Schiek

Traded the rain for the wind in DC, today. I'll take the wind. Downhill and headwind on the way in. Hopefully, it won't change course on me this afternoon and I'll get a nice boost up the hills.

streetdog

Tailwinds all the way...

Jay H

No rain this morning up by NYC, but the wind is certainly here. But it's blowing from the west so as I go SE to work, it was mostly a tailwind or crosswind for me. I got up to 26mph at one flat stretch on my MTB with a rack and one pannier...

I'm glad to get that speed on my unloaded road bike

Jay

erraticrider

Windy this morning, mostly head wind. Weatherman said 40-60 mph gusts. Didn't feel that much to me. The flags accross the street show that I will have a tail wind tonight.

Schiek

Uh, oh...another DC attorney on a bike...clear the streets...

Kodama

Another crisp, clear sunny ride in today. The temps are back to the upper 30s so I was a bit cold in today. Otherwise it was beautiful, sun on frost, the moon up and the pale fall sun. I took an alternate route for the 1st half of my ride along a busier street. More up and down though than the trail, and a gravel road to connect back to the trail for some bonus action. Extra excitement was added by the construction I talked about in yesterdays post. The had a real narrow lane defined sole as the former bike lane. I was followed by a car through this corridor today, but they kept to my speed and all was O.K.

PaulH

Looks like everyone in DC was commuting bi bike today --Hi Brennser, Shiek, erraticrider.

At 3:00 PM, there was a sudden flash out my ofice window, followed by the disappearance of electricity, telephone, and heat. All that remained of the
event was a large plume of grey smoke drifting away from the power line. After a half hour of wondering whether some sort of emergency power might
come on, I sent everyone in the office home, turned off all lights and equipment, and started home. This meant that I would be departing in the peak winds of the day, which were 38 mph gusting to 52 (61 kph gusting to
83). My first quarter mile was a direct headwind. There I was, going down a step hill with a stop sign at the bottom -- and I had to pedal actively to make it to the sign. It was rather like riding in Jello. A couple on the streetcorner were laughing with delight. Once I turned the corner, it was a much better deal -- mostly crosswinds, with some tailwind component. Rather like September's hurricane, minus the heavy rain and warm
temperatures.

Hope it was all tailwinds for the rest of you this evening!

Paul

Spire

That's a pretty enourmous cross-wind. How on earth did you deal with it? That kind of speed would be almost sure to blow be off the street and a few blocks over!

Schiek

Paul-

I had a similar experience. Never had to work so hard going downhill. Turned the corner and hit the crosswinds. I knew it was the wind but I instinctively kept checking my rear tire thinking I had flatted, since the bike was getting pushed back and forth so much. When I finally got to ride the tailwind, I lucked out with the traffic lights and was able to really fly, which is good, because I ride fixed and even with a front brake it would have been hard to come to a sudden stop with such a strong blow pushing me along.

Looks like we are in for the same, tomorrow. As long as there's no rain, it's fine with me.

tchazzard

What a day. It was 27 F with wind gusts over 60 mph. I kept my speed under 25 mph as the first time I tried going any faster I got thrown around by the cross winds/head winds.

mtessmer

Hmmmm... (tchazzard wrote: I kept my speed under 25 mph for the first time...) I guess you caught us all off guard on that one. Hey, it was just above freezing this morning in Minneapolis, the skies are clear and we might hit 50F/10C! Great ride in, I took the long way. I'll probably do a river run at lunch time and take the long way home after work. Life is grand.

Ed Holland

Good ride in this morning, despite it being breezy. However the ride home looks like a dirty one. It is very windy and rainy!,

Cheers,

Ed

tchazzard

I guess my brain and fingers were not cooperating. What I meant to say, is that I kept my speed under 25 mph on the few downhill sections on my route to work. I can easily get up to 30-40 mph on these hills, but given todays winds, my Mango started moving side to side too much once I hit 25 mph. Ah well...these velomobiles are great for high speed commuting to work.

caloso

Beautiful morning but apparently it's now raining for the ride home. Ah, no worries. I'll just keep calm, smooth, and upright.

Zin

Nice and warm this morning! Temp is around 40F! Cross winds were around 20-25mph. My first day on the "new" commuter bike. Well, ok its not a new bike, it a 1996 Specialized Hardrock GX Sport HT rigid fork. This bike sits entirely different than my other 2 bikes so will take some getting used to.

Ed Holland

chilly, windy and grey today.

After a stormy few days, all the leaves have dropped and the beautiful display of autumn colours we have enjoyed is finally over. It was a particularly good year, the leaves stayed for ages, and we had a great summer. The ride today had a wintery, bleak feel to it for the first time. I hope we get some "proper" winter weather though.

Cheers,

Ed

Corsaire

I was lucky this morning, the forecast predicted spotted ligth rain, so I took a chance not packing rain gear. However the last 5' of my ride before getting to work started to pour, so I got wet. Lucky for me I had fresh pants and shirt in my small backpack.
The way back home should be alright.
Corsaire

mtessmer

Great ride in this morning, it was cloudy and gloomy but dry... until I got here at work, then the skies opened up. It's okay now for my lunch break (a "balmy" 49F/9C and cloudy, which is warm for this time of year here). The wind is really strong but it's from the southeast, so if continues this way I'll have a tailwind for the ride home... sweet.

Kodama

Beautiful morning, the sky half clear half cloudy but not too cold. The clear bits were streaked with clouds, with a texture that I can't describe but it was a really nice image. Now it is fully grey and rain is predicted for the ride home. However looks like the road work on my ride was nearing completion so perhaps a safe, marked bike lane will be available tonight.

Jean Beetham Smith 

My regular ride is back from the shop, with new bottom bracket, new cassette and chain, and new pedals (on sale cheaper than overhauling the old ones). So I even took the time to replace the cracked rear fender. She felt very smooth today. The weather was pretty nice for this time of year, grey but not too windy and not too wet.

Chris L

Light drizzle this morning. Unfortunately very little (if any) actually reached the ground. Our wonderful council decided to dig more holes in Surfers Paradise this morning, and as a consequence I lost about 10 minutes to some amateur* "traffic director".




*The word "amateur" is being used because I can't think of any others to use in this situation that would not violate the forum guidelines. Yes, I realise that my comment is probably an insult to amateurs and I apologise unreservedly to any amateurs reading this post

Chi

Tried my new headlights for the first time. They are the Performance ViewPoint EVO Duals. Night and day difference! I can actually see where I'm going!! And most importantly, drivers can see me very well.

Ed Holland

A rather grey damp morning today, but I had a good ride anyway. The only annoying thing is that everywhere is messy with wet decomposing leaves.

Cheers,

Ed

mrfix

Nice day, nice ride, the skys have cleared and the temp is now 49 degrees the ride home should be a beauty.

tchazzard

47 F and overcast here in Maine. Nice biking weather. And had a large owl cross my path. It scared the you know what out of me.