This was my first day on the studded front tire. What a joy! 10 deg. F when I left the house this morning. I love riding when there's a crust of snow left on the bike path. I overdressed, though, and was far too warm when I got to work.

Fast and dry(ish) (vs downpour in the dark last night; my gloves dried out 'cause I left them on the waterheater, but my coat, in the kitchen, did not dry out overnight)

Weird. On the way home last night I was overtaken by a pod of ninjas. All riding track bikes, but none of them could execute a trackstand to save his life. Or I assume that's why they had to ride through each red light.

And then this morning on the bike trail I came upon a pair of homeless guys pushing a big mattress--a queen at least--on a little wagon towards the river bottoms. I guess if you're living down by the river you might as well get a good night's sleep.

Pretty nice ride in this morning. We got a little snow last night so that means, you guessed it, ice. I wasn't prepared for it and it claimed me less than 50ft from home (back tire decided it wanted to do it's own thing). Only thing to do was hop back up and continue on.

Todo: hit up the LBS.

-Jeff

Students didn't let me go until 10:30 last night (class ended at 9:15) so I didn't really hit the street (after my subway ride) until after 11:30 and then had to detour to run an errand. From there it was foggy all the way home, creating an interesting effect with my brand new headlight. Once I got through all the mysterious construction (not mysterious in the daytime, I suppose, but not my normal route so for me it was just a bunch of cones and temporary bollards popping up everywhere out of the fog) and into the neighborhood it was delightful. No traffic, silent as it gets in LA. Happy to be on my bike.

I didn't commute today in the usually fashion. Today was my day off and today was my wife's first ever commute to work. I am very proud of her. She only works 4 miles from home but this was a huge step for her. So I rode with here to work and I will ride there when she gets off and ride home with her. Family commuting, what better way is there. Tomorrow I will get back to working, see ya'll then.

p.s. By the way I built my son an old Schwinn 10 speed for his commute that he started 2 weeks ago. Now if I could only get my daughter to get riding. Maybe after the 2nd grandchild is born.

... got a cold and didn't get out today. Booo hooo Still I'll be better tomorrow, looking forward to the snow we're supposed to be getting!

Whoo! It is freakin' cold out there. The aftn temps were colder than the morning temps. This morning I left and it was 29f or so. The roads had dried off. I looked out at 7am and saw the flurries had stuck to the road. Oh great! I said. I was worried that that stuff was still going to be there at 2pm and I didn't have the snow studs on. But I was sure that the Upper 30d temps would clear the roads for me. Sure enough. But it was still cold out there. Rode home feeling comfortable. The hands got a little cold but I survived. Tom'rw is supposed to be the warmest day of the week. This is what winter commuting is all about.
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I was bad today. At a certain horrible crossing to one of the Port entries, where autos/trucks filter in at a high rate of speed one after the other, I decided to just cross. Usually I use a lighted button crossing but I mis-timed a break in the vehicle line and decided to go further up to the uncontrolled crossing (which is now missing all the "bike/ped crossing" signage in spite of notifying the city several times of the problem). As I pulled up to the crossing, a truck that saw me coming (I heard his engine slow down for a second) decided to go for it and didn't let me cross. After him followed a looooong line of vehicles. So I pointed my headlights in their direction, moving my bars from side to side to signal people that I was standing there trying to cross (I have side lights too). Nothing. I waved. Nothing. I moved forward slightly pantomiming a movement, nothing. I finally just stuck my front tire out there and made like I was going to step out right in front of them. First truck veers quick out of my line of travel. Second truck slams on his brakes with a screech, but couldn't stop in time and had to keep going. Van behind him slams on his brakes and is able to stop, looking shocked and car behind him finally stops. I'm yelling at them the whole time "CROSSING!" It was slightly insane. I wasn't in immediate danger b/c the road is quite wide, but I'm going back to the lighted crossing tomorrow. It was slightly nice to see their shocked faces.

good commute, first day of the season with the Kenda Klondike studded tires, they felt fine, even up the hill, and I forgot how much I like that clicking sound they make on dry pavement.

Lets just say I'll be throwing the winter tyres and studs on for tomorrows adventures in traffic.

today was the first day commuting to my current job. i've commuted to my previous job, but being new, i didn't want to risk being late. today was my late day, so i fgured i'd give it a shot. it was cold out there today, but all-in-all, not bad. i will say that i was a bit scared on the ride home. it was dark of course, and even with my blinkie, and reflectors, some dumb person in a nissan rogue inched up enough to tap my rear tire at an intersection! luckily i was stopped, with a foot on the ground, but i couldn't understand how she couldn't see me?! after i screamed at her, she didn't even appologized, she just stared at me with a terrified look on her face i rode off, looking for a sidewalk, haha.

Man! 4 inches of snow in 2 hours, the first 2 miles home were a bit stressful...the Marathon Winters were a little shaky in the white stuff where they couldn't get a firm grip. Fishtailed a bit, had to put the foot down once (twisted my knee a bit)...

But once I found some tire tracks, the tires bit in and the last 7 miles were fine.

So notice to self, fresh snow over 2 inches in the morning...don't take bike, in afternoon...ride bike slowly!

A fresh sprinkling of snow this morning. What a peaceful ride along the bike path. I still have the slicks on!

Ride in ok.
Ride home started out with weird braking sensation pulling the bike left under me. Kept checking tires, rims, brakes, quick realease nada..
Then I found it.. The left half of the fork was almost completely cracked. Only about 1/2" total of metal around the thing hadn't split yet. First sag ride since I moved to texas Thankfully it happened this week since it is my wifes vacation week. I just replaced that brake cable and wire a week ago I shoudl have noticed if there was a crack.. hm

Had some idiot in a g35(go figure) honk at me today.

Other than that the commute to work was smooth, slight headwind. The ride back home was fantastic, about 50 degrees. 14 miles total.

Just a bit of excitement tonight as a ninja blew by me on the right (I'm in the bike lane), whizzed back into the bike lane inches from me to avoid a parked car, then cut left to cross two lanes and get in the left turn lane. Where he stopped to wait for the light.

Didn't ride in yesterday.. it was in the 30's and raining. Then felt bad for not riding in when I got to work..

I did ride in this morning.. 32°F but atleast it was dry. It was wonderful!

A toasty 21 degrees this am :-)

-R

Still relatively warm here in Burlington. Around 30F and a light headwind. This morning I measured the distance and found the MUP-construction detour adds about a half mile to my ride. Oh noes!

Strong tailwind today. I took the long way to work and I also expect to take a ride at lunch. For the ride home I expect a headwind.

22 degrees when I left at 10 til 8. Good times! I've also found me a nice new route to work with no hills which is quite a find in Knoxville!

Cold ride in to work this morning. I don't know the exact temperature because the National Weather Service web site is not functioning here today, but I'm guessing it was about 26F. It might have just felt colder due to higher humidity than usual -- there was a very heavy frost as well.

My new REI Tempest tights were very comfortable in those temps, although they have a tendency to slide down because they don't have a waist strap. My fingers were a little cold, and I should have worn my warmer gloves. It was a little hard dressing this morning because it is supposed to warm up a lot this afternoon (mid-50s), and I didn't want to overdo it and get too hot on my commute home.

I had to drive yesterday, which was a real bummer because the weather was ideal for commuting. However, I had a dentist appointment at noon, which would have required about a 2.5 hour lunch break if I took my bike.

I took a new route today and incorporated some trails which cut out a lot of traffic riding it was a lot of fun, I may ride this route again tomorrow. My toes were a bit chilly when I arrived at work but they warmed up pretty quickly. Riding trails fixed with cross tires is a lot of fun.