Nice ride, 49 degrees F and hardly any wind. It's the coldest ride I've done so far (I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes but it's been in the 80s around here until yesterday). I wore shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt and I was fine.

Chilliest morning of the year so far in NC, but it felt great. Having the right clothes makes a huge difference. I was very comfortable wearing jersey with wicking t-shirt, vest, arm warmers and tights over my bib shorts. Hardly sweated a drop and wasn't cold either.

Today was my first bike commute since October 17, my longest stretch off the bike this year. Various events conspired to keep me from riding, including 3 straight days of heavy showers, the most rain we've had this year after months of drought. It felt great to be back on my bike and my legs were fresh.

This was also my first commute using my new Fenix L2D flashlight. They actually sent me the wrong light as I ordered the Premium model, but the regular version is brighter than the Cygolite I had been using. Fenix is supposed to be sending me a Premium model in the mail, but I'll continue using this light until it arrives. The Fenix weighs so little that I might actually order a second one for additional light. One thing I like about my Cygolite is that it has two bulbs so you always have a backup if one goes out. Carrying two Fenix lights would still be substantially lighter than my Cygolite and much brighter.

Had to dig out some winter stuff --- @28F when I started out this morning, up to a whopping 30F right now. And had the full lights on too. Wasn't bad at all, but I must say my nice warm bed was soooo hard to get out of this morning knowing it's still jet black outside and supposedly had a frost last night.

However, the 32 lb bulky backpack this morning wasn't fun. I'm doing a one man show on commuting today at an event for college. Several other vendors/groups there that has to do with health, recycling, etc. And me, as a rep from my bike club, for commuting and the darn good health of it all!

:) Of course I have lots of good literature, including some handy dandy handouts on NYS driving laws pertaining to bicyclists, oh and maybe an article I copied written by a bicyclists, entitled "Open Letter to Drivers" and other good bits of info referencing the health benefits of bicycling as well as the non pollution aspect, etc.

And I have my winter clothing, tools, etc as part of my presentation.

Sure will be glad to go home with a regular sized backpack!

Chilly morning - 29 F - I think the coldest so far this year. I am certainly not complaining as it is already late Oct and usually those temps come on much earlier. My list of "things I should get for winter" keeps growing - new light, hat for under the helmet, new pedals, new bell.

My first below freezing ride of the year, yay! I'm not riding the entire morning commute completly in the dark, which is kind of nice in a strange sort of way.

I need to get myself another Super flash, but Nashbar.com doesn't have them listed anymore :(
Planetbike says they're out of stock...they have a Blink 7 but I dont know how those compare :/

Edit: Nevermind, BikeTireDirect.com has the Superflashes :D

The ride in today was fine until my wife and I took the shortcut down the alley. There was a big truck with a forklift and half a dozen guys completely blocking the way. I said "We should head back", which my wife interpreted as "we should squeeze through", which she did. I ended up looping back around the block and sitting in traffic for at least two more light cycles.

I shoulda squeezed.

Cold, but nice. Probably low 40s.

First commute in after getting a new wheel set, a tune up and brake pads replaced. Wow...felt like a whole new bike.

First ride of more than 4 miles in a couple weeks. Thank Jeebus that my riding buddy was in recovery too.

It was 18F when I left.
I! Need! Better! Gloves!

It was a nice cool 64F on the way in. I expect high 90s on the way home, was 97F yesterday at 4pm

Al

Reading through these latest posts, I feel like a complete weather wimp. It was in the upper-40's but windy. I had on arm warmers, knee warmers, a base layer, a jersey, a vest and a reflective vest over that. Go ahead and laugh. It's probably shorts and t-shirt weather for some of you. Later on this winter when I get used to the "cold", that will be enough for temps in the 30's but right now I'm cold, especially with a brisk headwind!

4:30am 37f A taste of things to come! Fingers were cold with the cheap 99 cent cotton work gloves I use. And I think I've reached the limit on my thin balaclava, anything lower and I'll switch to my fleece balaclava. Other than that I felt comfortable. Afternoon, 56f nice and cool. Almost perfect riding weather. Took the Bikepath down to Whetstone Park and made my way back up North. No hurry to get home. Enjoyed the sunny weather. Everyone at work asked me how the ride in was. I replied "Good, I enjoy having 161 all to myself". They were wondering if I froze. And I said "other than my fingers getting cold I was alright". I'm waiting to get the gloves I ordered from Sierra Trading Post, that should solve that problem. I was at Performance on Saturday and they had a similar pair for $29. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,57460_.html
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We just found out someone got shot in broad daylight in the street in front of my office building today... wish me luck on the ride home.

Yikes! Be careful!

One of possible drawbacks of a flexible schedule is that your sleeping habits can go completely crazy. I've been trying to make them more normal later, which meant I didn't have enough sleep last night and really slogged through the day... and through riding. It's kind of nice to slow down sometimes though, but feels weird when so many other cyclists are passing you. I did turn it up a couple of notches at the end of the ride home though, to keep up with auto traffic where it made good sense.

took the subway to and from...didn't feel like riding

Awesome. It's 73F and sunny with a light wind. Louisiana is harsh during the summer, but spring and fall are beautiful. Winter's not too shabby either. Really heavenly ride. I should have run some "errands" after work.

no worries, made it home without getting shot. But it was a circus in the street right in front of my building, 12 cop cars blocking the street, crime scene tape, a firetruck and an ambulance, and then a bunch of news vans. Traffic was backed up going the opposite direction that I was, and the traffic in my direction was lessened by the road being blocked, so it was fun to fly down an open road by a bunch of drivers who weren't moving and looking very upset about it.

Nice ride home. 48F, not too windy. I passed a group of five really fast roadies going over one of the bridge, they waved and said hi :)

I was stopped at a light and a bunch of kids were on the porch of a nearby house. They kept saying stuff like, "That's a SWEET BIKE!" "I like your car!" etc. then when I pulled off one of the girls yelled, "Work it! Work it!" Haha that was awesome.

About 2 blocks later my foot flew off my left pedal and I whacked myself good on the calf. I have a biiiig bruise now. Work it indeed!

Beats doing it in front of the kids. :)

I'm always on a less than normal schedule and combined with Red Sox games going until late into the night my sleeping schedule is all over the map- in fact, I've got to get some sleep right after this post.

I've been riding pretty slow lately. Occasionally kicking it up a notch. My ride in was great but the ride home tonight was really cold. I had thin gloves but it wasn't enough to really keep me warm. Time for my winter act to start coming into play.

Well, it's nice to finally put on a long-sleeve jersey with the temps down into the 40's at night. While the commute has been rather uneventful lately, I got a bit of a wakeup call for my getting a little too lax lately.

Riding with headphones on (kinda zoned out, enjoying some great chillout tracks, I know, I know...) in a normally uneventful and empty street (service road approaching the Brooklyn Bridge) I suddenly saw a roundhouse kick pass about a foot from my face and heard 3 drunk morons yelling something or other. I stopped, voiced my dissaproval, and went on my way, deciding not to bother the snoozing cop a block away.

Think I'm gonna have to give the auto-pilot a rest for a while. Just as you let your guard down....

whew. Kind of a frustrating ride today. This morning was 43F, the coolest it's been, so of course I overdressed and wound up arriving at work very overheated and sweaty. Then on the ride home (into a headwind) the chain popped off my Townie 3. It's been happening a lot lately, due to the chain tension not being adjusted properly. As a result, I've been carrying around a 6 inch crescent wrench for emergency repairs. It's heavy. I think I finally got the chain where it needs to be (after 20 min of cursing). We'll see. It's 40F this morning and I'm about to leave. I'm determined not to wear too much today. Long sleeve jersey and shell I think. Off we go...

Another cool one here in Virginia - 34F when I left. I am still experiencing cold toes, even with toe covers on shoes and wool socks. I put the "winter kit" in my bell commuting helmet. Basically it plugs some vent holes and adds ear covers. While it kept me warmer at the start of the ride I found head sweating quite a bit when I stopped. This winter commuting thing will truly be a voyage of discovery when it comes to apparel.

In any case, another excellent start to a work day with an 18 mile bicycle commute.

LIFE IS GOOD.

Warmer than yesterday. High 30s. No wind. Saw a couple cyclists going the other way. When I got to work, a woman said about my high-viz jacket, "That's bright!" :p I'm kinda diggin' the later time change this year. The first bit of my ride requires a headlight.

Not a bad ride, 43F. I wore a long sleeve technical shirt, shorts and my new Sugoi jacket. My legs got really cold but I felt TOO warm up top. My face was really hot and I thought for sure I was sweating everywhere, but when I changed at work I wasn't sweaty and my skin was really cold to the touch. I dunno what that was all about.

It snowed a couple of cm last night, but the temps of the last few days kept anything from sticking to the roads. Still, the mercury dropped a couple of degrees just before I headed into work, and I could see ice crystals forming. Needless to say, I took it easy through the corners. The ride in was pretty quick - I hit most of my lights pretty much perfectly. My new pants are working well, although they are agressively cooling my ass.

Coldest day of the season again, dropping down to 33, which was about 6 degrees lower than yesterday. Despite the colder temps, I was dressed too warm and got kind of sweaty. The difference was that I wore a vest yesterday but my Pearl Izumi Vagabond jacket today. The Vagabond has poor breathability and is generally too warm in all but the coldest temps. I need to find another jacket that breathes better. I've heard good reports about the Showers Pass jackets and may look into getting one of those for Christmas. I don't really need it for rain so much as an outer layer/ wind barrier on really cold days.

Nice foggy ride. 30sF. Forgot to bring shoes for work!

Unless your colleague has some physical reason he can't ride, or something else preventing him from doing it (like taking a child to day care, though several here do that too), I'd think he'd be all over this. What's the down-side? Heck, for his one-year savings in parking and tolls alone he could buy a VERY nice road bike. And if you live that close I imagine you could easily show him the ropes, plot his route, etc. What a no-brainer.

But then again, a guy who works in my building lives across the street from me and is a pretty serious cyclist, yet drives to work every day. And we only live ~5 miles from work. I've never said a word about it to him; he just sees me getting ready to leave each day and says, "I know, I know."