Wet slushy commute this morning. Took my son to daycare on the TAB for kicks and because I hate standing around in the snow waiting for the bus and taking three transfers to get to his daycare. He got there fairly dry, but did not like the rain in his face. Maybe I'll outfit him with a ballcap to help with that.

There's supposed to be a clause in the contract with our road crews to plow and salt the bike paths and MUPs, but you wouldn't know it from riding around, the longest route in our system was unplowed and neither were the feeder paths that lead onto the only plowed bike route I found. It seems like they just plow under the skytrain.

Does towing an empty trailer bike with your ultra-light crabon fribe race bike up a 1000' climb count? I don't get to haul beer.

Day 4 of cold riding for me. Well - not really that cold compared to a lot of you fellow commuters...! Mid-30's in the morning and upper 30's for the return. Easy cruising...

There's no way I ride in weather as nasty as many here obviously do. My ride is 24 miles, round trip. I rode all five days last week, but this week was another story. Monday morning, with scattered freezing drizzle, I drove to work. Tuesday, with 23 degrees and a howling north wind (my ride to work is 12 miles straight north), I drove to work. Yesterday morning and this morning, it was 21 degrees, but at least the wind had let up, and I rode. Both days were only in the 30's on the ride home, colder than wimpy Texans like myself are used to. Where's a nice 105 degree afternoon when you need one?

ROTFL. It just cracks me up, every single time I read that and try to pronounce it out loud. Kills me. It's funny. BikeSnob would be proud!

Crabon. BWAHAAHAA!

Wow, what a great bike commute today. I really enjoyed the fresh snow for the ride home.

rode alot today, had to go all over, north/south/east/west
great day, warm and misty.. but had a great day

Got up early to get beat the traffic, but there was more snow overnight than forecast. And the amount forecast for today was also increased, so I'll be taking the bus.

Ever notice that you can't catch a red light when you actually want one? My glasses kept fogging up this morning, so I was hoping for a red light so I could readjust them. No way. I rode my entire commute with green lights, only about the second time that has happened. That was nice because it was very cold (about 20 F) and at least I could keep warmer by moving all the time. The coldest parts of my commute are sitting at long red lights.

dang it...took a spill. Cool morning upper 20s I think, light headwind, dry pavement with patches of ice. Transitioning from sidewalk to asphalt, hit a patch of ice, felt the back end swing out...then that moment of "hmm this is ofd, I'm going down" Next thing I know I see my apple rolling up the path!

Just a red, sore knee otherwise ok.

39f head wind, seriously did winter end or something, did i miss a memo, whats going on???

Pretty smooth, not too cold commute. A nice change up, in other words. A coworker passed me on the way and gave a wave.

Yeah once you put a rack on your bike, you're pretty much past the point of no return :)

Glad you emerged relatively unscathed! Sounds like it could have been worse than a sore knee and a bruised apple!

The MVT has some patches like this, but it's getting better day by day. On one last night, I felt my rear wheel start to swing out on me on some ice, but fortunately I'd slowed way down and was going mybe 7 or 8 and was able to correct and get a foot down before I had a chance to topple over. I think I had a moment of "hmm... this is odd, something's happening and if I don't react now, I'll probablly fall."

Ride in this morning was one of the colder ones lately with temps in the mid 20s F/-3 or 4 C, but w/ only light winds it felt better/warmer than some days when it's been around freezing but with stronger winds.

Looking forward to the three day weekend!

I'm not glad you fell, but I am glad I wasn't the only one. Mine was so fast I knew I was going down and was down almost simultaneously.

No incidents on last evening's ride home -- but the headwinds were WICKED! Made me grumpy. Oh, and I got honked at and buzzed by a total idiot -- I had taken the lane, because there was no where else to be, and impatient idiot crossed the double yellow into lots of oncoming traffic! Jerk. Actually, I can't be sure he was the honker - -it might have been one of the oncoming cars honking at him. I probably could have caught him at the next light, but I elected to turn off on my usual quiet side street instead. You should probably give me an award for my 'calm' (though I did 'salute' him). ;-)

This morning went smoothly enough -- some patchy snow and ice on the CCT. Worst was the snow / ice on the pedestrian/cyclist ramp leading from Chain Bridge down to the Tow Path. I should have taken a picture! I think I'll ride the Custis Trail and W&OD home, just in case, as I don't think I'm getting up that ramp, esp. if it starts to refreeze after a day of partial thaw. Felt great to pass the cars stuck this morning on Chain Bridge Rd. and Canal Rd. because of a road closure -- it did slow me down, though, as I had many more of them to contend with as I worked my way down the hill

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=186011.
Oh, and Centreville Costco has the 3 pack of 150 Lumen tactical lights, in case anyone local cares.

The commute today in Santa Barbara was beautiful. Mid 60s, sunny. Last night we had a sundowner and the winds topped 60mph in the passes and canyons. I was hoping they'd stop and they did! I was really getting the shakes from all those 40F mornings. They were killing me!

Fellow DC commuters, how the heck do you ride on the MUPs without studs in these conditions? I certainly would have fallen without them, probably several times. Even with studs, it's a little hairy at times. Keep safe!

Sorry to hear you fell dcb23 and captjohn, i'm w/ alan s on the studded tires. are you guys riding without? i have studded tires and i'm white-knuckling the whole time, too much ice. i rode about 4 miles with a fellow commuter on wed night who was on non-studded tires, i thought he was crazy.

wet.. didn't wear rain pants, thought it was a mild mist. i was wrong

Very wet. I didn't feel like waterproofing my son this morning for the ride to daycare so we took the bus. Unfortunately we just missed it and stood around for 20 minutes in the rain. Shoulda rode. About 8C/48F for the ride from daycare to work. I have to give a big wet thumbs down to the Planet Bike 1/2W Blaze headlight. It is not waterproof and my RMA replacement is now waterlogged. That's 2 units that have not survived a Vancouver rain storm. I'm glad it's not my main light anymore, but still upset. Who designs a bike light that's not waterproof!

I'm not running studs. I honestly don't think the MVT is that bad. I've seen a fair number of other commuters out all this week and the overwhelming majority seem not to be running studs as far as I can tell. Of course, from 4MR to the 14th St Bridge (the portion of MVT I ride) is pretty flat except for the overpasses. I just slow down as needed and sometimes put a leg out on particularly rutted or tricky looking sections. I haven't had to this week, but I certainly am not averse to the idea of getting off and walking a little if it looks really bad.

This morning, there were only five or six solid patches of ice/snow (i.e., places where I couldn't find an exposed asphalt route through the ice).

Certainly seems that other parts of the MVT, the CCT, the W&OD and particularly Curtis Trails as being more treacherous (more ups and downs).

Unseasonably warm weather all week. Around 35-40F in the morning and 45-50F in the afternoon. Melted all the snow. I'm trying not to get too used to this because I know winter is not over...

EKW, the section you're on is probably the best part of the MVT. I usually cut through the airport from 4 Mile Run to the north end of the airport if the trail is really icy, but haven't had to so far. From the 14th Street Bridge to Key Bridge is still pretty bad. Down closer to Old Town also has some gnarly patches of ice. Surprisingly, the CCT was plowed, so the icy stretches are smooth and it is fairly clean. It would be great if the VA trails were plowed, but for some reason they are completely ignored.

50F and raining

It was super warm on the ride home today. Nothing beats the mid-70's. On a hill climb I came across a group of 9 or 10 bike cops, and all but 1 were salmoning! I gave them a WTF? look as they passed.