36F & dry at 6AM today but unlike yesterday when the sun quickly warmed things up to 50F, today we had a high layer of fog that only burned off late in the afternoon & kept temps low all day. Traffic was very light this morning, I was only passed by 7 vehicles during my 4 mile commute & most were seen in the last mile. It was still only 38F at lunchtime but the rain predicted tonight should warm things up for tomorrow.
Don

21 F This morning, but absolutely calm. I was a bit overdressed, but toes still cold. Second day riding the Nashbar studs, but no ice or snow to try them on. Traffic was very light. I'm trying not to think about what the gunk on the road is doing to the bike.

Good commute today with -20C and foggy. My wife gave me a new bike for Christmas; it is a Rocky Mountain RC-30 - Hybrid. I can't wait to give it a go. I also got a new LED headlight and a balaclava with a heat exchanger. I am not sure if I like the heat exchanger idea or not. The cost is $70 Cdn and other than keeping my face dry and warming the air I breath I am not sure if it is worth it.

Have a great day!

great riding weather. After the last few really cold morns it actually felt balmy...30F. No traffic to boot and my hub has returned to it's old self. Charlie

Nice weather today to ride in 36 F ... I pulled out my old moutain bike and spent all last night getting it all ready for the snow covered bike path. (I put my road bike away until this snow melts)... I put new tires on the mtn bike, fenders, new cyclocomputer...all ready to go...

I go out on the bike and everything is going great and then.....boom....the back wheel comes loose and starts rubbing on the frame.. :( .. My bike is about 20 years old and doesn't have quick release skewers on the back... and I didn't bring a wrench with me. :(

I wound up walking most of the 7 miles back (and some coasting)....Oh well, it's better than being inside! :)

First commute after xmas for me - although I managed a ride yesterday. It was around freezing as I left for work, and beautifully sunny. This made for an excellent ride, a good start to working off all the roast dinners and rich puddings that were recently irresistable.....

Cheers,

Ed

Yesterday was my first commute after christmas. It was great to get out, though everything hurt from a huge day of skiing on Sunday and a good ride on Monday. :) Temperature was fantastic - high 30s in the morning, low 50s in the late afternoon. Today was much the same - close to 40 degrees on the ride down. There won't be much bike commuting for me in the next month - going on a 2 week skiing vacation on Friday, and flying to Australia for 2 weeks straight after that...

Those of you who have the weather to be able to commute in are driving me insane with jealousy. I just received my new Giant Stiletto chopper and am dying to get out and see how it rides, maybe even take it the 3-4km to work, but we had 20cm of snow last Thursday and it is only just starting to melt today. Hopefully, by the weekend, the roads will be clear enough for me to ride it. While other cyclists may be out on their road bikes, this unusual cruiser has 3" wide slicks, laid back seating and is not expected to be a performer in wind or slippery conditions, though it has 7-speeds to assist on hills. Perhaps I'll have a report soon.

37F at 6AM & it was still dry, rode my Centurion rain bike with rain gear just in case but stayed dry all the way in to work. The rain began about 1 hour after I arrived & showers throughout the day brought temps up to 44 by the afternoon. I noticed a few erratic drivers on the road today & expect to see more DUI tomorrow as there will be office parties etc. I may drive.

rainy all week, had to take the short route. Today the sky cleared and the roads dried for a few hours. I realized that this was the only day that I'd be able to do a long, dry ride. I took a 1/2 day at work so I could ride. Did 30 miles. It was great. I went through a valley, past 2 resevoirs and countless cows, sheep and ranches. Who knew all this was so close to a city of 800,000!

I've never been on this route, but I'm sure I"ll do it again. I passed maybe a dozen other cyclists out for their rain-break ride. What a great ride.

And the icing on the cake was that I got home and there were 2 hockey games on TV! A college game and the USA vs. Belarus game.

As Ice Cube once said "I gotta say it was a good day"

Good ride to work and home . Had to be almost 40f today .
That is good this time of year . It was metaling the foot of snow we got . I got to ride the ss today .
Life is good .

It was nice and sunny for the ride today. One problem though, the bike made an unrequested shift to the small chainring during a small but steep climb. This took me by surprise and damaged the chain at one point. It would not have taken much more to break completely (and cause severe discomfort...) Fortunately, it will be possible to make some repairs to get home OK.

Cheers,

Ed

Well, it started out nice and balmy... about 31 degrees. Then the rain came, hit the frozen ground, and turned to ice. I made it all the way to work and then ate it in the parking lot. Ow. Perhaps I do need studded tires after all.

We're having similar weather in the Twin Cities today. I fell trying to make an easy, wide turn at 2 mph. I got my foot down and it slipped out from underneath me as well. I made the mistake of cutting through the fair grounds where none of the roads were treated. After that fall I got off the road and stuck to the grassy areas for the rest of the way through the fairgrounds. Hopefully it all melts by the time the afternoon ride home arrives.

What was it like for you later on? I rode later in the morning and sweat soaked my first three layers of clothing. Obviously, I was overdressed also. My ride wasn't a commute as I have the Christmas to New Year's holiday off. It was nice to ride my road bike. The roads were a little more treacherous than I thought they would be. The warm up caused the roads to be wet and a little icy in some places.

They'd be less treacherous if you'd fix your bike so you can use your small ring! :D Sunday I was up at the Midway Airport, anywhere near you? It looked like it was going to snow, so I made a bee-line back to our balmy central Ill.

Yeah, I'm hoping for that too. Wunderground says it's 41 out right now. 41! In December! This is craziness. But hopefully I won't slip. I'll have to stick to the roads/grass otherwise.

LOL Gus. Funny thing is that once I got back to Illinois there has not been any reason to use the small ring until yesterday. Yesterday was a good spin day!

I solved the big ring "problem" the hard/easy way -- by trashing the Trek 2300 I was riding. A kid knocked 4 bikes over on top of my Trek during RAGBRAI. The rear Spinergy was wrecked and it also exposed a small crack in the frame. I didn't have a rear wheel that matched the 9 speed Ultegra so I had to find a cheap alternative (i.e. borrow a bike). My current borrowed ride is an older Bianchi Campione D'Italia. It's a nice ride. I just offered to buy the bike for $200 and he is thinking about it.

Midway is about 30 minutes from me, depending on the traffic. However, Sunday I was in central Illinois!!! My parents live in Athens (about 5 miles from New Salem State Park). It was nice and sunny there. If I hadn't been stuffing myself, I would have grabbed my dad's bike for a ride.

It snowed here Saturday morning. My wife and I were singing "White Christmas" to the kids all morning! That was the best way to drown out the sound of the Gameboys they got for Christmas.

Athens is closer to Lofter by far. It is oh maybe 50 miles from here. Looks like a pretty nice place to ride. Too bad about that ugly green 2300! :( May it rest in peace. Since this is a commute thread, I won't change the subject...the wifey and I are commuting RAGBRAI on the tandem this year...see you there? Don't let us pass you on the dirt sections :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!! :beer: :beer: :beer:

I just came home from work, avoiding as many drunk drivers as I could by taking side roads and the path around Lake Hariet. I thought that I might walk across part of the lake, but 51F temp yesterday did weird stuff to the ice; it was very slippery had many irregular angles mashed together. I had to crawl back to shore, and I wasn't even drunk. Congrats to all those who have already commuted by bike this year. It's a good way to start '05.

Am I really the only one who commuted to work today? 26F @ 6AM but warmed up to 42F by the afternoon. Lots of frost & ice out as the roads had been wet yesterday. Proceeded with caution on my Grand Jubile & got to work & back just fine. Side note: I commuted so regularly by bike lat year that I just discovered my drivers license expired last August. Went down to the DMV at Noon & they had mercy on me, just checked my eyesight, took my money & gave me the new license. Be careful out there

No, but mine was so routine I didn't want to bore anyone with the details. So far we have had an unusually warm winter, only 2 single digit (F) rides & only 1 heavy snow (>10 inches/25 cm).

Lots of rain today on the ride to work and home .
But the good thing was no swow . So it was a good ride .
Have a good nite .

1st day back to work in '05
-34C (-29F), -43C windchill, clear sky... finally got to test myself out at sub -30C!
Beat my previous record by 10C! I was pretty nervous starting out, not sure what to expect at this temp. The ride went well though... very little traffic (passed by 2 cars), stayed warm except toes (toes got very cold last 10 min. of ride). Goggles started fogging up last 1/4 of trip, gave up on them for last 10 min of ride.

First Ride in Oh-Five!
-24C/-11F
Was out of town for a week and came back to hard snow-packed and icy roads. There is an empty lot I cut thru on my commute, and it's almost unrideable due to the snow. Going to go the long way around on the way home I think.