buzzman

Just realized today that I have managed to get through what's turning into Boston's snowiest coldest winter ever and never had to take the bus. Mostly because the city was shut down when the storms were the worst and a bike ended up being the best means to get from point A to B once they had plowed.

Now it's pot hole city and today it went up to 42 F but tomorrow back to snow and a low of 5F. Get ready for the ice!

Got to say I will be soooooo glad when this snow has melted.

PatrickGSR94

Finally got another commute in yesterday. Morning was in the 40's and drizzly/misting/foggy wet. Had lots of visibility problems through my clear glasses. Going home it was near 60 and more rain than in the morning.

Only commute this week. Today temps fell from 60 to below freezing and now we're getting MORE frozen precipitation, high of 26 and low in the single digits tomorrow, and barely freezing on Friday. Next week looks awesome!

Had a real azzhole motorist behind me going home yesterday. 2-lane no shoulder road. I'm controlling the lane as usual, approaching a 4-way stop. A minivan is riding my rear tire VERY close. I turn and motion back and yell "GET BACK" a couple of times. Go through the intersection, some other cars turn different ways, and the van goes through and is still behind me, riding my arse. Again I motion and yell to get back. I see the blinker come on, and as soon as the oncoming cars clear the van passes me VERY close. I'm controlling the lane so it was on obvious punishment pass. In the heat of the moment I yelled obscenities and flipped the bird (something I almost never, ever do, ever) at them as they kept going.

Oh well. I might say something if I see the van again.

randallovelace

Less foggy than yesterday, temps were good this morning - after work was hot and sunny.

mgw4jc

Scary. Most importantly though, get the license plate and call it in. Even if they don't do anything now, it will be noted somehow.

I'll sum up my morning commute with this:
At least the strong headwinds and crosswinds helped keep me dry during the rainy ride.

Hypno Toad

I can't blame you for losing your cool, I've been there & done that... too many times. Typically, I try to be the calm and friendly guy on a bike. I figure that one time I shout a string of profanity and give the bird... that's the time I reinforce a bunch of drivers view that bikers are just always angry. That said, I know I will still have a rare one-finger-salute for the most deserving azzholes.

RidingMatthew

I rode the longer way home yesterday. It was a good ride but I had a few obstacles on the way.

It was pretty windy and with how saturated the ground is due to snow and rain they make sense.

I was able to get around them but I was surprised to see the debris on the greenway.

I also stopped by a new bike shop and chatted with the owner. He said things are doing well. Looks more like a mechanic shop vs one who carries a lot of stuff but one more bike shop is good right?

KCBikeCommuter

First commuter ride since February 6th, and it was great to be back on the bike! My travel schedule has been brutal lately, and I wasn't even supposed to be back home until Thursday night this week. However, my Thursday meeting was cancelled, so I was able to head home yesterday and hopefully commute both today and tomorrow! 10F, light winds and sunny skies this morning (at this time of year, sunrise happens about the halfway point of my commute). With daylight savings coming, my morning commute will be back to 100% darkness... but I'm really looking forward to my full-daylight rides home.

KCBikeCommuter

One weird thing did happened during the commute this morning. I was at a stop sign getting ready to make a left on a fairly busy road. Once traffic cleared, I gave one hard push on the left pedal to get enough momentum to clip in the other foot. However as soon as I was clipped in and went to continue pedaling, I noticed I had no gears at all. It was like I was in neutral. The chain was still on, but the cassette was just spinning. This is not a good feeling with oncoming traffic headed your way. I quickly hobbled across the road to the shoulder to assess the situation. It was looking like I was going to need to call for a ride and I wasn't far from a gas station, so I started heading in that direction. After a few hundred feet, I decided I'd check again, and low and behold the cassette was engaging. I decided to ride it like a 'fixie' the remainder of the commute by keeping constant tension on the cassette. It worked and I made it in.

The cold weather may have had something to do with it, but who knows how many 1000's of miles are on those old wheels. I haven't had them that long, but they were used when I purchased them. I would break down and purchase a new wheel set, but since I have my new commute bike ordered... I need this bike to hold it together for just a couple of more days!

arsprod 

Been out of town until last night so today is the first commute of the week - and of course the coldest day of the week. Still 16F is downright balmy compared to recent weeks. I gotta give a shout out to you wackos that commute in NYC. It was pretty warm while I was there (30's) but the streets don't ever seem to get cleared and I don't think I ever saw a bike lane (they were all covered with piles of snow). I still saw lots of bikes!

bconneraz

It felt great to be out on the bike this morning- people were generally nice on the road, and traffic wasn't too bad for So Cal standards. Rain and work have prevented me from riding as much as I'd like, so I'll take advantage of the nice weather, and ride in for the next few consectutive days. I went over 1k commuting for the year today which was nice-I can't wait to share that with my wife as she'll probably tell me to buy something for my bike since I'm saving us money....lol.

spivonious

Took a PTO day today. I'm not riding or driving in 8" of snow.

timvan_78

@KCBikeCommuter sounds like you have sticky pawls. Maybe in cold weather, the little lubricant that is left is very viscous.

Beautiful evening last night, another bike was tailing me so I kept it at >30kms/hr, eventually he turned off. This am was another nice, uneventful ride in...8decC/46degF.

The time change this weekend, so my AM rides will be dark next week.

scoatw

17f/-8c this morning. We got 1.5" of snow last night. Just twenty miles to the south they got six inches. And 12" along the Ohio River. Where I'm at, the main roads were good and the side streets were frozen and slick hardpack. The aftn was partly cloudy and 20f/-6c. Just a couple of more days and the weather should start turning around. Looking forward to it.

joeyduck

I wish it was me.

HardyWeinberg

It's that time of year ... 28F in the morning, 60F in the afternoon. I really should just wear shorts, no tights, for the ride home but it's enough to pack the coat and gloves from this morning into the panniers.

dcb23

18 F / -8C with a moderate headwind. Very slushy and icy city streets this morning. Only the main arteries are cleared and even those had significant snow coverage. We had somewhere around 4-7 inches come down yesterday.

It was a slow ride in and I had to dismount at least twice but that was not the highlight of this ride: A guy jogging, 06:30 in these temps...with shorts and a short sleeve shirt on.

tarwheel 

I really wanted to bike commute today but decided it just wasn't worth the risk. We had a lot of rain yesterday with temperatures dropping to the low 20s overnight. Forecasters were warning about the possibility of much black ice. As it turned out, the ice wasn't widespread but I had no way of knowing that when I made the call to ride or not at 6 am. However, it was probably the right decision because I drove through some very icy spots where water had continued to drain over the streets during the night. One spot was near a major intersection and my car's front wheels were just spinning on the ice. My bike route has several spots where runoff tends to drain for a long time after heavy rains, and I'm sure those spots were completely iced over. Hopefully this will be our last bout of winter weather here.

mgw4jc

60F for yesterday's rainy ride in. 25F for today's sunny ride in. I'm still chilled.

The time change will put me in the dark for about half of my morning ride, probably no worse than it was in late December and early January though.

Hypno Toad

I've a very awkward experience like this a few years ago, going up a hill I stopped pedaling for a second to gauge cross-traffic (never trust them to stop at stop signs). When I was sure they were stopping, I stood on the pedals, but the pawls had stuck in the free-wheel position. My foot shot off the pedal and I somehow kept upright by pushing off the ground with the foot that slipped off and narrowly missed crushing my beanbag on the top tube. That 'non-wreck' left me more sore than some wrecks when I hit the ground.

You need to flush the hub and relube. Grease will get too sticky in low temps and stick the pawls in the free-wheel position. I have my LBS overhaul the hub on my winter bike every year, and it's no longer have an issue. I also added Gates straps to my platforms (foot won't slip off again).

My morning commute was a real joy, it's up to 15F and sunny! To most, this seems like a very cold temp (too cold for others to ride), but here in Minnesota, this is spring weather! Better still, the forecast says we're going to get above freezing every day for the next week. So excited to ride one of the summer bikes!

arsprod 

-3F, I've officially requested this be the last sub zero morning of the year, we'll see if the Universe is listening to me

joeyduck

How do I get in contact with the universe? I have a request and a few thank yous to send them?

No commute for me today, but I am hoping to head for more X-rays. They take the dressing off what I hope is my last skin graft tomorrow. Week six, day 43.

arsprod 

Beats me, just what I was saying out loud as I was pedaling this morning!

Fishmonger

I extended my usual commute from 6 miles to 14. It was a nice morning for it out here in Utah. While you in the east are miserable, this is our warmest and dryest winter on record.

Darth Lefty 

Yesterday's commute... was annoyed by some illegal dumping where my paved road turns into a fire road. This is a state park, and people park here to hike or ride. Savages. I posted this photo on the Orangevale community Facebook group, telling people to watch their toes and tires. What happened next took me by surprise - someone else stopped by and dug around in the pile to find some junk mail with the address, and posted the photo of the envelope... the next bright guy used Google Street View images of the house trim to match the junk. People were speculating whether it was the homeowner or maybe a stucco contractor based on the new chicken wire in the pile. This morning another one found a roofing permit on BuildZoom. 86 comments so far including a couple of people arguing who's the better vigilante. Whether anyone paid it off by calling the authorities, I don't know. Yes officer I cannot tell a lie, I did put that envelope under that pile of garbage, twenty-seven 8x10 color glossies with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.


Untitled by Darth Lefty, on Flickr

In the afternoon, holy cow did the bike commuters ever arrive in force! Yellow windbreakers as far as the eye could see. I guess the days just now got long enough, or maybe it's the full moon. The time change is going to ruin it for them.

Ky_Rider

We've had record breaking cold and snowfall again this week. It's been a couple of weeks since my last commute. I'm really looking forward to commuting next week. Temps are supposed to get back to some what normal.