Interesting commute this morning, -8F/-22C, quiet other then the sqeaky crunch of snow under the wheels, smoke from the chimneys and sewer grates, beatiful Christmas lights. Everything was just so still. I didn't see any other riders out there this morning. I had my layering down just right.

Hey Buzzman, thx for the welcome

Today's commute was much improved over the rain/sleet mix we had last Friday. Had bit of trouble actually getting started as I had to give my rear wheel a quick 5min truing...crappy Alex450 wheels. Once again I made it safely through "Car Door Alley" that is BU Central. A couple of doors came my way but nothing unavoidable. One guy, even when out of his truck didn't see me because he leaned back in to get something. Had one fairly close encounter from the passenger side door at a stop light, but I've come to expect this from time to time. On a bright note, my original route is pretty much ice free, so no more climbing snow banks for a while. Not nearly as many casual bikers as there use to be so I can pretty much pick and choose my riding line...a far cry from the conga line that can occur during the warmer months.

70 deg, slightly overcast.

Had a nice commute as I was trying my new headlight for the first time (turbocat S47).This thing is as bright as most car headlights. (rant on) Anyways, when I was about 2-3 miles from work I had a lawn truck pass me and right after his truck was past me he moves over intentionally and his 25' trailer would have hit me if I didnt slow down. The trailer hit the curb, thats how far over he went.

So I go into pursuit and he runs a redlight to avoid me catching him. There were no cars coming through the intersection so I keep chasing and see him turn. I find them a minute later and ask who the driver was and what their problem is with cyclists. He just starts yapping about getting off the road and the usual BS. I just ride away and say that the law says I can ride on the road.

I just wish I remembered to get the phone # or something off of his truck.(rant off)

OMG, that is so f-ed up ... I'm glad you made it!!!

I would have told that guy off so bad he would pull over and stop his truck anytime he saw another cyclist...

lol

I've caught myself yelling at the top of my lungs at people with their windows rolled up just so they know how they almost killed me when crap like that happens ... lol

sheesh.

A friend of mine's wife and newborn daughter were run off the side of the road by a trucker who didn't stop to check on them. If he did, he would've found a badly injured mother and a beautiful newborn daughter that was no longer alive. I take reporting bad drivers seriously now.

I once screamed at the top of my lungs to an old woman, "Stop! Are you trying to kill me?" She was backing out of her driveway into the opposite lane of her road and never saw me. She was short and could barely see over her back seat. She had gone too far over in the lane and almost hit the curb.

I'm not sure if she had a heart attack or not , but she sure regretted her poor driving. She felt bad immediately. I just got back on and kept riding. She didn't pass me for quite awhile.

I wasnt whispering, thats for sure.

The usual. I should start making stuff up.

The only solution i ever found was contact lenses. This is my first winter with them and wish i would have done it years ago. Now i can cover up the entire face and be comfortable. If you must stick with glasses, i somewhat found a solution last year.

If you wear an earband over your nose/ mouth and (ear band backwards, widest part in front) with the band sealed against your nose, it will be open naturally in the area near the mouth. You can nicely exhause the air downward with this method. The seal at the top of the earband keeps the glasses from getting the hot air.

great! going in, a consumer/client/person with severe and persistant mental illness, pulled along side in his car, honked, and waved. he was amazed when i arrived to center shortly after he did "man, you were moving. i just got here myself!" ( think a seed was planted)
on return home, i stopped and offered to assist another commutor whose path i have been crossing for about 1 yr now. he declined (re-setting lock/chain) but it was good to finally talk with the other commutor in this city that i am aware of. a good day!

cold !!

most noticeable thing about it was that it took place. after two days off in a row last week and then a weekend, i was starting to wonder if my unconscious was quitting without notifying the rest of me. also wasn't sure what kind of ride it was going to be, since four days off is (i think) the longest i've taken since back in the fall when i was sick. and i spent the whole weekend in pjs and a slouched position, eating junk food and knitting like a dufarge. it's all been a slightly surreal kind of struggle lately with all that darkness, so i felt like i couldn't really remember the ride or make imyself believe that i do it.

but it was great. woke up tired and strung out and put on that don't-think-just-do mental blinker, promising myself that i could stop to take stock once i got to the top of the bridge. the weather's been unsettling me. it's not uncomfortably cold, but cold enough to put a thin film of ice on everything and make even going places on foot feel like something you never got the hang of.

also put on my pair of ridiculously-chunky part-wool socks that i made on the weekend, just for curiosity's sake. they're like instant hobbit feet, so i thought they'd feel awful, but once i forced them into my boots they were lovely. warm and springy and just-right in every way. not sweaty at all. come next week i'm going to barricade myself into a corner away from the cat and knit me a whole flock of socks.

nice ride in the morning. really nice ride home too. i think the rest was good for me. i feel a bit sore, but that's a so-much-better feeling than the tooth-gritting aches of the past couple of weeks. and i'm not renewing even an extra day of my contract, so yee hah. two weeks and two days is all i'll have to do once the new year arrives, and then i might even get a chance to go talk to a physio.

songs: gonna be an engineer, peggy seeger; grey funnel line, traditional

After a 11 week hiatus from biking due to an injury, I'm back on the bike and commuting!

Spokane has been in a cold snap, and I've had to upgrade my gloves to these from REI. Part of the fun of commuting is figuring out what clothes work.

peace

it was kind of soggy down here in Ft Lauderdale FL..

road was wet and I got my first taste of no rear fender syndrome... aka: "wet a$$"

=)

I am picking up my fixed gear wheel this afternoon, we'll see how it goes !!!

23°F this morning, not too bad! No car doors thrown my way which is always nice. Went by one rider on a Schwinn Fastback wearing no hat, no helmet and possibly no gloves . Stop lights were very cooperative today so I made pretty good time. I did however hear the "how cold is it today" comment on the elevator from some red faced guy as he took a gander at my shoe covers. He was speaking to a girl who's face was as red as his. I'm sure their walk was much colder than my ride. I actually had to slow down a bit at the end because I was getting a bit too sweaty.

5C at the airport, must have been colder at home. Stopped about 1km into my commute to put my neck/mouth warmer on.

Got buzzed by a cop, 4 lanes, all clear.

Our car is available to me all week, it takes some will power every morning to fight the urge to drive it. I know that once I get in the saddle, it's no prob, but it's not always easy.

Clear and cold (26.5°F/-3°C). The lobster mitts and Rockport boots are working great for keeping the hands and feet warm. Had some nice Windham Hill jazz playing at low volume on the Shuffle. Nice winter ride.

Happy trails!

Welcome back dude!

First morning of the transit strike and there were two kinds of traffic; 1)fairly fast moving traffic above midtown and 2)barely moving traffic below midtown. All the cars that passed me in the beginning I passed later in my commute.

Since it is the first day of the strike, there were more cyclists on their way to work. Some were wobbly, some were slow and all were determined. It felt good to see them, but not so good to ride behind them so I ended up passing all of them while also demonstrating how to take a lane, split lanes, zig-zag and generally ride like traffic is there for your amusement.

Odd thing about today was that I didn't stop once. Not for a red light or anything. I ran every red light I came to and not in the dangerous way, but in the "traffic is stuck so tight that no one's moving and people are crossing in between so I can do the same" kind of way. I wasn't particularly faster today, just didn't have to stop which was good. I could get used to this.

Whoa Moment of the Day: Coming down Lexington Ave. around E47th St. where the road surface is really rough, I hopped/jumped a big corner sewer grating with a cab inches alongside me and right in front of some peds that went, "Whoa! Did you see that?"

Went home after 6pm yesterday without a headlight. What a dummy (I have one, but it remains unmounted. New bike with integrated lights coming next week). Didn't mean to go home that late, but was coerced into going to a bar after work;o). Lots of street lights, but it seemed like half were without light! Between the darkness and foggy glasses, I was going a little slow. I was glad there wasn't much traffic and it didn't snow. I enjoyed it nonetheless as I was pleased to get home without incident!

Don't drive! It's supposed to be super warm for the rest of the week! I'm looking forward to a white and brown Calgary x-mas!

Rode in with the wife today. It was a wee bit chilly at the house this morning, but got a lot warmer downtown. It's supposed to be above 0C for the rest of the week. Yay!

Yeah, I couldn't believe the forecast when I read it this morning. I really should push myself to stay on the bike this week because I have next week off and rarely bike when I'm not commuting.

Commuted in, and I feel unusually bad on the bike. Not that I didn't enjoy my commute, but man, I really need to get out and ride more. My last long ride was on Sunday, not this past Sunday, but the one before that. My only significant ride in between was last Sunday, for 15 miles. Today, my legs feel like putty, my abs feel like jello trying to resist my legs, and my heart feels as if it's pumping maple syrup.

My thought's exactly. I had a nice commute, it was a little warmer this morning (5F/-15C). I took a different route, it was interesting but I think I'll use that one for riding home instead of coming in. It's suppose to warm up as the week progresses. Maybe I can expand my route. This dark in the morning and dark on the way home, constant snow, is starting to bring me down a little and it's not even officially winter yet!

Finally able to get back on the bike for the first time in about 2 weeks. Last week I couldn't ride since I had to drive off site for my job. It was pretty cold (24F) so I bundled up but stayed plenty warm. It was nice to get back on the bike and ride to work. I am looking forward to the ride home and to be able to ride a couple more times this week.