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 :(

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