I started my bike commuting adventure in October of 2010. For 5+ of those years it was a daily work commute (8 miles round trip) year round here in DC. Rain, snow, ice, heat, cold, wind, perfect days, all of the above it sometimes seemed! We moved to South Alexandria, Virginia in October of 2015 and from there my commute went to around 20 miles round trip. Same deal as before just longer! But it's time to step back from daily commuting for a bit.

We have a very energetic Weimeraner now and his quality of life demands a morning run so I'll be out with him in the dark morning hours in the local forest preserve and then using public transportation to come in to work.

Back in 2010, I gave myself one year to use my old bike and prove to myself I would stick with it. I then picked up a Bianchi, Iseo which carried me through and was rebuilt once with many many minor fixes along the way and about a billion flats.

Keep commuting and helping to increase awareness and adoption of bicycle commuting. I would'nt change a thing over these years, even the frozen days, and I look forward to coming back for the occassional commute.

Keep riding!

Always good to allow yourself a break. I think you'll be back eventually.

I'm a fairweather commuter who probably does better with the break from riding in the winter. It's more effort to ride again in the spring, but the return of the riding season does me good.

any predators (animal or human) in the forest preserve?

You will be missed, but enjoy the morning outings with your dog!

I skipped bike commuting for my first five years here because of a dog who needed out of the apartment. Miss her...

I find my winter layoffs make me miss riding such that I get downright giddy when spring starts showing. I can ride in sub-zero fahrenheit but if per chance there might be ice on the road, I drive.
I think it's okay to take a break occasionally, but given a choice of riding to work or walking the dog, the dog's getting shot.
Anyway, respect, dogs can be fun but just because you can't ride to work, there are plenty of oppurtunities to get back in the wind.

Oh yeah, we had an encounter with a howling coyote about twwo weeks ago. Freaked me out!

Came across a coyote on the MVT in Belle Haven last year after dark. Kind of surprised both of us. It ran off into the woods.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 When I had a Newfoundland this wasn't practical (he was 200lbs, but he also didn't want to move fast). With smaller dogs, I've had good luck with it on a little Dahon. Bad knees, so running it out for me; but pedaling works, and not hard to be slow enough to make it interesting for the dog without making it *too* fast ;>

Taking a break is good. I have worked up to the point of commuting as long as it's not raining. I can deal with the mild winter cold, but rain, not really.

I hope you continue to take the occasional weekend ride! Come back soon!