18 miles round trip. First time since last summer I could make it home with just bike shorts and a jersey. Saw two ladies om MTBs, a kid on a BMX, a guy with an upright tadpole trike selling shaved ice, chorizos, and other snacks, and two serious roadies in Hi-zoot commute gear. And how do I know they were serious roadies? Well maybe not but when someone refuses to return a greeting from someone with fenders, worn panniers on a rear rack, a lime-yellow reflective vest, and no advertising on his jersey I tend to think bad thoughts. I have met nice roadies, usually when involved in ultra events.

Hmm, I happened to glance at the clock before and after my evening commute. It takes less time than I thought. (Of course, it is a net downhill on the way home, though.) A nice, uneventful ride. It was pleasantly not too cold given how cold it was earlier in the evening. :)

I rode M-F this week (16 mile RT). The killer was additional the 24 mile round-trip late Wednesday to play tennis. I'm sore!

Finished my first week on the new commuter. 4 out of 5 days, 105 miles, nice weather, and a new bike to boot. Who could ask for more.

Ask for five of five. I just finished January with 21 days of 22 mile round trips. February will have 20 days of commutes. More days to work would be my request. Maybe longer commutes or .......

Still the best part of my day, as always.

Much colder than last week. 35F a little rain, a little sleet, nothing really compared to what our northern brethren are used to.

The commute was nice, if a bit cold---the temperature was 30f, but shot down into the teens with the 10-15mph winds. Overall the ride went well, but a bit slower than usual, in part to the extra layer of clothes, and the chilly headwind. At least the commute home will be better!

Nice and cool outside today, upper 40's ...

I did not want to wait at the slowest intersection of my trip, so i cut across on the sidewalk ... sure enough, a car pulls out and doesnt even look in my direction ( since I w as going against the direction of traffic) and i had to dodge him .. he mumbled something but I could not hear him since I was spinning to keep warm.

=)

OK, while putting on a new rear fender Saturday, I measured the chain and WOW it was horribly worn. I guess the sand and crap was a lot worse than I thought; in 6 weeks it went from not hitting the "0.75" (3/4 worn) side of the gauge to having probably 2-3 mm of gap to the "1.0" side of the gauge. I don't think it would have been possible to keep a chain clean lately; I'd clean and ride to work and it'd look like it'd been dipped in a mud bath.

So I put a new chain on. Now I'm skipping gears like mad. Dammit. Ordering a new freewheel now. At least this will give me a chance to get rid of that damn useless megarange gear. I'll switch from 14-34 to a 14-28. I would have liked a 13-28 but I don't see them listed.

Ah well, apart from that it was a great ride. No shoulders on the busy road today due to heavy/wet snowfall yesterday freezing into a rutted mess on the sides, but the cars can just wait and go around.

Surprisingly good ride this morning. I left a bit late, expecting the worst from our winter weather advisory. But an extra layer made me overheat a bit and most of the ride was during a break in the rain so I stayed fairly dry. I hope the weather lets off for my jaunt uptown after lunch today.

Quite ride this morning, that's more than I can say for all the cagers stuck in traffic on Comm.Ave. Some flapjack knocked down a traffic light at the B.U. bridge, so three lanes got squeezed into one.

Traffic sucked today. Slowed me down and added a minute to my ride time and probably 3 mins or so overall. Instead of being relaxed after my ride, I was tense b/c I'd been stuck in traffic. Somedays, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Burr.. toes are frozen this morning. It was 19 and a bit breezy on the way in. Now I know that under 20 requires the bike shoes and booties. I usually just wear my sneakers.

Left later today, that really boosts up the volume of traffic on the way in. I've noticed that people don't give you near as much room when the sun is coming up. Oh well... just gotta watch the mirror for the crazy ones.

Im beaming with pride this morning.. I tend to get uninspired on Mondays and just drive in. Too much stuff to haul. Today I just loaded it all onto the bike and rode anyways. Both panniers were full with laptop, 2 boxes of instant oatmeal, lunch of soup and diced fruit, full change of clothes, cell phone and charger, etc etc. It was heavy, but I'm in it for the workout anyways.

LOL! and I was gonna whine about it being cold here in FL 47* this :am What a wuss I am :rolleyes:

One of my colleagues has seemed intrigued by my biking to work. Today he told me he dug out his old bike this weekend, aired up the tires and took it for a spin over the weekend. I thought that was pretty cool.

A slender guy but was surprised he had gotten a little winded. He has a young son, I think he’s like 7 or 8, I said “it’ll be a fun thing to do with your son!” he said "yeah, he has a bike too." He lives way too far from the office to commute and travels daily around the county for work but I hope he keeps riding, if even only weekends :)

It was warm this morning, probably upper 60's with a 20-30 mph head wind for the first half of the ride. It took about 10 minutes to get to the office.

Brisk. I had to get off and gingerly make my way across several patches of black ice. It's downright light these days at 7am...didn't even need my light!

There were several stretches of very slick-looking ice on the road today here in MI. Luckily the studded tires laugh at those, but without the tires I definitely would have been winding around those bits or even getting off in several places.

Warm temps on the weekend melted all the ice, so I am back on skinny tires for the next while. It's so much faster than the MTB...

Rode the race bike to work today. The commuter is at REI while the shop guys determine whether that really is a crack in the chainstay or just a flaw in the paint. I think either way, they'll replace the frame. REI is good that way. The problem is that this is the second aluminum frame they'll have to replace. I wonder if I should just go with steel.

I have an icebike with studded tires, but it just hasn't been winter here since December. No point in using the studded tires for just a block's worth of ice in my 14 mile commute. Now if we get some winter weather, I'll be riding the icebike for sure (those studded tires are too expensive to not have some ice!)

I want to ride my road bike but I know if I do, it will snow, even if no snow is forecast for the day. :) So I keep riding my heavy winter beater with studs on dry pavement. Sigh.

I had a 20MPH quartering headwind holding me back this morning. I'm guessing it'll be a tailwind for the ride home, so I can't complain. Close to Lake Champlain I was getting pushed around a bit. Nothing serious.

Much colder this morning than any from last week. Upper 20's so I bundled up and had a great ride in. Weather looks cooler this week but not much precip so I should be riding every day this week :)

Took less than 10 mins. to get home. Booyah!

Mid-thirties and clear going this morning. High 60's and cloudy coming home.

The really interesting thing happened on the way home. Had a guy in a service van towing a utility trailer on the back flag me down. I pull over and stop to see what he wants.

He wants to know all about my Burley Flatbed Utility Trailer. He mentions that he's seen me several times and how he thinks more people should be, and could be, on bikes rather than in cars. He was a definite boost to my day. :D