Thanks for your reply. I guess it might be a cyclists version of the Golden Rule, "Do unto pedestrians as you would have the cagers do unto you." :rolleyes:

Balmy! 25F / -4C. :p Something is falling from the sky. It's leaving a crunchy texture on untreated surfaces, which is good for my studded tires. The snow on the MUP is now quite hard and easy (but rough) to ride over. I still took roads most of the way. Don't want to rattle myself apart. I might take the MUP all the way home though, as I won't be in a hurry.

Cold but with less wind (thankfully) this morning. I felt pretty sluggish and, the legs never really loosened up. In addition, I was somewhat wobbly on the bike-just couldn't get it together. Oh well, that happens from time to time. I hope I feel better by our lunchtime ride. The temps are on the way up, finally...

A couple of inches of fresh on the ground, and still coming down. Forecast is for a few more inches today, but at 11F/-12C it should be light enough to blast through and maybe have a little fun too. Mostly I'm stoked to be back up in double digit temps!

If I were to make the MUP my pulpit, this is what I would preach.

Good riding these days. Nice ride home last night, and this morning's ride was good, too. Winds are calming down and today is the warmest day in quite a while. I was able to go back to my regular cotton socks for a change (i.e., no wool socks today), and my feet were still quite comfy. Supposed to get up to around 45 this afternoon. Might have to pack the fleece in a pannier for the ride home and go with just wicking base layer and long sleeve tee over that.

Today is the last commuting day of 2010 for me. It's been a good year cycling-wise. 3143 commuting miles will be in the books by the time I get home tonight. With warmer weather on tap over the holiday weekend, I'm hoping to get in a good fun ride, something of the 30-40+ mile variety, but I'd settle for something shorter, too. It'll be nice to get out, though, and just ride. I haven't been doing nearly enough of that.

2011 promises to be a good year for cycling. I plan to buy and build up a Surly LHT frame in the next couple months. That after two years of making do and improving bit by bit the components on my BSO (bike shaped object) from Target. Current frame is too small, so I'm excited to pick up a better fitting frame, and a much higher quality one, too. I also hope to finally get in some touring experience, even if it is just a couple overnights or long weekends. But that's for the touring forum. ;)

Anyway, here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a great 2011! :beer: See you on the flip side of the New Year!

1C/34F this morning with snow all the way up the mountain! :) Great day to try out my new Christmas presents, a MagicShine 900 and a new set of winter gloves. The light was amazing and the gloves were toasty warm. The snow was a nice treat on the ride up even nicer because the plows aren't running today as the university is closed.

I was stupid this morning (even stupider than normal!) Discovery Park has been flooded for a week or two but the water's been coming down so I decided to go thru the water.

My feet got totally soaked. Fortunately, during rainy season last year I brought a spare pair of shoes and socks.

I'm taking the long way home! Wet feet suck.

It totally dumped last night, but no rain on the ride in. Hopefully, we'll get a little sunshine this afternoon.

I'm off of work this week. I'm really missing my riding so I needed to send a card to my daughter for her birthday so I jumped on my bike and cruised up to the post office... the one downtown Minneapolis. I got in 22 miles. It was great, mild temps and sunshine. The only bummer is that as we wrap up the year it looks like I'm not going to break 4000 miles this year (I'm a little over three hundred miles short). The first time in over 28 years. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone.

Thanks to being able to leave really early, I did a multi-multi mode commute this morning: Bike to metro, Metro part way, and then bike the rest of the way to work -- just under 12 riding miles. Had a lot of trouble deciding how to dress, though, and the 10 minutes on the train didn't help, as I felt overheated. It fooled me into thinking it was really warm, instead of just warmer, so I took off my Balaclava. I stopped a few minutes later to put it back on, as my ears were COLD!

I stuck to the thin gloves, though. As others have mentioned, it should be in the 40s for the ride home, so I think I'll ditch the fleece layer. Getting in early means leaving early, so riding the whole 20 home, if all goes according to plan.

Not sure if what riding I'll do tomorrow, but either way, I've had a good first calendar year of 'serious' bike commuting, and look forward to biking a lot more in 2011.

awesome its in the 50s today in colordo and the sun rise was amzing!

sh•tty
rear derailleur threw itself into the rear spokes, bending the dropout wide open.
good thing i was only 5min from home and "drug" the bike back and rode the fixed gear :(

Hilarity! I took the MUP all the way. ~5 miles of rough & packed (from pedestrians) snow. I dropped my front tire pressure way down and it made the ride a little easier.

Eventually it started getting dark so I threw on the Light & Motion 13W halogen and pointed it downward to I could see the best track in the snow.

So this dude... He walks out onto the trail about a quarter mile ahead of me and stands there. Right dead center in the hardest & easiest to ride packed track, and he's not moving. As I get closer I see he's messing with his cell phone. He still wasn't moving so I said, "Please don't stand in my track, dude!" He looks up and he says, "Oh man I was calling the police! I thought you were a snowmobile on the bike path!"
:lol: :crash: A really REALLY quiet (and very slow) snowmobile, I guess.

So we had a good laugh. He said my light is really bright, and I even had it pointed downward. Good to know I guess.

6 mile round-trip unicycle commute today, with temps around freezing. The MUP was clear except for a bridge where it was covered with refrozen slush.

Quiet ride home until this total moron pulls a u-turn from the curb mere inches in front of me. I was no more than 30 seconds from my building, close call but thankfully no collision.

That's awesome. :thumb:

A rare near 50 degree night time December ride to work. The streets were damp, but the air was dry. In the morning I should have a 20 mph tailwind for the ride home, it will be nice way to finish the year of commuting.

Cold and frosty at 20 F ( -7 C). No wind and the roads are dry from the wind and salt, so no there was no ice. Yesterday afternoon was warm in the 40s F ( single digits C), and I hear we are to get some more of that for a couple more days. Party for new years will be outside.

Nice ride in, hammies are sore from not having ridin (or exercised at all much) for a week or so. Lots of salt pushed into some of the bike lanes but overall a good ride.

22f with a light dusting of snow, nice and crisp air and fast ride in on big blue:)

Tired and sluggish this morning. I started lifting this week, after a 3+ year layoff (torn rotator cuff), and doing core exercises, as well as a lunch time ride that probably doubled my daily mileage so, I was on empty this morning and took the opportunity to take it easy and spin in. I'm excited about our lunch time rides, I've never been able to participate in something like this, we'll use it for fun as well as an opportunity for some focussed training-it's great that the other guys are really into it. It's also good news that we're getting a break from the sub-freezing temps and high winds, next week looks good so far. dcb23 is right, there is so much salt in the bike lanes in DC, it's an inch deep in some places, I hope this weekend's rain washes it away-it can't be good for one's drive train.

Last commuting day of 2010, and I took the short ride, which was, I think, smart, given how my legs feel after yesterday's long ride home. I need to total my miles, but I think I'll be a bit over 1200. Not too bad considering I only started riding in May, and didn't start tracking miles at all until June. If I rode every day, all the way from home to work and back, I could theoretically hit right around 9600 miles in a year. a bit over 10% represents a good start, right?

Nice and sunny, about 32, a little slushy, but generally great!

Between the snow storm that dumped a foot of snow on the city, and being sick, I've barely been on my bike at all in the past 2 weeks. I've been using public transit to get to work this week. Today, a bit more of the snow had melted, so I took my folding bike and rode the subway part of the way. Bike lanes are still covered in snow, so even riding to/from the subway stop was a bit harrowing--I took the lane but drivers were NOT happy about that.

Nice chilly ride in today at -4C/24F. Dressed well and all my Christmas presents worked great. Yesterday I noticed my brake pads were worn out... Cheap MEC pads didn't even last 800 km until they were metal on metal! The wear line is nowhere near the end of the rain groove. Had to rid home without using the rear brakes at all. Closest shop only had Shimano Cantilever shoes so that's what I've got. I'll have to pick up some Kool Stop pads next time I place an order.

Rode the bike home from the office last night where it had been for a week while my arm was in a sling. Legs felt great but every bump in the road was hurting my arm bad. Gonna give it a few more days to heal up. Just managed to squeak over 4000 miles for the year.

I don't suppose that DC drivers could be convinced to just learn to drive on ice? Only highways and expressways are salted here, and we seem to get along just fine. Hills and four-ways on lower speed roads are merely graveled (which makes for amazingly terrible gravel drifts come spring, but the city is mandated to clear them out by late May, I believe).

Full on heatwave here, with temps into the lower 20s (F)! It always amazes me how warm reasonable winter temps feel after a cold snap. Much like the wind, acclimatization can be a beautiful thing when it goes in the right direction.

Unfortunately, warm temps plus fresh snow makes for a sweaty ride. Especially when one attempts to ride off trail! The Fish Creek estuary, swampy in the summer, freezes solid in the winter and is commonly used as a skier's shortcut from my neighborhood to the Coastal Trail. I though that I might try biking it on the way home tonight, because how hard could it be to stay on the packed ski track? Well, when the track is only 3" wide and buried under several inches of fresh snow, considerably hard, it turns out. Had to push through the grassy bits, could ride over the solid ice bits, but overall my shortcut was pretty much a longcut.

http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/y...y/IMG_0463.jpg

^From the railroad trail that links the estuary to my neighborhood, lights are only on because the iPhone takes terrible night photos; I had more than enough ambient light from the city glow reflecting off of the snow to navigate by. The trail had a few hills so steep that I couldn't gear low enough to ride up in the fresh snow, and had to walk. I think that I might swap out the 36t chainring for a 32t for the remainder of the winter.

@GriddleCakes: You have earned my respect, sir. The conditions you regularly ride in make my winter commute look like a Caribbean beach cruise.

12f crazy windy, and my orange juice froze on my ride in:(

Abbreviated--got to the train station and saw my neighbor, who informed me of the "adjusted holiday schedule" of the trains. Translation: 25 minutes until the next train. So I biked back home (5 minutes this leg of the journey), got the car, picked up my neighbor from the train station and dropped her off at work and went on my way. When I got to the other part of my (usually) bike commute, I was sad not to be on my bike. But I did notice both a car battery and a log (WTF) that I would have had to negotiate around from the bike lane that runs alongside the road where I ride.