My commute was fine this am. After hearing the weather people mention gusting winds at 20mph I was questioning my decision to ride. I told my dh that and he told me stop listening to the weather people. Which I did and rode. The temp was 32f degrees, and clear skies.

Today's commute was.....messy. Note to self, wrap saucey lunches in plastic.

These are some entertaining quotes - thanks for giving me a chuckle this morning.


Cold morning today compared to the rest of the week at 36F. A rec rider caught up to me this morning and chatted for a few minutes. I rarely see other cyclists out in the morning, especially in the winter. I told him about my commute and being a one car family. He thought it was great. Friendly enough guy.

Cutting through one neighborhood I had two squirrels dart across the street in front of me at separate spots. They were busy!

Double wrap, even then...

Nice commute this morning with sunny skies, temps in the low 30s and very light wind. My legs were tired, however, from battling the fierce winds yesterday. The cold temps seem to be bothering more since the days are getting longer and warmer, so I dressed more warmly than usual. I'm appreciating the new brake pads that my shop put on my main commuter bike. Being able to stop quickly is always nice.

Not too bad this morning. Temps hovering around 32F but calm and bright. The tip of my nose is lightly frosty ;-)

30F and clear after two days of wicked winds, cold, and snow. I'm officially sick of the cold - sort of embarrassing considering how mild a winter it's been but there you have it

Friday being casual day at the office, and with benign 35° clear weather, I decided to bike in street clothes saving myself a little time and trouble. No bag to carry, no rain, already light out, I grabbed the road bike on a whim. That would have been fine on the road, but when I got to the Greenway trailhead I succumbed to whim again. I hadn't been on that trail all week because it's been flooded since Monday with a rainy week. I knew that the water levels were lower than expected though with flotsam from the flooding, and consequently there would be no other bikes there - I couldn't resist a ride in solitude after a week in traffic. And that's a low-effort no sweat route.

What I'd failed to consider sufficiently was that I'd stripped everything off the road bike, including fenders. Even gliding slowly through mud-covered sections and keeping a low speed for another hundred feet or so (to fling the water and mud off) I still had more mud splatter than I expected. So I spent more time cleaning up than if I'd simply changed. I really knew better, but it's hard to resist the whims sometimes.

I don't remember what it was like this morning, so it must have been okay, right? It's Friday, and February is almost over... things are looking up, guys!

Around -2C/28F for the ride in but this afternoon going up to +7C in February whaaaaa???? This is April weather.

Really struggling on the hills due to lack of riding over the past 3 months. This early spring maybe means I can get my summer legs back a bit earlier. Or maybe winter will finally hit us in March, which is entirely feasible in this area. We could use some more snow.

[MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION] great to hear!!!!

This week’s commutes have been great! Dry, cool, light outside, blossoms are out on Cypress Ave.Smells great too.

Yeah, I smelled Daphne in several places on my ride from work to down town yesterday to catch my bus. That's my favorite smelling flower, though black locust trees must be close.

I managed to commute two days this week, Monday and Friday, for a total of 34 miles. My body seems to be holding up so far. I used cleats for the first time this week and practiced a few emergency stops on the MUP. I haven't fallen over yet but I did have a moment of panic coming up to a stop sign downtown when I didn't realize I was on the cleat side of my peddle and cleated in. Quick twist and my foot was down thanks to my M324 pedal (adjusted loose) and multi-directional cleats that come with them, as well as the little bit of muscle memory I had created with my practice emergency stops.

Friday's commute home was not the best commute. With the west winds gusting at 20 mph, my ride home, which is west bound was like a fight(but I won, cause I did get home). At one point the winds actually stopped the bike from going forward. That was interesting.

Anyway, the commute in this morning was a pleasant uneventful ride with the temp at 43f degrees.

Tree frogs were chirping this morning as I rode through a wooded area to a magenta/purple dawn. Could spring be far away?

Last Thursday evening, I was blown off the road by a crossing gust. Fortunately, I was along a golf course and was blown into soft boggy grass out of bounds. Didn't fall either.

34 and sunny this morning with a projected high of ~55.

Well, I don't know what the high was but it was nice enough to not need my jacket on the evening commute.

50F and sunny this morning - I wore shorts and no tights! Still wore a jacket, but just a short sleeve jersey under and the jacket will be stashed for the ride home. High of 68 or so.

Happy Leap Day!

Beautiful morning for riding with clear skies and mild temperatures. The only downside was a stiff headwind but you can't have everything. We are coming up on the Goldilocks season for commuting.

This morning was 25 steady gusting to 32 on the nose most of the way in, needless to say took me longer than usual to get here. Winds should be stronger for the ride home right now they are 29 gusting to 39. Once I get away from the open area I should be flying except of course for the cross winds which are the worst.

Well I decided to ride on Monday due to great weather today, and storms likely tomorrow. But our staff meeting on Mondays is now at 7 AM instead of 8. So I had to leave the house just after 5 AM. It was dark for more than half the ride, where usually leaving at 6 it's already starting to get lighter at this time of year.

Of course in 2 weeks after the time change I'll be back in the dark for most of the morning ride at 6 AM. If I decide to go at 5 on Mondays it will be dark for nearly ALL the commute.

The plus side was super light traffic. I think I had only 6 cars pass me in 15 miles, and 2 of those were right by my house and 2 near the office. So for the majority of the ride only 2 cars passed me.

Also one of the 4 way stops where construction has been going on for months now has new traffic lights up and flashing. So that will make 5 traffic lights on my commute, where 1 year ago there were only 2 lights.

40F, sunny, clammy.

There was a mini-opera of roadkill toward the end of my commute: a flattened bag of popcorn, next to it a flattened possum, and all around a bunch of crows that couldn't believe their luck.

Reminded me of that saying about the early bird getting the worm but the 2nd mouse getting the cheese.

Wind seems to be the word of the day - 36F and windy this morning but nothing like yesterday. For those east of the middle part of the country get ready for 50+ mph gusts. This morning's 10mph crosswind seemed nothing

I rolled my bike out of the garage, closed the garage door, and went into my condo.

I put on my backpack, walked out the patio door.

And my bike was gone.



I couldn't have been inside 2-3 minutes, and the patio door looks at where the bike was parked. Geez, I've done this a hundred times or more with no problems. Yes, I am an idiot.


Hopped in the car and drove around, but didn't see the bike. Called the non-emergency number for the police, and they were there within 20 minutes. He took a report, and were going to look around for it. He said if it was a kid, he'd probably ride it to within a block of his destination, then pitch it in someone's yard. He thought it probably wasn't one of the garbage gleaners, since they come around the night before trash pickup, not early mornings.

So I'm looking at $150 - 300 for a used bike, and $150 to replace racks, lights, seat bag, tools...

RIP Voyageur.

Bummer SBW. I had a bike jacked once when I left it unlocked outside a store for a quick dash in, but the person rode it to the transit center and left it on the ground when they took a bus somewhere.