Bad commute today. Punctured on the way in, inevitable with my patched up and booted front tyre.
Called round to Johns bike shop and informed the Conti top touring 2000 tyres,one of wich i`d ordered had not delivered yet. So another repair to get me home, but flatted again returning and this time in the middle of a torrential downpour, repairing a puncture in those conditions is no fun at all. as I had used my spare inner for this mornings flat.

Sometimes cycle commuting is not Ideal!!!!!oh well "win some loose some".

very mild here in DC for a Dec 1 - was nice to get back on the bike and get some exercise - a tree had fallen across the bike path but there was just enought room to squeeze under it without having to dismount

Renew commute
 

My commute was great today. To see the sun rise over the Potomac is incredible and the temp was moderate at about 49 degrees. It was my first ride into work in about 2 months. Even though I was a little slower than usual it was fun riding in the dark and felt great to get some exercise in the morning. I also saw many more riders than I was used to back in the summer. I recently backed off of the communting as the weather started to worsen (getting colder, darker, and rainy), and after taking a week off to recover from a ride back in September (you know how sometimes a number of factors conspire to affect you), it's been difficult to get back into it. But after several long and frustrating Metro and traffic delays that thwarted recent attempts to leave work early, I remembered how much I miss the autonomy of biking into work. Even though it's a bit chillier than I'm used to, I know that, regardless of any Metro problem or rush hour traffic, I'll still get home in 30-35 minutes and don't have to pay for parking or metro fare. I was worried that I didn't have the right cold weather gear, but I layered effectively to keep warm and will look into buying a winter riding jacket soon (can anyone recommend a good winter riding jacket?). Even though my evenings are largely booked this week, I know that by the time I get home, I will have ridden about 18 miles, getting enough of a workout to stay in decent shape and lose weight. I'm re-committing to continue commuting through the winter.

That's good to hear, mjw16! Keep it up, we're behind you. I had a great commute, a little icey in spots but not bad and it felt good to ride after being off for the long holiday weekend. It's really nice weather here in Minneapolis for this time of year (right around freezing). I look forward to my lunch run and ride home.

The rest of the DC contingent is all posting, so I might as well chime in.

Morning temperatures, at 49 F, were much warmer than I expected. I was still glad I had worn my overcoat and gloves -- they were appreciated during the first hald of the ride. I unzipped the coat for the second half, and that felt good, too.

It really was a pleasant morning and I greatly enjoyed the ride.

I recommend the L. L. Bean "Stowaway" rain parka. It is a knee-length hooded topcoat. Worn over normal ovffice clothing, it provides sufficient warmth under the coldest DC conditions. It also rolls up into a small bundle that fits easily on the rack.

Paul;

Thanks for the encouragement and info on the jacket, I'll check it out although it looks a bit longer than what I was thinking of.
I almost forgot the funny thing I saw on my ride in this morning. After passing under the 14th street bridge, and turning on to the path that loops up to the pedestrian/bike lane on the bridge, I noticed a school bus stopped on the exit ramp with its door open and lights on. I could see the silhouette of a small kid standing on the steps to the bus and thinking that was an odd place for a bus stop. When I got closer I saw that the kid was standing on the bottom step taking a wiz onto the curb. He was probably about 5-6 years old and just couldn't hold it any longer. I laughed and yelled "go for it kid!"

Today I rode about 10 miles to school so I guess that counts as a commute.

It was a fun ride, I ended up riding past the ocean right during sunrise, it was beautiful.

A couple of driver honked at me for no reason(I really wasn't doing anything wrong).

Overall, it was fun and I made it to school in about 35 minutes.

Wheee, my first snowy commute for this year. I got about 100 yards from my house when it started to snow (which is much better than cold rain) and it was coming down pretty good but not really accumulating all the way til I got to where I work.

Yay, so winter is here... got my ear bags which work good and I'm all set.

Jay

FINALLY!!! The wind has let up! 14F but no wind so it was very nice. But both my lights were dimming as I arrived at work and my commute is only ~1hr. So it may be time to replace the batteries.

Part I:

I found a new route home yesterday. Right now, there is about a 5 mile section that makes me very nervous...no shoulder, rush hour traffic, 45 mph speed limit, etc. This new route will cut out the majority of the nasty roads and get me onto a rural 2 lane for the last 5 miles of my commute. The only catch is there is a section that isn't paved for about 1/4 mile.

Part II:

I nearly took out a jogger this morning. She had no light, no reflective clothing, except for the dime sized reflectors on her shoes (the only thing I noticed as I swerved to miss her). I'm glad there wasn't a car to my left!!!

Yesterday morning was a beautiful 49 F. This morning the weather boy on the radio reported that it was 38 F. However, I happen to know that he must have been wrong -- this chronically wet block that is caused by some water line leak was ice and slush. Still was a beautiful ride. Actually perfect for the clothing that I had.

I had the same experience, erraticrider. There was one frozen puddle on Columbia Pike, right near the Navy Annex. I assume that its a microclimate kind of thing, whereby some pockets became much colder than the "official" 37 F, measured at National Airport.

Paul

Gotta wonder about that one... :lol:


45 F and Tail Wind all the way to work this AM. Took 11 minutes to go 3.1 miles.

Nice ride in today - Cool but dry and I managed to put a bit of effort into it and averaged 18.7mph. I think part of this has to do with pacing myself at the start of the ride. The temptation to blitz the very first section, a 100ft climb up the hill from my house, is often too great, so this leaves me depleted for a significant portion of the remaining ride. Doesn't really matter as long as I get on the bike!

cheers,

Ed

In the spirit of fairness rarely seen in our nation's capital, I have to say that it looks like the city has finally decided to fill in the divots, crevasses, and canals they had created on 13th and 14th. I was complaining on the board a couple of months ago when it was impossible to make my commute without hitting at least three man made potholes, so I thought I should thank Mayor Williams' boys for patching it all up.

Of course, this probably just means they have moved to another part of downtown and are making life miserable for some of you other DC folks.

Nice ride in today, mostly overcast but fairly warm (after a very clear and cold weekend) When I set out (about 15 min late I might add) it was very grey, with a bit of sun poking out of a corner of the sky. Not long into the ride the clouds cleared around the sun so that about 1/4 of the sky was blue and streaked with thin clouds. Then it clouded up completely. These weather changes occurred all within the 1st 10 min I was out, and I'm happy to report the wind moving those clouds around were all above ground level. It had rained overnight and everything was dripping wet, and glistening while the sun was out. It was warm enough I took off my rain jacket half way through. Looks like rain for the ride home tonight, which of course is always better then rain in the way in. December riding, gotta love it :)

Winter temps finally arrived. 14F/-10C coming home, with a 17mph/27kph wind. That was considerably cooler than when I left in the morning. Fortunately I brought extra liner gloves and my balaclava. In one sense I was dressed perfectly, not a drop of sweat. On the other hand, I was quite aware of heat oozing out of the seams. Not one of the venting zips got opened. Tomorrow I break out the full leather boots. Good thing I spent time Sunday polishing the cleats, resealing the unused cleat holes and adding fresh waterproofing to the uppers.

WTF is up with GCCC deciding to close the Esplanade in Surfers the last couple of mornings -- both of which forced me to take an alternative route that is shorter in distance but considerably longer in time (thanks to a couple of "Halley's comet" Queensland traffic lights).

To suggest Traffic management here is incompetent would be an insult to incompetent people. Grrrr!

Chris: Traffic management - isn't that an oxymoron?

We awoke to thick fog here this morning so the watchword is visibility. I decided to run the complete after dark setup:- High visability jacket, headlamp and steady and flashing rear lights. In the end it was a good ride, though the jacket always makes me warmer than I would prefer.

Front wheel bearing on the bike is starting to make angry noises, so I think some overhaul is needed...

Cheers

Ed

A little chilly at 25 F, but not the 15 F that was predicted.

Today was the symbolic start of the DC icebiking season for me. I rode over a 20 foot frozen area along Route 27.

There is even some tentative use of the "S" word for this weekend.

Paul

I hate ice -- do you use "clipless pedels", if so do you clip out when going over it? Or just track a straight line and hope that all is o.k.? (maybe my fear is caused by the "slick" road tires I ride).

I use platform pedals. In this case, the ice was on an easy, level portion, so I just tracked straight over it. Piece of cake!

There will be ice there on every subfreezing morning this winter and this is my 6th year of riding on this ice patch. I'm used to this ice patch.

If there is a chance of less benign ice (like on a steep downhill), I will usually ride with the seat about a half inch lower than optimal. This allows me to slide a shoe (or two) on the frozen surface for better control.

If you track straight and don't use the front brake, ice is no big deal on slick or semi-slick tires.

This winter I have Nokians, but have not yet installed them. Perhaps in a week or two.

Paul

Sunny today burning off a lot of moisture from torrential rains last night (just light rain while I was biking home I'm happy to report) It was pretty cool, but I chose no rain jacket and extra effort to warm me up -worked fine :) The fog streaming off the valley walls was really cool looking and there wasn't any at ground level for most of the ride. The last mile or two was pretty foggy, but not enough to really impact visibility. Everything looks a little different in the fog, and I like getting to see things in another way.

Light rain this morning. Took my old bike out for the commute as my spanky one is getting some new cables and brake pads for Tasmania. By about Broadbeach I noticed a worrying bulge developing in the rear tyre - just in time for it to be too late to turn back. Somehow it survived (that old bike is the toughest piece of metal in the universe!).

Supposed to be a "wintery mix" tomorrow -- rain, sleet, snow.

Windy today, a chilly, gusty wind from the north that demanded a fight to keep up a reasonable pace, but not the sort that seems to stop you dead in your tracks.

Cheers,

Ed

More rain this morning, just beautiful. I would have liked it a couple of degrees cooler though - the puddles I rode through were warmer than what I showered in before I left. In saying that, I don't even want to think about what it would have been like without the rain! :eek:

Snow this morning in the DC area! Well...not much snow, but the world is white, even though the roads are mostly not.

However...there was one stretch of snow along Route 27, and I got to make my first tracks of the season!

Paul

I got in a little later this morning, and it was just cold, nasty rain. Wish I could have gotten out the door a bit earlier to enjoy DC's first flakes of the year. Maybe it will change back over by this afternoon.