kokomo61

Update on the commute.....Even though it was foggy this AM in NoVA, I had a good ride in. Felt good climbing the hills, and kept a good pace (having a rider along with me helped).

On the way home, though-I felt like I was flying. I was a little warm because of the long-sleeve jersey and tights, but was able to push some bigger gears than normal on the ride home...and set a new PR for average speed.

When I did this the first time to work and back (21.5 miles each way) back in August, I averaged 13.4 MPH and really struggled to get that. Today, on the way home, I averaged 17.1. On a Trek 7300 hybrid. I can't wait to see what I can do on the road bike......

tokolosh

hideous. temperature 0 but dense freezing rain in a headwind over 20kph with gusts up to 35, and several inches of powdery snow/ice everywhere since it started snowing 8 hours before i left. my mars taillight went completely toes-up - fortunately before i mounted it and rode merrily off thinking it was still working. i have taken a scunner to blackburn the size of which would harrow your soul, if i had the strength to express one-tenth of it. i replaced the batteries and then replaced the blinkie, which involved removing one bracket and remounting a different one in the exposed bike cage before i set out. i got as far as the bridge, and then i gave up. i couldn't keep my eyes open against the rain, couldn't see anything when i did, and was getting direct eyeball hits even with them closed to mere slits. was getting a bit scared about myself whenever i thought of walking over the bridge, so i just went into a starbucks and had a hot chocolate, phoned my kid to reassure him i was alive, and (eventually) caught a series of buses over the bridge and up the hill. i rode about a kilometre home from there. with the wind at my back it was actually pretty pleasant. i am going to be so glad when it just goes back to raining all day.

the woman in the starbucks was so horrified she wouldn't take money for the hot chocolate. half of me thinks she was right, the other half is disappointed about that wind. it might have been a nice ride without it.

Big Ron

It was eerily, unnaturally warm this AM at 62F. The dew point was in the high 50's and water was condensing onto the cold pavement. Very weird! Other than that though it was a fine, uneventful ride. My seat bag was unzipped and my tire levers clattered onto the pavement. Luckily I heard them hit so turned around to pick them up. Supposed to be ~75F this afternoon which will be our last freakishly warm day for a while at least. Supposed to rain tomorrow so will drive to work.

Mr_H

35 degrees, rain, and very frickin windy. I put the studded tires on my bike last night since the weatherman is calling for snow tonight or tommorow...man am I looking forward to that

Note to self: Going through a deep (6 inch) puddle is alot of fun, but your toes start to freeze after a couple of miles...)

luckysnafu

Every morning this week it has been getting warmer and wetter. I am glad this will be the last "hot" day because I enjoy the colder weather. I had to stop at the bank to make a deposit which added about half a mile to my commute and put me on some busier roads. Also had a woman pass me in a 25mph zone while I was going at least 23 or 24.

Two Buck Chuck

I had to drive the car today because of a meeting out in Loudoun (I couldn't talk my coworker into riding the 30+ miles out the W&OD to the meeting). I enjoyed watching at least half a dozen bike commuters pass me while I was sitting in traffic on the George Washington Parkway.

idcruiserman

23F and headwind today. I swapped my cranks for compact last night, and the 34T granny helped on the big hill with the wind.

I need to figure out what to do with my toes, especially in the wind. I wore wool socks with zip lock bags and booties, and they are still cooler than I like. My shoes aren't big enough for 2 pairs of socks.

I'd also like to find a balaclava with better ear coverage.

ax0n

Brr cold. Slush-into-ice, 3-4 MPH average. A very difficult ride in, but fun and worth it.

Itsjustb

Haven't read/posted here in a while--crazy busy at work the last few weeks. It paid off-I didn't get caught by the lay-off happening in my dept.

Finally got the cyclocomputer working on the commuter. It CAN'T be right. I'm riding an MTB with slicks and a trunk on a rack. My average speed this week has been 15.6mph with a high of 25mph. That seems fast to me. Is it???

A couple of good ones from my commutes this week. Tuesday a driver in a pickup lays on the horn, on a 2-lane each way plus a center turn lane road. He's not even in my lane, and there's no one anywhere around; he did it just be an a$$hole. I wave to let him know I hear him...and then the light in front of us changes to yellow. I speed up a little to catch him at the (now red) light. He runs the red to get away from me before I get there. COWARD!

This morning another pickup nearly hit me. I'm taking the right lane, which is an RTO and ends about 75 yards ahead. I'm going straight, so I need to get over. I check shoulder, see a pickup a good distance back and in the left lane, and signal that I'm moving left. He speeds up, buzzes me (missed by maybe a foot), then gets in the right lane. I figure he's turning right up ahead--I mean, why else buzz me then change lanes, right? No. He now gets back in the straight-thru lane and speeds up again (must have been doing 70 in a 55). I don't need to tell any of you--never used a signal in any of this BS. He's probably the 6th or 7th driver who's done this to me on that stretch of road; I wonder if I should ask the local sheriff to post a car there?

pinkrobe

All hail the mighty chinook! Not the salmon, the mass of warm air that flows over the Rockies and causes massive temperature shifts. For example, yesterday morning I rode to work in a windchill-induced -38C, just like on Monday and Tuesday. Today, I rode to work with a gusting warm wind at my back, -1C as the ambient temperature, but it felt like +5C. So sweet!

FormerBMX'er

Thanks guys, I've actually been riding for a bit now...I just haven't been posting. Lately the baby has been going to bed on average at 10:30pm and waking at 3A.M. and again at 8ish so I'm getting pretty good sleep. He's 11 weeks old so it's getting better.

Bumper to bumper traffic on Comm.Ave today which meant I was a lane splitting fool . A bit damp as well but the raceblades kept the muck off.

jyossarian

Congrats on ducking the blade. And check the tire diameter you input into the comp to make sure it's for your tire size. You can do a roll-out test to get an accurate measurement if you don't trust the chart that came w/ your comp. The speeds you listed are attainable w/ a mtb. I've hit those same speeds on my mtb, usually when there's a tailwind or no wind at all.

This morning's commute was super slow. So much traffic packed tightly together made it hard to filter through. Saw a couple bike cops along the route so I figured I'd play it safe and not run red lights even when the peds were doing so.

When I got to work, the Salvation Army volunteer had set up her donation stand next to the bike rack so I locked up, and donated $1. Hope she watches my bike for me.

bikedaddy

-4F on the way in and ofcourse I get my first flat ever! Luckly it appears to be a very slow leak so I just pumped it up and rode it. Will take a better look at it at lunch.

Also fell down on some ice but was going about 3MPH so managed not to hurt myself of bike.

Still had fun!

Cassave

The LA basin is being scoured by Santa Ana winds. This one's cold (for us) and blowing like h*ll.
My morning commute is dead into the wind. At some points I was in a 39x19 and barely able to grind along.
If the winds don't die before quitting time I'll have a rocket sled ride home!

caloso

35F when I left the house at 6am. I forgot to cover my spinach and peas last night so I was glad it didn't get down to the predicted 25F.

I noticed another commuter on L Street this morning: twenty-thirtysomething guy on a neo-retro cruiser. Don't tell the folks in the SS/FG or Roadie forums, but I am glad to see those old styles coming back. They're great for short, flat commutes like here in Sacto.

hairlessbill

Rode the MB-3 with the studded Nokians in today and thought it was overkill at first until I hit the frozen hardpack in the streets. Slipped a bit until I took air out of them then they were awesome even when I hit black ice. The bike path was amazingly well plowed so didn't really need them there - still nice to plow through the icey plowed snow banks at the intersections. Saw at least a dozen bike tracks on the paths so there were plenty of other crazies. So cold though that my forehead hurt from even a slight wind. Nice to avoid the car today.

HardyWeinberg

sunny, warm-ish (well, high 30s, warm-ish after earlier in the week). No coat, shorts. Sad to see the snow go, now the knobbies are just bouncy novelties more than functional. Will take a dirt shortcut going home to get a little more use out of them. One viaduct/causeway thingy was still a long sheet of ice (tilted, at that) but otherwise clear sailing.

billh

St Louis. cold, windy, rainy, 30's F. Got soaked this morning. The drive home is forecast to be 20-30's, gusts out of the north up to 30mph, chance of precip 100%.

I relish the comments of co-workers, ". . . ride your bike today?", "you didn't ride your bike today, did you?", "if you need to take off early, don't want you getting banged up", etc. I smile and nod. I lead a boring life. This is the only risk I take. Allow me that.

AlmostTrick

My work place is on a narrow four lane arterial (no rideable shoulder, must take the lane) with a 50 mph speed limit. There is no left turn lane to enter our driveway, so drivers have to slow or even stop in the left traffic lane to wait for a gap in order to make their turn. Because of this there has been plenty of accidents here. I ride in from the other direction just so I don't have to make this left or be around drivers swerving into the right lane at the last second at high speed.

Anyway, yesterday morning we had another mega wreck at this dangerous location, only this time I was only 30 or 40 feet away from it on my bike, in the short right turn lane preceding the driveway. It was quite exciting to say the least. The econo car that was at a full stop in the left lane was rear ended and pushed into oncoming traffic where it was then hit by a large truck. The initial rear impact lifted the rear end of the little car several feet off the ground and spun it around, tossing it into the trucks path. It was very loud and there was shrapnel flying everywhere. After completing my turn and getting off the main road, I stopped in our driveway for a moment as the drivers all got out and amazingly looked relatively unharmed. Thankfully, besides this short 3/4 mile section of suicide road, the rest of my route is quite pleasant.

As always, be careful out there.

Randomus

Today was absolutely the perfect day! I believe the temp. today was right around 55F the entire day.

Not only was the weather once again lovely, I was able to escape school early.

RomSpaceKnight

Weather closing in fast. Temps dropping and raining hard. Winds from the north. Forecast has the "S" word for tomorrow. Looks like winter starts on Dec 1st in SW Ontario.

idcruiserman

I got my first snow ride on the way home today. It was awesome once I realized I wasn't going to wreck on every turn.

jyossarian

Ride home included a stop off at the dentist. My teeth always feel weird after getting them cleaned. After that, it was stop n go for a few blocks, then a quick ride home.

efschmid

Cool and rainy on the way to work this morning. Cold with freezing rain on the way home but the roads were fine. Tomorrow is suppose to be worst.

redden

I wimped out this morning. It was 37, I know that is T-shirt weather to some of you in the frozen tundra but here in Socal that is COLD!! BRRRRRRRRRRR. Ran on the treadmill and did weights instead. The ride home was great. After replacing the derailer hanger the bike climbed much better. Took the tough route home. I thought I was slowing down due to age but it turned out to be a problem with the bike.