Man I tell you after the 20 mph winds yesterday It was a very brisk 42* F here in south Texas. I tell you I felt like a freight train moving through traffic this morning. I did however weigh myself this morning and found I am down from 265 lbs to 251 lbs and ffrom 38% body fat down to 31 % body fat. It was a nice little gift to myself as I headed out this morning. It was cold though. My legs never really warmed up this morning. But I got to work without incident. I really have got to get some cold weather riding gear.

I have been suffering headwinds every day to and from work. argh! well, they're only little bitty winds but they feel big on the bike.

After a couple of sluggish weeks on the ice bike, it was time to break out the speed machine. I was about 25% faster on the commute, and it should be a bigger difference on the way home when I have to climb the hills...

I actually had my first day without winds in a few weeks yesterday!

This morning's commute was slow. My guess is that i have not been eating enough. Started to get a little dizzy when I was finished. The heck with my oatmeal breakfast. Visited the sub shop next door and picked up a huge sausage egg and cheese breakfast burrito with a soda and donut.

I noticed my malt-o-meal breakfasts weren't always cutting it either, so I started supplementing it with a little bit of maple syrup on top, and then an apple or orange on my way out the door. Also, I get dizzy if I don't have enough water, so I usually gulp about 8-20 ounces before I even hit the bike, then hydrate a bit on the road as needed.

Yesterday's commute was great! Up until my light died on the way home. Gotta learn myself to bring that charger to work... Got a 1993 Trek 520 a couple weeks ago for commuting and touring and it performs great on my commute. No wind, but a ton of rain today.

I skipped the usual cereal breakfast (as I need to let it settle, my stomach isn't used to morning food) and got a Mars bar and rode in. I consciously noticed I hadn't been taking water on whilst I rode in this cooler weather, so I have started taking gulps at any red light just to ensure I keep the levels up - once my body is reconditioned to eating in the morning, then I'll be better prepared. I just get nauseous if I ride after eating so soon in the early mornings.

Last night was raining all night, and this morning was wet, but not actually raining bar the last 2 minutes of my ride, I escaped a nice downpour.

Good ride in, had a hefty headwind when I was heading south, and with the wet I took a little extra care of the leafy areas, 32 mins with 14.7 average, happy with that time. Got passed by a guy on a roadie, he buzzed me a little (due to traffic) and I hadn't realised he was behind, so moved over a bit and yelled a "sorry!" and he replied with something like "no problem!" (I ride in the middle or the left side of the bikelane usually if I know I 'have' it).

It was a brisk 28F when I left the house, but nice and clear without even a hint of wind. Pretty uneventful except for the bunny that sat next to the side of the road, then ran out 6 inches in front of my wheel. Almost bunny stew, but not quite.

The studs are goin on this weekend... too many icy patches here and there.

I need to post more here more often. It keeps me inspired to ride.

After wimping out due to the high-wind warnings in town (40-60mph), back on the bike for the last two days riding a different bike each day so I don't get burned out. I find it is tougher to get motivated to ride in the cold mornings and evenings especially when I feel like I have to put on so much clothing. So this morning I put on a regular pair of pants and a regular jacket and just hopped on the bike.

Polished off a box of donuts, a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, two muffins, and a box of cookies in the last three days. Guess I'll switch to oatmeal next week...

Had my first official Christmas light sighting of the season last night on my ride home ... on November 15th? Are these people on Christmas crack or something? To each his own I guess.

The ride in this morning was uneventful. 25 degrees. Scared some geese with my bell. Used it for an off-leash dog and pedestrian too. Served it's purpose.

The ride this morning was wet. And the wind was back after a calm day yesterday. Why does it always seem to blow from the East when I ride East in the morning, and from the West when I ride home to the West in the afternoon? Oh well, just makes me appreciate the calm days more.

I tried out the new longer route, that I took home yesterday, on my way to work this morning. It was a lot of fun - I found out there's a MUP near the end goes up by the river, then under the road I was on last night. It's not marked on my cycling map, but I decided to go exploring. The extra bit near the end on the MUP made the trip 18 km. The big hill at the end was hard. I didn't have any energy left to stand, so I sat and peddled up at about 9 km/hr. Sloooow. But I made it all the way up. I really like the new route; its a nice change from the 13.5 km route I've been doing twice a day every (work)day since August.

Gorgeous, blinding sun.

Fantastic....the sun was out and BRIGHT. Puget Sound gets to dry out a bit. Lastnight I guess we broke the record for the wettest November on record. 13+ inches and counting.

Also, I found $20 on sidewalk as I left the house, but the funny thing is when I got to the office I realized I forgot my wallet. The lights going through downtown Seattle were even nice to me.

Yay, it was raining, so I had a chance to test out my new GoreTex pants. Not bad, I say! Although the rain wasn't really hard... the real test is still to come.

First commute with the Dinotte lights (Ultra 5W front & tail light) tonight. I already had one comment by a passing pedestrian about how bright the lights are. They're still washed out against street lights but are definitely much better at getting attention than my prior set-up.

That is it! Third flat this week. Time to go back to the old worn out tire while I wait for my new ones to arrive. Too bad I could only find them at the slowest site on the internet.
I would rather ride a tire with exposed threads that has had no flats than this pile of crap. ugh

Just as I had finished wrapping my goretex jacket up and got my backpack and vest on ready to head out, I heard the tell-tale pitter-patter of rain.
So I took my t-shirt off (left the lifa vest on) and put the goretex on, and proceeded home. Was wet and raining on the roads, varying levels of rain, some was pretty hard, but mostly light-ish - was VERY warm and sweaty on the way back - temperature was around 13C. Goretex held up nicely, and it's very much windproof too. Loved riding in the rain, and I noticed that my schwinn headlight stopped working on it's own, intermittently (I'd notice, turn it off for a bit then turn it on and it worked again, didn't look dim to indicate batteries, so I suspect wet or lack of power). Glad I bought that PB 5000x last night - seemed to do a nice trick of "here I am", as the street lights washed it all out anyway. On my dark short stretch it didn't seem so wonderful, but was worlds better than the schwinn has ever been - so it's a benefit. I'll be working toward a more permanently better solution soon.

Fenders worked nicely, feet were a tad damp from sweat and rain and my fleece pants were just a little damp as you'd be if you walked in the rain, too - nothing ground breaking there, and I can't see myself wanting waterproof pants (though I probably will get some, if just for the wind-proofing some offer)

Another slow time home, I'm beginning to think that this newer route just takes that couple of minutes longer - 37 mins with 13mph avg.

What tires did you dedide to go with to replace the Tservs?

Whoa. Killer tailwind on the ride home. The high-pitched whine from my knobbies was alerting pedestrians for miles in every direction, causing them to scatter. :D I was cruising around 20MPH, which, on that bike, is fast. Beat the rain, which pleases me.

I hung behind a guy on a silver road bike for a little while and then he turned off onto a side street.

I decided to stick with what previously worked for me . I am replacing the tserv that replaced my vittoria randonneur tires with new vittoria randonneur tires. Just in a 28 mm width instead of 32 mm. I figure it worked last time. Why not this time? Too bad I could only find one vendor that sold them. Now I wait.

Out of curiosity, what's the new route? I've been following and visualizing your commute since I'm a fellow Torontonian myself who frequently rides downtown, same streets you ride on. :)

I find that my commute is always slowed down by rain. I turn at much lower speeds, for example, because I don't want to slide under some car wheels.

Oddball commute home. I had to swing by my wife's potential future place of employment (where I worked up until about a year ago, actually). It's about 7 miles from home.

Went to the wrong bus stop (about 1/2 mile away from where I needed to be). So quickly rode to the REAL bus stop, in time to get dropped by the 400W bus of doom. I tried chasing it to the next stop, and got pretty close, but it dusted me again. *sigh*

Take a leisurely stroll through City Market (where I got dusted the final time) because it'll be half an hour before my next bus shows up.

Anyhow, about an hour and 10 minutes after I get on the bus, I finally arrive at my destination. It's pitch black outside already and it's not even 7pm.

I swing by the hardware store for some reflective tape, and hit the pavement and begin the trek home, swinging by home depot for a reflect-o-vest.

Not a bad ride. The backup bike did pretty freakin' well. Not as fast as the Sorrento, but being a rigid, it was actually a little easier to get moving without having a 7 year old fork bouncing around under me.

Ride in was rainy,took the MTB in, non big deal. Ride home I left the legwarmers off. One of my coworkers whistled at me. Had a carload of teenagers give me a thumbsup. Made me smile. I love commuting by bike. Burned out the 12 watt lamp of my 32 watt headlight combination, I'll order the replacement tomorrow when I'm off.

whew! intense wind and weather tonight on the way home. Rainy with powerful gusting winds. A little scary at midnight to be out on a Friday night with such bad visibility and wind. (especially since it was a Thursday- that's how rattled I am)

and people do really stupid things in this kind of freakish weather- like backing up on Commonwealth Ave at about 30 mph right at me!

crazy night.

SUN??? What's that? Oh now I remember it's that yellow thing that only shows up while I'm at work and is gone before I get out.
That's what I hate about winter.