It happens, over 100°, but so rarely that we might have more days with snow. The summers here are mild if you ask me.

I've been sorely tempted to mount fake rocket tubes Mad Max style, but I don't think I could quite get away with it these days.

Last one for the year. I really crushed it today, not sure why. Maybe I timed my heart meds just so or maybe it was diet or maybe a little fitness coming back after the several hiatuses but I was able to push a little harder. I was probably 10% off any record pace but it was really good for winter with the snowboard outfit.

drove today.. heading out of town with the family after work... plus have to pick up my busted commuter from the bike shop as I wait for the new wheels to arrive. only 51 miles this week. I have to get 33 more so I can say I have done more miles every month this month over last.

This was a nice day to take my alt rout with the normally busy roads, with no school and very light commuting traffic. The drivers that were out, seemed pretty laid back which is surprising to me this time of year. I was pretty laid back myself, easy fixed-gear pace, so I guess I can understand it. Friday, and I'm out until next year! :cheers:

December 27: Wore shorts for the ride in.

Had to go by car today.... hmm :(


But the 31st I'm on the bike again !!

Yes! 52F this morning! I wore shorts too, but overdressed on the upper and was pulling things off and rolling up sleeves during the ride. Gonna be close to 70 this afternoon.

But this seems familiar from last year too. January and February are the cold months.

Finally a day with dry roads, no black ice. The ride in was quite nice with the temp at 37f degrees and dark cloudy skies. There were not many cars on the road going in my direction today. I am assuming that has do with school vacation this week. It was a very pleasant to be out and riding!

This week has light traffic in this forum and light traffic on the roads. Knowing the traffic would be light, I varied my route this morning. Same distance, but found some hills. Cool at 37F.

And I got to use my new REI windbloc mittens. I had a similar pair from North Face that were pretty well worn out from years of use. These worked well this morning. Merry Christmas to me!
https://www.rei.com/media/b55a2a5d-6...1-0a637734e112

I've been off work since December 22, so my "commutes" this week have been riding to local restaurants and coffee shops along the greenways. We've had beautiful weather, so I've ridden almost every day and topped 8,000 total miles for the year on today's ride. It's been great training for my retirement, which starts February 1. Have a great New Years fellow commuters.

34F/1C Steady rain.

44F felt warmer than I planned and I got hot in my layers. I left early though and went to the gym first where I adjusted before heading to work. The roads were wet from overnight rain. Still enjoying the light traffic.

It was around 37F when I left this morning and fairly windy. The wind is only supposed to get worse as the day goes along... but at least the temperature is nice. Cold weather arrives again next week.

Have a happy New Year everyopne. Last inbound for the year, with mu usual return trip 2016 = 4229.1 miles. It's been a good year even with the massive blizzard in the spring, all-rain April, and July meltdown.

See you next year. I will be trying out some running commutes but I'll ride as well.

Mark

[MENTION=86492]tarwheel[/MENTION] - Good job on the 8,000 miles. That's a lot! I'm going to aim for 6,000 via commuting next year. I don't do a lot of non-commuting rides, but will add some of those in too.

I like the idea of run commutes, but it would take a lot more planning I think. Plus at 13 miles one way I'm a bit far for doing that.

Windy on the way home yesterday and windy on the way in this morning.

I had a guy in his work truck pull up next to me at a stop light with his window down and ask, "How many miles you get for the year?" I said, "A little over 5,000." He said, "I got 1400 on the dirt." I replied, "Nice!"

He wished me a Happy New Year as the light turned green and I pedaled on.

Happy New Year all. I guess we'll see you on the 2017 How was your commute thread.

24 degrees on my ride in this morning.

beautiful sunny, clear, crisp, blue skies.

winds around 12 mph out of the west.

supposed to be warming up to 34 today.

all in all, a nice average chicago winter day for my last commute of 2016.

Been an interesting couple of weeks for commuting. Roads were in good shape so I rode my Aurora and midday, in my office, a spoke snapped. Guess she's telling me to lose weight. The next couple days I rode my Cujo and tried a detour. There's a gravel road through the municipal forest that gets gated off in winter and becomes a snowmobile trail. It's still open and has a light covering of snow. Makes for a fantastic ride. Adds several hills and a couple miles but well worth it. A storm blew in for Christmas and dumped a little snow and then a thick layer of ice. Since then the roads have been horrible with ice/salt/slush over a rough layer of ice. Staying with my forest road detour and riding Cujo. The city crews must be on vacation. Nasty riding. Parked Cujo in my office yesterday and when I left the chain was covered with rust. I lubed it with a LBS recommended winter lube the night before. Guess I should be packing the bottle with me to work. Made my 3,000 mile goal for the year. Next year it's 3,500. The plan is to keep biking all winter instead of waiting until May to start.

I snapped a couple of photo's the other day. Took two day to learn how to re-size them. I learned a lot towards my photo/video for next years trek/tour.
Just a re-purposed touring bike for around town. Works great with the 700c/30 cross cycle knoby's, and a waxed chain. Oh, the SPD peddles are on my new Touring bike. simple platform peddles and winter boots.
I had a tremendous year. My first year of new-found cycling. Embarrassing, somewhere just over 14,000km this year.


:giver:

-Snuts-

Freezing like hell this morning.... rode until the railway station, waited in the cold...


Speaker yells: "train 7h37 got cancelled today" ... "next train: 8h37".


Couldn't wait for hour, rode back home to warm up... returned to the station and the train at 8h37 was there.


Happy new year all !

As it is now 2017 for everyone- and the new 2017 sticky is up- it is time to put this one to rest.

/thread.