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How was the commute today?

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Old 01-14-08 | 10:15 AM
  #22576  
Itsjustb's Avatar
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From: Durham, NC

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse 5c, Scattante XRL

Originally Posted by jterribili
....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!
That wasn't me

Uneventful ride again today. A little chilly--I lent my neck gaiter to someone yesterday and forgot to get it back. Neck was a little cold for the entire ride.
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Old 01-14-08 | 10:48 AM
  #22577  
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From: Twin Cities, MN

Bikes: 1987 Denti w dura ace (road)/ "cheap" Jamis (mtn)

Cold this morning. It was 5°F when I left home and 1°F when I got to work.

I was comfortable though.

The roads were relatively clear. I haven't ridden in for three weeks since I was off for Christmas break. It was nice to ride again. The holiday weight gain sucks though!!
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Old 01-14-08 | 11:17 AM
  #22578  
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From: south Puget Sound
brisk - high 30sF. Steady headwind all the way in, that is atypical, usually it's all the way home... Also, grabbed my wife's headlight, found the battery basically dead. Whoops...
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Old 01-14-08 | 11:35 AM
  #22579  
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From: Sacramento, California, USA

Bikes: Specialized Tarmac, Canyon Exceed, Specialized Transition, Ellsworth Roots, Ridley Excalibur

Cold and foggy. Legs were heavy but it was nice to be on the bike.
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Old 01-14-08 | 11:37 AM
  #22580  
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From: Champaign, IL
Chilly a bit and windy. Temp was 23°F with wind stout at 10-15mph. I was running a tad late today, so I didn't take a long route, so I might dally at little bit on my way home to get some mileage in since I cannot ride tomorrow.
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Old 01-14-08 | 03:28 PM
  #22581  
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From: central ohio

Bikes: 96 gary fisher 'utopia' : 99 Softride 'Norwester'(for sale), 1972 Raleigh Twenty. Surly 1x1 converted to 1x8, 96 Turner Burner

Riding here in Columbus today. 29f with a brisk westerly wind to push me home. We had a nice snowfall during my ride which made for some relaxing riding. Of course folks look at me as if I'm nuts to be riding in this weather
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Old 01-14-08 | 09:41 PM
  #22582  
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From: Halle, Germany

Bikes: Surly Troll

Today's 28 mile RT commute was fantastic. An almost warm morning breeze at sunrise with the temperature near 60F. Clear blue skies, no smog. Visibility from the hilltops was at least 50 miles, snow capped mountains in the distance. I was wearing just two thin shirt layers this morning, and the same on the way home. The sunset over the Pacific this evening was bright orange and the hills were turning all sorts of colors. On days like today I enjoy riding this time of year much more than during the summer.
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Old 01-15-08 | 06:13 AM
  #22583  
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From: Close to the Akrowdy, Ohio

Bikes: '12 Raleigh Furley, '08 KHS Flite 900, '06 Bianchi San Jose (RIP), '04 Fuji World

Just rode home from work (6:30am) an inch or two of freshly fallen snow on the side streets. Heavy commuter traffic, normally I ride in at 0530 but I picked up an OT shift. The main drags were brine/slushy.. I'm going to have to spray the bike down some when I get back to work at 2pm for another OT shift.

We hired a construction crew to tear up an old office that we are going to renovate. As one of the workers held the door open for me to leave he said, "Boy, you're going to need studs for your tires!" I proudly replied, "Already there!" as I lifted up my front wheel to demonstrate. He was stunned and could only comment "Man, I was only kidding.. what the.. "

I've been waiting 3 years for somebody to give me the opportunity to slip that one in!
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Old 01-15-08 | 06:53 AM
  #22584  
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From: Raleigh, NC

Bikes: Waterford RST-22, Bob Jackson World Tour, Ritchey Breakaway Cross, Soma Saga, De Bernardi SL, Specialized Sequoia

Clear and cold this morning with temperature about 25F but no wind. My toes got cold for some reason, even though I was wearing shoe covers. Not sure what that was about. Tried toothpaste on glasses this morning to reduce fogging, and it helped but didn't totally prevent the problem. Somewhere at home I have a bottle of glasses cleaner/defogger that I bought at the State Fair years ago. Need to find that stuff. Coffee sure tastes good this morning.
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Old 01-15-08 | 07:28 AM
  #22585  
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From: Burlington, Vermont

Bikes: 2011 Trek Soho DLX

Nice ride this morning. Temps down around 10F, and no wind. We got about an inch of really light fluffy snow yesterday, and the studded Hakkas make a cool sort of whirring sound as they dig through it. I saw 2 other bike tracks that came through after my ride home yesterday. Definitely more winter riders out there this year.

I stopped on my ride home yesterday in the woods near Lake Champlain and it was just dead quiet in the snow. I thought it would be nice if I could just bottle up that atmosphere and open it again on a 90 degree August day.
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Old 01-15-08 | 07:32 AM
  #22586  
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From: 28012

Bikes: zilch

Finally got to ride in today. I've been training in the mornings because of my schedule. But man, cold or not, it's fun to be back commuting. The dark, quiet mornings are so pleasant. Love it.

25F
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Old 01-15-08 | 07:44 AM
  #22587  
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From: Austin

Bikes: 97(?) GT Richochet, 00 Schwinn SuperSport

good gravy!
While on my way home at 6am another commuter hopped on ahead of me on the MUP. He looked waaay more serious than I do! I'm not sure if he was trying to leave me behind or not but I sure got a bit of a workout keeping up with him. I couldn't pass him but he didn't leave me behind either! Kind of nice to have company after going 6 weeks or more just catching glimpses of other people...
I don't think he was too happy having a clyde on a squeaky MTB behind him but I sure appreciated having a reason to push myself.

So! To the fella on the Pink/Red MTB I followed this morning. THANK YOU!! Hopefully I'll see you more often and one day pass you...

a clyde can dream....
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Old 01-15-08 | 08:02 AM
  #22588  
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From: Calgary

Bikes: '04 Kona Fire Mountain

54km/hr headwinds gusting to 78km.
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Old 01-15-08 | 08:54 AM
  #22589  
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From: Chicagoland
I was riding along at what I thought was a pretty decent pace when I hear a zz zzzz zzZZ ZZZZZZ from behind and left and look over and see another cyclist passing me. He says good morning, and pedals off. So I got dropped by a guy riding studded tires. At least it looked like a CX bike, not a MTB.
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Old 01-15-08 | 09:21 AM
  #22590  
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From: Twin Cities, MN

Bikes: 1987 Denti w dura ace (road)/ "cheap" Jamis (mtn)

It was 4°F when I left home and -3°F when I got downtown this morning.

I was ok until about the last 3 miles, then my feet started to get cold. Not bad, but I was glad to get to work (how often do you say that?? ).
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Old 01-15-08 | 09:27 AM
  #22591  
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From: Columbus, OH

Bikes: '08 Surly Cross-Check, 2011 Redline Conquest Pro, 2012 Spesh FSR Comp EVO, 2015 Trek Domane 6.2 disc

Dang dang dang! I don't have studded tires for the new bike yet, and this morning the commute was coated in a fine sheet of frozen sleet. No way the Conti UltraGatorskins were going to work on that slickness!
Ended up driving in due to that, and the fact that my fiancee asked me to drop her off at work because she wasn't going to try driving her car in this stuff. (She's got a light, sporty little car w/ too much torque for its own good. Fun in the summer, sux on the ice.)
Gotta buy a pair of studdies once we move, because the new place is 600' higher than where we are now and gets much more snow/ice. Current place got about 0.25" of freezing sleet. New place got 2.5" of snow on top of some freezing sleet.
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Old 01-15-08 | 09:35 AM
  #22592  
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From: Durham, NC

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse 5c, Scattante XRL

Not a good commute this morning. Pretty cold, but an extra layer kept the core temps good, and the hands didn't get uncomfortable till the very end; at least I had that part right.

No, it was the other road users this morning that caused my problems. First, taking the lane this morning approaching a right turn, I had a driver behind me honk repeatedly for me to move over. Of course I ignored him (the lane there is standard width, but it has a gutter pan and a kerb; no way am I going to ride to the right and let people think it's safe to share the lane). Eventually he passed me...only to get stuck right in front of me at the light. I was tempted to ride up beside him and say, "Was that worth it?" Instead I stayed behind him and watched him shake his head and have a conversation with himself, clearly about cyclists who don't get out of his way on the road.

Later in the commute I was nearly left-hooked at the entrance to my building's driveway. I turn right there; a guy I used to work with was turning left and turned at the same time I did. He scared the heck outta me, but apologized for it when we arrived at the building.
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Old 01-15-08 | 09:51 AM
  #22593  
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From: Cowtown, AB

Bikes: Titus El Guapo, Misfit diSSent, Cervelo Soloist Carbon, Wabi Lightning, et al.

Originally Posted by Wulfheir
54km/hr headwinds gusting to 78km.
Yah, same here. Thankfully, there were no open areas on my commmute, so I didn't get knocked around too much.
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Old 01-15-08 | 10:57 AM
  #22594  
Raving looney
 
Joined: Jul 2006
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From: Toronto, ON, Canada

Bikes: 70s Leader Precision w/Shimano 600 (road), IRO Rob Roy (Fixed)

Hadn't ridden this year until last Wednesday night due to flu followed by strepthroat, and had to use up '07 vacation days last week, so I haven't really commuted much yet - but it felt great to be back on the bike. We've had some crazy winds recently, but fairly warm - this week looks to be cooler, and last night and this morning we've had some snow again.

Good rides though, and I've decided to start chronicling my mileage/maintenance stuff in a spreadsheet so I know a bit more about my rides/bike health.

I picked up some neoprene Subzero gloves this weekend from Canadian Tire of all places ($20) and have had great success with them so far, and I know it's been pretty cold with windchill as I've had to don my goretex waterproof just to keep the wind/cold out at night - my hands have been fine, barring occasional fingertips being cold - they soon warm up though.

Barring a lever/caliper and rubber, I'm all ready for my Rob Roy group buy frame arrival - gagging to get going on that ride once it's built up - woo.
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Old 01-15-08 | 11:12 AM
  #22595  
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From: Sacramento, California, USA

Bikes: Specialized Tarmac, Canyon Exceed, Specialized Transition, Ellsworth Roots, Ridley Excalibur

38F, calm, RH 100%. The NOAA website says that visibility is less than .25 miles, but that's an overstatement. There were times when you couldn't see to the end of the block.
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Old 01-15-08 | 11:16 AM
  #22596  
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From: Central Illinois

Bikes: Cannondale R1000

14f, 10mph wind, 5 mile ride to work was still wonderful.

Should be almost 25f by the time I head home...that will be better than this am...it was quite chilly.
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Old 01-15-08 | 11:55 AM
  #22597  
GATC
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From: south Puget Sound
Cold! 20sF. Sunny (nice view of Rainier) and not windy, though. Cold thumbs, brrrr (gloves have some sort of clever design of different fabrics in different areas; dumb gloves)
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Old 01-15-08 | 02:39 PM
  #22598  
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From: Calgary

Bikes: 07 Rocky Mtn ETSX-70, 00 Rocky Mountain Hammer (commuter) 98 Lemond Chambery

Originally Posted by pinkrobe
Yah, same here. Thankfully, there were no open areas on my commmute, so I didn't get knocked around too much.
I live in the North, so I got the push on the way in. Going home will suck big time.
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Old 01-15-08 | 03:40 PM
  #22599  
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Joined: Aug 2007
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From: Sydney, Australia

Bikes: 80's peugeot. Somewhat knackered. Lovely new Salsa Casseroll singlespeed.

Lovely day today - blue sky, sunny, warm. It's gong to be hot later, I think.

Uneventful commute, except for the pain from a stinking hangover. And here's a weird thing. When I drink too much, my knees ache. Not just when riding, I mean generally.

The felt pads inside my helmet are disintegrating. I wonder if I can get new ones.

Hmm, can't think of anything else. Enjoy your rides, everyone!
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Old 01-15-08 | 04:02 PM
  #22600  
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From: San Leandro, CA

Bikes: Bianchi Castro Valley

Beautiful warm day, so I decided to ride a few extra miles to a grocery store and pick up a couple things. On my way, a lady is parked in the bike path on a 4 lane 50mph road and she leaves her door wide open forcing me into the traffic lane. Luckily, I was clear, but I yelled at her to shut her damn door next time. Other than that, just peachy
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