Then there was only me...
 

OK, so I'm being a bit over dramatic. Our office has a "commuter" board in the break room designed to encourage taking alternative forms of transportation to work. You mark down what mode of transport you took to work that day.

Today I was the only cyclist. After snow yesterday and a nasty, howlin' Northwest wind today, most regular commuters left their bikes at home. The forecast improves as the week goes on so I'll have company on the commuter board again, - at least for a little while.

I was thankful to still be on the road bike this morning. I passed a couple folks on hybrids who were struggling to maintain a few mph against the wind.

The ride home was much nicer. A bit warmer, a bit calmer, and the wind was behind me ;)

Our bike room was full this morning, despite below freezing conditions. It has warmed up dramatically today. We hit 20C about an hour ago, blue skies, no wind. It will be dark by the time I go home, but hopefully still warm enough for t-shirt and shorts...

I hate this time of year. It isn't really cold yet, but we are not used to it so it seems colder. At least with me that is how it is. Come January if the temp is the same as today, I would be thinking it is great. It's just strange, I get much colder on my rides this time of the year than later when it is actually much colder.

I know what you mean. Cold is easier to to deal with in the winter. But I don't mind it so much right now. The leaves on the trees still look pretty good although some trees are bare already.

However, many annuals are going to meet their doom tonight as it's supposed to dip below 20. The landscape will get bleaker and bleaker until we get that first magnificent snowfall. It can't come too soon once we hit November as far as I'm concerned. Most people don't share my sentiments though.

Someone needs to talk to these Californians. They have no reason not to ride! Coming from Michigan, it's a little unbelievable.

I've tried, they say it's the traffic...

I'm the same way. Here, the temps swing wildly through the day, and from day to day. Big jumps from 40-75 F or so. I think once it settles down you just expect it, but right now you still hope for warm sunshine, and it sucks when it doesn't deliver!

I have no idea what's going on with people I work with. Today was the coldest it's been for a while with snow forecast for this week (I'll believe it when I see it) but we did have hail. More bikes in the bikeshed than usual including a few I approved of*.

Crap MTBs are not interesting. Early 90's steel (Reynolds 531) mountain bikes are more interesting and the properly kitted out audax bike was very interesting. It does seem that everyone but me has an aversion to any form of drop between saddle and handlebars.

Most of the cyclists I work with are fair weather riders and some have to drive a couple of times a week regardless for various reasons so I wasn't too surprised. There were still a lot of other cyclists out today though which is good to see.

Where is your commute? I was going into Abbott from Minnetonka on the Greenway, and I saw a LOT less commuters than I normally do. I was on a SS Bianchi San Jose with flashing Reelights front and back, a flashlight headlight, and a Superflash Blinkie on the back.

The worst part about the temp swings for me is that I have to dress differently in the morning and in the evening. The my evening/afternoon commutes are much warmer than my morning ones right now, and I hate cramming all my extra clothes into my back pack on the way home.

My daughter was born at Abbott and my wife used to work at Children's right next door :)

Last year I commuted on the Greenway almost every day though I would have been headed the opposite way. I live in South Minneapolis and caught the Greenway near Hiawatha Avenue. I would take it West to Park Avenue. From their I'd go North into downtown to West River Road which I'd take to the Warehouse district.

This year Park was clogged with so many cyclists that I decided to stick with my winter route which is to follow the Hiawatha Light Rail line into downtown, then get on West River road.

I still ride home on Greenway now and then when I want a longer ride. I'll take the Cedar Lake Bikeway West, follow the Kennilworth trail until it junctions with the Greenway and then take then Greenway East towards home.

There's a guy in our building (though not in my office) who commutes on a Cervelo from Minnetonka. It's bike trails/bikeways almost the whole way. Would be sweet.

Where do you get off the Greenway to get to Abbott? I confess to not knowing all the ramps. Sounds like a nice commute though. Abbott couldn't be more than a few blocks North of the Greenway.

It was in the twenties this morning, but there were still at least a dozen bicycles parked by the building. When I left in the evening, there were about seven--and at least three others were road bikes, which was neat. Including mine, there were actually more road bikes than mountain bikes parked there. Had never seen that before.

I live on the west side of Shady Oak Lake in Minnetonka, so the trail goes through my backyard. I get on and ride all the way in to the new exit by the Freewheel bike store on the Greenway. Allina paid for that ramp/access to the Greenway, and it is a half-block from the trail ramp to my locked bike cage in the Abbott Parking ramp. It sure makes winter commuting easy and safer.

:thumb:

Heh, this forum certainly changes the way I view winter here (Melbourne, Australia - top temps 10-15C throughout winter usually). I was talking to this guy once at the end of winter, he was telling me how he was looking forward to riding to work again, as soon as the weather warmed up!! I rode all through winter, and only found one or two days cool enough to allow me to put long tights on.

Steve

Lucky you! I somehow always have a headwind both ways. I bike from Nicollet Island to the LRT at Warehouse at one end, then from Humphrey Terminal to work at the other. For some reason the wind is always from the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon.

And yes, mine was the only bike on the rack this morning. I did finish my winter rat this weekend though, for when there's icy pavement.

Allina built a ramp to the Greenway AND you get a bike cage?

I was happy when my company bought us a tire pump.

Do you live on the Island? I've never met anybody who actually lived there. Very cool.

I'm assuming you take the bike lanes that run down the middle of Hennepin to get to the LRT station. I'm always amazed at how the buildings funnel the wind into my face no matter which way it's blowing from.

See the signature. That's what this thread is all about. Good job to all you winter commuters!

:winter2:

I ride to the cedar lake trail on the North west corner of SLP to downtown. The numbers of riders I see are way down these days. 2-3 each way max per day. I think this time of year really scares people off who aren't used to it. It's tricky to get the clothing right you have to be prepared for a pretty wide range of weather in the fall, and it always feels cold as your body adjusts. In fact it can be shockingly cold in the morning, then really nice in the afternoon.

It was cold today for sure, but really beautiful. Calm, sunny. I really enjoyed it. I feel really lucky to have such a good cycling infrastructure here, and I live near it not by accident.

I commute from Prior Lake to Minnetonka and there were only the die hards Mon. morning(3 of us).
at the bike rack. This morning down to two of us. In the winter, it is usually just me, and sometimes one other that rides. During the nice months, we can have up to 8 and a near full bike rack, but most of the time just 4 or 5 during the nice months per day for an average.

I grew up in PL. What route do you take to Minnetonka? Can't be too easy a trip.

It's tough to adjust in terms of clothing selection and I think it's tough to adjust psychologically. We still get some relatively warm days, - ideal for cycling actually, and then you have days like yesterday and Sunday. During the winter you expect it to be cold and you're used to having it be cold.

We do have it good as far as infrastructure goes and I especially appreciate it in the winter. I like to keep the need to mix it up with cars to a minimum when the roads are bad.

I see fewer cyclists but I still probably ran across half a dozen or more on my way in. I get in a bit later (around 8:30) so I don't know if that's conducive to seeing more cyclists or less.

Our office building has over 3,00 people, our company makes up about 500. During the good weather there are 5 of us, it's down to 2 now.

I saw by the other guy this week and he just yelled see you in January!

I had to run some errands at lunch today! I wasn't whimping out....I swear!

Yeah - I'm about the only one that is commuting to work now. Although there was only one other guy that rode each day. A few others did it when the dress was causal or didn't have errands to do after work.

Oh well, I'm getting exercise and enjoy the cooler temps.