Seemed like a lot of traffic this morning. Maybe all the cagers pulled the same stunt I did: Oh, look, it's raining. Maybe it'll stop if I wait a few minutes. Then after a while, Oh, well, I've got to go or I'll be late -- and the rain that's been teasing for a while waits until you're in the worst possible spot (halfway there and waiting at the LONG light on a bike, or parked far across the parking lot in the car) and then it pours. Wring out the socks and stuff the shoes with newspaper before you hit the shower!

It was rather warm compared to what it's been lately, low fifties, so I stayed comfortable while riding.

weather is looking like it will cooperate for me to do some riding this week. With a major interstate shut down and my unwillingness to pay for parking it makes driving even worse.

Thursday I shoveled the snow from 2 spots on this side street so I could feed quarters for the day. Someone parked their GTI in my spot, (you are welcome GTI driver) and I am glad I shoveled a second so that I would have room to park the van on the side of the street without sticking out in the road.

Crazy busy weekend with various grandparents in town for my daughters' dance performances. Now back to the Monday.

My phone read 30F outside when I woke up, but I felt a little overdressed as it must have warmed up some by the time I left. A high of > 60 this afternoon. I seem to have been leaving a few minutes later than I like recently and thus cutting my route short by about a mile or so.

Is it Monday already? 31F with beautiful clear skies.

Beautiful morning: crisp, clear, bright, only one small cloud on the horizon left from the started-Thursday-and-lasted-the-weekend front. I was dressing as lightly as I thought I could stand so I won't be overdressed for the return trip, and pretty much nailed it.

Then a half a mile up the road, I'd climbed 30 feet right into that one little cloud. Rode in the thick fog the last 3/4 of the way to work, re-routing a few times to smaller streets with less, and slower, traffic. At least the rain jacket was part of the outfit!

It felt like I was doing a "recovery ride" this morning, not because I was wearing office clothes and didn't want to sweat (I was), but mainly because it didn't feel like I had "the juice" for much more effort. Maybe from my 8 mile "long run" yesterday where I switched routes to get more hills and some off-pavement sections.

I had to take my mother-in-law to the airport this morning and so I drove from there to work. Nice day out for a ride too.

I'm pleasantly surprised to ride to work today, maybe I'll get another commute in before the end of the year.

So I've noticed an interesting phenomena. The client where I've been working lately has a parking ramp attached to their building. The entrance and exit to the ramp is via a one-way alley. As you exit the ramp and come out of the alley, the view of the sidewalk is very limited. To give warning to pedestrians that a car is coming, they installed a sensor that sounds an warning bell when a car is approaching.

None of my bicycles ever trip this sensor, except for my winter bike. That bike trips it every single time. I'm wondering if it's some sort of mass sensor? I know my winter bike is significantly heavier than all my other bikes.

Magnetic or optical would be my guesses

Steel vs aluminum? There are several big convex mirrors on one section of trail that weaves through downtown buildings. I regularly freak out seeing my own flashing light as I approach thinking it's a car! 29F this morning, clear, no wind.

I ran into the security guy in the hall and asked him about the sensor. He didn't know for sure, but he thought it was optical. If it was, I would think that any bike I used would set it off.

My winter bike is aluminum. My fixie is steel, and that doesn't set it off. So it doesn't seem to be magnetic either.

The mystery continues!

Consecutive commute number 671 will be my final one of the year. We're leaving tomorrow to visit family and I won't be back until New Years. I managed to make it another year without driving to work a single time.

This morning was 26F with a little fog and a light wind. Easy ride on the hybrid.

Assuming I ride straight home (current plans) that will put my final 2018 mileage at 2955. I usually try and hit 3000 per year, so I came up just a hair short.

Color?!

On behalf of all here on this forum, I offer you a standing ovation. Bravo.

Seconded. Awesome, Tundra Man.

Brilliant! Today is also my last riding day for the year. After reading your post I checked and I will miss my usual 4000+ commuting miles by 100 miles - first time I've missed the 4000 mark since 2012. That was such a hard and fast goal for me but I'm totally ok with it because it's because I worked less, not rode less, this year. Happy holidays everyone - see you next year!

yes, strong work, tundra man. that's an impressive streak!

it was strangely warm in chicago this morning. 45, cloudy, damp, moderate S wind (7mph).

it's hard to believe that xmas is less than a week away when i'm sweating profusely on my morning bike commute into work.

This morning was dry-rain-dry-rain-pouring-dry-rain. Oh, and dark. Clouds are absolutely racing across the sky now. Annual commute is currently sitting at 4774kms and my goal was 4750kms, so I'm happy.

Followed a guy on a dutch style ebike this morning. He was sitting straight up, wearing a black peacoat and a scarf; very stylish. I was doing 250w. He must have done well over 300w with the fatter tires and the super-non-aero posture. If all I did was commute, I would absolutely get an ebike like that.

35F, gray. Some trees across the MUP from yesterday's windstorm. My last commute of the year today.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ceacf986f2.jpg

Going home last night, I need to push a button to get a 'cross' light to cross 5 lanes of pretty high speed traffic. Well, I rolled up right when the light was green going perpendicular to me, which meant when it turned red I would still have to wait another cycle to get my cross light. Fair enough. After that cycle, I was about to get my cross signal, but a cop game blasting through, kept it red, and skipped my turn, I had to wait another cycle. This happened twice more! The cops were a light cycle apart from each other! I had to wait 4 cycles before I decided to use the red the last cop (that I saw) was running to get across the 2 lanes in front of me, then wait for the cars drafting the cop to pass by and then I could cross the other two lanes to get to my trail. Theoretically that was legal because we have a law that you only have to wait one cycle for a red light not to change before you can work your way across it.

Working late into the year, the kids get off the week of New Year easier than the week of Christmas, so they're coming home next week.

Stopped raining last night, and it was crisp and clear this morning. Hardly any traffic on the streets. And for the record, I didn't have to scrape the windshield again today!

Highs 30's and a little wind but I beat the rain! Hit my 2k goal this morning. Really tempted not to ride the rest of the year but with the amount of food available there's a voice in my head saying you should ride fat boy...

Surprisingly warm this morning, although there's a heavy cloud layer. Back to knee warmers (which took me too long to find, after two weeks of tights) and warm LS jersey, no jacket! Not to mention how lovely the quiet ride to work was.