Its dark and quiet on the ride in this time of year. Totally psyched to be riding to work in January.

so...where was everyone this morning?? Ususally I see (even on a cold day) about 15-20 bikers during the winter months. This morning I saw 8... and this is a 22 mile commute. (Reston, VA to Washington DC along the W&OD trail).

Today was the first cool morning in about a month. -8C/18F and calm. Had a neighbourhood commuter blow by me cresting a hill and watched as he crashed the red light doing about 45km/h at the bottom. There was a vehicle at the red light waiting for the light to turn. Maybe he's the reason that cars have been passing so close to me lately.

Left 1/2 hr earlier than usual this morning for work. What a difference! Less traffic, rode a little faster and my time showed it. Shaved more than 30 seconds off my usual commute which is only 2 miles and I never felt like I was stressing myself. I found myself in a higher gear than usual because of the ease in traffic. Even got to work less sweaty than usual.


When I work at home, I often jump on the bike and buzz over to the park for a quick ride at lunch. Then at quitting time, I do it all over again or go run errands. I end up putting more miles on than if I just commuted.

I saw one person this morning, abeit a shapely blonde jogging. Never saw her face, but what a body! :love: I guess it's sad that's all there was, but if I was to see one person, she would be it!

This is despite the 40 degrees F dry weather. I guess most are resigned to fail their New Year's resolutions on the 10th of the month. Yikes!

Good ride in. I'm now all set with my clothing from 5 deg. F and up. Before, I was ok except my groin, which would get too cold. Now I wear an extra pair of athletic shorts/underwear from 20 to 35F, long johns below 20.

I love my mileage spreadsheet--thanks to Wolfheir! I've put in 50 miles so far--most of which I'd forget by spring when I ride more often.

'mornin everbody! Well I was surprised by a chilly commute. I got fooled by yesterdays 60F temps. The temp drop to the mid 30's and below freezing in the low valleys. Lots of frost and one chilly biker. Usually I strip down on the ride but today I stripped up! Still a great ride and even took an extra 5 mile spin through the cold Patapsco park(no sun). PM should be another great one as temps will be in the 50's!!

Ad-SLE: tough ride. especially the chicken. I hate it when lunch opens in your pack, wheel, the street;-)

Dogs solution: Get a whippy old fishing pole. Use the narrower tip end of a 2 piece pole(about 2 ft. long). adhere velcro to 2 or 3 points along the pole and 2-3 points along the top tube of the bike. DO NOT wrap the pole with the velcro but attach with the velcro. When the dogs get near, detach said pole and give them a whack across the nose. This can be done while riding. Many tourers use this method. Very cheap, light and effective.

Nice commute this morning. It's getting easier, and I was just a tad faster, not that it matters.

Very nice ride this AM. First commute of the year for me. It was ~45F and patchy dense fog, but luckily I got in to work well before the patchy fog turned into just plain dense fog. Probably will have to miss tomorrow due to a late afternoon meeting, but Thursday is looking good for riding in too.

A nice commute this morning. The winds have died down and it was just cool enough to inhibit sweating. It took about 10 minutes to get to the office.

Been sick, so this is my first commute in a week. Roads were a tad damp in spots, but in all it was a good commute. Weather around here is unseasonalbly warm, 38°F in the Boston area this morning with a forecasted High of 45'ish. For sure I'll take it over high teens ( temperature, not teenagers :rolleyes: ), but it's a real guessing game when it comes to clothing.

Had a nice ride in this morning, patchy fog but in the 40s. I cut about 2 minutes off of my time just by riding in higher gears all the way in.

Late-night commute home last night. Would have been boring, except rolling to a left turn signal, I unclipped my left foot (as usual) and braked to a near stop. At that point, I saw that the opposing lights were turning yellow (since I successfully rolled over the sensors), so I coasted a bit and as the light turned green, lost my balance and tipped over to the right. Oops. Picked myself and the bike up, managed to turn left as the light turned yellow, and went home. My RD is a bit poorly tuned this morning... gotta fix that. And I guess my "beater" finally has taken a few baby steps toward looking like a beater.

Compared to that, my ride in was rather uneventful. The only interesting thing is a bit of trouble with the RD in larger cogs. Like I said... gotta fix that.

Another gorgeous day in Atlanta. Last night involved an extended ride home with a stop at the super market. I'm sure I got some looks with a baguette sticking out of my backpack.

This morning there was fairly heavy traffic but with this incredible weather I decided to take the lane and take my time.

Today was my first day bike commuting - and first time on my bike after a 6-month layoff.
As already noted on another thread, the weather in NYC is beautiful!
I probably had one too many layers on my legs this morning, but overall everything went great.
Only had one pinhead cager who decided to pass a bit closer than she needed to.

41F, pretty cold for us Californians but I was pretty comfy with my new under-helmet beanie. Got a nice compliment on the bike from one of the bike messengers and I asked him about his fixie. By coincidence, on the way home last night, I followed another commuter on an old Peugeot road bike converted to a fixed gear.

My ride home tonight, my cyclecomputer's spoke magnet went sliding all the way to the rim thus rendering the computer useless. I wanted to pick up a new rear blinkie like a Cateye LD-600, but none of the LBS' I went to had it so I came home empty handed. Add in that I lost track of time and was unable to meet up w/ a couple other BF'ers at Central Park and basically all my riding was for naught. But I made it home safe so that's good.

Good ride today, it was dark when I left and dark when I got back, but the weather was nice. I do need to pick up a better reflective vest, as the one I have doesn't have much on my back.

Anyone have a good camelback capable backpack?

almost eventless the past 2 days! been riding along railroad tracks and trails (more direct route) along with regular parts with mountain bike. cuts 1.0 mile total of 6.5 mile usual, but slower (it's a mb w/ 2.125" knobby tires) sluggish! today had a lady in people-van driving behind me for blocks (i was on the left side of right turn only lane, going straight) honked. she passed on the left but i cought up to her at the light 2x, i waved (but no eye contact from her). pretty regular rides, otherwise...

If they come in threes...what could be next?

Tue/Thr oldest has unicycle club at 6:30am. Hey, if she's interested and awake...of course I will take her to school early. But in past it killed my ride. Light bulb! Put my bike on Thule roof rack, drive both kids to school (different locations but .5 mile appart) and park car, ride the remaining 9.5 miles. COOL!

NOT! Got #1 to unicycle. Got #2 to Middle School, headed off from curb....tick tick tick tick...what is on/in my tire?! Pull over 200 feet up...big mother bolt like they use to put on corrugated roofing! Dangit!!

Call wife, bring tools and plug kit. I've cooled off now but at the time I was HOT! I was able to keep a level head and stuck to plan albiet 45 minutes later than usual. Plug tire, drive to church p-lot. Rode in with WAY too many cars doing not very bike friendly stuff! But I was still in before 8!

Dumped rain all day, dark and ugly all day. Left 5:45 way later than my new year resolution. Stopped raining but black out. In first minute rode over a clump of leaves not realizing dry clumps, no prob....wet clumps after heavy downpour...almost pushed me over into the ditch. Ride AWAY from curb after big rain. All sorts of UFOs in road. Slow down and get home safely!

Still 100% bike 2006....less one LCD screen on laptop! Thank goodness for docking stations!!

Warm ride today to work and home. I hope the weather hold up for the rest of the week . Have a good nite .

herewith a list of all the reasons why i ain't ridden my bike to work since last wednesday: hard release deadline on jan 18th. here endeth the list.

oh, and i called in sick on friday. there are five working days left in this contract now, and all i really wanna do is play elvis costello and knit. but i think i'm caught up enough now, so i have hopes for tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Well I did my first commute since the week before Christmas. The trail is still pretty awful. Super-hard-packed postholed snow, with long sections of glare ice. Not for the meek. Studded tires good.

We're in the "January thaw" so maybe it will clear off. Supposed to rain all day, which will help.

The city continues to refuse to plow. I want to slap them. :mad:

I like snow because it tells me i'm not alone. I saw 3 other tracks this morning. It's snowing, and there is a small covering on the roads so I decided to try my studs. My alley is pure ice and was amazed with how much friction I had. They gave me a lot of confidence on the ride.

-3Cish and calm, snowing.

Took a slightly different route today! Instead of riding along side M.I.T's. Track & Field, I decided to ride along the Charles River into Kendall SQ.,I didn't care for it too much. The foot/bike path is just as uneven as I remember it and I got stuck at the Mass.Ave bridge for two light cycles because I never got the "walk signal". Oh well, weather has been above average ( Global Warming :rolleyes: ) and my commute was safe, so that makes it a good commute.