First day I was able to hook up with my training partners for a pre-work ride. Good god, are we out of shape!

45F and raining. Now, 4 hrs later, it's 46F and raining.

Sounds like we're going to get the bottom of that system coming through here early tomorrow morning.

I'm hoping here in the lowlands it stays above 40F at nights but we'll see I guess.

I've had good luck coaxing my 8 yr old out into downpours. He doesn't complain about it anymore, just takes it in and does it.

I don't typically post in this thread because my commute is very short (2.5m one way) and really, really uneventful. But today this happened. Dag nabbit!


http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f5.../mycommute.jpg

Holy crap!

wow that one should go on the wall of fame!

was in the 20s on the way home, 17.8m total. the boston southwest corridor was nicely plowed and a joy to ride

You didn't get hurt, ummbnb, did ya? I hope not.

Anyway.... I'm still getting to know my new commute. This morning I rode with a friend (Mike); we can ride part way together, then he goes north and I go west. Just before we split up, my friend is joined by another guy, Chris. This was Mike's first commute with his new LHT; he said it was like riding a Cadillac compared to his old Trek hybrid. I said something about trying to meet up on the way home, but Mike said he's tried that and the timing never works out.

I finished the commute and found that the last 3 miles consist of a series of short but sharp climbs and descents. I was pretty proud of how well I did on them. I found out on the return trip in the afternoon that they are sharper climbs in the homeward direction, and being not fully warmed up, they pretty much kicked my butt.

A little later, I was just coming out to a main road and two commuters in hi-viz jackets go by- It was Mike and Chris! They passed the side street I was on and kept right on rolling. I got out to the main road and was maybe a block or two behind them, but going downhill. They were coasting some, so I was able to catch up with them and we rode the rest of the way home together. Pretty cool.

Mike is a strong rider and has been doing a longer commute for some time. Still, I hung with him pretty good- until the long rise of Wedgmont Circle where he left me in the dust.

Being in the habit of commuting regularly, I thought I was a pro at it. But when you increase the distance from 7 to 17 miles each way, it's a whole new ballgame.

Ya, it pretty much sucked. Fortunately it happened in the intersection in front of my office....but still! I hate riding my road bike to work and carrying a backpack but it will take me a couple of days to fix this so it's either that, or take the bus, or drive. I was so happy to be back on my bike since taking two weeks off for snow and my holiday break.

four weeks to the day after breaking my elbow-- and I'm back on the road (not counting that commute in after I got some x-rays done a few days after my crash... they called me at work "yep, it's broke." I felt pretty tough riding home.

My test ride was pulling my repaired espresso (bent the hanger and broke a few spokes) home from the LBS on Saturday in the trailer, and busted out 25 total miles today.

I sure don't mind the cold after missing the ride for so long!

The new continental town and country tires were quite a different ride than the dry rotted kenda quest tires I had on there. I think I'll take the nice ride and better braking over cheap and light! I dig the huge lettering-- makes even a Dahon Espresso look almost hearty!

doohickie - I guess adding 10 miles in each direction is quite the increase. I used ti ride 17 each way. each ride was an epic journey. I only ever did 2 full 5 days weeks at that distance but I'm a better rider now. I'm down to 13 miles and some days I'm downright giddy at the shortness of the ride, but not lately, not in this weather. I too have some hill climbing on the way home within the 1st 3 miles. It's a drag but I know where they are so I plan for them and make sure I'm in the correct gear, etc. you're probably gonna see some physical changes and may have to change your nutrition planning for the additional miles.

Definitely. You find you have to pace yourself more for the long haul :) It's easy to get caught up in stoplight racing, but at 17 miles (each way?) it's more of how much of an endurance base you have. I do almost 25, some weeks by the end of the week I'm happy just to be able to spin!

Geez, 27 degrees this morning felt almost like summertime after the teens we've been having! Just supposed to break the freezing mark today, and the winds are supposed to be back, so we'll see. Nice ride in, although lot of ice still on the trails.

It was a bit warmer today at 20 F ( -6 C), but it felt cold all the same. Hopefully, the warmer days will diminish the ice and snow still laying around, at least
by the weekend.

Well, it turns out that I set a new personal record yesterday for bike commuting in cold temperatures. It got down to 15 F yesterday morning, beating my previous record by 2 degrees. The weather service was slow to update their web site, so I had thought that I merely tied my previous low of 17 F.

Today it was about 15 degrees warmer during my commute, but it didn't feel like it. It must have been more humid or windy, and I felt just as cold as I did yesterday. Weird how that works sometimes.

regarding long commutes, I remember reminding myself to turn my head during the corn fields to watch the scenery to remind my self to "smell-the-roses" so-to-speak and be less frantic and wrapped up in speed. also to remind myself why I enjoyed cycling. on some nice sunny and HOT summer days I would even stop at a tiny strip mall with convenience store and dunkin donuts near the corn fields and I would lay down for 10 minutes to rest and cool off in the shade. this time of year of course there is none of that, but still we have to be glad we make it without incident.

this morning my computer was fading due to the cold temps and I was thinking who gives a cr*p ... :-)

I saw a penny once, but was too lazy to stop and pick it up.

Yeah, 17 each way. I drove this morning because I overslept which I take as my body's signal that I overdid it yesterday. I've been dealing with tendonitis in my left knee and I was a little iffy by the time I got home as it was. It's not so much that I'm stoplight racing as it is that I'm riding about 2/3 of the route with a stronger rider, which pushes me out of my comfort zone.

Remembering (with no fondness) how cold I was yesterday morning, today I wore wool socks and lobster-claw gloves. That was enough for the toes, but too much for the fingers. Yes, my hands got sweaty (ugh)! But at least, when the time came to unclip my helmet, my fingers were still working. I need a thermometer that tells me exactly what I need to wear every morning, because when I get up I can't analyze numerical data like temperatures, wind chill, humidity, etc.

Second day of the new semester. Comfortably chilly. I got weak over christmas, my gear feels too tall now. Different part of campus, tried the main road. Remembered why I don't ride that road. I'll play in traffic, but on and off ramps merging into my lane spook me. Tomorrow will be back to my meandering long-cut that is nearly free from traffic.

48F wet

52F and a steady downpour. Of course, now that I'm all showered and sitting at my desk, it's stopped and there's blue sky (!) to the west.

Warm, 52 degrees (!), and very wet. Part of my bike route is now under water. It's supposed to rain all day and tomorrow. My new bike light quit working this morning so it's going to be returned today for a new Superflash instead. Nothing works as well. I may just bus in tomorrow run some errands and go to a late yoga class. Rain is OK but when my route is a standing lake with no alternate route around it kinda bites. :cry:

I've got the same issue. Although I feel I can generally analyze the weather data fairly well in the morning, I need a pair of "mama bear" gloves. My baby bear gloves: PB Aries fingerless; my pap bear gloves, a black leather number I've had laying around for a couple years and am now using for colder weather commuting. Today I needed mama bear gloves - something in the Goldilocks zone - more protection than my Aries, but not as much as the leather. Full finger bike or light work gloves are the answer, I suppose.

Sweaty hands aside, it was a good commute both last night and this morning (28* w/ 16* wind chill). Now, I've gotten used to the colder temps just in time for a forecast 50* high Friday. That's gonna seem downright tropical by comparison to the last few weeks!

23F this morning at 4:30am. A nice 27 this aftn. Looking forward to the roads clearing off. I’ve got about 90% of my route cleared off so I’m thinking real hard about switching to my road tires. That way I can break in the new wheels that I treated myself to for this winter. I figure after tomr’ws 30 degree temps and some sunshine for a change the roads will be looking real nice tomr’w afternoon. Although I did ride past the OBP at 161 and that things got a long way to go before its clear to ride on. Maybe by Friday it will be OK to ride on. You put some knobbies on and the snow will be soft enough to mash right thru it.

Any commute where I'm reading Douglas Adams is a good one.

Recently, I commuted to work for the first time on my bike. It's a tiny amount compared to you guys: about 1.8 miles. I regularly walked this amount and since I'm not used to bike commuting yet, it actually is less trouble and time-consuming to just get my stuff and walk to work. :P However, I wanted to commit to this, since I plan to make my bike my main, day-to-day form of transportation. As for the first commute itself, it was fun. Some of my co-workers checked my bike out and complimented me on it. Probably none of them know much about bikes, but it still felt good. :) I seem to remember finding it more fun to ride at night after finishing work; it's probably because it was cool and less busy on the streets. That's another reason for me to bike a measly 1.8 miles to work: it's more fun! :D