Relaxer

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.

RonH

Ok. Roll me in horse hocky and call me a wus.
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.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer -- I hope.
I guess I'm turning into a wus as I get older.

pinkrobe

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

Flimflam

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 ).

CliftonGK1

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."

caloso

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.

marqueemoon

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

ianjk

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...

HardyWeinberg

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.

ax0n

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

Flimflam

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!

voileauciel

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!

HardyWeinberg

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

ken cummings

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

robtown

Got the horn "Get the f.. off the road" for the first time from a passenger who was delayed 5 seconds. Even three feet left of the shoulder I was much easier to pass than a car. I found out that I have thin skin and aired out my airsoundz.

scottmorrison99

Chilly, uneventful ride. Rain was predicted for the ride in but never appeared. Ride home was 50 degrees, so I rode home in a shortsleeve jersey and shorts and packed the rest in my rack bag.

buzzman

beautiful weather and day. had to replace my rear tire before I left the house because the sidewall was ripping. got that done and was on my way.

met up with my wife on the ride home and did a great ride along the river to home.

tokolosh

today was an illustration of what i was just talking about. started out in slashing 45-degree rain and the kind of headwind that keeps you pedalling just to progress downhill, but i was heading towards blue sky and by the time i'd got to the top of the bridge i was underneath it. the second half of the ride, i cast an actual shadow and all the roads in front of me were one shining, just-rained-on path. two kinds of extreme, experience-in-their-own-right weather, all before starting work.

more than any kind of distance, this is the kind of thing that makes this way of doing things so rewarding and neat. to start out in one weather system and ride so far that you get yourself into a completely different one, all with your own legs . . . how just plain old cool is that? coincidentally the lead on this project is back from vacation today and happened to ask if i was still riding to work 'in this weather'. i find these conversations so frustrating sometimes. i got the impression that he wasn't so much interested in hearing my take as in telling me his, so i gave up pretty fast and just said 'well, i find it cool because every day by the time i get here that something interesting has already happened to me.' he kind of laughed and did what spike milligan called 'moving in the general direction of away.' sigh.

cool and almost clear on the way home, with mild headwind - same like it's been for a few days now. i overdressed, so when i stopped for groceries and peeled off all the excess to put in my bag, including the gloves and the taiga booties. then i put the groceries on top of all of it, and found it was raining again when i got outside. wasn't worth it to try and find anything, so i just rode home with bare hands. not too bad for a short distance, but i'm glad my kid got the door today.

GreenAnvil

No commute today. Beautiful 22F sunny, but we don't get too many days like this and my wife not having work today I grabbed my camera gear (35mm body, lenses, tripod, etc) and took my wife's car. The lake always offers great photo opportunities in days like today.

GreenAnvil

vtjim

A Tale of Two Commutes. It was the best of times, it was the better of times.

Last night it was almost dark and suddenly there was a headlight behind me on the MUP. I don't know whether the rider turned it on, or came out behind me. In any event, I'm ashamed to say that my testosterone pump activated and I surged ahead. The person was moving along well too, but never caught me and eventually started losing ground. It was a fun ride but later I felt guilty for some reason.

This morning it was 20F. Shortly into my ride I saw something behind me and gaining fast. I crossed the Winooski River at my usual slow pace, expecting the thing to catch me and pass. The person had matched my speed and was keeping his distance about 50 yards behind me. He wanted to chase, but not pass. Okay, I've done that before. So I bolted again. Dropped him but I had to work at it.

I saw another cyclist ahead of me but it turned off into a campground (headed for high school probably) before I caught it.

So much energy this week! Good for burning off too much food tomorrow... I'll be doing some trail riding before I eat, too.

ModoVincere

No commute today. I have a business lunch to go to and its 20 miles from my office and a fairly nice restaurant. I don't think they would appreciate a sweaty, spandex clad biker coming in during the prime lunch time

It's a shame I didn't ride in today. No schools and a lot of people taking the day off made the streets quite hospitable to a cyclist. It would have been a great ride.

Relaxer

Nice, hard ride but no big whoop. VERY windy. It felt like I was riding uphill, especially when I was riding uphill. I'm going to miss the commute for the next 4 days. I'll still take rides, but there's something very satisfying about getting three benefits from a ride: 1) functional (getting to work), 2) health (exercise), 3) fun (fun).

idcruiserman

There was a car wreck adjacent to me as I was approaching the work entrance gate. The cars were stopped waiting to get in, and this guy must have been talking on a cell or watching my blinking tail light. Just slammed into the back of a truck as I was passing. I saw it coming.

* jack *

OK... Rain, I can handle. Cold rain, I can tolerate -
But I draw the line at cold rain and gale-force winds.

No commute today.

ax0n

Last night I worked through a gridlock that was blocking an intersection. When the green light hit, no one could move (cars blocking the way). I hopped up on the curb and filtered that way (no sidewalk, just rode in the grass) then went right on through the green light, weaving between a few cars that were maybe 3 feet apart.

I could hear cager blood boiling in contempt.

This morning, nothing major. I actually got to the bus stop a lot earlier than I'd anticipated, so I just kicked back, cracked open Cryptonomicon, bit into an apple, and waited for the bus. Completely uneventful ride in.

After riding from the down town bus stop to the parking garage, I ran into a co-worker from my floor who also came in on two wheels... a Yamaha. I called him a wuss. Okay, I didn't. He's a cool guy, and getting props from him for going HPV was plenty enough.