Biked to my yearly physical this morning. Took my lightest bike, the 700x25 2003 Felt F-65. Slightly faster than the 20" Dahon Folder and 700x28 '84 Nishiki 12-speed, but it feels so much faster due to the rhigh pressure, skinny tires. Still, it was comfortable except for the roughest stretches of pavement. Even did a hundred yards of gravel.

I'm exceedingly healthy for a 64-year-old, but 2 inches shorter than the 5'10" stature I enjoyed for decades.

Got to work by 10:30 with an early noon close. Didn't even change out of my bike clothes, which at that point was just shorts and a Hi-viz t-shirt as the temp was 60F.

On the way home I passed by a host of geese in the park:

Congratulations on your health, BobbyG. I'm one year older, and how healthy am I? A lot better than a typical guy of my age but a lot worse than I wish. I need to practice gratitude, and maybe that will give me energy to address the little problems I have. It freaks me out how many doctors I have and how often I have to see one or the other. OK, well, I have ridden about 1,100 miles this year, most of it commuting miles. On BF, it's not amazing, but I know plenty of people who couldn't even dream of riding that much.

I think I am forming a new year's resolution. I will ride more bike because it cures so much of whatever ails me, physically and emotionally. When I don't commute by bike, I will ride for fun and fitness. I don't crave a ride for the sake of a ride, so I take very few rides like that. But when I do, it makes me very happy.

I'm also walking more than I used to. This is very good, and it exercises me in ways that cycling doesn't.

In 2021, in the 18 months between jobs when I was working for myself at home and having trouble getting the motivation to get out on the bike, walking was often the solution. I'd set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes and walk until the alarm told me it was time to turn back. No special clothing or shoes needed (since I almost always wear shoes that allow me to walk or stand comfortably). I found a water bottle holder that velcroed to my belt. And when I fastened it just over my right rear pants pocket it is out of the way of my swinging arms and is in a place it doesn't sway to avoid the annoyance factor.

Ha! It turns out I wasn't done for the year. Contrary to the forecast from last week the sky has cleared, also the pavement has dried, and even though it was -5°C (23F) with windchill of -9°C (16F), I had tailwind and a nice sunrise, so the ride to work was actually very pleasant.
Tomorrow is not even a regular work day (dumb company party mid-day), so I am not sure what I will do, but it is not inconceivable that I roll into that party wearing fluorescent clothes and red cheeks and nose. The party is in a restaurant couple of kilometers from the company so everyone will drive... Almost everyone.

Biked to work this morning a little bit early so I could stop in and get some blood drawn. It was 14° f which isn't too too cold for me. I took the main commuter the 2015 charge plug non-electric. I had to replace the brifters last summer with microshift 8s. They were a little sticky when the cold weather came. So I shot them up with three-in-one oils dry lube which is rated for -50° or something. Plus it's supposed to be safe for plastic parts. I had been using it on another bike with brifters that has the cold weather problem and it works. But I guess because I ride the spike more or shift the lot I don't know it had been getting a little difficult to shift like the lever doesn't have a lot of resistance but it doesn't seem to grip the cable and sometimes it takes a couple of tries.

Well this morning the front derailleur shifted just fine but the rear derailleur wouldn't get out of high gear. The last cold snap. I just worked it for 2 or 3 minutes and everything was fine but this shifter did not work this time even after I got to the office. Finally, after it warmed up in the office then it was shifting just fine.

On this bike, the exposed shifter cables run across the top of the top tube, which I always felt was a little awkward. However, with this new problem with the shifters, all I had to do to shift was to grab the cable and pull on it. Not ideal since it doesn't stay in gear...but good enough to get up a short hilll.

On the way home in it was 30F. Shifting becane unreliable. So when I go to home I shot some dry lube in my it and all was good again.

I'm sure I would be better at tolerating such low temperatures on a bike if I were exposed to them more frequently. I'm not sure what my limit is, but 14ºF is below it.

I have some great hiking boots which keep me warm, and fantastic for walking, and are pretty good for cycling, too. Foot problem solved. My hands are much colder the last couple of years. It's some kind of medical change that my doctor has no idea about. I used to have the warmest hands. Now they are sometimes colder than my spouse's hands.

noglider my current glove situation seems to be the warmest so far. 3M thinsulate winter gloves over medium-weight leatherette work gloves. Both over and under gloves are so omewat breathable even though the outer gloves are water resistant.

That's good to know, and I wonder if it would suffice for me. Having two layers of gloves has, so far, given me problems, so I hope these Wisconsinite mittens Smaug1 turned me onto prove they are up to the task.

Last commute of 2025 was fun and unusual.

All the weather apps said it was 34F on the way to 60F. But it in fact 24F according to the bike thermometer, and I was one layer too light, including gloves, and yet, again, it wasn't too bad. It rose to 28F by the time I reached work.

I took the main commuter and it shifted flawlessly after I had spritzed 3-in-One dry lube in the right brifter after its reluctance to shift on the previous ride (at 14F).

I passed a house about halfway in and noticed the life-size pair of reindeer amongst the lawn decorations...except they were moving. They were real deer, on each side of a hanging hummingbird feeder heads held high licking it with a large live wild turkey observing up close and a cat observing from the porch.

Later, by the office I passed a homeless guy with a fire going under a juniper bush that was surrounding a utility pole. I called 911. They explained, as they do nowadays, that if the fire is contained in a grill or a managed fire pit away from undergrowth or buildings they will not come. I told them the flames were licking the bush and it was a matter of time before the bush and pole would be engulfed in flames which would disrupt any communicationcables or powerlines on the pole of which there appeared to be many. They said they would dispatch the fire department.

A few minutes later I saw a cop car with lights heading in that direction. On the way home I noticed the block had been cleared of all encampments and there were char marks on the pavement under the bush surrounding the pole.

It was a half-day at work. I left at noon. It was 60F and sunny and I hopped over on the trail which was a little more crowded due to the nice weather and it being New Year's Eve. I felt good and strong and I think I'm gonna try to ride 64 miles for my birthday this year (when the weather permits). It will be my longest ride ever by 7 miles. I have a route around the city picked out so that if I must bail, it won't be hard to either head home or get a ride.

I used to think that people end up in those situations because of mental illness or disability. I've learned to have a bit more compassion, and now I've come to believe that poverty leads to insanity more than insanity leading to poverty. And sometimes it makes the equation for rational behavior different because the risks and rewards are different. Either way, it's a sad part of the world we've created.

Happy New Year everyone, and thank you for taking us on your commutes in 2025. I'll start a new thread for 2026. Thank you Darth Lefty for starting the 2025 thread.

Folks, should we request that this thread be closed? It should at least be un-sticky'd.

The county in charge of the road passed it off to the city, who said it was part of the local HOA. I mentioned to the county that the dirt was scraped from the county road making the berm. So they have agreed to have it “inspected.”

Here's another Wisconsinite tip: heated socks (currently $35 at my local Costco and UL certified) inside the hiking boots. Maybe it doesn't get cold enough there that you need them though? I wear them when I'm taking a ride longer than 5 miles in temperatures below about 45 °F.

I took an eBike on a shopping mission once over break and it wouldn't upshift. I thought of your adventures along this line. Later, I was in the LBS and I noticed the shift cables are marketed as not needing lube. I think what happened was that at some point, shifting got to be high effort and I squirted oil in there. Then later, winter came and the oil thickened up or froze, crippling shifting. I think the long term solution for us might be new cables & housings with dry lube squirted in, but NEVER any kind of wet lube. Thoughts?

My brother's bipolar and caring for my mom, who has Alzheimer's. Neither one of them is doing well, but neither one of them wants to relinquish any control. I think my brother might end up homeless as he makes horrible decisions and won't listen to anyone. I'm likely going to have to wrestle legal control from him to get Mom into a place where she can be properly cared for.

I agree.

I think the solution to sticky cables is new cables and new housings which is not that expensive, just time consuming. My issue is definitely not the cables. It is absolutely the mechanism in the shifter unit, not the derailleur.

On the ride home tonight on the 16-in folder. The airZound air horn earned its keep at least twice. I am lit up like an emergency vehicle and yet people don't check the rear view mirrors before pulling u-turns.

I have my phone GPS feeding into my ear when I'm on the small bike and the speeds are deceptive. Because of the 2 and 1/8 in wide tires when it is just a smooth straight of head, the bike faster than it feels. But any change turn bump or whatever in the bike feels much faster than it's really going because of All the mechanical commotion and gyrations due to the short wheelbase and weird frame design. But it rarely feels out of control.

That bike looks uncomfortable. I'm glad it's not. You've done clever things with it, too.

I'm fortunate enough to live ~1 mi from my work site, 1.5 miles if I stick to pavement (via bicycle). I had preferred the bike commute for the longest time. I had a triple hernia repair a couple of years ago that left me unable to cycle for a few weeks, however I could walk after a couple of days.

I have come to appreciate the safety and calmness of walking (relative to cycling) for commuting, although it isn't without it's risks and near-misses of course, as I cross some highway onramps/offramps. I can multitask, send work messages, or just tune out and experience my surroundings a bit more. More broadly, I think that walking as a general activity is a hallmark of good physical and mental health. As a cyclist, I value the utilitarian aspects, but am mostly a competitive cyclist for 20 or so years (now Master's racer 40+ age group)

TMonk I discovered the advantages and joys of walking late in life, too. The delay was caused by my love of cycling. In January 2025, my spouse and I took a vacation where we walked 5 to 9 miles a day, and we realized we really like it. Her goal is 30 minutes of walking per day. I should make a similar goal. Nowadays I do more errands on foot. I'm extremely lucky that I live in an area where that's possible. I walk to my pharmacy, supermarket, dry cleaner, and several other places. For a little extra exercise, I carry my groceries and don't use any wheeled gadgets.