56F and the deluge abated to drizzle. Short sleeves under raincoat was great. Full-finger gloves overkill though.

Part of one feeder trail to the MUP is underwater.

Watching for migrating salamanders but no luck yet.

Here in the northeast, I don't think many people are riding their bikes today. We're in a major snow storm, and there are travel bans. Many workplaces and all schools are closed.

I got a flat tire on the way home today. Checking the outside of the tire, I found a construction staple. The staple came out cleanly and it was raining, so I decided to skip the usual formality of looking for pokey bits on the inside of the tire to get the job wrapped up quicker. As I got closer to home, the tire was starting to feel a bit soft again.

So when I got home I put the bike in the stand and found...two more staples!

I guess when I inflated the tube it must have pushed the staples to the side just right to avoid an immediate puncture. I rode about four miles with those things embedded in the tire and still had around 20 psi when I was done. Of course when I pulled them out it deflated like a balloon.

Cold and windy. I got spoiled by February's warmer mornings. My face was cold and the wind was not very friendly no matter which direction I was heading.

Was heading out the door when I noticed my son's science homework was still sitting on the counter. He'd left early for school for jazz band practice and forgot it. I decided to be a good dad and modify my normal route to work to swing by his school and drop it off in the office.

10°F with a light breeze. Streets were clear enough from the ice that I rode my hybrid without the studded tires.

As I pulled up to the door of the school, the resource Police officer came out the door. He's a friendly guy and opens the door and greets everyone. He looked at me in my bike gear and said, "Wow! You're a lot tougher than me. Back in the army you'd be the guy we all followed out of the plane during jump training!"

Errr... no. I'm afraid of heights. Winter cycling really isn't that tough.

Coldest morning I've had for a while. Around 20F with a windchill in the low teens, but overall not a bad commute.

It's still pretty mild in this non-winter we're having, although I got a chuckle about my son worried about the weather in Edmonton during his visit this week. Looking at the weather page, they're having the same temperatures that we are today, except that we'll be colder here overnight.

Very brisk commute today. Starting temps were 32F, finishing temps were a mere 33F. Very windy. Usually when it is super cold out, it warms up a good 10+ degrees, but not today! I recently bought a pair of full length bibs for very cheap (LBS was going out of business, AND they are Cannondale brand, whose parent company has bought out Sugoi so the shop really wanted to get rid of them) and they worked out much better than the pair of cycling pants I had been using. The blocked the wind in all the right places. Only area I came up short was my toes.

I just haven't been feeling the commuting vibe lately. I'm sure I'll get it back, but I have other activities getting my attention - MTB, running, and once again road riding with a club. Today's ride did help get some of the soreness out of my legs from last nights running speed workout.

Now if I could just shake this cough I've had for the past month...

Much the same ride as yesterday. I've figured out I need to leave the house sooner to get to work on time - whether cycling or taking the boy to daycare, I need to be out the door by 7:15 to get here by 8. But it's hard to get all the morning chores done and disentangle myself from feeding the twin babies.

I have gotten a few pictures from my mom and there is a lot of snow in upstate/central NY.

Life has been good here other than a bout of hand, foot, and mouth disease for the littlest kid.

I have been keeping busy with my new teaching load. I have been switched around and given my own 8th grade class. Which means I have to teach them all of their core subjects; math, science, socials, and english. The math and science are easy, but I am not well versed in my verses of poetry! So lesson prep has kept me busy with those classes, at least we are in a rotation I am only teaching two of the four subjects at a time.

The morning rides have been nice, but I need to do a lot of maintenance on a few bikes.

Stay warm and dry.

Janitor in the locker room at closing time!

[MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION] do you get to make your own selections for literature and poetry or do you have to pick from a curriculum?

I left the house a few minutes early this morning, figuring that the half mile section of gravel path, by the Delaware and Raritan Canal, would be impassible under Tuesday's icy snow. But the roads are clear enough, and I made good time, avoiding the foot wide patch of black ice along the edge. Got to the station, where I found the whole station, some 30 acres of car parking, sidewalks, train platform, etc, had been neatly plowed and shoveled. All except...






the bike lockers. Why would anyone shovel out the bike lockers?

There was a guy warming up one of the large yellow earth moving machines they use for pushing around the mountains of snow on the parking lot; and I asked him if he had a snow shovel. No, he said, they lock all that stuff up at night. So I got out the biggest tool in the repair kit on my bike, and started chopping. Pain in the neck. One of the other commuters, waiting on the platform, came over to help, which I appreciated; but there really wasn't room enough for two people to work.

I didn't miss my train, but it was close.

My cheap rear light was dead this morning (and in the past 1/2 hr since I've been at work, it doesn't seem to be charging so it might be really dead) so I rode on the sidewalks but I only encountered two people; one person who was standing in a bus shelter and one walker who heard my studded tires and moved aside (we exchanged "Good morning") so I wasn't interfering with anyone.

The actual temperature was -13C/9F, the weathernetwork.com says that it "felt like" -20C/-4F, I thought it felt like -40, there must have been more humidity in the air than the past couple of mornings because it really felt cold on exposed skin of the face.

I have to start biking more and more now, spring will be coming (at these temperatures, it would still seem to be far off) and I have a big charity ride in September that I need to ensure that I am ready for. I know that it is a way off but I'm fretting about it already.

Have a great day everyone!

The winds that dominated Tuesday's and Wednesday's rides seem to have calmed down. This morning was probably as cold as any we've had this winter: 20F. Yesterday never warmed up over about 34F, but I think it should get up to 50 today.

I rode past one house that must have left their sprinklers on last night. Their sidewalk and driveway were solid ice. It came out in the road just a little too. I couldn't really see it, but I'm guessing their grass is covered in ice too.

The light inside was glowing green which means the batteries are charged but it still wasn't working. I shook it to listen for any sounds of something being loose inside and water came out. Like I said, it was cheap (and I wisely bought 3) so I can just swap it out with another but I shook out as much water as possible and will let it dry. That might be enough to get it back again but if not, like I said, I have 2 others at home.

I was thinking last night that I've always gone cheap on stuff and had to replace them more often than others who buy wisely. Once I have run out of these cheap three lights, whenever that happens, I'll get a decent rear light (although, maybe I should not wait so long so that if the decent one dies, let's say because the battery/ies was/were low, I'll have a backup).

35F, blinding sun. First sunshine since I can't remember when at this point. Weeks. The sun was directly behind the traffic lights when I was at the stop line so tough to see the lights at all never mind when they changed.

Nice mountain day if you squint.

Ohh that silhouette, that is a spectacular photo.

[MENTION=326413]darth[/MENTION]_Lefty No, I get to select my own works, or so I hope so! This is the first year the grades k-9 have a newly implemented curriculum, so I, like others, am wading through the process of implementing the changes. The grades 10-12 have had draft curricula introduced and they are in effect next year, though most are using the new curriculum for courses this year; I am using it for my science 10. The new curriculum is focused on inquiry based learning and allowing the student to use the base of knowledge we present to develop their own question which they research and learn as they go.

This morning was nice, we had to take the ferry. The in-laws needed the boat to haul manure for the garden.

So, it appears that the water may be gone. I found another entry point, other than the USB charging port: the button to turn it on and change blink style can also be opened and there was a bit of visible rust inside. I opened it up, shook it again, water droplets came out, then left it opening side down to drain and dry out.

The light continued not to stay on, as it had all day: it would stay on while I had the ON button depressed but then it would turn off when I released the pressure.

Now, the situation has done a 180°, it is on solid and I can't turn it off.

Oh well, at least, if it lasts in this state, I'll have a rear light to go home with until I dump it (or it fixes itself again).

There's too much stuff on the ground since the big storm to ride. We're due for a small bit of snow on Saturday. Monday the temperature goes up, and we will have rain. I hope we get a lot of rain to wash most of this stuff away.

Looks like this week is a bust for me, no cycle commuting at all. Next week looks much warmer, though, and I might be able to get in an e-bike commute or two!

[MENTION=60072]HardyWeinberg[/MENTION] - love the pic! Nice sunny fog.

25F this morning for another sub-freezing morning. Yesterday afternoon it warmed to about 50 and felt nice. Today it is supposed to be 60. Woohoo!

And Happy Friday!
And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Proof I'm a complete nerd: as I was riding to work today I realized it was my 2^8 consecutive work commute.

Yes, yes you are.

So... what do I get today? Nothing? Thought so, carry on.

I passed 25,000 commuting miles to my current job last week! Since the middle of 2010. It's a milestone to me, because the Clean Air Campaign had earlier recognized me as a "Commuter Champion" for "eliminating 25,000 pounds of air pollution" and then again for 50,000 pounds, but I felt bad because the miles I actually rode instead of driving saved less pollution than that. They based their calculation on "Average daily metro Atlanta roundtrip commute" driving which is twice as far as I ride, so it felt like cheating You don't really "save" anything by not doing something you wouldn't doing anyway.

But now I feel like I have in some sense finally earned it. I was car-free for three years prior to that, which I didn't track, but counting that I'm well over the 25,000 pound mark at last.