I was an idiot and decided, after a three week wait due to snow and ice-covered roads and arctic temperatures, to commute this morning as the temperatures promised to be more seasonal. -13c wasn't bad, but the city has yet to clear the bike lane of snow and ice so it was a treacherous, harrowing experience with unforgiving vehicles zipping past me within inches of clipping my handle-bars. Upon arrival at work, I immediately e-mailed my city Councillor and the Mayor demanding that they have Transportation services clear the snow and ice from bike lanes and curb lanes. After all, it's been a week since the last snow fall and they shouldn't be relying on Mother Nature to do their work for them. My Councillor advised he would follow it up, but I haven't heard from the Mayor's office yet.

And I'm about to brave the roads again in 40 minutes.

Maybe I should have waited another week or two.

Sigh :(

The ride in today wasn't too bad, about 32°F and foggy. The ice from saturday's storm has melted from most of the roads, but some was left on the sides, so it was time to take the lane! Ride carefully and happy trails!

Wasn’t a real commute today, was a job searching day. Anyways I have had my new bike for about a week and one of the tires looked low so I took my crank brothers power pump alloy and tried to add some air. It seems to take way to much work to get it on the valve so I take it off and the valve stem is all bent (presta). I figured great now I can change my first road tire and see how hard it is. So I find out it is really hard to get a road tire off the rim, took a good 10 minutes of shoving and trying with all my might with the tire levers I have. Finally its off and I notice the spare tube I have is allot bigger than the old one. I got it off nashbar.com and it seemed like the right size (28-32c for my 28c tires) but it is to big.

I was pissed at this point because this is such a hassle and would have taken me less then 10 minutes total to change a mountain tire. I put the tire back on with no tube and walk it to the bike shop about a mile away. I was in a hurry so they put a new tube in for me and I bought 2 more spare tubes that are the correct size. All I can say is road tires REALLY SUCK when it comes to fixing them!!! There must be some secret I don’t know about to get the tire on and off.

I also got a new pump because the guy at the LBS said mine sucked and even he was having a little trouble with it. He recommended a mountain bike pump that goes to 90psi. I asked if I should get a frame pump instead and he said no. So I got a Blackburn Mammoth. My tires say like 120PSI on them so I don’t know if 90psi will be good enough. But being the noob I am when it comes to a road bike I just got the pump.

I will spend some time putting a new tube in when I can sit at home and figure out the best way.

Good ride to work and home . Seem to be alot of car and trucks on the rode . I hope the weather holds on for a week or two . So the snow melts and my short cut open ups .I hate riding in all that traffic. But still love to ride . Have a good nite .

Ditto that weather Caloso. Rocklin/Roseville was 37 - 40°F this morning and sunny. Haven't seen blue skies for weeks. Had to stop to reposition the speed sensor for the computer and there were bunches of meadowlarks in full song next to the road. Made me want to just keep going instead of turning into the work parking lot. Coming home was even better as the days are starting to get longer now...

Did my first commute to my new office this morning, mostly up hill over 8 miles. really nice ride, hopefully I should be doing this both ways every day from now on.

Well, after being not able to commute for the past couple of weeks because of bronchitis and a nasty stomach virus, I felt good enough to ride in this morning. The tempature was right around 31F and a high today that is supposed to reach 40F.

The ride in was slow because I had been off the bike for so long but at least the wind was at my back. It did fell good to be commuting again and I hope that all this sickness is behind me! The new Gary Fisher that I got for Christmas is really nice and smooth!

14F/-10C made for a cold commute with lots of black ice. I finally cleaned the single track. Only a few inches of snow but it's fighting me. Can't wait for my first robin. Not needing the lights as much in the evening.

Oh goodie, I just replaced my tag-a-long pump to a Crank Brothers alloy pump. This isn't encouraging. One consulation about the end of January is the day light hours are longer and I can make it home without lights.

nice morning, around 15 °F. there was some strange freezing mist falling when i left the house; the national weather service is calling it "freezing fog". bizzare! at least it isn't quite as cold.

I was never happy with that pump for a road bike tire. It is OK for a mtb tire. I finally quit using mine.
It looks sooo nice too!

Once again, I took the shorter route on the unplowed bike trail. As usual, I had fun with the technical ice and large stones. This time, though, I went through the whole half mile of six inch ice chunks without having to walk the bike at all. I'll miss my little obstacle course as melting continues. I've gotten a lot better at technical stuff because of it.

Some tires are easier to remove than others. It's all about technique and practice. Check out this page from Sheldon Brown on flat repairs. It is pretty straight forward and he explains proper technique to make things go much easier.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/flats.html

Regarding your pump- If it will pump to 90 psi, that should be enough to get you back on the road until you can get to a higher pressure floor pump or a shop that can top it off to the recommended pressure.

good luck,
nate

I love this thread. Most normal people would call stretches of ice and frozen crud a nuisance or even a traffic hazard. Here, it's referred to as a "technical section." Ha!

lolll

I refer to ice as "faster than snow, less rolling resistance, better traction". With studded tires it is a blast.! :)

I am not refered to as "normal" either. :rolleyes:

Maybe I'll have to try something like that. It would be nice if they had a way to latch them all the way artound the rack. I've only had a bag fall off twice in about 15 months of daily use. One time was what happened in my post, the other time I know I didn't get it all the way on.

32F & clear at 6AM today. Had a quiet ride in with & got my layers right with just a heavy sweater over my work clothes & booties over my bike shoes. Later we had sunshine & 57F so I put a few more miles on the Torelli for my afternoon commute.

Good ride to work and home. Have a good nite .

Sun shine, blue skies 57F for the return trip. Nice ride

Good ride home yesterday, clear sunny skies and temps in the high 30's. Slight headwind.

Ride in this morning was ok, tempature right around 24F slight tailwind and light traffic. Still feeling sluggish on my rides. I guess I have to get used to the new bike, or get back in to shape from not riding so long!

18F/-8C to start the day. black ice is sloooowly leaving the pavement but snow remains on the single track. Our weather lately resembles Jeckyll and Hyde, upper 40's for the ride home lately, not complaining mind you just pointing out the drastic temp swings. over 30 degree difference

After emigrating to Perth, Australia for some heat and after spending the last 4 years driving 110 miles / 3.5 hrs per day I have a new job. I cycled the 18k to work for the first time this morning and it was wonderful. Just wanted to tell the world.

Rain and 35°F. Almost took a spill on some uneven pavement, but righted the stead and pedaled on. Made it 9 miles, then took the rail the rest of the way in becasue my feet were getting wet and very cold. Saturday should be sunny and a high of 61°F!. Happy trails!

20 some degrees this morning as I got back on the bike for the first time in a couple of weeks. First time I've had to ride around snow and ice patches, but its not too difficult on my short ride. Just have too look further ahead and anticipate problems better than on clear streets. Fortunately most of the road debris and crud was frozen in ice so traffic lanes were cleaner than usual.

Ugg. I had an ugly exchange with a teenager who was obviously late for high school and took exception to my coming to a full stop and trackstand at a stop sign. Had the whole Get off the road, you ******, etc., etc., blah blah blah.

WTF? I said, "Kid, I'm not the reason you're late." Well, that really pissed him off. More expletives.

Oh, and then about 2 miles after that, I came across a grade school kid riding on the sidewalk with his helmet strapped to his handlebars. God help him if he runs into the teenager from above....

I did my first commute this morning into the Santa Ana wind. It wasn't too bad actually. I just kept my hands on the drops and watched my heart rate monitor to avoid the psychological impact of the wind pushing me around. My commute time was only 7 minutes more than usual (14 miles).

Wow your old commute sucked...big time! cycling to work will be a breeze after your last commute

Lots of riding today, including a trip into the centre of Oxford - which reminded me how much I used not to enjoy that when it was a regular part of my routine. Pedestrians all over the street, including one of the scurges of this town, a walking tour right in the middle of the road. I could not resist asking the guide, politely but so that his group could hear, to conduct the tour on the pavement.

On the plus side the trip took in a favourite bike shop ;) - it turns out that replacement bearing cartriges are available to repair the headset on my Dawes racer. Last night I discovered that it was in very poor condition.

Cheers,

Ed

Congrats!
:beer: