22 degrees snowing and beautiful. Had just the right layers on to be commuting on my monocog. Love the sound of knobbies on fresh snow. Thankful for the backpack clip on my tail blinky as the seatpost mount broke when I swapped it off my regular commuter bike.

Wet and miserable today. Except for the legs. My Goretex pants are working extremely well; I'm very, very pleased with them. Now I need waterproof toque, waterproof gloves, waterproof boots, and waterproof jacket - and I'll be all set.

Toes and fingers were the worst. They got so frozen that they did not feel cold any more - instead they felt warm, stiff and painfully tingly. The really bad part was that I didn't bike all 31 kms I did today in one stretch. It was on and off, with a few hour-long breaks after which I had to put soaked clothes on and head back out. There are few things more unpleasant than having to put on wet socks and gloves and head back out into the rain. Oh, and I didn't have fenders on the bike I was riding today which made the ride much dirtier and wetter... though by the end of the day it made absolutely no difference.

Tomorrow we're supposed to get 10-15 cm of snow, so it's going to be VERY interesting. If it's really bad I might even use the TTC because I don't even have a snow bike built up yet. However I'll be leaving the house later in the day tomorrow, so maybe the roads will have cleared up a bit by then and I could ride after all. Wish me luck. *gulp*

I was nearly defeated by the weather, but I prevailed! Yesterday it was raining and cold, so my bike got soaked. This morning I woke to see the ground covered in ice, with a nice layer of ice pellets on top. Thankfully, I had installed my winter tire and did some other tune ups the night before, so I wasn't too worried about traction. However, I did run into trouble just a few minutes into the ride: my brakes froze!

It would seem that the rain from yesterday had worked its way into the brake lines and froze soon after hitting the cold air. Luckily I was still on the side streets, but I had to use my feet to stop! I limped home and got to work restoring my brakes.

With a bit of a struggle, I managed to free the cables from the housings. I wiped the cables down with a dry cloth, then flushed the housings with WD-40. I then packed the ends of the housings with marine grade grease, which I'd been intending to use for a while, but never got around to it. With everything put together again, and more globs of grease anywhere water could get in, I set out again. The brakes worked perfectly, smooth as silk.

Mother Nature slowed me down this morning, but she didn't stop me. Boo-yah!

I went out for a short ride today to the grocery store. 40f NW12. Took a leisurely ride up the bikepath in Westerville and then rode back down thru town. I had the streets all to myself. Very relaxing. I wanted to try my winter gear. I just had on my SportHill jacket and 3SP pants which were very comfortable in these temps. I picked up a pair on Man***** Mittens at TJ Max, which were totally windproof. Those will be nice in the cold temps. I'm curious to see how the Snow Sneakers will do in the frigid stuff. They're rated down to -5f. With temps at 40f they were just the thing. Oh well, time to enjoy Thanksgiving, same to ya.
_________________

A wee bit warmer than yesterday, but there's still snow on the ground in spots. I was lazy last night and didn't bother putting fenders on the bike. This morning I was spitting out salty sand and wiping my light off every couple of blocks.

Here's another thing that pisses me off - only 40% of my commute is actually snow-affected. 60% of it [ the fast, flat part] is dry. I could probably squeak by with slicks, but the bits with snow are on hills, and if a car/ped/bus/hobo rolls out into the many blind intersections, I would go down in a heap trying to avoid them.

Got wet feet last night after not putting bags on, so put them on for the ride home - otherwise was fine, need waterproof gloves and booties/shoes or something though.

Ride today was fun, ice pellets/snow with stuff already down (and on wet leaves in places) - was very wary/cautious first thing as I took my roadie but King was fairly clear all the way over so I came in at usual pace, just with more caution.

Last night and today I've been wearing my balaclava, big winter gloves and goretex jacket (last night only with a long-sleeve t-shirt and today with life-vest base layer and a wool turtle neck jumper under). I wore my rainpants yesterday but the crotch/ass seam is totally done now, so I'll have to replace them - didn't bother with them today as my exposure won't be more than 40 mins today (20 mins max each way).

Will have to get my MTB all ready as this is a good taste of what's to come and I'm not sure if I want to ride my roadie all through, with ice around it'll be scary methinks

PS, I love riding in the extremes when all warm and cozy

Didn't bike today did you? It's pretty bad out there.

Discovered the downside to studded tires today. Coming off of a bridge on totally dry concrete, going slow, sharp left turn and bam - my first wipe out in at least a year. Ouch!

I did too! Actually, it wasn't bad at all. I spent most of my commute on Bathurst St, and it was basically just wet pavement. I did encounter some snow on smaller streets, but the aggressive knobbies on my winter bike dealt with it just fine. We definitely didn't get the predicted 15-20 cm of snow. More like 1-2, I'd say.

"Winter bike? What winter bike?" asks the reader who recalls my complaint of having nothing to ride in the snow. Yep, I did manage to put together a winter bike for this ride. I had this Miele chromoly bike that needed some work, but I fixed it up in a couple of hours (it needed less repair than I thought), and it worked for me... more or less. The shifters didn't perform so well in the cold and the chain fell off at one point (need to adjust the front derailleur), but it did get me there and back safely and on time. Gee, I forgot how much more energy is required to drag those soft knobbies along though!

The drivers were kind of bad today. I don't know if it's the weather or what, but I had three drivers nearly left-hook me (I mean, REALLY nearly)... and my light's pretty bright.

Great commute in the DC area this morning ... roads are deserted after the holiday!

Cold and windy, leftovers from the cold front that passed through last night. Roads and trails were really quiet, didn't see another soul on the MV Trail. Hopefully it'll be a quiet day around here and I can jet a little early.

Well, my studded abilities are improving on a daily basis. I flew into work today, barely putting a foot down.

Rides yesterday and today were fine, I opted to ride directly home yesterday so I didn't spend much time out there.

Checked out my street this morning to umm and arr over the MTB/roadie choice. I decided the majors would be clear enough for my roadie (ice under the snow was my concern today) - so I walked my road bike out to the main street and went from there. No incidents, felt fine and mostly just wet pavement.

I ride east tonight too, so that'll be interesting. Was definitely very cold this morning, I'm sure we had -8C with feels like -14C when I set out. Other than wet (sweaty and not properly dried) fingertips getting cold, I was fine clothing/heat wise. Went with three layers for wind blockage (as I wasn't wearing my goretex) - lifavest base layer, long sleeved T middle and woollen turtle neck for top (and for the neck/balaclava seam). Two pairs of socks and brought my thermal leggings in case it got colder tonight but my fleece pants were just fine for the ride in.

todays ride was a short one from the shop but it was nice out and about 50 and sunny but i still bought some gloves cause i haven't ridden in a long time

missed my stop on the train and had to ride busy / hilly roads to work. got kind of lost. 11miles and i got totally soaked. I need some waterproof pants! chephy, what kind of goretex pants do you have?
need to get snow tires too, soon. not sure if they'll fit with my honjo fenders...

I decided to make a dry run at my commute yesterday- I really don't think I could ask for a better setup as I ride a dedicated path along the beach for about ten miles (the last 1/2 mile on both ends is fairly busy and street-only though).

I think I'm going to like this.

A bike path with a dividing line and a shoulder? Awesome!

Yep, it looks like you'll have perfect riding conditions.

Wet and cold this morning about 40* when I left the house, high today has only been 44, wind is picking up and mist is steadily falling. Might be a bit of an ugly ride home tonight. I am looking forward to a hot bath and a cold beer when I get home.

4:30am 28f very comfortable with my winter gear on. I just wore leggings over work pants, so the waist area got a little nippy, not too bad tho. Snow Sneakers and Mittens did the trick. The only thing was my rear derailluer froze up and I couldn't shift out of the gear I was in. I'll have to do some maintenance on it to fix that. Probably just needs some fresh grease inside the cable housing. Afternoon ride home was nice. 39f. Derailluer was shifting. Had the Bikepath all to myself.
Where is everyone?
_________________

second day commuting on my new bike and the temp was great I wake up around 11:30 then ride to the tattoo shop around noon so the ride there was nice was a little chilly cause I had just woken up. the ride home at about 9pm in the dark was probably colder but it felt warmer cause im not a morning person . I have the day off tomorrow so I plan on doing a longer ride if im feeling ok the girlfriend is dog sick and im not feeling great myself. also I got to play with the bike caujse the gears were acting funny on my way home like they couldn't figure out where they wanted to go. if I don't figure it out by monday im gonna have the LBS I bought it at look at it. I hope I didn't break it in the 2 days I've had it.

41* again this morning and raining. a "waterproof" jacket from Nashbar turned out to not be so waterproof. arrived to work cold and wet this morning. Soaked through all 4 layers down to my skin. Legs are still cold. Gonna be a long day, thankfully I am here for a 10 hour day today so it gives everything time to dry out.

Will be searching forums for good cold wet weather gear.

Nice and cool, not too cold, and practically all the snow has melted.

Friggin' cold, that's how.

went ass over
Had to ride down tram line and when tried to turn off at speed back wheel locked in the tram track

As I was sliding down the road had a suureal vision of my bike 2 meters in front of me
I lost a heap of skin of the shin area , thigh elbow and fingers : luckily no cars behind me
so I didnt get run over as well
I did have to go for a 50 meter walk however to retrieve my drink bottle from down the hill
Minor repairs needed got a lift the last bit home with dented pride

new workplace today and thus new commute, this time its 25km each way and a very varied ride to say the least, taking in, city, shopping streets and best of all beach roads.

I will take a few snaps on the way to work tomorrow and post for you all