This morning's ride was unpleasent: cold, rainy and windy. Nothing to recommend it except that I turned the 10,000 mile mark on the bike computer - a very good reason to celebrate when I get home later .


Ed

43F, no wind & mostly clear with a big fat moon shining down at 6AM today. Was partly cloudy through the day but no rain & a high of 52F dried out the roads by lunchtime. Rode "Suzy" the Specialized touring bike in the morning moonlight & did my afternoon commuten on "Tonio" Torelli. How many days til I have a daylight morning commute again? Need to check the sunrise chart. Don

I jinxed myself. On the way home, I noticed that I had hit EVERY light green. When I got to bike path, it was packed with bumpy ice, but I was making very good time. It was a fun commute. When I got home from the seven mile commute, I started to load my bike on the repair stand with the saddlebag still on when I remembered that started the trip home with TWO saddlebags.

It was after dark, but I re-traced my steps. The saddlebag was off to the side of the path 3-4 miles toward work. Fortunately, the path is not well-traveled this time of year.

My commuting is on hold. The 24 inches of snow we got last Sunday was just getting pushed back enough that there was a lane and a half on the sidestreets I ride; when it snowed another 6 or 8 inches yesterday. I have no problems claiming the lane with traffic behind me, but I wuss out when I have to claim a lane with on-coming traffic. The roads will have to get cleared more before I'm riding again. Hopefully next week.

it was just about 1 °F this morning, but no wind. was cruising along nicely down miller ave, which had dried out nicely, but at the bottom of the hill there was a busted water main around the corner on 1st street and i almost went down on the ice and the slush and all that. yipes! the ride home was less eventful and slightly warmer.

take heart, northern hemisphere riders - the days are getting noticeably longer!

the morning started at -17F ended 13 miles later at -7F with a 5 to 15 mph breeze, roads clear in the travelled lane but not at the edges where I usually try to ride, my head was nicely warm, torso had one thin wool top too many (but not worth stopping to correct) and again I had my shoes too tight so my feet lost some circulation and chilled (but again not worth stopping to correct)..... on the way home: started at +1F and ended at -2F, dressed the torso better, and kept the shoes loose enough, roads slightly improved, wore clear glasses rather than the goggles of the morning commute, had a great ride...the batteries on one of my taillights froze and stopped the light, when it warmed up inside it started back up, guess it's time for new batteries in that taillight.....tomorrow is supposed to be a colder morning commute, I think I'll experiment with the torso clothing again.

boy, it's cold in vermont! propers to you folks. this morning the local airport registered -12 °F, but by the time i hit the road it was already about 0 °F. sun is expected, highs in the 20s. so that will be a nice change. i've been having issues with cold toes after 20 minutes or so, even with the neoprene booties. but as i usually say at this point, it's great to be on the bike in the morning!

Cloudy and cold (for Atlanta: 33°F). Looks like we are going to have a ice/freezing rain storm tonight and tomorrow. Think I'll stay in and work on the bikes....

Really nice weather, mid 40's and no wind for this morning's ride. After being off of my bike for most of the fall, I'm ramping up my commuting days. This week I managed 4 out of 5 which I'm pretty happy about. Shooting for 5 of 5 sometime in the next couple of weeks. Not being in the greatest shape right now puts my legs in difficulty after too many days in a row. It is coming around though. Those pints of Anchor Steam last night probably didn't help my condition for my slow ride in this morning. HA!

Effing cold!!
3F But I'm still out there baby!

I hate it when that happens !!

The carry handles on the top of my bags reach each other across the top of the rack. I bought a tiny little luggage lock and lock them together. I also have enough slack so that they can go under one of the rack bars and get locked together, This may prevent a grab and run theft of a bag. At least you need a good knife to cut the nylon web handles.

The lock rattled, so after I lock it I use the elastic from an old inner tube to hold it against one of the rack bars.

Alkaline batteries have this problem way below freezing even if they are new. If you have alkaline and this becomes a problem, try Lithium batteries. They are almost three times the price, but they will make the light brighter, go longer and work much better in the cold. Nimh rechargeables are better too, instead of getting weak they run shorter. but then you can recharge.

Another 40F-50F day here but very foggy this AM. I rode in on one of my rain bikes that has yellow Xenon flashers front & rear. Quiet ride & very light traffic, only passed by 4 or 5 vehicles. Have a nice weekend

Can't wait to commute on Monday. Hopefully they will have the roads plowed by then. Thanks.

Today was my first roundtrip commute to a new job. 26.5 miles total, 50 minutes ride time each way. The streets were clear but a bit salty, and traffic was light. Rode home in the dark, which I was a bit apprehensive about, but it was no problem. I've got my route pretty well decided on - it's nearly all residential streets through River Forest, Elmwood Park, Norridge, Park Ridge, and Niles IL. I'm psyched for a good year of commuting.

Lots of smooth ice on the secondary roiads -- Arlington is Nokian country this morning. Felt frisky and took the unplowed bike path to save a half mile or so, and had a blast . Snow to power through, smooth ice to glide over, rough ice to play cowboy on. Saved a few minutes; gained a lot of fun.

Paul

Black ice has taken over much of the shoulders and roads in these parts. The weekends snow and ice even made my single track section difficult. Had to walk parts of it. I don't know what fell over the weekend(I was out of town) but it seems nasty. BUT better than those in the SE. Any of you guys ride down there!

At -6 F and no wind to speak of, this was the warmest moring commute in about 2 weeks. Nice! Sun shining and because the ice and snow are mostly off the streets, I could take my heavy Nokian studded tire off and put a slick on my front wheel. Felt like I was flying.

-5C and ice fog like pea soup.....great commute though. Just a little melting today and the roads should be excellent.

Have a great day.

37F/3C, quite chilly for NorCal but a gorgeous blue sky morning. I'm sad I'll be stuck behind a desk all day. This morning I made a conscious effort to take the lane. I'm glad I did: each time I was passed, the car took the whole other lane rather than splitting or trying to squeeze me.

20-some degrees...sun melting slush & ice...wet roads kicking up gravel...merciless delivery trucks pushing you into all the road rubbish that's sloughed off to the gutter. That pretty much sums up this morning's hop.

I've been making that same conscious effort. I've never used mirrors before, but I went ahead and put a big mirror on the end of my drop bars on my commuter and that has made a big difference. I feel more comfortable being out in the lane since I can see what is happening behind me. That way I spend the majority of my time being more visible to motorists.

How was my commute? Damp.

Well, it was a winter wonderland this morning, snow coming down and covering everything but it was only about an inch. I think it was easier to bike in then drive in by the looks of it. I made really good time and it was a hoot!

46F @ 6AM today. It rained overnight but stopped before I left so my commute was just wet & windy. Supposed to reach 54F today & the sun was out while I ate my lunch. Don

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