The commute was fast this morning! The east wind that slowed my ride home yesterday was still blowing and this time was helping me out. The chilled air was invigorating as I maxed out the gears on the flat stretches. Even the hills were easier, with the wind like a gentle push in the middle of my back.

A lady with an off-leash dog was walking but the dog paid me no attention. the only other biker was lightlessly parked in the bike lane opposite me, just watching as I rode past.

Wet ride in. Not a downpour, just drizzling. Wore rain pants, jacket and helmet cover and stayed relatively dry from the rain. With the pit zips open to full, the wind blew into my arms at every stoplight (woohoo!). Didn't wear any gloves though so my hands were cold, but manageable. Gotta get something like rain-x for my glasses. Didn't see any other cyclists, but one of the other commuter's bike was parked outside the building so I'm not the only one riding in the rain. Forgot my belt so I have to pull my pants up every 5 steps.

What a "freaking" adventure! - My commute home last night.

Whoohoo! There is nothing like riding a fast road bike under torrential downpour in the middle of rush hour traffic! Water everywhere!

The rooster tails from my front wheel shot water into my shoes. I'm glad that I'm 'clipless'--a huge difference in helping me stay on the pedals.

The Michelin Pro 2 Race slicks, on the front and back, stuck to the roads very well. I averaged 19.2 MPH for the commute!

By the time I arrived home, my epinephrine and endorphin levels were through the roof. What a blast! And, the best thing--no one friggin' tried to kill me!

Took the ratty winter beater MTB to work today. Supposed to snow later! It's raining now. Temps in the high 30Fs.

Today is cubical moving day at work... Got me a window seat but that eliminates some vertical space for hanging riding gear. Not sure how I'm going to work it out yet. Some people have screwed coat racks to the wall. I might do the same. The cube is a little bigger as well, so I've got more room. Bike is now 20" behind me instead of 10. :)

Could be my last commute of the week if I take tomorrow off for the holiday...

Decided to ride to work the entire way. The mind was up for it but my body was not. 2.5 hrs to go 35 miles. Ugh!

Amusing item today: a man was jogging with his lab sized dog. The dog had a red blinkie on its collar. Amused me greatly.

Negative items: hit a windshield wiper blade and arm lying in the street. Had a disagreement with a ped. "on your left!" "warn me earlier so I can get out of the way!" "I did! It's not my fault you are deaf" or something to that effect.
Last but not least, no lady joggers on my way through Washington park. Grrrrr...Tight jogging pants make my morning.

Windy. The winds are from the south side of the "Nor'easter" they're having up along the east coast from DC to Maine. The hills were a little more difficult today for some reason. :o

The sun was trying to come out but I think the clouds will win the battle. :(
The temperature was ~42F (5C) with a wind chill of 36F (2C).
Traffic was light so I guess everyone was at the airport trying to get out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend.

wind. too. strong.

the rain was heavy and cold, the sky was dark. but it was somehow fun riding with the feeling that my raingear was keeping me dry and the fenders were working, the messenger bag was waterproof. i was safe from the wet cold.

43 F, feels like 36 F. Raining pretty hard!

It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning. Whoot!

I'm in your city. Let me guess, do you ride to the east in the morning? The wind was blowing leaves, branches, trash, and small animals past me for the last two days.

Made excellent time after falling in behind a landscaping truck for the middle 2 miles of my route. I was spinning easily in the big ring when I pulled around the truck to make my turn on to L Street. A glance at the computer: 30.5 mph!

It's fun to go fast, but everyday I'm more convinced that the bike I'm using as a commuter just isn't that well-suited for it. It's a wannabe racer and the more I read Sheldon Brown and Grant Peterson the more I notice that most of the road bikes sold today aren't particularly useful for anything other than racing and club riding. So, I'm thinking seriously about getting a Soma Double Cross or a Surly Cross-Check frame. Just thinking out loud but these frames seem like the Swiss Army knives of the bike world.

Anybody else here riding a cross bike as a commuter?

I modified an old cross bike into a single-speed with flat bars. It works great, and there are braze-ons for fenders [which I enjoy].

Started off dead calm, but the wind picked up about a km from my house. Warm, loads of traffic though...

Temp was in the low 40ºF range for the ride in this morning. Winds were SSW @ ~20MPH. I sure enjoyed the push. (my thanks to the Chinook Gods).

The forecast high today is 64ºF. Even better tomorrow! I may get to ride home without the long sleeve base layer and tights!

I commute on a Volpe (Bianchi's light touring/cyclocross bike).

Me. :D

Thanks, guys. I'm going to create a new thread to solicit some opinions.

YES! :D

Ride home was cold, but not as wet as this morning. Put the rain gear on anyway cuz the roads are wet. Mostly uneventful except for an overly aggressive van driver that I put behind me after playing leapfrog with and a Chrysler Pacifica driver who cut 3 lanes of traffic just to cut me off as I was riding down a wet hill. She pulled up to the stoplight so I did what any good HHCMF would do and stopped right in front of her. When the light turned green, I took my sweet time cruising through the interesection, turned left and took the lane she wanted. Heheh, too bad for her too cuz she had the light at the next intersection, or she would've if I wasn't in front of her. :D

yes! I rode to the east and then to the north... It was pretty bad and by the time I was up on the hill (OHSU) my legs were more tired than usual, but it sounds like it was worse for you.

no ride today, helped wife get her '06 toyota prius for routeen maint. also, forgot to mention, there was a rain factor as well. last nite it was pretty heavy, gore-tex was effective, but had a 'blinkie" loss.
rain continued today, my '93 honda civic cx got me to/from work (3.2mile, each way).
my rig is a '95 nashbar 6000t (fenders, 700x25 kevlar tires, panniers/flag) that i tour with as well. i do have a performance bike with simular rigs that i usually use as primary commuter but is down right now due to mechanical issues.
my road bike (cannondale 600sx) and mt bike (raleigh technium) are both used in their task-specific domains.
looks like a 1/3 commute this week thanks to holidays, Happy Thanksgiving!

It was cold and wet and icy ,But still a good commute .

this time of year, if one of us bike commuters happens to arrive at work while one of the other bike commuters is locking up their bike, we give each other grimacey little sideways clint-eastwood smiles and micromillimetre nods. we don't make eye contact or conversation. reason: we're all thinking privately 'oh god, let them fk off before the snot gets out.'

yesterday enviro can said visibility was 100m through much of the day. bet that was down to 20 or 30 today. it's still very neat, but breathing it isn't doing me a whole lot of good overall. had something that almost veered into a retching coughing fit by the first light on the way home. breathed more carefully after that and stopped trying to sing fairytale of new york until i was a bit more warmed up. no further problems, phew. somewhere between 5 and freezing again, probably.

knee/leg hurting again, a little bit. mcgyvered myself a pair of extra knee covers to go under the pants out of a chunk of old fleece that's been lying around this morning, and it really did help but it still gave me aggravation coming up the bridge. i think i have to stretch it all day, every day, from now on. it does seem to help, but only if i do it enough.

nothing interesting in the health club today, but one woman was holding forth to another woman in a way and a tone that made me really really really want to pad out of my cubicle to stand dripping water and giving her the Fascinated Stare small kids do so well. manners so bad you could almost admire them as a kind of art form. didn't do it because it was cold out there.

songs: fairytale of new york, the pogues; ax big mama, ry cooder; never going back again, fleetwood mac.

My commute weather:

Partly Cloudy

Temp: 32°F (0°C)

Humidity: 60 %
Wind Speed: W 12 G 17 MPH
Barometer: 29.68"
Dewpoint: 19°F (-7°C)
Wind Chill: 23°F (-5°C)
Visibility: 10.00 mi.

There were a few ice patches on the road, but the wind was more troublesome and in my face for most of the ride.

I was covered well and stayed warm, but I think I need to invest in neoprene booties for my shoes. The shoe covers aren't cutting it, even with WrightSocks as a base layer followed by a "WindStopper" sock over that.

You commute up Pill Hill? I'm impressed! I'm also jealous of your ride home. I've got a straight and mostly flat commute from Multnomah to Beaverton.

Do you know if they're going to let people take bikes on the tram?