tarwheel 

Dude, you should at least wear knee warmers. Riding in shorts in cold weather can be hard on your knees. I cover my knees for any temps lower than 65 F. You may be young and fearless, but things like that will catch up with you when you get older.

Temps were in the mid-20s F here, which felt warm after 15 yesterday and 9 the day before. However, I dressed quite a bit lighter, so felt just as cold riding. Pushed the pace a little to warm up, but the red lights weren't cooperating. My water bottle was slushy when I got to work; yesterday it was frozen solid.

Ky_Rider

My first commute of 2014 today. Finally back in the 20s F after some below 0 temps a few days ago. I didn't pump up my tires because I wanted a softer ride. The softer ride was nice, but felt esp difficult going uphill. Maybe it wasn't the tires. I haven't been on the bike for a couple of weeks.

mjw16

Tarwheel, you're right. At 43 the inability to get my legs to loosen up on cool/cold ride commutes is the most noticeable development in my ride. I find that I'm more tolerant of the cold but, even in cool temps my legs are very reluctant to loosen up where they used to be good to go right off the bat. I've been thinking of knee warmers but haven't gotten around to getting them yet. Maybe I'll do that soon. I've also noticed that my knees ache more than ever after a ride on my single speed MTB-I've come to the realization that I will have to go back to a geared bike soon.

dramiscram

The roads are finaly free of ice so I was able to take the bike this morning. Only the second ride of the year, the second ride since the 17th of december so the legs got tire earlier than usual.
The weather is great, beautiful sunshine with a mild -19° celcius.

PatrickGSR94

*sigh* was hoping to ride today finally. Woke up at 5 and checked the weather: 33°F and rain with threat of freezing rain. That's a big ol' fat NOPE! Turned over and went back to sleep until 6:30.

Not riding is making me go crazy. This weekend looks great for riding, and next week looks nice, too, so next Tuesday should FINALLY be my first commute of 2014.

droy45

Same thing for me. We are so close that our weather is exactly the same. I think I can try it again tomorrow also as it looks like another decent day. Salut' my friend.

spivonious

Finally a ride! My first of 2014 thanks to snow, ice, and cold temperatures.

It was 18F when I woke up, 20F when I left. It's supposed to warm up to the low 30s by this afternoon, so I put on my normal cold weather outfit plus new goggles and glo-gloves, and set out. My bike goggles are next to worthless. The vent holes are too close to my eyes, resulting in cold air shooting at my eyes when in motion. When I'm stopped, they fogged up almost immediately, making it very difficult to see traffic. I ended up taking them off halfway through the ride and felt much better. It looks like this gift will be getting returned. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good cold weather eye solution that won't fog up?

My Glo-Gloves worked as advertised. They easily fit over top of my snow gloves (which weren't quite up to the task of keeping fingers warm at 20F) and the reflectors are super bright.

It's amazing how much two weeks off the bike affects one's aerobic fitness. I was breathing hard, had to shift down 1-2 gears lower than normal, and had to take a lengthy break at the top of the big hill on my route. Hopefully I can get back in the shape I was quickly.

CommuteCommando

I feel kinda guilty having to commute in such tropical weather (45F)

PatrickGSR94

Ah so another strike against those cycling goggles. Someone else in my thread about eye wear said they were pretty useless also. I actually was just about to buy one the other day but glad I did not.

redvette

Wow, What wonderful weather! 37 and drizzle. Its been in the low 20's since tuesday, so today was nice and balmy.

spivonious

Here are the ones I have (in orange). https://kroopsgoggles.com/collections...cycling-goggle Almost completely worthless. I'm disappointed, as they looked like they would work well. I'm going to try a different strategy coming home tonight to see if I can prevent the fogging.

dcb23

What a week!

Polar Vortex is now gone, just at freezing today with persistent but not strong rain coming down.

Idkutet

What looked like a crapy commute ... 37 - foggy / drizzle.... Turned into one of the best rides in months ... Thanks south wind @ 6 for pushing me on in !!

Big Lebowski

A city truck salting the street to fight black ice went past my window as I was having coffee, so another day without riding.

Tractortom

Good commute today in Okeechobee. We had a two day long 'rain event' that dropped something like 16" of rain over on the coast 35 miles from here. Here by the big lake, it was a couple days of soft, misty rain. Finally moving off, so I set out at 7am on wet streets, hoping that the front is moving off, and it'll clear by this afternoon. Plenty of traffic, but no real problems, about 65 degrees in the am. Good Ride!

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

tarwheel 

Took a gamble today and rode despite forecasts calling for rain later in the day. My rule is that I ride if it's not raining in the morning and forecast doesn't call for heavy showers or severe weather in the afternoon. The rain today is supposed to be light and spotty, although it's looking heavier than that on the radar. Part of my motivation for riding is to justify the nice (and expensive) rain jacket I got for Christmas, a Showers Pass Elite. I'm also trying to catch up on my mileage due to all of the lousy weather we have had lately. The weather this week has been all over the place, and the SP jacket has performed admirably. I've worn it every day, just changing the base gear I wear under it. Here's a brief summary of our weather this week:
- Monday, warm 60 F in morning, cold and windy afternoon with temps in low 30s.
- Tuesday, record cold 9 F morning with high temp at 25 F, so I drove.
- Wednesday, 15 F in the morning, and I set a new record low temp for bike commuting, high in the low 30s.
- Thursday, 25 F in morning, low 40s afternoon.
- Friday, high 30s in morning with rain threatening, afternoon TBD

arsprod 

31F, and I was determined to ride one day this week, probably a mistake! On drive home yesterday I tried to check the mup in several places and most looked clear except for the first 3-4 miles from my house which this morning turned out to be impassable. No problem, switched to street which, while clear, is heavily traveled but more scary than dangerous... I think?!

The next 3/10 of a mile were horrible - neighborhoods still not plowed after snowpocolypse. While tracking in the one rideable car tire track a cop road up behind me and started honking. I stopped, walked bike out of center and as he drove by I could hear him yelling at me. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to get his car number - what an *******. Finally got to the fairly clear part of mup - so that and downtown streets made for decent last 7 miles. With all that, it felt great to be back on the bike (that's nuts, I know)

PatrickGSR94

Did you use that SP jacket on Monday when it was 60? Did you sweat much?

Do you have the Elite 2.0 or 2.1 jacket?

PatrickGSR94

Not nuts at all. I still don't have a single bike ride yet for 2014 and it's driving me crazy!

tarwheel 

My SP jacket is the Elite 2.1. I wore it every day this week, and it worked great in all conditions. I am really impressed with how well it ventilates, and it is very comfortable even in the 60s, which is the downfall of many rain jackets. It worked equally great on cold days, using heavier base layers. On the morning when the temp was 15 F, I wore my warmest base layer and a long-sleeve jersey under the SP jacket and hardly sweated a bit. I keep the pit zips open all of the time, even when it's really cold. The adjustable cuffs are also nice and help a lot for ventilation on warm days if you open them up.

I have also worn the SP jacket quite a bit for normal "civilian use" when not cycling. I bought the optional hood for that purpose, but don't use it while cycling. The only things that I would want to improve the jacket would be to make it available in neon yellow (the most visible color) and add some side pockets.

arsprod 

ouch, my sympathies... that sucks!

mister

No work for me today. I had two 14 hour days on top of my normal shifts so I'm taking the day off and lounging with my little guy and watching Mickey Mouse.

jdswitters

A month a go the bathroom in my condo flooded from a mishap upstairs from me. So I have been bouncing around from friend to friend with my clothes in the truck thinking the contractor will have my condo put back together in just a few more days, this has been going on for weeks. After doing some short evening rides I couldn't take it anymore, so I rode the bike out to the girlfriends last night after work, and rode in this morning. First commute in a month, 4.5 miles one way, only one icy stretch.

I should have been organized for this weeks ago, I feel the best I have felt in a while.

spivonious

Drove in today due to snow coming down hard. Oh well, at least I got my first 2014 ride in yesterday. Traffic was crawling and I kept wishing I had ridden in. Maybe I should get a cheap mountain bike for days like today. Knobby tires should have given me enough traction.

redvette

It's getting better, 45 deg and a light drizzle. Come on south wind for the boost home!