20's with 5 degree windchills in the morning and I forgot my balaclava. damn! also my lock mount broke on Friday so I had to carry my lock in my backpack. slow ride in from my parents' house where I had stayed the previous night. saw another commuter about halfway in. slow and cold though it was, the ride went pretty well.

I had to work until the very end of my shift and the office closed then so no time to change. good thing it was casual day at the office. no moisture-wicking shirt or even *gasp* padded shorts. the ride was short and slow-ish so I was ok. I got so tired of carrying my lock that I put it in my bike locker, which is fortunately on the way back to my parents' house, for the night, and also ran some errands on the way back. the rest of the ride was ok, but really cold. I don't like this weather.

congratulations OldLion, welcome to the world of commuting!

Well great riding today. MY ride home was probably my fastest since the snow started. Things have melted on the roads and paths but lucky me... more snow is on the way.

I faced the same weather that o-dog faced, riding from Georgetown to downtown DC. Quick ride today, cold was no bother, and got in a little urban cyclocross at a municipal parking lot.

somehow today was one of those Boston cold days when maybe there's just the right amount of moisture in the air or something where the cold has more of a bone chilling feeling. (12F)

I had to ride into Cambridge/Arlington area for a meeting tonight. So did a few extra miles. The amount of clothes I'm wearing, the stuff I'm carrying, the studded tires etc totaled to a pretty sluggish long ride.

After the meeting one of the people insisted on telling me how "brave" I was to be riding tonight. :rolleyes: Turns out it wasn't the temperature she was referring to but insisted on telling me at length about a friend who has hit several car doors in Cambridge. To me this is tantamount to my telling her about the friends I've lost over the years in automobile crashes just before she gets in her car to drive away. I was tempted to tell her a good hair raising, heart rending tale of drivers who die.:eek:

The ride home from the meeting was lovely and quiet and I did not hit any car doors.:)

I hear your roar. Welcome! and congrats on your discovery of the joys of commuting.

Coldest and slowest so far. I couldn't stay warm going the Crowders Mountain. I'd climb a hill, sweat, then freeze going down the other side.

I did see a deer right after day break. It was heading toward the road but got scared and high-tailed it back to the woods.

42.5 miles @ 17.3mph


edit: I forgot. Some middle-aged, jackass in a sports car laid on his horn right behind me. He then sped around, got in front of me, and hit his brakes like he was going to stop and do something. Yeah right. I would've hollowed him out and used him as a sleeping bag. The jerk.

Congrats and welcome, OldLion!!

Sub, I hear you about the cold. It was 9°F (~-12°C for you Canucks) yesterday but a balmy 22 this morning. I try to go uphill first to get warmed up :)

-10F/-23C. Invigorating. :) Light crosswind, clear sky. That is all.

Warm today, -2c. Left quite a bit earlier than usual and just cruised in. Brought my other hockey skate in this morn, so I can play shinny after work nearby.

That's invigorating? I'd be afraid my pee pee would fall off.

You guys are beasts for commuting in temps below zero.

-10C...light snow, slushy, a good test for......
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=264445

Around 22F this morning- had a fast ride in. Was dying for a balaclava for the first mile, not so much after that.
Crisp, clear, minimal wind. If I bike tomorrow, I'll end January at 50% of my commutes by bike. By far the lowest percentage since I really got into the bike commuting last April. I'm still at 70%+ of all workdays since that time.

Wet, but warming up. Today was only 43 degrees for the ride it, but a steady rain. My new arkel tail rider bag is SWEET! as well as the new windproof, waterproof gloves. It was rather enjoyable this time. Also...glad to be riding again. I had to take a few months off due to a motorcycle wreck that banged up my right knee pretty bad. Nothing like commuting again....I sure missed those 26 miles (roundtrip).

Chris

I was challenged by a geared scofflaw on the way home last night. I was feeling tired already, so I drafted off him for a while. :) Then he shot across a 4-lane road and I had to work to catch him. Then he blew through a stop sign going uphill and got away from me. Obviously, I need more wattage...

Today, we had 60 km/h winds @ around -3C. Not bad, but the windchill was considerable.

:lol: That's cool. I've seen them made on the fly using a hanger and duct tape.

Thanks man, I need a fork crown mounted forward deflector i'm getting too much sprayback on me for my liking, possible lengthening of the downtube one as well.

Had a series of rather uneventful commutes recently, although this morning's had a few wrinkles. It was warm enough that I swapped out the coat for the windbreaker, and of course the 10% change of rain meant it rained a bit. Nothing too bad, fortunately. Then at the 12 mile mark of my 20 mile commute, my front tire started hissing and spitting slime. Fortunately this was one of the stretches that has streetlights (I much prefer not having to hold a flashlight while doing repairs), so I parked under one and assessed the damage - hole in the tire (where the slime was leaking out) and the hissing was a few inches away (where, presumably, the hole in the tube was.)

*Sigh*

So I got out the tools, pulled the front wheel, etc, etc, and sure enough there was a small gash in my tube - big enough that the slime couldn't plug it, but small enough that the tube was still repairable. Now, I love the slime tubes I've got. My morning commute involves a few miles of unpaved shoulder with a good supply of goatheads and nasty sharp objects, and my rate of flats and slow leaks dropped dramatically once I got them. (Even the tire liners didn't make as much of a difference.) But man, are those things messy when they get a bigger hole. Anyway, patched the tube (after a lot of cleanup), checked the tire and liner twice for whatever caused the hole (no sign of it - probably a piece of glass from the broken beer bottles in the bike lane earlier in the commute) put everything back together and wisely checked along both sides of the tire to make sure the tube wasn't pinched under it anywhere. And for once, it was! So I shoved it back in place with a tire lever and avoided the pinch flat. Happy me. ^_^ Aired it up, and it was uneventful from there on out. Here's hoping for more boring commutes. :p

Beautiful morning. Bike lanes swept!

24 degrees in our nation's capital this morning. I have a stomach flu (stayed home yesterday) and so contemplated just driving in, but that would involve such hassle, as would taking the metro, so just cleared my mind and jumped on the bike. Glad I did too because I never once thought about being sick while riding. But as soon as I got off my bike, I felt like I got bum-rushed by all the delayed sickness and now I feel awful.

Sigh. My 2007 resolution to not confront JAMs didn't even make it to February.

About a mile from my house, there's a section where the street narrows significantly and then dead-ends into a T intersection with a stop sign. It's typical morning neighborhood traffic -- folks going to work and dropping kids at the elementary school and a fair number of dog walkers and runners on the path that rings the park.

Obviously not a good spot for a 35 mile an hour pass and stop sign running.

But that's what the guy in the 90-something Toyota Tacoma with the camper shell did. And I don't know why it made me so angry. So I followed him. I was on my race bike and I knew that he'd eventually run into a series of lights towards Broadway. And I caught him easily at X St. And I knew I had almost the entire red light cycle. So I tapped on his window and said, "Hey, listen. If you're going to drive past the park where I play with my kids I would appreciate it if you'd drive more safely."

And the driver said. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, I see what you're saying and I was wrong. I'll drive safely, legally, and courteously from now on. That was a momentary slip, and I appreciate your pointing it out to me.






































No. Not really. What he actually said involved a lot more bile and spittle, some words beginning with F, oh and a threat to get out and to rip me off my bicycle and beat me with it. So I ignored that, kept my eyes locked on his, and said "Look. I don't know why you're so angry and impatient. I am asking you nicely to please drive through my neighborhood more carefully."

Ah, and this is where I knew that he had submitted: He muttered "You're lucky my wife is here."

And then the light turned green and he tried to squeal his tires but he couldn't get them to spin and he kind of bounced through the intersection. I followed him through and memorized his license plate in case he tried to run me over. In the next block he slowed down, maybe thinking I'd ride by, but I wouldn't be suckered into that. So I rode behind him at 4 mph for half a block and then finally he took off.

Fun morning.

caloso, points to you for letting him off the hook when he said, "You're lucky my wife is here." I would have been very tempted to say, "Your wife APPROVES of that kind of driving?" Or, even better, "You're lucky MY wife ISN'T here."

Oh, I just thought of another! When he was doing 4 mph down the road, catch up to him again and say, "See? THIS is how you should drive through busy residential neighborhoods! I knew you'd get it!"

Genius. I wish I'd said it.

Must have been "confront the idiot driver" day. On my route there's a stretch of really-poorly-designed road, and sure enough it's where the majority of my confrontations/buzzes/problems occur. There's a concrete median there where a right lane bcomes a RTOL lane, and then the RTOL ends. I take the entire right lane until the lane turns into the RTOL, then I check shoulder and merge when I can (I signal the merge).

Usual routine this morning, I saw a moving truck well back of me and in the left lane, so I signalled and merged. Suddenly I heard the truck's engine race, then the sound of squealing brakes and the truck was right on my tail. The truck passed me (even though there was no room because of the median), and his mirror missed my helmet by less than a foot.

I caught him at the next light, tapped on the passenger window, and gestured for him to give me more room next time. He started screaming and unbuckling his seat belt to come after me (we're at a left turn light with cars behind him; moron). The light changed, I pulled away, and he went on.

My commute today was.... cold...

ahhh, back on the bike.
I had to drive yesterday since i had lasik over the weekend, dr said to give it a couple days. I HATE commuting by car.
The bike felt great. I felt fat and slow!