I didn't have time to post yesterday, but I learned something. I learned the real dangers of bike commuting.

The real danger is, when you get to work, shower, and head over to get dressed, you realize that you packed a mostly black shirt, black socks, black shoes, black belt, and navy blue pants. :O Talk an ugly situation and nowhere to turn.

I managed to survive with minimum pain, but I am sure there were snickers.

The actual commute part was fine. I took it slow as I had some extra time on the bike the day before. This morning I feel sore from my ride yesterday for some reason. I guess its good I am taking the day off riding today to do some sailing. Now I will at least be wearing matching foul weather gear and rubber boots. It may be geeky, but it matches!

That Sailguy, he's no slave to fashion.

Hey Sailguy, that black and blue is almost as bad as brown and blue.

Had a nice ride spoiled by a couple of kids tonight. They pulled up along side me in their truck and tried to slap me on the butt. I saw them coming and got off the road as much as I could. The kids swing caught me on the leg a little. I really don't get angry about these things. I want to sit them down and get them to think about how dangerous that was. I wasn't able to get a plate number. Just hope they grow up before they hurt someone.

Hi Folks,

Bright and very cold (around freezing) this morning. Gorgeous though!

Cheers,

Ed

Hey Sailguy! I once grabbed a pair of my wifes Navy Blue pants by mistake! I didn't realize my mistake until I tried to figure out why the zipper was on the wrong side (at work)! Anyway, it was an interesting day where I stayed glued to my desk for most of it! I don't get to take a sailing break until Friday night, Luckily the weather and water is a little warmer here in the desert so I don't have to exchange for foul weather gear.

The commute in was fairly normal. Not counting lights my new commute is 7 minutes longer in ride time according to the computer. With lights it is likely very near the same time. I must also say that I sure enjoy it a lot more. Nice cloudy day, with no more rain! Sure enjoyed last weeks rain but it is nice to be able to ride without having to give the bike a major cleaning as well!

So today's storm sent me to work and back in my car, 2nd time in 2 weesks. At least I had some time to work on my snow pictures of my commute. First starting up Moose Hill into the wildlife sanctuary. There are just ocassional flurries here.

At the top of Moose Hill, looking across the stone walls to a pasture where I often see deer and turkeys, and where the fall color is good.

More typical overgrown New England stone walls and snow.

Finally, as I started heading downhill, I ran into a snow squall. Made me wish I'd put my goggles on instead of my glasses.

And finally, safely at work; my trusty steed, "Virtual Reality", stops for a well earned rest.

Sorry VR, one more try.

Thanks Jean. I hope I one day get the chance to ride in snow. Today was my first ride for almost a week after my illness. Quite possibly my slowest commute ever. In fact, I was faster going against the 70km/h winds a couple of weeks back. At least I managed to make it into work. That in itself felt like an achievement.

Jean, those are lovely pictures.

No snow here this morning but plenty of white frost and it was a healthy -4°C according to the BBC weather website. To cap it all there is beautiful bright sunshine. Winter can be fantastic

Cheers,

Ed

Well, I seemed a little stronger on the ride home this evening. I must admit I found that surprising as I was very tired before setting out. Maybe it was just the fact it was raining slightly.

We got a bunch of snow here yesterday, thus getting to work this morning was tough. After about 4 blocks on the side streets, getting stuck, having to get off the bike, and all around slow going, I said to hell with it and for the first time ever rode the whole way to work on the busiest street in town. Good thing is was early and there were very few cars going my way, otherwise I think I might have become a road rage victim. (even though I was only going about 10kph slower than the drivers)

Not really looking forward to the ride home.

Today I drove again. Of course the parking lot at work hadn't been plowed so I had to park a half mile away and walk to work from there. It took until 11 am for the snowplowing service to do our lot. By this afternoon the road surfaces were looking a lot better, but the roadways are very narrow and the snow piled on the sides is well over my head. I don't have a safety flag, so I am a little nervous about riding tomorrow, I will just have to walk across some inter-sections where visibility is really bad. Do other deep snow commuters use safety flags?

Excuse me for my bad manners, Miss Jean, but may I interject?

Dang...I miss the snow. I grew up in Rockville, Md. We had snow every winter, sometimes enough to make those, "roadways [with the] the snow piled on the sides...well over my head." I remember my best friends building fortresses and tunnels in those huge mounds.

And those quiet nights, looking out the window at the snow falling in the front yard (still perfect since no one had walked through it yet,) becoming brighter as it fell past the street light. Some amazing meditative thoughts then, even as a child.

We all had sleds and (what were they called?) those "flying saucers" (which you could steer almost as accurately as, well, a car without a steering wheel.) I remember "The Hill," a gravel-covered, tree-lined road that always started as snow, but soon became hard-packed, then ice, then ice with patches of gravel that sometime caused sparks from the metal runners of the sleds (am I dreaming, or did I actually see sparks? I miss it...)

Wiping out and hitting a tree, or falling through the ice into the shallow creek, both painful memories, seem beautiful, now...

Even the smell of snow is something I'll never forget.



(Do they sell imported snow in Atlanta somewhere? :confused: )

First commute of the week (been too icy so far). I had put a slime filled tube on the back with a Michelin World Tour tyre( very heavy, but the only spare I could find with any tread ), so the bike feels heavier.

It was -2 C, virtually no wind and some frost and ice, but not too much so i set off.

On the cycle path the frost was very heavy, so much so that the frost was being picked up by my front tyre, then getting stripped off the tyre ( I imagine ) by the mud caught in my guards.

This meant that my front canti's were covered in about an inch of the stuff that pisteurs leave at the side of si runs, dry powdered snow, which then proceeded to dump itself at regular intervals on my shins and front of my ankles.

At one point I looked like I was wearing brown'white knee length socks.

My shin muscles melted this but boy were my knees ankles and feet cold as it melted.

Still, a nice ride in.

well, first commute since Friday as Monday and Tuesday i had errands to do after work where i had limited time -- bought a new snowboard and the store closes at 7pm so i took the train so i could stay at work until 6pm as the train goes right there and the shop is all the way across town (just over 1hr by bike)

anyway, today was -7C and clear blue skies with minimal wind. the paths are solidly packed ice covered with gravel with snowbanks to the side - last real snowfall about 8 days ago. roads are totally clear as they are salted. (i ride about 4km on paths along the river, and 7km on roads). nice commute, no problems, traction was good. i saw fewer cyclists today maybe b/c i rode in a little later (9-9:30am).

i underestimated the temps and started out without my windjacket (short jersey, long jersey plus windproof jersey) and stopped after about 7 minutes and put it on - then was sweating a little at the end...

man i enjoyed riding again after just a few days off the bike!

Beautiful and freezing cold here again. This is really good weather for riding. Except for last night when I got a flat on the rear wheel. Trying to get a tire off (and back on) a filthy salt coated wheel with freezing cold hands was a real pain, even with levers to help. Still, the job was done and I made it home.

Cheers,

Ed

yes over the 4 years of full time commuting, i have forgotten a few things:
* twice forgotten my shoes and had to work all day in my cycling shoes
* twice forgot my change of underwear (just a few weeks ago), once wearing my semi-sweaty bike underwear and once going sans
* a few times forgetting my undershirt but that's not so bad
* twice forgetting my outer shirt - once i had a spare in my desk and the other i wore a t-shirt all day

thankfully, i've never forgotten my pants (uh, having to work in cycling tights or bike shorts all day would not be fun), and since i dress casual matching isn't much of an issue (i wear jeans mostly)

i try to keep s spare shirt in my desk, but actually at the moment i don't... hmm need to remember that! actually maybe i should add underwear to the backup-store too...

Ahhhh, great ride in this morning. With the days getting longer I got to see a beautiful sunrise with the pinks, oranges and blue on the horizon. I must be pretty acclimated to the cold because it was 15F (-9C) but it felt like 30F (-1C). I could almost smell spring in the air... I know, I'm dreaming. Oh, the worse thing that I've forgotten is socks and underwear. Once I grabbed my teen daughters white blouse thinking it was my shirt and was stuck wearing that all day (I rolled up the sleeves), that was humbling.

Todays ride in to school was the highlight of all my commutes. It was super foggy, and pretty cold. The moisture from teh fog collected on my eyelashes and then the windchill cause it to freeze, so I had ice/frost frozen on my eyelashes. Plus it was all over my tights, jacket, helmet, bike, and hair. What a great ride!!!

I knew I was going to be busy today at work and my wife and I have tix to a show tonight, so I knew that my only chance for a workout would be on the way to work. I headed out for a long ride along the river before having to turn around and head back to the office.

Weather said 60% of rain in the a.m. and wouldn't you know it? It poured from 6:45 to 8:30 or so and I got drenched. It's been gorgeous since.

Oh, well. I'm one of those idiotic cyclists, as wet as drowned rat, and smiling on my way into work....