Loud thunder and lightning as I was prepping to leave this morning - my wife stuck her head in the garage and said, "Are you going to be all right?"
"I'll be fine - I've biked in rainstorms before" I replied, and she went back to bed.
As I opened the garage door, the rain started pouring down. >.< I recalled the last time I rode in the pouring rain and dropping temperatures I caught a cold, and thought about getting another hour's sleep and driving in. And then said, "Nah" and got another layer from the house.
Two miles down the road, the rain vanished. I chucked the top layer in the trunk bag and my persistence was rewarded with a wonderful ride in - clean air, perfect temperature, nary a drop of rain, and the quiet hiss of my tires going over the wet pavement. What a great start to the day. :)

Fargin' horrible ride in this morning [still better than the bus or car]. There's so much snow on the road that I had to be a scofflaw and ride sidewalks. Imagine piles of wet leaves on sloppy mud on top of ice, and you'll get an idea of what it's like to ride in this ****. You turn, you jacknife. If you don't turn, you drift sideways. Lovely! Two more days of this crap and it should be reasonable again.

The perils of riding on the road in this crap are greater than the perils associated with sidewalk surfing. During my 5km walk in, I didn't notice the usually bike tracks in my neighbourhood so they must have decided on alternative-alternative transportation.

I've sidewalk surfed (heh - I like that term) before. I just go into "I have no right of way" mode. ;)

Wet pavement but the rain held off for my ride in. I did a longish ride through a headwind yesterday so my legs were a bit heavy, but I loosened up just as I was nearing work. I brought a jersey and bibs in case I can sneak out for a lunchtime ride.

yes, Yes, YES . . . I RODE MY BIKE TODAY!!! What about it?! Get over it already! . . . dontchu lookatme like that!

Rain coupled with a lack of fenders equals an "enjoyable" commute. For reasons even I can't fathom I didn't bother to bring an extra pair of shoes or even a towel. By the end of the ride I was so completely soaked that I was intentionally riding through deep puddles and rivers of runoff, like a kid on the way to school. My clothes still hadn't dried out by the end of the day, so I got to ride through the cold wind in soaking wet clothes. It was still kind of fun though.

Lots of hype about the storm, bu no much resuls. Enought ice on the way home to make he studs go silent most of the way home. There was one segment where I got to make first racks, and that was fun.

Paul

Steady rain for 2nd half of return commute. Radar showed next to nothing.

Ride home was a blast...I wish all winter rides on snowy days were like this. As I mentioned in probably too many places already, I was having so much fun that I even hollered "Get off the road" to an SUV who I had to follow at 10mph cuz he didn't seem too good at driving in the snow.

Post of the day!:D

Made a side trip to MEC to replace a minipump lost in one of my many wipeouts last week. Three differenct staff members asked me how I was coping with the roads. My bike was kind of lonely in the racks.

But it has stopped snowing, yeah!

left with only a minute to spare on the way in this morning so ended up doing the slow and steady push.

had a meeting in Arlington tonight so rode there and got home about 11p. For some reason I think it's the impending snow that makes the 19F feel colder than the 9F it was on the way in this morning.

Snow tomorrow? Will it be rideable, hmmmmm......????

Breakfast on the Bridge for Velotine's Day was the tops! They gave away "rubber protection" for both possible objects of affection a cyclist could have: condoms and tube patch kits. :D These little social interactions that involve coffee, pastry, and bikes are always so nice.

So, anyone else in the Northeast ride in today? Holy crap.

Not me. Blizzard warning! I did my 2.5-mile hike to the bus instead. Driving seemed rather idiotic.

Yesterday it was in the single F digits and I met 4 other bicyclists on the MUP. One was a BF member. (Hi bmike :)) 2 others were guys I see out every once in a while in the winter, and another guy I had never seen before. I'm lucky if I see just one cyclist on a winter day, but 4? :eek:

Oh and there was a dead squirrel on the MUP. :(

-24C(-11F) -32(-26F) windchill.
Roads were plowed overnight. It's amazing how much more traction you get on snow that is so freakin' cold. The treads bite in just the right amount and the snow is strong enough to really take it. I noticed the cars sounded much different, like they were all struggling, I bet there will be a lot of cars not starting this morn.

got right hooked this morning. JAM missed my front wheel by less than a foot. Where the h@ll is a cop when you want one? I almost gave this a-hole a chase, but was already about 10 minutes late getting to work. I would really love to ask him if the 2 seconds he might have saved would be worth someone's life and his spending time in prison for manslaughter. Add to that he would have killed someone on Valentine's day and left a wife and child without a father.
Damn...I should have given chase.

Interesting stuff. We got about two inches of pure sleet -- little BBs of ice. Much denser than snow, and probably equivalent to 5 inches of snow in terms of drag. Not terribly slippery except for the places where it was solid ice. The main roads were clear; the secondary roads totally unplowed. I got to make a lot of first tracks. According to my wife, a total of one car and one bike made it out of our neighborhood so far.

Paul

Working from home today...wonder if I can rig a plow to the bike?

Well, I made it!!! It was slow, it was slippery, and my wife was glad I made it.

Interpret as you will.

For one particular hill climb, I was losing traction like crazy so I had to scoot onto the sidewalk... only to realize they hadn't shoveled the 20 cm deep snow! I ended up having to carry my 40 lb recumbent trike up a hill for about 30 meters before reaching the next section, which was clear. Hopefully the roads will be a little better on the way home tonight.

I opted for the all main road route this morning after feeling the wind and seeing the relatively bad condition of the main road I tkae to get to my backroad route. It was bad enough trying to stay in a tire track with the wind gusts; making first tracks through a few inches of snow plus an inch or two of sleet would have been godawful. I know the hundred yards or so that I rode through to get off my street in the neighborhood was terrible. The ~8 mile ride took me 45 minutes which isn't bad considering on a clear day it takes me 35 minutes to ride the backroads with my studded tires, and it's a mile shorter on the backroads.

made it...woohoooo ....man it's snowy....

I tried leaving early to beat the approaching rain but the rain caught up to me about halfway to work. Didn't get soaked but did get a little wet. My clothes should dry out by the time I head home this afternoon though.

After shoveling my and some neighbor's driveways, decided to drive in today instead of dealing with the freezing rain/sleet/slush/Boston driver's. Of course if we get the 8" or so 'they' are saying my car will be bottoming out anyways. Not being on the bike became my v-day gift, now I don't have to take the wife to dinner right?