Didn't ride the past 2 days since I was away on a business trip. Back on the bike this morning though. No snow or freezing rain this morning and the roads were just wet, not icy. Had a slow go though since I had my laptop and shoes in addition to my normal stuff. Sunny and 50 for my ride home, have a great weekend everybody :)

Inaugural 'Winter Bike' Ride

Finally took my winter bike out. Of course I waited long enough that the roads are completely dry and clear now, even on small streets. :rolleyes: Which is actually pretty fortunate considering I forgot to install a small but crucial detail on my winter bike called "fenders".

The first few minutes into the ride I kept getting that paranoid feeling that there is a car creeping up on me from behind even when a visual check established there is no one there at all. Then it hit me - it's the noise of my own knobbies on the pavement! D'oh! :D

The winter bike feels very weird. I feared that since I got it used, it was going to give me a lot of trouble even after all the tinkering, but the fears so far have not been confirmed. It's mostly solid mechanically except for a few shot cogs (will probably just get a whole new wheel, the one on it now is crappy) but I'm too used to the bike I've been riding for the whole year. I was one with that bike, I knew exactly how it would feel and behave. Not the case with this one. I instantly feel it has a number of advantages over my usual bike: it's lighter, has a more aggressive and hence "faster" geometry. Still, it'll take me a while to get used to the whole new handling... will probably have to do a bunch of tweaking to get everything just right. So now I'm reminded how newbies feel when they just get on a bike for the first time in ten years...

This bike also has ridiculously low gearing. The largest of the three chainrings is teeny-tiny - the smallest I've ever seen on the bike. I have another set of chainrings lying around, but it took me forever to properly set up the front derailleur on this thing and the thought of having to do it all over again is just intolerable. Maybe I should convert the whole thing to a fixie or SS, given that the STX shifters are not working very well, even in this mild (around 0 C/32 F) weather (funny, but the Altus shifters from the 90's on my other bike are just fine!)

Wet pretty much sums it up.

Wet for me as well. I was riding down a street, not paying attention, and hit a rut between one of our 6 inch thick ice sheets. Needless to say I went down fairly hard and covered myself in wet dirty snow and slush.
Anyhow, tore my jacket and my new wool jersey. The jersey is fine... just a small hole. Besides I put holes in everything sooner or later. My J&G jacket is toast. Too big of a rip. Guess I know what I will be hunting for this weekend since it takes J&G too long to ship. Must have something before Monday.
As for my bike, I bent my front left shifter. That was one easy fix. Just moved it back into place.
My elbow has seen better days. Ouch ouch ouch ouch.
My new motto: PAY ATTENTION!

Ouch! Hope there are no long-term consequences to the state of your elbow etc. Sucks about the jacket too... but I'm betting part of you is welcoming the excuse to shop for more gear. :)

Reminds me of an accident I had: I was actually going to a party, so I dressed up really nicely and was going to have a leisurely roll through a large university campus to get to the party... And about 50 metres from the start I fall into a HUGE messy mud puddle and totally wreck my outfit. So aggravating and hilarious at the same time. Hope that makes you feel better. :)

Downhill 2.8 miles to retrieve the pick-up I left at the Doctors' clinic. And why may you ask did I leave the truck there? Think a UFO type blackout indiuced by sedation and the Aliens/Doctor using a 5 foot long probe. :D

Ride in was 30F, and the city was flushing the hydrants at 5:30 in the morning on the main street through town. It was 6 inches deep! I rode up onto the curb because it was way to cold to go swimming. Got past it and back into the lane. Ride home was fast and uneventful. I took it easy because of the club ride tomorrow.

Had the day off today but my last ride was, well different. Rode to work thursday in full Battle Rattle for training that day. Felt a little weird wearing a kevlar as a bicycle helmet.

oooh :( the winter fall. They hurt. I usually get one every winter. Usually at night on the patch pictured below.

Hope you heal up well.

My ride was windy. A steady NW wind of about 25 mph with occasional gusts to 40mph. The temp was about 16F (-8c)so the wind chill was way down there. My ride home was pretty much dead on into the wind so any exposed flesh was really noticeable. I face masked it but a little bit of my forehead got kind of cold and I didn't wear an underlayer (on my legs) because I had thick jeans on nor did I wear my bootie covers (I had those and rain/wind pants I could have put on but didn't really need them)- just a little chilly through the pants and the feet were just starting to get a little tingly in the toes by the time I got home. The 11 mile ride is normally 40 mins or less and tonight was quite a bit longer. Judging by the speed I was going and the effort it was taking to go that slow it was the equivalent of riding my road bike up an 11 mile up hill at around an average 7% grade.

I was surprised to see another bundled biker or two on the way home. We definitely greeted one another as members of the same odd clan.

Thanks Chephy and Buzzman. :)
The damage was less than what I thought it was. 2 little holes in the jersey and a 1/2 penny size rip in the jacket. Of course, this means I will need to replace the jacket eventually. ;)
My elbow looks better but apparently I smashed my hip into the ground. That actually hurts worse. Anyhow, nothing is broken and no one ran me over.
At least I am feeling better than my 3 year old who fractured his left arm falling off of a couch. Poor kid. That and he brought a cold home so we could share.
No commute Monday due to snow and my cold. ugh
I hate this January. Massive snow, colds, hurt bodies, cold weather, etc have combined to make this the hardest commuting month ever for me. Oh well.

Cold and wet with gale force winds for company all week.

Ride in was 56F, 26 degree change in 2 days. Ride home was 53. No problems, route is light on traffic every Sunday.

Cold and wet this morning, but the rain has stopped. Temp was in the mid 30s with a little bit of a headwind most of the way in. Roads were wet and some of the creeks were up pretty high. No school today meant less traffic which was nice.

Today was the first time I have ever ridden in more then a dusting of snow. Oye....did I learn some lessons.

-Leaving 15 minutes early is a godsend in terms of traffic. I was able to handle that just fine.
-The 1 mile pathway I take in the middle of my ride was not plowed, ever. I was the first person on the pathway so I was going through 6-8 inches of snow....that wasn't very easy.
-My brakes did not work nearly as well as I thought they might. In fact, the front brake didn't stop me at all and I needed a lot more distance to stop for the back brakes. Yikes!

But I was warm! At least I dressed right:)

I have a coworker giving me a ride home tonight....I know I could probably bike it, but with the brake problems and the heavy traffic I encounter on the way home, I figure it's just not worth the risk. I'll fix that stuff and give it another shot later:)

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5...007smal9io.png

Oh, pretty reflectiveness. Yeah, 6-8 inches is when it begins to get tough, even when it's fluffy. I had to plow through 4 or 5 of heavier snow with a crusty top last week. Not fun. The good news is that you don't need to dress up too much to keep warm. :rolleyes:

I haven't cycled to work in 3 workdays now. My unplowed MUP was too hairy. This morning, I walked on about a mile of it, and I think it's sufficiently packed down to give it a try tomorrow. The only thing I hate about winter is the unplowed MUP. :mad:

Aye, we've got a Chinook blowin' through, bringing warm weather and dispatching the snow back to where it came from. Unfortunately, there's still enough sludge on the streets to make skinny-tire riding dicey. Oh, and my rear brake isn't working - it will go on, but not off. :( I should have gone with a flip-flop rear hub...

First time I've ever done it and to be honest, that pathway/MUP is what's gonan prevent me from doing it as often in the future :(

And yeah, I wore extra layers cause it was really cold....wow, they were soaked at the end :)

I whimped out this morning and regretted it upon walking to the Metro. It seemed that the temps were warmer than the reported 32 degrees and most of last night's snow/sleet was simply slush. I thought it would be icy and with my Randonneur 28's, I thought I'd have real problems. I probably could have made it.

Can anyone tell me what the MV Trail looked like this morning? With temps in the 40's it should all just be a slushy mess by tomorrow. I'll definitely be back on the bike tomorrow.

winter has 'blessed' us with 1" snow/ice in the dc/balto area. hairy commute, but I have been looking forward to it.

I can't tell you about the trail but I rode a few sidewalks that were ice covered and faired pretty well. My 35s dropped through and gripped well. a little slip on hills.

-7C and a bit of slush, no biggie.
I was picking my bike up so I had to walk to the shop on FRiday...... I usually leave shoes here at work.
I'm wearing my cycling shoes at the office today.

My fingers got cold!

Left my bike at the office on Friday night, felt naked without it (even though it would've stayed at home) all weekend... I'll be riding it back tonight.

Beautiful day today (40s, cloudy, no precip), nice ride. I seem to accumulate crankiness over the weekend away from the bike, burn it off coming into work Monday am. Patriots' losing doesn't help that (but I'm free of that for ~9 months now).

I wimped out, too, and rode Metro. I just don't trust the drivers around here enough to ride in the ice/snow/slush. I see too many SUVs thinking they can handle anything, but forget that they are no better off when it comes to stopping.

I looked out the window today while riding Metro and the Mount Vernon Trail around the airport seemed to be fairly clear. There were several spots with slush, but they looked like they could be easily avoided. The only tricky part tomorrow morning may be the two overpasses near the airport.

I think the path along the 14th Street Bridge will be okay because enough salt comes over the barrier onto the path when the trucks are out treating the roads. I'll be out there tomorrow. Good luck and be careful.