Had a truck follow me while revving his engine and honking his horn. I stayed in the middle of the lane and ignored him because there wasn't enough room for him to pass safely, and he was in the lane illegally because it's a bus lane. He clammed up when we got to an intersection w/ traffic cops directing traffic. They could pull him over and ticket him if they were so inclined.

38F, grey. 8 yr old back to 20" bike w/ no cargo to carry.

I TOOK A SPILL TODAY. Monday, February 01, 2010. THE Temps were about 18-20 degrees. I decided to go with the visorgogs instead of the Uvex’s. Big mistake. 30 mins into the ride the goggles are fogging up real bad. I couldn’t see. I ended up riding into the curb in front of Worthington High School. I flipped over on my right onto the concrete sidewalk and went sliding on my beautiful Showers Pass rainjacket and my $100 winter cycling pants. I’m lucky I didn’t break my right Tibula. The jacket got a nice scrap on it with a slight tear in the fabric that can be fixed. The pants came out unscathed. The bike was OK except for the computer which got jarred loose. It doesn’t work but I can fix it. Well that tells me that I should have gone with the Uvex’s instead. And I will in the future. Below 23 degrees is the cut off where I switch. I’m not as comfortable wearing the Uvex’s as I am the Visorgogs. I prefer the Visorgogs. I have a better range of vision. Almost perfect. The Uvex’s range is limited and makes me feel like I’m scuba-diving. But they work in frigid temps. The seal keeps the hot air from your breath from fogging up the lens. I’ve only used them in 10 degrees. But I’m confident that they’ll work below that.
https://www.labsafety.com/search/gogg...8/?GoButton=Go

@scoatw ,ouch
Jan31 I got back on the saddle since fracturing my radial neck bone Jan 4,decent weather,nice clear skies and getting back on wheels again after a month off made for a very enjoyable ride.Tire pressure a little low from leaving the bike at my job's basement the whole time. ride in on feb 1 and back home were fine,starting to get my riding legs back.
Stay safe out there all and God Bless.

Fun ride yesterday, have no fillings left. Ice and snow the whole way.

So I played superwuss today and drove

It was a tad warmer at 12 F ( -11 C). There is something coming in this evening to add to the crap we already have. Then on Friday something else is
coming in. It all reminds me of how much I dis**** winter. Dodging cars, snow and ice should be an olympic event.

Was cold and misting on the ride home last night. I felt like I was really laboring. Inclines I normally climb without much effort found me struggling a bit.

When I got home I discovered my rear brake was slightly engaged. Duh.

I teach three online classes and had three hours of homework to grade last night so I didn't have time to fix the brake.

Does anyone like to ride in the rain? I'll trade. 39 deg in the rain was not fun this morning. thought I had it covered but there was not much of me that was not soaked by the time I arrived at work. I did wear my rain gear. just it was pouring so much it was running up and down every gap in the system. oh well. at least I got a good work out. This afternoon promises to be lovely low 50's and sunny.

Very light dusting of snow this morning. Around 10F. No wind. For a while, I was weaving from edge to edge on the MUP to make S-tracks in the snow. Silly.

Sorry to read about scoatw's get-off.

I wimped out. I woke up with a sore throat, worse than yesterday's. The bike is still packed (for hopefully tomorrow's commute), but no bike commuting for me today.

Almost got doored before I even left my block. That'd make the 2nd time in a week for those keeping score at home. Also almost had a bunch of peds walk into me as a went through an intersection even though I had the light. And they even got pissed. So that was my morning.

My very first commute this morning was ideal. A bit foggy, but about 40F, and clear roads. My commute is mostly through residential areas. On my new road bike I was already cruising as fast as I used to on my mountain bike, despite being out of shape and never even getting into the upper gears.

The commute is supposed to be about 5.5 miles, but missing the road I had meant to take, then looking for another with good bike lanes took me 7.3 miles. That said, I got there only a minute or so behind the bus that left at the same time as I did.

Phil has company.

The Canadian Press


WIARTON, ONT-Canada's most famous weather prognosticating rodent has disappointing news for those who've had enough of winter.
Wiarton Willie is predicting six more weeks of winter, having seen his shadow when roused from his slumber today.

Six more weeks of commuting in the ice, snow and salty slush. Oh joy.

35F and clammy. Solid cloud ceiling apparently around 15.5K feet and blinding sun silhouetting Rainier perfectly below it.

I tried a slightly longer route to the train yesterday evening, and it's much more pleasant - almost no parked cars, quieter streets, and more gradual hills. The downside is that I can't catch my usual train, and end up getting home around 7:15 instead of at 6:45. Maybe my new Tikit will let me do this faster. (Bike Friday's promise-to-ship date is this Friday...)

I miss having a reason to post in here the last few days, namely riding my bike! The only silver lining to all the the snow and ice keeping me off the bike is that I probably shouldn't be riding anyway. My rear wheel is more than toast. I ordered a new wheel last night (a 36h Velocity Dyad built up around a Deore LX hub) that I'm super psyched about.

With the new wheel, I'm making the switch from a freewheel to a freehub and cassette. So all things being equal it should be a stronger, more durable setup than I have now and much more easily serviceable by me as this purchase offered me an excuse to get a chain whip and lockring tool. I'll be able to take the cassette off any time I want. Yeah! Take that, wheel! (and any eventual broken spokes [KNOCK ON WOOD]. Yeah, that's right. I can fix you whichever side of the wheel you happen to be on!)

Anyway, if I were riding now, it'd be w/ a broken spoke and a bent axle on the rear wheel. If it were nicer out, I'd consider just riding anway, since the rear wheel is trash as soon as the new one comes. But reality is what it is and I don't have studded tires. (Don't worry - next Christmas' wish list has already been started. ) Nor would I want to risk bending one of the dropout, so it's probably just as well.

Anyway, long story short, once my wheel is in and the snow has melted away, I'll be happily back on my bike!

Today was my first bicycle commute of 2010.

Lessons learned.

I overdress/overlayer - sweated more this morning than when its 105F outside. Nevermind it being 31F when I left.
Now that the days are getting longer I don't need to pack 3.5lbs of 20watt Halogen Geek lighting.
Sammiches for lunch should go on the top of the load in the trunk bag.

Light snow on the way home. I checked the weather before leaving work, and changed into bike shorts/pants/etc for the first time since the last rainstorm. Suddenly my saddle is comfortable again!

Cold on the way to class, snowy and wet on the way home. Did a few loooong skids (fixed gear).

Weather and work schedules finally allowed for a long tempo ride before work like in the days of yore (September).

Legs were heavy but the numbers were good, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.

sluggish coming home in blinding sun. Lubed the chain!

a sweet ride in today. Temps between 25-30F, which felt warm. The ride home tonight was good too but whew, I started to bonk- a rare event for me. The hungry horrors set in on the way home- and the little bit of a hill I climb suddenly felt like a bit of work. Had a nice big late night dinner when I got home.

Definitely didn't expect to get so dirty on the ride home today. If I would have remember to check the weather in the morning I would have realized that I needed my rain gear to stay dry and not get filthy dirty with all the muck on the roads. Oh well, c'est la vie, you live and learn. The ride was quicker than normal which is always nice when you want to get home in a hurry. Note to self, check the weather before heading out the door... Just because it's not raining now doesn't mean it won't rain on the ride home.

Happy commuting,

Nick

Nice commute, took xtracycle to the Portland Rock Gym at 7am 5 miles away, a slight down hill over all. Sipping hot green tea on the way. Climb HARD till 10:15am, then pack all the climbing gear and work gear, ride about 15miles through SE Portland up to NW Gresham. Nice day to ride, about 45-50 degrees, a bit of head wind for the last 4 miles east bound on Marine Dr.

Work 8 hrs, from noon to 8pm, then ride with a nice (10mph ish) tail wind. Fenix LD20 showing the way on the MUP with not one street/path lights for 10 of the 13 miles home. I like it though, ride right by the airport, no traffic but for the last few miles.

Tomorrow, I'll take the road bike, cutting the commute down by 20 minutes.

Ride on