Had to work late and just got home...man it felt colder out when I left tonight than it did this morning...but at least the wind was a tailwind! :)

32 on the way to work and 59 coming back. Shedding two layers added 4 MPH to my speed. Saw one cyclist in the AM and 25 on the way back.

great ride in this morning on my studded snows for the first time this year. there was a dusting of snow on the ground today. had to be at a meeting about 8 miles from work and another 8 home from there so ended up with about 30 miles on the studded tires today- I actually like the way they roll. With the rear milk crate jammed with stuff and the chunky studded tires my bike feels like a utility vehicle. I feel like I'm driving a four wheel drive go anywhere truck. The ride home in the 23 F crystal clear night was marvelous. Took a series of back roads I hadn't ridden in years and a stretch of new bike path I've never ridden. Was warm as toast.

kind of wide-eyed about how much of that snow is still around. it rose above freezing three or four days ago, but i guess it's still dropping below freezing at night because anywhere the roads haven't been cleared a whole bunch of it is still with us. just sitting there. in places it's just an inch or two of ice with water on top of it now. most of the roads in my neighbourhood are still a few inches under. still, i got to ride for longer stretches than i have all this week. one side of the mup has been cleared, which was the one i took this morning. i sort of figured they'd only do one, so on the way home i gambled on that hunch, and lost. walked over the bridge on the other side yet again. it's just solid lumpy ice now.

i don't seem to have the hang of studded tires. or maybe there's no real hang to get in a situation like this. my bike's jumping and slithering all over the place; i feel like a mountain biker or a rodeo dude. i start to think the tires are overkill and kind of pointless, then i get off the bike and find out there's black ice everywhere underfoot.

only something-teen days to the winter solstice.

First day commuting on the new job. It's the 7th job I've commuted to...7 must be the lucky ticket. Rolled in, parked, got changed etc without a hitch!

Good morning folks!

I have been laid off from work so there won't be any further bike commutes for now. Once I find another position and if it's feasible to bike commute to that location I will resume posting my daily logs here.

It's been a pleasure getting to know some of you by your posts in this forum. You all have been a very friendly and encouraging bunch.

May you have a very blessed, peaceful, healthy and prosperous Holiday Season.

Good roads to you all.

GreenAnvil

Crummy time to get laid off! Don't let the b*st*rds get you down. Good luck.

My cyclocomputer read 8F briefly, but spent most of its time at 13F. Clear sky. Another nice ride. Time for my breakfast. One clementine and one apple. :)

Warming back up but there are still some patches of black ice around. I was almost as fast on my knobbies today as I was on my slicks before this whole weather mess got started. I can't wait for the ground to dry up completely so I can break out the slicks again. I wouldn't be surprised if my average speed on the slicks goes up by 3 MPH when I switch back.

My freaking saddle came really loose on the ride in today, out of nowhere. 2 major cleanings ago, I torqued it down pretty good. Must be the thermal effect of going in and out between the sub-freezing weather and my warm apartment. Anyhow, once I got off the bus, the ever trusty Park Tool MTB-3 came out to play, and everything is right in the world again.

Mmmm b-fast. Something I didn't get yet (no time before I left)

Time for a nanner and a bowl of maple brown sugar malt-o-meal.

Better than yesterday.

I'm really looking forward to implementing rev. 2 of my lights, though! I'll feel a lot safer....

Green Anvil, good luck finding something better! Maybe after everyone gets there year-end bonuses and jumps ship, something'll open up.

Ride in was filled w/ traffic starting on my block w/ a backhoe holding things up. Things didn't get much better after that. But I made it so that's all that's important. 30F when I left and I was fine, but a little cool in a t-shirt and ski shell w/ the pit zips wide open.

25F for the 43 miles into work. I was bundled up nicely so no real problems with the cold. A cycling buddy gave me some shoe covers - and man, they helped.

It takes me 2.5 hours to pedal into work. I leave at 5 and get here at 7:30 with to short stops to rest and refuel. I still beat everyone in and have enough time to wash, change, and read email before they start getting here.

I really enjoyed this mornings ride in. The moon was full and helped so much through the mountain pass. At one point my light started flickering and eventually turned off. Before I could stop safely at a store to change the batteries, I rode with pure moonlight. It was pretty nice.

Bummer. Who do you work for -- Scrooge? :(
Best of luck in finding a new job and keep us posted.

19F and minimal wind once again. Nice ride in today. Camelback hose froze yesterday, but it was fine today after wrapping it in bubble wrap :).

Cold ride in this morning, temps in the upper 20s. I kept warm with all the layers I had one though. Almost got run over by a guy driving a golf cart on the golf course path. Usually the maintenance people leave me plenty of room on the path but this guy kept coming over on my side around a corner and almost hit me. He came so close I had to go off the path! I think he was looking at a bird that just flew by and was going too fast for the corner. He had a surprised look on his face as I went by him :D

I can confirm, cold ride in this morning (though nothing like the -3 reported from our comrades in Canada!).

Kinda wild ride this morning. First a school bus stopped to pick up some kids in front of me; of course I stopped, but the guy in the pickup just behind me just kept coming on, like he wanted to take advantage of me being stopped to pass me. I gave him the, "What are you, an idiot?" look.

Then a mile later it was two fire trucks coming up behind, sirens and lights blazing. I was stopped at a red light as they approached; I pulled to the right (on a 2-lane each way road). The guy in the delivery truck next to me must have felt his packages absolutely positively had to be there overnight, as he just pulled into the left lane and then into the left-turn lane. And drivers say cyclists don't obey the rules of the road....

23° this morning. Overslept so had to deal with extra traffic leaving at 7:30 vs 7am. Got passed at the very end of my commute by a guy on a Bianchi. It's fairly rare to even see another biker much less get passed by one.

Very nice all told. I'll have a lot of clothing to carry home, tho.

Brutal, I was laid of in 2004, Dec. 13th (they let me go to the XMas party on the prior weekend then laid me off on the Monday :rolleyes:) - Keep your spirits up and enjoy your holiday season - best of luck to you with the jobhunt, and getting back into the commuting! :D

Ride home last night my bike lock fell off, turned out the little spline that it hooks into the mount with had come loose, and vibrated free. No big deal, was just pissed I had to turn back and pick it up. I rode the rest of the way with it in my backpack - and man was the ride so quiet, I have a rattle from the lock on bumps that's like a "I'm on my bike" sound, a familiar and non-irritating noise, but when it was gone it was almost lonely at times (in a good way :)).

The Space-Grip that the bike store fitted for me was loose so that once my lights were clipped in, they shook/bumped down and I was nicely lighting up my front wheel and the ground and not much else. I seem to have lost my allen key set at home, so I had to leave it until this morning to fix it in the office (thanks to the tech. guys having the tools! :)).

Ride home was average speed, I forgot my new safety goggles (Home Depot $10 - safety and UV rated 99.9% whatever that means) and so the snow started and was a bit uncomfortable for the last 5 mins, but otherwise great.

The bikestore also replaced and fixed up my brakes and cabling and swapped out the rear pads so my brakes are once again REALLY responsive, I surprised myself last night with them, heh.

Ride in today was good, -7C when I left for physio, and once I left the hospital -5C according to the radio. I donned a fleece over my normal lifa vest + long sleeve tee and took to the road. Had a couple of amber-light runnings - one was because I wasn't paying attention to the lights, I had an SUV trying to creep and drive into me at that point. I gave a few pedestrians a startle at a red light, I was doing a decent clip (22-23mph) and decided to give my brakes a nice stop-test, but I locked the rear a little and the brief skid noise obviously alerted the peds - they hesitated crossing in front of me, heh.

Otherwise uneventful, 39 mins ride time.

Overdressed this morning and peeled off stuff 1/2 way in. Was 30 degrees, and almost felt like a spring ride. Winds were strange, first a big cross wind, then a major head wind, then flipped to a big tail wind to push me the rest of the way in. When I got to the office there was no wind.

Last night on the ride home I guess it was a combination of rested legs and a Monday (nothing gets me like Mondays as far as frustration level) - the ride in was a soaker - could barely see it was raining so hard - no need for a shower I can tell you - just used the hose outside the office to rinse off.

Anyway, this meant of course my clothes were still pretty damp for the ride home. Not a pleasant feeling. But, got on the bike and started riding, hit the first hill and went right up it like it was easy - with all the rain, the small rocks are stuck in the sand / mud mixture so I wasn't sliding as much as usual.

Just cruising along taking it slow because I was in the rocky stretch and then, the next hill is already there - I didn't even shift down - just hit it and stood up and started seeing how far I could go without shifting down to granny.

Amazing, I almost made the break point! By the time I got home, I was smiling a big smile. Nice to start the week with a break through.

Not much to report today. My wife and I got cut off by the driver of a BMW X5 just before we got to a stop sign. I gave him the full force of my HID, but he took off. Since we were going the same way, we easily caught him at the next light. We were in the lane beside him, so aided by HID, I got a good look at him and the interior of his vehicle. He refused to look at us, I'll assume out of embarassment.

Good ride this morning. I was hoping to meet a buddy for a ride before work, but he wasn't able to make it. I was up and I resisted the temptation to crawl back into bed. First, a stop at Peet's for a double shot. Then to the office to drop off my bag. The Pipe Bridge over the American was still closed, so I rode through Midtown and East Sac to CSUS and crossed the Guy West Bridge to get on the bike trail. I was very pleased to see so many of our brethren bundled and lit for dawn patrol.

Out to the toilet and water fountain at the Watt Ave. Bridge for a pit stop and then back into town. I made good time so I had a few minutes to grab a muffin and another coffee. Had a nice chat with the guy at the counter about his Bianchi locked in front of the cafe. Coffee and bikes! They go together like a horse and a carriage.

There was actually someone on the bike path behind me this morning for the first time in weeks. That gave me some extra motivation and I got a better workout than I have been for awhile. The crossing guard at an elemantary school seemed shocked when I actually stopped to let some children cross... I don't know ... maybe the college kids around here just plow over the school children.

Bet commute of my life!
Last night I got on the Ballona Bike Path going East and this big, HUGE full moon was right in front of me. The moon light was reflecting on the creek, there was not one single person on the bike path - only me and the chirping birds. An owl flew right over my head. I felt so happy, like a kid.