38F and 100% RH, chilly and damp. Typical January weather in Sacto. I brought my overcoat but folded it over my messenger bag. I was freezing when I left the house but I knew that if I wore it, I'd break a sweat halfway to work. Passed another commuter on 21st Street and I thought about yelling at him to take the lane and get out of the doorzone, but I didn't feel like having a VC discussion at the time.

Light dusting of snow overnight. About 30F. Saw some bicycle tracks as I got closer to downtown Burlington.

Saw two people out walking a cute puppy. That was about it.

Ride in was nice; however the weather folk didn't mention the wind chill, which made it feel like 30 instead of the advertised 42 degrees. Other than that, the ride was a nice relaxing start to the day.

I've had to scrap my ride for the last few days because I've been uncertain of conditions . I ride in full road trim and didn't want to start out riding only to find I should have taken the bus. I've also been concerned about black ice and frozen slush on the way home, and I know what you mean about those bridges. I figure if my ride in is gonna take longer than the bus, then I'll just bus it .

Freaking weird day. I should have stayed home.

I woke up with a pain in my ankle, somewhat akin to a sprain and a cramp (probably my 60lb dog sleeping on me is what did it) - but I decided to ride to work anyway. Only effectively pedalling with one foot, the commute was tricky, but I managed. I figured the pain would go away.

Well, the pain remained, so I decided to go home after lunch. Only my ride home was worse than the ride in because of some incredible wind gusts. I seriously had a hard time keeping the bike steady, and pushing with one good foot made it no easier. Now I look outside and it's perfectly calm.... and my ankle still effing hurts. grumble

It wasn't windy to, it was nice. Record time was posted, as I saw an oppertunity to get through the stop light without waiting, but I had to go faster than normal (slow). I made it to the office in around 10 minutes.

-40 today. Added another layer to my legs. Made the ride much better than last night.

How far do you ride? What do you wear? I thought -10 was cold.

my commute today was miserable! I hate my new route, and I think I am going to drop it. Temperature was NICE, But!!!! I had a 17mph headwind. DAMN this slowed me down so bad.

18miles in 1:45

First thing that annoyed me (this route takes me through a serious GHETTO! its even scary!) was a bunch of what looked to me like drug dealers were staring me down. I was thinking, damn, they are going to jump me, take my bike, my money, kick me, and leave me for dead. Luckily nothing happened.

Next block up, another person, one of those gangster looking kids asked me if I were a COP!

Next block up, another person riding along with the wind, TOLD ME TO PEDAL FASTER! What an asswipe! Its easy when riding the wind, and when you are only doing a couple of yards. I will tell you to pedal faster after 8 miles going into the wind and we'll see who is pedaling faster.

I am not digging my new route too much because its makes me turn too many corners, and just too many cars. I prefer sidewalks, and this route has zero sidewalks for around 9 miles.

My other route is much more relax, sidewalks almost the entire way, and since it is a backroad, it is not as crowded.

Ride home was blazingly fast. At least it felt like it. Except for the part w/ the headwind almost pushing me to a complete stop while going uphill. Took about 9 mins. and change to go 2 miles which ain't bad for me. I think my new fenders added 1-2 mph to my speed.

Thought I'd post in here tonight about how commuting does nothing to improve speed. I felt like a slug all the way home tonight could barely pick the bike up to carry it down the stairs. When I hoisted it onto my shoulder the rear wheel stopped like I'd just slammed on the brakes. Sure enough the rear brakes were rubbing hard on the left side. Got the bike downstairs and fixed that then spun the wheel- it stops again! I look and the rear fender has come out of it's stay and it's rubbing on the tire. Hopefully, it will be a better ride tomorrow.

ouch ! Ghetto !! Man this sux... I wonder if you can gmap your route and then try to find alternate routes that take up about the same distance but with a more direct path ...

And about the sidewalks... I think thats worse than the ghetto ... really... how can you pick up any speed in the sidewalk ?

sidewalks are :

1. bumpy.
2. full of people.
3. full of bus benches.
4. full of power pole support beams (hard to see when you are trying to go fast).
5. almost never have properly aligned ramp ways...
6. are full of driveways ... (cars almost always pull out fully into the sidewalk when they are looking to get onto the main roadway).


.... thats just my rant...



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my commute was a little cooler than usual today... as in temperature wise.. it was like 5x F outside today...

=) easy ride.

Good ride in this morning. Got off to another late start but beat most of the traffic. Had a several drivers try to push me around, but I held my own. I'm sure they're grumbling to their coworkers about me.

First commute in three days...Yay for me! (Snow & Slush Lately)

It felt good and slightly awkward to be back on the road (I've been riding the trainer) amongst all the madness. Decent commute today not too cold at 33°F but it's fairly gusty, I even had to drop down to the small chainring at one point. Roads/Bridges are in pretty good shape as I've had to do very little dodging of ice and snow.

Good ride this morning. I was on the road before 6 and that cuts the traffic volumes way down. You can really start to tell that it is getting light earlier. Getting some sunlight by the time I get to the office.
Stopped by Performance Bike last night to get a CatEye TL-LD1000 blinkie. Their web site said they were on sale [$29 instead of $39] . Didn't see one on the shelf and the staff just hovered question marks over their heads when I asked them. Went home and bought it off eBay new for $27 including shipping. I love eBay...I'm sure the LBS hates 'em. Since I can never get out of the LBS without spending at least $50 I picked up a pair of LG lobster claw gloves and a fleece hat. They both worked very well this am. Was nice to shed the windproof balaclava. 22F and breezy on the way in.
Don

Not very cold this morning, maybe -3. The sunrise wasn't that good today, despite the fact that I was lazy and didn't leave the house until 8:10 or something. I was thinking about when I get my new fixed/free rear wheel, and how cool it will be to build my own frame from scratch. I just need a downtube and lugs... oh, and mad skillz...

Pushed it through 3 or 4 inches of fluffy powder this morning. Low 20Fs. I made first bicycle tracks in the snow all the way in.

Finally - 2 weeks of lurking, and I can finally post to this thread! First time in on the bike today. Drove halfway, parked the truck, and road the last 7+ miles. It was beautiful! Low 40s, no wind, no issues with drivers. To top it off, a beautiful sunrise as I was pulling into the security gate at the office. Why in the world didn't I start this sooner**********

A good commute this morning. I hit the stop light pretty much perfectly and made it to the office in about 10 minutes.

I am planning to call in sick tomorrow. If I do that will make anothe perfect week for bike commuting, 4 for 4, and for the year I am now at 16 for 16.

Congrats on your first bike commute and welcome to the forum.

Commute in this morn was uneventful. I've got a hill I always just downshift and spin up slowly, today I left it in gear and got out of my saddle and did it. It's over a mile into my commute so my legs have warmed up, I think I'll make it standard practice barring any ice or snow.

I just got back from riding home for lunch and I want to say thank you Cobb County PD. They were running traffic enforcement on one of my favorite roads. The speed limit is 35 but people often do twice that and I was glad to see the police out there trying to slow things down.

I'm impressed. That's tough going.

By contrast, I rode in on dry ground today. It was a glorious 26F sunny morning.

I would love to do that myself, but my weapon of choice (road bike) doesn't permit that. Besides, it's a big enough challenge to dodge the potholes, cagers, cabbys, buses, trains/tracks and the "head down, walking right at you" foot traffic. The evironment is a major determinate in which conditions we choose to ride.

I was half-dreading my commute this morning, because it was pretty cold (20s F) and there were pretty strong winds with some big gusts. But then I got outside and had a tailwind for most of my ride, so it wound up being a pretty good ride in!

2 things I've learned from this thread... Close up the messenger to avoid cat hurl delays in the morning and periodically run the car

Lovely day here in SE FL. decided to do a little diff route... MISTAKE! lots of angry traffic had me a lil
Made it in one piece though, whew. Think I'll try the ride N up the beach, A1A, homeward