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. 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?

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?

Naturally they hadn't plowed my street, so walked the bike to Massachusetts Avenue and took off in earnest, slipping and sliding all over the place. By the time I reached Union Station, I said "HANG THIS", locked up and got on the metro. And sat there idly for 20 minutes. Oh well.

The overnight low was -27C, and that meant all the salty gushy snow that has been making me miserable since last week froze solid. My commute time was almost the same as it is when its dry out. A guy in a truck cut me off a few blocks from work, so I gave his hood a little tap as I went by to let him know there are other people on the road.

Woke up to 25F and snow/slush/ice covered streets. An icy snow was falling so I decided to work from home. Went to login to the VPN host and the host wasn't responding. Tried several times again, called the IT guy and left a message, tried some more, then decided to go to the office where I might have better luck. I have to VPN in at the office too, but somehow it made sense in my uncaffeinated state.

Got dressed, grabbed the mtb and took off. Slipped and slid all the way to work with cars all around me. The snow/slush/ice put up a lot of resistance and I never got out of 2nd gear. Got to the office, almost slipped a few times walking into the building because of the ice and tried logging into the VPN from my desk. Still no go. Looks like I'll be on the phone w/ IT trying to get this straightened out the rest of the day.

I beat the cold wave this morning. It was 38°F on the way in. It'll be down in the 20s for the ride home, but I'll have a stiff wind at my back. Thanks to all you midwesterners for sending another cold blast down here...

It's getting warm. Feels like spring after a week of rain.

So on the way home last night I felt like I was dragging a cinder block. I stopped multiple times to find the problem. Tire was not flat. Fenders were not rubbing against the tire. Brakes were adjust correctly. It wasn't until I was messing with my bike this morning that I have some major wheel wobble and the wheel would hit the brake every rotation.. Between getting the kids and myself ready didn't have time to fix this so I drove in even though I really wanted to go play in the snow.

Tonight I will try to true the wheel. I have never done this before (only got into the cycling this past summer). I don't have a stand but have found several sources online that say you don't really need one... to just turn the bike upside down. Hopefully this will turn out right. I'm a little concerned because things were fine in the morning. This was an issue as soon as I left work. I worry that it is a broken spoke and not just a truing issue. Anyway guess I'll hop over to the mechanics forum if there are issues.

Hopefully I'm up and running tomorrow.

Great! A much thinner mist than yesterday am (I wasn't soaked this morning).

Huge headwind going home last night, plus I had a bunch more stuff jammed into my panniers (big increase in surface area as well as weight), so was more work getting home last night than I've had for a while.

Didn't ride. My wife (who's pregnant and was due 2/9) said she "felt weird" this morning so I drove her up to work.

I was considering coming home and riding in, but 1) the forecast is for 30-mph sustained winds and 40-mph gusts this afternoon, 2) I can't turn my head to the left (stress and sleeping wrong) and 3) I had to go out during lunch to get my wife a V-Day card (she IS bearing my child, after all...)

I am no longer a purist...

Temp this morning was -3F, windchill -20 to -30, northwest wind (That's a headwind for me all the way to work). I used chemical toe warmers this morning for the first time this winter, and boy was it nice to not have icy toes when I got to work. 10 miles of beautifully plowed MUP, and then the last 2 miles of unplowed MUP with drifts, just to make it a better workout. Toe warmers are awesome!!!

cold (25f) and windy out of the NW this am. slight snow flurries, but it won't stick around. water on the ground was frozen.
I cut through UNT campus on my way in, and was nearly run over by a late teens/early 20's dude in a 1-ton Didge school truck, whipping around campus picking up garbage bags outside dorms. I pulled up at his next stop and asked him (yelled actually, over the hip-hop blaring from the poor factory speakers at full volume at 6:15am outside a dorm!) to slow it down. He said ok and turned away all embarrased.

Yeeee!! Haaaaaaa!

Made it to the GO train stations...had to sidewalk surf up a hill. Main roads plowed but still dicy due to car tracks moving the slippery stuff around.

Hopefully better on the way back this evening. Only a month and a half to spring, think we can make it??

Of course!