Cold but beautiful sunlight coming in sideways under the cloud cover. Last night's snow was still everywhere but on the road. Accumulation is pretty rare around here (well, most years anyway, not necessarily this one...).

Last night riding home in pelting hail my 7 yr old said he decided it was fun to ride in the snow. I was really glad to hear that.

A minor nit pick: it's sleet, not hail. Hail happens only in the summer.

Who knew?

https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-...t-and-hail.htm

Lovely ride today. Blue sky, not too warm.

I took a different route home the other day, with a colleague. Quite nice to take a longer route, except he rides a mountain bike, and at one point disappeared through a hole in a fence and went off-road prior to bouncing back onto the road over a curb.

Following him was kind of interesting, given that I'm riding a fixed gear with slick tyres...

Having a full can of soda thrown at you is not a major event, providing it doesn't hit you. Having a pregnant pit bull chase you is no big deal, as long as she doesn't clamp her jaws on your ankle.

All in all, a good commute!

I had an accident today..... provided that you consider changing/cool-down part of the commute.

This morning I smashed the crap out of my elbow above the joint on a flat metal 'hook' in the bathroom stall where I change.

the accident scene, only not as modern looking:


Ow. I swear I can feel it all the way up into my shoulder.

Extra narrow stalls, no handicapped stall. I'm 6'4" with 37" arms. I can't just change out in the bathroom as there is no closing mechanism on the door, which opens directly to the hallway. I have to slide a garbage can in front of it to close the door. Wouldn't want my students seeing me shirtless....

Ahhh the joys of teaching in a falling apart urban school.

My arm hurts like heck now that I've sat around for a few hours.

Now I'll stop complaining and be glad that I had yet another relatively safe commute. Drivers around here seem mostly alert. Not always perfectly courteous, but they're aware of their surroundings in general.

I passed several middle school age kids with my new red Dahon. They were very excited to see it. I'm enjoying the conversation starter factor of the bike. I'm tracking my commutes on mapmyride.com, and finding it a useful tool.

The conversation starting could get old. I used to tow my kids in a trailer. I got stopped a lot and had to answer the same questions over and over.

No ride today, but I did not drive alone. Got dropped off by Mrs. Caloso after we toured yet another prospective kindergarten for the Wonder Twins next fall.

On the way home, I put on my adidas and iPod and ran home. Good cross-training.

Mild ride in this morning--the usual light, moderately well-behaved motor traffic. Cool, damp, and overcast. No full moon visible to cause me to wax poetic, and a dunderhead in the lockerroom who could only speak in cliches.

He did point out to me that I wasn't supposed to keep a lock on a locker (new policy that I am, in fact, well aware of).

"Yes I am."

Recitation of policy.

"They know about it. You are allowed to if you commute by bicycle."

"OH! I may have to move closer!"

"You should probably do that anyway," which was followed by a short discussion of energy use, media messages, society, etc. during which my colleague assaulted me with cliches he did not quite understand.

Sheesh. At least it put me in the proper frame of mind (pissed off) to be ready for work.

Holy $(@*. It was miserable even by my standards. Pouring rain. Driving headwind. Airport says 20MPH, but I ride along the lakeshore, and the weather station in the middle of the lake says 40MPH. I was warm but just a tad damp upon arrival at work. Dark, overcast, and generally gloomy. Temps in the upper 30sF.

The wind will be at my back for the ride home.

No ride today, high wind warning, 30 MPH with gusts > 50 MPH.

Another beautiful day in NC. Yesterday it was a little "chilly" -- hah -- with temps about 50 F morning and 70 afternoon. Today it is even warmer, 60 F on my morning commute with high expected near 80. Rode through a few light sprinkles on my way to work, but I'm not complaining. However, the weather is supposed to turn cold and rainy by the weekend. Bummer.

It was back to long pants and an outer shell, but it is still not as bad as it has been this winter,
32 F (0 C) and no wind. This afternoon the temp is supposed to be near 70 F (20 C), but I will
wait til I leave to see. Then back to the 20s and 30s F (-8 and 0 C) for the rest of the week. Daytime
averages will no doubt be a little higher. The final throws of winter are here.

Felt slow the whole way in yesterday, before I left to go home I checked my tires and my front was 20psi low...

I guess the bike gods were teaching me not to be lazy about checking the bike over the night before...

30F and sunny

My 2-year-old brought home a stomach virus last week and gave it to me (it's nice to know they teach her how to share at her very expensive day care). I got a ride home from my wife on Thursday, threw up less than an hour after getting home, and , um, "had the runs" until yesterday. By Sunday it had become so bad that my wife took me to urgent care where they pumped 2 bags of IV fluids into me.

All of this is to explain why I drove yesterday. I rode today but I still don't have anything like my normal energy. I'm still dehydrated and I've lost about 5 pounds since last week (5 pounds I really couldn't afford to lose). Not sure if I'll ride tomorrow and Friday, as the weather is supposed to get pretty bad and I'm obviously still recovering.

5 below and I was out there for about 40 minutes and very comfortable. Did go to the chemical warmers for the toes though. That's kinda like cheating really.

And you call yourself a bike commuter?

Feel better.

vtjim, you live on Lake Champlain! Must be beautiful there. But I can't imagine what your climate must be like.

27*F, no wind, light snow...it was Zen like...I was making record time too until these two buses decided to play lane hogs for almost a mile...but none the less a great ride and the legs felt great too.

This morning I had a... TAILWIND! ALL THE WAY!

Very dark due to clouds blocking the moonlight. For me... the darker the better.

And an added bonus... a grey fox trotted along with me for a few yards. I was surprised at how big that sucker was. Maybe it thought I was breakfast.

Our warm spell continues in NC but it is supposed to end tomorrow with 4-5 days of cold, rainy weather forecasted. So I rode to work today despite legs that are turning to mush from riding 8 days in a row, 220+ miles. I took it easy and fortunately had a tail wind this morning, so hopefully a nice recovery pace will cure me.

Thank you, both for the well-wishes and the sarcasm. I'm glad someone appreciated the self-deprecating humor.

Feeling stronger today.

I don't have the ugliest commute, that's for sure. The climate is... Brisk.

Mid teens (F) this morning, with a quartering tailwind. Someone ran a front-loader over the two sloppy sections of MUP, thank the gods. What's left is white ice. Easy riding with studded tires. I think the power company does it, because they drive on the MUP to monitor electrical lines that follow it.

OK, anytime now Mr. Weatherman!

Glad I didn't take the studs off as I planned this past weekend. Commute this morning was 20F, 14F windchill (last nights commute home had 35-40 mph gusts - truly fun in busy city traffic) - with a good 1/2" plus of snow on the salt-free roads. Glad for the studs. But I'm truly tired of the dressing ritual before and after the ride - the layering, the wind/rain proof stuff, full facer, glove liners ... ugh. Went thru a nice rainstorm a few days ago too.

It can stop anytime now I'm done for the year.