Our warm weather continues in NC, although we will be a little cooler today than the rest of the week. We have set high temperature records for the past 4-5 days, including an all-time high for the month of December (81). Today it's only supposed to hit the mid-60s, so I bundled up. I'm looking forward to the cold weather returning, which is supposed to happen tomorrow. I was all used to cold weather and what clothes to wear until this warm spell.

Yesterday I drove because I had a Christmas party to attend downtown after work. I stopped at Micky D's on my way to work for an Eggamuffin, something I rarely do, and probably won't make that mistake again for a while. I went inside because I hate drive-though lanes, and thought I was lucky because there was no line at the counter. However, there were also no employees watching the counter; they were all helping the drive-thoughs. I stood there for several minutes before a guy walked buy and said "we'll be with you in a minute." Several minutes later, still nobody to take my order, so I left without buying anything. Whatever happened to "Welcome to McDonalds. How can we help you?" I didn't get any breakfast yesterday. Thanks, Mickey D.

Still getting over being sick and having a couple days off sitting around the house coughing and sneezing. It was hard to get to work today, I was taking it slow on the sidewalk and fighting sidewalk slush. I almost didn't enjoy it today, but then I remembered that I was on a bike. And it was ok.

First time posting on this forum:

I am not a bike commuter, but yesterday's snowstorm in Boston converted me into one for the day. My office is near Kendall Square in Cambridge, and it was already a parking lot on the roads by 2p.m. It took me ten minutes just to drive my car back into the parking garage. Then I pulled out my English 3-speed that I keep at the office for errands and biked ten miles for two hours to the northern suburbs.

Most people are incredulous when I tell them I did this, but I'm sure I beat a lot of cars home during yesterday's commute. Commute times increased by a factor of 3 or 4.

A good 20-mile ride-in this morning: 36°F and foggy to start, so I turned one of my Dinotte 200Ls to strobe. Since it was foggy, I decided to ride on the sidewalk for the first leg of the ride (where I normally ride on the road) since I don't yet have a bright-enough tail-light. After that, the ride was pretty much the same as other commutes (hills suck, etc.), though once I got past half-way the Sun came out and really brightened the ride (pun intended).

Welcome to the world of winter bike commuting! and what a day to do it...
My ride only took about 2 times as long as normal, riding from the Fenway area to Belmont.

18 degrees, snowing and a tad slippery...

been on my other home, an MC board and harrassing the people there for not being out and riding...

Hey before this I commuted for four years, 365, on a motorbike. Maybe I can get some of those people on bikes for the winter...?

warmer, 40F. Shorter, no kid duty w/ in-laws in town!

28F/-2C. Coldest day yet. I rode to BloodSource to donate platelets and was nearly deferred because I couldn't get the minimum body temperature (96.0F). They take it orally, of course, with those disposable plastic thermometers. I bet my core temp was fine but your face just gets so cold in the wind.

Great ride today, nice and crisp out, roads pretty dry so my fender-less MTB that I'm riding for now didn't spray me with too much crap. Arrived a little warm with a light sweatshirt and a light jacket on over that.

After getting home from the pub last night, I made the decision - time to put on the slicks. It hasn't snowed here for over a week, and the last couple of stretches of icy road have finally dried out. The ride in was fast. Like, wow. I was only in for a half day, so I got to ride through lunch hour traffic, which was uncool.

I'm in the opposite situation. Rode my slicks earlier this week and ate it three times on ice. Finally rode today(first time since wreck-fest) because it had dried up. Expecting 5-7" this weekend but I got my Nokian studs tonight! Can't wait!

Damn cold in the mornings to ride. I shouldn't complain since I live in Southern California and other bike commuters are dealing with colder weather. In fact, I think of them to psych myself up to deal with the 50 degree weather in the morning. I tip my hat to all who have to ride in the snow,ice, or rain slick roads.

Its 3F at 6am...wind chill about -11. Headed out for breakfast with a friend. This is my first year commuting and my 'poor' car sits idle with snow covering it. I'm enjoying the heck out of myself...!
A funny thing; last night at REI I was getting new, heavier gloves for this type of weather and wandered thru the bike shop. A fella testing a bike was talking to a sales guy about how he hasn't been outside on a bike in almost 6 weeks. Too cold/snowy... I didn't say anything but he saw me looking at him, smiling, with my helmet dangling from my messenger bag. And the snow on my pants cuffs...It was about 15F and snowing at that time and I had come from work about 15 miles away thru nasty car traffic...:p:D

to each his own....:)

Today's commute was fun.

The Monon (Mo-ron) Trail:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...hulo/12151.jpg

The San Jose:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...hulo/12152.jpg

White River:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...hulo/12153.jpg

White River again:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...hulo/12154.jpg

65th Street:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...hulo/12155.jpg

" how was your commute today ?" This must be one of the longest stickies around !
I ride about 10 k to work, and back at the end of the day,on a main city-street , filled with dense but rather slow cartraffic and a few buses. Last week was allready colder than the (WET!!)week before , and the cold
really set in this weekend , freezing minus 2 to 4°Celsius through the night , and 1 or 2 max in the day .
I looked for warmer gloves in my wardrobe and I'll wear a liner-cap under my helmet tomorrow as well .
What you need is not heavy jacket , but one that keeps the cold wind out ,like these new soft-shells.
They are really great for daily commuters !
I wish you all a great week , a couple of great rides and christmass is not very long now !

I should have known better. I've been tracking this storm for a little while. When I left for work last night we had about 2 inches. When I left work the snow was higher than the BB on my Marin and still coming down hard. I made the mistake of deciding I wanted chocolate milk. The 7-11 is out of my way but I chose to go there. I hardly made it there. The snow was so heavy that if I stoped pedaling, the bike stopped so I'm not sure when the brakes froze up. I was still able to shift, thanks to a "grunge guard" I got on clearance at the LBS.
My quads were burning (not the good burn) when I got to 7-11. I stood outside for a few minutes to make sure I would be able to walk into the store. when I left there I rode about 40 feet before I just said screw it and walked the bike home.
Old man winter kicked my butt this morning. I feel totally defeated.

Windy (20 mph) and cool (29F) this morning in the DC area. The headwinds added some extra workout to the morning commute - they seemed to align with the uphill portions of my ride.

Got my new Lake Winter MTB shoes and they kept my feet nice and toasty ... I'm ready for some real (DC) cold weather now! Of course I can't touch you folks up North for cold temp riding.

Winter weather finally returned after a week of record-breaking high temperatures in NC. It's still warm compared to the North, but we're back to having lows near the freezing mark this week. The wind was really blowing yesterday -- sustained at 25 mph with gusts to 50 mph -- so I didn't ride. The wind was still blowing this morning, but it was mostly tailwinds on my way to work. Hopefully it will die down by the time I head home, or it will be a long ride into the wind.

1st 6 miles were nice 27 deg no wind, rain snow etc, then came to my worst road. It has a garbage co., a cement co, and a compost co, all with BIG trucks, and after the rains last week the road is one big pot hole. I didn't see one and it cause a pinch flat. So having to change it I went from sweating, and hot to wet and cold so it took me 4-5 more miles to get warm again, and then it was a nice last 10 miles.

DXchulo, I tip my hat to you, I love riding in those conditions, your ride must have been alot of fun today.

The ride in was colder and windier than anticipated, I underestimated a little and could have used an additional layer and heavier gloves/socks. There were a few areas of patchy ice (frozen puddles, runoff) but nothing major, I made it in just fine on slicks. The headwind was a little unpleasant on the stretch between the airport and 14th St bridge but not unbearable. A downed pine blocked the DC side of the pedestrian bridge on the bridge, it was too big and heavy to consider moving so I reported it to the Park Police Officer who was sitting in his car by the Jefferson Memorial. He had a bike on the back of his car so I figured he'd be sympathetic, he seemed concerned enough to call it in to the Park Service, we'll see if it's there later today. I've been pricing new Cyclo tires in anticipation of winter snow but have yet to buy any, I'm having a hard time spending money on myself these days, especially with the new house and Christmas on the way. I've been checking the usual places but have yet to find a great deal. Does anybody know of one?

Wee! tons of snow dumped on us over the weekend, I was riding through a couple inches of slush on the roads, on four lane roads now reduced to two lanes with all the snow piled up on the sides. Got a little overzealous and the bike slipped out from under me at least once, but it didn't hurt to go down with the extra layers and snow padding. Cars were actually giving me room despite the narrower road, which was nice.

I let those winds yesterday keep me off the bike too, and now I'm feeling less guilty about it. Thanks tarwheel. :)

JoeyMac, have you seen the recent TV commercial for the new "Snickers Dark Chocolate" bars? The first time I saw it I immediately thought of you...

In the ad a couple of costumed guys (presumably on their way to a Halloween party) are stopped at a convenience store. One guys says to his friend (a big guy dressed as a Viking warrior), "Bad news: they're out of Snickers bars." The Viking lets out a roar of "NOOOO!", picks up a trash can, and throws it on top of a parked car.

His buddy says, "But they have the Snickers Dark Chocolate bar." Viking picks up another can, yells "YESSSS", and throws it on top of the car too.

I have seen that, and it is pretty funny. But those guys and the capitol 1 guys with their viking commercials, they are all ripping off my "vikings-in-a-modern-age" idea I had 5 years ago when I made a mockumentary about a horde of vikings training for the upcoming raiding season. Bunch of unoriginal jerks in advertising. Ah well, here's a pic from my movie, I will probably upload the movie to youtube one of these days:
http://www.space-agefilms.com/home/F...lla(still).jpg

I sit in awe of you snow jammers. It was our first "cold" day of the year today. 27F/-3C. I was overdressed and arrived all hot and sweaty. It may have been a good thing, though, because I flatted twice and didn't get cold. I swear I turned my tire completely inside out and rubbed it with my bare fingers and didn't see anything that could have caused a puncture! All this after loosing my frame pump in Indiana a couple weeks ago. Argh! I used my little micro-pump and that was enough to get back to the office the second time.

WET!!! But the rain stopped early in the ride.

I'm off work for a few days so the bike is still sitting in the garage, caked in snow. After my frustration yesterday morning and having to shovel my huge driveway I don't even want to look at it. we ended up getting around 12 inches of snow and the main roads were finally ok today. The side streets still haven't been touched yet. I'm gonna let the bike sit a day or two then thaw it out and re-lube. Hopefully things will be better for the ride in Wednesday night. I've learned some things from all this so I suppose it's worth it.

Even the jackass long honking thumbhead ina a jeep at my first lite couldnt
wreck the ride today in starry S. FLa !! :) The first day of the year I had to
use my winter gear...A T-Shirt. :lol: A brisk 50 degrees at 6:00am. Gorgeous !!
The ride back was all wind :cry:
Oh well....one out of two isnt bad.

Enjoyed shoveling out my wife's car yesterday and just piling it around my car, knowing I wouldn't need it despite the 5-6" of snow we got over the weekend. My first commute on Nokian studs and I am sold on these things! I was downright giddy on the way to work, even though it was only about 15F. The way home included a headwind but I'm still distracted by the novelty of controlled riding with these tires so I barely noticed the wind. :D

Glad to hear you loved your Nokians Ouabacher- I love mine!

Nice ride home tonight. 28 F. Light wind. Traffic was really bad downtown due to Monday night football. I blew by everyone at 20 mph. It was great!

P.S. beware of being overconfident on those tires. I crashed in a plow furow my first day :D. Ice is fine though. Have to see how you like the "mad bumblebees" on dry pavement.