Jim don't sweat it. Although I must ask...what about your other bikes? You DO have other bikes don't you?

Week one is done, 3 weeks, 2 days to go. (okay, so I still have to get home today)

Nothing to special about this week. Weather was warm most days, but I did have some misting & fog and yesterday was pretty windy.

Looking forward to next week!

One week down. I started my car for the first time in over a week last night, took my son to scouts in town, a 10 mile round-trip. Besides commuting daily, I also thought up that if I can drive my car less in a month than I cycle in a week (100 miles) that'll be cool too.

I've been posting combined bike+car mileage stats of > 200 MPG to my livejournal, mainly to tweak my Prius-owning friends and their 60 MPG tales.

hehe what about those of us that ride to work AND own a Prius

Hey Calgarians!!! The 2006 Commuter Challenge is now on!
https://spin.komex.com/commuterchallenge/sign_in.php

Week 2 begins with glare ice on much of my commute. Gotta love those nokians. Even with them I still had some slippery moments. I finally got to meet the SUV driver everyone else always complains about. I was in the right lane, ready to turn right (signaling) when the SUV pulls a right hook from the LEFT LANE!. Not only that, but went from the left lane of the street we were on to the RIGHT lane of the one we were turning onto. Had I not been slowing to turn I think I would have hit the side of her vehicle.

On a happier note, I finally got my clothing down such that I am not soaking wet when I get to work and I'm not cold after the first few minutes of pedaling.

Week 2 will be a short week also, since I'm on vacation next weekend and I'm taking Friday off.

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.