Wow, I'm surprised Wisconsonites (Wisconsonians?) find 70º too cool to ride? I imagine yooze would wait until it's 30ºF before switching from shorts to long pants.

You are probably thinking of narrow-wide. NW rings are incompatible with front shifting. No longer dropping the downshift and grinding the upshift are not the original reason for 1x drivetrains, but it was a nice side effect that drove the proliferation. But you can't have that and also odd-numbered tooth counts, or shift gates. Skip tooth was an ancient single speed thing. Early chains did not have rollers. The inner links were a stack of plates, or solid. When googling for a photo of a skip tooth, I discovered they are now trying them in go-karts - obviously insane, but you know how fads go. Meanwhile don't even try googling for block chain, hahaha

You're right, I meant narrow-wide. (will correct original post)

I found that about 8 years ago, my cold tolerance reduced a bit. I was chatting with a friend, that particular topic came up and she pointed out that that was around the time I started taking my fitness more seriously (running at the time, picked up regular cycling too a few years later) and trimmed out what small amount of fat my body had, effectively shedding my natural insulation. What's interesting is my my weight really didn't change much but how I carried it and where did.

I can't use that excuse. I'm significantly fatter than I was 10 years ago.

I suppose fat can sometimes help insulate for cold temperatures but that can't be the only thing. I'm thin and tolerate low temperatures well, and some fat people don't.

I notice my tolerance goes up and down from winter to winter, and I suppose acclimation is one big factor. My weight doesn't vary much from year to year or season to season.

To acclimate to the cold, I expose myself to it at least a few seconds a day. Also since I want ride as much as possible through the winter, I find it's a good idea to ride at least once a week. Without doing that, missing a week of riding in the cold makes the time I get back on harder.

One winter during Pandemic, my morning ritual included going outside naked (I was living in the woods at the time) and standing there barefoot. Some days it was brutally cold, so I didn't stay out more than a few seconds, but I also didn't incur any pain. Ever since then, my feet tolerate cold much better, even now, a few years later.

I forgot to mention that Monday's ride in to work was the first of the season with long pants, and the second with the wind-breaker.

Yesterday I rode the 20" Dahon Boardwalk folder, which had been feeling neglected. It felt a little loose in the steering mast and frame hinge, so before leaving work I tightened both and the bike felt more solid.

For the ride in I was back to shorts and t-shirt only, and the ride home.

There was a stiff wind from the north, north-west which made the north portion of my ride a little tough, but once I turned east it was a little easier. Having low-ish bull bars helps cut through the wind as opposed to the original straight bars.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2199:

Not a bad morning temp-wise. 66°F with barely any wind. The temp is only supposed to top out around 72°F as well, which will be a nice change from the warm temps we've been having (yesterday was predicted to be 89°F and wound up actually being 93°F.)

Rain is supposed to be moving in later today, so I preemptively rode the hybrid with fenders. First time since June 3rd, and I've only put about 200 miles on this bike so far this calendar year. Considering how much rain we've had, that's actually a bit surprising that I've ridden it so little. The rain has been conveniently avoiding most of my usual commute times. The tires on the bike were down to 20 psi prior to me pumping them up, so I know it has sat unridden for a while.

I had a driver get aggressive with me this morning. Thankfully It happens seldom enough that when it does occur it catches me off guard.

I pulled up to a "T" intersection coming off a quiet residential street, signalling to turn right onto a busy artery. I usually have to sit for a minute or two until a gap in traffic happens. While I was sitting and waiting, a truck pulling a trailer came up behind me. I saw in my mirror that the driver was also signalling for a right turn.

About 1/4 mile down the road I could see a gap in traffic forming, and was preparing to merge once the gap reached me. The truck driver must have also seen the gap, and began to pull around my left side to try and make a right turn in front of me. The truck was close enough that I knew if that happened, the trailer being pulled would have cut the corner sharper and likely taken me out.

So I moved over in front of the truck to block it and signaled with my hand for the driver to wait. Apparently that angered the driver. The traffic gap reached us and I made my right turn onto the road. The truck driver pulled out immediately on my tail, then I guess in order to show dominance passed me on the right and gunned the engine.

<sarcasm>I certainly learned my lesson about who is more virile.</sarcasm> Oh well. Better an angry driver than a dead me.

I feel fortunate that most of my incidents with drivers are "nicehole" mistakes

Called to ride home early, chemo kid got suspended again. He did four bad things, but the first one was so bad we have no idea how he was allowed to carry on for three more

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2200: That's a nice round number.

This morning was the first morning of the season where I wore clear glasses because of the morning darkness. I've had a few other mornings that were right on the edge, but close enough to sunrise that I still wore sunglasses.

The weather forecast has been all over the place. Depending on the hour, it may rain or it may not. It rained most of the night, but at the time I checked this morning it the rain chances were low for the rest of the day so I decided to risk it and take the road bike. The pavement was still wet in spots, but I didn't get sprayed too bad.

I got about 3/4 mile from home and was thinking, "boy, I sure feel spry today." Then I suddenly realized that I had left my backpack sitting in my garage when I was looking for my clear glasses. So I turned around and rode back home to get it, and then started off for work again. Thankfully I realized the missing backpack right when I was about to go down a monster hill. That would have stunk to climb back up that hill to return. It's bad enough climbing that hill at the end of my work day; I definitely don't want to do it twice.

About a mile and a half from work I saw a cell phone laying on the pavement. I circled back and picked it up. The screen was shattered, and it looked like it had been sitting in the rain all night. It would no longer power on, and even if it did from the condition it didn't appear to be in a useable state. As long as it was already in my hands I decided to take it with me and dispose of it at work so at least it wouldn't be adding rubble to the roadway.

Rode again today. The weather has been great. We haven't had a drop of rain in over a month, which is not great at all, but that does make for good cycling weather. I just haven't been riding. About 10C/50F this morning, and for me it's still shorts weather, but I did throw on a thin long-sleeve shirt over my t-shirt, and I wore gloves. Back when I rode through the fall, I was good in shorts down to about 4C/40F, and that's when the long pants, toe covers, windbreaker and bandana would come out. Even when I rode a lot more than I do now, I rarely rode in the winter.

Speaking of not riding much, I did ride about 100km/62 miles this past Saturday. Not all at once; it was spread out over the whole day. I would ride somewhere, lock the bike and do stuff on foot, rinse, repeat, over about 15 hours. Anyway, 100km is not really that far. I used to do randonneuring, where the starting distance is twice that. However, a certain part of my anatomy is obviously not used to it anymore. I seriously worried that I had done some real damage to my posterior by the time I got home. Five days later, I'm fine, no permanent damage done.

I'll share a picture I took on last week's ride home. A couple years ago, someone painted "HOWDY" on a concrete barrier, which was quickly removed, but not before I got a picture and posted it here. Now it says "SURA" and I don't know what that means and I don't want to Google it. Probably just a tag.

Have a great day everyone.

Sorry about your kid, Darth Lefty. I'm gearing up to call parents for the first time to talk about behavior.

Speaking of shorts, one of my colleagues -- a man -- is wearing shorts today. I want to wear shorts, too, but my own tendencies or beliefs or whatever won't let me show up to work in them. I do need to change my values or whatever they are because I'm the only one in the school who wears a tie. I wonder what. message people are getting from that. What is a good way for a male teacher to dress in a public school?

And yes, I wear a tie while riding a bike in the city. Sometimes the people I pass on the street laugh, and I'm cool with that

I don't work in a school, I work in an office, for a medical doctor originally from the UK, to provide some context. When I started with the company about 11 years ago, you would never see the boss without a jacket and tie. The staff would dress accordingly on the days he was in the office, which was only once a week. By "accordingly", for me that meant khakis and a button-down shirt. Times change, and I haven't seen my boss wear a jacket or tie now in several years. I still wear a button-down shirt on meeting days, but it's more of a casual shirt that I leave untucked, and I'm permanently in (nice, clean) jeans, and on hot days when I know the boss will be away, I'm not above wearing shorts and a t-shirt. And sandals. I've seen teachers at my kids' schools wearing shorts. Casual Friday creep, I guess.

I am hardly the right one to ask about sartorial splendor. I've been wearing t-shirts to work for about eleven years since coming back from paternity leave for my first kid. But if I were to start on it again, I think, sport jackets with lots of texture in the fabric, khakis/chinos and nicer slim cut jeans, sneakers that are all one color that have some suede. Shirts that have some interest to the styling, not plain. A corduroy jacket with leather elbows might be a little too on the nose for a NYC teacher!

I'm going to get a lap in today pretty soon here when the nanny arrives for the afternoon shift.

Edit - nanny arrived half an hour late and it was another half before I got it together to leave. I rode to work - warm - and discovered I'd forgotten my badge. Rode home, got badge, drove back again

Today hasn't exactly been bad but it hasn't really been adequate either

Times have changed in NYC, too. A tie with no jacket was very common among male teachers when I was a kid. My mentor -- who is over 80 -- still recommends it to me. I'm thinking I might give it up. Currently, I might give a stuck-up vibe, at least on first meeting because it's so old fashioned and weird. But I also enjoy being quirky. I mix metaphors. I wear a dress shirt, dress pants, a tie, and ... sandals ... and a cycling jacket. I haven't worn the jacket inside school, though, because there's no need to yet. The building might get cold, but being an old building with steam heat, it's more likely to be overheated in the winter, and I don't know what I'll do in that case. Well, I guess I do: I'll get used to it, but I'm not looking forward to it.

I didn't feel like riding in yesterday or today. I haven't decided about tomorrow (Friday). I'm getting used to a lot. I've been good about packing lunch which I think most teachers do. I get up at 6am, and I take a lot of time making breakfast and lunch.

My commute is only 30 minutes whether I take the subway or the bike, so relative to most commutes I've had, they're both very easy. And I haven't taken Citi Bike on this commute yet, but it's another option. The human powered model is a damn pain on hills, and the bridge is a long-ish hill. The electric model makes hills easy, but I pay by the minute, and the cost is greater than a subway ride, so I rarely take an electric one for any reason.

Pleasant, uneventful rides in and out yesterday. About 42Fi the morning. Rode my main commuter... the Charge Plug. A couple of months ago I had replaced the broken Shimano brifters with Microshift units. The first two rear shifts exhibited the same non-engagement as the Shimanoso on my early 2000s Felt did in the cold. O that bike I used this 3 in one graphite spray that cleans, lubes and is safe for plastic. I will probably do that for the Microshift.

I've been talking my street routes as the trail route is just too crowded.

Share bikes: It's been more than a decade since I tried Velib on my honeymoon, but they had a scheme where it was free to ride to a station sufficiently uphill. This is a nice notion but I guess the bridge doesn't count! However I remember an article more recently where hustlers were riding between adjacent stations for some kind of reward. Maybe you could use that reward the way it's supposed to be used?

Fashion: My dad every day wore short sleeves with ties. I think that started going away about the time my career started. I remember joking with someone how it's the outfit of the guy that comes to fix the copier. Thinking more on it, for myself I might tend toward the tarted-up versions of bowling/mechanic shirts that the most formal thing they sell at REI

Yes, the big hill is called Montmartre, and I think they're giving refunds to those who pick up a bike somewhere else and dock it at the top.

NYC Citi Bike has a program called Citi Bike Angels. You get points for taking from a full station, and you get points for docking at an empty station, and the stations giving the most points changes from minute to minute. Some people spend a lot of time "angeling" bikes here and there, and a few make a living at it. They get credits which can be applied to membership fees so you end up paying less. You need a ton of credits to be able to convert them to money. There is an app that shows the opportunities of the minute.

As made famous by the last stage of this year’s Tour

That scheme is a good idea. What do people do after dropping one off? Walk to get another? In London they have vans (sometimes electric) shifting them around in busy periods.

Commute today was the first sub-10° since March. Nice northerly wind, “Feels Like” about 4°.

Wasn’t even sweaty after just over 2 hours of riding, and did a pretty decent pace at times. Winter is coming.

Listen man, it's the day after the solstice equinox. I know they rolled out the pumpkin spice in August this year but have mercy.

What I remember from the Citi Bike news article, is that hustlers would work in a crew to fill one station and empty one adjacent, and shuttle the the bikes. The people in charge were trying to figure out a way to prevent it. It's been a year or two since the article, though.

I woke up a little sick, sore throat. I've been that way for a few days but it's worse. My daughter has had the same thing, and also seemed to be having a rough time last night. Will probably still ride but need to get the kids out the door and some banking calls done first.

The company also uses vans. Citi Bike angels walk or run to the next station, sometimes in a circuit going from full station to empty station and back. A friend of mine has a son who made it to the top of the leaderboard as published by the app. He was working as a dog walker so the dog would trot along side him as he rode the bike and then trot as he walked back. He was in very good physical shape. It seems like a decent way to make a living as well as build condition.

I was signed up to participate in the annual NYC Century Ride but I was swamped with work so I skipped it. Very sad. In late afternoon, I took my fixie across town and got a haircut. The 3 mile round trip was my ride for the day.

This morning I figured I might as well take my fixie again to work. I carried it up the stairs to my office on the 4th or 5th floor. That's more vigorous than the ride. I think I might not take my regular commuter bike up the stairs anymore since it's pretty heavy and my bag is heavy, too.

Rat count: one old (that has been there a while) and one freshly dead one.

Feeling a weird, not exactly skip feeling but a giving away that didn’t seem to line up with anything. Third break in a few months after having no chain problems for years and years. I can’t even remember the last one before this year that I broke riding, although there may have been a few bent stiff from hauling them around. I had a really awful shift a few weeks ago, with a big twang. Maybe that was it.

I wonder what could have caused that. One possibility is that it's not made by the company you think. I've seen stories of counterfeits.

Often, when I think of taking my fixed gear bike, I get a feeling of "oh, that would be such a chore" but it's an unnecessary feeling. I guess I've really become comfortable on it. One challenge on a fixie is going down hills. The speed gets up high enough to where it's hard for your legs to keep up, and your body is bouncing and not spinning smoothly. On my way home yesterday (Monday), I was on the downward incline on the Brooklyn Bridge going about 20 mph, and it felt almost as if I was freewheeling.

One thing that is gratifying about bike commuting is seeing myself improve at whatever measure. I can't say I'm faster than others because I'm not anymore. I can't say I'm faster than I used to be because I'm slower than before. But now I spin more smoothly and comfortably than before. Maybe the next challenge is to lower my gear ratio so I have to spin faster. Just kidding, I'm not likely to do that.

Road kill report: this time, two birds. That's weird. Why am I so obsessed with road kill?

No bike commuting because no work today and tomorrow. It's Jewish New Year, and NYC schools are closed. I'm observing the holiday. Yay!

Re. dress code for work, it's business casual in my office. Executive level staff have to dress nicer. Our CEO wears suit & tie every day, no matter what. He demands the same for those who meet with him.
So for me, it's usually dress or khaki slacks and a golf shirt.
This summer, I realized short sleeved button up shirts are better on a bike; they allow all kinds of ventilation options. If it's cooler, tuck in and button all the way up. If it's hotter, undo the top two buttons, untuck and undo every other button for a lot of flow-through.
We're allowed to wear jeans the last Friday of every month. Sometimes, I push it and wear jeans-style pants, that are not denim and not blue, and that seems to go over OK.

Tom, hauling a bike up 4 floors' worth of stairs every day is sure a workout! The school really doesn't have anywhere semi-secure for staff to lock up their bikes at ground level?!

***********

1st ride back on the Aventon Level.2 commuter eBike this morning after a few weeks of it being down. I did my first chain change on it. On the first try, I bought a too-short chain; didn't notice the spec. Used my quick link pliers for the first time. Sprockets were OK. Shifting is still iffy during the upshift from 6→7. (of 8) I crashed the bike twice though, and at least one of those times, the derailleur took a good hit. I wonder if the derailleur hanger is bent. Need to look again. I think Aventon included a spare. I have been commuting on the 15 lb. lighter Tern Vektron S10 while the Level.2 was awaiting its chain. The Level.2 is a lot more work to get going from a stop, unpowered, but it sure rolls nicely and is nice & powerful when I want it. (500 W motor, peaks at 750) I'm going to take this more often on the no-drop group rides where I get someone riding off the front pretending they didn't notice they dropped a bunch of people. ;-) I used some Boeshield T-9 the first time to lube the chain, cables and derailleur pivot points. I put some in some of the fasteners that have started to rust from a couple winters' worth of commuting in the salt. It is a really thin oil, allegedly designed for aerospace, that has some really hard wax when it dries. We'll see how she does!

(Aventon Level.2s are now on finally blow-out for $700 less than I paid for mine. Great bike. No affiliation.)
I wore a windbreaker this morning for the first time. It felt good. Work gloves will come out tomorrow. I slowly acclimate to the weather and it's rare that I feel cold. I think there's the issues of age, circulation, normal body temperature AND fat insulation that all play their parts. I have a low normal body temperature around 97 °F and probably 20 lbs. of excess fat around my torso. (5'9, 166#) But good circulation too, so I just have to take care of my fingers and toes and I'm good. I remember being a kid and wearing a hoody and jean jacket all winter, and winters were COLD back then. I was only ever cold while stationary waiting for the bus.