooklyn Bridge was the usual tourist mess expect for a wonderful couple who not only were walking two abreast in the bike lane froze when I yelled bike lane and came to a complete stop forcing me to come to a complete stop too. The woman asked "what?" Like the idea of a bike lane was unknown and I just yelled "MOVE!" Christ where do these people come from and when do they go back there? I guess other then that I really enjoyed my trip.

TL;DR horrible day of riding.

Medic Zero

.


Finally got my first ride in this year, this evening. I hurt my back and shoulder moving our household across town in late December and had to take some time off from riding. I usually ride 3 to 7 days a week, so that was tough for me.

I would have preferred to ride, but my shoulder felt like it was on fire most of the past two weeks and was hurting in a way that told me not to push it. Starting out the new annum down about 100 miles from my goal for the year wasn't what I envisioned. Oh well.

First commute in from a new neighborhood too. I was afraid that the commute from this very car centric area through a couple of industrial areas was going to be bleak and dangerous, but it wasn't quite as bad as I expected. Parts of the industrial area had a beauty all their own, (at least today at twilight and with a bit of fog out) and traffic wasn't too bad, although I was honked at once for no good reason.

A big rig surprised me by backing out of my way, which was nice. I was rolling up the grandiosely named Duwamish Bikeway (usually just a sidewalk, if that) and a semi pulled across the sidewalk about a block ahead. As I got closer and he didn't have any gaps in traffic to pull out, he kindly backed up out of the sidewalk/trail to let me pass. I waved, but he looked like he was preoccupied with a clipboard or phone or something, so I don't think he saw my thanks.

I did get stuck behind a train. I had forgotten that my new route has to cross the industrial railroad tracks, as well as the Amtrak/local train/and main line railroad tracks, as well as the new streetcar. Today only the first one got me, and I was encouraged as it was a rather short length of cars that they were switching around, but then they stopped right in front of me. The engine was in the rear, and it literally stopped with only 10 feet of it hanging over the crossing! Grrr! If I hadn't left a few minutes later than I had planned, and wasn't sure exactly how long it was going to take me to ride in to work since this was the first time from our new home, I would've waited. Instead, I portaged my bike through the big gravel about 100 feet past the train then portaged it across all four sets of switching tracks to the frontage road on the other side. Yeah, I know, technically not kosher, but totally safe, as the train was at a dead stop, I was lit up like a christmas tree with all my lights, and I went so far down the tracks that they couldn't have run me over even if they had tried.

After a few more segments of heavy traffic on surface streets with only a faded sharrow as a fig leaf (painted far to the right no less!) I made my way through the short SODO trail and then through China Town and up the backside of First Hill. A car that appeared to be doing a poor job of either parking or pulling out blocked the bike lane on one of the few stretches I actually had one (door zone as it was), but I could see the next car approaching from behind me had spotted that we were all going to be in the same place at the same time and held back for me to go out into the lane to get around the car blocking the bike lane. Another one of those times that my continual appreciation for my mirror popped consciously into my mind, because I was able to see the car behind was me leaving me room and keep an eye on the car blocking the bike lane for some unexpected last minute asshat manuever.

I was frankly a little daunted by how car-centric my new neighborhood is and how much heavy, fast moving traffic there is in the industrial areas I have to travel through to get to work on my new commute, so I really appreciated vehicle drivers twice going out of their way to be courteous to me, especially on my first commute in from our new place. I was also pleased that overall the commute wasn't as bad as I'd feared it'd be. I thought it was going to be all bleak, noisy, and awful, but it wasn't quite that bad, and had a few okay parts.

Although I'm missing aspects of my old commute, now that I've given up on trying to go back to college, two days a week I can take longer more scenic routes in to and home from work, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

niuoka

32 degrees and freezing fog. the cold was not so much an issue as the freezing fog was. when I would hit the brakes, ice would fly off the rims. my coat which is green and yellow, looked white when I stopped. Somehow when I was putting on my panniers, I hit my planet bike rear light that hangs below the rack, how I hit it I don't know, but the mount broke, so I zip tied it to the rack so I would have kind of a rear light when headed home.
other than the freezing fog which just soaks into every pore or spot it can find, and freezing fingers it was a nice ride.

zacster

That's when I stay home and have an extra cup of coffee.

@work

Walrus1 - I hate riding on the Brooklyn Bridge just bc of the tourist scattered around the bike lanes. Even if it takes longer I opt for the WB or MB.

walrus1

@@work I try to avoid the Brooklyn Bridge whenever possible. However it's the best way to get to my school which is almost literally at the very end of the Manhattan side of the bridge. I'm seriously considering getting a whistle.

dramiscram

Few centimeters of snow, a lot of Wind so no bike today. The forecast is cold temp. and a lot of Wind for the whole week, I guess I'll have to fill up the gaz tank on the van

iamjethro

26 when leaving. supposed to be 67 in the afternoon. Then 32 tomorrow, 56 on Wed. and then back to 34 on Thur. How do people NOT get sick this way?

PatrickGSR94

Same here. Royally sucks because Tues/Thurs are the only days I can ride, and of course they are the coldest days this week. 60° today and I can't ride. REALLY hating that!

Ky_Rider

Very pleasant ride home. 50F and sunny. Snow and a high of 26 tomorrow.

spivonious

No ride since banks are closed today. Not looking forward to the weather tomorrow. They're calling for 8" of snow to fall during the work day with gusty winds. Looks like it will be a driving day.

trailmix

I took the long way today and I think I had a headwind no matter which direction I was riding. Supposed to be 28 in the morning and 16 for the ride home?

mister

I woke up way later than I should have and opted to drive in. On the way I passed a couple commuters and felt horrible about not riding. So much so that on my lunch break I went home, changed, and rode back to work.

The ride in was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, about 50F, and a moderate amount of traffic. I was able to wear fingerless gloves and didn't need my ear warmers! Too bad I ended up staying until 9 tonight to catch up on stuff. The ride home was pretty miserable. Dense, very wet fog, 36F. By the time I got home my hands were so cold they physically hurt. I couldn't even feel my keys as I dug in my bag to get them and unlock the door. Still, I was happy I got my ride in.

zacster

8 to 12 inches of snow on the way today. I guess I'm done commuting for a while. I just put a new dynamo wheel and light on this past weekend too, and even re-built my rear wheel to match. By the time the streets are clear enough again to ride I won't need the light in the evening. As it is I rode home mostly in daylight last week when I left my office at 4:45.

dcb23

LOL!!!!!

So NOW I figure out DC is shut down...I was wondering why there was so little traffic coming in.

Heading back home. (It was a pleasant ride in, hardly any sense a big storm is on the way.)

FenderTL5

I dressed for the ride home, so I was a little overdressed/warm on the way in. 36°F, light wind this morning.
Temps are supposed to start falling through the day and the winds pick up to 25-35 sustained, gusts of 45mph are predicted.
If that happens I'll shorten-up and go multi-modal this afternoon. The 15 miles in were nice, given the previous exception.

arsprod 

Not riding seems to be a trend - 5" snow overnight, temps in single digits and 30-40mph winds, I drove. I can deal with one or the other - polar temps OR snowy roads. Temps supposed to stay through the week but if they get the snow cleared I'll be back on the bike tomorrow. I'm sick of winter

spivonious

I drove in. They've upped the forecast to 8-12" now. I'm seriously thinking of leaving early to avoid the crazies at rush hour.

tarwheel 

Nice weather for riding this morning but ironically I had to drive because I realized over the weekend that my driver's license was expiring. So, I headed to the DMV before work to get my license renewed. In addition, forecasters are calling for a strong cold front to move through our area this afternoon, bringing rain and possible sleet/snow along with plunging temperatures. I don't mind the cold, but my commute is too far and on too many busy roads for riding on icy streets.

PatrickGSR94

30F this morning and falling today, with winds gusting to 35 MPH... yeah, no. Would have been a sweet ride in probably but would be hell going home so I opted to drive. Probably will have to do the same on Thursday which means no riding this week.