Well, the cold and the snow weren't the worst parts, unfortunately. Both my rear derailleur AND my right-side brake decided to sieze up, meaning that I basically single-speeded it to work - on a RECUMBENT. This is not a chore I would recommend to anyone, especially if you live in an area with large hills (like I do). My legs hurt.

So, what caused them to seize up? WD-40. That's the only thing I changed. I put some in the lines in the hope that it would keep the water out, no such luck. I don't know if they are frozen or if the WD-40 just loosened grit that was already there, but whatever the cause I'm going to have to fix it before I go home.

Did I mention my legs hurt?

Maybe I'm totally wrong here but it seems that I see plenty of foxes around here but very few roadkilled foxes. Maybe they are a little better at dodging traffic than some wildlife.

When I left work yesterday, the weather station in the middle of Lake Champlain was recording almost 50MPH gusts. :eek: I had a fast ride home, to say the least.

This morning the winds had calmed somewhat but I still had a headwind to deal with. Nothing bad like yesterday morning though.

Standard issue morning. 43 degrees in our nation's capital. The weather had said today would be a substantial drop, but it didn't come. Probably tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it -- it's a lot easier dressing for temperatures below 40 than temperatures above it.

Much warmer ride in this morning that the past two days. Temps almost at 50 when I left home. Was sweating pretty good by the time I got to work. Cold front comes through tonight so it should be colder tomorrow morning. Determined last night on my way home that my rear hub is making noises and that it will probably need replaced :(

Warm ride in, 47F and humid so I was sweaty when I got to work. Traffic was the usual mess and had one brain surgeon pull along my right side when I was in the right lane, but shaded to the left to get around right turning traffic. I ended up passing him 2 seconds later. Guess he didn't notice that there was a line up of cars waiting to turn right when he decided he had to pass me.

I cheated and drove in today. It was 12*F which in and of itself isn't too bad. The problem was that I had my commuter gear and slicks on my Outlook from yesterday's fair-weather commute, but didn't have time to swap the gear or the wheelsets between the bikes and still make it to the bus on time. There was tons of standing water yesterday, and that would have been a solid sheet of ice. Not doing that on slicks.

I went over a big bump last night in front of Union Station and my pannier went flying into the middle lane of traffic. Most of the cars avoided hitting it, but one manged to clip it with its rear wheel. No damage done, though. The scary part was trying to run out in the road to retrieve it.

After a very good night's sleep, I awoke to +7C temps this morning. Unfortunately, this will do little to melt the slush on the first km of my route to work.

22 degrees today with gusting head wind up to about 15 mph. I'm still new to commuting (about 8 weeks) so really wanted to try this out to see how it went. Other than my water bottle spout freezing it was all good.

Tom

Don't feed wildlife. It's bad for them.

I had to work late last night, so rode home a slightly different route (the late work was at an event place, not our office) - which was great. I came outside to head home from the event location and it was raining, nothing like being prepared with my goretex though. Took Mortimer instead of Cosburn again for fun, loved the ride home - fairly quiet roads at 10:30pm where I was riding. 36 mins.

Didn't ride in today, seems my schedule and weather tied in nicely as I had to take my daughter in for a doctors appointment and it's been snowing and damn cold today, -16C with windchill I think I saw. Semi-rest day, I'm joining a few colleagues for after hours skating at a local open air rink.

Haha...I did that at lunch today. Rode my bike to the rink w/ the skates in my backpack. Be careful out there, I hear there's been a rash of peds getting run over lately in T.O.

12F this morning, with 20-30mph winds. Wind chill of -2F. My personal cold record this season. The ride was alright, except I should have had an extra layer for my legs, and maybe feet. Still, if I feel cold getting to work, why am I all sweaty when I take all the gear off?

Goggles are great!

Best commute yet. I just got a road bike last night, so now the broke-down mountain bike i've been riding (and i mean like everything that can be messed up - gears, wheels, size too small for me, etc, is messed) is permanently relegated to the back yard.

commuting is fun again...

And not just for them. Also the humans whom they annoy, scare or even threaten after "human" and "food" get linked in their mind.

Foggy and 39F...nice ride in.

Anyway, the ride today was pretty darn cool. I was afraid there might be some ice on the roads, but encountered none. Fingers were a bit chilly at first but not for long. Strange - usually fingers get colder the longer I ride...

Weird stuff with routes today. I decided on one (I have several favourites) and then had some much fun passing a traffic jam on Davenport that I missed my turn-off. Shoot! Ok, I figured, I'll ride to Yonge, take Yonge to Bloor and just bike straight along Bloor to the Bloor Viaduct and over, and from there take the route I meant to take. So I was riding along Yonge and suddenly see the sign "Wellesley". I missed Bloor! Torontonians will understand. :D

Coming back, I decided to take the Millwood Bridge for variety but as I approached it, I saw a police car blocking the entrance to the bridge. So all the motorists had to curse and take a detour through some other bridge (which, of course, created a bunch of jams in the vicinity) but the cops just waved me through. Awesome! A superwide empty bridge all to myself! Too bad I was riding so slowly 'cause of the headwind. After crossing the bridge I saw more police cruisers (three or four I think!), a bunch of yellow tape at an intersection and two badly mangled autos. The police directed me to a quick parking lot detour to bypass the intersection and I was on my way. Very little traffic for a couple of km after the bridge as well because most of the usual traffic there comes from the bridge. Heh heh, gotta love riding dat bike! :D

Are the rinks open already? Gee, I miss everything. Gotta put those rollerblades away and pull the ice skates out! :D

You missed some great biking weather! :p :p :p The roads were clear and the few die-hard bike commuters very sociable (there is an increased sense of comradeship, I guess). But when your kids gotta go to a doctor, you gotta take 'em to a doctor.

Dangit! I knew I shouldn't of given that mountain lion all those steaks. Now he just keeps following me around licking his lips!

What I'd really like to know is WHO WAS THE FIRST ONE TO INVITE THE MOSQUITOES TO A DROP OF BLOOD!!! :D

It was 6F with a 10-15mph headwind on the way in to work this morning. I had frost between my balaclava and my helmet when I took it off. This is the coldest morning so far, and it looks like I have a couple of adjustments yet to make for weather like this. This is my first winter commuting and I am still trying to figure out how to keep my feet warmer when it's down below 15F and windy, and it looks like I'm going to have to add another layer of underwear. Had to stop and stuff an extra pair of wool socks in my pants about half way to work to keep from freezing with the windchill from the headwind. Once I get that figured out, I think I should be able to commute the whole winter, or at least down to 0F.

The ride home was quite a bit better, 12F with only a 5mph headwind. It switched from north to south during the day. Why is it that the wind rarely ever gives you a tailwind both ways, but seems to frequently give you a headwind? Maybe I just remember the headwinds more...

29 degrees going in, to tie last year's coldest commute. Undoubtably will set a new record low commute this year. No comparison to some other commuters, but it is cold to me. Felt like I was flying both ways today. Maybe I was, I passed more cars than usual.:D

ain't nobody out there on the bike path but me. My wife rode in earlier today so I know someone else was out there but the little touch of winter we've had so far has scared all the fair weather bike commuters away. Where do they go? The bus? In their cars? It's kind of strange. It doesn't even feel like the weather's gotten that bad yet this year.

Snow due tomorrow, though.

rode home late. and rode real slow into a moderate headwind. I was tired.

not much to report. i got there and got back and ate some peanut butter sandwiches in between. seems like ever since the big snow i've been fighting some covert illness that won't go away, but can't break all the way through and make me officially sick either. result: i feel tired enough to lean on spare walls all the time, but can't figure out what my problem is since i don't feel 'sick'. i just put it down to the winter tires and wonder why i'm not used to them yet. i will be happy when it goes away.

two other bikes in the bike cage today. nice in a way, and in a way disappointing since it means i'm not all uber and special and hard-core anymore

Awesome! Snow ride! :) First of the season. First tracks last night going home from work, then someone came through after me. Saw his/her tracks this morning. Little bit of ice here and there which concerned me because I don't have studded tires yet, but the knobby tires never flinched.

Last night it was snowing like mad, and dark. Winter riders will know how beautiful this is with a nice headlight in the woods. I felt like all was right with the world. No noise save for my tires on the ground and a whispering wind in the trees. (I feel poetic.)

2F (-17C) on the cyclocomputer this morning, with a tailwind.

Funnily enough, I was the first one in my area to show up, on time, and I'm riding a bicycle. :rolleyes:

It's freaking freezing!
Good thing I'm working from home
Because it's Friday!

19 degrees when I left the house this morning. I got psyched out by the weather man and threw on an extra layer -- then I was burning up by the time I got to work. I might switch to Power Grip pedals this time of year so that I can manage some bigger shoes.

25F and slight headwind this morning. My knees and left hip have been bothering me, so I moved the seat back a bit and upped my cadence. Much better. Also getting better at picking the right clothes for the weather. Mid-weight liner and shell were perfect.