hey there folks....
No, unfortunately i only have my 1 MTB now....
it was fixed by Friday at lunch and i was able to ride it home... so i only missed the morning ride... on Sunday morning i went for a good ride to make up for the Friday morning ride...
got my BB repacked and it rides so nice... i also removed my pannier rack to lighten it up a bit... i bought some degreaser and lube from the LBS too, so i will lube 'er up later this week...
this morning was a little colder... back to normal with a -15c and a -23c windchill... wore tights, longunderwear and windpants.. on top: a long sleeve cotton shirt, a polyester sweater and windbreraker... had a toque and some goggles too... a littl too warm on the legs i think.. i'll try a diff. combo next time.. gonna check out walmart for some cheap polypro shirts..

i plan on biking everyday this week...
keep it up folks!!

jimmi

Week 2 begins great for me. It was 40*F yesterday so I finally got out the hose and brush and beat some of the crusted-on mud off my wheels and drivetrain. Sure felt lighter today!
I've got to be more rigorous about taking the hose to my bike whenever it's above freezing. Soon enough will be a few weeks when I won't have the opportunity. Luckily the bike doesn't get that dirty when it's really cold.

Brrrr... 38F here this morning. That's pretty cold for here.

Boy did you ever pick the month for a challenge! Commuting here in central WI this January has been a breeze, except I need the studs to get out of my drive way. High of 30-32 low of 28-29 every day. What gives? The sub zeros of December had me nervous, but this is too easy.

I only have a 5 mile commute each so I only get nervous at -5 F. Last year my free wheel would stick at that temp and I would have to get off and bang on it to get it loose. Different wheels from a donor bike with nashbar studs are working much better. The old wheels are now my fair weather wheels.

Good luck on the rest of your month!

Bent

5 out of 5 days so far. The forecast calls for flurries on tues and some snow or rain on wed. Hope to be 9 out of 9 this friday.

I've commuted via bike>train>bike every day I have gone to work (M-F) since last May. I see no reason to think January will be any different.

This morning was getting chilly. 13F (-10.5C) as I walked out to the Garage. My water bottle was frozen when I got to work. No wind made for a quite nice ride :)

6/6 so far...14 days to go for the perfect 20/20 ;)

Soon it will be time to think about a February Commuting Challenge :)

Today has been the worst day so far. I woke up extremely sore from my workout last night and didn't want to move, much less get up and hop on my bike. Then I hear the radio saying "Its a freezing drizzle outside ..." and I REALLY wanted to just go back to sleep.

Nontheless, I got up, hopped on my bike and rode in to work. 7/7.

that a (dog)boy!!
we had freezing drizzle/icy snow here this morning too.... the stuff on the ground actually provided some good bite for my tires... it was only -1c when i left...
the clear main road was super fast this morning too.... light layer of snow and black ice/pavement...

jim

Dogboy--are you glad you did it? Or were you draggin when pumping the pedals?

Started out dragging, felt okay by the time I got to work. I'm not dreading the ride home, but I'm not exactly looking forward to it either.

I had a feeling that today and tomorrow would be the worst days, both because my workout schedule is really starting to get going (Transition week 2) and because the high of a new challenge/motivation is starting to taper off. I'm pretty sure that next week will be better if I can get through tomorrow.

8/8 (still have to make it home)
-8C/18F calm
wet roads with some snow/ice patches. yesterday was my first time on my studded tire. it's HEAVY and slow, but after work I rode over to my folks place which took me over all sorts of terrain and it handled it way better than my knobbies.

the forecast for tomorrow is 8C, i'm looking forward to knocking off the first 2 weeks of the year!

ps. i'm going to post in this thread for january instead of HWTCT thread.

8/8 This morning was another challenge to get out of bed. Last night's swim workout really took it out of me, and I didn't want to move.

I rode my JTS today even though there was a film of frost on the roads, but everything went fine. Its just so much nicer to ride than my heavy winter bike, and I couldn't face clogging my way to work again. About 2 miles in I was feeling pretty good.

After getting home I'll be covered for the week since I'm going skiing tomorrow. Aside from my attitude yesterday and today, this has thus far been a great month for commuting, with temps hovering near freezing (32F, 0C) for most rides. Today the high temp is supposed to reach 48!

hey folks....
we had another day of 0c yesterday, so after getting home with a cold wet butt, i put on the old fender.... then, after supper, i took it out for a quick 10k test drive.... not a single dirt splotch on my javet or pants!! love it!!
this morning was a new snow and about -4c/-12c windchill... it was nice.. a little slick with the new snow and slushy underneath, but plugged along at a good pace...
we're getting more snow now and it's supposed to drop in temp to -8Cish by later today... i may have to decrease tire pressure slightly for the ride home...

i love my studded tires!!

jim

man o man.... it was hard to get up this morning.... yesterday was an active day... and colder.... finally!!
temp dropped from -4c at 6am to -14c with a -23c windchill at 4pm-ish, so bike ride home was a little chillier than the ride to work... but good...
then:
i workedout when i got home..
then skated from 6-7pm for my youngest's hockey outdoor practice...
then skated 8-9 for my oldest's outdoor hockey practice
then i played a hockey game at 1015pm... so bikeing, weights and 3 hours skating last night... finally got to bed at 1am after a few barley-sandwiches and was up at 5:20am for the ride....

i felt tired to the max!!
my plan was to get to work early and have a snooze on our couch.... but after biking to work i was awake and not ready for a nap.... instead i had some mini-wheats...

happy friday the 13th!!

jimmi

9 out of 9, with 12 commuting days to go. It feels great to get out of the gates so well this year. I'm ahead of my pace for my mileage goal this year by 46km.

-8C/18F with a little wind.

I took my studs off and put on my knobbies this morning, since most of the snow in my path has melted.

10 out of 10
-6C/21F a little breezy. the shoulders of the roads are covered with ice and snow from weekend weather.

Getting on the steed was a challenge this morning. My body is still recovering from the abuse I put it thru on the weekend. To add to the temptation, my wife has the day off and our car was giving me the 'please drive me' look.

The weekend vacation was great, but I noticed a few things this morning.

1. I forgot to plug in my batteries, so I had to wait until the sun came up to ride in.
2. All the dread and such of Wed. and Thursday were gone and the ride was a snap
3. Finding all my cold-weather gear after taking half of it on vacation with me proved to fill the extra time afforded by #1.

9/9. 11 to go.

11 down, 10 to go.

-6C/21F (Windchill -11C)

Pretty uneventful. I tuned up my RD last night so the ride was much smoother. Need to take a look at the front tonight.

10/10, 10 to go.

Last night I was feeling pretty good and my family was out of town so I took the long way home. This morning was a nice ride, but I can feel a cold coming on...:( Weather continues to be unseasonably warm, making my challenge quite a bit less of a challenge than I originally thought it would be.

Oh well...Half done.

My wife tried to put a stop last night; said it wasn't good for the car to only drive it 10 minutes at a time, the water builds up inside.
She's right. So I started it up and let it idle for 30 minutes. That should drive out the water. I'll do that once a week.

11 for 11 so far.

howdy folks....
i couldn't post yesterday.... kept getting some error message....
anyways, yesterday was about -5c/-12cwindchill.. with a fresh snow over some ice....
i got a little cocky and was flying along and drifted slightly into a little ridge causing my tire to wobble a bit... i was going too fast and not paying attn. and almost bit it... goof thin i recovered...
i've been experimenting with getting my studded tire pressure just right... i had put them up to 40psi yesterday but found that the loose snow over the ice made it difficuklt to steer and i was slipping a little.... my front tire had some grip my the loos snow pushed it around a little...

this morning i reduced the pressure to 36/40 (front/back) and felt i had more control in the front end..... it was -10c/-16c windchill this morning..... there still was some snowfall last night so conditions were similar to yesterday; loose snow over ice.... and finally a little colder ( on the radio they said our area has had an avergae of 16degrees temps above seasonal norms...)

i've still been wearing polyester underwear shirt, with a polarfleece vest under a MEC cycling jacket water resistant windbreaker... on my legs i've been wearin polypro tights under windpants.... on my head a polypr balaclava and goggles... im cold for a little bit and then warm right up...

so far so good.....!!
i've only missed one morning and made up for it on a wknd, so, so far i have perfect attendance...!!

ciao4now

jims

12 down, 9 left

Temp was around 0C, -5 windchill. Nice ride in, I took it easy and just cruised in. I'm kind of waiting for the weather to actually make this a 'challenge' because this is like riding in october. Anyways, it feels good to get this year off to a good start. I'm ahead of my annual mileage goal by 42km at this point, so I'm happy.

good morning....
it was -13c/-20c windchill this morning... so almost back to normals...
the wind was out of the NW, and i cycle W to work, so it was a little chillier....
i added a touque over my balaclava and i added a long sleeve cotton between my long sleeve polyester shirt and polarfleece vest... i kept with the usual tights and windpants on the bottom half...

went to wlamart at break and they had the Starter brand Dri-Star polyester undershirts marked down.... they were originally 9.98 but marked down to 5.98... so i bought a sleeveless black one and a white tshirt.... i didn't realize the sleevelss black was marked down, so i may go get another one.... they be good in the summer... i got Mediums so they fit nice and tight, but not too tight....
can't wait for the ride home to try them out...

keep up the good work everyone!!!

jimsy

I'm new to this thread, but thought I'd add my story thus far...Between vacation and out-of-state travelling for work, I've only had six days in the office this month. During that time, I've had five bike commutes. Of the five commutes, the weather has been unseasonably warm, which has been nice although I'm sure it won't last. This morning it was 19F and looks to be a little warmer yet this afternoon with less wind.

Great work all, keep up the good work!

good morning folks....
it was -14c/-22c windchill this morning...
i added a touque over my balaclava and i added a long sleeve cotton between my long sleeve polyester shirt and polarfleece vest... under the poly shirt i wore the dri-star t-shirt.... so, 3 layers with a vest under a windbreaker.... my arms felt a littl cold to start, but i was hot when i arrived..
i kept with the usual tights and windpants on the bottom half...
i normally wear sneakers with a cotton sock and wool sock... my feet were a little cold this morning... i'm going to look into some business-galoshes.. my fingers got cold too... i'll have to switch back to my mitts... i have some leather "garbage" mitts that i am going to take to the hockey shop and get them to split it into a lobster style glove... i'm not paying $60 for the name brand ones, when the hockey shop can split/sew them for <$20...

anywyas, keep up the effort people!!! jan. is almost done and we'll have to do a Feb. challnege!!.... heck, maybe we'll turn it into a 2006 challenge!! i figure, once we make it through jan and feb, the rest will get easier...

jimzee

-5C/-10C windchill

i'm eating vegan this week, only unprocessed and unprepared food. i do it now and then as a bit of a cleanse. i don't think i'm getting the calories, or just maybe not the carbohydrates that my body is used to. i feel myself dragging on the bike. but i just take it easy and pedal. next week i'll be back to all my pastries and bread and bars.

13 days down
8 days to go
0 days missed

jimmi, when i checked the weather this morn i noticed winnipeg had a -22c windchill, i was curious how you were gonna make out. glad it was a success.

i'd love to be able to say i commuted 100% of days in 2006. it sure is something to strive for.

hello.... good morning... -19c/-26cwindchill...
today was tough to get up....
last night both of my sons had outdoor hockey practice at the same outdoor rink...
one had practice at 6, the oldest at 8... it was beautiful out... it was around -8c and there was a nice light snow falling... big fluffy flakes.. the flakes covered the ice nicely and left ttrails where the pucks travelled.. i'm an asst. coach for both kids so i was on the ice for both.... then after that i played myself at 1015 to about 1130... so it was rush rush rush.... last week i seemed to play better after having skated before... last night i skated better again too... even got a few points! so, i got home at midnight had a 2nd beer and hit the sack.... i normally getup at 520ish, but today i was up early... i had that achy, sore tired feeling after little sleep and i was looking for excuses to stay home and sleep... but, i got up had some oatmeal, coffee and watched sportscentre.. im awake now, having biked, but my eyes are sore..

anyways....
bike was good today... had on: poly/poly/cotton/polarfleece vest/windbreaker on top
bottom: tights/windpants... it was a little chilly to start out this morning and my legs were kindof cold... at -20c and below i think ill put some long underwear between tights and windpants...
hand were a little chilly too... toes were good...

boy, am i glad its friday... i'm pooped and need to sleep in tomorrow... both kids have hockey tonight and tomorrow... tonight there's conflict... tomorrow i'll be at both games.. 1boy 1 game sunday at 11ish... goodtime for sunday mornjing.. a little bit more sleepin-time..

have a GREAT weekend everyone!!

jaymzee

14/14 so far. Only 7 to go.
47*F (!!!) this morning at 5AM, what crazy weather. Should be 15.

Long sleeve poly baselayer shirt, bike shorts and a windbreaker shell, that's all.
I'm going to order a new fender set today, I'm getting plastered up the back due to the broken rear fender, the rack just isn't containing the mud. I shouldn't be worrying about mud in January in Michigan!!!

That's what I'm thinking. At the end of this month, "1 down, only 11 to go".