spivonious

Temperatures are okay today, but 20mph sustained wind with 40mph+ gusts made it a driving day. The rest of the week is supposed to be frigid (0-15F), but it may warm up enough to ride by Friday.

Bluish Green

Oh sweet, sweet Asphalt, how I have missed you!
Your oxidized crumbly surface with delicate cracks and delightful potholes.
And my old friend Concrete, my love rekindled.
How I have missed your unsealed joints and rough, but high-friction face.

4°F and CLEAR OF ICE AND SNOW this morning, for the first time in what seems like ages. That ride was a sweet walk in the park compared to what we have been having the past 2 months. We got lucky here in Springfield and dodged the wintry mess that hammered northern Illinois yesterday. I felt fortunate to have such a sweet ride in this morning.

WestMass

Snow, ice, slush on the ground but not a lot of it - mostly muddy sand or salt-white dry road. It was about 21F here in western Mass and they were predicting snow this afternoon but apparently that's not happening now. I brought my rain gear and my new waterproof pannier. Eagerly anticipating the return of warm weather (even though I know we still probably have 8 weeks of this rubbish).

I'm at 4 days commuting in January. Last year I had 5 days and 0 days in February (this was more due to the fact that I was training for a marathon last year than the weather if I remember correctly).

I've developed a new rule of thumb for winter commuting.

If the high is in the 30s and the low is in the upper teens or low 20s I'll ride. If it's colder than that I won't. That being said, I do not always stick to this rule. Sometimes it's nice out and I just don't really want to ride or have obligations that would make it very difficult to, and sometimes it's terrible about and I just have the itch and go for it anyway.

I look forward to being able to ride every comfortably!!!!!

OneGoodLeg

I rode passed the ranger station and along a long stretch of the Foxbooro State Forest this morning, and realized that it smelled strongly of fresh pine trees. I've been riding route for only about a month, but this is the first time I noticed the smell of the trees. I think they appreciated the warmer temps for a change as much as the bike commuters did.

mjw16

Upon leaving my backyard I quickly went down on fresh ice in the alley behind our house. I was going slow and couldn't see the ice, went down in one of those slow-motion falls where you can't believe this it's really happening. I hit fresh ice that was a result of a neighbor's sump discharge on the alley surface, it was like a freshly surfaced ice rink-very hard to even walk on. Since I didn't feel like dealing with similar, intermittent spots on the trail, I bagged the ride and drove in. On the way home I noticed most of the MV Trail is snow/ice free so, I'm planning on being back out there tomorrow-just as the lowest temps of the year arrive. Great....

balto charlie

balmy today, almost 30F *****'s gonna hit the fan tomorrow 8F with serious wind

Fizzaly

21f this morning foggy and thick air, 26f on way home other conditions the same which has been the weather for almost three weeks now.

pleen

Today (Jan. 27, 2014) was my first commute to my new workplace by bicycle. It was 24 degrees Fahrenheit both directions of a 2.75 mile ride one way. Today was also my first day of pulling a trailer, which does make the ride somewhat more difficult, but still satisfying. I'm especially happy about the riding to work as it's to my first business venture as an adult, and the cargo I haul is the towels used in my barbershop which I currently have to wash at home. I'm very pleased that the boss lets me park both the bike and the trailer inside, especially as it gets the conversation about bicycle commuting going with my clients.

Today I didn't drive my car at all.

AGoodleyUK

5C and clear sky with a small amount of head wind, ride home looks to be a different story ... heavy rain.

dcb23

What you said.

Despite 13F -11C and a nasty headwind, I loved having clean surfaces to ride on again.

Greg M

Warm 40 degree commute vesterday, 15 today but drove as I have the beginnings of a cold comming on. Figure if I take it easy today , tomorrow I should feel better.

arsprod 

Argh! I'm lamenting not riding today and then I see this!! I believed the weather hype for this morning and was expecting -15F temps with -brutal wind chill. Truth is it was -5F, warmer than my Friday ride last week. It's one of those beautiful sunny, clear mornings we only see in winter when it's cold. I shoulda rode...

Dagmar

9F/-12C with wind. It was a challenge. Parts got cold. I need different gear for these really cold days. Definitely a bread bag day...need to get myself a couple of those.

Bluish Green

-4°F this morning, but light winds. Made for a pretty nice ride. The only bad thing was the terrible Cheese Rock song I had stuck in my head the whole ride. I'll spare you the title to avoid spreading Ear Worms.

Also, I decided to try adding my footgear rain covers this morning, even though it was nice and dry, to see if they would help with the cold. They did. I wore them over my usual leather shoes and mountaineering wool socks. The effect of the rain covers was to delay the onset of cold toes. In other words, at mile 6, the toes were as cold as I would have expected at mile 4 with that temperature. So, they are worth adding for short/medium rides. If I was doing super-long commutes, I don't know if they would add that much, since in those cases you pretty much have to hit some kind of equilibrium sustainable temperature or risk frostbite. YMMV.

Fizzaly

17f this morning and surprisingly clearish, 26f on way home and hazy. Supposed to get rain, freezing rain and snow tonight and tomorrow so I shall ride the studded beast tomorrow!

dramiscram

I should've ride either, the last ride as been on the 16th but the weather as not been on my side for the last two weeks

Don't be too hard on ourself...

PatrickGSR94

Your boss makes you wash the towels at your home?

pleen

I worded that kind of strangely. I am my boss, and yes, I have to wash my towels at home. My shop is in a building which is about 60 years old, and was not originally designed to have the plumbing needed for a barber establishment. If I wanted to install a washer and dryer I would have to cut through some concrete walls and a concrete floor to set them up in the only place they could possibly go. It'll be a couple of years before my shop is successful enough to support that kind of expenditure.

Besides, hauling a trailer makes me stronger, right?

dcb23

17F -8C with a slight headwind and about 1" of soft powder that fell overnight. The snow was nice to plow though.

For as cold as it is, there were two bikes out and a number of runners...maybe folks are just tired of not being out.

WestMass

So excited for the next 2 days
low 27 high 39
low 23 high 32

!!! balmy!! hahaha

arsprod 

+3F (notice the plus sign, first time in almost 3 weeks), -10F wind chill. A bit of a headwind but great to be back on the bike - will be my only ride of the week, going out of town tomorrow so will live vicariously through you all

wphamilton

I am telecommuting today, as the entire area is shut down and the roads impassable for most people. We still have school buses stuck in stalled in the roads since yesterday, and people spending the night in their autos.

I left the office early yesterday, it had been snowing steady for three hours already and we were getting reports of snarled traffic and accident pileups. This image is from the Alpharetta Patch report about roads close to our offices , from shortly before we started leaving. It doesn't look that bad until you realize that drivers here only see this every 4 or 5 years. I pedalled past about a mile of cars on this road who were already barely moving and then opted to cut through the Greenway instead of dealing with traffic. There were about 2-3 inches of snow in places, little ice on the surface yet so it wasn't difficult even on my road bike. Except for having to stop once to chip ice off the derailleurs, brakes and pulleys. Still that part of trip home was an all-time record slow for me at around 11 mph.

Bluish Green

A beautiful ride this morning. 6°F with clear bright sky, dry pavement, and light winds. I'll take a day like this any time.

johnnyboy1

The 7 mile ride home would normally take 35 minutes, took 55. Cold (5F), windy, low pressure on the studs combined for a very tough trip. I was going to stop along the way for a 2 minute break but decided to push on. When I stopped at home, I got dizzy- like a low blood pressure rush. Fine after a minute. That never happened before. The commute in to work was colder (0F) but almost no wind.

spivonious

Just about froze my hand off filling the tank of my car. 5F driving in this morning. Another frigid morning is forecast tomorrow, but it looks like temperatures are finally heading back to normal Thursday night. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get to ride in on Friday.