After a week of feeling under the weather and a 24 head cold on Saturday, I woke up feeling fresh and ready to go this morning. I had even decided to do the 'Long' commute. It was cold, crisp and dry and by the time I hit the cycle path on the River Clyde the morning glow of dawn was on it's way to illuminate a nearly cloudless sky........

It was at this point that my freehub died and I had to run two miles to the nearest station just so I could get to work on time.

Ordered the new freehub for the DMR Revolver but it'll be effectively three days at least before I'm back on it :(

Hmph

Hint:
1. If you think the ratchet pawls in your hub sound a lot quieter of late then take note.
2. If you think that the 'mini skips' on the rear cassette are due to you running a worn chain and cassette then reconsider.

1+2 = Dodgy Freehub (possibly)

I hate those 24 head colds. I go through so much shampoo when I get one of those things! ;-)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

On a serious note, sorry to hear about your mechanicals and thanks for the heads up on the dodgy freehub warning signs. Duely noted in the recesses of my mind.

Cheers!

Much better this afternoon. It took me 10 minutes less to do my commute than it took me this morning. Feeling a lot better. Maybe it's because I had some serious energy food today, it wouldn't surprise me.

Random thoughts.
Some weeks are just impossible to ride to work. I've got something screwing up my schedule almost every day this week. It's OK because I've ridden most days since December.
Debating when to take off my studded tires. We get late snowstorms here but they're usually not too icy. Still... going to keep them on for a bit longer to see what develops. Damned things have only been necessary on about 5-7 days. Not much snow and ice here this winter.
Can't wait for daylight savings. It arrives a week later this year. I know many of you ride early morning and probably aren't looking forward to it. But me, I'm so f&%#ing sick of riding home in the dark.
Some time in January I stopped visiting Bike Forums, but now I'm back. Kind of felt like I was getting too obsessed with all things winter biking. So I kept riding but not thinking about it so much. Really, it's just getting to and from work, and at some point you've got things all set up and you just go.

This was a good morning. Rained last night so there was moisture in the air and a slight headwind. Still managed to take the MUP route of 10 miles in about 45 minutes. :) Was a bit cold, should have added a second layer up top.

Dentist appt. Just for the heck of it, from the dentist's I took the direct route, straight up a mile long hill, rather than double back a mile and a half to the MUP. This was the 1st time facing that hill on my fixie and it was no big deal. Whew. Merging across the 2 lanes to 4 lanes split at the top while not coasting took some attention.

Climb's never as big as you remember it, I guess the actual climbing part was just half a mile. The other half mile before the merge was pretty flat.

Yep. I had mine replaced about 2 months ago. Came to a point where it would just spin freely when it got cold (single digits / teens, F).

I love all these spring weather ride reports. :D Everybody's in a good mood. Up near 50 for my ride home. I'll probably go with shorts.

Amazing!!! First ride of the season on skinny tires (front one studded), after a winter on Nokain Extremes. I passed a 'commute acquaintance', whom I usually pass relatively slowly (I'd guess my 25 km/h vs. about 20 km/h for him). Today, I absolutely flew past him. Very cool demonstration of how much of a difference those studs made. Of course, he caught up to me at a light, and we chatted a bit about my helmet mirror :)

Very foggy this morning, not too cold though lower 30's or so. I was pretty lit up and wore a safety vest. About 1 car in ten was running dark.

Bike just setting in hallway and employee comes in to my office to say the tire was hissing. Broken valve stem. What a mess. CHanging a tube after two months of winter sludge, and the knobby studs. At least it didn't happen an hour later when I'll be on the road.

Strange you should mention that. It was 4 deg c (don't do F I'm afraid) and it was spinning freely. Checked prior to making my way home (running\train thing again) at the end of work and a lot warmer and the freehub was solid. Not to be trusted though. You don't want to be traversing a junction when the ratchet goes.....ooooohhhh scary!

Felt great on the commute home. 53F with winds from the WNW @ 19mph giving me some nice tail winds. The only problem i had is for some reason my bicycle didn't wanna go in the lowest gear because it kept slipping coming up the last steep hill on the road to my house. I ended up having to put it in the next gear up and i had no more issues; just had to push a bit harder to make the climb.

Gorgeous morning, about 3 degrees C out and sunny. Laughed at by some girls in a car while waiting for a light.... then later slipped up on a trackstand and banged my knee on the bracket for my light, now doing the limp of shame for the rest of the day (didn't put my foot down though!). Just popped two advil for the ride home to calm down the knee - looks like weather is cooperating though, which is nice when nothing else is :)

The winter freeze is over, did my first commute Monday Morning around 4;40am, didn't see any bikers on the Brooklyn Bridge, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, since i haven't really done any riding, so I thought the Bridge was going to kill me, it was a nice temp around 45 degrees or so, had on my gloves and sweat wicking hat, so i was just fine... I basically had the west side bike path all to myself up to West 57 street, only saw like 3 other bikers, 2 when i got on the bike path and 1 when I was about to get off the path. Getting off work at 2pm, well then they are skaters and more bikers on the path.

March 9. It was a mere 23F outside which pretty much cooled off my toes right to the bone. As the people at the 41 would say: I was suffering. I couldn't get my speed over 18mph without any apparent reason. While hopping under the shower at work the toes felt like they were about to break off. Painful. Very.
Though yesterday it's been snowing and raining, the day temperature of 41F have cleaned up and dried the roads pretty nicely making the commute it a bit more pleasant than it was yesterday morning, when I came in with sand and salt sprayed all over my legs.

Nice ride in today, compared to the commute home yesterday, which I'm not even going into. Supposed to be 60 degrees again today, lets hope that it doesn't have the icy cold breeze to go with it like yesterday evening.

Decent tailwind. Sunny, blue sky. ~32F/ZeroC. Saw two women riding the other way.

Warmer than it has been, around 50°. Rain overnight so the streets were quite wet. Reminds me that I really should put fenders on my bike.

Fought a brisk head wind which kept my average speed a bit lower. Still haven't seen any other commuters since I resumed riding after the disappearance of the ice and snow.

Nice ride this morning, but for one thing. It was so warm I didn't wear my fleece; rolled it up and put it under the velcro flap of my messenger bag. At 55th street I noticed it was gone. I wasn't going to go down 8th Ave against traffic looking for it, so I rode over to 9th Ave and rode all the way back down to Penn Station, even walked down to the train platform to see if I'd dropped it there. Nope. Then rode back up 8th Ave, careful to change lanes in all the same places. Found it in the middle of the bike path at 53rd street. Grrr, I should have ridden against traffic!

I was amazed at how many pennies and nickles I saw today. Dozens of pennies, literally, and a couple of nickles. No paper money, though.

A first: with temps in the mid-50s, this was the first morning this year I rode to work in shorts. I got rolling a little early- not quite 5:30 like last time, but close- and the roads are much, much quieter at that hour. I think that will be my target from now on- to leave at about 5:30.

I saw a recumbent rider early in the ride.

Yesterday afternoon was without a doubt the best commute I've had in MONTHS!!! Temps in the low 60s - so I was in shorts and a tee-shirt for the ride home for the first time since November IIRC. Got to watch the sky turn a beautiful rich orange color as the sun set. Slight tailwind made it all the more pleasant. Stopped near home to get some groceries and a 20 lb. bucket of cat litter. Not a complaint in the world!

This morning's ride was pretty nice, too. Temps in the 40s by the time I left, so I dispensed with the underlayer tights I had been wearing under my shorts throughout the winter and just went with shorts. Tee shirt and fleece top. Weather Channel said winds N at 2 MPH. Definitely stronger than 2, but still not the 20-25 mph gusts of late. 7 miles including stoplights in 31 minutes. I feel fast again!

Looking forward to a great ride home. Might try to sneak out for a little lunchtime ride, too, time permitting.

25F and blinding sun. Frost is hard on the cherry blossoms, but they were past their peak anyway.

Very tough commute today. 21F this morning, 28F this afternoon. Winds at 30-40 mph all day with fallen branches and other debris everywhere. Prior to this week, we had 2 weeks of 50F days which melted all our snow. I was even doing some of my summer rides again. Figured spring came early, but boy was I wrong. It's been below freezing all day for the past 4 days with very strong, cold wind. The forecast is calling for snow this week. :(

Yuck!

Very foggy this morning, vis down to 100 yards at best. I almost turned left in front of a car with no lights. That would have ruined my day.

Not looking forward to ride home in rain.

Bright sunshine and a chilly north wind. Going to make for some Paris-Nice like conditions on my lunch time interval sessions.

Ah yes... cherry blossoms! Ours will be here soon in the other Washington. Sadly that brings buttloads of tourists to otherwise easily navigable paths along the Mall and around the Tidal Basin. It'll still be pretty, though!

I wore shorts today :D 60F, sunny! Woooohoooo!

Adam

From this morning.....

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...9100629-02.jpg

House- / cat-sitting for the in-laws this week, 800ft up a vertiginous slope. Ouch! So far the rain has held off and everything has been hunky-dory. Enjoying the vistas and the wine.