4th winter commute this year, I'm enjoying getting out but the sidewalks and paths (I don't ride on the road) are a mess of bumps although they are hard for the most part and my tires aren't really sinking into them. Mild today, -7C/19F this morning with a high of 1C/34F this afternoon with up to 10cm/4" of fluffy snow (which shouldn't really interfere with my ride home).

Riding home yesterday afternoon, I passed a local golf course. Facing 35 degrees and moderate winds, I looked to my side and saw a golfer with his hand cart, bundled up. Our eyes met, and I could imagine that each thought the other a fanatic...

Now THAT was an interesting commute!

The temps yesterday got into the low 40s, and surprisingly didn't dip down below freezing last night. This morning it was right at 40 degrees and looking out the window all of the ice on the road was melted just making everything wet. WOOHOO! Broke out my hybrid commuter for the first time in about 3 months. As soon as I started rolling the difference between this bike and my winter bike was crazy obvious. It felt like I was pedaling air.

That is until I turned the corner and faced the headwind. Steady at 30 mph with gusts topping 60 mph. I dropped my bike down into my 2nd lowest cog and just spun. I could hold about 8-10 mph into the wind, but when the gusts hit it would immediately slow me to about 2-3 mph. It felt like my bike would suddenly hit something. Then after the gust passed I would work my way back up to 8-10 mph for about 20 seconds until the next gust. I'm glad I was on the hybrid as at least I didn't have to fight the bike on top of the wind. I noticed as I rode through my neighborhood that the wind had opened all the doors on the mailboxes. I saw a squirrel clinging to the bottom of a branch for dear life. I noticed one of the flags down by city hall had been shredded.

They had predicted the wind, so that didn't catch me off guard. What I didn't expect, however, was about halfway to work when it started to rain. Not a deluge, but not a sprinkle either. It was coming down steady and with the wind was driven into me completely sideways. I just had to laugh at the absurdity of me being out in this weather. I wasn't the craziest person out though: I passed a guy on roller blades.

Well that sucked, and it only got worse as I got closer to work. I feel like an idiot.

I decided to set out this morning on my big heavy, upright disc-brake'd Dutch-style bike, just to change it up. Only I had headwinds gusting above 20 MPH the whole way. Needless to say it was SUPER slow going, really hard. Normally even on the slowest days it takes me 1:25 to get to work. Today at 1:40 I was still a mile out.

Well I decided this morning to cut through a neighborhood near the office instead of going my usual way. Approaching the neighborhood is a wide, paved shoulder (new pavement) on the left side. Like a dumb@$$ I decided to ride that shoulder. Then partway through the neighborhood I thought "hmm feels like the ride is a little bouncy under me". Checked the rear tire, very low on air. Crap. Rode a little farther. Completely flat. DAMMIT! Then I realized I forgot to bring everything to fix a flat. No pump, no patches, no tube, no CO2, no nothing.

So I walked it nearly 1 mile to the office. Left the house at 5:55 AM, got to the office at 7:57. I wasn't too sweaty so I just wiped off in the bathroom and changed real quick.

Now I'm not sure what I will do about the tire. There are no bike shops in town. I'll have to try to take a company car over to Walmart to see if they have any 26" tubes with Presta valves. I've seen some 700c tubes with Presta but I'm not sure about 26". If not I'll have to look for some patches. And I guess I'll have to buy another pump most likely. And if none of those work I'll have to call my wife to get me. Again. Just like last Friday. She will not be happy.

Sucks. I've been looking forward to the ride home this afternoon with a huge tail wind. I hope I can get this thing fixed.

That sucks. If you can't find a tube/patch kit, what are the chances you could just take the company car home for the weekend? I know ours usually just sits there during the off hours, and the owners wouldn't care if I took it home. In fact, they've offered that option to me when they've seen me fixing a flat in the parking lot. Every company is different, though.

[MENTION=301784]PatrickGSR94[/MENTION] That really does suck. I am sorry. Maybe it is worth having a floor pump and patch kit at work, even a cheap walmart pump. No one at work would happen to have a pump? Maybe order up a few presta-schrader adapters and keep them lying around. I used to have one in my saddle bag, until it fell out.

Great job all of you braving these winds, wind is the worst and it is just insult added to injury.

I went to Walmart and got a $15 floor pump and a glueless patch kit (meh). And yes I will leave them here at work. As expected there were no Presta valve 26" tubes there. And the glueless patches were all they had.

So I found the hole in the tube (tiny hole), and as usual did not find anything conclusive inside the tire that would have caused the puncture. So I scuffed the tube and pressed a glueless patch on there really well. Pumped it up to 70 PSI. We'll see if it's still holding air by late this afternoon. Seems to be okay right now.

got rained on last night (pounded).
got rained on this AM (light-med-then drizzle).
It was pounding a second ago. stopped now but clouds race across the sky.

I tried out my commute on my day off yesterday. First time I have commuted by bike, or even ridden a bike, in about a decade. I drove halfway to cut the 35 mile round trip to 17 miles round trip. As I get in bettershape and get used to the being in the saddle I will shorten the drive and lengthenthe ride.

I am lucky in that the majority of my shortened route is on a bike/multiple use path. The first mile has a lot of pedestrians near the college but after I cross the river I am on the bike path with fewer pedestrians. The last mile or so is on city streets but I found a route that is bike friendly.

My office building has bike lockers and showers which is nice. The weather is predicted to be dry next week so I really have no excuses.

No problems going home yesterday. But since I was on the big heavy bike, even with a big tailwind, I still only averaged 11.6 MPH. Oh well. It was a pretty good ride.

It was a very nice uneventful commute this am, temp was 29f degrees when I left the house. Still the icy patches at the bottom of the last hill where I need to cross the street. I crossed about 100ft earlier even though that puts me on the wrong side of the road, there was no oncoming traffic from that side.

Starting to feel like spring: 41F/5C with a steady headwind the whole way in. I hear some birds chirping in the mornings...won't be too much longer.

32 F as I head out the door.

Friday's afternoon ride home was faster than normal. I had a bit of a tailwind which helped me average 18mph. Fun!

Today was warmer again at 55 degrees, but foggy and humid. My glasses kept fogging up so I alternated between sliding them down my nose a bit and taking them off and wiping off the moisture. A decent ride otherwise. I left a little bit earlier than normal and added a couple of miles for 15 total.

It looks like I messed up by not checking the weather, leaving the house with layers enough for another 30° cooler, but not really effective against the heavy rain expected this evening. I'll be warm enough but drenched going home!

Nice commute this morning, relatively warm and cloudy with little wind. I rode my full-bore touring bike today because my regular commuter is in the shop. I decided to remove the dynamo wheelset over the weekend since the days are getting so much longer but forgot that the rims are much wider than the replacement wheels, so the brakes were way out of adjustment. The bike needed new brake pads anyway, so I dropped it off at the shop over the weekend.

I swapped out a bunch of parts on my bikes over the weekend. Swapped saddles on a couple of my bikes so I could try to some different colors of bar tape, just to mix it up. Swapped tires and/or wheelsets on two bikes to use faster, lighter tires. Now that winter is winding down, I feel the urge to speed up the pace. For the same reason, I'm mothballing the dynamo lights and wheel for the time being.

First commute to new work location: 4 miles of streets and 6 miles of paths. Wonderful 50 degree weather, but I haven't been on my bike in ages so I'm hurting a little. Disappointed with the Mt. Vernon Trail condition between Roosevelt Island and the 14th street bridge... it's as bad as or worse than some of DC's streets.

My building has a wonderful gym & showers. Still working out how to stage clothes so I don't have to carry a backpack.

My usual Tuesday commute is suspect once again tomorrow because of forecast rain. 58 and showers forecasted for my usual 4:30 departure, not sure if I should do it or not. I'll have to keep an eye on the 10 PM weather forecast tonight.

Rode the hot rod this morning. A bit cold and little wind. Going take a while getting used to it after not riding for almost 3 weeks. Try riding every other day for the next couple weeks.

The forecast yesterday called for a 30% chance of light spotty rain during the afternoon commute time. The reality was 100% heavy showers all the way home. My feet got soaked, but my Showers Pass Elite jacket came thru it like a champ. My base layer was completely dry when I removed the jacket after I got home. Of course, my nice clean bike that I had just washed is all filthy again.

A very nice commute again this morning with the temp at 22f degrees and a full moon in the sky.

I come up from the South on Mt Vernon joining it just North of Old Town Alexandria. The trail is in pretty good shape from that direction with the exception of some root growth making it pretty bumpy in places.

40F/4C Rain and a mild headwind

I heard it had some work done... especially around the airport... and more to come. Haven't been that way in a while. I don't have proper rain gear so I'm looking forward to Thursday.

My first official workday commute went well yesterday. Low 40s F in AM with a little mist along the river; high 60s in PM. Sun rose as I was crossing the suspension bridge. I used cleats for the first time and that went well; practiced getting in and out and practiced a few emergency stops. Today I am assessing the damage to my body from 17 mile RT. Hope to ride again on Thursday if body cooperates.

After a spring-like weekend the last two days have been back to normal, sigh. 30F this morning but I'm really digging the no headlight mornings