whet.

Yesterday was the anniversary of my worst day bike commuting, when I wiped out on ice in the a.m. and then got smashed by a car on the way home.

So just after leaving home, I took a right too fast and suffered a minor fracture to my arm.

Next December 22, I'm taking the bus.

^^^ Ouch! Hope you're feeling better. Taking the bus on Dec. 22 from now on sounds like a good idea. Are you using studs?

My commute today: Cold... darn cold. Weather Network said -9 degrees C with a windchill of -17 (~16 degrees F and 1 respectively), but somehow it felt colder than that. On the upside the snow has been compacted by traffic and iced over; perfect conditions for my Schwalbe MW's. I love climbing grades with ease that have cars slipping and sliding. Gotta love those studs! Had some fun in a deserted parking lot while showing off to my incredulous friends who think I'm nuts for riding my bike when I have a perfectly good car parked in the driveway. My retort was, "Maybe so... but none of you have this stupid grin on your faces like I do right now!" Not to mention the healthy glow of my ruddy cheeks and nose.

Holiday here... no commuting until tomorrow and hey... it's snowing.

Or maybe just stay home! Sucks about the arm, hope it heals soon.

Damn straight. I commuted for several years by car in consistently icy conditions, and while I survived, I never enjoyed it. Commuting by bike is so different than by car, they really aren't even comparable.

It's been single digits here all week (in Farenheit, that's -13 to -18 for you Canadians). Took advantage of the temperature inversion on Xmas to go into the backcountry and get a little elevation, climbed out of 2F and up to 22F. Skiing was meh, but the view was spectacular. Cafe was shockingly slow today, everyone must be full/broke from Xmas excess.

It looks like I'll be splitting the commute between school and work this semester, three to one and three to the other. The work commute is a paltry 5 miles round trip (compared to 15 miles round trip to campus), so those will likely double as XC ski days with the Lady. But I need to pay for this new 8-speed IGH, make enough for a White Industries ENO Eccentric flip/flop for the MTB by June (plus new handlebars, brakes, and tires; and a new wheelset, brakes, and drop bars for the 'cross bike by August), cover books and tuition for '11/'12, and raise enough to travel a bit before Fall semester next year.

Still, going back to work over this holiday break has reminded me of how much I prefer working to going to school. Stress is stress, and I work in one of the busiest restaurants in Anchorage, but with work the stress ends with the work day. With school, it ends with the semester.

Windy this morning with an air temp of 25 F ( -3 C), but the windchill is 16 F and (-6 C). The wind misbehaved in so many spots today, that I was in low gears that I rarely use. This area dodged the nor'easter. The eastern shore got slammed, but west of Baltimore, literally got nothing. It is nice to be on the other side of the line. Now if the winds will just calm down...

Staying home. The snow on the streets is knee-deep and nothing has been plowed as of 8am. They probably focus on highways and main roadways. I've put my studded tires on yesterday and was looking forward to the morning commute, but the snow is too deep to go through and winds are like 30mph.

31f Not bad this morning, a little wind nothing to complain about though, overall nice way to start the week.

The story of the day is, "wind" and more wind-what's new?. The temps were cold but, it was the sustained, high winds coming from the West that were the biggest factor for this morning's ride in. The winds were so strong at times-like when I was crossing the 14th Street bridge-that I thought I'd have to push the bike for a while. The ski goggles were a big help and have already proven to be one of my favorite winter accessories, not only do they keep my eyes warm and free of debris but, they keep a large portion of my face warm-saving me from having to wear a balaclava much of the time. Other than that, there was almost no snow to speak of and DC's streets were covered more with salt than any snow, much of it landing on my bike and turning the downtube and bb shell white, tires too. Someone at work mentioned that the winds were supposed to increase throughout the day-I hope that's not the case.

17 deg F here and I'll second comment on the wind. No glasses or face mask here....just frozen tears (and snot on my shoulder LOL).

I rode my shortest possible ride this morning, under 2 miles, and even for that short time the wind was just amazing. I felt like I was going uphill on the flats, or being pushed out of my lane more times than I can count... in less than 10 minutes of riding. I was disappointed that we didn't get more snow, but I guess I'm glad we dodged a 'big one'.

I read that there could be gusts up to 50 MPH!!!

No commute till next year. Just sitting on the sofa with a hot cup of coffee in front of a roaring fire with the lap top and watching the to pups play in the history making snow (first white Xmas in Atlanta since the 1880's).

Crazy crazy wind. As others have pointed out, DC was spared the snow from the big storm (it did take me 6 hours to drive the first 75 miles home yesterday from my family's place in Hampton Roads, though). We may have been spared the snow, but we have not been spared the wind. NWS reports winds of 30ish mph (50 kph) with gusts to almost 50 mph (~85 kph). That was a headwind most of the time, or a crosswind at best. At a couple points where I have a slight downhill, I even had to pedal to maintain 8 mph. :twitchy: Looking forward to having something like it as a tailwind tonight! :)

After the wipe out a week ago, first commuting (was riding on roller for exercise in the mean time though).
Much better to ride out than doing squirrel cage. Temp in 40f not much wind. Struggled not to overheat and sweat. Got to train station only to wait for train for 40 minutes standing still after 14 mile ride... Hot apple cider in thermo kept me barely okay. I need some happy medium when this happens as it gets too cold standing still after about 20 minutes (and it does happen occasionally). Would another shell on top help enough in this situation?

work for myself, and there isn't any work till next year, so i took a reallllly long route to my other business to have some pastries.

no rain, light wind, light cars. lovely

First commute in a while. I was off the week prior to Xmas but now I'm holding down the fort until the New Year. Today was nice so I rode the race bike, just to get in some miles at lunch time.

18" of snow and unplowed streets in Brooklyn. You could barely walk in it. No cars had even attempted my street yet. I did see one guy walking his bike. It was cold too, with 40mph+ winds.

I had the day off anyway, and I stopped riding after an accident I had 6 weeks ago.

48f sooo nice out i can't even believe its winter, mostly cloudy and a little windy but very very nice afternoon in boise, i feel for ya east coasters, my grandmother said she got 22" in western MA. We still got snow in the foot hills but thats about the only place:)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...2-27151330.jpg

We had like two days in low 40s right before the temps dropped and the snow came in force.

Same up here in Queens: unplowed streets and very few bothered to move the cars. Winters Streets 2010: kids playing in snow on car-free streets, although few manage more tha 10 minutes or so due to cold blasts.

Windy and 24 F (-4 C), with a windchill of 15 F ( -9 C). Yes, wind has been the story in this area for several weeks. Yesterday, as I was leaving, the guard at the front door told me that during the day, the wind picked my bike up out of the rack and slammed it to the ground 3 ft in front of the rack. I don't usually lock my bike, as it is a secure complex, and dealing with my cable lock on cold mornings after cold rides isn't worth the time standing out there with no gloves on my hands. Very minor damage, a plastic holder for one of my lights snapped off. The MTB got its bell rung, and it is not the first time.

Uneventful but cold, as usual, although it wasn't as windy as yesterday, it felt colder-maybe I wasn't working quite as hard. I didn't sleep well and struggled a little bit but, it wasn't a bad ride. Tomorrow I'm going on a lunch time ride with a couple of guys in the building, we'll just do a few laps around Haine's, that should be fun.

A pleasant 8 mile ride to metro this morning; temps in the high 20s or low 30s, sunny, and most of my MUP was clear. Made decent time, and dressed perfectly, I think, except that my balaclava continues to be overkill (except that it was awfully nice for the infrequent but powerful wind blasts). My gloves were also a little sweaty.

There's a sign at the metro station encouraging bicyclists to use U-locks, because of a recent increase in bicycle thefts involving cutting cable locks. Yes, this is the station where my previous baby was taken from me! Where was that sign 3 months ago?

Today’s 14 mile commute was at 19* F at 6:30 AM with a 20 mph head/crosswind. Hands and fingers warm, and face warm with mask pulled off nose and no fogging of eyeglasses and goggles. I started to notice toes cold at mile 7, but tolerable to the end. Today (Tuesday) was D+1 after the big 20 inch snowstorm of Sunday to Monday and the main streets I took were pretty clear with some slush and snow along the curb, and I was comfortable with my Marathon Winters. To my dismay, I did miss the challenge of riding yesterday during the storm because I was out of town.

The main peculiarity of today’s commute was that I am on also vacation today. :twitchy: I’m an early riser and can come into work and have some things to do for a couple of hours. I’m also a very destination-oriented cyclist and I wouldn’t just go for a pleasure ride on a day like today, but a 14 mile commute was desirable, especially after the all festive celebrating over the Christmas week-end.

Also of note, I was riding along and a deliveryman was pushing his handcart across the street in a cross-walk, and looking away from me. I yelled “Heads-up” as I usually do to pedestrians. Usually I get a “Sorry” if they are in my path. He however righteously shouted I was oncoming traffic and he was in a cross walk, and I was an “expletive deleted.” As I rode on a few yards I knew he was right, and my attitude was more like that of a self-consumed roadie. So I doubled back and apologized and told him he was right; he replied with a curt “Thank you.” :o

The tailwind I'd hoped for last night was more of a crosswind most of the way, so that kinda sucked. Also sucked when my chain broke a couple miles from home. Removed the offending link and its neighbor and got back underway. Last night saw a complete chain cleaning and lube (taken off bike, soaked in Simple Green, scrubbed w/ brush and more Simple Green, dried, lubed) and some other regular maintenance items. Everything felt that little bit better this morning (chain in good shape, tires topped off for air, wonky bottom bracket retightened), so the ride was really nice. Wind was not as bad as yesterday, though it still blew pretty hard at times. It's supposed to continue to abate this afternoon, so I'm looking forward to a calmer ride home tonight (and hopefully one free of mechanical issues as well, knock on wood).

One more commuting day left for 2010. The commuting rides tomorrow will put me at just shy of 3150 commuting miles this year with 206 days commuted. Pretty pleased with that. Now to get in more non-commuting miles next year, while keeping up the commuter miles total, of course! :)

Jim, you are indeed impressive. I headed out for a half hour just to try the snow. Even with a front studded tire, I couldn't get great traction. Put some zip ties on the rear wheel and that helped a bit. maybe I need the Marathon Winters...

Good on you! Way to take the high road.

Gonna be wet on the way home.

Cold and somewhere around 30 ( -1 C). However no wind today, and it felt good to actually get some speed. It is good to see the mid-atlantic
folks in here on a slow week. Some of us didn't get any snow, but the wind sure played allot of havoc.

Howdy everyone! Nice to be back on my bike for my 5-mile commute. Almost a week of gluttony and driving around Chicago and its suburbs has taken a toll. I salute those of you who braved those winds, seems like the wind is everywhere always these days.

I'm overdressing for sure, hard to figure out what's appropriate.