There were crystal clear brilliant blue skies this AM, coupled with cool crisp air (by central Calif coast standards) and I just wanted to pedal right past my office and make a day out of being on the bike. That will have to wait until tomorrow, I have the day off and I will spend a good chunk of it on the bike.

Is it 5pm yet? I can't wait for the run back down the hill. The sun streaming in through my off office windows is blinding, and doing a great job of drying my bike clothing that is draped in front of my windows like on a trailer park cloths line.

I love days like today

It was a sweet day in NW Misery.

I think Doohickie may have incited an uprising.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post13416684

Update from my crummy morning commute. The afternoon ride was good until about half way. Heard a weird creaking noise (never good) I stopped and found the bolt on my adjustable stem loose. Ok I tightened that up so its all good. So I'm about a mile from home making a right turn and some jackwagon semi driver (Swift Trucking, Sumner Washington terminal) makes the same turn only cuts me really close. *&^%$# It was by far the weirdest commute I've had in 7 years of riding. On a better note I made it home ok and it was a beautiful and sunny day so its all good I guess.

Yup, like they say about airplane landings, if you can walk away from it...........................

In the early a.m. dark I ran over a broken glass bottle. No flat but found glass strewn everywhere. Got out the handy brush and spent 10 minutes clearing the path.

Steady downpour on the way home. Fun! Hands got cold, but my rainproof fleece line gloves are enroute.

Absolutely stunner day. Couldn't stand going inside. I'm taking the long route home tomorrow. Monday the Defy II gets a rack and truck.

Short but sweet commute today. Found a better cross street from where I'm working. Rainy but my rain gear kept me dry. Got my new Shower's pass touring shoe covers in the mail today. If it's rainy tomorrow I'll try them out.

OK, I officially hate Californians.

Kind regards,
Bitter Swede

This morning very light rain, about 48 degrees but no wind, riding through the dark streets - the morning part of the commute is my favorite part.

Racked up my highest commuting week ever (121 miles) due to a longer route to my new office. My route increased from about 22 to 30 miles/day, and it takes me about 20 minutes longer each way. I am enjoying the new route, which actually follows my old route for the first 9 miles but now ends up downtown. Riding in the city is a nice change of pace from the suburbs, but there are more traffic lights, potholes, glass and rough pavement to contend with.

My biggest hassle is having to deal with locking up my bike, which I never had to do before because I could keep it in my office. At my new building, no bikes are allowed inside, so I bought a heavy duty Kryptonite NY lock and cable. I still haven't developed a system for locking my bike quickly and efficiently, and it seems to take me about 5 minutes of fumbling around to get it right. Hopefully I will get better with time.

Last nights ride home was wet and cold.

I put my Turfers Full Monty rain pants, and Bogs boots, to the test for the first time.

The pants and boots both functioned exceptionally.

Very slow going, trying to be super careful.

An elderly couple stepped tight out in front of me near Rockefeller Center. If it wasn't for my Kool Stops, I would have run over Grandma.

This morning was the first day under 40 degrees since the spring.

I tried out my new Terramar base layer along with my new Pearl Izumi Elite barrier. This combo worked well and will likely be my go to layers for all but the coldest days. I decided to use the Turfer pants for warmth instead of the sweat pants I used last Fall/Winter. They also performed very well as windproofing and heat regulation.

Sometimes I daydream about how desolate some of your commutes might be. It would be a amazing to just be able to glide right to my office without dodging EVERYBODY/EVERYTHING.

All in all, not a bad ride in. The 59th street bridge was basically empty and very few bikes out on the road due to dropping temps.

Fine by me.

Chilly....it was 35 when I left home at 6 but I remembered more or less what to wear at those temps and it was a nice ride. I may need to get some toe covers though, the new shoes have better ventilation than what I was wearing last winter and the toes were chilly. Cooler temps also cleared most of the other commuters out, there are usually lots of tire tracks going from wet pavement->dry but only one set before me this morning.

Looking forward to the ride home, hoping to cut out before it gets too late this afternoon and enjoy a sunny 50 degree day before winter crap gets here tomorrow

Car said it was 35f, but there was frost on the ground. Sun right in the eyes last 5 miles. So I ran with the rear lights on all the way. Some lady shouted something at me so I guess she was admiring my lights.

Traffic very heavy this morning, and looks like they're going to resurface the shoulders along farefield rd. They were a little so of 120, and it would be really nice if they go all the way to Gilmer. But who knows what evil lurks in the minds of the DOT?

Continuing issue with rear der. Chain hunting in the smaller rings. Never know whch way to turn the adjuster. Both directions seem to make it worse.

Chilly morning -1C, doubled up my socks and wore ski mask and clear raquet ball goggles. For gloves I used the LG Typhoons. First time using Ultegra STI in commuting, used to have downtubes, then changed to bar-ends but after a year of commuting with bar-ends, I had enough.... I should have just bought STI's from the beginning. STI's make my 20km commute so much more enjoyable! Looking forward to the ride home.

I'm obviously new to this cold weather commuting thing because I always forget to check the temp outside before I go out. It was cold enough that my flimsy gloves (softball gloves from Target) were doing nuzzink! My fingers were hurtin' and they still feel a bit weird hours later. Everything else I was wearing was fine though. Layered a technical tank, cotton t-shirt, very light shell jacket, and then a hi-vis fleece vest as a windstopper. Shorts with legwarmers worked ok and actually my feet never got too cold either. Ears were chilly for a bit but not too long.

Coldest riding day so far (and, I note purely for my own enjoyment, 4th day riding out of the last 5 days). Took the short way (8 miles ea way) because of evening commitments and the mess I knew I'd find on the towpath. Decided to put on tights this morning because the temps were supposed to be chilly, and I think I'm glad I did, but my legs felt really heavy. Of course, that could be because of the relatively heavy riding week as compared to the last 6 weeks or so.

I also threw on my showers pass jacket over my base layer, which might have been a bit of overkill, though I think I appreciated the wind blocking as I rode into the headwind up the Potomac. Perhaps the jacket over a t-shirt would have been plenty. One benefit of the cooler temps was many fewer folks on the Capital Crescent Trail this morning; I wonder if that will hold up this evening?

I think I need to replace the mud flap that tore off my front fender. I washed the bike after a wet ride on the towpath on Wednesday, and the down tube looks just as dirty after my ride this morning as it did when I finished my ride on Wednesday.

Didn't do well this week. Skipped 3 days this week. 1 day for wind (40mph), 1 day for rain, and 1 day for a warm bed . Today though was great! 35f on the ride in and all the cagers were polite. Gotta start doubling up on the socks, though, as my toes were cold!

Briskly chilly this morning. Found the most unobservant rabbit in the world by nearly running over it. Followed up by the guy that's always trashed at 7AM wandering around in the street.

Wind clew up fierce on my ride home from class last night. I usually wish my ride to/from class were longer but with a headwind gusting to 30 mph, I was OK w/ the short ride last night.

Loved this morning. Could have done w/o the wind, which deprived me of a couple mph, but no complaints otherwise. 40ish degrees when I left home. A little chilly in mesh shorts and long sleeve tee for the first 5 minutes or so, but thereafter right in my comfort zone all the way to the office.

-4C this morning, my liner gloves aren't cutting it anymore so I've been wearing my wool gloves over top of them.

Yesterday's ride home was very slow with a headwind / crosswind of 50 gusting to 60km/h. Those crosswind gusts can really push you around.

I called the city on Wednesday about 4 inches of standing water in an under pass on the MUP. By the time I rode home yesterday they had it pumped out.

45F and gray, brisk. Dry at least.

My 1st commute in 4 wks after spraining my wrist in a wipeout on September 28. I took a week and a half off to drive (mostly in a borrowed auto trans car since I couldn't shift our car), then a week off while vacationing (pre-planned) and then the 1st 4 days of this week off while traveling for work.

About halfway in (just past the 3 mile mark) my wrist/hand was definitely hurting, it was my right wrist so I could still do power braking on the front wheel w/ my left if it came up, but rear-braking and shifting were awkward at best after a while.

I had backed off the ibuprofen while off the bike but will definitely be ramping that up to get home today. Then I get the weekend off and can decide how I feel about Monday.

Oh yeah definitely lapse in cardio conditioning was revealed this morning, too. But that should pass if I can stay on the bike.

It's been barely under 50F here, and almost 70 by the time I ride home To Northerners and Canadians, I wouldn't want your winters, in fact we had your winter earlier this year due to the North Atlantic Oscillation and I'm certain I can do without it.

I upgraded my windshield last night, so it was just gloves and short-sleeves for me. An enjoyable commute as usual encountering mostly joggers and walkers, who are mostly housewives and young ladies for some reason, all very pleasant!

Woke up this morning late and with no umph. Took the car today (after brushing this season's first snow off the windshield, yikes!)

It's getting harder to get moving on cold dark mornings in Southern/Central Ontario.

Cheers,
Scott

Hey there friends! I have not posted in a while as I did not commute much during the summer. Now that the weather is nice here in the valley of the sun, I am getting back into it. My hope is that it will become so habitual that I will be able to make it through next summers 115 degree days. Anyhow, I work for a University and have offices at two campuses, one in Tempe, which is about an 18 mile ride, and the downtown Phoenix campus is about another 8 miles. Most days I ride my bike to the light rail (train) or bus. That can be anywhere from 5-10 miles of actual biking depending on the route. Today, for the first time, I am proud to announce that I rode all the way to Tempe. Maybe someday I will work up to the whole ride downtown. but at about 27 miles that's a little further than I'm ready for now. Today's ride took about an hour and a half ride with the lights, plus I will admit that I am not exactly swift yet. It was quite a workout for me and my legs are plenty tired already, but I loved it. The only craziness on the route came when my pannier came flying off the bike as I was turning left at a light. So I had to patiently wait for cars turning the other direction before I could run out there and grab it. Luckily nobody ran it over. The hook took a pretty good smashing, so I had to do some pliar work to get it back on the bike. Certainly could have been worse. I will be riding the bus most of the way home this afternoon :-) Still that will make it about a 25 mile day. I'll take that anyday!