Effortless. Strong winds out of the south; I could have almost just stood up and acted as a sail. Going home might be tough though. I got a lot of friendly waves after installing LED Christmas lights on my bike and attaching a Santa hat to my helmet.

Today was my first day back to commuting in more than 2 months. It was cold - 17*. I switched to my winter studded tires over the weekend. Boy what a difference in resistance. Between riding into a breeze, not commuting for 2 months and the tires - it made a big difference in the ride workout.

My fingers and toes were cool - but not frozen. Wool socks + Illuminite booties on the feet, some sort of wind-block gloves. Need to find a way to keep the toes a bit warmer. I may find some sort of really thin liner to wear inside my gloves on days when it's going to be this far below freezing.

A 5-degree day oughta be a whole lot of fun.

48 with 10-15 mph headwinds. Nice ride though.

22F. Wore a silk baselayer, wool tee and a wool sweater under a windproof shell and was sweating when I got to work. I'll have to open the pit zips for the ride home.

pretty darn cold this morning...i feel like i wore the right amount of clothing though, i put some plastic bags on my feet to block the wind but my toes were still very cold, i was hoping to have some beardsicles this morning but nothing

Hellishly warm this morning @ 43-48F.

Had a nice tailwind also. I love Colorado weather. Today is the inverse of a normal commute due to a storm front set to arrive at noon. I rode in with warmers on and panniers stuffed with winter clothing for the ride home.

42F and drizzle. More Belgian than Californian. I just have to remind myself that if it was good enough for Eddy, it's good enough for me.

Beard froze for the first time today.

Supposed to be a little snow in Denver this afternoon but I took the skinny-wheel gamble and took the road bike. The legs were too sore to pedal the mtn bike after two days of skiing.

still no ice. sluggish ride after weekend of eating though,

It was under 20' this morning. With the wind it was a BIG difference compared to the past couple of weeks in the 20's & 30's!

I wore the 1/2 balaclava and it kept fogging up my glasses! WTFog!

Bizarre commute home. It got warm- 70 degrees warm- but I had to ride directly into a 23 mph wind, gusting to 37 (according to intellicast) and I wouldn't be shocked to find out it was even higher than that. My 35-40 min commute took over 50 minutes.

Coldest morning of the fall so far, 23 F during my commute. It got colder than that only twice last winter on days I commuted. We've had the coldest autumn that I can remember. However, I do remember one year it was very cold from Thanksgiving through Christmas, and then January and February were very mild that winter.

^^^^This post sums it up. I was on the other side of that line tonight. Fortunately I knew it and had everything for the ride home tonight. This morning on the way in I didn't put on the shoe covers, didn't wear the rain/wind pants and jacket and was a little on the cold side much of the way in. Tonight it was 11°F on the way home so I threw on the whole deal- shoe covers, rain/wind pants & jacket over my other layers and I was toasty (except my forehead, which I corrected by stopping and readjusting the balaclava). Gorgeous ride home tonight. Crystal clear night, no one on the bike path but me and some geese and I was warm as could be.

Saw a mega-hawk on the way in. Wasn't the usual red tailed hawk it was about 1/3 larger. Got to look it up*- wanted to stop and take a picture but when it's this cold I prefer to keep moving.

* just looked it up and it was definitely a Peregrine Falcon. What an amazing bird. I've seen it along this part of the Charles (Brighton along Soldier's Field Road) off and on for a few years. It's one big bird- very majestic.

I had a great ride. Tonight was the first night I was able to ride home in the dark since I put the Christmas lights on the bike. It was also the first time I rode the Hakkapalettias on icy roads at commuting speeds. I am just amazed how the bike did not slide around or that I didn't fall. Some of the roads have not been plowed or salted and the snow has been compact. Then today we got some freezing rain, making a very nice layer of ice.

There were spots I was sure I would go down when making the turn. But I didn't. I did take the turn much slower than usual and wider, but this would have usually made me go down on my non-studded tires. I'm still learning how far I can push the Hakkapalettias, but I am having fun learning.

26-21 degrees for my 15 mile r/t to deacon's meeting tonight. Wind at 1 MPH. I've learned enough from you guys in only one week being active here that this was both my warmest, AND least sweaty winter ride ever.

No wind sure helps, too!

Dick's Sporting had a ton of summer base layer stuff on clearance. Awesome. Will pick up more.

Top: rbk playdry sleeveless, wool/lycra thermal (wore a different, dry polyester shirt on return), thin old j crew vneck sweater, Jeep insulated reversible reflective hi vis construction guy jacket Bottom: My old Holey Duofolds, Lined running pants Socks: Hiking liner socks, Smartwools, tennis shoes. Head: Bandanna tied over head and ears, old thin scarf straight overtop my head, fleece neck warmer over chin and nose. No eyewear.Hands: Thin stretchy grippy snowboarding glove liners.

I know the insulated outer layer is not the best, but I didn't know better when I bought it, and it's the brightest thing ever.

Almost ready to start really commuting-- not just to choir and meetings. bf.net kind of rules.

9:15pm
7 deg F with snow, ice on the road............
beautiful windless night.
my Hakkalipeta W106 studded tires worked great thought the rolling resistance is increased.
now sitting by the woodstove with my youngest hanging out and watching TV-life is good........

Almost hit a ped.. my back tire actually did swing around a little and hit his shopping bag as I was braking.

Here's the scenario. I'm cruising at a moderate speed down a slight incline in a bike lane, half the speed of cars maybe. I enter a 4 lane intersection, with a turn lane, so that's 5 lanes total, pretty wide. Light turns yellow the exact moment I enter the crosswalk on my side. If I stop now, i'll be in the middle of the intersection, so I just keep going. By the time i'm almost across, the opposite light turns red and the walk light comes on for peds. The guy doesn't even look to see if it's clear and starts walking so I yell 'WATCH OUT!", brake, and manage to stop before hitting him. Then he looks at the light, which had just turned red and gives me attitude about the light being red. I explained it wasn't red when I started through, and just went on my way, as he did as well. So now this guy probably has a negative attitude about cyclists because of a fast changing light. I guess it's timed for faster moving traffic...

I hate wide intersections..

that stinks. I'm all about bells and lights and verious dork gear on my bike for this reason.

^^^
What he said

Not that bad, considering it was my first day on the bike in two weeks. Felt good to be back.

Right around the freezing mark this morning--which is about a dozen degrees F more than yesterday. I was dressed lighter, of course, and so ended up feeling a bit colder--also of course.

High temps today and tomorrow are supposed to be above 10C (50s pushing even 60 tomorrow). Too bad rain is coming with it (though there are plenty of places to my south that can sure use it). I'm hoping for a dry 10C ride this afternoon before the rain moves in--just about my fav conditions...

Teens, F. 20-30MPH headwind blowing off the lake. Snowing. Actually it wasn't too bad, but it sure was slow.

I saw a lone duck swimming around in the water. Time to go south, little dude.

No foot down!!!

18.75 miles, 15 traffic lights, 4 major intersections, three left turns across traffic and no stops today!!

:dancin: