JoeyBike

Definitely one of the Top 10 worst things that could happen on a commute!

jwbnyc

You Do!

vtjim

I woke up this morning and it was snowing lightly. When I left, nothing was falling from the sky. About a mile into the ride, it started raining. (It's still pretty dark, too.) Just about 32F degrees.

I arrived looking a bit like a drowned rat. I avoided roads. The MUP was covered with a thin layer of wet snow. First tracks for 5 miles until I got to town. Yay me.

jterribili

took the motorized unit in today unfortunately - had to bring some equipment home from work. I actually missed the rain yesterday and got home 100% dry.

I am always so disappointed when I cannot bike in - I hate taking the car in. I saw a couple commuters this morning downtown and was instantly jealous

jackieK

Woke up at 6:30 and it was pouring rain. My lazy brain said, "Oh, just sleep another hour or two and it will all go away. Then you can ride you bike to work."

You know what! It worked. Lazyness does pay.

savethekudzu

Had my first real spill this morning.
About 60 degrees with wet roads and an occasional drizzle; was feeling good about my pace. I made the silly mistake of trying to jump the metal threshold between the asphalt MUP and a wooden bridge. Lost control and stayed upright for a few yards; then went down on my left side on the bridge. A nearby family of pedestrians stopped to check on me, but I think all is well.

The impact took a good bite out of the left side of my helmet (behind my left ear) and broke my pager. Was stunned for a few minutes, but finished the ride; no obvious damage to the bike or my cargo (though I did have to straighten my handlebars).

This happens to have been the first morning I seriously considered wearing a baseball cap instead of the helmet in order to shield my glasses from the rain!!! Even had one lashed to the rack, just in case.

HelluvaStella

I was fully geared for the rain that was falling as I showered and got ready this morning. Went outside to no rain at all, just wet roads. So I left on my rainpants and booties just in case. Still no rain, but I did get my first flat of the year. Green beer bottle glass, rear tire, bah. But was able to get it changed quick and fairly clean, and I've fallen in love with my CO2 inflator all over again.

tarwheel 

Glad to hear you weren't hurt. Wet wood can be very slippery. I've only had one crash in 35+ years of riding, but it kept me off my bike for several months afterwards. All it takes is one accident to realize how important a helmet is. In my crash, I suffered mostly road rash but would have been seriously hurt without a helmet as my head hit the pavement hard. It is pretty hard to crash without hitting your head.

BTW, a cycling cap will fit under your helmet and works well to shield your glasses from rain. I've got several cycling caps that I wear whenever there is a threat of rain. They're also good for shielding the sun from your eyes.

mjw16

JoeyBike-...I discovered that I'd left my underwear at home...

Definitely one of the Top 10 worst things that could happen on a commute!

It's not only top 10, it's pretty much number one in my book, the panic I felt.... :-)

Today's ride was a lot of fun. Left late but managed to miss all the rain. It was a balmy 40-something degrees with dense fog. I love the feel of the cool, moist air in my lungs. I pushed a moderate pace and did reasonably well on time. The only negative-I ran through a pile of horse manure (spel?) near the Tidal Basin. I managed to avoid it yesterday but totally forgot about it until it was too late. I think some sprayed up onto the downtube (and maybe my clothes) because I could smell it fairly strongly. I rode the rest of the way going very slowly so as not to spray any the I may have had in the treads and through puddles and grass to try to clean the tires. I washed up really well when I got to work. I was reminded of a couple of Pennsylvania riders I met on the Seagull Century who said that the horse manure left by the Amish' buggies is a real issue for cyclists, it sprays on water bottles and is ingested making them sick. "I was rinsing and spitting like there was no tomorrow, I'll tell you that much." -- Jerry Seinfeld.

pinkrobe

Chilly and fast! I was feeling pretty tired when I got out of bed, but -11C and 50 km/h wakes you up!

caloso

Finally got my old Trek rebuilt after powdercoating. I still need to tape the bars and attach the fenders, but it was begging to be ridden and the rain seems to have stopped for now.

Itsjustb

Uneventful commute today, though it was windy as heck and the roads were wet. One numbskull decided he HAD to make the right turn before I did and cut across my path, but I saw him preparing to do it and avoided him. I did let him know he's #1 in my book.

Yes indeedy. A few years ago the weather forecast for The Tour of Belgium (I think) called for no rain, so the farmers along the race route fertilized their fields. Sure enough it rained; the fertilizer ran off the fields and into the roads, spraying up onto the riders. I heard nearly every cyclist in the race had GI problems the entire race. And if that isn't the definition of misery, I don't know what is....

selekta

+ 1. I feel the same way whenever I get a ride or (on the off chance I can use the car) drive to work. I'll eventually see some bicycle commuters and feel jealous - why is that? Probably because they are having a better time than me.

HardyWeinberg

nice and dry coming in this morning (still overcast though). Going home last night was a new benchmark for getting rained on though. The old standard was 'gloves soaked through and only dry when left overnight next to furnace', now I have 'shoes don't even dry out when left overnight by the furnace'.

zephyr

Today's 27 mile RT commute capped off five days in a row of near perfect conditions for January, off to a good start for the year. I left work today early enough to catch the sun setting over the hilltops, and even spotted a very large coyote crossing a major road in our suburbs, only a mile or so from the vast undeveloped mountain areas to the east. Need to do some maintenance work this week. Time for a new chain and maybe cassette, and clean up rest of the drivetrain.

DataJunkie

Things thawed enough to where I was able to park the MTB and break out the fixed gear.
My goodness the speed difference was amazing.

I was intent on riding 50 miles today but an incident scared the heck out of me and I did not bother to ride a little further to pick up the remaining 3 miles.
I was passing a couple walking on the path and yelled out on your left. As I passed them to my horror I discovered a small lapdog off to my right. NO LEASH! It turned directly into my path and I yelled. Fortunately, the little dog turned around to the other direction. The owners got the finger and "use your f'ing leash!'. I love dogs but many owners are just freaking idiots. I would have crushed that dog, possibly killed it, and hurt myself because of their stupidity. Morons.
I wish this path had a road alternative. Either that or I should slow down to 5mph when passing peds.

JoeyMac

yesterday was my last day of the commute downtown and my last day at my current job before I move out to CT in a couple weeks. Then I got to leave early too, and I was so amped up at the prospect of leaving the job, on my last day, that I was flying home, racing down E Main faster than I had ever rode home from work before, adrenaline pumping. Then, I got to my street, and tried to turn, and was just going way too fast. I missed the turn, ended up crossing into the oncoming lane and heading straight for the curb. I was like, "ok, I have to jump this curb now..." I made the front wheel but the back wheel didn't clear, I landed on the sidewalk at a dead stop. The back wheel was bent, spokes messed up. I felt like such an idiot as I lifted the bike onto my shoulder and started the walk of shame the rest of the way home. But then my good friend, who I got to replace myself at my job this past week, was coming down my street on the way to his place and turned around to pick me and the bike up. What a way to go out on my last commute in Rochester. I'll be reporting from the Bristol, CT area soon. Ride safe kids!

ItsJustMe

Heck, what's wrong with leaving underwear at home? I've done it several times and it's hardly worth an eyeblink. Just go commando.

trombone

Hello! Flew back from Melbourne early this morning, and rather than just staying on the train and going up to work, I got off in the city and caught a bus back home just so I could ride back into the city again. Heh heh. And we wonder why they think we're mad.

It's been threatening rain all day, but it held off. Nice commute. Woke me up after an early start.

Sorry to hear about your stack, savethekudzu. Hope all is well. And good luck to all those starting new commutes, finishing old commutes and generally battling with winter!

hankbrandenburg

Nice commute this morning - 28F and light fog - 18 miles went by in record time. I got to satisfy my commuting jones since I had not ridden in since Wed!

vtjim

High 20Fs and overcast. Every weather source I checked said it would be snowing this morning, so I threw on the studded Hakkas last night. Woke up this morning: No snow. At all. I did most of my commute on the dirt shoulder of the MUP to keep the studs off dry pavement. There are still some sections of ice and hard-packed snow, so the studs help there.

I was going to say it might snow later, but I just looked out the window and it is snowing.

tarwheel 

Nice ride in this morning to start the work week, with temps in the low 30s. There was a very heavy frost and my glasses kept fogging, much worse than usual. I must have caught every single red light today but I was in no hurry as my legs were tired from long rides over the weekend. I skipped riding on Friday because the forecasters were calling for high winds and thunderstorms, neither of which materialized. After a week of abnormally warm temperatures in NC, it is supposed to return to winter weather this week with lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s. They say we might even get snow or sleet on Thursday, but I'll believe that when I see it. Snow is very rare around here, and it's been at least 5 years since we've had a significant snowfall. However, my birthday is quickly approaching (1/19) and we often seem to get some sort of frozen precip right around my b-day, if it happens at all.

pinkrobe

Woot! Really warm today, but I could feel an unpleasant drop in blood sugar about 3 blocks from the house. On the plus side, I carved through traffic like a hot knife through buttah...

DataJunkie

This stinks. I spent all of yesterday in the little boys room due to a severely upset stomach.
I still have no idea what caused it. It could either be the sushi I tried for the first time, the fact I forgot to take lactaid at a birthday party, or a combo of the two.
It is nice and warm today but my stomach is still queasy and I am weak as a newborn. Took the bus in.
Hopefully, tomorrow I can get a ride in. It is a work from home day so I may ride my local training ride if I have enough time.
Wed is prep work for a crown so no riding. Yay me.

jterribili

good ride today...a bit nippy in the 30's. Like you tarwheel I had bad fogging on my glasses as well - lights were OK for me though, only hit a couple. Saw another commuter going the opposite direction - only I saw him at the last second because he had no lights or reflective clothing at all from what I could tell, so I didn't even get to say hello!