slone130

Going was good...about 43, dry with a little wind. Not too much traffic esp. for a monday. I did have sort of a run in with a garbage truck and an ambulance. The garbage truck stopped in front of me so as to let the guys off to get the garbage. I went to pass on the left just about the time an ambulance with lights (but no siren) tried to do the same. As he went by he beeped his siren. Of course I was thinking "that'll do a lot of good when you're wearing me on your hood." Anyway....The rest was relaxing. The ride home was at about 52F or so. Just a relaxing ride home. Be safe.

cyclezealot

Cal....You are not a fair weathered cyclists...Here in SO Cal...Cars are hydroplaning over the rivers in the surface streets...Not my kind of weather...Not why we all live here... Bikes don't hydroplane, but you might have to get off and ford a stream....

ollo_ollo

33F at 6AM with high clouds but no rain or snow, just wet streets. Had a quiet ride in on my Grand Jubile & was only overtaken by 9 or 10 vehicles during my 4 mile commute. Of course there were hundreds of cars going the other direction towards town. Near the end of my commute, I looked over my shoulder to check for traffic before crossing the right turn lane to the new bike lane & was surprised to see another cyclist overtaking me, I held my line until he was past then fell in behind him & drafted the remaining 3/4 mile or so to the parking lot at work. Hey you: thanks for the lift!

spidercyclist

Nice ride to work and home . Got to take the short cut to
work . I hope the weather hold all week .
Have a nice nite .

clevernamehere

-24C this morning, light breeze. Nice ride... they finally cleard the streets and the bike paths are passible.
Tried "Toe Warmers", they helped... my toes still got cold, but not as bad (thanks for the suggestion SaskCyclist). This should help me get by till I can find some boots.

Looks like I could be in for an interesting ride home. There's a "Winter Storm Watch" in effect... potential for winds of 50 gusting to 70km/h combined with snow. Hopefully I'll be home before it hits.

cicadashell

snow on top of slush. where cars had driven in advance of plows and/or deicing materials, the slush was compressed to ice. everywhere else was okay. i had the interesting sensation of chugging up an incline past cars spinning their rear wheels in vain pursuit of a little traction. the forecast is for higher temperatures and a switch to rain. whoopee!

SaskCyclist

Good ride today....pretty uneventful. Not as cold as it has been at -20C.

madhouse

16F and no wind; as I was thinking to myself as I was riding, “Self, this is near perfect conditions!” Isn’t it odd how what’s considered “good” weather changes with the seasons. Back in September I posted that it was a fridged 43F and complained about the cold!

I had to fiddle with my bike this morning so my hands were frozen when I started… 3 miles into my ride and my fingers were feeling fine… Man I love my Pearl Izumi Lobsters!

My toes are the only part of me that I haven’t found the right solution for. My shoes are to small to allow two pairs of socks and I have already blown way to much money on winter gear. I’m planning on putting regular pedals and toe clips on tonight and trying my hiking boots.

I’m thinking I’m going to take the short-cut on the way home tonight… across the lake! I’ve never ridden a bike on a lake… just something I gotta do!

balto charlie

Good morning commuters: Ride was great, sunrise was awesome, temps 35-40F!! But you know what they say...red sky in morning, sailor take warning. I think I may get hammered on the return trip. Charlie

RonH

About 1-1/2 miles from work I was passed (very close) by a woman in a Land Rover. After passing she immediately turned into the driveway of a community arts center. I followed her into the driveway. When she got out she was startled to see a cyclist right in front of her. She almost spilled her coffee. I said that she passed rather close and then immediately turned in front of me. She said she was sorry but didn't see me. I suggested she pay closer attention to who and what is on the road so she doesn't scratch her Land Rover. She just said have a nice day and went into the building.


And now for the weather report:
Once again I over-dressed. The temperature was about 50F (10C) when I left home. I had to remove the lightweight fluorescent yellow/green windbreaker (for visibility) and replace it with a fluorescent yellow/green vest, unzipped. Replaced the full finger gloves with half finger gloves and spent to rest of the ride cooling down.
These unusually warm January days are getting me all mixed up. Don't know what to wear, other than shorts.
I guess all good things must end. The 10 day forecast says it will end by Friday. Then it's back to cold mornings (20s F / -5C) and highs of 30-40F (0-4C). Someone wake me when it's April.

tulip

I felt like I was peddling with two waterlogged tree trunks for legs today. I borrowed a friend's timbuk2 messenger bag and it's way to big for me. One car honked at me because I kept passing her at every intersection. Ha!

KingFoo

The wind might just crush you

PainTrain

Pre-dawn this morning, raining hard. Car turns right from a side street cutting me off closely.

I took it personally until a block later, the car did the same thing to a school bus.

caloso

Okay. I'm an idiot. My dad gave me a very nice set of neoprene booties for Xmas. The only problem, I thought that they looked a little too mountainbikey. So I took them back to REI and exchanged them for a set of Pearl Izumi shoe covers. Since they look rubbery I figured they'd be waterproof, and besides they look really cool and roadie. Well, found out this morning that they're not waterproof at all. So my feet were soaked. They looked cool and aerodynamic, but they were still soaked. Back to REI, I guess.

Other than that the only interesting thing on the ride in was a standoff with a bus driver who was trying to be nice: I had a stop sign, he didn't but rather than just drive through, he stops in the middle of the street trying to wave me through. I should have just looked at my soaking feet, but I kept waving him through and he kept waving back. Finally, I got mad and yelled "Just go, dammit!" (Nice example for the kids on the schoolbus, jerkself.) I hope to comport myself better on the trip home tonight.

ollo_ollo

29F & dry with no wind & about 1/2 inch of frost on my deck at 6AM this Morning. That plus my need to get the wife to a morning Dr appointment helped me rationalize driving in to work. Later the sun was shining & I took time to ride downtown for the big demonstration on the Capitol lawn. Rode my Bianchi with orange bar tape & wore my Orange RaboBank helmet. Pretty good turnout but as expected, the legislature certified Christine Gregoire as our new Governor. I had a great ride into work at Noon despite the 34F temp. Don

JohnBrooking

Went with my wife to my 4-year-old son's doctor's appointment in the morning (just a routine checkup), so I really should have just driven my car in afterwards, being late already. However, the state-wide bike club was having a fund-raising event at a restaurant downtown (Portland, ME) after work, and I've never actually ridden into downtown before, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to bike to the bike event. So we carried the bike on the car to the doctor's office, then she dropped me and the bike off at work! I did enjoy the ride downtown. From my office, it's about 7 miles and I did it in 30 minutes! But I met her for supper there and put the bike back on the rack to go home in her car. So it was an unusual transportation day.

Tomorrow it's supposed to sleet, so I'll probably drive...

spidercyclist

Rain all the way to work and rain all the way home. It was also kind of cold. Overall, still a good ride. I got to ride the SS. Have a good night.

moxfyre

Lovely 40 °F day in Maryland. Not too cold, but cool enough that I could go fast without breaking a sweat!

clevernamehere

Good ride this am -23c, roads are good, bike paths packed down enough to travel (very bumpy though).
Last commute with my 23yr-old, non-insulated hiking boots! I'm picking up a new pair of Columbia winter boots after work! There's a great sale at one of the boot shops - I guess it's time to get rid of the winter stock (now that the forcast is for a blizzard followed by -35/-36c temps - go figure).

Trek home could be interesting with the forcasted blizzard bringing snow & 50 - 70km/h winds.

Map tester

Warm (55°F) and very foggy. One more day of warm weather and then back to winter. Happy trails!

balto charlie

foggy but warm!! feels like spring but the weekend is packing some cold temps

vtjim

My commute was rough. Literally. Packed snow that had partially thawed yesterday, and re-froze over night. I got lucky for a little while because someone (an electric company truck I think) with a dual rear axle truck had driven on the trail so I had 4 relatively smooth (but narrow) tracks to pick from.

They didn't last the length of my ride though. I averaged around 6MPH. Slow going. I need a full suspension bike.

20F degrees.

madhouse

My ride home tonight will mark mile 1000 exactly 6 months since I started commuting! Not as many miles as I had hoped/anticipated but it’s a milestone none the less.

I took the short cut across the lake last night! It was an experience that I won’t do again… at least this year. The little snow that we have had has blown into hard 6” tall drifts every 10 – 20 feet. It was like driving through a parking lot littered with speed bumps. One of those speed bumps knocked my rear blinky apart and I lost the face plate and 2 rechargeable batteries.

This morning’s commute attracted a lot of attention from co-workers as it is sleeting/raining/snowing. I figured I had better traction and a shorter stopping distance than any of them. I was surprised when I came across another set of bike tracks through the snow. Someone in town evidently bikes to work as well. I’m assuming they have less than a mile to work since they live next to the ½ mile long industrial park… but they are riding!

I took my clipless off and tried toe clips and cross country ski boots in an attempt to keep my feet warmer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fit my neoprene booties under the clips/straps so I gave up booties for an insulated boot that I can fit 2 pairs of socks in. It ended up being an even swap for warmth and I lost out because the soles of the boots are very slippery on the pedals. I’m going to zip-tie a pair of toesties over the pedal/cage and see if that will help with the warmth aspect.

tulip

I love the fog! I saw two Great Blue Herons sleeping in a tree on the Potmac, and about four or five smaller herons also sleeping in a tree. I'll have to look up those smaller herons in my bird book. Nice ride.

gmacrider

-25C (wind chill = -40C) and temps are supposed to drop during the day. The 15K commute in took about 45 mins and I was nice and toasty in all my winter gear. Even my toes were warm in my new over-booties from MEC. This is the exact temp where the performance of gears and brakes starts to fail. Lots of packed snow and ice on the roads and paths, but traction was pretty good. The ride was quite nice actually. The cagers I work with don't understand and are just shaking their heads. Their loss.