Good luck Darth, may the force...

No ride today. Nanny called in sick and that made me the nanny, so didn't exchange the truck, just drove it home

best wishes on your upcoming surgery Darth Lefty. If you can't lift the toddlers into their cribs will you teach them how to climb out themselves?

A pleasant uneventful ride in this am with the temp at 14 f degrees. My hands got cold today and they did not yesterday so I think there was a little more wind this am than yesterday.

A decent ride in this morning at 37F and overcast. Forecast had it getting colder, but I guess the clouds lingered and kept it warmer.

I saw another cyclist going the other direction on my way home last night. Quite rare this time of year.

I have congenital aortic stenosis. Basically I was born with one too few flaps in my aortic valve. I was diagnosed seven years ago when I was 42. The doctor said that the cycling/running/swimming I've been doing most of my life is probably why I was able to go so long undiagnosed. It has progressed to the point where the doctor says he'll do the surgery as soon as I give him the OK, but it hasn't progressed to the point where he's going to put his foot down and tell me I can't wait any longer. Every year when I go in for my barrage of tests they're amazed with how active I am as compared to how bad my heart sounds, so I guess I'm thankful that I'm still out there riding and doing stuff. And the doctor says the more active I can be the more I will likely be able to postpone the surgery.

Mine too will be meatball. I need a replacement valve put in, and given my relatively young age I have to have a mechanical valve. Tissue valves only last about 15 years so they usually only put them in older folks. Tissue valves can be done through the vein, but mechanical valves require the chest to be cracked.

From what I understand, they're doing clinical trials in Europe on mechanical valves that can be installed through the vein. I'm hoping to stave off my surgery until that procedure is perfected and is allowed to be performed in the US. I really don't want to have my chest cracked.

"Do you still ride your bike every day to work?" You don't really know which way that's going to go, especially when it's out of the blue and you hadn't met the speaker before. But today it was a coworker saying how "amazing" it was, that I could "keep it up, every day no matter what". And more in that vein which is awkward for me but I admit to feeling a little uplifted afterwards. Just when you think you're anonymous and just doing your own thing, you're reminded that people are watching, taking notes.

Had a great talk on the way home with a friend and fellow commuter. Greg came up behind me (he rides way faster than I do) and slowed down and we chatted for about a mile. We decided that every bicycle commuter has to set his limits. Greg doesn't ride when there's more than 2" of unplowed snow or if it's raining. He told me that, "I'm not as hard-core as you." However Greg rode more than 13,000 miles last year, and I came up just shy of 3,000. I don't consider myself hard-core at all when I look at that kind of mileage. Also, Greg doesn't let any temperature stop him, and my wife puts the kibosh on me riding if the air temperature is colder than -10°F. As we approached a section of the MUP that is still covered in rutted ice, he bid me farewell. Rutted ice is another thing he won't ride on, so he opted to take a very busy street for about a mile to avoid this section of the MUP. I picked the ice. Had a couple of close calls, but managed to keep the bike upright.

This morning was 28°F (very warm for January) with a rare combination of fog and wind. Usually wind will blow the fog away, but not this morning. The fog was freezing a bit on windshields and the pavement. I had to ride 8 miles straight into the wind, which was firm but not blustery. Had a few close-passes, which was a bit unusual. I might get one now and then, but more than one in the same day is rare.

I've got to enjoy the warm weather while I can. We're supposed to be below zero by the end of the week, which is much more normal for South Dakota winters.

If it's any comfort, I broke my hip socket in a cycling accident in 2013 that put me out of action for 6 months. Then made a big effort to get back cycling again only to discover I had bad sciatic pain which, eventually had to be operated on in 2017.....then I was very slow to get back on the bike but did (after an oil leak in my car forced me to commute by bike......) now I'm back commuting 6 months and never been stronger. It's a tiny bit of a slog starting after a long break but it's totally do-able.

Best of luck!!
Lorcán.

Just a couple weeks off and warm weather, and I'm back to trying to figure out how to dress for cold weather cycling (again!). Yesterday was colder than I expected, and my gloves left my hands half frozen. So I went with heavier gloves and LS base layer today, and ended up thoroughly sweat-dampened. Still, I felt pretty good by the time I get to work -- even the heavy traffic on one stretch didn't bother me this morning, I was having too much fun!

yep, the long term forecast has us staying at or below freezing for the next two weeks at least, so it looks like i'm gonna be on my winter beast for a while.

not the end of the world, but those heavy, slow-rolling, studded tires (marathon winters) add about 5 minutes to my commute.

in the grand scheme, a pretty small price to pay for staying upright, i suppose.

Best wishes [MENTION=326413]darth_lefty[/MENTION] and quick recovery. We had a lot of ice sat- sunday. We lost power at my house. I could have ridden in but I was worried about my rear brake freezing up. My wife asked me to drive because school was delayed and she thought the rThe roads were fine. (guess i never posted this)

I rode today but still waiting on the replacement caliper to come in. I did not use the rear brakes this morning. I saw police and School system people with a school bus on my route. Not sure if the bus got hit or what the deal was. I prayed that the kids were all right.

It was supposedly 34F but i saw 29F on the way in. I was comfortable other than worrying about my rear brake seizing up. I

Rain was light when I started but turned heavy by the time I reached work. Looking at the afternoon forecast it will be wet ride home too.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Keep in mind that if you have to sling the trike around much, or fix a flat, that may involve >10#. The extent to which your identity is as a cyclist is less than the extent to which it is as a living person.

With Viadoom/Carpocalypse my wife has been telecommuting this week, don't know when she will next drive to the Big City...

[MENTION=326413]darth_lefty[/MENTION] I wish you well on your surgery, I know they are no fun! If possible to get in better shape on the upper half and core I would recommend it. You will lose fitness regardless but if you start at level 10 instead of 6 you'll be better off. Lessons learned for me!

Recoveries are no fun, I am still seeing a homecare nurse, at school actually, from last June.

The ride itself was pleasant . Though I was not happy with the blue car that did not stop at the stop sign and came out forcing me to go into the next lane which is a turning lane, and still into the next lane which had a car coming directly at me. Then the blue car stops allowing me back into the correct lane. Pay attention! Gusty winds promised for the ride home this afternoon. Yeah!

We had another 4 inches of snow tonight, and lots of it was still there on the streets and sidewalks by the time I was riding to work so the morning commute was... eventful. Got showered with slush a few times, but apart from that did quite allright.

Clear skies last night led to a colder morning today. I saw 22F when I first woke up, but it was about 30 by the time I got to work. I took a MUP for the last two miles that I don't often take. It has quite a bit of spots with water running across, even days after the last rain. This morning several of those were icy patches and I slowed down and unclipped a foot to cross them.

I installed my new Topeak rack and bag last night. It has collapsible panniers. I used those today to bring in a warmer shirt and a jacket for the office. Before this, bigger items would require a backpack or bringing on a day I drive to work. Loving it!

21 degrees this morning. Not so bad for most of my body. But it turns out my gloves are woefully inadequate for 21. They are find down to about 30 for my 20 minute ride. But 21 pushed them well past their limit this morning.

I got some of those hand warmer doohickies that you put in gloves, but I realized they take 20 minutes to become effective right as I was walking out the door for my 20 minute commute. Oops.

Oh well.

I'll stop by the store and get some glove liners.

it was 23F when alarm went off. I reset it. I am afraid that the caliper will lock up in the 20's. The bike shop said that the caliper should be in today. So I drove to bring in the bike and it is supposed to rain. I found my QR for the trainer so I am going to swap the tires and set it up. I guess it is time get the trainer set up since we have the space in the house.

i have a friend who has a bag like that he loves it as well. glad to hear you rode.

Light frost this morning, but I didn't mind because there was SUNSHINE! for the first time in a week.

There was a walker out this morning in a track suit; black leggings with bright yellow thighs on the front, bright yellow stomach, bright green chest, and bright red shoulders and hood. My wife would say something like, "Oh, good, I'll be able to see someone like that as they're jogging in the street." But I was wondering, do the "fashion designers" who come up with these outfits have a secret competition to see how many people they can get to walk around looking like a clown?

Later on in the commute I asked myself, how many jerseys do I have that would qualify in such a competition? (The one I was wearing was covered by a solid yellow jacket at the time.)

Consecutive commute number 682:

Today I am riding more than 20 miles between work locations. I decided I didn't want to ride studded tires that far for the 2nd day in a row (what can I say? I'm lazy.) The rutted ice has evaporated enough that there are only about a dozen spots left where I can't just ride around the ice, and most of those spots are down to 10-20 yards in length. I decided it was worth the risk to take my hybrid without studs.

So last night in preparation for riding the hybrid I decided to wax the chain, as it was due. I started waxing chains last spring, and for the most part I like that method of lubrication. I started doing this on all bikes except for my winter bike, as that thing had an old rusty chain and I didn't feel like trying to clean it up so I continue to oil that one. I pulled the chain off the hybrid, threw it in my crock pot of lube wax and an hour and half later fished it out an re-installed. Easy peasey.

This morning I woke up to 6F temp with a sub-zero wind chill. We'd had above average temps in the upper 20s for about a week, so it was a little bit of a shock to the system. Nevertheless, I survived the trip intact and even kept the bike upright on the rutted ice.

However, I did learn that a freshly waxed chain and 6F air temps are a bad combination. The chain was a little bit, errr... stiff. I noticed that when I pedaled backwards I would hear an odd noise. I looked down to discover that the chain was so stiff that when I'd spin the crank backwards it would come completely off the front ring and just hop over the teeth. Thankfully I don't have to pedal backwards very often, and it didn't seem to have any trouble gripping the teeth when I would pedal forward.

My bike is sitting in a heated basement right now. Hopefully the chain will loosen up a bit for my ride to the next location in a couple of hours.

Frustrating ride today. DPW announced almost 2 months ago that they would be repairing an MUP bridge and closing that section of trail - then nothing happened. Yesterday they decided it's time to take the next step and close that section of trail. So they had 2 months of clear, relatively warm weather to do the work and now that it's cold, 8" of snow with 2" more coming tonight, they close and route traffic on city side streets that aren't cleared. Genius... argh!