Brian T

Wet, muddy, raining, full fender fun and a nice tailwind! woohoo!

JoeyBike

Awesome! Don't that "0 Car" thing feel good!

As for the wife (I have one too), you did the best thing by calling when you arrived - you validate her feelings, let her know you care that she is worried, and relieve her stress. Be sure to tell her how good you feel riding, what a great ride you had, what you saw - include her in the event. But NEVER EVER EVER tell her about close calls, minor falls, getting yelled at, things thrown at you, etc. Did I say never? NEVER!!!! That's all on you to suck up if you want to keep riding and peace. And why worry her more anyway.

Happy Trails! Many More!

JoeyBike

FOG season is upon is in The Big Easy.

God how I HATE fog..........

tarwheel 

Miserable commute today, and I agree with the hate about FOG! I drove yesterday because we had a thick, pea-soup fog with showers forecasted through the day. Today the rain was over and the fog much thinner, so I took the bike. However, the fog quickly coated my eyeglasses so I couldn't see hardly a thing by the time I was halfway out of my neighborhood. Fortunately, I had a soft bandana in my pocket, and found that I could keep my glasses reasonably clear by wiping them off every half-mile or so. Of course, my glasses then fogged up on the inside at every traffic signal.

That made for a slow commute and combined with a later start, meant much more traffic (and honking horns) than usual. The final insult was hitting a big patch of mud in the street from construction going on near my office building. I arrived at work wet and muddy.

harleyfrog

My wife and I went riding through the neighborhood last night in the fog looking at Christmas lights. Awesome ride.

floriderron

Had a great ride in today, 60 when I left the house. Little foggy but it burned off by about 1/4 way into the ride. Took my rack and trunk bag to try a backpack. DID NOT like it at all and I will go back to the rack tomorrow. Everyone is different that's what makes the world go round. Keep riding all.

mitts66

Hi there,

In Chicago and NW suburbs, about 4 in. snow came down during rush hour yesterday, 12/16... The ride was fun this morning, about 4 miles. While hilly in this area, I found my back tire slipping some- mountain bike tires. So, I had to be careful.

With ice and snow, these elements can never be taken for granted, even after commuting via bike for 12 years now. It always seems to be a fun event getting to work... Most motorists cannot begin to imagine how fun the journey to work can really be.

Itsjustb

I drove today, for the 2nd time this year. My dept. pot luck is this afternoon so I had to transport the dozens of cookies my wife had made. Needless to say, it felt REALLY weird to drive to work.

The ride home yesterday was strange. The temp in the morning was about 60, so I wore shorts and one layer. I stepped out of the building at noon to ride home (doctor's appt at 1:30) and the temp had dropped about 15-20 degrees and it was drizzling. Man, were my knees cold on the ride! I got home, watched the forecast for a while, decided no heavy rain was coming, and added tights and another upper layer.

The receptionists at the doctor looked at me when I arrived and immediately offered me hot chocolate, which I gladly accepted. I was still drinking it when the nurse took me to the exam room. She said, "Oh, the hot chocolate will probably throw off your temperature, but I can note that in the file." She was very surprised when she took my temp and got...97.7. Let's hear a cheer for hypothermia!

HardyWeinberg

Totally cool snowy day. Inches of undisturbed powder out there. So it's a snow day from school and I'm not going anywhere 'cause I'm home with the kids.

edit: I shoveled out the car for my wife and then took the pug for a spin around the block looking for kids out that my son could go play with. Found some, so he can be busy at least. My daughter wants to be a snow princess in this gauzy gown she got for her bday the other day and I am trying to talk her out of that since I don't want to deal w/ hypothermia the rest of the day.

Tobias Greenich

Checked the skies this morning, clouds were breaking up.

It was just my luck that I was going fast enough to remain under one of the few remaining rainclouds the entire way to work. A fan is currently drying out my clothes.

caloso

Pretty dang cold (at least for us): 31F/-1C. I wore a merino wool sweater and was really comfy in my torso but my face was freezing!

JeffS

I began the commute from my new house this week and the ride has been kicking my butt a little. The distance is the same, but the route is much hillier. I've lost my wide outside lanes as well which hurts some. No close calls, but the frequency of honks has increased. Oh well, I guess i just have to train a new batch of drivers.

Grim

Made it to work between rain showers and made it home between showers. hit 70f this afternoon. Made for a good commute!

neilfein

Good weather, and I left a little earlier today so I got more daylight. I got clipped by a car in Rahway, a hit-and-run. An elderly gentleman in a boat of a car tried to pass me when I was signaling left and getting over to turn. I swear, this guy sped up to get around to my left.

The point of contact was his right rear quarter panel to the magnet on my front wheel (the one that keeps the bike closed when folded). No damage to me or my bike. I hope he has a nasty scratch on his car.

buzzman

STUDS TODAY! First snow/ice conditions that warranted the studs and was super glad to have them. I took the MUP in and #1- it was plowed! #2 Lots of patches of ice and black ice. Also the wooden bridges without the studded tires would have been deadly. In fact, I'd forgotten about the icy conditions and hit the 1st wooden bridge pretty fast and would have gone down hard but the studs held great.

On the ride home though a scary incident. I was a bit paranoid along Nonantum Road where a car had shot across the bike path and into the Charles River on the weekend. Sure enough as I rode home tonight there was a big black SUV in the middle of the bike path facing in my direction, it's front grill crumpled and lying on the bike path behind the car was a man- on his cell phone! He was surrounded by 3 other guys, whose cars were parked in the road along the path. The guy had hit some black ice spun out of control and onto the bike path.

As I said in another post, it would be a lot safer out there if everyone left their cars at home in the ice and snow and rode a bike.

darkmanx2g

Inspired by the crazy commuters in Bike Forums. I decided to commute to school today in a crazy rain storm. I live in SoCal so we don't get that much rain so I had to commute just for the fun of it. Just put on my beanie, bubble jacket, no fenders, my mp3 player.
I gotta say wat a ride! Drivers looking at me and think Im crazy. No bike commuter in site but it was damn refreshing. Would I do it again? Yes! if I had enough clothes. Like the commuting experts here in BF. Its easy to commute when you got the right clothing.
Thanx BF!

scube

Foggy about 30 degrees. I was warm as toast in my new Showers Pass Elite jacket and Toasty Feet inserts. I had my new P7 in strobe mode on the front and my Planet Bike blinkie on the back. My coworkers that saw me on the road commented about the high visibility of both lights. BF is so cool

chrism32205

I ran my Fenix Q2 on strobe also yesterday in the fog.. and have the PB superflash..

MIKEnDC

Mild. 36F/2C with no wind to speak of. Knickers and sleeveless T under my jacket (another Showers Pass customer ).

Guess I'm getting acclimated--had I stepped out to a morning like this in August, it would've been a mad scramble back indoors to put on every piece of gear I own!

jpdesjar

17ºF when i left the house...streets weren't too bad at all after the snowfall yesterday, although there were sections that were not plowed enouch forcing me to ride in the road a bit more but i was comfortable doing that and no one gave me a hard time about it...riding fixed in the snow and slush is really fun and allows me to control the bike really well...cross tires rock

jag6780

I actually felt slow today. Maybe it was the new detour or that i left off a layer. And when a couple riders started passing me in the final 2 miles (thank you black Surly with tons of yellow reflective stickers), I noticed i was cruising at 15 and kicked it up to about 18. Either way, i made the commute in average time.

Now if I can only get the office mgr to turn off the freaking AC (wtf!?), i can change my clothes...

Itsjustb

My plans this morning keep getting screwed up. I'd hoped to take my new roadie out for a ride before leaving for work, but The Kid woke us up too late for me to have time. OK. Next I was supposed to give blood this morning at 9 on my way in. I arrived at the building to learn that they'd forgtotten to bring the blood pressure cuffs! They told me I could either wait about 30 minutes or "come back in a little while". Uh, my building's about a mile away....you want me to go shower, work for a while, then change back into my gear, ride back here, give blood, go back to work and change again?

Told them I'd try to leave early and stop by on my way home. I think this blood drive today will be a bust for them.

LanceW

Not too bad here in chicago today. It was about 15 degrees when left my appartment this morning. The side roads were still covered in snow/slush. Thankfully the city of chicago plows the lake shore path. It was pretty smooth sailing from rogers park / andersonville to down town. Sunny skies now but we are suppose to get several inches of snow and ice tonight

chuongdoan

Below 20 but no too bad with ski pants and layers.
The Nexus hub keeps freezing though. Hmmm...

J B Bell

Went by bus & train today.

After a glorious couple days' commute with studs, the slog home yesterday was just miserable--just too much snow & slush to get a grip! 10-15 cm, and of course, piled higher and rutted the farther out to the edge you get. Back in the saddle once things get a little less insane. (For Vancouver, that is.)