Mr Vagabond

Another fallen here! This morning was a nice, sunny day. I put on my new Forte City Slicks I just got in the mail yesterday and had a blast testing them on my way to work. However, on the way home it started raining. Didn't think it was that bad until I got just a couple turns away. This turn was at the bottom of a hill drop and I made a sharp turn on thin tires in a wet environment. I slide out pretty fast! My thigh is almost as sore as my pride

Mazaev

27F again. Decided to wear a jacket this time :-). Left the house and couldn't clip in, noticed I was missing a cleat screw. Wondered when that happened, but no time to wonder, really, as I was running 15 minutes late. Turned out to be one of the more annoying commutes so far, mainly because of a familiar noise coming from the front wheel which got worse and as the ride went on.

Popped a spoke in the front wheel again and the nipple is bouncing around the rim making the wheel equivalent of a nails against chalkboard sound. NOte of advice to anyone getting a new bike: If it has Shimano r500 wheels on it, get new wheels. 4000 miles or so on them and I'm popping a spoke or going completely out of true once a week.

hankbrandenburg

Coldest commute for me to date - 19F when I left the house this AM. The roads are clear in the DC/N. Va area; just had to deal with a few icy patches and snow on the MUP over a couple of bridges. First time I've had my water bottle freeze up.

I know not much of an accomplishment for you in the northern latitudes but it is another milestone in winter commuting for me. I managed to stay warm enough everywhere EXCEPT my feet - I'm probably going to buy some of the Lake MTB Winter shoes to fix this.

I'm starting to think I can do this bicycle commuting thing through the whole winter!

tarwheel 

Totally screwed up morning in Raleigh, NC. I was checking the weather as I was eating breakfast, and the TV weather report said some sleet and freezing rain was moving through our area. Our forecasters must be the worst in the country because they have been totally missing everything all year long -- rain, high temps, low temps, you name it. There was no mention of rain, sleet or freezing rain in the forecast last night at 11 p.m.

Anyway, I go out to get the newspaper off the driveway, and my truck already had sleet/freezing rain on the windshield. Then the TV news started having reports of traffic accidents all over the area from the slick roads, so I bagged my bike commute for the day. Not worth the risk. So, I had a nice leisurely breakfast and drove to work. Of course, the roads seemed fine on the route I drive. But I still think I made the right decision because my bike commute is on different roads with some hills where my speeds top 30 mph and I wouldn't want to have a crash.

mjw16

Nice ride in this morning, slightly warmer than yesterday and far less snow. The main and side roads as well as the paved parts of the MUP were completely free of ice/snow, however the bridges were still covered with hardpacked snow and ice. I had to slow quite a bit on the bridges but didn't go down or even dab a foot once (although I did unclip a couple of times and use a leg as an outrigger). I was able to speed up and make up time once I was back on pavement. I guess they're calling for a "wintry mix" of snow/sleet/rain sometime today--yet another reason to take the bike and not the car.

JoeyMac

I started playing a new game this morning. Everytime I had to pass a city bus that was perpetually stopped in the right hand lane, I would "slap" it like my buddies down in Brooklyn do. I just run my gloved hand down the side leaving a stripe in the grime and tap the mirror as I pass. I know it's juvenile and dangerous but it was entertaining me this morning. Gotta get your kicks somehow.

vtjim

~20F. First real snow ride of the season and the MUP is a long ribbon of doo-doo. I get so mad because the city won't plow, and the peds just post-hole the frak out of it, so it's impossible to ride over 6 or 7 MPH. Took me an hour to go 6.4 miles, including walking one section that was so bad, it was unrideable. I do thank the Burlington High School ski team for flattening a single track for me.

I'll be taking more roads for the ride home but I still have to use the MUP for a little while.

mikepop

10°F this morning - might be the coldest ride I've taken. Side streets still an icy/snowy mess, so stuck to my alternate route.

HardyWeinberg

40F, supposed to frost tonight for the first time in a week, don't know if it can keep it up (down) through the weekend for Monday's commute.

Itsjustb

The ride itself was fine.

Like many of you (I assume), I'm required by my wife to call in as soon as I arrive at work so she doesn't worry. This morning I was running about 5 minutes later than usual and the weather was somewhat questionable--31 degrees and some kind of precipitation overnight meant the roads were potentially dicey. My wife called me several times on my cell to see where I was and to tell me to be careful, but the phone was in my trunk bag and on vibrate. Needless to say, the first thing she said when I checked in was, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

In her defense, it was in conditions almost exactly like these 2 years ago that I had my fall that ended in the ER with 11 stitches and head x-rays.

noisebeam

Today's PM ride home is forecast to be 30mph wind with gusts to 40mph and thunderstorms. Fortunately the wind is forecast to be a direct tailwind! Of course with heavy rain, wet roads, etc. I won't be able to take full advantage of it.

Al

StokerPoker

The side streets, driveway and work parking lot (which is most of my ride to work) were mostly hardpack and ice. I avoid the main roads because I can and I enjoy the side streets. I put the studs an the Marin wednesday but was unable to ride to work that night because I ended up having a surprise surgery on my neck wednesday. Rode in last night and had a blast. We got a dusting of new snow that was supposed to be 1-2 inches. ended up being about 1/4. after I got home I drove to the Dr. to let her look at the incision and see what else needed to be done. got home and did my errands on the bike. (pick up paycheck, perscriptions, groceries.

Glad I'm back to feeling better

plaugher

Temp was mid-teens this morning, but thankfully there were only negligible winds, so that was a defininte plus (not to mention a bit of a change from how things have been for the past couple of weeks).

Much to my chagrin, the bike lane (one of the few in the city) is strewn with gravel after some recent construction in the area. Between dodging that and residual slushy ice from a storm earlier in the week, it was a most watchful commute.

caloso

Woke up late and rode my old POS mtb to work. There's something wonderfully liberating about a beater...

trombone

Not usually, but the other day I rode in through a severe thunderstorm and the other half was evidently worried. She called me around the time I arrived at work, but I didn't check my cellphone until about an hour later. Oooops.

Another massive storm blew over just before I left yesterday too. We've been getting a lot of these storms recently. I don't mind riding through them (it's not as if it's cold), but the amount of debris they wash into the roads (stones, twigs, litter etc) can be a bit of a pain.

ericy

I don't know if required is the right word, but let's say strongly encouraged. Sometimes if she doesn't answer, I don't bother with a message - it will still show up as a missed call, and that's more than good enough. One time however she was apparently in a dead zone, and it went straight to voicemail. I assumed that she would have gotten a missed call thing on her phone, but she didn't. She called me later in the day and was a bit peeved with me.

Looks like early next week the snow will be gone and the weather will be warm, so I will be back in the saddle again .

biskil1

Ditto on the "arrived safely" wife report. Text messages are the way to go for me.
-Rode for the first time this week - early in the week it was very windy (I know, I'm a wuss). Nice ride today, bought a new wireless bike computer last week, today was the first time I used it. I don't know if it was the cold or what, but the first half of my ride the computer registered my speed at twice the actual speed. So I averaged 32 mph on the way in this morning!

Thank you to all of you who live in cold climates, your posts are an inspiration to me when it's a mere 34F here in Southern VA.

buzzman

overcast and chilly turned into snow on the way home. Stopped to do some shopping. Had a pretty full blown snow squall as I left the supermarket near my home with a big bag of groceries in my milkcrate. A woman got one look at me as I was pulling away and I thought she was going to call me crazy and she said, "Good for you!"

ban guzzi

Spent an hour to go 10 miles at 6am after a 12 hour shift. Not to shabby, for me! Alot of frozen rain with an irritating dusting of snow to make it slippery. In fact I lost my footing at a stop light and almost went over becasue my foot came out from under me. But it felt okay to ride on, carefully. Might be time to lose the Contact 2000s' on the MTB and sport for some studs. This is my first winter commuting and so far its been fun! Thank goodness I rode MC's thru more than a few Colorado winters. I have the keep warm thing down, just need to work on Ice confidence on a bicycle...

k_tech

not a bad commute home this morning. i overdressed and got a little hot, but didn't want to take the time to stop and lose a layer of clothing so i just dealt with it. i was feeling a little fatigued for some reason, but i still managed to enjoy a run of about 23 mph on flat for a half mile or so. all the drivers were courteous. damp and a little foggy tonight so i'll be donning the rainsuit.

Sixty Fiver

The commute was really nice today as it is starting to warm up and the bike highway and roads are clear enough that I can ride my cross bike / commuter.

It is one of those incredible Alberta winter days where the snow is contrasted nicely by the bluest of skies and also nice was the fact that I get to ride in the daylight on the weekends whereas my weekday commute is dark both ways.

k_tech

a little on the misty and foggy side to and from work but not problems. i love sunday morning rides. i saw maybe 15 cars in 3.5 miles. the ride was a really good way to come down off of a hectic, tragedy filled shift.

StokerPoker

The ride in last night and the ride home this morning were uneventful. We got a bunch of freezing rain and it's pretty icy out there now. I don't have to work tonight but I'm thinking about riding up to the store.

trombone

Uneventful. Not quite so hot, but with the recent rain the humidity is still high, so it makes for a sweaty ride. Weather like this I really want to lose the helmet; my head gets very hot.

I did put new brake pads on my bike at the weekend though - my stopping power was definitely improved!

hankbrandenburg

Rain, fog and 43F here in DC/Northern VA area; otherwise uneventful. I found the rain to be somewhat invigorating, but the fog put me up on the sidewalk in a couple of places that I normally ride on the road.