Snowed an inch during the day yesterday & my 25c gatorskins just didn't cut it. Roads were very slick. Had to replace braking with careful planning. Switched to the 37c conti country grips last night & road in this morning in relative confidence. Little traction loss here & there, but not bad at all. This weekend we're supposed to get a big storm. Should be fun!

Gorgeous sunrise: leaping neon salmon bursting into nebulae against a watery stained-ink blue. Turn a corner, look back up: it's fresher, brighter, fluffier. Cross a street, watchful for cars, look back up: non-color, gray, beige: sunrise closed for the day.

54F and getting warmer.

It sucked. Almost there, I hear my rear rim rubbing and stop to find that my rim has collapsed! Argh. This is a Sun CR-18 36-hole rim that was supposed to be bomb-proof. Well, I guess I've ridden it about 5 days a week for the last 2-3 years so it has taken a beating. To get the rest of the way to work, I had to remove the rear brake pad on the crunched side and hobble on the sidewalk. By the time I got to work, about a six inch strip of rim had peeled off, was clinking against the chainstay and the tube was completely bulging out of the tire. How it didn't pop, I'll never know.

around 15 °F, clear and little wind. no new snow, just some leftover ice in the neighborhood. the wind is supposed to pick up a little during the day, from the north, so damn. i dislike headwinds when it's cold already. but i appreciate having the freedom to ride.

The Denver area is going through a warm up period. The commute in yesterday was good. Temps were in the low to mid 30's along the river and there was not any wind. I saw 2 other people on bikes. This is much fewer than what I see during the warmer months.

For the ride home, the temps were in the low 60's and the wind was at my back. The sun was shining and the ride was sweet. There were many more bikes out. I was able to help another biker out who needed a hex wrench to tighten his bottom bracket bolt.

I was getting concerned about finding a weather window that would allow me to commute at least once in January. As it turns out, it looks like I will ride again tommorrow.

Foggy, foggy, foggy. Just the standard weather for January around here.

The trip home yesterday was a blast! There was about two inches of beautiful powder. For some reason (possibly salt) there was often a frozen layer right at the road, and this led to some spots that were technical. In other areas, the snow had been compacted by traffic. It was great Nokian weather, and a joy to glide through the snow with the studs silent for the first time in a month. There was one steep hill on the way home that the police had closed to all automobile traffic. I asked permission and they waved me through, "It's just closed to motor vehicles." There I was with no traffic, a hill, and beautiful, fresh powder. First tracks!

I let it run, sailed down the hill full bore with "Live For Today" playing in the jukebox in my mind and snow swirling everywhere like smoke. I floated over the white landscape as if in a dream.

I didn't actually hit the slopes of Tremblant until this morning, but, as far as I am concerned, my ski vacation began with yesterday's commute.

Paul

56F today with a light breeze as I set off to work. A co-worker joined up with me about 1/2 way to work & we rode together the rest of the way. Nice to have company sometimes. Don

Good ride to work and home all but the rode I live on .
The rode I live on has 3 inch of snow and a 1 inch of ice on it . So by studded tires did not work well. But I still had a good ride . Have a good nite .

-10F. Coldest ride of the season so far. I left well before sunrise so I had a nice quiet commute with the snow crunching under my tires. Not much wind, but it was at my back anyway. A good ride. Feet got a little chilly but nothing uncomfortable.

Passed one runner on the trail, also fully-covered. We exchanged "Morning!" to one another. Turned out to be a woman. I expect this kind of silly behavior from us men (out running/cycling at -10) but I thought women were more intelligent. :D

Temperature is still dropping. It's not supposed to get above 0F today.

how was the commute today? well, thanks for asking...it was quite pleasant. right around 6 °F, not as cold as in vermont it would appear, but worth putting the wind pants over the tights. i still get sweaty, though. it's supposed to stay about this cold for a while, which means the bike lanes will remain largely unusable because of frozen slush and hard ice and whatnot. *shakes head*

Finally got the wife, son, and me back riding together to school/work, after dealing with some health issues. Lower 40°s and sunny, but the weather will change this weekend. Happy trails!

Tuesday was my first bike commute of the year, to a new job at REI in Niles IL. It was about 15-20 degrees with a decent tailwind for my 14 mile trip. It took 55 minutes and my average (while moving) was 16.1mph. When I got off work there was a couple of inches of new snow on the ground and the wind was blowing pretty hard, so I took the bus home. Last year I commuted 10 miles each way to downtown Chicago. I'm looking forward to the extra 8 miles per day as well as not having to ride through some pretty nasty neighborhoods on the west side of Chicago. We are due to 6+ inches here tonight, so it might be a while before I'm riding all the way to work again, but I do plan to take the bike on the bus which involves pretty short rides on either end, and having to switch buses, but at least I won't be stuck in my cage (car).

Nice ride in this morning. The temps were in the 40's and there were some very strong gusts of wind in my face. I saw 8 other people on bikes this morning. Looks like the good weather will extend into next week. Let the commuting continue.

Had to drive in today because of an after-work family event. Assuming that I'm even able to leave the office before it's over. It's going to be one of those days, which makes me even more frustrated about not being able to ride.

Enjoy the ride, friends.

How was the commute today? Terrible and wonderful. :p

Terrible because I haven't commuted by bike since last Friday. Work committments required me to drive all week. :crash: My breathing was all out of whack and my legs wouldn't go fast. :eek:

Wonderful because I really look forward to riding to work. :)

53F & patchy fog this morning. Had a quiet ride in alone in the mists except for a few passing autos. I live on a small lake & began hearing the first froggies singing 4 or 5 days ago. Usually this event runs March-April so we may see an early Spring this year.
Enjoy the weekend. Don

It was ore comfortable than I thought it would be.

I was well dressed, with 3 pairs of socks, rain trousers over my regular trousers and long underwear, 3 sweaters and windbreaker, one neck piece, one scarf, one skull cap, 2 pairs of gloves.

Anyway, it was about -24 C, but not windy, so I arrived quite toasty at work.

-24C, -35 with windchill. I had a nasty headwind too. Honestly though, I was pretty comfortable. My feet got slightly cold towards the end, but that's only b/c I still wear my summer cycling shoes.

I had a funny thing happen to me yesterday. It was about 0 degrees F here but I put on all my gear and rode to work. I got here about 630 or so. I haven't worked here for very long, about 5 months or so, so the people I work sith sort of know me but not really. At the end of the day, my boss asked me to go into his office because he needed to talk to me about something. Of course, right away I started thinking of all the things I had done wrong...I couldn't think of any-at least any that he could possibly know about. He started by asking me if everything was alright at home to which I replied yes. He then asked if I needed to borrow some money..and I told him no with a question as to why he would ask that. He then told me that he saw me riding to work on my bike and thought since no sane person would ride in weather that cold that I must not be able to afford gas for my car. He then told me if I ever needed a ride to call him and he would pick me up. I thanked him for his kindness and generosity and then I broke the news to him that I choose to ride to work. I told him of all the benefits-saving gas, environmental issues, health issues, etc. that are gained from biking instead of driving. He just sat there noding and smiling. I thought it was a very positive contact..he now has me scheduled for a psych exam next week. Just kidding.

interesting commute today... i rode my new klein palomino to work to swap the stem and get steerer tube cut down some more(i work in a bike shop), I must say for a full sus it performed great!
Only thing is it peed down with rain on my journey home and my shiny new bike got baptised in filth!

too cold for me to commute

Balto/ DC area: icy, snowy shoulders, black ice, coooold temps 12F/-11C with a bit of wind. Hands never got warm(there goes my coffee theory). My single track section was really tough 6-7 inches of unbroken snow for 1 mile. Would have had a better commute w/Xcountry skis. Still....better than a car Charlie

Having just gotten back from a long ski weekend at -27 F / -33 C, it seemed really warm on the ride in. Mostly packed snow and slush in Arlington; would have preferred black ice. I decided the snow was deep enough to bypass the Mult Use Path -- this added some distance to the trip, but made it an easy ride. Maybe I'll follow BaltoCharlie's approach and try the trail on the way home. It's about a half mile, but cuts a half mile off my commute. Anyhow, beautiful morning!

Paul

slone130's story reminded me of something that happened last week:

A group from my office was driving out to the suburbs in a minivan and we were talking about some proposed budget cuts that would affect our pay and benefits. My boss sees a homeless guy on a bike and says, "Yep. That's how they want us to get to work every morning."

I say, "That IS how I get to work every morning." Everybody laughs. I don't take it personally, but it's a reminder that most people consider it odd that someone with a good job and a nice home would voluntarily ride his bike for transportation.

Anyway, more fog here in the Great Central Valley. Cool, still, and a little bit eerie on the way to work.