Well, it's getting chilly. Not as windy as yesterday when I had to pedal downhill, but still pretty breezy.

Cold this mrning! Nice clear day. Nice ride in.

The county has thoroughly trashed one of the interesections I go through. The earth moving equipement has turned the paved shoulders into asphalt crap. They have barrier signs overhanging into the traffic lane, with broken pieces on the road where they've been hit by traffic. And the remaining open areas, are littered with large clumps of dirt just waiting to send a night cyclist flying. No choice but to take the center of the lane. This is the same intersection I pleaded for them to keep open to cyclists during the "improvment" project at a county road gripe session last spring. It is the crossing of the only two rds that are marginally useful for commuting in the western part of the county. Sigh.

On a lighter note, while waiting at a light, a driver rolled his window down and commented on the brightness of my tail light. The is particulary noteworthy as it was bright sun light at the time and he was looking into the sun. Gotta love the Whelen TIR3!

Yay me! Our new light rail came online this weekend.
My old bus line is no more.
Anyhow, I ride the full commute on the way back in the afternoon when the morning temps are below freezing.
Old am sub freezing commute:
-ride 4 miles to the bus
-strip clothing off to avoid overheating
-load the bike on the bus after stripping off the extra gear such as lighting
-get off the bus
-reload the bike
-ride 10 miles to work
I had to heat up two times

New am sub freezing commute:
-ride 14 miles to the light rail
-carry the bike in to the rail car.
-get off the rail car and ride my bike 1000 feet to work.

Me likey!

Pretty balmy today - no complaints about that. I need new batteries for the blinkie, and I should charge my headlight tonight. The forecast calls for snow on Wednesday...

It was getting really cold this morning, so I wore some long flannel pants under jeans, and tossed a hoodie on between my base layer (old t-shirt) and outer layer (a lined maintenance jacket like you'd see appliance installers wearing)

Kept plenty warm, it was a little overkill, actually.

Made it to the bus in record time, but still not "fast" by any stretch of the imagination. 12 MPH average on a 3 mile ride that's got plenty of uphill and downhill. I've never calculated how much climbing I do either way. That's next, I suppose.

I've decided that my backup bike really is the better commuter. The handlebars are flatter, it's a larger frame (some would say it's a bit big for me, it's a 18" frame, I'm 5'8" but it feels good and I can still straddle the top bar flat-footed). The Sorrento with knobbies on it is just tons of fun in the dirt, which I get to ride through (parking lot and road construction) if I want to take shortcuts to anywhere I'd normally go on bike. I don't trust the Outlook's thinner, lighter, and rigid frame going over the large limestone rocks and huge tractor ruts that I come across out there. Since it's lighter and rigid, it technically makes a more practical commuter bike for me. I think I'll leave the slicks on it, at least until it starts to get snowy and slippery. then I'll probably switch back to the Sorrento.

Anyhow, nice ride in, I'm not getting as winded, and I really feel like I'm making some good progress on my endurance and strength as well as weight loss. Combined with all the "Intangible" benefits of riding in, the thought of driving to work (or even to the bus stop) seems pointless.

A cold-ish morning in our nation's capital today, with temperatures in the high 30s at 7:00 am. It's weird -- I did 40 miles Friday night and never really felt that chilly or achy. But this morning, it was several degrees warmer, plus I was wearing one more (small) layer, but I could never warm up and I felt stiff the whole way. Probably because I got out of bed and left w/in 15 minutes, instead of the normal routine of getting up, getting my son up, and chasing him around the house for an hour (and drinking coffee) before leaving for work. That must be it.

Brrrrr.. a brisk 26f when I left the house. That works out to 8f when you factor in a 25-30 mph wind chill. wind chill chart

There was an American flag laying in the gutter on the way up the hill. The gutter is no place for the flag so I stopped and picked it up.

Coldest day for me so far (I think) - was -1/0C when I left, almost stopped to dress up/ turned back to home when I felt the cold wind cut through me and saw a few flakes of snow. After a couple of minutes, I was plenty warm and glad I hadn't stopped to bother with the fleece.

Had some pretty cool winds, and was still cool when I got to the office, was a nice ride in. A lot faster than I had imagined, as I was consciously not pushing to avoid getting 'cold sweat-back' when stopping, everything seemed to work out nicely though - 32 mins 14.7mph avg. Saw a grand total of four bikes, one on Broadview/Bloor area, who I had a brief chat to - nice chap, asked me if I rode through the winter "First time this year" I replied, and asked him - he said days when it didn't snow he rode. One other guy looked like a commuter of sorts and the other two must've been couriers on an earlier start.

It did feel much colder this morning than on Friday--probably because of the dampness (50% humidity).

This weekend I bought neoprene covers for my shoes to try to keep my toes from freezing. They kept my toes warmer today, but we'll see how they feel later in the week when the mornings are even chillier.

I need some new roads in the neighbourhoods. I rode all "reasonable" cycling routes already and I'm tired of them all! Maybe I should try an unreasonable route next time.

I don't know the city THAT well in terms of roads, but.. where do you need/want to switch it up?

Move! At least that would be an amusing reason to move

Left this morning around 5:15 am. ~33 deg and snowing. I read the forcast for today and it said 30% chance of snow. It snowed all the way - 15 miles to work. I was warm enough but the snow makes it hard to see w/glasses. It was getting slippery in the end with snow accumulation on the roads (I ride a road bike w/narrow and slick tires). My coldest commute of the year.

If it is cold and clear I don't mind; but I can't get motivated to cycle in the rain and in the snow. Loved the ride home. It like a training ride; I like to crank it up to get home as fast as I can.

Ride home felt good, slow-ish going up the Sherbourne hill and I overdid it a little going across Bloor (see below) so got a tad out of breath for the residential short-cut from Danforth to Cosburn though that's an ideal 'rest' time anyway. 37 mins, 13.1mph avg.

I came upon around 8 other cyclists once I got to Bloor, most of the time was spent moving, so no real chat time but was a definite spur for me to dig in a little more and try and fly.. Only, one guy came up behind me (I was doing about 23mph/~36kmh) and this guy was flying - out of the saddle, really giving it some - he surprised me so much when I glanced back that I did a slight speed wobble - he wasn't there one minute, then was passing me the next - was awesome, never got chance to say Hi, but admirable speed! His bike looked like a commuter (hybrid I think), not a roadie too.

temp in the high 40's low 50's this morning. Uneventful comute this morning. I'm noticing that I can easily hit speeds in the 30's where it used to peg the heart rate to hit 28. Max on the squat and leg press, and calf machines at the r easy now. encouraging. Beggining to think of the comutes as training for the AIDs ride. Wonder how many 50 something straight males r making that ride.

Today's commute began in 2C temperature with Gaia just pulling over the edge of the horizon in a grey haze. Hate Mondays, but today is special because I'm taking my new Kona out for the first commute! All's well, no f***wits to speak of, just the regular array of Beck Taxi road hogs. Bit of a headwind, but still managed to overdress - so hard at the beginning of the cold season to judge. Kona is sweet, but telegraphs the road to almost acute levels. Lovely cruise down Bay Street catching all the lights. Only disappointment was Kryptonite stubby doesn't fit frame size - doh! Thank god for the locked cage at work! Walk into work with big smile, feeling sorry for the transit troglodytes.

Mal

Beautiful day for commuting in DC: ~40 degrees and crisp. My bike computer popped off my bike, though, and I didn't notice it for a mile or so. I spent 15 minutes looking but gave up. (Almost) late for a big meeting and lost my computer anyway. Aargh and double aargh. Did anyone pick one up on the Capital Crescent Trail today?

I didn't wear my booties on the way in and my toes were very cold. On the way home, almost the same temp, and with the booties no problem. Those things are great for keeping the wind out as well as the rain.

yeah. when I go down to visit my family in RI from Boston sometimes I'll combine my ride with a commuter rail trip and the combo is great.

My commute today did not include any trains but was very pleasant. I had to really haul butt to get home tonight because I had a meeting at 7pm. I made some really good time getting back. Something weird going on with my back tire/wheel. Either a broken spoke or a tire that's not quite seated properly- had no time to check it out but gotta deal with it after I step away from the computer.

edit: oops, oh yeah, today was the first day I had to go back to the house after getting two blocks down the road because I needed my balaclava- got to start carrying that regularly again.

I had an interesting experience on my commute this evening as I was riding up Capitol Hill to cut to the Mall. The road next to the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill is normally blocked with a gate and a barrier. However, in the past few weeks the gates have been under construction, so a Capitol Hill police car now blocks the entrance, moving back and forth to let cars in and out. As I was riding toward the gate with my brand new, super bright Dinotte Ultra 5W shining, the police car actually moved back to let me through as if I were a VIP! Maybe he mistook me for a motorcycle or Rep. Blumenauer (the only member of Congress who bike commutes, but he's on the House side of the Hill). I guess my new Dinotte light has earned the respect of the Capitol Hill police!

gee, seems like we all had the same weather today. cold. it was overcast on my way in, and clearing (and colder) on the way home. coming home would have been miserable if it had been raining. slight headwinds both ways; i'm almost getting used to them*.

i'm happy that we're more than halfway through november already and i've hardly noticed! compared with this time last year, when i was actually having to call on some intestinal fortitude to keep at it . . .

overheard last friday but not reported: 'i don't mind if it rains properly . . . dribbling and sideways, those are the ways i hate it.'


*noooooo, i didn't mean that. they can stop any time, honest. i'll manage without them

Temp on the way in = 95* F
Temp on the way home = 57* F
Normal ride in. Nothing notable or interesting.

i haven't even left the house yet, but i am already hurting.... 20-25 mph winds (against me).
it's bad when i can hear the wind from inside the house.
45-47*F, so i guess it could be worse.
just don't think the "r-word".

After yesterday's ride in the snow today's 33F and clear was a piece of cake!

I finished my work out around 10:45p last night and almost didn't get up this morning. Thought about it, looked out the window and saw some snow on the ground and said, "why the heck not?". Once on the road it was easy.

GreenAnvil

Colder but not as windy as yesterday.

High 20Fs, overcast. I think I've forgotten what the sun looks like. I saw the ski trails on Whiteface Mountain in New York. Also saw a loon in Lake Champlain.

Pet peeve of mine: I saw a SoccerMomVan waiting with a kid for the school bus, and wondered if it ever occurred to them how silly they look "sheltering" themselves from the "frigid" 28 degree weather and wasting gasoline as I ride by merrily on my bicycle. I suppose when it actually gets cold, they'll forego the bus entirely and just drive their thin-skinned progeny directly to school.