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.

Mercifully uneventful
 

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! :D

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". :eek:

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

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. :rolleyes:

35 degrees, with sunny blue skies, in our nation's capital this morning. I had a more normal wake-up routine, of coffee and quality time with the wife and son, so the ride in was a breeze and very enjoyable. I struggled a lot yesterday morning (and it was 4 degrees warmer) but that's because I got up and left very quickly, so was still stiff.

Ok. Roll me in horse hocky and call me a wus. http://fanclubs.kimrichards.net/emot...mbarrassed.gif
It was 31F (0C) [wind chill was 24F (-4C)] this morning. I thought I was dressed warm enough but felt cool while still in the house. I stepped outside and didn't feel much colder so hopped on the bike and took off. After about 1.25 miles my legs were freezing, even with thermal leg warmers. :( I was riding in the rising sun and not the shadows and decided I wouldn't get much warmer so turned around and went home. I peeled off all the layers and left the pile in the middle of the bedroom floor, put on my work clothes and drove to work. :o
Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer -- I hope.
I guess I'm turning into a wus as I get older. :crash:

Fast and smooth today! Tomorrow will be a lot more entertaining, with sub-zero temps and snow. Wheeeeee! :D

Colder this morning according to the TV, but not feeling much different. Sun was shining this morning though, looked lovely despite the cold and wind. A fair bit more traffic today for some reason, slowed me up a little (and it was garbage-truck day in my local area, which didn't help) - other than the wind, had a good ride in - again, I just have to mentally keep my RPM up (rather than taking it 'easy' and up-shifting short) so that my body is doing enough work to keep me cosy. 35 mins with 13.7avg.

Took Church St. south to Richmond instead of Sherbourne on the advice of chephy, and I had a great run down there - kept up with the traffic without a problem (barring starts) and got caught up only with a couple of lights - the smoother pavement down there really helped. Construction wasn't a big deal, I just sifted and filtered through. Did a max. of 25mph (that I saw, anyway - I don't have TRIP max. on my computer) down there, which was great - I had a box truck in the next lane at about 11 o'clock position, which I used as a shield for crossing the lights with (a car that tries to turn into a truck probably won't hurt me as much as a car turning into me, is my reasoning) so I could maintain my speed really well.

Had a great time admiring the idiot drivers racing toward a parked tractor/digger machine (why can't people look ahead on the road?) and switching into the closed lane to try and sneak in.

Also had a great moment with a guy in a BMW get all "razzed" - I pulled out to overtake a turning car when pulling off at some lights, wasn't dangerous but held the BMW up a couple of seconds - he did the obligatory "rev the hell out of the car passing the bike" routine, and about 2 mins later I passed him again, never to be re-passed (love bikelanes in heavy traffic :)).

No kidding about the sun. I think we've seen the sun peek out for about 30 minutes in the last 3 weeks up here (greater Seattle metro area.) They're starting to give ski reports for Crystal, and snow reports for Snoqualmie, and yesterday was the first 'lost snowshoer' rescue of the season. It must be winter.

Yeah, when did that become the standard, anyhow? Not to sound like I had to walk uphill both ways through the snow, or something... but I did have to walk 2 blocks and stand on the corner with everyone because the bus only made 4 stops coming through my neighbourhood. Now it seems that everyone is picked up at the end of their driveway (or entrance to their private community) and the kids all watch TV in the back of a cozy SUV or minivan while waiting for the bus.
Everyone thinks I'm either insane or incredibly hardcore for riding my bike to work in the weather we're having right now. I told someone this morning that I didn't even notice that it was pouring rain this morning, and they just shook their head as I said "Meh, rain's rain. I don't care how much of it comes down."

Cool and threatened to rain but no precipitation that I could feel. I stayed home sick yesterday and felt a bit weak still so I rolled in at a very leisurely pace.

windy, rainy, nasty. At least it wasn't too cold.

First day back on the daily commute (was sick)... ~35F pjs & jeans, longlseeve T and outer jacket shell, nice and warm. 25 mile roundtrip.

Took my one of my fixies, chainline is bad & loud... Have a new rear wheel for it (alex d18, surly fixed/fixed, dt spokes) but need a cog and lockring. Also need to finish truing a suzue/araya front wheel for it to replace the ancient schwinn hub and rim that is weighing it down...

breezy and sprinkly. Nice rainbow at one point. It's been pouring since I got to work though. No, wait, now it's stopped, back to light clouds. Must be fall.

Full of surprises this morning. Woke up really late. Chilly. Evil headwind. ******** cagers. Everything you could ask for in a bike commute.

Good ride home, had a phonecall that gave me a 5 minute rest break - was noticeably slower (decided to cruise behind a few people for a bit, and couldn't pass some due to traffic busyness) 38 mins with a 12.7 avg. I should note if I haven't before, this is riding time, not total journey time (just what the computer gives me). Not so cold tonight, my morning attire was more than enough for the ride in - about 5C when I left the office.

There were a few police cruisers on my route home tonight, dotted around here and there - amazing what a difference in the drivers it makes. *sigh*

Quite a few other bikes out, was good to see - didn't get a chance to say Hi or anything, but one guy I saw as I was turning onto Mortimer had a really big nice light - a custom/homebrew type - very visible and it made even me, on a bike too, give him a second take. Had he of passed me, I was going to yell "Nice light man, great job!" - I figure we could all do with some friendly words of encouragement! :)

Bloody cagers in New Brunswick are really starting to get on my nerves...

In the space of 2 miles on George St. tonight I was nearly cut off FOUR TIMES!

I'm thinking the paintball gun thing might not be a bad idea after all.

Otherwise, a good ride home from class. And I got to try out the new balaclava! Highly recommended!

Got pretty rainy there the last couple miles coming home <drip> <drip>

Glad I had both of my new Nashbar Mtn bike panniers. My company gave everybody two botles of wine for Thanksgiving.