35F and sunny

A little warmer today in the 20's. Rode the regular commuter despite the possibility of ice patch. No problems though. The front derailleur froze though after I rode through a stream from a broken pipe, my other bike never had the problem.

Cold this morning, but at least it was dry! I couldn't handle a repeat of yesterday's rain.

Just as i was getting ready to head out the door, reflective gear already on, just reaching for my helmet, I hear the pitterpatter of a tiny feet, a little dog who wants to go outside. Fine, out you go. And then there's more pitterpatter, and now the other dog wants to go out, too. But he's less certain; takes a little longer to get him to go out. And then my wife arrives in the kitchen, not realizing I'm still home, she came down to let the dogs out. And she mentions the toilet is running.

Anwyay, by the time I'm on my bike, I have wasted three or four minutes; and that's cutting it pretty fine! So I really had to hustle to catch my train.

Saw something unusual on the canal towpath: a mouse running across the path right in front of me. I don't usually see mice. A hundred feet farther down, I saw another mouse running down the path away from me. They're little, and I didn't see them until the last moment, passing them both within a few inches... but I'm pretty sure I didn't hit either one. Silly mice, on a cold morning like this, they should be sleeping! I wished i was.....

Yesterday's ride home was just a drip drop rain. Not enough to feel wet really. Roads were wet, but not even really puddling much.

Much drier this morning. Rain is forecast later with the chances getting higher in the afternoon and evening. This is the rainiest week I can remember.

Last night, I saw a rat on three occasions. A different rat each time, I mean. That matches my record for rats on a ride but previously, one sighting had two rats. RATS!

This morning, the wind made the ride quite challenging, but after a few years of riding along the Hudson River, I no longer resent it, and I finally take it in stride. It was really a crosswind, but most of the time, it was in my face. Sometimes the crosswind was so strong I had to lean sideways to stay upright. Wunderground reports only an 8 mph wind. They are always wrong about the wind.

18F and what a slog. I felt like I was riding uphill the whole way.

Is the higher density of cold air really what makes riding in the cold so hard?

48F, raining.

I may have run a red light. I got to this one intersection that is almost always flashing yellow and a pickup that zipped past me slammed on the brakes. I optimistically assumed he was turning right but didn't want to right hook me so let me go, and I went. But I looked over my shoulder and it didn't look like he turned right, which made me wonder if the flashing yellow turned red (99% of traffic turning out of there turns right ie the way I was going but just very very rarely somebody goes straight and then they trip the signal to green for them and red for us). The pickup never did catch up with me later on though so who knows...

ps-> I forgot to buy more tea for my office this past weekend so today I am stretching yesterday's final tea ball several cups past what I usually do

I am markedly slower in cold weather, even though it feels like I'm exerting as much or more effort to do so. Around 8 mph slower on average.

I think it's a combination of a bunch of factors, not necessarily in this order:

• I'm generally wearing more clothing.
• My winter bicycle is a lot heavier than my summer bicycles.
• Studded tires have quite a bit more rolling resistance than non-studded tires.
• Wind is often more pronounced in the winter.
• The cold thickens the grease in the hubs and drivetrain.
• My body is just not as efficient in cold temperatures.

I've heard that before but have more idea if it's true. I think I was just cold and wimpy and muscles weren't warming up.

Bailed on the ride because of the rain and 36F degrees. Had to do some schedule juggling and will have to leave work a bit early to help with kid delivery since we are a one car family. I enjoyed the car's heated seat and staying dry for the commute.

The forecast says it is supposed to stop raining early afternoon and be nice the rest of the weekend.

Warmest morning I've had in more than a week at 28°F. 11 mph headwind slowed me down a touch, especially out in the open areas. Overall, though, it was a pretty nice morning.

Got to use my Airzound. I was coming down the MUP and came across a lady who was holding a leash in her hand and letting her dog run free. The dog was about 100 yards ahead of me, and when it saw me it started running towards me. I don't think it was mad, I think it wanted to play. The lady started telling the dog to "watch out" (because, you know, dogs understand English.) I was worried the dog was going to run into me and take me down so when it was about 10 yards away I let the horn blast. The dog veered away from me.

Probably peeved off the owner that I honked and startled her dog, but frankly I don't care.

32F and ice storm. All the schools are closed and the streets were deserted. I get to be the badass crazy guy who rode his bike to work! Here's to studded tires - slow buy really no issues getting in. The trees were so loaded with ice many were hanging over the trail. I made the mistake of "brushing" up against what looked like a small branch. What a surprise - pretty sure I'll have a bruise there. At noon the ice storm advisory switches to a winter weather advisory with some accumulating snow. But it's not winter yet so how can it be a winter weather advisory?

[MENTION=322871]arsprod[/MENTION], wow.

The winter storm might be here any minute. I took a Citi Bike a mile to the post office and then got on the subway. Then I took a Citi Bike from the subway to work for just 0.4 miles. I should have walked up to the 12th floor where my office was, but I'm feeling lazy.

Got a flat, than this happens:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...26b49f95a2.jpg
Cheap tool

Last night going home, someone about to jump in a taxi yelled at me, "There is a BIKE LANE!" I don't understand because there is not a bike lane on Broadway. And I'm sure he was referring to a law that he is sure exists and does not. I was tempted to stop and educate him, but I know better. I think his complaint was that the taxi he was hailing was behind me, and I guess in the passenger's eyes, I was delaying the taxi by about 350 milliseconds. My bad.

OK, my vow is to stay out of this thread just to talk about the weather on my commute. If it ever gets below 45 in the morning, I'll be surprised. And it never rains in California ... but it pours. Man, it pours.

Anyway, this morning I was cut off ... by two other cyclists. I had a green light, a nice little incline before a turning rise over a bridge. I like to be able to keep my speed up for that. So I see these two approaching the intersection, and at first I thought they were on the sidewalk, as that happens a lot at that spot. But then they both took the street, cutting right in front of me. I locked up my back tire instead of weaving and lane splitting. I resisted a number of urges to say something, instead just hung in back of the second guy. When he swerved a bit for a parking truck (that I had seen 50 yards earlier), I could tell he was nervous with me behind them, so I passed them up. Just kind of annoying that cyclists can't even pay attention to other cyclists. Or maybe they're just as bad as judging speed as car drivers.

My coldest commute yet. We Houstonians are NOT cold weather people...lol. This is my first cold season since I've started commuting occasionally so there will be many more I'm sure. Of course people think I'm nuts when I tell them I'm riding on a day like this since I have a choice but there has been so many things keeping me off the bike I didn't want to miss the opportunity. Other than the temp the weather was perfect. I still need to better flesh out my cold weather gear but I picked up a mask (which helps a lot, I hate cold face and lungs) and with a few layers I was pretty comfortable except for my toes. I need to get some shoe covers. I'll get some proper insulated bibs or leg warmers at some point but today I just used my normal bibs with a long john layer, Under Armour layer, windbreaker and warm non-cycling gloves. It's going to have to get colder or wetter keep me off the bike!

Enough snow today to talk me out of commuting for a while.

I'll keep commuting but not on bike for a while. ;)

I fell. I made a decision to take a slightly longer route to work which means a nice MUP for the last two miles of my route. Although the recent rains and 33F temp made the MUP not so nice. All the roads up to it were mostly dry. But the MUP had quite a bit of standing water and wet leaves. But those didn't get me. It was the third or fourth wooden bridge with a slight bend in it. I think it was somewhat icy.

I wasn't going fast at all, but just a little turn of the handlebars and down I went. I slid on the wood for about 5 feet then hit the concrete and popped up like I hit second base. No major injuries though bruised a little. I had to put the chain back on and remove a leaf from the derailleur. But then got back on and continued, although a bit more slowly. On another bridge I felt the front wheel start to slip again but was able to correct it in time. I was wishing I had not chosen to take that route.

Otherwise we have sunny, clear skies - first sight of the sun since Sunday. Warming to 55+ I believe.

I tried that too but if it weren't for the weather this time of year I wouldn't have anything to write about! 30F this morning and most of the ice and snow are gone... except on the bridges. I expected them to still be icy, didn't want to ride the studded tire bike, and almost didn't ride at all but figured I would ride my regular commuter and walk across the bridges. Right, stop and get off and walk! There are 4 bridges on the MUP for my route. They were all horrible rutted ice and interesting to see the road leading to and from them stays icy as well. I didn't fall but scared the crap outta myself. The sun's out and supposed to get into the upper 30's so I'm expecting less terror going home.

50F, heavy mist

Yesterday's storm was worse than some predicted, particularly taking by surprise the governments responsible for keeping the roads safe. Many people commuting by all modes were very delayed, sometimes for five hours. In West Orange, NJ, some kids had to sleep at school. I'm not sure conditions were slicker than usual because of the nature of the storm or because there was no sanding or salting. I'm glad I didn't take my bike!

We had heavy rain overnight, and the temperature steadily rose at the same time, so here in NYC, the snow is almost completely gone. I played it safe, but I think I could have cycled. It's just as well. It's very windy. Lots of trees were downed or broken.