+1 for the studded tires making me tired. We are supposed to have snow by now and well into March some years. There was a bout in October, which made me put them on in the first place, but since then it's been eerily warm and slushy.

Me ----> :fight: <---- Headwind

:rolleyes:

35-40MPH howling off Lake Champlain this morning. Quite possibly the worst wind I've ever endured. Sssssssssslllllloooooooowwwwwwwwww. Took me about 50% longer to get to work. The good news is, it's supposed to be just as strong for my ride home! ;)

3 to 5 foot waves rolling in to shore, too. Big by lake standards. Pretty to look at.

Last night some deer crossed the MUP ahead of me.

Got boxed in by two buses when another cyclist pulled even w/ me. Turned out to be queerpunk so we rode the rest of the way down Lex til I turned onto the street where my office is. Took a slow pace today (and still passed traffic) and talked the whole way down.

Better than monday and tuesday. I finally got my face mask positioned, so that it doesn't fog up my glasses. How nice it is, to be able to see the road! Unfortunately, my lights decided to permanently kick the bucket (rusted out connector) so I had to scramble to get a temporary headlight hooked up. The 9-LED headlight isn't nearly as bright as my dual 3W Luxeon setup, but it was better than nothing...

I'm back! Yes, I know it was only one day off. However, yesterday I was cranky all day.
Anyhow, it was a nice 23F ride down to the light rail station. I was a tad late leaving due to the fact that I had not put the new rack trunk on my bike. My wedge pack needed to be removed to fit it. Of course, the train took off right when I showed up. Spent 20 minutes pacing trying to stay warm. If I had my wits about me I would have sat in union station to stay warm. duh
My new 700X28 tires improved my speed a bit. As did the rack trunk. However, wind and remaining ice flows from last week's storm all conspired to slow me down. :p

Temp was in the high 30s the whole trip in. Each commute gets a little more pleasant as I gradually get used to riding the distance and get smarter about coasting up to lights, handling intersections where the bike lane vanishes, etc. I find myself saying things in my head like, "Take the lane!" and "I'm a vehicle." Didn't see another bicycle for the entire 20 mile ride which really makes me wonder in a city where it virtually never snows and only rains a few days every year.

Good ride today -- in the mid 20s. While crossing a street on the MUP, instead of pushing the crossing button and making every vechicle stop for me, I opted to cross in front of a Cadillac Escalade (going about 10 mph over the speed limit, of course). Was probably 50 yards away when I went in front of him, but he laid the horn on me :mad: so I gave him a mitten bird :p

have a good day all!

Seems that every summer I forget how to dress when the winter temps get cold. Today it was ~33F (1C) and I finally figured it out and wasn't cold. But I'd really like to find some gloves that keep my finger tips warm. You know, when you get "old" (I hate that word), the circulation isn't what it was when you were 50, so my fingers get cold first. Today I wore my Gore-tex gloves with glove liners and my finger tips got cold at about the 6 mile point in my commute. Maybe I should have worn my PI ski gloves. :eek:

I only saw one other commuter. I see him almost every morning. He rides east and I ride west. We always nod or wave.

The high today is supposed to be ~60F (~16C) and I brought slacks to wear at work. I should have brought shorts. :(

As I was riding down Jefferson Drive on the National Mall (in front of the Smithsonian Museums), I saw a car driving down the street with a cup on the roof. When the driver stopped at light, I tried to grab the Grande Starbucks cup to give it to the driver only to realize it was taped to the roof! I fell for the oldest trick in the book, so I thought. The driver rolled down the window and handed me a $5 Starbucks Gift Card! A very clever marketing strategy, don't you think?

I watched in amusement as a forklift driver working at one of the museums started honking at her and pointing to the cup. He also was rewarded for his attempted good deed. I gave a fellow bike commuter the heads up, and he also scored a gift card. Keep your eye out for the Starbucks lady on you commute!

Damn, I wish I would've seen that. It would've compensated for my woefully poor dressing job this morning.

Can we say WINDY? Whew, as soon as I turned the corner to head west the wind was right up in my face, I knew it was going to be a slow ride in. Had a few "whoa" moments with crosswinds and traffic, but was great - traffic was respectful despite that I was a lot slower generally (I find I get a little 'edgy' in traffic the greater the speed difference is).

2C on the TV this morning told me I didn't need an extra hat or fleece, but packed my goretex with rumours of rain today.

Despite the head and crosswinds for most of the south/west journey (Wind was apparently a SSW, no idea on speed) I had a good ride in, was noticeably more tired when I got in, no surprise there though.

Made it in in 35 mins (35:59 - 36 mins technically ;)) which I'm happy with considering.

Last night the noaa website said it was 47 when I was leaving so I dressed pretty light. I believe that they were way off. Had to stop and dig some layers and better gloves out of the panniers. Then I was nice and toasty the rest of the way.

This morning was 26f , clear and calm. Made for a nice ride. Cold, but nice.

Point of note... Only 15 more days until the days start to get longer again :)

Even better news--the sunsets aren't getting any earlier and will start getting later in about 10 days, depending on your latitude (check out www.sunrisesunset.com)! I recently realized the shortest day of the year (Dec 21/22) does not have the earliest sunset (google this for the rather complicated explanation or check out Earth & Sky's website).

Yah - Actually, yesterday was the earliest sunset here in Burlington, VT. It starts setting later now through summer!

SunRISE is another question. Later and later, until next month. I keep printed calenders from sunrisesunset.com at work. :)

Riding uphill through slop is making me stronger. I swear my legs are getting bigger - or it might just be fat. :lol:

Here's to L-O-N-G-E-R days. :beer:



And warmer temps. :o

Saw my fox friend again today. Ran across the path then stopped and stared as I went bye. Saw zero other commuter today. Temp was about 18F. I almost fell on ice while going around in circle behind my office to cool down.

Yay! I think you may be jumping ahead of things on the warmer temps :p

that's so cool... take him some food! (peanut butter sandwich)

I also see plenty of rabbits and would love to see the fox chasing a rabbit.

Computer crapped out on me today. Now I gotta replace the battery for the 2nd time this year. Other than that, the ride was the usual madhouse of livery cabs pulling in/out everywhere.

horrible - bike-free. Likely to be the case tomorrow too.

great past 3 days, 75 miles total commute dst (25x3)! been cold, teaching people in cages, establishing presence (new job locate). lights are working well (thanks eBay)! saw 0.0, non, zero other cyclists here.
gotta drive tomorrow, dentist appt 5:20 pm. "ignore your teeth and they'll go away" i've heard....
anyway, the extended commute seems to be getting easier as i acclimate. sometimes the rides are the high-light of my work day!
tomg

Cold....22F in the AM. Core temp was OK, but my fingers were very cold for the whole ride. Toes only got cold towards the end.

Ride home was much better...50F, and a fast ride.

Windy
 

Ride in this morning was nice, 27F, 7mph headwind, empty MUP (12 miles 1dogwalker, 1 other bike).

The ride home was nuts. Not sure what the windspeed was, but it was a huge tailwind. I was riding 25mph on the level parts not trying, hit a max of 31 when I ran out of gears. This is on the commuterized mountain bike as they were calling for flurries this morning, and sometimes we get 4 inches of "flurries" here, although today we didn't get anything. After I got off the MUP, and turned crosswind on a gravel road it really got interesting. The wind was blowing so hard that I was having to drift to keep going straight. At one point the wind caught my panniers and literally slid the back wheel out from under me. Since I wasn't going very fast, I just planted my left foot and stood up, and then walked the last 200 feet to the crossroad where I turned into the wind and road the rest of the way home (less than half a mile) on pavement in low gears. What a hoot!

brisk ride in the morning but certainly tolerable. a few patches of ice made me almost feel justified to have the studded snow tires on the bike. rode through the icy puddles just to make sure they still worked.

rode home in the cool darkness but the air actually seemed to be getting warmer as I got closer to home. seems that we may be in for a little warming trend. new batteries in my tail light- I thought it was looking a little dimmer- made a huge difference.

Started out the ride home with a stomach ache from eating too many carrots. Pedaling home actually made me feel better. Saw my fox run across a major street right in front on me. I really hope I don't find him hit one day...

I hear you on the tailwind -- I'm in Lincoln, and I kicked a$$ on the way home!

I'm getting the feeling you're going to be seeing your fox friend kissing pavement one of these days.

if there's a free darwin award going around, i claim the one for this week. sitting on the edge of my (low))bed with a large mug of coffee this morning, i had an utter brain-fade and set it down on my knees, which were higher than some of the rest of me. instant and absolute spill, inwards. how is this related to bikes? if i weren't a bike commuter, i wouldn't have been wearing new, utterly-waterproof rainpants for the event. with a zipper i forgot that they have so it was wide open. probably the fastest but not the best way to wake yourself up.

other than that, the day went quite well. forgot to mention that on my way home yesterday in the dark i rode right through a cluster of twigs that had never been there before. i kind of went huh?, was glad i wear glasses, and rode on. today i remembered in time to watch out a little better, and found out what it was: the snow pushed over a sapling on the other side of the ditch, and it's just tall enough to overhang the shoulder at face height to a cyclist. lots of those little leftover hazards around, but almost no snow anymore.

nice conversation with the guy in the test lab on the other side of my bench. turns out he gets up every morning and bikes around for an hour before coming to work - just for fun. was too tactful to ask, but i totally fail to get it. with all that mileage every day, he could be riding to work. i suspect he's probably scared to bike where cars go. he talks a looooooot about the dangers of what i do.

and conversation with the jovial little older security guard who's our usual patrol dude in the evenings. sometime after i started there he got his son's mountain bike out of storage and has been riding it around for a few months. completely the wrong fit for him in every way, but today he had a snazzy fancy super-uber pale-gold norco something-or-other that he said the company provided for him. it had his own headlight masking-taped to the handlebars but 'you need a rear blinkie' i said sternly, and he said 'can't do that. not in our line of work. how can we sneak up on someone if we have lights?' i agreed politely, meanwhile trying to figure out how a rear blinkie would let the bad guys see you coming, but a headlight wouldn't. i just reminded him that if he wasn't legal, and he did get hit by some car, provincial auto insurance would probably screw him over.

pretty bossy, convivial day, for me.