Andy Dreisch

Nice 7-miler in to work. Like Monday, I used the horrifically slow Light Rail to get me closer to work. Then it was off to the races. Knee's fine now but I'm still not pushing it. Also like Monday, I'll be riding 13 miles to my daughter's high school after work.

It's going to be pretty warm and nice through the weekend so I hope to do as much riding as possible.

pinerider

First commute of 2003 and it's great to be back!. Actually riding has become a necessity, I had 9 days off for the holidays, accumulated only 10 miles of snow trail mountain biking and what seems like 10 pounds of turkey, etc!
It was a character builder on the way home, half of the 21km commute had a 25 mph gusting tailwind, the last half was a gusty headwind! temps of -5 C or 22 F combined for a 6 F windchill, but toasty warm with a new fleece sweatshirt and a Nike Dri Fit long sleeve (Christmas gifts) under the Louis Garneau jacket. Almost too warm on some of the trip.
We're supposed to get 10-12" of snow by tomorrow night, (just started when I got home), so probably be "On the Buses" tomorrow! ("Snowrco" (old Norco) snow bike no closer to being ready than it was before Christmas.)

donham

No ride today with snow and much ice.
Another storm comming in on Friday evening.
Perhaps Monday

Chris L

I just heard a very interesting long range weather forecast. It seems that after almost two years of drought, Queensland is now apparently in for some extreme monsoonal weather conditions. If this holds, I might have some very interesting commutes over the next two months.

:thumbup:

John C. Ratliff

My company is still shut down, so I really didn't commute, but did ride in to work just to see how things were going. It was a morning exercise ride, and it was warm (~55 degrees) and not raining. But on the way home, my 10 speed winter bike (the LeTour) decided to release a crank from the shaft, and I found that the nut would not thread itself. I turned it around, and it threaded, but I had to take it easy on the way home. This evening, I found another nut in the pile of used parts I've kept, and fixed it. So hopefully I'll be ready for a commute on Monday.

John

Hants Commuter

Did my first commute of 2003 yesterday. Despite the wind and rain it was good to be back on the bike.

I made the decision over the holidays to try panniers again. This time I invested in a decent rack to mount them. The difference over a backpack is amazing.

pinerider

The weatherman exaggerated again, only 6" of snow overnight, not the 12" forecast, so I ventured forth on the bike instead of the bus. LIght snow, temp of -4 C, 25 F, light tailwind first half, headwind second half of 21 km (13 miles) ride. The Kenda slicks were ok through the mostly slush and loose snow on the roads, only had 1 slow motion spill when going through deep snow around the parking lot gate at the hospital I take a shortcut through near the end of the trip. I was surprised it only took an hour and 2 minutes, it's usually a little less than an hour in the dry.
My feet got wet early, so they were cold about half way in, I'll have to put some waterproofing on the hiking shoes.
Only got slushed by 2 cars and a garbage truck, just minor splattering. The last quarter of the ride was a bit blurry, my glasses were getting wet from the light snow falling and a little slush spattered as well, but not bad enough to stop and clean them!

tchazzard

It has been an interesting two days here in Maine. We were supposed to get 6" of snow Wednesday night. I awoke to roughly 2" of freezing rain/sleet covered by less than 1" of snow. Despite this and high winds (gusting to over 30 mph) it was not a bad day for riding. Today the winds are lower, but the plow trucks never plowed the shoulders yesterday. So today I had to ride through a mixture of slush, ice and big chunks of crap. It his one of these chunks and took a header into the snow bank. I was only going about 12 pmh so puppy and I were fine.

Finally decided to break down my route. It is as follows:

2.5 miles out of town, primary road, 8 foot shoulder, 55 mph speed limit.

5.5 miles out of town, 0-6 foot shoulder, 25-25 mph speed limit, 1 light.

1 mile in town, primary, 0-4 foot shoulder, 25 mph speed limit, 1 light.

looking forward to a 5,000+ mile 2003.

tchazzard

Oh vey....my computer just beeped at me and notified me of a weather update for here in southern Maine....

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONTINUES A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON... TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL REACH 10 TO 20 INCHES....

Yahoo! And another storm is due here mid-week next week. We could be in for a good ole fashion winter.

Andy Dreisch

Last night: 13 miles, nice ride.
Today: 7, nice and sunny.

I expect this p.m.'s ride to be relatively toasty and I'm looking forward to it.

ngateguy

Well I was going to make yesterday my first commute of the year, but once again woke up to heavy winds and rain so I drove. Which was a good thing because it was raining to beat all he&& when I got off work. I don't mind riding in the rain but 10 miles in that down pour would of been a bit much. Fortunately we are between storms so I got to ride in today first time in 1.5 weeks. And boy do I notice a difference I feel physically and mentally. Hope the rain and wind holds off until after I get home tonight. We had 6 inches of rain in December thats even heavy for us. But it might help to relieve the drought we are in (we are expecting another dry spring) ChrisL wish I could send you guys some of this

Hants Commuter

No rain to speak of and the wind has dropped, making today's commute a fairly staightforward thing. Straightforward until I nearly got taken off the bike by a bonehead driver as he accelerates hard onto a roundabout directly in front of me .

nemo

commute home today was absolutly awesome the ride in was a bit nippy but it warmed nicely and on my lunch hour i rode almost 40 minutes just fooling around pushing hard m. I'm a little sore tonight, but i had forgotten how good a good endorphine rush felt. it warmed to around 50 f by noon.

tchazzard

Took the day off from riding today. We had a nice snow storm which started last night and did not end until afternoon today. We gained another 14" on top of our existing 20". There was also a lot of drifting. It took me 3 hours to clean up my driveway and decks.

Looking forward to getting back on the bike Monday

pinerider

An auspicious start to today's adventure - A half inch of fresh snow over an icy patch on the road in front of my house resulted in a slow speed but very sudden asphalt kissing face plant when I tried to turn left to go down the street. I guess that's why they call those tires "slicks". An intelligent person would have returned the bike to it's rightful place in the garage, but not me, I kept pedalling!
Freshly salted main roads made for a briney ride in. My feet got wet and cold, but I persevered and took less than an hour for the 22km ride. Temp of -4 C, 24 F, light snow, no wind.
This week's planned purchases: booties & gaiters!

PaulH

I've been at home with a really nasty cold since New Years Eve, so this was my first commute for the year. That cold is still very much with me, so I considered driving in. However, there is also a forecast of snow for evening rush hour -- not a good idea to take a car, given that traffic is immobilized under those conditions. So, off I went, making the first tracks of the year on an unplowed portion of my route. Very easy conditions, and just beautiful. We have about 3" (7 cm) of snow now.

Result -- I feel the best i have in a week. Good cold medicin!

Paul

KrisA

Today bit, I broke my rear shifter. It's a crappy 5 speed SRAM grip shifter. The plastic outside loop broke away from the metal inside leaving me stuck in high gear. It was tough peddling through the snow in top gear.

Ugh, when is winter over? I want to retire my winter beater for the summer and get on my Rocky Mountain!

nemo

I have been riding my pos mtn bike back and forth. I had intended to use it all winter, but it appears that we are not going to get much if any snow this year, so I am looking for a replacement upgrade whatever. I have looked at the lbs, they carry trek, and giant mostly a few gary fisher mtn bikes. I am indecided what to get and the fools are no help at all when I can get them to talk to me they want to show me bikes way out of my price range. anone have a suggestion I am trying to decide between a comfort/mtn bike and a cross/road bike. my commute is short bout 5 miles. it is all on pavement some of the streets are old brick paved streets that is as rough as it gets. there is one curb at wiork i hop once in awhile. so I am thinking a road bike would hold up fine.

donham

Paul H
I just moved back to New England from Tyson's Corner and the 2 years I was down that way, it hardly snowed at all.
We are sure having our share up here this year.
Today was a cloudy day with about 2" additional snow. The ride home was very cold ( I heard the news at 6 and it was 22 with a good stiff NE wind).
The forecast for Tuesday is freezing rain. I guess that will be a drive day.

Jean Beetham Smith 

Nemo, if you have a chunk of brick paved streets, I would go with a cross bike rather than a full on road bick. I think you would find the comfort bikes a little heavy. They are meant for 5 miles on the week-end, not every day. A mountain bike with slicks would be another option. For a 5 mile commute a 3-speed could be a good choice.

Chris L

Got a southerly headwind and tore it apart this morning. Should fly home if it stays. Being a southerly it's keeping things a pleasant few degrees cooler (unlike that town in Western Queensland that hit 49 degrees C yesterday )

KrisA

All was well this morning. It was a balmy -5C with no wind. The new $5 shifter I installed last night worked like a charm. The only downside is that the warm weather we have been having has left half of the streets I bike on snow free and thus my studs are wearing rapidly.

tchazzard

The city I live in still has not kept up with plowing the shoulders of the route I ride on. This forces me to ride on the edge of the car lane, which is unnverving given the speed of traffic. I plan on calling and complaing later today.

As for snow...it has never really stopped since our storm last Saturday. We have been getting a mere 1-2" per day and it looks like this will continue through the week.

nathank

yesterday was my first time on the bike in 15 days! b/c i was on a non-cycling vacation in Russia. for me, that's a long time not to be on the bike!

and on my return from cold snowy Russia i was greeted by snow here in Munich - yeah! although not as much as in Russia.

my first commute of 2003 today was great with about -6C and mabye 2cm snow on the ground. going home will be about 5cm snow as it's been slightly snowing most of the day. very nice for riding although a few of my coworkers were dumbfounded... "you road TODAY?"

with the studs on front and back i didn't notice even the slightest problem even on the ice patches where snow had been cleared and refrozen (OK, it was nice not to be wet since it rained so much in warm November and December)... although they salt the roads here pretty heavily which sucks as many of the larger roads are wet salty slush.

Sailguy

Back on the saddle again after taking december off. Way too long, and now I am feeling the pain. But the ride was good. Spring-like weather. Absolutely gorgeous outside.

Felt good to be back on the bike.