Snowing on the way in today- looked like about 3 bikers had gone my way before me, per the tracks on the MUP. Conditions got worse during the day and I didn't want to risk the ride home, so I took the bus.

OK... I searched for it and couldn't find it. What does MUP stand for?

Thanks!!

Multi-use path.
Scary stuff :eek:

Hi CMY. Welcome, and glad you enjoyed the ride.

Severe thunderstorm warning in Sydney this morning; it wasn't raining when I left, but I could see a monstous black could hovering over the north of the city - my destination!

Sure enough as I reached the Harbour Bridge it started raining extremely hard, massive thunderclaps, lightening etc. Very cool. Got very very wet though.

Saw several people cycling along in head to toe waterproofs. Gees, that's got to be hot and sweaty. The temperature was probably 20C (68F), so although wet I was perfectly comfortable in my cycling shorts and short-sleeved jersey.

SLicks + snow=no fun. OK, a little fun. NO front brake though.

still on the roads the last few days because the bike path was only plowed in portions.

I've got the studs on but I'm pushing along on the road and making okay time. But I'm looking forward to giving it a shot on the bike path again.

Late night ride home tonight. A lil' icey but the tires rolled right over it.

My tire blew up in a puddle, and there was this splash explosion.

I took the bus the rest of the way downtown, and the friend I met offered a ride home. It was a good thing, because I found four punctures! One from the initial blowout, and then two smaller ones around it (but too far for one patch and I didn't even notice them until I patched the main hole) I think are from the object still embedded in the tire while the tube shifted with the air out. Then the other on the other side...I'm not sure. Maybe when I removed the tire...

Glad they're being fixed at home instead of in the cold rainy nights of Willamette Valley winters.

Had a tire failure this morning, two blocks from my house. Not a puncture, A Failure! I knew I needed a new tire because it was wearing down, it finally gave up. Booted it and went home then drove to work. I was so looking forward to the ride today and now its gonna rain on Friday, arg:mad:

You have to look forward to the rain rides, too.:D

27F on the Watchtower sign. Road had this icy film on it which made braking (on slicks) rather funky. Almost got taken out by a garbage truck pulling out in Park Slope. Otherwise, a nice commute. Definitely need to adjust my brakes and get new pads for the rear - looks like they gonna be getting quite a bit more use. Really glad I picked up some glove liners.

Big thanks to whoever pointed out the bag-corner trick recently BTW. It's been a toe-saver.

EDIT: 'bout to go out into a 21F ride home. :D

Some old woman changed lanes barely missing me blasting her horn and yelling abuse at me
She had to stop at the light and I just gave it 2 her both barrels
hit her window with my fist and "voiced an opinion"
She had the nearve to say I shouldnt be on the road
At least I didnt nearly kill some one:mad:

Coldest bike commute of the year so far in NC. The low was about 27 and there was a stiff wind out of the North, with wind chill in the lower 20s. Fortunately I had a tailwind most of the way to work. It was a very nice ride and I made good time with the wind helping me and fortunate timing on the traffic lights. I actually worked up a little sweat as I wore my warmer Craft base layer to try it out. It's been too "warm" to wear it until today. The high is only supposed to be around 45, and usually it gets up to the mid-50s here even on cold days this time of year.

Had a cool sighting on the way home last night. A huge owl swooped down over the road in front of me, and then roosted in a tree beside the road. It might have been a Great Horned Owl. A guy was walking his dog along the street at the same time, and we both looked at each other like "what the F was that?"

I don't know what people are complaining about :), right now here it's 10°F, with windchill it's -2. I'm still plenty warm on the ride in with just double layers. In fact, I am still sweating when I get to work. Must be the norse blood coursing through my veins! I pine for the icy fjords.

5°F this morning, breezy, and snowing. Supposed to snow 3" today. Ride home might be interesting. Probably better than the traffic on the freeway though.

Rode on my new Nokian studded tires this morning. They were awesome!

But... Nokians + overconfidence = me on the ground. Went through a thicker plow furough at a low speed and went down... First crash of the year. Hopefully the last.

It was a real white knuckle ride in this morning with temps in the low 20's and icy. The 1 to 2" of snow that we got yesterday froze overnight with few of the local roads plowed/salted and none of the MV Trail treated or plowed. Once I safely (and slowly) negotiated the 4 blocks to Mount Vernon Ave I got more confidence and capitalized on the treated and plowed surfaces of Mount Vernon and Russel. However, once I got to the Four Mile Run/Mount Vernon Trail part of my ride, it was treacherous rutted hardpack and ice. The few spots that weren't covered with hardpack seemed to be black ice (the crunching under my wheels was disconcerting to say the least). The going was slow and slippery but the bridges, at least, were still covered with soft, powdery snow--I stayed out of the wheel tracks and footprints and had much better traction there. I played with the idea of keeping my slicks on last night but am very glad that I decided to install my Ritchey Speedmax 35's at the last minute. Even though they are well worn, they offered far better traction than the Conti's. All in all, even though I was a little nervous (first snow commute in a year or so) and about 20 minutes late, it was fun and, in some places, very isolated feeling ride. Only saw one jogger and, upon arriving safely at work without dumping the bike once, I felt that this ride went a long way toward helping me regain my confidence on snow. Even with the cold temps, slight headwind, and slow going, I layered up enough so that only my feet got cold (typically I depend on a certain level of exertion to generate additional heat-didn't have that today), otherwise I was very comfortable. Hopefully much of this will melt off today or, at least, turn slushy.

From the "No coffee, no workee" files: Rode to work on automatic pilot while my brain continued to sleep. While locking up, a woman asked me where to post office was. My sleeping brain was of no use in reminding me that the post office was on the corner behind me so I gave her wrong directions to a post office across town. The moral of the story is: don't ask me nuthin' if I haven't had my morning coffee.

Some days when it's cold out, i have a hard time getting out of the nice warm bed to get on the bike... So I just laid there and thought about it for an hour. LOL
Once I actually get on the bike, it's never really that bad and I wonder why I was dreading it. At least it was light on the way in :)

32f this am and skies are pondering some action. They're calling for 20% chance of rain/snow today. Most likely to hit when I want to leave. Snow would be ok , but I don't have rain gear. I guess we'll see what happens.

Cool and sprinkly. Would have been a real nice ride except that I had a flat today too. Nothing spectacular, just a slow leak. I checked the tire and there was a huge cut in the center of the tread. Probably would have had a big blow-out if not for the Tuffys. Threw in a new tube and I'll see if can superglue the gash together tonight.

Brrr...
 

-13F (-25C) this morning, luckily the wind was calm. This is my new personal coldest. Bike paths are plowed but the intersections are not, so I have to carry the bike over the plow ridge. I made it the 5 miles slowly but surely without incident. I'm looking forward to a balmy 15F above for the ride home this afternoon. though snow is likely.

My bed was so warm this morning, I had a really hard time getting my feet on the cold floor. I need proper slippers. The temperature was up to a balmy -9C when I left for work. It's up to -6C now, so I may have a warm ride home. No snow is forecast for the next few days either...

Must be something about today, I got up early for a washroom break at 7:15, checked/reset my alarm clock specifically, then woke at 9:24 realising my alarm hadn't gone off :(

Oh well, a rushed morning, but a good ride in - used a regular t-shirt and two fleece tops today, worked nicely. Warmer though, only -5C (mid 20sF).

Few hairy moments on the roadie again, deciding to wait behind one car that was blocking a clear route without me going over an ice sheet, waiting, waiting - then a messenger goes by on a fixie over the ice sheet... so I'm thinking "hmm, let's do that then" - went out, caught some black ice at ~4mph and decided to edge CAREFULLY over - I only needed to cross about 4 feet of the stuff but it was very slick in places and I veered over too far initially, heh. All safe, no fall and had fun! :) Speedometer is working again, had some strange issues yesterday and MEC is golden, allowing me to get an exchange just on the computer component, and with no receipt handy too (Thank you MEC!).

Finally back on the bike after a long vacation burning copious amounts of petrol all over Kentucky, Indiana and everywhere in between. It felt so good. Didn't even mind the 31 F temps. Warmed up to 38 by the time I got to the office 90 minutes later and I was pulling at gloves and unzipping like crazy.

Nice ride. Either drivers are more polite, or my reflective lime jersey is working. Light rain made a few spots interesting. I did have to share the bike lane with a van at one point. No idea what that driver was thinking. I still need proper foot coverage and fenders for the wet weather, but I really like riding in the rain.

You are the man! I have chickened out the past few days. Argh.. looks like tomorrow is going to be out too. Rain and snow showers!

coldest this year so far

left 10 minutes earlier than normal, 18 degrees f, light wind, just got done snowing 3 inches, main roads good, road in street entire way in, little traffic, sweating my ass off by the time I got there, 2 pairs gloves, wool socks and goggles i was ok. fully charges diy headlight, i saw the patches of ice way before i got to them.

ride home, 25 degrees, one no look idiot in a dodge pulled out in front of me, didn't even look (need air horn), had to walk across slushy bridge (slicks no good in slush) due to heavy traffic and no shoulder.

got home, brakes making noise, chain skipping, realy need to clean and lube bike tommorow,

first time in colder weather and it was pretty nice!

All this snow! Goodness!

Very warm and sticky here. Got beeped at by an idiot in an SUV who overtook me 40 metres before a roundabout (I was taking the lane / staying out of the door zone, and going 30km/h in a 40 limit). Needless to say I caught up with him at the junction.

It's actually the first time that's happened to me for months and months.

The local neighborhood streets in Arlington, VA were a bit technical, but everything else was very easy. Piece of cake. I allowed some extra time for the trip in, so I arrived quite early. I was surprised to learn it was 23 F / -5 C, because it felt pretty warm. Good start to the winter cycling season.

Paul

What a great day, 42 this morning 64 this afternoon. Wind was high 16 steady with gust of 24, but overall it was nice.

It was cold, did I mention it was cold! The studs work great, but as it gets colder it almost seems like I am sticking to the frozen ground, might just be the fact my body works better when the air temperature is in the plus range rather than minus. Riding to work this morning, it was snowing at minus 17 C, the flakes seem to stick to my eyelids, but it was still a great way to start the day.

Took a fall on the way home. Just one of those stupid slow speed ones, maneuvering along close to a driveway with one of those metal lips - too close as it turned out. Jammed my tire up against that lip, jammed coming out of the cleats on that side.. down. :( Nothing too serious, just stupid.