Brrrr. winter is coming. Although it was above freezing this morning, there was a cold north wind and grey skies. Apparently we are in for some really cold weather and there is a chance of snow this week. With this in mind, I prepared our folding mountain bike ready for action. Hope we get some snow - at 33 I'm yet to grow out of the excitement....

Cheers,

Ed

It's 18 F (-8 C) here in the Washington, DC area, with about 6" (15 cm) of fresh snow. There is freezing drizzle falling right now.

The main roads (like Columbia Pike) were fine. A lot of secondary roads are unplowed or poorly plowed. The poorly plowed areas are much harder to ride on than the unplowed ones.

I'm very glad I have front studs. I wish I had been able to get my rear studs mounted as well

However, it is beautiful out there. The unplowed snow areas are light and easy to tide in. There is a soft "whoosh" and not much pedaling effort.

Paul

I didn't ride this morning although I wish I had, I love riding in the snow. I thought we'd have off today but of course the Fed Gov't didn't close. You guys be careful on your evening commute it looks like ice is on the way.

Paul, you're a maniac! No biking for me today regardless of the weather as we stay at my in-laws in Germantown on Sunday nights - worried that the ice may mess with my commute tomorrow though

Lost my blinky on L Street, sprinting for the light at 21st Street. I heard it crack on the asphalt behind me but there was no going back for it. Dang. I lose/break more of those darned things.

40F intermittent rain, not bad at all & traffic was very light. 3 bikes were in the office today: my 6 speed Moto Touring, Brian's single speed & the new guy's mountain bike. Don

Back in the saddle after 2 weeks of driving and I picked a beauty of an evening for the ride home last night! An east wind gusting between 32-39 mph, temp of -7C, 20F for windhill of -18C, 1F. Blowing snow as well, had about 4"- 5" druing the day. Had the studded Innovas on, was a great ride except for the wind. A lot of the ride was semi-sheltered so it wasn't too bad. The wind and snow accumulation combined to enable a new record for the ride home - 51 minutes, for an average speed of about 12 kph. My legs were telling me I shouldn't have taken 2 weeks off riding about half way home, but I persisted and managed to ride the entire 12 kilometres.

This morning's ride in was much more tame, -5C/24F, east wind of only 22 mph! Legs felt allright, it only took 38 minutes today. (it's a 22 minute ride in the summer!)

The seat was comfortable, the lighting good and it was warm and it took me 20 min longer than it does when I ride. The only good thing about the train is that I can read. I can't wait for the snow storms to stop so I can get back on my bike.

We had freezing rain in Atlanta yesterday, or at least it was forcast with a BIG warning. Since my front steps had some ice on them, I knew it would be best not to ride (I'm not sure I would have wanted to in that stuff, anyway!)

Today, it was slightly warmer with a light drizzle and fog. I didn't ride today, either, but only because I haven't waterproofed my bike's electrical system, yet.

(Do those sound like pretty good excuses?)

If practical, tie a piece of old tire tubing around an appropriate place on your bike. Make sure it's very tight--you can tie a knot in it and it shouldn't come apart without lots of effort. Next, wrap the clip on your blinkie with more tire tubing, secured with cable tie(s.) Then, clip your blinkie to the other tube (if you can get it on!) This has worked for me.

I didn't ride yesterday either. I fell for the bad weather hype but I should have just ridden because I didn't see any ice on the streets.

I did ride today though. Drizzly and foggy, it rocked!

Not a bad ride this morning, despite the cold wind. However, my bike's front hub started making horrific noises again, just over a week after a complete overhaul. Checked things over during my lunch hour and on one side 4 of the ball bearings had significant amounts missing - more than just flat spots! On the other side, water had got in again and everything was a nice rusty red colour. I am trusting my luck that I can re-pack the hub with one ball less on each side and take it easy on the ride home...

My new wheels can't arrive soon enough.

Very cold night and possible snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow which could make things interesting tomorrow. Perhaps even the unthinkable - me on a mountain bike, a folding one at that!

The roads were clearer today, so I made the commute in close to normal time. It was 24 F/ -4 C in light freezing drizzle. Yesterday, my coat had rime ice; today it was clear ice. In fact, I could hear the ice crackling on my overcaot as I locked up the bike.

Paul

It's a strange sensation when that happens, your coat is stiff and the ice cracks and breaks as you bend your arms. You also get allot of funny looks as you come into the building... at least I do. Thanks for sharing.

I took the last two commute days off as I have been feeling strangely exhausted and needed the break. Today was a nice day to reconvene the commute: mid 40s(f) temp wise and partially cloudy with sun breaks. Additionally the trail closure has finally ended. So I biked up the trail to the underpass where it was formerly closed and discover that they were putting down asphalt and delaying all trail traffic for half an hour. So I could either wait for 30mins or ride around. Needless to say I chose to ride, and enjoyed the extra miles. I will be glad though to ride home on the trail tonight.

Monday I had a late schedule, that wouldn't have me leaving work until after 9PM and they were suggesting that it might be snowing heavily then. Sooo, I took a 2 hour ride in the morning before I left for work. I even rode Flora, for a nice quiet ride (no studded tires on her). She is so light and quick compared to my MTB. Today was back to the usual commute. 8F/-13C this morning, but it was up to 22F/-6C this evening, my warmest ride in almost 2 weeks. My nose ran more tonight since I didn't have my face completely covered.

It was a really nice commute today. No rain, sunny at Noon & not a lot of traffic. There were some pieces of wood laying in an X pattern in the bike lane this morning. I rode around them. Later at work, my commuter buddy who starts 1/2 hour later mentioned he stopped & cleared them out of the way. Why didn't I do that? Just thoughtless I guess. Don

Just rode through a beautiful storm. Would have liked the lightning to be a little more over the Pacific, but who cares? The downpour over the last few km was just beautiful. I am at peace.

Hey Chris - I'm glad you got your beloved rain at last :)

Well the cold hit us last night, although there is no snow here. Cold and icy enough to persuade me to change from my lovely road bike and 23mm tires onto my wife's folding mountain bike. Did I say heavy? Also the riding position is not quite right yet, so the ride was hard and slow compared to my usual pace. It was really cold too (for the UK) and my gloves were not quite up to the job.

Cheers,


ED

BUS!!!!!. This morning, a rare event for me. Reckon I can count on one hand the number of times I have given in to the weather comditions in over 30 years, but it was a total "White out" when I was preparing to leave for work I just could not cycle in that it would have been complete madness, even the Bus struggled taking 30+ minutes to travel 5 miles....

More snow yesterday, the ride home was interesting. A shortcut through a cul-de-sac was through about 8" of powder, woulda been more fun without the panniers and fenders. I managed to pass a vehicle too, a garden tractor equipped with snow thrower. The ride was a little slower than it shoulda been, my rack/fender brace holder onner bolt found some other place to be, I had to listen to the friction song being sung by my back fender and tire all the way home.

More light snow for this morning's ride, thei weather network forecast said I was finally getting a tail wind for a change, but the wind had swung around a little more to be a cross/head wind. The healthy (?) dose of salt given the roads overnight left me feeling like a saltine by the time my ride was over. A mostly bare/wet/ pavement ride, I don't think my studded tires were needed today, but you never know when you leave the house.
Fender/rack braces were wired together for now, no friction songs today!

Rode my 26 miles home yesterday morning. much more comfortable..Early morinings can be near 40 degrees. Full winter gloves, bakalava, shoe covers, under tee, skins under tights..I was ok..Much prefer however, breathing 70 degree air, as we expect in So Cal.

Oh man, rub it in!!! ;) Although, I lucked out this morning, I had a tail wind (10-20mph making for windchills down to -30F/-34C). The temp this morning was -10F/-23C. They plowed the roads nicely after our storm so I had a great ride in, I was dressed perfectly, not to hot not to cold. We'll see what the lunch ride and the ride home brings.

Hey everyone, haven't posted for a week or two...

This morning was 46 deg. light rain last night made a wonderful ride in to work.
Yesterday morning was 36, Monday was 34... (Am I complaining? You studded tire people are nut-cases!) So seems the thing to do is to see who has the lowest temp or adverse condition to ride in - Crazy's...

Ed: Good to hear your doing better, keep on riding!

Ollo: Thanks for reminding me for one of the best reasons for commuting on a bike - the views.

Rusty: That's a bummer, so far for me (knock on steel) 6 years commuting and no crashes, only a few "close-call's".

Kodama; you gotta a "cold" comming on?

- Siging off & Lurking for another week -

Grey day today with a hint of drizzle in the air. Strong head wind for the whole ride, really felt like work coming in. First morning taking the old rail trail route in 3 weeks and due to that wind it almost took me as long! Temps were pretty comfortable, in fact I was rather warm at the end with all that extra work.

ET_SoCal: yeah I've had a cold for the last week or so, part of the reason I took some days off from commuting. Also been working long hours trying to get this product out the door. So I guess my exhaustion wasn't so strange after all. Just feels strange...

First ever snow ride
 

Hee hee hee Was the ride home today a blast or what.

I was only bemoaning the fact that the snow forecast had not appeared when a glance out of the office window revealed a blizzard in full swing. That was about 4pm, by 5:30 there was a good covering and there was still a good snowstorm. It certainly paid off to take the MTB. The motorists were not doing so well, and I was able to pass lines and lines of them :D . The conditions were so cold that slush thrown up at the bike froze on contact into the chainrings and cassette - this forced the chain to jump in certain gears and was worrying for a while.

I have never ridden in conditions like this before, and it was amazing. :). Even more astounding is that some of you folks deal with this all winter. Hats off to you all :beer: .

Frost tonight, so the icy stuff could be fun...

Cheers,

Ed

Left early and took the long way in this morning. Fast, smooth, and uneventful: just the way I like it.

It was very windy with heavy rain this morning & I had to make a meeting after work so I drove again. After dealing with a car repair 160 miles from home, shopping for & buying a replacement vehicle etc, I only have 8 commute days this month, otoh I found time to wash the grime off my rain bike & lube it up again. I pledge to ride more in February. Don

Steady rain today but it let up right before my afternoon commute home. only saw a few other bicycle commuters.

Another journey today on the MTB folder. The snow here is gradually melting away, so my spell of serious winter biking is drawing to a close. It has been a blast though.

Have a good weekend folks,

Cheers,

Ed