^ lol

i see bike cops doing all sorts of things that deserve the WTF? look

Cloudy all day, but dry and above freezing both ways. I'll take it.

Rounded out a 5-day commute week of Texas cold with a ride home in the rain this afternoon... Fenders are definitely paying off these days. They make a huge difference. Pulled over at the grocery store on the way home to get some food too. People in the parking lot looked at me like I was nuts when I was stuffing the grocery bags into my panniers.

Not from mine (no work or school 'til Wednesday, w00t!) but from the Lady's commute today:



Plows had covered about 50 feet of the separated pathway with scraped up three-week-old snow and ice. That's a 2 1/2 foot tall "snow"ball that the bike is leaning against.

All they do around here is slowly putt around on the sidewalks downtown in the summer. Seriously, I've never seen an Anchorage bike cop outside of downtown, or off of the sidewalk.

That looks like a moonscape!

Hmmm... it took me the same amount of time to drive home from work today as it did to bike home yesterday and we had more fresh snow on the roads yesterday than we did today. We are talking a 15+ mile trip!

Come to Minnesota, we're breaking all sorts of winter records.

It's been so warm, it's like April, 50+ degrees and rain. Yep, April.

Fairly unamazing rides into work - just the occasional stupid driver. Like the one that drove by me this morning while I was in the bike lane. Then he needed to take a right, almost crossing in front of me causing me to literally slide to a stop. Gee, I was going a little faster than expected, huh? He put his turn signal on and waited for me to continue past him on his right. Uh, no thank since there's a semi-truck behind us and a large truck at the intersection who could pull out at any second. I yelled at him to "Go!" He doesn't and yells something unintelligible at me...I yell "Just ******** go!" and stay put. He finally turns. I went over this in my head afterwards but decided that due to the other traffic and my uncertainty about his movements made my relinquishing my ROW utterly correct.

Didn't ride on Friday, had to call in sick, my second or third time this Winter, I guess that's one of the side affects of having children in daycare. The early part of the week was fun, got to ride in a little snow and felt pretty good even though I was contending with a mild cold. We bailed on our Wednesday lunch-time ride this week: one of the guys bailed because of the snow and, the other guy is dealing with a hernia and had a work retreat as well-we're hoping to get back on track next week. I'm getting ready to get out an order for: new chain, cassette, bottom bracket, and rr. der. jockey pulleys-their replacement is way overdue. Hoping to finally kick this cold over the long weekend and get back on the bike by Tuesday.

Today's commute doesn't look so good; I'm off and was going to make a grocery run, but I might put it off till tomorrow. Rain falling pretty steadily, and it's cool outside, and I'm feeling like a wimp after riding 19 miles home in the rain last night...

I rode today (not a commute) but I scored an Airzound horn from one of my buddies!

Cool! Can't wait till Monday to try it out on an unsuspecting motorist.

Today was my first commute after Xmas....we have a lot of cycle lanes in Ireland (well, in and around Dublin anyway), but they are completely un-maintained - large tracts of wet (and by now slimy) leaves, broken glass, stones, twigs & small branches, uneven surfaces (a really bumpy ride), and various bits of debris & some rubbish - none of which is ever removed ! The law says if there's a cycle lane you are obliged to use it (I think !!) but the roads are beautiful in comparison. Also a lot of motorists use the cycle lanes as parking bays. A lot of money is spent on the lanes but they're simply not fit-for-purpose, just for a lack of maintenance.

Ride-wise, I can feel that extra post-Xmas 3kgs in the gut !!

Lorcán.

Very good weather today in Thailand, sunny and not too hot.Thanks to winter season.


Gios go green by Madanial, on Flickr

-22C/-8F but not too windy. Coldest commute this winter. I wore my down jacket instead of my polyester/fleece one, added wool tights and windproof pants and a neck warmer/gaiter. The combination was very warm, verging on hot. Except for my nose which was cold, especially at the beginning.

44f Still very warm in boise, not complaining though this weather can keep it up the rest of winter for all i care

After the coldest week on record last week, this morning was nice! 50F and got to wear shorts. No rain, even though it was in the forecast.

My first ride today since October, after about 4 years of riding daily. I had a short-term goal of paying off my credit cards for the first time in 20 years, and to further that goal, I drove daily and so got in an extra hour of overtime per day. Now that the cards are nearly paid off (I have enough overtime coming in the next paycheck to do it), I'm back on the bike.

There's no way I'll be able to go directly back to riding daily though. For one thing, I've decided that trying to do it is just silly; I have ridden through some truly miserable sloppy snowy slushy or rutted ice conditions, and I'm just going to drive in that stuff in the future.

For another, man, did I get out of shape in 3 months. In the summer my commute is about 42 minutes. In the winter, typically 48 to 52. This morning it was 58, for no good reason; no headwind or significant snow, I was just riding in a low gear most of the way, and feeling it.

It was 3*F (-16C) this morning. Not really a problem, thankfully I still remember how to dress for it.

During the time away my blood pressure went up enough to require me to start taking medication at a low dose. Within the last week, it was looking like I was going to have to increase the dosage. I'm hoping that getting back on the bike will reverse the trend a bit and keep me on the low dose. Some medication is inevitable, I was borderline before even after years of daily riding and my family history indicates medicine at some point.

Left work early today 54f Did have a pretty strong head wind, i think this is the warmest ive seen it in jan in boise, still having a hard time with it as i put all the shorts away and had to dig them out

Had good commuting weather today, though a bit of a head wind on the trip home. School was out today, so I got to work in my room in peace and quiet. 27.04 miles round trip. The weather turned colder while I was putting the bike away. If I had known a front was coming through, I would've waited to leave school and enjoyed a tail wind instead of fighting a head wind.

We got a nasty front coming through, but I managed to get home without getting drenched. Not too bad, if the rain finishes tonight I might be able to get a 5-day week in!

Green grass? Haven't seen that in a while! I call no fair!!!

Slept 30 minutes late this morning because the forecasters said it would be raining, so I was gonna drive. They were wrong (surprise!), so I decided to ride after all but had to skip breakfast. The lack of food didn't bother me at all, and I actually rode faster than usual despite it being my seventh day in a row riding. Fortunately, I have oatmeal in my office so was able to eat something there. Starting to get my mileage back up to normal after missing a week due to snow/sleet/ice in early January. Might just break 500 miles for the month unless we get more icy weather.

Rode this morning, it wasn't cold (52F) but the fog was very bad, all the way to work. I had to keep wiping my glasses to see, and my shirt was soaked from riding through it.

Looks like I'm gonna get my 5-day week after all! Yay! Finally, after 6 months!

Hi IJM,

Nice to see you back. I was recently wondering where you had been, since I enjoy reading your commuting posts, plus that you are a Michigan commuter, with a seemingly rigorous route, and I'm from Michigan too.

Today in Boston we had a new ongoing snowfall on previously dry streets so most of my route was on a few millimeters of slush, or fresh and tramped-down snow, perfect for my Marathon Winters.

JIM

WOW I would call that a slip-n-slide commute in this morning. Slow going, strong headwind, walked a bit at timnes, temps hovering just at freezing, and a thin sheen of ice covering all surfaces. Roads were ok, slushy, but the point at which I go from street to National Mall (Over by Washington Monument) was just an ice rink. Kept my gear low and crunched though the stuff.

I know there was a good discussion in here on studded tires last week...guess I should have listened!