27f Nice morning a bit of tail wind for the first half, then head wind for the last half.

Windy commute this morning, but fortunately it was at my back the last 5 miles because my legs were tired after riding 61 miles yesterday. It was dark when I left home, or I might have been tempted to drive given the ominous clouds when the sky finally started to brighten. The clouds were running in distinctive parallel bands and sure looked like rain, altho the forecast is calling for only 20% chance of light drizzle. Wore my rain coat just in case.

The last day of the month and only my second commute. :( Fair weather, just under 40*F and a slight headwind. This may be my last commute this week because the bottom is supposed to fall out of the temperature tomorrow, going from heavy rain to freezing rain, then snow, and I don't run studded tires. I may very well drive my bicycle route home tomorrow cuz the freeways will likely be a mess.

-6 this morning. Couldnt find any snowpants or longjohns so I had to drive... Kinda pisses me off. Where does my stuff go??? I dont have kids or anything, so I dont even have anyone to blame it on...

Back to the full length commute this morning after the snow and ice of last week made things dicey enough that I rode only as far as the metro station. Decided against the usual route, 4ish miles of which are on an MUP that doesn't get plowed, taking instead a route that is on roads (which get plowedd) as much as possible. The route worked well - I used it last year after Snowmageddon, although I still had to dismount and walk my bike, or at least scooter it across with one leg on the ground, in several spots, and I had to take a lane is several on-road sections where there is normally a bike lane, b/c the bike lane had become at least partially a receptacle for snow cleared from the other travel lanes.

(For DC folks, the route goes through Crystal City, up Old Jeff Davis Hwy, then around the Pentagon on Boundary Drive) before reconnecting with the MUPs along Washington Blvd over to the Memorial Bridge. With where I come from in Alexandria this means I can avoid the MVT entirely except or a very short stretch around the base of the Memorial Bridge).

As fletchh pointed out, the forecast in the "DMV" is for some combination of rain, snow, sleet, and freezing rain over the next 48 hours. I'm less than enthused about that, but I am hopeful at least that the forecast high of 49 on Wednesday will help melt away some of the mess that's still lying around and any new mess that might accumulate on top of it.

Blame it on the clothes monster, and if you find him tell that jerk i would like my left leg warmer, and my right adidas glove back:)

He must be the same guy that jacks my socks out of the dryer and pulls the strings out of my sweatpants so I have to wear mismatched socks whilst I hold my sweatpants up with one hand and drink coffee with the other...

I dont like him...

Thats him, he must be stopped, i wonder where all those strings go i don't have a single hoodie left that still has the hood string

35F gray. It could have been spitting snow but not enough to see, just occasionally feel.

Upper 30's and gray, gray, gray. This may be the only day I get to ride in this week. Ice storm is coming in tomorrow morning.

I've been meaning to start commuting for a while now, and today was the day. Finally got my rack and panniers over the weekend, so no more excuses! Got everything packed and ready last night.

It was a beautiful morning. Mid 40's and only a slight breeze. I'm less than 2 miles from work, so I won't break my arm patting myself on the back, but it still felt pretty great to ride in.
:commute:

I've already got a route picked out for the ride home that will take me a little farther so I can get some fitness in too.

Can't copmplain about this morning's uneventful coommute in. Felt like a strong North to South wind but that did not effect me too much. Just one remaining spot where I must dismount to cross Constitution Ave.

EDIT: welcome subzero! Sin City? So we'll see you here in DC right??

cold, dry, rode my fast bike, but got saddle sores from massive rides this weekend :(

Yesterday I was supposed to work, so got up to a fresh 4-6 inches of snow, got all dressed up rode over to the job only to find out that I was not going to work, was slightly upset as I could have slept in, instead enjoyed riding in fresh powder and then shoveled the drive. This morning all was scraped away so it was quiet and just a bit icy. We have had wierd weather lately that has us in the high 50s in the afternoon and the teens in the evening creating lovely sheets of ice. So, where the snow plows did not scrape all the way down was perfect packed snow. Lets see how the commute home is. It was 18 on the way to work, could be 45 on the way home.

Not in DC but I've been traveling there recently, mostly to Crystal City. Is the Washington Memorial Bridge the best way to get across the river if I wanted to rent one of the bikeshare bikes and ride over to the Mall? If I can get out there when the weather is a bit warmer, I think it would make a cool ride.

From Crystal City there are really two routes. I'd just use the Mount Vernon Trail and 14th St Bridge all thing being equal. It's cool to see all the things going on at the airport, and the planes come in low for landing over Gravelly Point. Also, there are good views of the DC "skyline" from across the Potomac as you head north along the trail from the airport to the 14th St Bridge, which empties out right next to the Jefferson. The alternate I used today is nice in its own way, especially for its view of the Pentagon and its surroundings, riding not too far from Arlington Cemetery and then the view of the Lincoln Memorial as you cross the Memorial Bridge, but the Old Jeff. Davis Hwy is a pathetic excuse for a paved street. I've mapped out both routes from near Crystal City metro to the Mall going both ways. Here are the links.

Along MVT: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...&z=14&lci=bike

Alternate I took today: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...&z=14&lci=bike

I'd offer to meet up with you as a fellow BFer and ride over together to show you the routes, but sadly my riding time is generally limited to my commuting miles. :( Hope the map helps, though. You might want to compare this map to the latest map of CaBi station locations to find the closest place to either river crossing to trade in your bike and/or hop onto a new one to avoid the extra cost of having a bike out for 30+ minutes.

If you want variety, I'd perhaps recommend doing a loop and going up one way and back the other?

50's on the way in for me...and 75 on the way home. 2nd day of really warm weather for winter...but another real arctic blast is on the way. Weather calls for the possibility for a dusting of snow on Thursday and/or Friday.

Mid-20s and cloudy for days now. Downtown is still a mix of churned snow and brown sugar on top of increasingly rutted and potholed ice, so the work commute remains a little white-knuckle (albeit mercifully brief). The MUP is in excellent shape, on the other hand, so the school commute has been great, even with the heavy dog and skier dodge that appears to be the standard 6:45p-7:30p crowd (an acceptable price to pay in exchange for a quiet, wooded, car and traffic signal free ride).

Forecast is for snow for the next 2, maybe 3, maybe 4 days; accumulation of 5-11 inches by Wednesday morning, then flurries until Friday. So much for the MUP for a while, and it looks like I'll be bussing to school on Wednesday. Tomorrow, however, the Lady and I shall play hooky and head to the ski resort (my knees have been very naughty joints, and they must be punished :D).

Ugh, saddle sores are the worst; condolences on your los...er, ass. I had good results using benzoyl peroxide based acne cream on my last bunch; just apply in the shower, let set for about 5 minutes, then rinse off (if you fail to rinse completely, you'll end up bleaching your drawers, or pants if you do the commando thing). Hope you can sit down again soon!

I started off, but couldn't get any traction on the hill out of my court. I parked the bike, and walked over to the side to get to the top of the hill. The cross road was no better, and since the temps are not going to get above freezing today, I decided to skate in the car. I was going to try to ride back down the hill, but the bike kept sliding til finally, the heavy paniers took it down the hill backwards, so it beat me to the bottom of the hill. I unloaded everything into the car and came in. It was just one of those days. Hopefully, they get the roads in shape for tomorrow, since the main part of the storm is supposed to come in starting tonight.

I think I benefit from the slightly higher temps inside the city: no ice just light drizzle coming in just now. We'll see about the commute home.

The temperature on my afternoon commute yesterday was actually colder than the morning; that doesn't happen very often. Fortunately the rain held off, but I battled a cold north wind most of the way home and think I saw a snowflake or two. Temps were about 5 degrees colder this morning, mid-30s F. My legs are getting tired after riding 6 days in a row and 170+ miles over that period.

FINALLY! Back on the bike this morning after being sick for a week. Temps were nice, was around 60F, no rain or fog.

I did pick up a hitchhiker on the way in: (first flat since I started using tire liners)
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4190753_n.jpg

16f Nice ride in, though i got so used to the 40+ weather that yesterday i lubed my chain with my normal non winter lube and it was a crunchy ride in.

I took my alternate route again to avoid unplowed, unsalted MUPs that in better shape make up most of my commute route. Near the Memorial Bridge even areas of seemingly exposed asphalt on the trails were starting to get really slippery. The mist and drizzle must have started freezing on them on contact. It felt like my tire was made of ice, not rubber. Then I went to stop and put my foot down to come to a stop and realized that the ground was starting to ice overdas the bike nearly slid out from under me, and my foot just slid along the ground. Guess I'll let a little air out of the tires for the ride home and be extra careful this afternoon.

Someone in their infinte wisdom has shut down the sidewalk/trail on the south side of the Memorial Bridge. It's marked as closed and there were steel beams, workers, trucks, etc., blocking it up. I ended up waiting for a break in traffic to hop over onto the travel lanes on the bridge to ride across. Not a big deal, but kind of annoying. As if there weren't enough impediments to my commute right now w/ the woefully inadequate trail maintenance and loss of most bike lanes to plowed snow and ice.

-17 when I woke up, -16 ish when I left at 0645 (all temps in degrees F, btw). This was the first time I have ever had brain freeze from the OUTSIDE of my head in. Apparently my Balaclava was not covering my entire forehead and the cold just stabbed straight through to the gray stuff inside. That is truly a disorienting kind of pain, btw.

But I really enjoy these cold morning rides. Its like a personal challenge for me "Can I do this at -10? Yup. How about -14? Yup. How about in a snowstorm? Stupid f*ing drivers, but yep." etc. etc.

I love bicycle commuting.