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-   -   2018! The “How was your commute?” thread! (https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/1131947-2018-ihow-your-commute-n-thread.html)

essiemyra 03-06-18 06:29 AM

A very nice uneventful commute this am with the temp at 28 f degrees and a bit of light at 5:30 am. Snowstorm in the forecast for tomorrow. The good thing is it will melt quickly this late in the season.

mgw4jc 03-06-18 07:09 AM


Originally Posted by acidfast7 (Post 20206340)
I agree and they're beginning to creep into the Medieval streets over here.

That is bad. They should have vehicle dimension restrictions or something.

acidfast7 03-06-18 07:20 AM


Originally Posted by mgw4jc (Post 20207509)
That is bad. They should have vehicle dimension restrictions or something.

Cities are implementing congestion charges.

It worked wonders for Stockholm when I lived there centrally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_congestion_tax

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ation_2010.jpg

acidfast7 03-06-18 07:23 AM

And London is £11.50/day. Which has reduced traffic.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge

mgw4jc 03-06-18 07:42 AM

It was dry at my house and the radar looked clear until after 8am, so I went for it. At about 45F it wasn't cold really, but not a great temp for riding in the rain. It was just a light rain for the last four miles of my commute. Nothing horrible. I was wearing shorts so my knees got a little cold. I didn't take any of my extra mileage routes and got to the office about 15 minutes early. That allowed a little extra time to dry off, make a hot chocolate and warm up a bit.

It could be rainy all day too.

Tundra_Man 03-06-18 07:59 AM

About 5" of fresh snow this morning. 25 mph sustained wind out of the north. 27F degrees.

For some reason they decided to call off school today for the first time this winter. This is curious because we've had more snow, higher winds and much, much colder temps this winter and school was still left in session. Not sure what changed. My son was surprisingly upset about there not being school today because he was supposed to go compete in a jazz band contest. Had the snow happened tomorrow instead he would have been delighted.

School was closed, but all businesses were still in operation so no snow day for me. I got up an hour early because I wanted to blow the snow off the driveway before my wife drove the car over it and turned it into a rutted frozen mess, and because I knew the ride to work would likely be slower than normal because of the weather.

I knew the MUP would be in rough shape this morning and that the plows wouldn't yet have gotten the side streets cleared. I opted to take the "emergency snow routes." These are the main artery streets that the city makes sure to keep plowed so that emergency vehicles can get through. This meant I would probably also be dealing with more traffic than normal. I hoped that between leaving early and the school cancellation that traffic wouldn't be too bad. This route to work is also a bit longer and has more hills.

Thankfully traffic wasn't bad at all. I had one goofball close pass me, seemingly intentionally to "teach those cyclists a lesson." All other cars were more than gracious slowing down and giving me plenty of room. I returned the favor by pulling over in tighter spots to let the cars go by so I wouldn't be holding things up. Between the hills, headwind and the snow I was moving a lot slower than my normal slow self.

I left the house 45 minutes earlier than normal thinking it would take me at least an hour to get to work. This gave me a total of 1:15 to make it the 4.5 miles to downtown. It only took me about 40 minutes. So I wound up getting to the office quite early. Now I get to see how many other people won't come in today because the conditions are too bad outside. :thumb:

esmith2039 03-06-18 08:00 AM

Didn't ride today.. 52mph gusts! And the direction I have to travel. Somehow that just doesn't sound sane.

Tundra_Man 03-06-18 08:25 AM


Originally Posted by esmith2039 (Post 20207590)
Didn't ride today.. 52mph gusts! And the direction I have to travel. Somehow that just doesn't sound sane.

Wait... sanity is supposed to play a role in bike commuting? :D

pdlamb 03-06-18 09:44 AM


Originally Posted by Tundra_Man (Post 20207636)
Wait... sanity is supposed to play a role in bike commuting? :D


Surely not for Tundra_Man! :D


Warmer than I expected this morning, right around 50F. Clear and breezy, but the wind was going my way for most of the ride. I noticed camellias, tulips (daffodils bloomed out last week!), and redbuds blooming this morning. Then I got to work and ruined a good ride. :/

arsprod 03-06-18 09:55 AM

33F and a bit of headwind. Had to ride the 29'er because a plastic shopping bag destroyed my derailleur last night. There was a stiff crosswind and I saw the bag blowing my way and of course thought I could beat it - wrong. It went straight into the rear wheel, ripped off the rear derailleur cage and twisted the chain. After picking out pieces of bag for 15 minutes I realized there was no fixing it and started walking. It was a loooooong walk

HardyWeinberg 03-06-18 10:31 AM

28F, pea soup fog

kellichou 03-06-18 10:40 AM

30F, clear, delightful. I didn't ride yesterday because of the howling wind--I decided to sleep in 45 minutes and drive (which I regretted, as always).

I was so glad I rode my bike this morning. The difference in how I feel is amazing. Last week I commuted 5 days, which was fantastic.

ptempel 03-06-18 11:19 AM

Was 35F again this morning. Was a good commute like yesterday. I actually forgot my winter cap. :eek: But didn't get a frozen head and actually had to wipe some sweat off my brow. I guess the rest of the clothing helped to keep my head warm. There was also no wind so that helped. I think I'll be working from home tomorrow. We have a fairly large snowstorn coming to dump 8-12 inches of snow. So looks like the old exercise might be shoveling and perhaps building a snowman with my son.

noglider 03-06-18 03:04 PM

I had a new employee orientation meeting today, in a building I hadn't been to, so I had to get there on time. Headwinds were still fierce today, so I pedaled hard. I was overdressed, so I got hot. I gotta say, a wool t-shirt is a brilliant thing. I didn't get wet.

We are due to get a gigantic snow storm, starting tonight (Tuesday) and lasting through Thursday morning. I have a vocal ensemble rehearsal in Brooklyn tonight, ending at 10 or a little after. The snow is supposed to start at 10, so I might be riding from Brooklyn to Manhattan over a bridge while it's snowing. Maybe I'm crazy. Or maybe I'll put my bike on the subway. We will see.

mgw4jc 03-07-18 07:16 AM

Yesterday's ride home was wet and cold. The radar kinda looked like it may be breaking up around 5pm, but no such luck. A light rain combined with 40F made for a pretty cold ride home. I jumped into a warm shower. But even having the water on warm felt like it was almost scalding at first.

I drove this morning because I have to rush home, get daughters and take them to dance practice.

arsprod 03-07-18 07:35 AM

I totally wimped out this morning. 30F so it's not that cold, but 30mph winds, a little snow, and my wife reminded me I had to get home early to let the dogs out and I just said #$%@ it!

KCBikeCommuter 03-07-18 08:41 AM

The stupid crazy winds have finally subsided after 2 blustery days! I guess we sent them over toward [MENTION=322871]arsprod[/MENTION]. :-) 28F when I left, which isn't bad, but was wearing a thinner pair of gloves than I should and my hands got a little cold, but not bad. Should be close to 40F for the ride home and a bit of a headwind.

arsprod 03-07-18 08:50 AM


Originally Posted by KCBikeCommuter (Post 20209473)
The stupid crazy winds have finally subsided after 2 blustery days! I guess we sent them over toward [MENTION=322871]arsprod[/MENTION]. :-)

So I guess I'm gonna wimp out tomorrow too!

Darth Lefty 03-07-18 09:01 AM

Yesterday was a long, long ride. I'm still experimenting to find the optimum bike route between kiddo's new daycare and my job. I picked him up too. That means about 19 miles of riding, nearly twice the distance with twice the climbing of my usual round trip, more than half of that with a 40lb back seat driver. I think I'll be able to shorten that to about 18 miles. At least there's a break in the middle where I can peel him off in the morning and hear the list of his atrocities in the afternoon. Kiddo has been complaining the last few rides about feeling unsteady on Dad's bike. Where did this come from? We've been doing this for years.

pdlamb 03-07-18 10:02 AM

Clear and chilly here. In keeping with the idea that there are no tailwinds on a bike, I had a Really Good Day halfway to work. Then I made a right turn and all of a sudden there were fierce crosswinds. Weather service says it was an 18 mph wind; I wobbled a bit starting off from one traffic light because it messed with me, which was rather unusual.

HardyWeinberg 03-07-18 10:06 AM

1 Attachment(s)
30F, clear except for the eastern horizon. Cool to see the lenticular clouds off the mountain mixing in with the regular cloud background there...

noglider 03-07-18 10:52 AM

Last night at 10pm wasn't bad at all. Light rain was falling, but getting home was entirely uneventful.

We're now in the middle of what is supposed to be a huge storm. It's been falling for a long time, but I haven't seen anything stick yet. The forecasts promise we will see major accumulation at some point today. So I took the subway to work.

Darth Lefty 03-07-18 11:29 PM

Having partaken of a pint or three or four last night, I decided to take it easy today, took the commuter bike and not the MTB on a direct route. My calorie deficit from yesterday kept me snacking all day, and my blood sugar and dehydration got in a fight with my bum ticker and meds, and I took it very, very easy on the way home.

May or may not ride tomorrow. If I do it'll probably be a record week for commuting mileage, not that I'm going to check. But if I don't, there's dry cleaning to pick up and a complicated evening schedule that would be easier with the truck.

My bike shopping has pretty well settled on a Roscoe 8. Among the choices, it's the one that has nothing I'd want to change or add immediately. Of course it's totally sold out nationwide. Of course!

esmith2039 03-08-18 07:02 AM

Cold again but love that NW wind! It's quite the push to work, the commute home will be nippier though.

mgw4jc 03-08-18 07:55 AM

Short 4 miles this morning from the car dealer to the office. Right around 34F, so not too cold. I'll ride back at lunch to get the car.

My 16 year old son has been volunteering at a coffee shop (well more of a place for veterans to hang out) on Thursday mornings. I normally take him before riding to work and then either my wife goes to get him at noon or someone gives him a ride home. He has been asking about biking home, so last weekend we rode there and back to check out the route and get him familiar with it. It's about 4 miles one way mainly through low traffic neighborhoods.

This morning I dropped him off with his bike and he plans to ride home. I think he'll be fine. Weather is cool but no rain coming.


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