Stick with it Tim, T.C. is right, I too have an old MTB set up for winter, It is great fun and a challenge at times. There are some wet days that are just not safe to ride, but there are also many great rides to be had in the winter months.

Yes, there are days during the winter when I do not ride. I used to drive when the temps were below 20F. My cut off is now more like 5F. I also do not ride when there is wet snow predicted for the commute hours. Too many cars sliding around make for a hairy ride. But even with these no bike rules, I hardly miss a day.

Yep, its happened, my first commute in 3 years :D
Its a nice ride along the countryside, about 5 miles, and no hills (we don`t have any around here :rolleyes: )
Good weather, a bit foggy but quiet, i`ll post some pics from the ride tommorow

cheers :beer:

Perhaps I will do the commute a few more times on my hybrid this winter on the better days. Not sure if I can put studded tires on that bike, but I'll check. This is my first year commuting, so I'm very happy I've made it this long. Riding my bike to work would have been completely inconceivable to me a year ago. If I get hopelessly bored at the gym and using a trainer, I'll find a way to make the commute by bike! :D

Thanks for the encouragement!

Take care,
Tim

Had a good ride in this morning. Got a new pannier seatpost rack for my Birthday last night (my wife had me circle everything I needed in the performance catalogue). I must say it is nice to get that 20 lbs load off my back. I think I actually rode a little faster than normal too. Must be I use a lot of energy just to keep the pack on my back. It was a fairly nondescript commute other than that. It started out a little chilly. I think I am going to need a jacket soon.

We've really lucked out here in the Minneapolis area the last couple of days, it's gotten up into the mid 40's and sunny. Yesterday I took the long way into work and did the same for the ride home... ditto for today.

A bit sluggish today, but made it in only one minute off my new and improved average time. ;) My bike has developed an annoying tick when the drive-side crank arm is in the 12 o'clock position. Seeing as how I don't have many tools yet, I need to go and drop the bike off at the shop this afternoon, hopefully it can get fixed before I head home tonight.

Xmas hopefully will bring an assortment of bike tools.

Also today was in that odd zone where you're either too cold or too warm. (Losing an arm warmer doesn't help either. :()

Bummer this morning, my back light fell off on the way to work and smashed(my fault), but why did it have to happen right by a bus stop. Luckily I have a light on my Rucksack as well so I made it to work without the worry of wether drivers can see me.

The journey home was one of those times when you feel you can ride forever.

Rain has been forecast for the rest of the week so it looks like I'm going to get wet.

The temps are actually rising now that the sun has set. Nice warm night for riding and calm winds. If only there were no clouds....having the bright moon to bike by would be awesome.

Most hybrids have decent clearance for medium-wide tires, like 700x32 to 700x40, even with fenders.

One solution would be to winterize your bike with full fenders and even with a home-made mudflap to lenghten the front fender and protect your shoes and bottom bracket.

Then, depending on the roads you are and their condition, as well as your level of confidence, you have three options.

1. Use the bike as is.
It works fine in fresh snow (tires cut through it), but that's not a good overall solution.

2. Use cyclocross (aka knobby) tires
If you get some with a smooth centerline, you get the best of both worlds: a relatively smooth and easy ride on pavement, and sculptures that grip in the snow.

3. Use one or two studded tires.
For commuting, the front studded tire improves riding on ice, uneven packed snow and other similar conditions. A rear studded tire adds a bit of traction, but not that much, unless you ride off road.

My solution is to put two cyclocross tires for Winter, and to get an extra front wheel (used, $20) on which I install a studded tire on it (Innova 700x35). When there is snow or icing rain, I install that front wheel on the bike.

If you don't feel confident about your riding skills in Winter, it's OK to stop. If you check weather patterns, you'll find that there usually are quite a few warm days in December and that, when we reach February and March, there also are long periods when the weather is quite interesting and when there isn't any snow on the road.

Regards,

blech, just a tiring day. For some reason my legs wouldn't do what they were told. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

It had been raining all day yesterday and all night and then stopped this morning just before I left for work. 20km into the ride, it was raining. It hadn't stopped all day but let up a little this afternoon. But then rained a little harder further into the commute home.

So, it was wet, wet, wet.

But still fun. Enjoyed the ride.

Ride home last night was a bit of a nigthmare. I dropped my security pass on the road and by the time I was able to pick it up 20 cars had ran over it. I've now got a bent garage and locker key. Amazingly the electronics inside the pass are still working, but hte retractable 'dog lead' is squashed flat.

Much better on the way in this morning. Despite the wind and light rain I felt as if I was flying. In fact awesome ride in this morning:)

I made it halfway to work this morning and then felt that sinking feeling. Sure enough, a flat. Took 10 minutes to sort it and get underway as I always have a spare tube. Only one other cyclist stopped to ask if I needed anything :beer: . Moreover, I was stuck right outside a house driveway. The owner arrived, got out of their car, looked at me and disappeared inside without saying a word. Human nature is a wonderful thing.

Cheers

I tried the 22km "around the bay" commute on the way home last night. Interesting ride through ritzy homes of Burlington and then through downtown Hamilton, nice scenery, some small hills to keep it interesting. Traffic volumes made my other commute look like a ride in the park, but it was a nice ride, full moon rising over Burlington Bay looked very picturesque. Temp was +5 C at the start, +2 when I got home.
But it took an hour for me to get home!!! Not sure why, headwind all the way home, but I should be used to that by now. I just scaled the distance off a map, it could be more than 22km. I was riding 27 km in an hour in September, I don't think I've slowed down that much since then!
Back to the 12km ride in this morning (couldn't get motivated to leave early enough for the 22km) - uneventful, but pleasant.

The northeast US is blessed with a spring like day. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind, 31F at 8am, and nice white snow on the ground. I would like to say it is too warm for this time of year, but despite a chance of hitting 50F, the normal high for this time of year is 45F.

I need to head home at noon, so may take the long way so I can enjoy this fine weather.

Another character builder for me today. Left the house on wet roads from the night rain, Turned left at the end of my street, started down a 1/2 mile long fairly steep hill and found out the water was hard and dry, I slid most of the way down and was able to control my speed and not fall. When I reached the main road, the fog was so thick I could barely see the road, I rode about 3 miles and picked up a tack in the rear tire, flat #1, I replaced the tube and continued on thinking that the fog was going to lift, well it didn't. It was thick and wet all the way to work, when I rode into the parking lot slightly on the late side, I rode over a sharp peice of concrete and , you guessed it, flat #2. Well tonight I'm cutting up the panaracer's, I'm installing the winter PR belted michelins and will be done with this flat thing. Since new these tires have flatted 16 times, they are quite worn in just 1300 miles, I won't be buying panaracer tires again, they were a disappointment from day 1. 11:00 and the fog hasn't lifted yet, the sun is suposed to shine today, hopefully for the ride home. have a great day all.

Experimented with a new route to work today. I've been trying to avoid one section of road I use because it gets very narrow and at night when I ride in the dark, it's not very safe. So the new detour around that section makes my commute about 0.25 mile longer, but it only took me about 30 seconds longer to get to work. Both routes are slightly downhill, but I think the new route is a bit more downhill than the other. Plus, no traffic light on the new route. I'll see how that slightly steeper hill feels going home before I stick to this new route. Hehe. But ya just gotta love a wider road... just feels safer.

PBW

Nice weather for november, i enjoyed the ride.

And some pics from the route,

http://www.boardofheaven.com/100-0017_IMG.jpg

http://www.boardofheaven.com/100-0018_IMG.jpg

http://www.boardofheaven.com/100-0019_IMG.jpg

http://www.boardofheaven.com/100-0021_IMG.jpg

http://www.boardofheaven.com/100-0026_IMG.jpg

Have a good ride tommorow!

cheers :beer:

I hit 2000 miles today! I decided I am going to pick up a discarded car part off the road every 1000 miles now. Today I picked up a Battery tie down bolt. I don't know what I will do with all these items when I am done, maybe a sculpture or something. Just thought it fitting. Had a beautiful ride in. I actually had to pull off my knee warmers. Tried to do it without stopping like my racer friend said can be done but one pulled shoulder later says it isn't prudent (especially with cars whizzing by). In the future I will take the thirty second delay or maybe do it at a stoplight.

Okay toolfreak, you made me want to change my route to something more scenic, only there isn't any of that near my route :(.. Looks like you have a killer ride.


Today's commute was a bit better. I learned not to leave the house at 8:30, as all the high-school traffic is headed into school. Also I was amazed at how many Jr. High kids now go to Starbucks. I don't remember anyone I knew back then liking coffee at all. But I guess w/ all the sugar in the drinks now its all the same thing.

I had more energy today, but my knee felt a bit irritated after the ride. Also I clocked my cadence today, curious what I was actually pedalling at. Where i thought I was at 80 or so, I was actually at 100-120.

The weather was great, I only wore my leg warmers, and probably didn't even need those. I did my first downhill out-of-the-saddle sprint in a long time, it definately gets more power out of the bike to do that.

I have one MTB with IRC Metros and the other with Michelin Wild Grippers. I can not complain too much about the IRCs. They are light, can hold 100 pounds and have a very low rolling resistence. In several seasons and thousands of miles I have only had 6 or so flats. The problem is that these have all occured during the past couple of months and are becoming more frequent. In contrast, the Michelins are heavier, slightly higher rolling resistence, but are very thick skinned. I have ridden over total crap with these without a single flat. So only Michelins for me from here on out, other than the Nokian M&G's which I stick on the front during the winter months. Like the Michelin's, the Nokians have a thick carcass, so can take a wicked beating.

It's getting worse around here, today's commute to work was very cold, very wet and very windy. it was a very cold rain that left me with a freezing painful forehead.
It improved quite a lot for the journey home but the bike was asking for attention all the way home, I guess the rain has got into every nook and cranny.

The weather forecast is not looking good for tommorrow, Gale force winds(50+mph) and rain, it looks like it's going to be a slog:)

Ride home was good.. I kept a nice pace. Before I started, one of my headlamps burnt out, so I hit every LBS from work to home, and some out of the way looking for a replacement. Oddly enough, the shop that had it was the one closest to my house. Got in an extra 4 miles, and one hell of a climb during the detour. I am now thinking of adding that bit on days I feel good. The climb really had my legs burning.

I still want to go riding by the windmills. :p

I had the best ride in this morning, NO flats, my new Michelin 80 PSI puncture proof wild grippers mounted on my new Syncros lil-snapper abuser friendly rims that I built up using LX hubs and 14 gauge DT spokes rolled sooooo nice all the way to work. The air temp was 30 degrees with no wind. I think the ride home is going to be a wet one though.