dcb23

Some great stories in here.

A nice Monday ride in though DC. Mostly quiet streets, dark, wet from overnight rains. 37F/3C

mgw4jc

Noticed my front tire was low coming home on Friday. I made it home okay, but by Saturday it was flat. I procrastinated fixing it until this morning to find that my only spare tube had a leak at the valve. Therefore I woke the wife to take me to work. I was going to bring it all down and fix it at lunch, but she was going to be out when I get off anyway, so I'll just do it tonight.

In summary, no bike commute for me today. Roads were wet from some rain last night, but the ride in would have been fine.

Hypno Toad

Starting the month in the deep-freeze again (January started at -12F), this morning was -2F, with a beautiful sunrise. You know you're in Minnesota when -2F doesn't stop people from biking, jogging and walking.

Looking forward to riding home in the sun.

Darth Lefty 

Slow today. On the feet, big steel-toed boots that I forgot to take off when I came home for the weekend. In the pack, Superbowl leftovers headed for the coffee mess.

A troop of finches with yellow bellies flitted in front of me, while the news radio told me sic transit aridissimum January in central California. It basically hasn't rained since the middle of December. It's beautiful now but...

arsprod 

13F, -2 windchill with snow, ice, and slush, the kind that shoots out the front fender. City didn't clear MUP at all so after about 5 miles of slogging through slush and ice I moved over to city streets.

timvan_78

Friday was weird, thinking about joeyduck going down. Pretty freaked out by buses. I went for a long ride Sat to a kid-friend b-day party, while the rest of my fam drove there. Just to get some confidence back.

This AM: still reeling from the lack of beastmode-run with 1/2yard left. I needed some kind of exercise to help me feel better and a commute with a late start was just the ticket.

It rained a bit, 8degC (46degF).

spivonious

I hope joeyduck has a full recovery and is able to get back on his bike. I've had a couple of close passes by buses, but luckily was never hit. I hope the bus company takes proper actions against the driver.

KCBikeCommuter

3F (-16C) with partially snow-covered streets this morning, so I drove today. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, so hopefully I'll be back on the bike. I hope so, because they are calling for another accumulating snow on Wednesday.

mgw4jc

It was clear with the full moon last nigh. That made for cold morning today: 22F. I don't mind it riding in, but after I change at work I sit at my desk and try to prevent shivering by either moving my legs around (doing extensions, bouncing my feet, whatever) and/or drinking hot chocolate. I sometimes leave on some of my cycling layers on until I warm up.

Sunny today with high of about 50.

tarwheel 

I had a challenging pedal related incident on my commute this morning. The left cleat on my SPD pedals has been showing some wear, and my left foot has been slipping out of the pedal on occasion, so I replaced the cleat over the weekend. This might be the first time I've ever had to replace an SPD cleat, and I made a rooking mistake -- I didn't test ride my bike after installing the new one. I didn't have to stop until 4 miles into my commute but quickly realized that my left shoe would not release from the pedal. Fortunately, I kept my balance and circled back to side street, where I was able to unclip from the right side. I actually had to take my foot out of the left shoe in order to remove it from the pedal. What had happened is that I had incrementally tightened the adjusters on that pedal over the years as the cleat wore out, and it was adjusted way too tight. I had to completely back off the adjuster bolts to remove the shoe.

Other than that, it was a nice ride. Very cold with temps in the mid-20s, but clear and not windy like yesterday.

KCBikeCommuter

Lower 20's this morning with a slight headwind... but should be around 50F with a tailwind for the ride home!

The MUP across the Missouri River has not been cleared, so it was an icy mess. Also a few side streets were a little icy, but not too bad. They are calling for more snow tomorrow, but I think I may be able to arrive at work in the morning before it starts. We shall see...

arsprod 

I missed the @joeyduck announcement, but just went to the Indie Go Go site, https://igg.me/at/W41srPcPCvA/x/955401. Funny, I rode in today with a friend and we were talking about a young guy that was killed by a school bus just over a year ago. I was commenting that the school buses were really cautious around us for about 6 months and are now back to ignoring cyclists. How quickly we forget!

17F this morning with a bit of a headwind and day two of really bad ice chunks on the MUP. I stayed on it the full way today but think I have some lose teeth now. Supposed to go over freezing this afternoon so hoping it all melts

Archwhorides 

Took a quick test ride this morning to confirm that the streets are too deep after the last storm, commuted on the bus.

randallovelace

Commute home today was sort of 4 parts - Boss drove me to nearest bus, rode bus, rode SunRail, rode another bus, then finally on the bicycle to home... was short ride - either Thursday or Friday morning will be a full 27.2 mile ride.

FanaticMN

Quick inch and a half of dry snow fell between 2 and 5; rode home during the tail end of it. 18 degrees, little wind, nice ride. Especially the part about using the adjacent bikeway to ride past three miles of stuck traffic.

These people should move to Minnesota and learn how to drive in snow.

Oh, wait....

tarwheel 

Another chilly morning in the 20s, but a few degrees warmer than yesterday. I thought my commute would be quicker since I rode my CX bike rather than tourer for a change, but a persistent headwind put the kibosh on that. Hopefully the S wind will stick around until this afternoon and make my ride home easier.

Funny incident on my morning ride. A squirrel darted into the road ahead of me, doing the old back-and-forth dance. At the same time, my tire hit an acorn and shot it in his direction. The squirrel quickly fled back into the woods. That's about as good as it gets for commuting humor.

Yesterday I had a problem with a new SPD cleat sticking in my left pedal. I took a close look at the cleat after I got home and realized that I had made a real bone-headed mistake, installing the cleat backwards. Flipped it around, and the cleat engages perfectly. In my defense, this is one of the few times I have ever had to replace an SPD cleat because they last so long without wearing out. Ok, it was pretty stupid of me.

mgw4jc

Maybe the cleat was installed correctly and you were just wearing the shoe backwards.

As tarwheel said, cold, but a few degrees warmer than this time yesterday here in NC: 26F when I started out. It is supposed to warm up about 30 degrees too.

I'm noticing that daylight starts a bit earlier and ends a bit later. I don't really feel a need for my headlight to be on right now. I still do the tail light.

arsprod 

How sad is it that I was excited about 33F temp this morning? Excitement was abated when I heard tomorrow will be below 0 again... sigh

Hypno Toad

HA! Thank you, I need a laugh this morning! (been a challenging week at work and family stuff)

And when the week is challenging, bike-therapy comes to my rescue! This morning, I went out of my way to take the scenic route (13 miles) to the office. 8F this morning with 2-3 inches of beautiful snow, the kinda snow that looks like it's laced with diamonds sparkling in the first light of sunrise. They try to create this type of snow in movies, but it never looks like the real thing, cause the real thing is just that beautiful and unique. I always try to take a picture, but it never does justice. You just need to enjoy the sight as it is.

Thanks to that ride, I'm ready to take on this day.

KCBikeCommuter

Mid-20's again for the ride in this morning. For some reason I was over-dressed and sweated all the way to work. I unzipped my coat, and that helped, but still worked up a pretty good sweat. I actually had a tailwind this morning, so maybe that had something to do with it.

It's supposed to start snowing here before noon. We'll see how the roads look when I get ready to leave this afternoon. Maybe I'll just leave the bike at work and take the bus home.

Ky_Rider

My first commute since getting two flats last week. I took off the knobby cross tires and reinstalled the flat resistant marathon tires. Beautiful full moon this morning followed by the sun rise made for a nice commute.

bconneraz

It was clear and crisp when I started, with the moon lighting up the sky. About 8 miles in, it got really foggy, so I ditched my glasses, and enjoyed the ride in. My legs felt good today, and it was one of those rides that I seemed to catch every green light on my route.

RidingMatthew

mid 20s this morning for me as well. Temperature wise I was comfortable. I felt lazy and did not want to ride but I am glad I did.

I did a crazy thing twice today. I rode in the center of the double yellow twice. I am not sure why I did but it felt good to be zipping by all stopping cars. Please dont tell my wife.

I saw this installed at work the other day. I feel like it is an accomplishment since I presented my case (aka bugged them) about installing better parking facilities.

jdswitters

[IMG][/IMG]

A view from the fly6, aka fatcam on my Minnesota 1.0

enigmaT120

44 degrees F., dark, and wet but the rain had stopped. I wore my rain gear anyway, so I was sweaty when I got to the bus stop. Tonight I get to catch an earlier bus toward home and will get out in Monmouth and get a longer ride in, and with some daylight. Sometimes I forget my commute is pretty this time of year, when it's dark both ways.