Ride home was most excellent, -19C with a 40km/h tail wind. The roads and MUP were both clear and I was able to go fast with little effort. Unfortunately just as they finished clearing the path, the wind has started filling it back in. Running my Marathon Winter tires near max psi seems to be helping a bit with loose snow on the ground.

I'm going to take a break from riding tomorrow, my legs are sore from all the low cadence / high torque riding I've had to do since it started snowing last Friday. I'm at 276km of riding for 2011, and have already burned away the little weight I gained during my 3 weeks away from cycling in December.

Pretty mellow ride home, nice tailwind, temp in mid 20's. Ok, finally figured out my phone's cam...not the best pic in the world but nonetheless this was on my way in early this morning. My old Jamis Aragon has a new lease on life, I've put more miles on this thing since September than I have since I bought it in 1998.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5242/...9207688eac.jpg

Still cold in Central Texas today... Low 30's to start - which actually felt like mid-20's. Not too bad once you got moving. Low 40's for the return trip - but not much sun today.

I've found that glove liners with wool gloves keep my hands warmer than an older pair of winter mountain bike gloves. For days like this, I wish that I had a pair of lobster gloves...

Same in southern La, low 30's but the wind chill was down in the 20's easily. I've ridden in the 20's before without much fuss, but for some reason, today's cold cut through me like knives. Even after a good 15 minute warm-up period, my hands were still hurting from the cold, even with ski gloves. I don't know what I'm going to do if it gets any colder, I don't have anything else to put on my hands! Sheesh. I'm going to try to stick it out for the rest of the week, though... I want that first 5-day week!

Skipped the commute this morning and took a vacation day. I looked out the window at 5am and saw that the streets were not plowed and the snowstorm in the forecast had hit. Took a look at the road conditions on the mountain and SFU was reporting that the buses were not going up the mountain which, well they're my backup plan if something breaks. Phoned in and crawled back into bed.

Yesterday on my commute home I realized I must have one of the best trips home in the city! I have 12 km of off road, wooded trails some with a view of Burrard Inlet on the North side of Burnaby mountain and the rest along streams and rivers. No cars, no traffic lights, just pedestrians and their little speed bumps... Although the Great Dane from yesterday was almost eye to eye with me.

the last two days have been great. 30 degrees which means no face mask, and brakes are working. Thank God.
The road is beautiful flat snow and I was able to cruise slowly and drink my coffee and enjoy the ride, last week has been in the single digits so going back to double digits have been a joy.

The opposite end of the weather scale here in Australia, about 68 degrees heading into work at 4.30am this morning with some light headwinds and it got up to about 95 degrees for the ride home. Cracking south westerly tailwind on the return ride made up for the hot weather though, was able to sit around 40 - 45km's per hour most of the way comfortably. Happy riding.

Thanks, but it wasn't really trouble, as I carry enough spare clothing (neck gaiter, extra jacket, extra mittens, Gore-tex socks, etc..) to deal with a pretty broad range of temps, or to be comfortable walking if I break down. I guess I was just whining a bit, but a 20 degree temp difference is fairly unusual to me, at least without gaining or losing a bunch of elevation.

But I am also happy that it stayed below freezing. We've had two mid-winter thaw so far, and I hope that they're the last we'll see of above freezing temps until April. Ice is fun to ride on, slush is not.

Hmm, maybe those who ride speedy road bikes object to carrying more than is absolutely necessary on the principal that it makes their bikes less speedy? I don't know. I do know that carrying stuff on a bike can become a slippery slope. First you get a backpack for spare/dry/extra clothes and textbooks. Then you buy a rack, because you're tired of the sweaty/sore back from the backpack and its load, and you want a place to strap it to that isn't you. Next you try out panniers, because you've heard that loads are more stable when carried lower, plus you've already got the rack so why not. The next thing you know, you're loading 80 lbs of beer and groceries onto your bike (or even worse, touring), and those days of blissful flying along on an unladen bike are but a memory.

Truth. It happened to me.

My heart was not into it, but my legs don't seem to mind, so off I went into another of what seems like a string of endless cold days. A bit windy at 22 F ( -5 C). Most of the roads are clear, with icy gutters and the side of the road. My MTB had no problems with the patchy ice, and hopefully that luck continues.

More headwind...had enough of that. Other than that, the DC winter chill is here to stay for a while. Dry streets, some remaining ice on the Mall but otherwise a good ride in.

Forgot to mention that my ride home last night included a stretch with four other bike commutters, most I've ever been riding with at once. And in January!

First bike commute since last Thursday due to snow, sleet and ice. I drove home on my bike route yesterday afternoon to make sure the roads would be clear of ice this morning, and it was generally clear except for a few patches I could easily avoid. That helped a lot while riding in the dark this morning. Ironically, the worst stretch was the largest, busiest road on my commute. It runs east-west and the far lane is shaded by trees, so it still had ice along edges and I had to take the lane to avoid it.

Ride in this morning was about the same as yesterday, i.e. freakin' cold. Drainage ditches were frozen over, and my water bottle partially froze. The first 15 minutes my hands were hurting, and the last 15 minutes my toes were hurting.

I got inside, and my boss came in and gave me major compliments for riding in the cold and called it "extreme dedication" so looks like I will ride tomorrow too. :)

Oh, as a side note, I tried switching from multi-layered socks and tennis shoes to multi-layered socks, leather hiking boots and platform pedals, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Maybe if I had insulated boots it would help.

Did I mention is was freakin' cold?

34f drizzle, and im back in shorts:eek: Why wont winter make up it's mind i really don't mind cold weather i just prefer it stay a little more consistent

Sounds like you are using the wrong material, i at most wear two pairs of socks other wise your feet sweat and that makes them colder, try merino or if it get below 0f go neoprene and silk

so cold! (for texas) usually the sun comes out about halfway into my commute, but not today... :(

Aborted. I nutted up for a low-20-degrees ride in, got my layers on, dogs fed, lunch and pannier packed, all a little early because I knew I had to swap my main headlight for my old HID, to send it in for repair. That took too long and I missed my window for leaving and still making it to the train station in time by 3-4 minutes.

I went back in, unpacked, redressed, checked email on my phone only to find a minute-old message from the transit authority telling me all trains were delayed 20 minutes for track repair. Coulda made it. Grrr.

Another beautiful sunrise this morning, tho'

Almost got in a head-on with a car last night, as she turned to go the wrong way down a one-way street, straight into me. Cell phone glued to her ear, naturally. Especially endearing was the way she angrily gestured at me to get out of her way, until she finally saw the 'one-way' sign I kept pointing to.

I'm using one thick pair of wool, and one pair of athletic socks over that to cut the wind some (They're synthetic, not sure of what).

I don't think they even sell socks made for that down here. It's so rare that it gets this cold, the stores just don't carry it.

Give the neoprene a try they may be a little too warm, they're the same thing as dive socks (wet suit)

Still some patches of ice on the Mount Vernon Trail, but nothing that couldn't be handled safely at low speed (or walked around). Hopefully with lots of sun and temps predicted to be at least a couple degrees above freezing, some more will melt today and tomorrow. The rest will melt over the long holiday weekend, I'm sure, with temps expected to be up into the 40s Sat-Mon. Then it looks like we'll be settling into a pattern I more typically associate with mid-Atlantic winters - daytime temps around 40 w/ clouds and rain around.

Like riding through mashed potatoes on an ice-skating rink. Thank the Finns for the studded tires! 19 degrees when I set out, but I was pretty comfortable.

Fell this morning, thanks to the ice on the W&OD. I was doing fine, and was probably a little overconfident on the snow, but then there was this sudden and unexpected transition to ice. I had already crossed a number of other ice sections, with no incident, but this one wasn't at the 'end' of a snowy section, but rather in the middle. Other than that, and the inordinately long time it took me to ride the 9 miles, it wasn't a bad commute.

I have to wonder: would it really kill the municipalities to treat the MUPs a couple of days after the snow falls? I bet one guy with a large lawn tractor and trailer with spreader could cover the whole trail system in a day or two - and probably far less than they spend clearing the sidewalks around all the municipal buildings. I know, I know -- I'm whining.

50F, raining

Cold for Dallas, first flat in the 800 miles of riding my new to me road bike. Got it one block from the office.

The streets were almost, but not completely clear. The right lane where I usually ride had all the snow so I rode in the left lane instead. Traffic was moving slowly holding me up a bit. I need a louder horn to let the cars in front of me know they're in my way.