caloso

Rained all day and night Saturday. Then it was warm and sunny all day Sunday. Add them together and you have the perfect recipe for a foggy Monday. Visibility was down to about 100ft (30m) with a 10w light at 6:15am. Where's Rudolf? Won't you guide my bike tonight?

mjw16

Warm (40's) this morning with clear skies and a beautiful sunrise over the city. I left about 45 minutes late and attempted to make up the time by averaging about 18 mph. I was pumped and a little sweaty after 7 miles of that. I was also surprised to see only two other riders on the trail, probably because of the holidays. The ride home looks promising, last I heard the weather guys are predicting highs of mid-50's to 60 this afternoon.

VArodie

It was great and the ride home is looking great as well temps around 50

ET_SoCal

mjw16 - Where you at? I'd like to know...

ET_SoCal

Dark morning, should'a brought my headlight, but it's an older Cateye anyways and for beeing "seen" and not seeing. Had my rear blinker on tho, have been the past few weeks anyways.
Not real cold the past few mornings, was windy yesterday going home, calm this morning - real calm, got into work parked the bike and started working at my desk; bout an hour later co-worker asked me: "Did you ride in - in this rain?"
Got up from my desk & looked outside - drops falling.

Didn't bring wet weather gear... Might wimp-out and call the wife later this afternoon to get me, I donno...

LittleBigMan

Today's ride in was very mild temps and the ride home will be very comfortable.
Trouble is, I drove the car today!

Simon Ed

Beautiful crisp morning with clear blue sky's, no wind to speak of and I didnt have a near death experience the whole way in LOL, things are looking up

Jean Beetham Smith 

My commuting has been hammered this month, heavy snow, then lighting problems, now my dog can't get up. Alice is 115 lb/52 kg and I'm spending an extra 40 minutes a day moving her up and down the stairs to the yard. She tries to help, but her legs keep collapsing, especially going up. She is getting better, I just hope she makes a full recovery.

Simon Ed

Ed,
A little off topic but I have a 50+ KG Male Rottie that is getting a little long in the tooth and as a result of this can be stiff in the morning. I have had him on this stuff for a while now

https://www.activexamerica.com/synflex/

I'm pretty sure it has been helpful, I also gave soem to my dad that has a really bad back (degenerative problem) and he seemed to think it worked better than his normal stuff.

Hope this helps

Merry Christmas

Simon

ollo_ollo

Day off so No commute today but yesterday was quite nice,no wind & dry.
More OT: On my commute, I sometimes pass an elderly Doberman whose owner has a little 2 wheeled sling rigged to hold up his hind quarters while they go out walking. Some mornings I see him out in his yard using a big towel around the dog's belly to help it get around. They are quite a pair. Don

mjw16

ET_socal,

I'm in Alexandria, Virginia-about 7 miles south of DC right along the Potomac river. I ride into work on the Mount Vernon Trail which is sandwiched between the river and the GW Parkway, it's like a biker/jogger highway. We've had unusually warm temps these last couple of days, in fact it's currently a balmy 53 degrees with light drizzle-which evidently won't last long. The weather forecaster are predicting a cold front's arrival and a drop of about 20 tonight.

All,

Another great ride in this morning. The trail was almost deserted and the warm weather was very welcome. I'm riding into and out of the city now in complete darkness and realize the my lighting system is really inadequate. Coming home last night was a little nerveracking as I could barely see the trail in some places. Other than that, it feels great to be riding again (even though it's been somewhat sporadic). Happy Holidays to everyone.

PaulH

School is out, so I attached the trailer to my bike and brought her to work with me. As ever, it was a bit of a workout. I could have done without the warm temperatures.

Traffic was light, to say the least. No other bikes, and few cars. Quite pleasant riding with my daughter, nearly alone in the mist.

Merry Christmas to all!

Paul

Gus Riley

MJW,

I have a Nitehawk sytem with two lights, one a 10 watt halogen and the other a 20 watt. This system works very well and has a rechargable battery which fits into one of the bottle cages. I highly recomment this system.

Gus

Schiek

Paul-

Wasn't as nice for those of us DCers getting a later start to the day. This was the worst morning downpour I have hit in awhile, but I guess I will have the next four days to dry out!

-Schiek

mjw16

Gus,

I'm considering that system, it's reasonably priced. I'm curious as to how you mount the lights. Also, I noticed that you're the self-proclaimed brewmaster. I just got into homebrewing last spring. I love it. I just finished a London Porter that may well be the best beer I've ever had. I like a cold one when I get home from my afternoon commute. I'm actually sneaking out a little early so that I can pick up my new brew kit.

Cheers

Gus Riley

The NiteHawk setup I have came with two mounts for my handlebars and one for my helmet. I don't use the helmet mount. Each handlebar mount can actually handle both lights; one on top and one on the bottom. I use both mounts, one on each side of my HB stem with the lights below my handlebars. Works well.

I am "a" self proclaimed HomeBrewmaster (one of many) . Yes, a brew after a ride is not only "GREAT!", it's a tradition for me (maybe that's one reason my weight doesn't come off as fast as it used to!?). My favorites are a good Dunkle Hefe Weizen (7%, makes your face go to sleep after just one!) or a regular Hefe Weizen (5.5%, more thirst quenching). My bier is brewed from all grain, so I have the most control over the process as possible. It's hard to keep any surplus around! PROST!

ET_SoCal

Heard of 'um all!

Update your profile to refelect!

Wussed out yesterday, was raining pretty good at 4, so called the wife to pick me up, but the rain cleared up overnight and the streets were 1/2 dry this morning, so had a nice clean 50 degree ride in this morning...
So guess what - It's raining again Will have to wait a few hours and see if I wuss-out again

Jean Beetham Smith 

I have the same system. For the money upfront ($120 three winters ago) it has served me very well. Unfortunately, the wiring harness seems to have failed, but the replacement is less than $20. The first battery lasted 1 & 1/2 winters, the 2nd only 1/2 a winter because I forgot to unplug the lights when I parked at work & the switch accidently got flipped on. The batteries are a little expensive, but the lights themselves have a very long life. I did have to replace one when I dropped it, otherwise these are the original bulbs. I use the lights on a 40 to 60 minute commute daily from October to April. I've never had any problems with them being affected by cold weather, down to 5F/-15C. It is adequete for most commuting purposes, and affordable.

ollo_ollo

It was beautiful this morning at 6:00 AM, 43F & stars bright above & not much traffic, threatening to rain at lunch time & Noah's Ark downpour conditions on the way home at 3:30 PM plus auto traffic at a standstill due to fender benders.
Don

Jean Beetham Smith 

So good to be able to ride again. Once again, the effects of a long lay off are mixed. 3 weeks is time to decondition, but I was well rested. It was really nice this evening, almost took my jacket off. But the drivers were scary, rolling stop signs, right hooks, unsignaled lane shifts. I might as well have been in Boston, not the suburbs.

ollo_ollo

It was 29F at 6:00 AM, my wife was worried there might be ice so I agreed to drive in. Glad I listened to my sweetie. South Bay road was so slippery I could only drive 20 mph. Only saw 1 bike commuter & he was walking his bike very carefully & deliberately. By lunchtime it was 40F with some sun so I drove home for lunch then rode back to work on Motobecane Grand Jubile. Fenderless in December, yee haw!

naisme

Well, today's commute home was rather depressing. I found myself at a disadvantage, after working a second double in two days, and nothing in the tank to ride on. The wind was out of the SW, so it was a head wind, and finally a tail wind of sorts, only to turn into this wind for the final mile. I was so beat that I had to take a few moments on the ride to just take a break before going on. I am impressed though, I did make it.

Simon Ed

Rotten luck! I had a similar experience about a month ago.
Looking for a safer way into work I decided on a 20k ride along a river then a 20k train ride in. The river path was under construction, there was a fiendish head wind and about 17k into the ride my tyre wall blew out. Scrambling around at lunch I go a new tire and tube (the blowout trashed the tube too). I was looking forwards to flying home after the head wind only to discover it had changed direction and was fighting me once again! Ack! My average speed along this route is around 35Km/h. I was lucky to maintain 20

Today was a different story though. Nary a car on the road (comparitivly) I made the normal 50-55min commute in 45

kurremkarm

Man this is one long thread. Was great going in to work but coming out was cold and I neglected to bring my 2nd layer for my legs. I ride single speed and my knees hate the cold!

mjw16

Cold this morning. Frost on the cars and ice covered puddles, probably around 29-30 degrees. It felt really good to ride today, especially after all the junk food I've eaten over the last week. I hit the trail at my normal time but somehow managed to get to work about 10 minutes later than usual-I'm not sure how or where I lost the time. Afternoon highs should be around 60 degrees today so I'm really looking forward to the ride home.

Gus,

I gave away almost all of my 2 1/2 cases of London Portor and Bavarian Gold as Holiday gifts. I hate to part with them but it will have been worth it if everyone enjoys it-time to start another batch. I'm thinking about a weizen...