RidingMatthew

Just got tired of driving and needed to ride the bike. head cold be darned. 24F this morning. I saw some frozen water in a few spots on the ride. I was pretty comfortable. I wore my goggles and they fogged a little but not bad enough to stop and freeze my face with glasses. So weird to ride without glasses everything was a little blurry. I have to figure out something i miss being able to see clearly and no mirror with the googles. I work my balaclava and my neck gaiter. I think my throat appreciated breathing in the warmer air. A couple times when I was really going hard i felt like i was sufficating so I just had to slow down some. (in my head i said "base miles, rule #9 , this is not a race slow down some, and this is better than driving again.")

oh yeah work hours changed this so I had to leave 30 minutes earlier. It was quite dark this morning but less traffic at that time. The bonus is I get to leave work 30 minutes earlier now.

PatrickGSR94

Decent commute last Thursday, chilly and dry in the morning, and less chilly but wet in the afternoon. I managed to dodge the rain most of the way home until about a couple of miles from the house.

Since I have a camera now I decided to make a short video showing the worst part of my commute, a 1-mile 2-lane section of road that is 45 MPH with decent amount of traffic, especially at the 4-way stop which is a heavily-used state highway. All other parts of my commute (the other 14.5 miles) are either 2-lane with almost no traffic, or multi-lane roads, or neighborhood streets.

This is with the GoPro handlebar mount which is NOT good at all. Lots of vibration gets transmitted through this thing. I have a K-Edge handlebar mount on order, which from what I have seen from comparison videos, is light years better at keeping the video image steady and clear.

tarwheel 

Tough commute this morning, but not for the usual reasons related to weather. The weather was clear and cold with temps in the upper 20s, well within my comfort range. However, my dynamo headlight started malfunctioning about 2 miles into my commute. It was mostly daylight by that time but I was concerned about riding home in the dark this afternoon, so I stopped to see what was the matter. I checked the whole light system and the problem seemed to be loose wires at the connector on the front hub, and got my lights working again soon -- so it seemed. I ended up stopping about 3-4 times trying to get the lights to stay on, and finally succeeded at about the 6 mile point on my commute. I washed my bike thoroughly yesterday for the first time in weeks, and I suspect that some water got in the hub connector, and hopefully it has all dried out.

After I finally got that settled, I got stuck at the longest light on my commute through two light cycles because the driver at the front of the line wasn't paying attention when the light changed and didn't move for about 30 seconds. Then I made a foolish decision to turn right at the light and attempt to cross the highway at a crossover point in the median, but traffic was so heavy that I had to sit there in the median for a very long time.

When I got to work, I remembered that the hot-water heater was broken in our building, so I had to ride to another building with a working shower, which added about 10 more minutes to my commute time. Bottom line, my morning commute took about 20-30 minutes longer than usual. Hopefully my afternoon ride will go smoother.

Darth Lefty 

Crosspost

https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-b...l#post18450974

This is my first commute of the year. For several reasons I expect commutes to be few and far between until spring.

spivonious

Excellent on-road technique, Patrick!

Zap Hassellhoff

PatrickGSR94 suggested that I post here. The weather in Sacramento has been pretty mellow lately compared to the rest of the Nation. That's the Central Valley. The temp at 7:20 this morning was 43° degrees with 92% humidity. Cars were on fairly good behavior. I'm now finishing of the last of my office holiday candy. Cheers!

noglider 

I didn't ride between home and work at all last week for various mundane reasons, though I did several short trips on Citi Bike.

I rode my new bike in today. I finished it last night. This morning, it was 30ºF and quite windy. wunderground claimed the wind was from the north, but I got lucky, and that appeared to be untrue. It was pretty shifty, so I had some headwinds but not for long. I wore my new snowboarding helmet, and it has proven to be a very wise purchase. I've never been sufficiently warm with a hat under my bike helmet. This does the trick.

Here's my new bike, a 1974 Raleigh International. I built it mostly with vintage components. I built these wheels in around 1983. The bike is a blast. It is light and nimble.

HardyWeinberg

33F and spitting rain. Counted on the rain to take care of black ice. Didn't wipe out on the bike, at least. Whew.

unterhausen

I'm not sure I would count on rain to combat ice, my experience with that is very bad.

I only rode across campus this morning, that was cold enough. Going to ride home though. Hopefully no ice, I am going to put my studded tire on tonight.

HardyWeinberg

Apparently that's not a great bet:

Cliff Mass Weather Blog: Super Icy

mr geeker

The weather this mornin was cold, some where around 14 F. Still, that's better than the -4 of yesterday mornin.

noglider 

The ride back tonight was HARD. I'm not sure if the cold contributed, but the headwinds combined with this ass-hatchet of a saddle, and it was painful and slow. I only ride 9 miles and stopped at my mother's place where I am now. I'll take the subway home from here.

BikingZombie

I think it was -7 when I left this morning, and around 4 when I came home. On the way to work I realized I did not have my front derailleur honed in and I shifted the chain right off the small chain ring. On the way home I got a flat tire.

One of those days

Sir Coastalot

Stayed home today to nurse a nagging head cold. Used the time to set up the Ortlieb Front Roller panniers I bought a few days ago. After years of hearing how good Ortlieb bags are, gotta say they live up to the hype -- easy on/off, fully adjustable fittings, and rainproof.

mr geeker

this mornin it's 6 F with a wind chill of -22. Yay winter...

dcb23

That stuff is headed our way.

Today was fine just at freezing with a mild tailwind.

esmith2039

Got a bit testy this morning. Everyone seemed to want to pass me as close as they could. So I finally got ticked and moved over to the 3/4 mark of the lane. Then at the light I passed them all and got over again lol.. yeah shouldn't of did that. They got the hint I think. The wind was brutal this morning. One of those winds extra layers don't really help. Rode the Trek the first time in almost three weeks.

mgw4jc

It's good to see so many folks posting from all over the map.

Took off work a little early yesterday and got to ride home while the sun was still up.

Cold again this morning at 22F.

tarwheel 

Nice looking Raleigh, noglider. Seems like that's been a project for a while.

My commute this morning was uneventful, which is good when it's this cold. Temps were in the upper 20s and I battled a stiff headwind almost the entire way. The wind is really supposed to pick up during the day with gusts over 30 mph, so that should make for a challenging ride home. The problems I was having with my headlight have gone away, so I think my initial suspicion that water got in the hub connector was probably on target.

I'm settling into a new routine once I reach work, as I'm having to use a shower in a different building while our hot-water heater is broken. The shower is actually much nicer than the one in our building, but there is only one of them (compared to 2 in our building) and the locker room is much smaller. Fortunately, nobody else has been trying to use the locker room or shower while I've been there. My biggest concern is parking my bike in a new location, which is probably not as secure as the spot at my building, and the bike rack is also harder to use.

Tundra_Man 

-6F this morning with a stiff headwind bringing the wind chill down to well below -20F. I threw an extra scarf around my face, but otherwise dressed as normal. My wife tried to convince me to drive, but didn't put up as much of a fuss as she normally does in sub-zero weather so I rode anyway.

Pedaling was slow. Between the wind and the cold, I had to crank hard in a lower gear just to keep moving. For some reason the cars seemed to be in a bigger hurry than usual this morning.

Got to work and discovered I had a huge snotsicle hanging from the front of my scarf, which explains the odd looks I was getting as I was greeting people on the way into the building. Overall I stayed pretty warm, and actually was kind of sweaty when I arrived. For some reason the inside of my left thigh was cold, but the rest of me was fine.

Wind is supposed to pick up today and shift around so I'll have a stiff headwind on the way home tonight too. Yay.

PatrickGSR94

Uneventful this morning, around 30°F. Saw the Highway Patrol guy for the first time since the loudspeaker/close pass incident back in early December. He changed lanes to pass this time, without incident.

noglider 

I must suck at front derailleur adjustment, because this happens to me a lot. But I don't mind, because putting the chain back on is easy for me. Maybe if I minded more, I would work harder at preventing it.

But how in the world did you deal with your flat tire in that temperature? That sounds very difficult.

PatrickGSR94

My commuter road bike was plagued with issues of the chain dropping off the small ring all the time. No amount of adjustment or tweaking by me or the LBS could ever get it truly fixed. So I added the N-Gear Jump Stop plate, and it has not happened since, over 7K miles later. Not a single issue at all. What Is A Jump Stop?

HardyWeinberg

took a company car home last night and this morning straight out to a meeting. Now back in the office with a lot more stuff than will fit in my panniers for the trip home.

timvan_78

Raining and not cold this AM.
I was running late, so I took the skytrain part of the way to make up some time. It didn’t really make up any time.
My bike is very clean & lubed, which is a rarity in the winter.