19F, frosty

Had a debate on which bike I was going to take today. Went with the one with studs.. don't think we'll have anything when I leave though. Still going to a nightmare riding if it does.

I see this often in the city. I usually stay behind the car to check the taillight for a blinker. Of course many NYC drivers don't know what a turn signal is or have a case of SMIDGAF. So I also have to look at the front wheel. Also sometimes get pinched in from cars and busses trying to pull over to the side. Another reason to stay behind them.

Today was a nice ride. Originally felt a little tired when I got out of bed. But felt good and a little frisky after warming up on the commute. Originally 50F in the morning but might go down to 40F in the afternoon. So brought a bib tight in the backpack to use for the ride to the car. Kind of odd plannig for falling temps since I'm used to the opposite happening.

Yesterday (January 12) was uncharacteristically warm, so I took advantage and rode to work. I wore very little clothing, and even that was too much, but I didn't de-layer, if I may coin a word. I had a tail wind in the morning, and I pedaled pretty hard. I tied my second-best time on my steep climb. The other time I hit that time was January 4, so I think I'm improving on that climb. I had a fair amount of weight in my bags.

My rear wheel has only 24 spokes, and I've been thinking I'll ride it until it breaks. Now I'm thinking of replacing it because it rubs my brakes when I climb hard, and I think it might be because it flexes too much. I put my cargo on the front wheel which has 32 spokes.

I pedaled hard on the ride home, but the headwind and the darkness made it hard to make good time. Gorgeous views.

Here are my morning GPS tracks and stats.

Overcast skies without precipitation are common here in the winter. Weather forecasts have become more accurate lately, so I use them rather than looking at the sky before deciding to ride.

Another great photo, [MENTION=60072]HardyWeinberg[/MENTION]. I need to visit the Pacific NW and this might be the year for that since I'm retiring soon. My commute yesterday was a "double double" -- with headwinds both ways. I'm not complaining because temperatures were very mild with no rain, but it was a slow ride both ways due to the wind.

This was a great week for commuting, the weather was great and the days are getting longer. I saw some amazing sun and moon rises. One morning I caught the moon set, sunrise, Venus, Mars, and the ISS. Unfortunately my phone doesn't get nice night photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/T9JZC7LvCVafxJEF8

I had a nice ferry ride to Vancouver for a medical appointment, it went well but I didn't have time to see friends, sorry.

I get a weekend with just me and my daughter! The wife has gone to Whistler to celebrate a 40th with a friend and she dropped off the little man with her brother.

Last night was a fun commute home, I had to get a bunch of packages and bring an extra stroller home. So I loaded up the trailer and hooked everything on as normal, and I finally figured a way to pull the jogging stroller also. It saved me a walk, I much prefer riding.

I got a new light last night and some fenders for my son's bike. I ordered this, https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It was in a nice box and it seems quite bright. I have not used it yet though. The rear light runs off two coin batteries and is not anything amazing, just just enough for island life. I will try to get the fenders on the bikes today.

Overall I plan to have a quite weekend with my daughter. I also have to get a second tank ready for more fish. The second tank was a terrarium which housed a few plants, they suddenly died last week.

[MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION] I thought rims on low spoke wheels rub because the rims are stiff, not for lack of spoke tension.

Debunking Wheel Stiffness - Slowtwitch.com

Thanks! It is beautiful here and well worth visiting but we are looking at 5" of rain the next 3 commute days so probably no pictures from me then!

[MENTION=339610]Darth Lefty[/MENTION], I don't know what's causing it for me. I'll pay attention.

The other thing I've seen do that is a cracked axle

A cold morning ride with the temp at 16f degrees when I left the house this morning. Though with dry roads and clear skies and very little wind. It was quite pleasant.

I tried using the chemical hand warmers this morning. I did not open the packages early enough for them to get warm enough on my ride. After arriving at work and showering they were quite warm. I will start the chemicals packs earlier next time I decide to use them.

Last Friday I was off work in exchange for MLK holiday today. But the temp got up to about 70F so I met a friend for a nice 30 mile cruise in the country. I hope to do more recreational riding this year and that was a great way to start it off.

A comfortable 48F here this morning. I left early and went to the gym on my way in. Much less traffic due to schools, banks and gov't offices being closed today. This will be my first 5 day work week in several weeks due to holidays and such. The weekly miles will start to add up now.

33, rain and wind. I know I bought a cheap rain gear but already has a hole down there lol.. that was something!

25°F and no wind. An extremely easy commute this morning.

Still fighting a cold. Not enough to take me out, just enough to slow me down. So I didn't go for a run before I rode to work like I normally do on Mondays.

Got to work and was about to step into the shower when I realized I left my shampoo on my desk. I decided I wasn't motivated enough to get dressed to get it, so I just grabbed some hand soap out of the dispenser by the sink and used that. Then when my shower was finished I realized that my towel was also sitting at my desk. At that point I was in a bit of a pickle, so I grabbed the shirt that I rode to work in and tried to dry myself with that.

For the record, a moisture wicking shirt makes for a terrible towel.

A week on from post #115, the blessed event is a week closer and the weather is not cooperating. I'm done with bike commutes at least until post-baby-leave. After that, we'll just have to see.

I've been looking at bikepacking stuff and they all seem to wear synthetic or wool. That's fine so far as it goes, but I've been wondering how they manage to wipe their boogers.

You made a good trade. Weather was cold, cloudy and windy here today compared to warm and sunny last Friday. I was off work today, however, so I rode about 36 miles on local greenways. I was suffering today because I rode about 41 hilly miles yesterday as well. I typically get about half of my mileage commuting and half on recreational rides.

[MENTION=175954]Tundra_Man[/MENTION]

I take a bandanna, one of the larger colored ones from the dollar store or Walmart and I wrap it around my wrist and use a good ole square knot. Then I can just wash it in a sink and it dries quickly.

In the summer use a second one that has been soaked and lightly wrung on the neck for cooling and sun protection.

A nice commute in this morning the temp was warmer today 22f degrees. You would not think that six degrees would matter but it truly did not feel as cold when I left the house this morning. Anyway clear dark starry skies and almost no wind made for a very pleasant ride this morning.

Damp and foggy this morning, but a pleasant 50F. I wore shorts, short sleeve and a jacket yesterday and this morning. This afternoon's 65 high will mean packing the jacket instead of wearing it. Hello mid-January?

Cool and damp ride this morning with temps in the upper 40s and fairly heavy fog. There was a light headwind the entire way, so it was a tough ride because my legs were tired from weekend rides. I had to clear off my glasses three times in order to see. The fog had pretty well soaked my clothes by the time I got to work. It's supposed to warm up to the mid-60s this afternoon and hopefully it will dry out some as well.

Back to work after long weekend. From 20's and ice last week to 53F and rain this morning. It's supposed to get progressively colder but the 50's ride was a welcomed change

Pretty mild. The canal towpath has dried out enough that I can ride on it again. Didn't see any critters. Almost missed my train, which is good; much better to almost miss it, than to miss it.

Forgot to set my alarm this morning, woke up late, so no ride to work. Plan to split the commute between this afternoon and tomorrow morning, leaving the car at work.

My car is down to barely 1,000 miles every 3 months thanks to bike commuting!

By comparison, when I was just out of college and working 50 miles from home, I was driving 3,000 miles every single month, or 36,000 miles a year!

sick child, no commute. Supposed to be back to the 50s today.