Boy, it's been a long time since I've been on here. I'm still bike commuting year around, 30 plus miles round trip, over 27 years now. I think it's been a coupld of years since I've posted on here. I use do it regularly... I'll have to start doing it again. It's really great reading all your posts, it gives me a conection.

welcome back! I'm with you. For some reason it's fun to read about other people's commute.

After my usual day of rest (save for a couple-of-mile test ride early Sunday morning), I usually feel rarin' to go Monday mornings. Strangely lethargic to start out today, though.

Must've been that 20mph headwind...

Windy and cold (29F) but I didn't care, I replaced my entire drivetrain yesterday and sailed along with an increased speed of 18 mph. The chain was nice and quiet and it shifted better too. I typically do this replacement in March but I probably should have done it back in December this year. I think I'll add a weekly chain/cassette cleaning to my maintenence routine.

17*F, but no wind to speak off and I think I have my winter cold gear down to a perfect combo. Was quite comfortable, only problem was glasses steaming up when I stop.

New commuter bike
 

I'm still enjoying my new bike high. My new Bob Jackson touring frame arrived recently, and I just got it built up late last week. Rode it on a fairly long group ride (51 miles) on Saturday to see how it felt before loading it up with commuter gear. On Sunday, I installed fenders, lights, rear rack, seat bag and larger tires. So now it's my dedicated commuter and no more horsing around (at least not that often).

The bike rides great, particularly with the larger tires. The Planet Bike fenders are quiet and look nice. I've got no excuses for not riding to work anymore, not that I needed any.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33353398@N05/

I didn't commute last week as I was out of town on business. It showed:

1. forgot my carefully packed backpack, which contains my laptop for work, clothes, etc.
2. Due to # 1, had to go back to house after about 2 miles of riding when I realized I did not have said backpack.
3. Said backpack contains keys to the house. Because of this had to:
4. knock on front door of own house, which causes dogs to bark, which wakes wife, who answers the door and says not a word :twitchy:
5. get started again, with backpack, and catch Metro train. But catch train that only goes halfway where I want to go, as I've now completely lost my mojo.
6. Change trains a few stops later.
7. Battle headwind.
8. Arrive at work :D

I am back after spending two weeks in Barbados, where the palm trees clap in the trade winds, the Atlantic is the same color as the carribean, a beautiful azure, and the weather is always fine. Today I rode in 20 F (-6 C). It was an easy ride, minus the wind gusts. On a side note, this year I saw probably
three times more bikes on the road, than in previous years. Including several on the ABC hwy. The
downside was that only about of the third the riders were wearing helmets. The cycling clubs also are more active, with more riders in darker hours.

Brutal commute this morning. 28F and a 20-30 mph headwind for part of my ride.

As a reward for my perserverance, 3 people from my company passed me illegally (they used the right shoulder, nearly hitting me as I was taking the lane) on the arterial leading to the company entrance. My blood was BOILING but I got caught at a red light and couldn't catch up to them. I only got the license tag from the last car but I'm thinking about calling company security and asking them to send the driver an email. They can do this...but I doubt they will on only my testimony.

Back down to about 4*F this morning, so I had to put my platforms back on and wear the heavy boots.

I suppose I should get some SPD cleats for the new shoes I have; the old Shimano shoes are now 3 years old, were fairly snug so I can't get much extra socks in them, and they have a rip near the toes on one side, so they're not very warm anymore. I hate to retire them by removing the cleats though, since they'd be great for wet/muddy days, and then I'd have dry shoes for the next day.

44F and damp. Felt more muggy than clammy. Spring must be around the corner!

Nice ride in this morning.

Pretty cold for me, 37 degrees. That's just about as cold as it gets here. But I was dressed well for it. I'm hoping maybe today was the last morning I'll need the face mask and heavy jacket as it's supposed to be over 50 in the mornings the rest of the week.

I know I sound totally wimpy compared to all of you riding in 15-25 degrees! But seriously it just doesn't get that cold here, so 37 feels frigid to me!

FUN! Heavy snow this morning made for a fun ride in. The only problem was determining just where the mup was, my tracks propably look like a drunk made them as i weaved from one side of the mup to the other.

Got sprinkled on but no biggie. Quite warm this morning, seems to be a Pineapple Express system coming through. Lots of rain, but unfortunately, it's melting the snowpack.

No fun. :( First, I was late getting out the door this morning. The road was still slushy from yesterday's snow and there was thick fog with temps near freezing. Then I flatted on my way in (my first flat ever while commuting), then I cut my finger pretty deeply when I pulled the shard of glass out of my tire. I fussed with the tire for about 15 minutes dripping blood everywhere. I finally got in about 30 minutes later than usual. The ride home was uneventful, but my tire pressure was low because the little emergency pump that I had could only put about 40lbs of pressure in it.

Oh well. Still beats driving.

Here's a pic of the bobcat I saw along my extended commuting route in Gateway Park, east of Ft Worth.http://drf.lart.net/the_shop/bike/gateway_bobcat.jpg

Should have taken the studded bike though it turned out all right.

Thanks for the pic! How cool is that? Bobcat's are tough to spot. Very elusive and well camouflaged. You've got a tracker's eye if you saw him.

My commute was fast and furious on the way in today- I was LATE!! I ended up getting there on time but I was running behind much of the way. Funny I mixed in with some guys on fixies on the way in and I think they thought I was messing with them and racing them on my big old hybrid with it's fat tires and milk crate. But I was just running late and I stop at traffic lights and they'd run them and then I'd catch up and then they'd run them and then I'd catch up it was goofy.

The ride home I took the bike path- windy again!! :notamused: and it made it cold. Plus I took the rear studded tire off my bike and though the bike handled fine through most of the icy stretches I started to go down on one of the corners where it's shear ice- first time in 3 years of riding with studded tires.

I've ordered a Schwalbe Marathon Winter so that'll go on as soon as I get it.

I was told by a driver to slow down. BOOYAH!

22F/-5 or 6C but not so windy as yesterday--though a couple of cross-blasts were notable. Nasty and brisk.

10*F but no wind. But man the freaking cagers were aggressive for the first half of the ride. If we weren't traveling at a good clip I could have easily slapped a dozen of them.

I'm in the lane on the right tire side and they were still trying to squeeze me, so I took the whole lane. It's a four lane road (2 each way) and the other one was clear so they were just being aholes.

It wasn't the coldest commute I've had this winter, but it felt like it. I was dressed fine, but my water froze and I got caught at a very long traffic light near the end of my ride. The official low was 24 F, and I've had several previous commutes this winter when the low was 22-23. The one week when we had lows in the teens I was out of town.

I carried in some extra clothes today so I can ride my single speed tomorrow if I feel like it. I don't have a way to carry much extra gear on the SS, so I try to stock up ahead of time for those rides.

More headwind, though it varied, just to toy with me. Used the facemask again--that's 4 times this winter! It's the wind that necessitates it. Pleasant and sunny weather, just some near stand-still moments battling wind and climbing grades.

Yay, they cleared the mup sometime this morning. It snowed fairly constantly all day and night so they must've hit it pretty early in the morning. Last night i tried riding in the road but the lanes would come and go and i fined the semi-packed snow the worst. I was pretty thankful for a cleared mup.

Wow a bobcat in east Texas, cool!

Nice ride in this morning, a little headwind, but it's downhill so it cancels out, and hopefully it'll mean a nice tailwind for my uphill ride home. The wind made it a little cold, but not bad at about 50 degrees.