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!" 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."

It was a very windy ride in -3c temps. The roads are dry and the drivers were polite, so a great ride. I do need ear protection of some kind however.

I finally broke out the full finger gloves. Though....it's still not thaaaat cold yet. It was in low 40s (F) this morning.

Yesterdays ride home was brutal, 22 mph winds in my face the enter way home...ugh. Made the almost 60 degrees feel like 50 or so.

This morning: It was actually a tad warmer today compared to yesterday, about 40 degrees. Still the wind was enough to require a jacket. This afternoon its supposed to be high 50s, low 60s...meaning I'm now in that time of year where I have to bring warm morning stuff and moderate evening stuff. My backpack is jampacked.

Like most others here it seems, I broke out the winter gear for the first time today--tights, thermal shirt, neoprene booties, gloves and the hat. As usual for me it was sufficient, except for the fingertips.

Do any of you folks who ride in really cold weather have good recommendations for gloves to keep my fingers warm? I know it doesn't get that cold here in NC, but I have very poor circulation in my hands and very low body fat, so I need warmer gloves than I would otherwise. If you don't want to clog the thread, feel free to PM me. Thanks!

Had some cruddy winds to battle the past few days making it pretty cold out in the later hours. I've had to don three layers and my full finger winter gloves (I don't have an intermediate pair of full fingers, and the winter ones are a bit overkill still), I think Sunday night/Monday morning was 1C feeling like -3C according to weather.com. I've been wearing my scarf around my neck for a week or two anyway now to try and ward off any chesty/neck cold BS I tend to be prone to.

Still, it's been fun and I've not yet had to put on the thermal leggins.

Today was surprisingly warm but Thursday is set to drop way down again.

The ride in went well this morning, 39F when I left, wore a polypro long sleeve shirt with a short sleeve over it, light shell jacket and my safety vest. Had full finger gloves on and a headband to cover my ears. Within 10 minutes I was too hot and took off my shell, it made the rest of ride much better.

Witnessed a rear-end auto accident right before I went in the gate to the Navy Base, no one was hurt, but I called 911 and stayed until the cops showed up. Made me glad I wasn't in a car.

Now to the ride home. Took a slightly different route and was on a 4 lane divided highway with one lane blocked off for construction. I was in that lane and looking over my shoulder to see when it was clear to cross when BAM!!! The next thing I know I'm flying over the handlebars. Turns out the construction consisted of taking out sections of concrete from the road, creating holes about 6 feet wide, 3 feet long, and 1 foot deep. A couple of construction workers came running over to see how I was. They were pretty impressed that I was able to get up. I punctured my front tire, knocked my front wheel out of whack, and bent my fork on my Electra Townie 3. Road rash on elbow, knee and hand, and some possible broken/cracked ribs.

Anyone have experience with rib injuries? It's fairly painful, hurts to breathe and so forth. Don't know if I should go in for x-rays. Hope everyone else had a safer ride than I did today!

It was 41F when I left this morning. My commute is not far, and so by the time I start warming up, I am already at work. Its only 5 miles one way.

Why call 911 if no one was hurt? It's not like they have nothing better to do than deal with fender benders.

Ouch! Heal well!

Ribs crack/break fairly easily afaik. I'd play it safe and go with an x-ray.

My boyfriend once didn't go for an x-ray after a bike accident figuring he just had a sprain. Well, a week later, when the sprain would not heal, he finally saw a doctor, and it turned out he actually broke his hand. It partially healed already, and it healed improperly, so he has slight assymetry in his hands now, and his handwriting has deteriorated because of this injury. So if you suspect a fracture, it might be a wise move to see a doctor.

I don't tend to have problems with keeping my extremities warm. However, maybe that's because I do a good job dealing with them. I've got two sets of long-finger gloves -- Pearl Izumi gels for cool temps, and PI Pittards for colder temps. The Pittards are large enough that I can wear another pair of thin wicking gloves under them. The extra inner pair of gloves seems to really help, and you can always take them off if the temps warm up during a ride.

Also, REI has a very good selection of gloves. Pearl Izumi have some new lines of winter gloves that seem like very good values, and I will probably buy a new set soon. I can't remember the specific model names, but REI had several different styles of PI gloves that cost about $40 a pair. They looked warmer than my current PI gloves but weren't too bulky.

BTW, I live in Raleigh, and there are REI stores at Cary Crossroads, North Hills in Raleigh, and perhaps another location in the Durham area.

2 more months and i'll be back on! the 2 flooded out bridges will be rebuilt then (12/31/07 PDA), commute back on (12 miles each way)! there will be wider sholders on the bridges as well.
guess i need to focus on rebuilding commuter drive-train!

Had some rain and thunder last night. Looked like we might get the same this morning. I left late because I could not find either of the two pairs of waterproof pants I_Just_bought! Good thing it did not rain after all. Weather was cool but not cold. Ride home was warmer. No real traffic issues. I was very tired and so I was slow, and kind of zoned out, although I never ride with earphones.