Back from 2 days off, spent in D.C. Saw some dudes with bicycles on the Metro (rail). Thumbs up to you. :)

Didn't ride today. I hiked 2.5 miles to the bus instead. Needed to check out the MUP. It's snowy but I think I might be able to handle it tomorrow. I'll see if I feel like dealing with it tomorrow morning. I really wish the city would plow the $(@*%)! thing. :mad:

ROFLMAO!

I never got that when I searched. But then I just searched "Nokian studded tires".

My wife is picking up my Nokian 294's tonight for me. The ride in was interesting. Some side roads I ride weren't plowed yet :(. I do not have the right tires on for snow!!

Thank God for the new bar mount mirror I bought yesterday and fenders.

Fabulous day in S. FLa today !
About 60 degrees.....I love arriving at work and not needing to bird bath ! :)
I had to wait at the lite on Northlake for about 4 minutes of its 5 minute red
cycle but I do cross when the roads are finally clear....a Fla. Transit bus
driver starts beeping its horn at me and Im thinking Im gonna get the finger
'cuz I jumped the lite but instead she is smiling and waving !! Wow...Im shocked !
Of course I return the gesture. Further down on Old Dixie, or crackhead row, I
hear the train and the gates are starting to come down...I sprint from the wrong
side of the tracks, through the closing gates to the right side of the tracks
just in the nick '0 time :eek: The train must have been about a mile and half long
because it ended when I got to work !! I love days like this !! :D

First Tracks!

Two long black ribbons on the road followed me home and everything was dreamlight light, as the lights reflected off the snow.

Paul

Abso-friggin-lutely.

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...