WIND (agaist 30mph w/55mph gusts) in the dark, Rain, and "Cold" +/-33f, on the way in. when i got to a clearing (State road sr) the wind KIcked a.., and i questioned WHY?
so did my wife, friends, and co-workers later!
ride home was less taxing, but still pretty major headwind (the direction reversed from am). i felt pretty beat-up today!

Had last week off from commuting (still rode but didn't feel right to post but must admit it felt great to break out the road bike and ride the temperature one day- 55F=55miles) Yesterday and today were great commute days. With a change in temperature of almost 40 degrees! Yesterday icy and dry. Today bizarre weather with intense wind as I rode in- at times gusting well over 50mph and such a strong steady headwind I practically had my chin on my handlebars and was pumping the pedals hard to get the bike to go 10 mph.

Rode home with a little less whallop from the wind but the melted ice on the bike path made for a sloppy ride. Oh yeah!- saw what I think was an off course wood duck flocking with some of the more common mallards on the Charles. I took notice of him because he panicked as I rode by and the mallards all gave him the "get used to it" look. Two miles down river I think I saw his mate just west of the Mass Ave bridge looking lonely and forlorn- I hope they hooked back up and made it on their merry way to wherever they might have been headed.

I dressed for the temperatures I expected this morning and was sweating like crazy when I got to work. Stashed the long underwear and the polar fleece in my panniers for the ride home. Much better. We have been enjoying really good bike riding weather here in Colorado this month. I keep looking to see the foot before it drops but so far so good. My daily commute is only 13 miles round trip. I sometimes extend it out with different routes for more miles.

man i am beat. i have an annoying sinus infection. freezing rain and 40 - 50kmh winds. Going home i puncture twice within 1km. at that point i called it the quits and got my brother to give me a ride.

:eek: Oh dear... sorry to hear that.

Ride home was decently nice. Only thing is, it's a bit cold out there for no head covering other than a helmet. (Which is supposed to help keep your head cool thanks to the airflow, right?) I think I should invest in a head/ear band.

Haven't been riding for the last two weeks. It's killing me since the weather has been so nice. I went to the doc and he promptly sent me to the ER. After and EKG, blood work, chest X-ray, and exam of my lungs and heart, they've returned a preliminary diagnosis of exercise induced asthma and sent me home with an inhaler (they said that I'm as healthy as a horse and are perplexed by my recent shortness of breath). Freaking great! I have to schedule a CT scan, then it's another appointment with a pulmonary specialist next Wednesday. I hope it's allergy or infection-related (although I feel fine otherwise) because I've been really happy with my cardio performance for the last few years (with the exception of the shortness of breath the last month or so that prompted my visit to the doc). Anyway, I decided that it's best not to ride right now until this gets sorted out. I hope everyone else is enjoying their commute.

33 F / 0 C and my studs got some ice to bite into for the first time in a month. I love that smooth, ballroom-floor feeling of studs on ice. I'm hoping winter returns enough to make some ski trips possible.

Paul

Crisp ride! I woke up to the radio saying 41F going to 53F later in the day. Wrong, we were below freezing. So anything that was black, was ice. Luckily yesterdays winds dried up much of the water so roads were clear and fast. Unfortunately I was tired and slow.

Hope ya feel better. Lots of folks have trouble with asthma in the cold. I was just off for 3 months with a broken wrist so I feel your pain.

Houston is having some crazy weather again. Yesterday's ride in - 38 degrees. Yesterday's ride home - 70 degrees. Today's ride in - 59 degrees!

As to why I enjoy commuting so much....I was riding along a bayou and saw a beaver working on his damn. I have driven down this stretch of road for five years and it was only with commuting I was able to stop and watch a beaver at work.

On a side note, the end of this month marks 6 months of solid commuting by bicycle! I have found that I have increased my route from a 7 mile commute (one way) to an 11 mile commute (one way). This is awesome!!

Chris
NW Houston

Exercise induced asthma? That almost sounds like an oxymoron, like exercise induced obesity. Hope you get better soon!

My ride to work was a repeat of yesterday except without the rain. Slow moving traffic had me weaving from lane to lane and actually stuck behind some cars. One commuter I saw either turned off at his block or got fed up and decided to head down 2nd Ave. instead which is what I should've done as soon as I left home. I may have to start taking 2nd even w/ the stupid hill at the end of the commute just cuz it's smoother flowing than Lex.

It was about 32 degrees warmer than it was two days ago. :) (That is: It was 32F degrees this morning.)

I've noticed my Schwalbe Ice Spiker studs are beginning to wear. I could get the front tire to skid a little on ice. Now the question is: Do I buy a Hakka now, or wait 'til next season?

At any rate, it was a nice ride in. Huge volumes of water rushing through the mouth of the Winooski River and into Lake Champlain. All that rain we had yesterday...

Had a nice cool (low 30's) ride in this morning. Didn't ride in yesterday due to high winds (40-50mph) and some rain. Lots of traffic out and about but I just took it easy and enjoyed the views of the sun rising. I think my bike computer might be off a little bit with my tire circumference. My trips in seem to be a little longer this year after I reset the computer. Gotta fix that soon.

Jumped on my bike and headed home from work around ten pm with a huge tail wind and the roads were fine till I hit a long section of black ice which was an eye opener but I made no fast moves just mirco adjustments in steering and cruised out of it :D

Plenty of patches of black ice today, especially near my house. Ride gingerly! Then I came upon the murder scene...ain't city livin' great!? Had to take a detour because the cops roped off an entire block, and the garbage men were taking up the alleyway. Other than that, no surprises.

great! though this was from my commute home this morning, being a night shifter.

Awesome pics there scrub !

My ride today was easy and quick.. =) Nothing special or out of the ordinary either... lol

Not cold. Snow cleared off the roads pretty good. No maniacal dump truck drivers. No dogs chasing me. Perfect.

Wheeeee! 20-30mph S tailwind in AM. Supposed to lay and switch to N by late PM, win both ways.

Yesterday was my first commute since October (when I broke a rib, then got lazy). Dark, drizzley, cold, great to be back.

I've had exercise-induced athsma for years. My doc didn't schedule scans or anything more aggressive than good ol' ventalin inhalers. I avoid the use of the inhaler at all costs, since I find that I can become dependent on it. Instead, if I ever start not being able to breathe, I slug back some DM decongestant with an expectorant in it. The booze in the medicine relaxes me [not as well as a nice Petit Verdot], the DM reduces the tendency to cough, and the decongestant and expectorant help clear out the lungs. It might be even more effective than the inhaler, since I can't inhale properly.

The ride in today was completely normal. I tailed a Benz all the way in to downtown, pedalling my little legs off. SS is good for the spin...

No bike commute today. The Wonder Twins' have a trial day at daycare today and being a good 21st C. dad, I helped get them ready for the day. Lucky for me that I married an extremely organized woman and there wasn't much for me to do other than put on the kids' shoes and load them in the minivan.

I thought of throwing the bike in the back so I could ride at lunch, but no sense in complicating things further.

Pretty decent this morning, WONDERFUL 27*F clear blue sunny day heading down to Subway to pick up a sandwich for lunch.

A nice change, yesterday was 28*F with wet, sloppy snow falling and unplowed roads hiding potholes in the morning, and 17*F in the PM with a 15MPH headwind and the last mile before home still wasn't plowed and was covered in half-packed slush crud; I've never fishtailed all the way up a hill before.

Getting back in the saddle after a day like yesterday can be a challenge, it's nice when the weather hands you a reward for doing so.

Another lovely morning ride in. I felt a bit more sluggish than usual, but hey, it's just three miles. And it's not a race, so I had a lovely time, as usual.