Happy Birthday duckbill! I'll be a couple year behind you, and Daltrey aside, the Merrymen from Barbados are in their 70s, at least 2 or them, and they still put on a great show.

A better ride in this morning than yesterday. Warmer temps, no broken spokes, life is good. While I wait for a new wheel to come in for The Daily Grind (my Nishiki hybrid commuter), I'm riding The Dumpster Queen, the '83 Raleigh Marathon I rescued from a dumpster a little over a year ago. The ride feels totally different but the time was just about the same.

Last night was the maiden voyage for my Twofish Lockblock setup for my LED flashlight on the handlebars I use as a headlight. Gotta say, although I had a decent DIY solution for a couple months, the Twofish is a cut above for sure. Very nice product. Love it!!! It was generally just a good ride, too.

Good ride in this morning. Every morning's progressively cooler now since Monday's freaky 61*. I was kinda the first mile or so, but once I got warmed up, it was darned near perfect. 31 or so for the ride in, little wind. Had just about the best commute time in a while. Guess I'm getting my legs back after a couple weeks of not getting to ride around the holidays. :)

This morning was my first commute since late December. A combination of illness and lots of snow put me behind the wheel.

Temps were in the mid 20's with light wind when I headed out. Dang, it felt great to get back in the saddle. Now to lose those extra holiday pounds I put on.

Today is a day when I juggle my schedule (prove 'unreliable') to stay on my bike. Could only get a last min dental appt at 11:45 so I'm doing some combination of working from home/sick time rather than driving out for a long lunch. Noon is just the wrong time to bike in early or show up late with the other squeezes on my schedule early and late w/ respect to child drop-off/retrieval.

When they call those things jawbreakers, by the way, they mean it. Or at least tooth-scrapers.

chilly in boise this morning or maybe it was the double shift combined with riding home a 9 am on no sleep, either way got a nice treat from a fellow motorist, a partially eaten bagel thrown out the window which hit me, wtf thats never happened before golly gosh

Chilly on the ride home, had a woman following me in a truck for a good 5 or 6 minutes because she couldn't pass me safely. Got to a stop sign, she pulled up next to me and rolled her window down. Now, I'm thinking she's going to spew some garbage about how it's dark out, or how I shouldn't be riding on such a thin road, or whatever. Basically, I'm prepared for the worst, and I start thinking up comebacks before she even says a word.
Anyway, first thing she says is, "I'll tell you what! You were really cranking back there, nice job! You were moving!!"

I said "Thank you" and rode home with a giant grin on my face the whole way home.

another ride in on the usual commuter. Best thing about having a "winter bike" is wow! it feels good to ride the other bike once in a while. Only thing is I sprinted everywhere today cause it felt so good to be on this bike. Wondering what it would feel like to get out on my road bike?!

Back to the winter bike tomorrow- snow tomorrow night.

A good ride in at 20 F ( -6C). The temps are supposed to be mild this afternoon, ahead of the storm coming in tomorrow. I still have not seen a guess at accumulation.

20MPH headwind this morning, in the high 20sF. Not too bad though. Tomorrow's morning ride will be a lot colder. Down around zero F, plus wind. Time to dig out the balaclava and ski goggles. Springtime is over. :P

Thank you fletchh.

I wish the plow boys would get out earlier. It was a good work-out for this old man to push through the snow this morning.

Flurries. Local amount 2 to 4 cm. Local blowing snow. Wind west 30 km/h increasing to 50 gusting to 70 early this afternoon then becoming light late this afternoon. Temperature steady near minus 9.

sweet ride; nice and fast. cranked the tires up to MAX last night. expecting rain or snow for the late afternoon ride home. morning temps in the 20s but the ride home might be in the high 30s

13.4 miles
29.3 mph MAX speed (I remember the hill; the pedaling and the tuck)
14.1 mph AVRG speed (so incredibly unimpressed with this number)
57 minutes (not bad for studded touring tires)

I set out this morning and there were a few flurries visible in my headlight beam. The snow got heavier over the course of my train ride, and it was full-blown snowing when I got off the train at work. The 1.8 mile ride took about 25 minutes - On top of the snow, there was construction, two school buses, and some guy pulled over by a cop.

About half the people here haven't even made it into the office yet!

Woke up to big, fat, wet chunks of snow floating like lead to the ground. Wore the ski shell and had the following observations as I wend my way to work:

1. I forgot to put the visor on my helmet. You know, the visor that keeps the snow from hitting me in the eyes.
2. Big snow flakes hurt when they hit you in the eye.
3. Inhaling big, wet snowflakes is not as pleasant as it sounds.
4. Big, fat snowflakes tickle when they land in your ear.
5. If you ride w/ your tongue sticking out, you can catch a lot of snowflakes. Also, people look at you weird, as if riding a bike in the snow wasn't weird enough.
6. My waterproof ski jacket isn't waterproof anymore.
7. Snow will seek out your ankles and melt on them just to annoy you.

:thumb:

Maiden voyage on my new tires this morning after installing them last night. Just some cheapie 35mm tires from Nashbar. Rolled great though. I like 'em a lot so far.

Got them just in time, too. It appears that yesterday on the way home the sidewall on my old rear tire started to tear open. Crisis averted, though, with the new tires. I also took the time to thoroughly clean the drivetrain, relube the chain and clean off all the dirt from the bike. Also determined that the squeaking I've been hearing lately was from a loose bolt on my rear rack. It was a nice, quiet, and fast ride in to work this morning on a clean bike.

Today my Cascadia fenders are due to arrive via UPS. So they'll either be installed before I leave work, or bungeed to my rack/trunk somehow. Either way, by tomorrow morning I'll have fenders on my bike! Bring on the rain!!! :)

EKW when you put the fenders on - you may notice that each side is adjustable and depending on the adjustment will change how the fender is centered over the tire. I adjusted mine last night and also tightened a rack/fender bolt

Roger that, rumunn. Thanks for the advice, especially since it's not spelled out in the PDF instructions (which I've already downloaded from PB's website in anticipation of delivery). May be one of those things I'd just figure out trying to get them installed, but you may have also saved me some time/improved the quality of installation. Cheers!

Waffled on riding when I heard the weather forecast. North wind with temps in the teens. Decided to ride anyway. Riding into the north wind wasn't too much fun but if the wind direction doesn't change, it'll be at my back on the way home.

EKW - PM with other questions or do it in this thread - I'll stay connected to it

another bit of weirdness is the front end/edge of the rear fender. I put it fenders and 2 bikes and dealt with this attachment point differently with each. also the 2 fenders were slightly different. 1 bike got attached were with a bolt and no clip; the other used the clip and just a zip tie - no bolt. depending on your fender the front attachment point, down by the front derailer, has a clip. 1 fender had the clip attached and could not be removed. the other had the clip as an option to attach and use. I think for this attachment point each bike and fender combination may have different options - and your solution may not be mine.

I also found it necessary to use additional bolts that I had on my bike or in my shop. meaning the bolts that came with the kit may or may not be adequate for the installation on your bike.

one one bike I was able to use the rack's bolts to hold the fender stays but on the other bike I use separate holes in the drop outs and their own bolts

eh ... you'll see ... :-)

38F and foggy

Woke up to rain and decided screw it, I'm riding. The rain stopped by the time I got on the road but being a desert rat (Phoenix area) I thought I could get by with just a rain fly. Showed up to work 11 miles 39 minutes, soaking wet and muddy. Looking on line for fenders right now. Anybody have suggestions for 700x23c tires? Not even sure they make em that skinny.

Arch2 .... Generally you want fenders about 10 mm wider than your tires (at least), so your best bet would be 35 mm fenders, which are widely available -- eg, SKS, Planet Bike, etc. If it doesn't rain much in your area, you might want to consider clip-on fenders such as SKS Raceblades and PB has a similar item. Clips won't keep your bike as clean as full fenders but are good of keep the splash off your back.

Windchill about 5F when I left and about -5F when I came home. Tailwind on the way there. On the way home I "cheated" some of the wind by taking the MUP, where wind is negligible. Rode my Marathon Winters at near max. pressure on a half-inch or so of snow in most places. No sliding. Got an errand done going out of the way about 1.5-2 miles total.

Certainly one of my coldest commutes but every bit worthwhile. After a pretty slow and snowy start to the year I'm now at 67% commuting by bike for the month.

Bleurgh. Hungover.

Passed a car doing 10mph on Stanley Pk Rd (a very quiet one-way road, perfectly safe) with the driver's dog galloping alongside. Driver was sipping a latte and yakking on her cell. Was unable to prevent my mouth forming the words "you lazy c***"...

I do rain pants and sandals with wool socks. Forget the front fender.

I prayed with the radar all night and it was fine with out them :)

My fun in the sun videos here fresh from Thurs commute,.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...CF819B1B5A28D0

Yeah, it kinda seemed like just the rear one is needed. I kinda enjoyed watching the water splash up from the front wheel. I do running pants under shorts on the way in which got muddy, but I don't wear em on the way home, just need to keep my shorts dry. Shoes too. Don't want to pack in an extra pair.

Nice video, every time I come close to getting clipped it's by someone trying to rush in front of me to make a right turn.

Yeah, it doesn't rain much here but I don't want to be dissuaded from riding when it does, especially after reading from some of the people on the forum that ride in the snow. Crazy. I think clips are the way to go. Thanks for the tips.

wheel ~ that somewhat moving city omnibus didn't give you ANY courtesy room did they? even with the bike lane those drivers should be a little more considerate!

about the front fender - I'll disagree - at least my neck of the woods. come summer I'll take them off, but not until after the spring rains!

arch2wheel ~ it's snowing right now and I can't wait to ride home! :-)

Reminds me of a filter to the front and then the bad pass. Only here its a bike lane?

Yes and the rear doesn't get in the way as much.
Extra gear I bring heck yea. Extra socks, shoes, etc