:lol:

Do people make up rules as they go along? Wow.

33F for me, and a nice tailwind. The (unplowed) MUP is mostly okay to ride full-speed. It's either entirely clear, or there is a clear track or two. Some short parts still have heavy mashed potato snow that's a $(@*# to ride through. I'll probably just take roads as much as possible for the ride home.

I didn't bring the folder in to NYC this morning, wanted to see conditions before riding here. Maybe tomorrow. At the NJ end of the commute I tried, but there's still too much snow on the canal towpath for my usual route. Maybe later this week... if we have a good thaw.

Even my 10 and 13 year old kids, who love snow even more than they love snow days, are tired of winter. Never thought I'd see that!

Did a dumb thing on the ride this morning, which I won't describe -- since I'm not looking for absolution!
Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm getting hopeful that we're finally beyond black-ice-patch season. I sure am ready to send the studded tires off into deep storage.

37F and foggy. Pumped up tires from 50psi to 70/80 respectively. May have helped the feel. May not... Supposed to be 60F and sunny later. Then rainy for the rest of forever.

About 30f this morning, Roads dry accept for last mile on bike path.

I'm with ortcutt, tired of the studded tires, ready for spring.:rolleyes:

A break between systems. A very nice day to ride a bike.

Awesome ride in this morning. Full moon going down as the sun came up. Clear skies and roads, about 32F this morning. Supposed to be almost 60F for the ride home. Easiest 30 mile commute this year.

I believe I will break out the adidas and run home tonight. It's nice to have options.

Great commute for the most part, it warmed up nicely. The only problem is the trails don't have any place to drain the water off so you get these huge puddles. I think I might stick to the roads for a while.

The morning commute was nice and smooth on the way in. On the afternoon commute heading back home, some pickup pulling a big trailer pulled out of a side road going the same direction i was and made a wide turn almost side swiping me. If i wasn't on the brakes hard we might have made contact. Besides that, today is the first day that i got home feeling great and still had energy. Most Mondays i get home pretty exhausted, but not today. The hills on the way home seemed easier as well :).

Interesting day of riding today. Started feeling very sluggish. I've been riding pretty much every single day of the week all winter. Not monster mileage but 20 miles +/- per day. Probably haven't done a day of more than 25 miles in months but combined with my busy schedule it's taken it's toll on my energy at times. This weekend had busy work days and not a lot of sleep one of the nights but both days didn't ride. When I got up this morning I felt really slow and achy and hoped the 2 days off from riding would make me feel better- but not really.

Rode into work with a good spin in mind to try to reduce the achy feel in my legs. It seemed to have worked because I got to work feeling better than when I left. The ride home- granted my work can be taxing physically at times, and today was one of those days- was a little tougher as I left downtown. Since I was on my bike without the studded tires and there's no more ice left I took the bike path way home. Prior to the bike path I have a stretch of city street where it's really best to pace it up to match the traffic speed to make the lane changes I need to do to go where I want to go. Oh, my legs didn't feel like it but I rolled along thinking when I got to the path I'd slow it down and rest.

Got to the path and the wind was right in my face and strong. I also saw another cyclist entering the path behind me at one point and thought, "well, I'll settle into my own pace and if he passes me I'll really get a sense of how tired and slow I am tonight." Concentrated on just getting home into the wind and not stressing my body more than I really needed. Oddly, as I just rode into the wind and centered myself I suddenly found myself moving along at a strong, yet moderate pace and what's great is my legs actually responded positively. By the time I got home I felt really good. Never saw that other cyclist but I hope his ride ended up being as nice as mine.

It's nice to come home with more energy from the ride than when I left work. :)

Hi Buzz,

Always nice to hear of your rides since I can almost visualize the routes. I think picking up energy en route is one of the most satisfying aspects about cycling, especially commuting. I have a full, very extended work day and get by on about five hours sleep per night. Almost every morning between 5 and 6 AM, I wrestle with that demon, the MBTA, that provides such a relaxing and peaceful way to get to work, allowing me to nap. Yet I know if I succumb this time, it will be so much easier tomorrow.

I am buoyed by the thought that at the end of almost every bicycle ride to work I will feel much better when I arrive than if I had taken the train.

Mid 20s this morning, nice comfy temp to pedal in just some jeans and my tight new Cutter softshell hoody over a t-shirt. Rolled slow with the lady for the first couple miles, where we pissed off a BMW SUV for holding it up for all of 100 ft while we took the lane in a choke point. And then had the audacity to stop IN THE ROAD while we waited about ten seconds for an oncoming car to pass by so that we could make a left turn (oh lord, I am sooooo sorry :rolleyes:). Beemer sped off laying on the horn (after we made our turn and were no longer in his way? passive-aggressive much?) and gunning its engine HARD. In a 25 mph zone. In front of a school. And here I thought that BMW drivers were supposed to be refined.

Parted ways with my lady just short of downtown, left the streets to her and took off down the MUP. Less than one bone-shaking mile later I jumped back off the path and rolled on the road all the way to school. Unless the groomer hits the MUP, followed by a solid freeze, it's off limits to me and my wimpy wrists. Back to rolling through "scenic" midtown. Trapped a school bus behind me for a couple of lights, then thought that I'd be nice and let it by, only to be caught behind it for the next two lights.

39 degrees and sloppy all the way home :mad:. I did see 6 other street cyclists coming home, must be getting on spring.

Nice ride in to work even though the wind was much stronger than I anticipated. Met my wife for lunch a couple miles from my office so I got another few miles in at lunchtime. Coming home is when everything went south - both literally and figuratively.

I started hearing a faint clicking sound as I pedaled. Wasn't sure what to make of it, so I just listened for clues. About 2.5-3 miles into my seven mile ride home (fortunately on an MUP and at a point when I was not pedaling hard or standing on the pedals), my left pedal just came right off. The bearings in it had seized up causing the pedal to unscrew itself and fall out of the crank. I don't ride around w/ a spare set of pedals or a 15mm wrench, so I ended up walking/jogging the next 4 or 5 miles home.

My original plastic platforms are back on, and the set w/ the bad set (w/ clips and straps) I'd salvaged from an older bike have been put aside for the time being. I'm wondering if there's any point in trying to lube and/or replace the bearings in the bad pedal or if I should just spend $10 to get a basic set of clip/strap compatible metal pedals from Nashbar or something. Food for thought, I suppose. It promised to be such a good ride home, too. Oh well.

What was interesting was the number of fellow commuter cyclists who asked if I needed any help as I walked my bike down the MUP. I make a habit of asking anyone I see walking their bike on the side of the trail, so I was kinda shocked at how few seemed to take any interest in my plight - MAYBE 1 on 10 or 20. Interesting, too, given that it was dusk, that the majority of those who asked if I needed anything were women. I'd have thought they'd be less likely than men to initiate contact with a man on a darkish stretch of trail. Apparently not. So, it was an interesting sociology/psychology experiment at least, even if my normally 30 minute commute took me an hour and a half.

Bonzer commute in this morning. Danced up my big optional hill and then dropped the 800ft down like nothing so much as a rabid sparrowhawk.

Took bike to the shop for a spring tune on a whim. It's been good to me this winter, the mtb, stepping into the breach after I bent my Ronin out of shape before xmas.

Easy ride in at 24 F ( -4 C). The sides of the roads are starting to become visible, as the snow has retreated to the curb in some places. Some of the snow plow damage is starting to appear. Keeping an eye on something coming in tonight, and so far it sounds like a dusting, which is fine. The temps seem to be moving toward the 40s F ( single digits C) during the day.

Still an abbreviated ride because a mixture of snow and glaze ice make it imprudent to open it up. My Cross bike looks like it's been used for it's intended purpose, due to muddy detours.

You'd think that several weeks after a snow that a commuter route MUP wouldn't still look like this:

http://www.tsplace.com/jeep/wod1.jpg

^^^ :eek: Honestly, that's what my MUP (in Vermont) usually looks like in April. Right now? It's mostly clear.

30F for me. Sun coming up. No wind. It was a nice ride.

I was thinking about taking the studs off my bike, too. Then this morning I was riding on a good amount of frozen snow-melt, so maybe not just yet.

40F, light northerly wind. I want them studs off! "What hubris," Mother Nature would say. Then comes a blizzard for which I'd be blamed.

Lovely commute, in that "look-at-you-poor-cagers-going-nowhere-fast" sort of way. The only sour note: my new front brake pads are squealing like a wounded falcon.

In the morning I'm still detouring to the Trenton station, still can't get to the Hamilton station because of all the snow on the canal towpath. But I tried the canal towpath last night for the first time since the big snows, just to see how it is. Melting snow was soft enough to ride through in most places, still had to get off and walk some of the way. Had to pull two downed trees off the path (one was easy, one was nearly impossible, but I shifted it enough that I could get by on the canal side). Still optimistic that it'll be passable --though muddy-- by the end of the week.

I got chased by a dog. I got buzzed by a driver. I got to see a beautiful sunise. On balance, I think I came out ahead. :D

First bike commute of the year for me. 19 miles each way. My ride in was kind of comical all in all. The first half was great, 31 F. but I picked good attire this morning and was very comfortable. (Under armor cold gear shirt and leggings, windbreaker, padded shorts, neoprene booties, fleece gloves.) There were almost no biker or joggers on the trail so it was smooth sailing. I felt great, the exercise bike through the winter did its job quite well. A little bit over halfway is when it started to go "downhill", I got a flat from a crater hiding under a little puddle. Swapped the tube without any incident, but I had a small triangular starburst tear (~7mm) in my tire and no way to really deal with it, so I left the tire a bit under inflated (90psi) and took it easy. (They are continental gp4000s, and the tear didn't go through the vectran belt, just through the outer rubber.) As an aside, this was my first time using my Road Morph pump - I am quite happy with it. It's a little finicky getting it to clamp down on the presta valve, but once it was on there it inflated easily and I was confident I could have gotten it to 120 psi if I had wanted to. A few miles further, the bike path turned quite treacherous and I had to get off and walk over chunky ice fields and fallen trees. (I wish I had a camera for some of these... I know you guys like pics.) At the first opportunity I ditched the path and got back on streets, and it was basically smooth sailing from that point on. All in all it took me almost 2.5 hours, but considering how much went wrong and that it was my first ride in this year, I'd say it was a success. Now I just need to find someone at work to take me out at lunch so that I can get another tube and tire for the ride home...

Well, you know, we can understand pics. :p

Sorry you had all the issues. Hope your ride home goes better. And be careful out there.

This morning was my second of the new year first in a couple of weeks. The snow and ice is completely gone from the streets so I felt OK about hitting the road, figuratively rather than literally.

Temp was in the high 20's with not much wind so the ride was fine. I've spent some time on the trainer during the spells of bad weather but not nearly enough as I now have 10 lbs of holiday cheer to get rid of.

With any luck the only times I should have to resort to the car is for meetings or doctor/dentist appointments.

Very first commute by bike since college. Metra guy didn't like my garbage bag cover on my folder, but let me on anyways. I'm concerned about getting it on the train again on the way home. I have a cover shipping to the office in a couple of days anyways. I might just leave it here until it comes rather than risk getting stranded at the station. Little above freezing. moderate traffic for downtown Chicago. I think I'll get one of the suspended seatposts. Also need to get my bike checked over by a mechanic. Got it used off craigslist and first real use is reveling a few more issues than showed up in the quick spin down the block when I bought it.

Sunny and 53F. A lot more bikes out today. Starting to get sick again but figured to ride in any way. A good bike ride cures everything right?

45F, sunny, damp

I've got uphills and downhills both ways, and I begin and end at comparable elevations, but shifting our daughter's daycare directly onto our commute route (my wife and I take the same route, my office is a mile past hers) has brought into sharp focus that coming to work averages to a steady uphill after a sharp drop, going home is a mellow coast ending with a brutal climb (brutal w/ 70-80# trailer anyway)

Left late. Got a flat. Arrived at my bike locker to find the door closed but my lock and keys sitting on the locker. D'oh! Lucky there was nothing in the box for anybody to steal. It may not have even been noticed. Anyway, I got to work safely, had nothing damaged, and beat the rain. That's a "W."

Sure does. I rode through a cold a few weeks ago. A couple times the exercise, riding, fresh air, etc., helped to break up some of the crap in my chest better than anything else I'd tried. Hope you feel better!

When I see a cyclist walking, I generally just check out their tires. If the tires look flat, I'll stop and ask if they want to borrow a repair kit. If the tires look fine, I'll roll by. Unless the cyclist is obviously wrecked or hurt, I don't question why they're walking. Some people get tired of peddling, was my thought, and in the summer if I stopped for every cyclist walking I'd never get anywhere.

Glad to hear that you weren't cranking hard when the pedal failed. One of my more memorable wrecks was caused by the left pedal snapping completely off, leaving most of the bolt in the crankarm and leaving my left foot to plunge all the way to the ground. I had just swung into the road to pass a slower cyclist in the bike lane, and I was all the way out of the saddle and pumping hard. Just as I passed the guy, snap! When my foot came down, the bike whipped a full 90 degrees to the left and then both the bike and I went flying. I landed on my right shoulder, rolled onto my back and skidded on my (luckily empty) messenger bag for a ways. The road rash on my back outlined where the pack was, and in the tangle with the bike I caught the large chainring fully into my calf. The scars finally faded last summer. It was the fastest wreck I've ever had, and I had no idea what had happened until I saw the pedal laying in the road.

I picked up my bike and pieces and scurried out of the way of the car who, thankfully, was paying attention enough to not run me over when I wrecked right in front of him. The cyclist that I was passing didn't stop at all. As I walked my bike the rest of the way home along the road, blood visibly oozing from the eight punctures in the back of my leg and slowly filling my shoe, only one motorist stopped to ask if I needed any help. I didn't want to get her car bloody and I was almost home, so I gratefully declined. But I'm still amazed that in a "bike friendly" town like Bend, Or, I was able to limp over a mile and a half along a busy road with torn clothes, a very bloody leg, walking a bicycle and receive only one offer of assistance.