How was the commute today? 2011 Edition.
 

How 'bout we start out clean for the New Year? The other thread hangs up on me sometimes.

Anyway, the ride in today was the perfect Texas winter ride: 43 degrees, slight tailwind (both ways if the afternoon forecast is correct), and the new additions to my cycling wear- a merino wool jersey (a gift from the wife) and a pair of Pearl Isumi leg warmers (door prize from the bike club Christmas party) made me perfectly toasty, but not too warm.

Need about another week till I can start again. The plowing around my town has been horrible. Areas still melting, icing and a lot of places one lane. Long story short...... my wife will be way to nervous and freaking out if I bike in right now.......

Same here. I thought about it this morning, but at 7*F, I thought better of it. Drove my route though, and the ice is still too prevalent. Hoping tomorrow after today's sun.

Last Thursday...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJFMywIKzSI

Skipped the bike commute today, in favor of taking the 29er out to Grapevine Lake for a night ride after work. A ride's a ride, for a' that...

Tomorrow may see me back on the old Cannondale T1000, while I finally start to install Ultegra/105 running gear on the Vaya. I don't imagine I'll get that completed in time to ride in.

I've got a pair of platform pedals on the C'Dale - that'll take some getting used to

BTW, Doohickie - have you seen/do you know the guy with the double-racked Long Haul Trucker? He rides along Gorman, too.

Mostly the same as doohickie's :) The weather is great - now if I could just do something about the mountain cedar making my nose drip like a faucet...

Good commute today, after skipping yesterday (up all night with panick attacks about returning to work). As Doohickie said, 43 degrees is a great temp for the morning ride here in N Texas. Got to use one of my new Ortlieb panniers today and my new helmet. Gotta love Xmas presents!

28F and overcast this morning. Started to snow on my way in, but just flurries. Kind of nice, actually. This afternoon was gray and still overcast. 29F with a light dusting of fresh snow on the ground.

oh that reminds me, today was the first day using my new Linus Pannier. Holds my iPad, pants and a shirt.
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/004...9921_large.jpg

My commute was little dicey this morning.
Snow was melting yesterday in the 40's(F),
but this morning was about 30F. So a lot
of ice on the roadways. And to top it off, I
leave the house at 6am; no sun yet :(

I watched it twice, it's that mesmerizing. Love the yakety sax overlay. It's perfect.

crazy. There's always some yahoo in a big truck that thinks his vehicle is big, therefore good on ice. :lol:

Everything's funnier with Yakety Sax.

I woke at 5 to go on a long ride in this morning, saw the Hounds of the Baskervilles quality fog and went back to bed. By 7:30 it had thinned quite a bit, so pretty safe and comfy. I just wore a dress shirt and pants, with a merino sweater, and was quite comfortable.

Woke up late, rode leisurely as I already missed my regular train to catch. Got to station 15 minutes early still and noticed it is 35F. Ended up waiting extra 15 minutes in the temperature shivering as ... the train got delayed... 30 minutes standing still there at the temp was no fun. Looking forward to ride back though. Temp should be in high 40s low 50s which I love to ride at.

Not sure. I know a handful of LHT owners. Could be one of them. There's one that usually crosses the train tracks, then turns right on Hildring (in the morning; opposite in the afternoon). I've been doing that too since all the construction makes the freeway access roads yucky. I ride up through Overton Park to the trail along the creek, then to the river and back to 183. A mile or two longer but misses all the construction.

Had some nice flurries on my way to work, and about half way to work, my rear gear cable broke :-( Just had it repaired during my lunch break.

All-in-all, it was a pretty nice ride here in Toronto. The roads were a bit wet, but didn't encounter any ice or snow on them. The temp was about 0°C and the "feels like" temp was -6°C.

Just bought a new face/neck mask while waiting for my bike to be repaired at work. Can't wait to give it a try :-D

Embarrassing tbh. Didn't know I could get that out of shape over Christmas. Doesn't help that I ride fixed so can't change gear! Either way I made it home, but not without quite a bit of heavy breathing - hope I'm back in form by the end of the week!

Got new glasses though so was good to try them out :)

I guess I'll repost my latest here -- will the old thread be locked, and this one be stickied?

Not a bad morning - - though I chose a shorter ride to ease my knees a bit. I thought I had misjudged the cold when I left off the Balaclava in favor of the beanie, but a mile or so in, all was right. Much less wind than the past few rides, which was nice, and more people out, possibly because of my later than usual start.

Oh, and I bought another used bike last night... Bad boy! It has some mechanical needs (derailleurs are frozen-ish), but overall it seems pretty sound. Guess I'll be visiting the mechanic's forum.

Cold and clear (and dark!) this morning. I left early to stop and the Y for swimming and weightlifting. Then I went to work.

Rode my bike about a mile after lunch to go drop off a Brooks saddle I sold on Craigslist.

In another two hours, I'll be leaving work and riding to my massage therapy appointment. Yeah, life is hard. :)

I rode my bike in the rain for the 1st time today. Ive been commuting since about July and have avoided ridding when its raining. Today after work i was on my way to the bus stop but decided it was about time for me to learn to ride in the rain lol I didnt fall.. so i say it was a successful ride :)

today's ride - first commute of the new year (monday was banker's holiday), and there was the typical frantic panic over expected snowfall of 5 cm that will shutdown the city! (Vancouver - LOL - where 1 cm of snow will cause widespread chaos and destruction - what a joke).

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/a...warning-issued

it felt warm (around 0c) so i chanced it and decided to ride - against the quiet reservations from the missus. turned out - a very nice ride - low traffic and the snow held out. the ride home was even warmer - no precipitation as yet along my route, so was in all a pleasant commute day!

First commute of the New Year and was able to make it on my summer bike. There's no snow on the ground and looks like it will be that way for a week. What happened to winter? It was miserable here a few weeks ago.

First commute of the year today. I am fighting off the remains of a nasty cold but braved the cold and snow anyways. I'm a bit stubborn that way. :) I was, however, rather depressed since I passed by the spot on the MUP where a 60 year old man was murdered around midnight on New Years' Eve. Also, another man was assaulted on the same trail the same afternoon and a 30 year old woman was sprayed in the face with bear spray by two jerks on another trail near my house. I swear I think this place is going to hell.

That's why I started the thread; the other one seemed to be getting a bit unwieldy. But I have no control over that.

The ride home was cooler than I expected, but still a bit warmer than the morning. The roads were fast and smooth and there was a slight tailwind. Work commitments mean I'll have maybe one or two chances to commute over the next two and a half weeks.

Glrgaghh

Nice commute today. Relatively warm morning (50's) and then low 60's on the way home with a nice, light rain. It was my first real commute while raining...and it really made me appreciate the fenders that are on my bike.

Nice and cool this morning. It was my second day of riding in jeans and besides the fact that I look like a total dork tucking my leg into my sock, riding 2 miles in comfy jeans isn't half bad!

Most of my commutes are pretty nice, but this morning was better than average. It was very cold for Seattle, but clear and dry, and I left a little early, so it was a bit quieter and calmer. I have a few fairly big hills, so the cold weather and no rain gear meant no sweat upon my arrival at the job. The ride home was more typical: not that cold, but damp (it's raining again) and full of cars. It's still good, though, and way more pleasant than driving will ever be.

First day back - on vacation since the middle of December. Got to tryout/break in the new bike. All I have to say is I got soft with 3+ weeks off the bike! Nice ride in at a sweltering 28 degrees, but slow, slow, slow :D

All of my winter rides are slow -- extra layers, etc. Also, the alternate routes that add ride time during the good weather get pretty much abandoned below 40F, so my commutes are 4 miles RT.

I'm off today, so I'll just summarize the past week -- 1 day above freezing, and it was soaking wet. They've all been windy. The average has been 20-25F with windchills about 10F. Since that 1 warm day (and the slightly less warm, but still above freezing, day before it), the snow is gone. Had to pump the tires back up for better roll on dry surfaces.

It's still a ride, every day..... Vowed to stay away from the bus routes as long as possible this winter, with an eye to pedaling through the whole season. (Since I WILL NOT roll on ice, that hasn't happened in the last decade.)

19f Almost a heat wave will be above freezing today:) some wind but nothing too bad, the temps are going to be getting warmer here supposed to be up in the high 30's by the end of the week:)

mid 20's I'd guess, no wind thankfully. Today was my second day commuting since I've started a new job. the commute is 15 miles each way on a bike trail. All Flat.

The first day I had a flat on a new tire. Nail. Also my dyno driven headlight didnt work. Luckily I had a backup headlamp. Aside from that the commute was ok, but i felt very slow.

Today i took my long wheel base above seat steering recumbent that I havent ridden since I got back from a long unsupported tour in 2008. I soon remembered that it shifted like crap and I really need to convert to rear mech to friction with some thumb shifters.
Aside from that it worked great, i just feel slow and my feet were cold even though I had two pairs of socks on and wind covers over my shoes. Oh and the cleats in my shoes need to be adjusted for riding a bent. I've always found the cleat needs to be closer to the center of your foot on a bent.

The commute took like an hour 15 minutes to do the 15 miles. So hopefully my speed comes back as bit as I get back in shape. the last 9 months of not commuting really took its toll on me.