Nice tail wind into work, just about spun out my top gear (with the studs on, evn!). winds had picked up for the ride home, and had shifted to be a ride straight into the eye of the wind. I was doing okay (working really hard to go 10 miles per hour or so....), until I was nearly blown to a complete stop by a gust. Hope it calms down overnight.

At least it's still warm.

Hooboy. I misplaced my lock over the weekend, and could not for the life of me find it. Running late, I grabbed the best thing I could find:
a 7' length of 3/8" chain that I had for towing 4x4s at work, and one of those huge circular security padlocks. :) Pretty sure the chain and lock weighed more than the bike.

Rainy commute there and back. So much rain! Several sewers were blocked up with leaves and I got to ford some mini rivers with my bike in places. Hopefully the sky is all rained out by tomorrow.

Almost got right hooked on the way home from work tonight. It was my first close call since I started bike commuting early last year. Motorist did not use turn signal to declare intention to turn right, nor did the motorist move closest to the right side of the road (into the bike lane) before turning, as we approached the intersection at roughly the same time. Just glad I didn't get hit, and otherwise made it home safely.

Ugh. FOG! This is as foggy as I've seen it in Norcal in my 15 years here. My 9 mile commute home was hell. The mist made my glasses pretty useless and I can't see without them. The fog got thicker and I got slower. I didn't want to plow into the back of a parked car. There was no way I was going to see any road obstables either. Fortunately I biked to work yesterday so I knew where the dead crow in the bike lane was. A nice inaugural ride home for the new commuter bike.

Eeek...rode home today and thought the bike was a bit out of tune because it missed a few shifts, but it was something that could have turned out a lot worse. After entering my home, there is a step between my front door and the garage but the garage is actually lower by a few inches. I lifted the front end up and over and as soon as I lifted the saddle, the rear wheel fell out of the drop out.

Ride in was great, saw a tree laying across the trail but by the time I got to it, a man walking his dog had already moved it. I stopped and thanked him for doing so and moved on.

On the ride home, I almost hit a tree laying across the trail! It was dark out and I didn't see it until I was almost on it. Luckily I was moving slowly enough, up hill right after a stop, that I could put my feet down and stop. I moved the tree, and kept an eye out the rest of the way home.

LOL @ reading your commute updates. I’m having to battle the heat whilst you guys are battling snow and fog.


Todays commute was good. I’m getting faster with my average speed now 19.1 km:hr. Not record breaking by any means but I’m happy for now. Had some guys from work honk their car horn and yell at me as they passed. It was good natured but still, don’t try to give cyclists a fright.

Meh - I’m loving the time on my bike :-) i I was thinking to myself as I approached the home straight “Geeze I wish my ride were longer”, I got home, checked the letter box and there’s a parcel (small) for me to pick up but instead of taking it to my nearest post office the postie took it to the one furtherest away from my unit. Pretty funny how that worked out


EDIT TO ADD

Whoops - this morning I arrived at work only to note that I forgot my swipe card and locker key. Luckily a workmate loaned me his car :P

Cool mornning at 40F (5C). The ride was dry and that was nice. My bike cover was too wet for another day of rain, so everything gets to dry out.

-2C with an 11kph head wind. I wore my porus wool balaclava and was a bit chilly at the start, but was fine after a little while. This one spot where I need to get on a sidewalk to go under train tracks is bumpy and covered in ice now, unridable and barely walkable.

The bar end shifter for my rear deraileur has been shifting sloppily on upshifts for quite some time, but I hadn't been using the bike enough since the summer to let it bother me until this week. It was feeling like the toggle that goes between friction and indexing mode wasn't fully engaged. I looked at the shifter last night and saw a loose wire, so I initially thought maybe the cable was to blame. But then I looked closer and saw that the indexing ring was broken clean through in one spot at the bottom. It probably happened while I was on a tour during the summer. When they put the bikes in a trailer my shifter got bashed hard enough to lose the plastic lever cap, and apparently broke the ring too.

I don't think that part is sold separately, so I'll probably need a whole new pair of Dura Ace bar ends. I guess try some epoxy or tape first.

Day off today! So no commute - but I'll probably go out and explore a part of the city of El Paso this afternoon. Or I may go a bit further - heck, Denver is only 600 miles north, I'll just take a short spin up there along I-25, and do a little mountain sightseeing. Think I'll head up Clear Creek Canyon up to Idaho Springs, Georgetown and then over Loveland Pass and drop down to good ol' Frisco. My fave mountain ride in CO is Battle Mountain, so I will probably spin over Vail Pass, drop down to Minturn and sightsee over Battle Mountain. Then I'll go over Tennessee Pass to Leadville, then roll all the way down the river valley into New Mexico - heck, I should be back in El Paso by dinner time. Then, back to commuting tomorrow!! Hahahahaha

Lots of FOG on the way in this morning. Arrived at the train station with my jacket fairly wet and my glasses all wet and fogged up! At least the train ride was warm and dry, so mostly dry by the time we got to my Exit station. From there to work still a tad foggy, but not so bad.

Hope to get bright sun and dry roads on the way home this evening!

Rick / OCRR

:mad: I wish Burlington did that on its MUP. They won't spend any money at all on the thing. Luckily we moved in September so I don't need to worry about it any more.

Nice ride this morning except for the really old man in the 20 year-old American sedan who pulled out of a deli ahead of me, then accelerated so slowly that I had to brake to avoid overtaking him on the right, then a few dozen yards later he slowed to a complete crawl on account of a stopped school bus that was headed in the opposite direction, not discharging passengers (no lights flashing and nobody outside of it), so I did pass him that time.

Oh yeah, Burlington just dropped its citywide speed limit to 25MPH unless otherwise posted. It includes all the roads I ride on. I can now exceed the posted speed limit on the main road I use. :P

First commute in a couple of months, thought I was done for the winter, but I had an errand to run at lunch that was 4 miles away from my work and the weather was nice. Ride in was good, but I swear it'd dropped 5-10 degrees by lunchtime and I'd come in in short sleeves as I didn't want to be sweaty at work and haven't moved my whole commuter freshen up pack to my locker at the new job I started a couple of weeks ago. Rough headwind on the way out to my errand and I was regretting the decision to skip lunch (errand was going to take my whole break), ride back with tailwind was nice, though. Looking forward to the ride home as night riding is a rare thing for me and I'm looking forward to putting my magicshine to good use.

Going home yesterday was not so fun. Hit this at 20mph
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...15772470_o.jpg

It was out in the middle of the road, about 4ft long and crosswise in front of me. I didn't have the composure to attempt a bunny hop. It was pavement colored and it was dark, so I didnt see it until it was too late to avoid. Luckily from the moment I saw it until I lost control of the bike, I had time to scrub off some speed. Got away with a scraped knee and an injured spot on the Brooks saddle.

Oh, and it wasnt bent until I came along :lol:

Hadn't been on the bike in a week and a half until this mornings commute. Good to be back in the saddle, but not so much fun dealing with a headwind on the way in. Ride home promises much of the same, as I checked weather.com and the wind will be shifting right back in my face on the ride home. Hate when that happens.

Just found this thread. I had to get to work early today (7:00) so I left at 6:40 am. It was dark and 19 degrees. The 4 miles on my '72 3 speed Humber was a good time, but my toes, despite two pair of socks, were cold for two hours after I got to the office. I am impressed with how well my heavy tweed hacking jacket keeps out the cold.

-Mike

19ºF today, dowright balmy compared the rest of this November. Forecast is still calling for warmer weather on the way, but it keeps getting pushed back; and now they're saying rain/freezing rain by Friday. Hopefully it stays cold enough to just pack down the MUP and not turn it to slush, so that I can still bike to school; if it turns out to be freezing rain, there's no way I'm riding in anything smaller than a city bus if I have to share the road with cars.

Jesus! Glad you're ok.

Sounds like you could use some better boots, maybe something insulated and non-venting. Or maybe battery-powered, heated socks?

Cool and sunny today, but seriously, these fall southerly winds up the Hudson are a killer. 15-25mph today, got to work late because I wasn't expecting to have to gear so low! Tomorrow, fingers crossed, the weather report says the wind should be out of the north.

Sometimes I feel like a sailor...

I pulled my rear shifter off and it was definitely toast. The metal ring with the indexing points had broke in half, the broken plastic ring was more of a symptom. I picked up a used shifter and cable cutter from the LBS, then installed the shifter with a new cable.

Ride in this morning was pleasant and quite mild for late November. The ride home was tough as I had a constant 35 mph headwind all the way home.

Cold and strong tailwind pushed me home. Nice.

Seemed like one of those days where everyone was parking and nobody seemed to be able to do it without blocking the bike lane.

My post from yesterday apparently got lost in the interwebs. The weather has turned much colder in NC this week, with lows near freezing and highs near 50 F, but I'm sure that's balmy compared to up north. I actually prefer commuting in weather like this because it's easier to dress for than days when it warms up to 70+ in the afternoons. It's cold enough now to wear most of the same gear in morning and afternoon.

I've been trying out a new light (L&M Urban 500) that arrived over the weekend. I'm really impressed with its light output and ease of use and installation, but the battery run times have been very disappointing so far. I need to contact the manufacturer to see if something isn't right because my battery is lasting only about half as long as it's supposed to -- which is not good for commuting. Fortunately I've also been carrying a backup light on my helmet.

36F is a bit cold so I did my short mixed commute. Somehow when it's really cold your body goes faster though. I'll pick a rambling way home to get some more miles in since it'll be 50+ by then.

Beautiful. Absolutly beautiful. Rode in early. New inch of snow made for a silent ride in the dark with the clear, calm, and bright starry skies.