It snowed overnight, damnit. Made things a tad slippy on my sidestreet, but the majors I need to get to work were all clear / just sloppy, so no major deal.

Was a bit tired in the legs still - I need to stick to my stretching routine, I always forget/don't bother and it ends up making my legs so tired :(

I was one of two bystanders that helped someone take off his wheel so he could change a flat. When we asked him where his spare tire was, he said "I don't have one". The other guy who stopped to help and I exchanged a look of... well, polite incredulity.

:D :rolleyes:

Looking forward to the 20+ MPH tailwind for the ride home soon. :love:

:eek: Not sure I want to put my hands in the life of a Shanghai driver. Plus, they're usually stuck in traffic ;)

Sleet like razors. Still, every night is a good night to ride.

7.5 miles, fastest ride yet, 25 minutes, avg speed 17.3mph, 23 degrees. only cold for the first mile, them i was ok.

A pretty mellow 27 mile RT commute ride today, cool and overcast with no wind. No excitement, nothing eventful which is fine by me. More of the same for the rest of the week here in Orange County.

Well, summer has come back, it seems. Nice few days; blue skies, warm not not too hot.

Uneventful rides, but made a good pace. There still seems to be more cyclists on the roads than before January; the 'new year resolution' crowd are showing more resilience than last year (when by mid-Jan they'd all given up!). Hopefully they'll keep it up. Nice to have the company.

Good luck in all the snow and sleet, to the Northern Hemisphere people!

And hello DCvision!

Still cold today. Eyes watering up like crazy from the wind on the way back. The bike could use a cleaning, too.

Back in the saddle this morning after a long layoff for me, 4 days. We had miserable weather over the weekend, with cold rain and snow, then black ice in the mornings and very cold temperatures. Yesterday it started raining lightly just as I was getting ready for work and, with the temperature about 27, I didn't think it was worth the risk to ride my bike. Good call as there were a bunch of traffic accidents during morning rush hour.

It rained overnight, so the roads were still wet this morning and a light fog was developing. Temperatures were relatively mild (high 30s F) compared to recent lows, so I was comfortable, but my glasses kept fogging up at every traffic light. Speaking of lights, I got nabbed by every freakin' long red light on my route, which must have added at least 5 extra minutes to my commute time. At least it wasn't that cold waiting at all the lights.

After I left this morning, I had a nagging feeling I was forgetting something. About 1/4 mile from my house, I realized what it was -- my helmet. I never ride without my helmet, but I had put on my fleece cap while first putting on my gear and that made me forget about my helmet. Doh! Turned around and went back to get it, so that further slowed down my commute. One of those days.

The ride went well...until I almost took a spill on some ice. Be careful, folks, who ride on the W&OD trail north of where it intersects with Gallows Road. There is a 100 yard stretch of ice crunchies and black ice. I was riding my road bike with normal racing tires and I had to get off and walk for a while. Otherwise, it was a good ride. My new acquisition last night: Under Armour's cold gear compression shirt. That thing is awesome!

:mad: We'll make you pay for that in, um, 6 months! You wait! :p

High teens F this morning (~ -8C). The airport weather claims calm wind but that's not what I felt hitting me in the face next to Lake Champlain. The lake weather station is reading 10-15MPH winds.

Not too bad though. Light dusting of powder on the trail. I had first tracks for over half the ride, and then another set of tracks (knobbies) came onto the trail. I've met the guy before. He's another winter regular. Didn't see him this morning though. Just assumed it's the same guy.

Oh and I saw a skunk! :eek: I said to myself, "Uh oh", and slowed down and let it get a few yards away before I passed it.

Yup- I had to hike-a-bike a few times in Falls Church on Monday, skipped riding yesterday, and today had to walk a few times again, though less so than Monday. Hoping for warm temps today so I can stay on my bike the whole way home tonight. (Monday was fun, as my light battery was dead by the time I got home due to the extra care and time it took.)

Actually had a few peds look and STOP crossing the street when they saw me barreling towards the intersection. Even more amazing was there were no cars around me to help scare them off and I had the yellow light!

nice relaxing ride in this morning - low 30's a little wet from last nights rain. traffic was a little lighter than normal for some reason.

The rain held off for the 20 minutes it took me to reach the office this morning. I consider myself lucky. That might be the only break in the weather this week. NOAA was showing a low over Monterey Bay moving east, followed by a low over Oregon moving south. It'll be wet, wet, wet for the week.

As for the ride itself, no problems. And I was gratified to greet another hardcore commuter coming into the cage when I arrived. We neon-green-clad Freds need to stick together.

My quads were sore from yesterday's gym excursion. My wife tried to beat me to the top of Hill 1 by riding away from the house before I could even get the door locked, but I made up the 2-block deficit and caught her wheel at the crest. Ha! After crushing her spirit, I wheelsucked for a while. I know, I'm a bad husband.

It was a little rough -2 F when I left the house today but a very minimal wind.. Alot better then the ride yesterday. (-5 and a 20mph headwind) After i got to work my balaklava was totally white with frost and I had a ring of frost around the hood of my snowboarding jacket.. I thought it was halarious!!

Rain predicted...I took the road bike anyway. Beaten up by a headwind all the way in (5 miles).

Going home...LOADS of moronic peds and wrong-way cyclists that I bullied as usual. Screams of "Heads-up A.H.!" and "Wake-Up!" are much more colorful and satisfying than any silly bell or horn (except an Air-Zound). Mardi Gras is gearing up in the Crescent City. Gad.

Turned onto the 4 mile home stretch (Canal Street) and had a KILLER tail wind. Also it seems someone tweaked the signal timing so the auto traffic and I had one nice looooooong run where I had to draft a pick-up truck in the center lane much of the way at speeds in the low 30 mphs. Awesome feeling flying along with traffic flow at that speed. Then I blew through the last downtown traffic light on a lingering amber to leave the pack of cars/trucks behind with nothing but open road ahead.

The pickup that I drafted finally overtook me two miles down Canal but got stopped at the next red light immediately. He stopped, then squealed across the intersection while the light was coal-red to avoid being passed by me again. Ya gotta love a worthy opponent.

And....no rain! Temps in the high 50s. It's a great day to be alive and playing in traffic.

40 degrees, 7.5 miles, avg 15.3mph, 29 minutes. took a few minutes longer than normal due to various headaches, one of my bike rack screws fell out and fell into my spokes so i used my quick release to hold it outside the frame, this caused the rack to rub the tire, of course i didn't realize this till I got home, also the nut holding my taillight to the rack came look and the taillight was rubbing the tire, I used a strap from the trunk to hold it up till i got home, so I will be going to depot to get a screw and loctite. also i got to use my horn today. I was riding in the emergency lane (going the wrong way on merrit blvd, i know i should cross the street, this is the only part I ride oppisite traffic) usually safe, but a moron pulls out making a right, making no attempt to get in a real lane, so I blow my horn so they look, I then went further to the left to hug the curb. Probally the most BS I have ever had during a ride. other than that it was fun.

Also one thing took me by suprise, I went to go left around a MTA, usually they pull out while I'm next to them, and this guy start to go, saw me and stopped til I got around him, very nice



also I had some daylight about the entire ride very nice, i leave at 5pm.

Actually felt a cramp on my way home. Weird. Also got passed by a messenger (I guess) on a FG who then did a bunch of skips and skids and made me realize how un-smooth I am on my FG. I needs to practice more.

Doored for 1st time
 

It finally happened: I got doored on my trip into work today.

It took 8 yrs of commuting year-round on the streets of downtown Chicago (ave 6 days/wk), and I'm lucky to have only a large bruise forming. In fact, for my first car-bike encounter, it was almost fun -- and certainly exhilarating.

A cabbie let a fare out of the car from the center of the lane at the intersection. So I was passing next to the curb and was somehow unable to see into the car (I'm usually looking into vehicles to avoid getting doored).

At least the crappy weather, 10°F with threat of snow, had me riding my mtb with the rusty chain. I would've cried if anything happened to the new Ti Seven!!!

Keep ridin'

Dave

Howdy. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that my first post here should be about commuting. : )

I'm in the the DC area too (College Park). This morning I was out early poking at puddles to see whether ice was forming. I'm running 50mm Big Apples on my Hybrid right now, but I think that just gives the bike more surface to get out from under me--I ordered some Nokian Hakkapelliittas the other day for these sunny days and freezing nights. My commute is 5 miles betwen 5:30 and 6:00 AM, so the ice is sometimes hard to see.

I like the UA stuff OK, but I'm absolutley sold on a light silk base layer topped with SmartWool and a Goretex pullover. I add a light wool sweater or microfleece vest in the lower 20s and below.

Still and all, my morning commute is the highlight of my day. More than once I've rolled into work feeling sorry for all the people who "have" to drive...

Today was a 22 mile RT commute, a pleasant 15 miles in the am and 7 miles on the way home in the pm. It started raining pretty good an hour before I left for home, so I unrolled the rain jacket and took the shorter 7 mile route home instead of my usual 10 mile route. Here in southern cal, rain is pretty rare and the problem is when it finally does rain hard enough, there is so much accumulated crud on the streets that is lays down a pretty thick layer of goop onto the rims. Of course, I ride with full fenders and flaps so it doesn't splash onto me or most of the bike, but it takes a while to clean the rims off when I get home.

I got caught in the same rain here in San Diego an hour or two later. A slippery 12 mi home, and COLD (well for here, anyway).