I was out and about with my family last night, -12C, blowing snow, sliding around on the slick roads (we were driving), and this is nowhere near the worst that winter can throw at us here in Edmonton. When we got home, I looked at my wife and said, "I think we should move to North Carolina." "Near freezing" in the winter sounds like heaven. We would die in your summer heat and humidity, of course.

I had to take my car to the shop today, I wouldn't have biked today anyway. Snow and 60km/h wind, it was pretty deep by the time I got home. I saw a few cyclists out today while riding the shuttle, no envy from me :)

Roads will still be a mess tomorrow, so I'll be taking the bus.

You don't have to leave Canada...

I used to live in the Okanagan and winter temperatures in Pentiction typically average 0C through January and the daytime temperatures are in the +'s... it is a glorious place to ride a bike save for the 40C days in the summer.

You really can't win and how much winter do we have left here ?

5 months ?

:D

I went out for ride on my Raleigh 20 this afternoon and was hose most pleased at how well those knobby little 451's ran out on the hard pack (traction wise) but was not as impressed with the ride as the position puts you way back over the back wheel.

Will be commuting down to the bike co-op in a little while and will be riding the U.A.V. as it is rolling on some 26 by 2.1's and is all studded up and just does not know what a bump is.

It also has a more balanced / forward riding position which makes handling rougher roads a lot nicer.

Should be fun now that the cars have had all day to polish things up.

This morning was pretty brutal. Walking would have been faster. The truly fresh snow was fine, but anywhere there were some tire tracks, but not enough to pack or clear it, it was very hard to keep control. Hoping that the roads will be better packed on the way home.

I wussed out and took the bus. The other day my hands went numb and my shifter ceased to engage... don't know if it's cold-related or if it just gave up the ghost at the wrong time.

Think I'll have to travel over to EBC to see about studding some tires and a replacement shifter if need be. Need goggles and new gloves too - my face was killing me and my mittens didn't cut it.

Still, I don't like the bus.

Long sections of the bike path I ride in on have been repaved and even more of it is under reconstruction. And today I took a streets route to sign a contract for a job and it's a street I've always hated to ride on and it's curbs have been moved back and bike lanes painted on the road- so much better! I've been a bike commuter for 40 years and about 30 of those years have been in Boston and NYC. It is amazing how much better it is with the added infrastructure in both of those cities. I have bike lanes now on my streets route (8 miles) to almost a mile from my house and it really does make a difference.

It's kind of like the difference between living broke and living with a little money in your pocket- sure, the former is possible but not always pleasant (to say the least) and the latter is a lot easier even though money doesn't solve all your problems.

It was a nice commute... temp is currently -18 C but the wind has died down and the skies have opened up which means it is going to be a really cold night.

Helped my friend convert his SS winter bike into a 3 speed equipped mountain bike and he seemed pretty thrilled with the whole conversion.

My Kuwahara handled the snow, ice, and brown shugah really well despite my not swapping in my studded front tyre... will do that tomorrow as the roads, and especially the intersections, are just gonna get more and more polished.

I thought my ride was a little chilly, until I read the post above (-18c). It was around 30F/0C tonight and I rode against a stiff headwind enhancing the "chill" factor. I'll get the pay back in the morning rocking the big tailwind. We have "warm" front moving in, so it's not going get much colder overnight and we have a nice weekend forecast. When I got to work I immediately remembered that tomorrow morning the company is handing out our Thanksgiving bonus. I don't know how I'm going to carry a 15 pound frozen turkey home?

Good commute this morning at 35F and sunny with winds from the W @ 6mph. Changed my front shifter to a friction shifter after having all the problems with the twist grip, and it worked out a lot better. I'm gonna keep the twist grip for the rear because it's never giving me any issues. Started this week on fire getting the fastest ever commute in Monday and the fastest commute home Wednesday. Today I was pretty slow for no good reason. Granted I had a headwind, but it wasn't that bad.

37f And it was ever so slightly snowing, and of course this weeks unusual warm weather made this morning seem colder than it actually was.

I overslept by 30 minutes but resisted the temptation to drive and still made it to work on time. It was my coldest commute of the fall so far, about 34 F, and I wasn't quite dressed for it. The temperature has been warming up a lot in the afternoon, so I been having a daily tug-of-war between dressing for the morning cold or the afternoon warmth.

Cold waiting for the bus today (-22C, windchill -34C), but on the upside the stars are brilliant on cold clear mornings. I got my Lake winter boots yesterday and did a quick run up and down the street, the snow yesterday evening wasn't packed enough to be riding on. Later today and tomorrow should be better. Tomorrow will be -20C so I'll tune the cleat positioning on the Lake boots and do some clothing layering tests, try out my goggles etc.

Celsius always messes with me i can for the most part convert it in my head but every time i see it before i convert it in my head i just see the -22 and say damn, i mean really -22c is cold as hell, thats like -5f i think?

For all intents and purposes, a tropical commute, relatively speaking. Upper 40s F, or ~9*C. Bit of a wind, a headwind for me, out of the north or northwest. NWS says it's gusting to around 20 mph. Certainly ridden in much worse, but it was enough to make me work a little harder on the ride in than usual.

Surprisingly few bike commuters out, it seemed. Perhaps people are choosing their mode of commute by the calendar instead of by the actual weather conditions. Kinda like the significant number of people I saw walking about a couple days ago dressed in bulky sweaters, overcoats, hats, scarves, gloves, etc., even though the temperature was close to 60F. Come on people, just 'cause it's November doesn't mean you have to bundle up every day. Some days are actually warm. Shoot, around here we get the occasional freak 60 degree day in January, much less November, so it should come as no surprise to anyone.

Last commute for a while. Taking some extra time off around the holiday next week, so I'm out all next week and a couple days the next. I won't miss work, but I will miss the commute. And I'll be on the other side of hte country, so I won't even have my bike around to enjoy a fun ride or two. :(

You sure? 37 @ 7:45 was what the radio said (can't swear to the location, but I recall it being relatively nearby -- Vienna perhaps?), and my thermometer agreed. I admit I am a bit further west ;-)

Hmmm -- could it have been time of day? It might have been a little light, but overall I'd have said pretty normal for a Friday, and the rack at work was about average- full.

Anyway -- I overdressed for the weather, as I got nervous - every said it was cold, and I believed it. Probably should have skipped the long sleeve base layer under my wind layer, and stuck to short sleeves. I also should have skipped the wool socks, as my calves were sweaty by the time I got to work. My feet were nice and warm, though I think I might need larger shoes to get maximum benefit from the socks. Or maybe I just need some windproof booties.

Tried something a bit different today -- I drove a little further (I know, I know -- the wrong thing) to avoid having to climb the slippery, leaf covered hill tonight. It was a wash as to time this morning -- any gains from extra speed were easily erased by traffic on Chain Bridge Rd. OTOH, my cycling average speed definitely gained (13.9 MPH). I don't think I'd make a habit of this, but it is probably a good option in bad weather. That hill is a killer. I had to walk up much of it on Wednesday because my rear tire lost traction as I spun up, which brought me to a stop. I think I need to reconsider using the Custis Trail and W&OD for the ride home.

Still can't figure out why you guys are the last hold outs to go to metric as it is so simple for relating temperature.

100 - water boils
0 water freezes

And -40 C = -40F

Was a balmy -20 C this morning and have only been out for my morning walk and foot commute with the girls... with no wind and a sky full of sun it is actually rather pleasant and the little one was not even complaining about the cold.

The cat even went outside for 5 minutes before he came to his senses... he has never seen snow so was pretty intrigued.

I few times I've had the thought that the forum should have built-in unit conversion. Hover over a number to convert speed, distance, temperature. Even if it required a special tag around the number.

I left for work at 8:30. Weather Channel said 47 or something like that, and the NWS official data for National Airport (still can't stomach the Reagan part of that, even after all these years) online said 48 as of 8:50, I believe. I suppose some of that could be do to readings in different places. An extra hour of sunlihgt may have also played a part. I wore shorts and two tee-shirts - one short sleeved, the other long-sleeved and was quie comfortable on the ride in. Not cold, not hot.

I dunno. I normally see more people on my commute at that time of day, even since the time change. I am often one of four bikes parked at my office. Today I was one of two. Could all just be a fluky coincidence that I happened not to see too many, but on my trip from Alexandria to downtown DC, I saw, I think, six fellow bike commuters total, all on the MVT, except for one guy I passed by the Washington Monument.

As an American fam of the metric system, I couldn't agree with you more. I think the the only metric measurements the average American understands are 2 liters (soda bottles), kilos (of illicit drugs - LOL), and some may have a vague understanding of KPH, thanks to markings in car speedometers. Maybe one day our country will get its head out of its butt and join the metric world (i.e., the world except for the US and some measurements in the UK), though I highly doubt it.

On second thought, maybe the Chinese will impose it on us in 2050. :rolleyes:

Well, us and your imperial overlords, isn't it? Either way, we're not holding out at this point, that ship has sailed and we didn't get on, for ... worse or worser I guess.

40F and brisk today, clammy but not actually raining.

Im versatile in both, temp is my one weak spot. But then again im one of those weirdo's that uses the 24hr system for time.

We're not metric up here in Canada, we're fully sitting on the fence. We package our butter by the pound, but label it in grams. Lumber is still purchased by the foot and pants are measured in inches. Shoes sized by whatever base unit the imperial system uses... Only our government is metric and then just to give us another thing to complain about as we sip on our 10 oz double double at Timmys.

Part way witnessed an accident in my rear view mirror on this afternoon's commute. 43F and sunny with winds from the WNW @ 13mph. It happened a little over 100 feet behind me and the vehicle was going in the opposite direction as me. Not exactly sure what happened, but I know there was also a bus behind me at the time, who I believe was turning. Don't know if the bus had anything to do with it but I know the bus was never actually hit. I heard the tires skidding and looked in the mirror to see the car that passed me seconds ago slam into the car in front of him. I saw another vehicle stop, put on hazards, and the people jumped out to see if everyone was all right. It was kinda nerve racking to witness (and hear) something like that happen just right behind me. Later down the road, I saw the responding police car go flying by with flashers and all. Besides that, it was a good commute home.

Almost got hit by a car yesterday. Rough ride overall.

It's from an op-ed in the Philadelphia Star, circa 1980. You can read the entire piece here. When I first read it, I thought that it was satire, it was so over the top ridiculous. But after reading more about the author, I realized that he was actually sincere. Conservative nutcase, that one (not to say that all conservatives are nutcases, just this one, and his political affiliation is only relevant because his nuttiness manifests itself politically). Even if the author did not mean it as satire, I find it so hilarious that I can't read it as anything but.

Still icy and cold up here. No class today, but I did head out to the bike shop to pick up a replacement cassette. Thought it might be interesting to post a pic of the final tiny hill on my way home. We call this Bridge Troll's Shortcut, in honor of the crazy, rambling homeless guy who hangs out underneath the pedestrian overpass that this trail is leading up to.

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/y...btshortcut.jpg

It's about 40ft long and a 25% grade, and that grey stripe down the middle is a trough of polished ice. The only way that I've made it up this thing all week long is in the absolute bottom gear (36x32). And this is why I won't attempt to commute with just one gear. Also, Nokian Extreme 296 tires rock!

I really hate saying this, but get used to it. Oh, and congrats on making it home alive; close calls suck, almost as much as actual collisions.

Fahrenheit scale is a little more accurate.
0C +32f the point where fresh water freezes at sea level.

0F is the point where sea water freezes and it is less effected by elevation.

Ever hear the story of how the system came to exist? Supposedly it all dates back to I believe King Henry settling a dispute between a tailor and a cloth maker. The tailor was tall and the cloth maker was short. It was typical that cloth be measured by the tip of the thump on an out streached arm to the tip of the nose. That happens to be half the hight of the person doing the measurment. That length also was what most peoples Sash (Belt) was that was often made by the tailor.
The dispute came when the tailor (tall) felt he was being swindled by the cloth maker (short) because their Yard from the word gird ( circumference of the waist).
They broke it down by finding that the Yard was three lengths of Henry's foot. A foot was 12 "inches" ,the width of Henry's thumb. Also the approximate distance front the first knuckle to the send knuckle on the index finger that the caprenter would use rocking back and forth like and "inch worm" when measuring lengths of wood.

So the whole system was standardized by the girth (waist measurement) of a chubby king Henry.

:D :lol::roflmao2::roflmao:

I still remember when Canada introduced the Metric System... I was twelve years old. Old enough to have spent the previous 7 years learning the Imperial System of measurement in the classroom. Very frustrating to have to unlearn what I had learned and to learn a new system. That being said it was nice not to have to remember how many feet are in a mile, ounces are in a pound, pints are in a gallon, and other imperialistic idiosyncrasies. What the hell is a rod anyway? Five and a half yards? Does anyone actually use that? There's a good reason why the Metric System is considered the "Système Internationale."

Another balmy morning at 44 F ( 6 C). I overdressed, but I just can't keep up with the temps anymore.

Yes, the metric system makes so much more sense, and it is easier to use whether weights, measurments or weather.