First commute of 2011 this morning (I have gotten a few singletrack rides in, since NYD though).

I was worried that I'd overdressed for the mid-30's chill, so I took it pretty slow and wound up almost missing my train. Lost my neck gaiter at home somewhere, I'll want to find that before it gets any chillier.

Beautiful morning ride. It lulled me into a false sense of well-being, as I promptly ended the ride by walking into a mega-poo-storm at work.

First commute of the year today (we've had winds just strong enough in the mornings to drive me back to bed the first two days). Mid-40s, bit of a head wind but very clear and crisp. Definately feeling the effects of limited riding over the holidays.

Great ride in the dark this morning, though a little slippery on the MUP. -8C with a tiny bit of fresh snow. The highly reflective fresh snow meant that even though the MUP is unlit, reflected city light off the clouds made for good visibility. I didn't to cover my face this morning and left my goggle up the whole way in. Its supposed to be near freezing for the ride home, which is a bit warmer than I'd like. I have an early class this semester so I have to leave the house by 6:45. Despite my early start I saw tire tracks on the MUP from someone who started out even earlier.

I've seen a bit of wild life on my last two commutes. A coyote yesterday and several rabbits today.

Pea frickin' soup.

The old thread WAS unwieldy, and I did not join it for that reason. I've been commuting for six months now and I have not once been tempted to drive!

Raining like hell today. I have a polyurethane poncho that I got for $14 on Amazon. Tried it for the 2nd time today. It kind of sucks, but did keep me mostly dry. I still did not wish I was in a car. I could not love that Retrovelo more.

Reposted from the old thread:

I found the limits of my studded tires this morning! Riding the Brunette River trail my rear wheel kept slipping in the curves and it didn't occur to me that I might be riding on ice, I was thinking mud or a flat until the bike washed out in a corner and I tried to stand up. I'd been riding on a sheet of ice with a layer of rain on top! Not the best conditions to be trying to set a personal best... Now I know what ice feels like. I have a few bruises and some road rash, wore a hole in three layers of pants and tore up my bar tape.

About 2C/34F with rain until 2/3rds of the way up the mountain when it turned to snow. I love riding in the start of a snowfall when the roads are still clear.

Now I have an excuse to replace the tape on my bars!

Reposted from old thread -- I think a decision needs to be made whether to replace the old with this or not...

A fine commuting morning, right up until I got to EKW in DC's wind. Fortunately I only had to fight the breeze for the last couple of miles. downloaded a free cyclocomputer app for my phone, to use as a speedometer and so I can watch my time (since I wear my GPS on my wrist), but I need to work on the screen sleep time. Does anyone have an android bike app they find particularly good? Free or cheap preferred of course ;-)

Thanks for the tips on Co-ops. Space and money? My wife would say I have neither, but I couldn't pass this one up -- a nice looking near orphan needing a home. It did motivate me to post my old roadie on CL to see if I got any decent bites, so hopefully it will be a break even on space, at least. And if nothing else, my oldest son can ride it once I fix it up, so it has a purpose (though I'm really planning it to be my backup and 'snow' bike).

you know what sucks about cold weather commuting? there are too many things that can get lost. I have 2 different pairs of gloves, a face mask, a few hats, shoes, shoe covers, so on and so forth. the chances of my misplacing something or dropping it and never seeing it again are pretty high.

This is completely and 100% correct! I seem to misplace stuff on a weekly basis.

At home I use a launching basket to keep from losing items. Everything I need to ride (mittens, gloves, balaclavas, shoe covers, locks, rain gear, helmet etc.) is kept in a basket by the door. Because some of the items in the basket like to reproduce I do need to clean it out once or twice a year.

Gonna give that a try, tonight.

Almost t-boned a car that was making a left turn at an intersection. I saw it coming so I braked early enough to avoid disaster. When I was within about 5 feet the driver finally saw me and freaked out. I love when that happens.

Cold (mid 20's) and clear the last two nights with very little wind. I got an insulated thermos mug from Eleven Gear for Christmas and I love it. It is nice to have a hot sip of coffee or tea on these cold rides. Over the weekend I took it on a longer ride and it was still warm 90 minutes into the ride. I also ordered a "real" cycling winter jacket yesterday, should have it by the end of the week.

So who is the moderator of this forum? Seems like we need to make this thread a sticky and/or lock the 2010 version to avoid confusion.

I'm off to a good start in 2011 with my third day bike commuting this week, despite missing Monday due to an alarm clock malfunction. It rained here overnight and the roads were still wet during my ride but at least we avoided more snow for the time being. Temps were hovering a few degrees above freezing, which felt warm compared to the teens and 20s we've had most mornings since early December. The local forecasters are saying we might get another big snow storm early next week, which could put a real damper on my commuting, but I'll believe it when I see it.

17f nice morning, more frost this morning than we've had in a while almost made me think it was icy, it was a lot cooler than the weather guessers said it would be.

First commute of 2011 this morning. Almost got hooked by a school bus about a mile in, despite my best efforts to be visible. I'll give the bus driver a bit of leeway because he/she did realize as they were passing me that they would hook me if the turn was made, so they slowed before making the turn which allowed me to stop, and them to make the turn.
Other than that, I took "the long way" along a fairly busy 2 lane highway for most of the ride, which was a route I had not previously used.
In other news, it was my first ride my new Novara gear. I was pleased with Headwind gloves and OK with the Headwind (semi) Tights, although the tights got a couple laughs when I got to work... It felt good to ride this morning, and with snow expected tomorrow, this might be the only ride this week. Time will tell.

Made it in everyday so far this week. Its been warmer/less windy than before the break which has made it nice. I didnt ride at all last January so excited to get some early miles in this year.

Try iMapMyRide for the Android

Nice! I just took at a look at it and added it to my iPhone.

Took the bus and dropped my son off at daycare and rode in from there. A little overdressed for the ride, 5C/42F but I needed the extra layers to keep warm while standing around waiting for the bus. We got a lot of rain last night and a lot more in the forecast, all the snow and ice are gone. Last night I ordered my spokes so I'm looking forward to putting together my new rear wheel. I'm also going to take advantage of the slide yesterday and replace my torn bar tape with cloth tape and shellac.

I use CardioTrainer for the Droid. There's a free module which is great. I paid the $9.99 to get the "Race Yourself" module which is awesome!

I'm new to bike commuting since this spring. Did 3 trips a week spring/summer/fall. It's only 8mi but for me it's what I think I can handle right now.

Rode home last night in about half an inch of snow. I only saw two other cyclists and a few joggers on the MUP. It was nice to be making fresh tracks. Ride took about 20 minutes longer on my ice bike (steel frame, studded snow tire MTB).

At -7C its been another warm day. The forecast for next week is back to a more normal -15 to -20 range. I've been enjoying the above -10C weather and light wind that we've had all week. Only downside is the brown sugar gunk on the roads.

I pumped up my tires after getting home yesterday. I knew my floor pump was out 10psi, but apparently I forgot which way it was out. I pumped them to 70 thinking it was 60psi, but after getting home today my good gauge read 80psi. I noticed I was cutting through a brown sugar a bit better today, so I'll leave the tires at that pressure.

I'm loving the heavy surplus army wool sweater that I bought in December. Keeps me warm and doesn't trap in excess humidity the way my soft shell wind breaker does.

This again.

But today I rode my old Trek 5200 that I built up with a craigslist Tiagra wheelset and DA downtube shifters. I missed the old warhorse. She's still got a lot of miles in her and she'll make a fine commuter/rain training bike.

Wed night ride home, 32f and no wind. A few patches of ice, the nokiain hakkapelitas 106 did just fine. Am ride back to work, 16 f , slight headwind, no frozen gatorade on the 18 miles, bonus.

Flatted this morning. I forgot how much flats suck in cold (well cold for Texas) weather. The good news was my new Lezyne pump worked great on its first road test.

7F on the bike ride in this morning, a little more then 15 miles. Great ride in this morning but stuck with the roads as some of the trails weren't plowed very well. Took the roads home too.

great!
no rain, a bit of headwind, and pretty warm for this time of year.
had too much in pack tho, disliked that :(

There was some dusting when when I came out, and I was expecting it. Not bad at 25 F ( -4 C). I took my time on the snow covered roads, but the main roads were fine, as so much stuff was already down from previous events. Cars were very hesitant, and I guess that is a good thing.

I've been riding to the gym (6 miles, 400ft) lately buy skipped yesterday and instead went to the grocery to get some soup and popsicles. Pretty nice ride. I'm getting more comfortable in busy traffic!

16f third day in a row the weather guessers were off by more than 10 degrees, not a bad ride in.