PatrickGSR94

Well the ride home was interesting. I took my utility bike, which is a nice comfy, upright ride.

I had my high-vis yellow wind shell stuffed into the top drawstring of my trunk bag, as a way to stow it and also for visibility even when not wearing it. But somehow it got loose and ended up getting caught up in my chain and wrapped around the cassette. Oops. I caught it in time, though, and was able to unwind it without any apparent rips in the fabric. It's greasy, though. Hopefully I can soak it and get some of it to come out.

Detour traffic from the nearby state highway road closure was ridiculous yet again. I pulled over to let traffic pass at least 3 or maybe 4 times within just a couple of miles. At one point I had a Buick try to get into the oncoming lane to pass, with a Corvette coming the other way. I turned and sternly held my hand out for him/her to get back behind me. It took a few seconds of them riding in the oncoming lane before finally getting behind me, as the Corvette slowed wayyy down, then went by us. The Buick was riding my rear tire very close so I held my hand back again to tell them to get back. Then I waved them by to pass as I pulled over to a wide area for other traffic to pass.

Late I came upon a huge spill of asphaltic gravel spilled all over the road (used in chip-seal patching). It was everywhere, getting stuck to my tires, and getting thrown up all over the place (no fenders on this bike). I turned off and took the long way through a subdivision quickly. It has to do with a new outlet mall that's about to open up next Friday, and all the road work associated with that. Hope the city gets it cleaned up soon.

It was dark and quite cool when I got home. Temperature dropped nearly 10 degrees in the 1h25m it took to get home. Tomorrow morning will be 40 or even upper 30's, but I'm taking the road bike back to work.

Phil_gretz

Weather systems are changing in the DC area, with the accompanying high(er) winds. I expect 30mph gusting headwinds on the way home. Yay! It's still been great riding weather overall. What a pleasant week...

esmith2039

Little wind this morning.. pleasant change! Was colder though. Up my layers to include 2 long sleeve shirts and was perfect except one area. I may have to look into insulated shorts!

mgw4jc

@PatrickGSR94 - at least it gave you some good forum fodder.

Easy ride in today as I had to drop the car off for some service. The dealer is only 4 miles from the office, so a much shorter ride than usual. I'll go pick it up at lunch and take the rest of the day off.

Charlotte's Thunder Road marathon that I have been training for is tomorrow. I don't know if I'll be able to ride a bike on Monday or not. We shall see.

KCBikeCommuter

I agree @esmith2039. Light winds but definitely cooler today. Overall beautiful ride to work though.

tarwheel 

Beautiful morning for commuting, with temps in mid-50s and about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday. Ironically, the afternoon high is supposed to be about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday due to a cold front pushing through, so it's not supposed to warm up much during day despite lots of sunshine. I've got some errands to run on my bike during lunch, including picking up my new cycling glasses from the eye doctor. Hopefully they will function better and hold up longer than my current glasses, some Rudy Projects, a brand I will never buy again.

jrickards

Another cool, damp ride in. 0C/32F, some wet snow coming down but I weathered it out. The forecast is for slight cooling this afternoon to -1C/30F but the precipitation will be over before the ride home.

Next week is forecast to have unseasonably warm temperatures, up to 12C/22F degrees warmer than normal.

PatrickGSR94

Took my time getting ready this morning since it's Friday, and ended up leaving about 6:25, 25 minutes later than I should have. I paid for it with higher traffic volumes. On the state highway detour route I had THREE gravel truck 18-wheelers come up behind me in only about 1/2 mile. The first two were during small hill climbs which meant I was super slow. I pulled off for one, the next one passed me, and then I pulled into a parking lot at the last one (at the bottom of a quick downhill), kept going and came back out the parking lot's other entrance.

I tried soaking that wind shell in Oxi-Clean last night, then washing, but it didn't do much. Still grease spots all over the sleeve. Oh well it's not ripped and still serves its purpose. Upper 30's this morning, the cold has arrived here in the South.

RidingMatthew

I drove today since I have to DJ a wedding rehearsal tonight and the wedding/ reception tomorrow night. I love riding my bike but the seat heaters and cargo space in my van to carry a table, 3- 15" speakers, speaker stands, and a footlocker with all the cords and other things needed for this weekend. I am 3 miles from my goal for the week though.

HardyWeinberg

biblical rain and standing water. Pretty awesome. I need to leave early today though so shorter than usual time for my stuff to drip dry. Also, forgot to pack underwear but I keep some spares in the file cabinet.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive commute #139 :

Had our first hard freeze of the year last night, which sets a record for the latest hard freeze we've ever had. Previous record was November 8th. Normal is somewhere in early October.

It was 24 degrees when I left the house this morning. Light headwind. I was on the road bike and there were patches of ice where standing puddles from the previous couple days of rain were frozen, but it wasn't anything I could easily steer around and avoid.

Was overtaking a jogger so I did my usual announcement of, "Passing!" to alert him that I was coming. He responded by saying, "Thank you!" and then when I went around him he said, "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Apparently he gets startled easily and often and was really grateful for the heads-up.

mgw4jc

You keep that filed under where?

HardyWeinberg

That's right.

PatrickGSR94

*rimshot*

Welcome to Instant Rimshot

no motor?

With no wind this morning I felt like I was turbocharged! It was awesome.

HardyWeinberg

Great rainy ride home through the downpour Friday but the cell phone in my raincoat chestpocket got fried by the water. Raincoat pretty much had it I guess.

And, oh yes, my front brake disconnected. Found that out pulling out of a trail to stop at a traffic light. It all worked out and when I reconnected the cable, it stayed that way.

essiemyra

The commute in this morning was a nice uneventful ride. The temp was 34f degrees with mostly cloudy skies.

esmith2039

Wet and wind right into my face made it just plain fun.. I'm being sarcastic if you can't tell. Time to get water-proof shoe covers, pair of rain pants and something for my hands.. have a idea on that.

Phil_gretz

Around 40F this morning, and my toes were a bit nippy as I arrived at work. It was a pleasant ride, though. I'm very fortunate to have such an easy commute, with generally safe roads, and a bit of hills thrown in for fun. Pretty cool...

tarwheel 

Nice weather this morning but a tough commute due to tired legs. I didn't ride much over the weekend but did a lot of walking, including lots of stair-climbing (at a football game) and my legs were feeling it. Went for a short ride Sunday afternoon and noticed the tiredness then and was hoping my legs would recover by the morning, but they seemed worse. My new sunglasses were a fail this morning, which is so frustrating because prescription glasses are expensive. They worked fine in milder temperatures yesterday afternoon, but my eyes watered worse than ever riding to work this morning in the mid-30s. I was hoping these glasses would function better in cold temps than the ones I've been using.

volvostephen

Took the direct route today. Dressed too warm for my 8 km trip but it was a fun ride on my new to me 2011 Norco Indie 3. Picked it up as a winter bike - it is in immaculate shape. I rarely see others riding to work but today I was stopped at train tracks waiting for a train to pass and there was another rider waiting - she was on a newer nicer bike - but it was also a Norco Indie. Somehow this seem a sign to me that my new bike was going to be a good one

mgw4jc

My legs are sore from running a marathon on Saturday. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to ride today or not, but after milling about the house for a bit I decided I could handle it.

A cold ride in this morning at 34 degrees. It looks like the rest of the week could be pretty good for riding: lows between 40 and 50, highs in the 60s.

arsprod 

36F and calm, though I see there's rain headed our way. Spent part of yesterday getting my winter bike ready - did a test ride with the studs on... sigh

Squeeze

Scary end of my commute today. My stem loosened up and started turning freely - without the forks moving along as they normally do - just as I was pulling into the parking garage at work.

I'll be walking to the nearest store that sells allen wrenches today at lunch to tighten it up before the ride home.

I'm really glad this didn't happen in traffic. That might have been bad, to say the least!

HardyWeinberg

35F, cold & clammy, frost on the car windshields.

Also, wound up dragracing a car from light to light. He kept beating me to each light but falling farther back at each light behind ever more cars in front of him, and I kept riding up to the stop line on the shoulder. Eventually he turned right at one of the intersections long after I had gone on to the next one.