Foggy, cool, wonderful.

Morning ride in was decent.... Afternoon ride sucked.. 15mph gusting to 25 headwind, blowing in that frigid air we're supposed to get tonight I'm sure.

I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to enjoy a ride in winds like today, although I seem to keep buying into it.

I hear ya!

It's days like today I'm glad my commute is N-S along the MVT and not E-W on the W&OD or Custis!

left early and made it home before dark!
rode in the snow which has accumulated an inch on the shoulders and grass
the roads were just wet with rare ice
warm enough to give the lower bike a quick going over with a hot soapy brush and sponge
dried the chain with a shop towel
lubed the chain last night
happy bike

12.9 miles
26.3 max spd
12.5 avrg spd
1 hr 1 min saddle time

03 °F with hardly any wind on the way to work and on the way home it was a little windy and 35.4 °F. The snow is starting to get to slushy making it harder to get going in some places.

I was hip-checked on my way home! By a woman wearing a full length down coat and jogging! She pushed me or bumped me or whatever as I was turning a corner and she was running in the street. We got to the corner at the same time so I avoided her, but apparently she didn't bother to avoid me. It took me a few seconds to even figure out something happened. Lesson learned: give crazy people a wider berth.

We're having a real cold snap here after a couple weeks of mild weather. My RD is not co-operating (dunno if it's the cable or the derailleur itself that's frozen - probably the cable) and the bike's stuck in 4th gear. The FD is working well enough to give me the big and middle rings so now my 24-speed is a 2-speed. I'll bring it inside this weekend to thaw out, clean up, and lube. Someday I will own an IGH - Maybe even a SS now that I've proven to myself I can survive without all of my gears (at least for my short commute to school, anyway).

had to be into work this morning at 9:30 am and got out about 10:30 pm so a long day preceded an expedition-like ride home in 40 mph gusting headwinds and snow squalls with temps about 18〫F. The temp is dropping rapidly towards single digits.

I was plenty warm enough on the ride home and chose the bike path route home due to black ice conditions on the road. Plenty of black ice on the bike path but the solo ride along the river in the full moon was fantastic.- the studs held with just a few sections that were a bit funky but all manageable. The 8 miles I was on the bike path was basically a thin coating of snow over sheer black ice. The roads were actually worse once I got off the path closer to home.

I rode to work every day this week, my second time this month. I rode in the rain on Monday, which I don't normally do, because it was looking like we would have rain/sleet/snow by Thursday or Friday. However, the weather has been dry the rest of the week and unseasonably warm, at least in the afternoons with highs in the 60s the past 2 days. That is supposed to change today, and the wind had shifted from the SW to NE overnight. That made for a relatively fast morning ride as I had a tailwind much of the way, but this afternoon will be tough. We are supposed to get a winter storm tonight and tomorrow, with 4-8" of snow and sleet forecasted. I will believe it when I see it because the forecasters are notoriously bad at predicting snow around here and usually get it wrong.

Down near zero F. I saw -7 on my bike computer for a while (about -22C). Luckily the roughly 30MPH wind off Lake Champlain was at my back. I was quite comfortable. Fleece top and bottom, covered by nylon top & bottom for a wind break. Gloves of course. Balaclava with ski goggles. No exposed skin. That'll be more important this afternoon when I'll have a headwind.

I was waiting at a red light and a guy driving a big Pepsi truck gave me a big smile and a wave. I waved back. :)

Yesterday I rode home after a snow squall dropped about an inch of snow in 15 minutes. No problems except the very strong cold front was coming through and I had a 40MPH crosswind. Very similar to Buzzman's ride. Brutal.

It was cold enough to freeze the air inside my tires this morning but luckily they did not go out of balance.
Minus sixteen degrees Celsius with a wind chill feel of minus twentytwo.

I would not normally comment about my winter commute because it's not as heroic as our Northern and Midwestern neighbors, but I did today in response to this thread on the Northeast Regional Forum:

Winter is back 18 degrees is [too] cold to ride.

Bah, humbug

Yesterday afternoon I took the plunge and did some after work shopping at Sam's Club on the commute home. It didn't take much to load down the Detours Toucan panniers I normally use. But anyway, it's a step toward being car-free. Also, now remember this is North Florida, I saw robins "bob-bob-bobbin'" along on the ride home. Does this mean it's Spring? I usually gauge the arrival of Spring when the Sandhill Cranes fly by on their way back north. We shall see!

39F drizzle; no kids today

:roflmao2: :rolleyes:

;)

close to 0F today... it was cold. I wore a jacket. I am getting close to needed a new chain, new freewheel and new crank wheel... makes cold riding seem a lot more difficult. The chain is toast, the teeth on the crank are basically destroyed, and my freewheel is too cheap to overhaul...

anyway, it was a beautiful ride, ignoring the small little squeeks and slips of my chain/crank.

Hi vtjm,

I just noted your post from 8:20 AM this morning. :thumb:

Cold and windy! My fingertips started tingling despite very warm gloves and liners.

I rode the new race bike today. I have a crit on Sunday and I've hardly had a chance to dial in the fit. I'm hoping to get some miles in at lunch today, but it's already looking doubtful.

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/4...ip1170412e.jpg

Friday

I was absolutely FREEZING this morning. It felt like the coldest morning commute so far this winter. Although it probably wasn't, the relatively warm week we've had may be what made today feel so cold.

Today's temperature was kind of nice --28° F with a tiny bit of wind. On the way home it was slushy. My wife called and said my MonsterCross parts arrived for my Surly, so I was stoked and pedaled like a mad man to home and start wrenching.

Finally some rain on the way home today. Just a moistening really. This morning was my seventh non-rainy commute in a row! So I went a bit mad and did a detour over the (not as loud as it ought to be) dam.

The days of proper darkness are done with. Flowers are bursting ebulliently open and everything is excellent.

Great ride home tonight in a full moon along the river on the bike path. gusts to about 30 mph with a steady head wind of about 15-20 mph and temps about 10〫F. It was fabulous! I was toasty warm, including hands and feet the whole ride. I worked hard to get home and it was slow but a great work out.

Minus twentyone this morning. Felt it best to put on another layer and use a chemical toe warmer in my boots. Glasses fogged up but fingers and toes were ok.

Yesterday was a little cool, 6 degrees in the morning. With a regular undershirt, dress shirt, and spiewak jacket my upper body was nice and warm. Jeans with leg warmers underneath did a good job on the lower half. My commute is only 3 miles, so I never need to get much bike-specific gear out. I got off work by 1PM and by then it was a toasty 20 degrees. 4 months ago, I never thought I'd say I enjoy riding in 20-degree weather :).

I don't think I'll never find an adequate pair of gloves, though.

I tried to ride an easy 10-15 miles on my mountain bike this morning, but no way. I only need 10 miles to top 600 miles for January, but it won't happen this year. We had 5" of snow overnight topped by sleet pellets all morning long. I tried to ride my mountain bike but the wheels just spun, even when I let some air out of the tires. It's not supposed to get above freezing here until Monday afternoon, so it looks like I won't be riding for at least 4 days.

http://icons-pe.wxug.com/i/c/a/mostlycloudy.gif
29° F | 13° F did not really commute, but it was a nice Saturday ride down by the river with my new fatties mounted on the Surly.

Thought I'd comment on yesterday's ride home. Low single digits (F). 20+MPH headwind. Whee! :rolleyes: The wind was pretty bad. I wasn't cold, but shoving through that with studded snow tires is like riding with an anchor tied to the bike. "Fast" was about 13MPH.

I did a good deed. The wind had blown a recycling bin into the middle of the road. I swooped in, grabbed it, and dropped it off out of harm's way.

That would rate as very fast for some of my rides home this week- amazing headwinds and me buried in layers with my big hiking shoes on and on my studded tires. My 10 mile ride might as well have been a 10 mile climb at around an 8% grade last night.

Tonight was really pretty good though. Temp around 15〫F and barely a touch of wind. Really nice, almost full moon, the river shimmering with ice. Got to admit it's great watching my co-workers reactions when they realize I'm still biking in to work- especially since I live almost the furthest distance away.

Have noticed in this cold weather that I have to stay hydrated though- the air is really dry and I'm working hard on these rides.