Mid to high 40's in Atlanta. A little bit windy. My ears were cold. Need to find a better headgear.

I didn't take the MV Trail, but the side streets were all solid ice, so I assume that the trail was, too. Even so, there were no deep ruts to contend with. Consequently, it was a piece of cake with studs, and could have been ridden even without them. Everything was gone for the return trip.

Paul

A bit foggy in areas. But for the most part cloudy and cold. I waited a little longer before I left the house so I had to pick it up a notch to make it on time. Still beat my co-workers and it took me 2.5 hours (give or take) to get here. :P

43.13 miles
17.7 mph

2F, and lousy today. :mad: I got over 1.5 miles into my ride on bumpy, packed snow, and noticed my front SKS fender was gone. WTF. Turned around, rode all the way home. No fender to be found. Now I can't remember when I last saw it. Maybe it fell off a long time ago and I never noticed. Duh? I don't know. It has fallen off once before and I barely realized it. Now I guess it's gone forever. The mounting mechanism is pretty lousy: An expanding plastic plug that sticks in the steering tube above the wheel. If it gets loose, it falls out.

A utility vehicle had driven on the MUP, making a couple of nicely-packed snow tracks for me to use. I passed another cyclist on the MUP as well. He was heading north, and I south. We exchanged greetings.

Then I was almost at my office building, taking the lane for a left turn, and some yutz in an SUV with NH plates pulls out of a hotel parking garage to go the same way as me, right next to me, staring at me the whole time. I just glared at him. Some people have no idea how to deal with bicycles.

-10 with the wind, such as it was, it's zero to -3, basically ...it's warm for the end of Jan. Lovely rush hour ride (read...uneventful), exchanged pleasantries with a bike riding law enforcement officer as I a squeaked through the crosswalk and jumped the green light by carving behind the car sitting in the intersection on the red....I wish I could train bike cops I think that would be a blast.

The Mount Vernon Trail was clear except for the two overpasses by the airport. It was quite a challenge to ride over the ice/snow without falling--my first time on ice. I thought the 14th Street Bridge would be better from the salt spreaders on the bridge, but it was pretty well coated with ice. There was a six inch clear single track that allowed safe passage, though.

My normal route through the Capitol grounds was closed in preparation for the State of the Union address, so I had to make a short detour.

Wow, 43 miles! From where to where? I noticed your location was Gaston County, NC, correct?

Correct - Belmont to Shelby. A really fun ride.

Played leapfrog w/ another cyclist and managed to drop her when I dialed it up to 400 mW and squeezing past some buses and cars holding up traffic. Respect my steez! :D

Hope you find it.
And hope the next commute is better. Hang in there, man.

Is that Man Watts? :D

mini-Wheats?

You are brave. I grew up in Rock Hill and have family in Cleveland County (Patterson Springs area). I never thought of the area as being very bicycle friendly, but I'm glad to hear at least one person is out riding. I would love to hear what route you take. I once rode on a club ride from Rock Hill to Crowders and back.

My co-workers are amazed that I ride nine miles from Alexandria to DC. I wonder what your co-workers must think!

That I'm "crazy-a-bonkers" to the Nth degree.

Route1.0
This is the basic route. But I changed it somewhat to take Franklin Blvd through Gastonia until I get to Myrtle School Rd. It didn't change the mileage that much.
I go through Crowders every time I ride in or back home.

Ride home last night in the snow was cool, I even got passed very courteously, at a respectable distance, by a tractor-trailer. I sent the company a nice comment on through their website. This morning was about the same road conditions, still kind of slushy, though the snow had let up. Rode in the right tire track the whole way. Some passenger in a car said something out his window that ended in "... angel". I'm wondering what the rest of it was. "Hope you have a guardian ..."? "You're gonna end up as a ..."?

And the driver passed a bit too close besides. When I gestured to indicate so, he made some gesture with his index finger pointed to his head. :rolleyes:

Life goes on...

Damper than yesterday, but warmer yet (high 40s). Definite gaps in the clouds visible by the time I got into work. Blinding sun right now!

That'd be milliwatts. Real OCP weight weenies don't need a whole lotta power to crack the sound barrier on their way to work.

First commute in a week due to a nasty cold and nasty cold outside. Uneventful commute. Still cautious of the ice but today is actually above freezing so hopefully it will all be gone soon.

Switched back to the skinny tires today - oh my yes! It was almost too easy. I don't know if I even broke a sweat, but I did make it to work faster than yesterday. Warm temps are forecast for the rest of the week! :D

Starting to warm up a bit here. I nearly stopped to take off my jacket, but I was right in the middle of a no-foot down commute. I've managed to take off a jacket and backpack without stopping before, but that was on a deserted country road, and it probably wouldn't have been the safest move riding through Soccermom Alley.

:mad:Near miss this morning. While looking back at traffic from behind, some veggie nearly left-hooked me from the front. I screamed like a banchee and she stopped!

Bellevue, drivers are the worst. That extra hi-vis stu$$ just doesn't get their attention in Bellevue! Maybe a helmet light would work...or a set of Christmas lights
:mad:

Had the same problem with a Beemer pulling out of a gas station. I should have just gotten hit, then sued. I could use some time off of work.

So on the way home I fell over on ice in the parking lot. Also a lot of fun negotiating road crossings on the bike path. Took an extra ten minutes tonight... anyone else find all this snow adds some decent time on to their commute?

It is getting old and the melting is a blessing and a curse since there will be more ice in the morning.

N/A
i feel like i am missing something, life is incomplete!
i re-started graduate work, post- 2 yr "vacancy", so to speak.
once i get that MS PSYR Degree, watch out (2 classes left after this one)!
x-usa # 2 ?
may try 1 x per/week commute for now. it seems these web base classes are real b-busters though!

interesting ride today. The ride in was a little faster even though there was a dusting of snow and lots of ice. No wind? Two days off in a row? Carrying less stuff?

And the ride home was the same way. The studded tires felt great in today's conditions. Don't want to get over confident but wow. This was the kind of day those tires were made for.

Today I put on a bunch of new clothes: new jersey (my fanciest :)), MEC tights (cycling tights with seams in the crotch?.. come on people!) and army boots. I've had leaky boots for a long time and got very tired of them. Army boots are GOOD. No leaks, baby. :)

I'll have to run a few errands later today. Will rack up a bunch of miles... which is always good of course. The roads are so clear it's boh-ring! Sno-ow? Hel-lo-o? :D[/QUOTE]

I've got MEC balaclava & gloves & stuff but has been to warm to use it. They get some great Bike stuff not as good as LBS but a great store.

Commutes to GO station past couple of days have been good except for the ice. This year is warmer but icier, snow at least gives me some traction and definatly adds to the fun..

I saw a hit-and-run this a.m. going in, a SUV hit the back of a small car, totalled it, and headed off. A sheriff's car was behind a group of cars at this intersection, and managed to slip out and go after the bastard. I called in to offer my witness info, and they said they caught him, a DUI at 8-frickin-30 on a Tuesday a.m. I was looking in my mirrors constantly on my way home.

Snow squall! Fun though. I've altered my route to take a main road (North Ave) and avoid about 2 miles of unplowed MUP. Part of the road isn't bicycle friendly so I use the sidewalk for that (carefully) and then hop down onto the roadway once it gets friendlier. No issues so far. I just act like I'm at the bottom of the right-of-way food chain on the sidewalk, especially since my ride home is wrong-way. :eek: :o

It was warmer than expected this AM. Based on last night's weather forecast, I wore a wool mid-layer jersey, and FINALLY wore my PI lobster gloves. At 34 degrees, I was too warm. On the way home, I'm going to have to shed the jacket.

Road was clear, but several spots on the W&OD were icy, making it necessary to unclip and go slowly enough to put a foot down. One bridge was a complete sheet of ice. I'm going to take the street through that section on the way back.....

-11 with the wind they said....roads dry for the most part, sunny and nice.
i was threading up about 15 cars at the light past river (name escapes me), streetcar stop ...i'm threading up quickly. i pass the police ....whoops in my mind, a car in both lanes as we all start to move with the green, so I carve over the right tap her car in the back, crank to front and wave her over to her lane. Then i'm gone...... Cops pull up to me at Church, partner rolls window down laughin' his ass off about my controlling traffic. Tells me to be careful laughingly as they pull away.
heehee fun ride.