habernac

it's just going to get uglier out there. -29C for Monday as a low.

RomSpaceKnight

Low of 2'C in morn. Sunny and fine all day, 8'C. Soon as sun goes down temp plummets. Still nice riding weather. No rain for past week or so. Snow and real cold temps forecast for next week. Am putting my knobbies back on this weekend.

tokolosh

LOL. today was another one of those days. pretty stereotypical november weather: everything everywhere a study in monochrome shades of grey like some piece of very high-class minimalist painterly art. wind winding, rain raining, cars throwing up fog-belts of spray, about 4 celsius . . . it's the kind of weather that makes every onlooker without exception shudder with pity/horror, but in fact they're thinking of it from a pedestrian's perspective. if you're properly dressed and moving at least adequately it's not only not miserable; it's kind of cosy feeling.

so i'm just coming up to the top of the bridge in that state, with very limited vision because of rain all over my glasses - doesn't matter much on the mup - and i start to notice my bike seems to be giving off this . . . plinking noise. something not quite a twang and not really a click, repeatedly. the cause had already started dawning on me by the time i could see the hard evidence. i was being hailed on.

only for about 30 metres at the top of the bridge, then again for another few hundred a short way off the bridge, but that just made it seem all the cooler, somehow. by the time i was back down at street level and then getting started at work and looking at all these people who hadn't been hailed on that day, it was like a little mystery magic that had only happened to me. and then the ride home was clear and calm and dry, about the same temperature but without the ice confetti.

i'm being so cheerful about this year of winter riding, i'm even starting to make myself kind of sick.

pinkrobe

It was definitely more gruesome today, temperature-wise: -18C, but -25C with the windchill. I know that's not much by SK standards, but for me, that's plenty. The new shoes are holding up okay, although I need a new sock arrangement, as the layering isn't working very well. Same thing with the mittens. The good thing about the colder temps is that the snow is packing hard, and isn't as sloppy. This means enhanced traction and faster riding. Due to the way the lights are synchronized, I'm only losing about 3 minutes compared to dry riding on skinny tires.

fixed.rider

A couple days late, but my Tues commute was amazing. It was chilly (for VA) but the sun was out, and as I pulled up at the office, I just felt full of energy and life! Let out a brief "primal scream," =) then went inside to my desk. =(

anyone get that feeling some mornings...esp the chilly ones?

kokomo61

Were you going in towards DC, or back out towards Reston in the AM? I saw a couple cyclists headed out while I was riding in. Also saw a rider on a bike with fenders (unusual in this area, at least on the W&OD), and passed a guy on a nice Bianchi (I gave him lots of clearance and dinged the bell before passing, but I didn't give enough warning before turning off of the Custis trail to cross 66 - Thought he was further back.)

I just got back in town from Thanksgiving, and will probably ride in the morning. The new bike is over at UPS in Chantilly, so I might call and see if I can pick it up....

tokolosh

today i rode not
except for critical mass
i took the day off

fixed.rider

I probably pass you guys in the morn. I have the opposite commute, Falls Church to Herndon all on the WO&D. Black Fixie, orange courier bag.

demo9

Hmmm... lessee this morning. Day 6 of the 8 day holdiay stretch. Legs are getting tired with no rest in between. I have been taking longer routes in the mornings because of the absence of morning traffic. So far for this week alone I am up to 76 miles in 1 week. Should be a pretty good rest day come tuesday. The weather was unusually warm for the morning. I think about low 60's today. Still, I tried out my new shoes and tights this morning. Changed the position on my shoes from the old ones. Now it feels like I am clipping in more on the ball of my foot as opposed to a couple cm behind it. It feels better but my arches and hammies burn after my uphill climbs. All in all I came to the realization that I need to get stronger in my legs if I am going to be able to keep doing this on a daily basis.

rgtft

First commute in about five weeks; the temp was a beautiful 47 degrees (Farenheit) at 4:00 am -- which is about 15 degrees above normal for late November in Michigan. 20.57 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes. About five minutes slower than usual.

vtjim

Outstanding! So was it that cold today? It was a balmy 44F / 7C in Vermont this morning.

I was "home" for Thanksgiving and my sister's coughing kid gave me a head cold. What is it with kids and diseases? They're walking biohazards. Al Qaeda has nothing on your average 5 year-old. It just kicked in yesterday with a sore throat and now I'm sniffly. Battling it with vitamins, assorted pharmaceuticals, and cycling. Hoping it doesn't get any worse. I rode to work anyway but kept it very relaxed. Almost got caught by a roadie but I made my turn off the MUP before he got me.

Mr_H

We've been having above normal weather for this time of year...not that I'm complaining. It was a pleasant 45 or so on the ride in, with a slight drizzle after I got a couple of miles under my belt. Didn't bother me too much, though it does remind me that I need to put the visor on my helmet (stupid glasses getting wet).

Nice to be on the bike after being out of town without it for Thanksgiving.

ax0n

Awesome ride in. I haven't commuted since last wednesday (although I did plenty of riding over the long weekend) so it was fun to get back into the groove. I really need to work off the turkey this week.

jyossarian

Was out of town for the last two weeks so no commuting for me until today. Legs felt fresh which was good cuz I was carrying a heavier than normal load and one of the brake pads is dragging on the rim. Not too much, but enough to make noise and stop the wheel when it spins freely. The ride in was fine and the cagers mostly behaved themselves, but I did notice a couple newly dug potholes that caused some interesting bunny hop attempts while surrounded by traffic.

Slightly OT, but this past weekend, I had to walk up 13 flights of stairs w/ my wife and another couple that we didn't know due to a power outage. While my wife didn't complain, she's not a regular cyclist so her legs were really tired. As for the other couple, the man complained the whole way while his female companion complained that her legs were tired from her previous night's spinning class and that's why she was going so slow. I almost blurted out that I had ridden my fixie 20 miles the day before, but chose to just keep on climbing. After we reached our floor, I told my wife my legs felt fine and I could keep on climbing stairs. She scowled and berated me for not carrying her up the stairs if my legs felt that good.

habernac

wow, that sucked. Snow was deep, crashed 3 times, tweaked my knee. -26C, -40 with the windchill. My commute takes 35 minutes usually, I added an hour to that today.

MyPC8MyBrain

Converted the bike over to winter mode last night. Installed the studded snow tires [Nikoian 700/35s] and put the panniers on. Needless to say, with the treaded studs and the weight on the bike, it felt pretty sluggish. Had to lower one more gear across the board on the uphills. Oh well, when the touring tires go back on in the spring it will feel like a rocket

The ride this am was a chilly 24f when I left the house. Wearing a jacket is much more efficient without having to use a backpack. Need to sort out glasses and goggles. It seems the biggest issue when it's cold out relates to fogging of the glasses. Maybe one of those neoprene balaclavas might work out. The windproof one I'm using [perfromance] seems to direct breath to under the glasses.

Someday, I will hit the prefect setup... it seems like a never ending quest though.

GGDub

The cold (-25c with a -39c windchill) caused my freehub to act all wacky. Sometimes it just wouldn't catch, so I was left spinning my cranks until it did. Not so much fun in 20cm of fresh snow.

luckysnafu

Back on the bike after a nice long weekend. Had a nice ride in even though it was fairly cold here, nothing compared to you guys in Canada though with your negative temps. Going to be around 70 this afternoon so I should have a nice ride home.

pinkrobe

habernac and GGDub - Y'all got that much snow? All we got was about 4", and by the time we made it out to the main roads it was all perfectly packed down and grippy. The windchill was a bastage, though. I think the bridge of my nose got a little exposed, but other than that, the bike worked great and I didn't lose any appendages.

GGDub

The trail heading down shaganappi golf course doesn't get plowed and there was a helluva a lot of wind drift. Any ideas on my freehub problem?

caloso

We had a fair amount of rain last night so the streets were wet and covered with leaves and debris. I was consciously working on looking far down the road and anticipating the moves of other road users (I'm in such a good mood right now I won't even call them cagers). I'm VERY pleased with my full fenders. The bike was mostly clean, and I only had a few tiny splatters on my shoes and tights. And now the sun has come out, so we I may have dry streets for the ride home.

Saw my twin on H Street this morning: another guy in roadie kit riding a converted fixie with fenders. It's the perfect wet season commuter, in my opinion. I'm apparently not the only one.

habernac

yeah, the paths don't get plowed all the way to Harvest Hills and the main road is way to busy to ride in this weather. After this morning, I think I might dice it out with the autos, worked way too hard in the deep stuff today. It's impossible to ride on the crap that is tracked by people walking on it. After 64th ave, I can ride on plowed pathway all the way downtown. I gotta spam my alderman some more to get them to plow it all the way up. I hope I didn't do any real damage to my knee today. #$%!!

* jack *

NOTE: *Whenever you encounter a rude/bad/dangerous driver on the roads, beware:
- That nutty cager could be your neighbor/boss/client/co-worker.

I am so glad I didn't flip a bird or scream obscenities at the moron (a very important client of my wife's) who almost hit me with his ****ing minivan today.

bikedaddy

14F when I left this morning with fog. Still recovering from a nasty cold (always get them on my long weekends... err!) so I took it slow. By the time I arrived at work my beard was covered with frost... got a laugh from a couple coworkers.

CliftonGK1

The ride home will be interesting if the weather keeps up like it is now. This morning there was just a dusting of snow on the ground. Right now it's hella snowing!