Snowy roads but an OK if slow ride. It's still snowing, so not sure if I'll be able to plow through for the ride home.

I love winter!!

Good luck with the second part... I froze them off last week at -15F/-26C. :D

Sorry to hear your ride sucked though.

This morning was a nice ride in. 9F/-12C. Very very light, pretty snow falling. Rode in later, so it was light out.

Cold and misty. (I *heart* my Smartwool baselayer!)

This morning was a nice ride. 40deg and a 7-10 mph wind but enjoyable. I can tell its been a warm week. I saw two other riders last night and one this morning.

Where have they been for the past two months?

I'll let you get away with it this time - but only because you're a fellow all-season rider. ;)

Eddy
 

[QUOTE=knobster;6122995]Faster than my Tricross, but not quite as fast as the bike I sold before I got it. Eddy Merckx TiAx. QUOTE]

You had a Merckx AX and sold it? Did it not fit or some other problem? I've got a Merckx AX and a Corsa 01. The AX has become my go-to bike for long rides because it rides so nicely. It fits me perfectly. Not as pretty as my Corsa but I like the lighter weight.

Today was my third bike commute of the year (my knees still won't let me get back on the bike full-time). One might say I picked an awful day for it, given the 10+ inches of snow that's been dumped on us the previous day (it's really a winter of snowstorms in Toronto!) But I had to leave the house kind of on a last-minute urgent notice, and I knew that a bike would be faster than the TTC in those conditions.

What can I say?.. I took about ten minutes just getting out from my neighbourhood onto the main roads (a ride of about 1 km - for our non-metric friends, that's just a tad over half a mile). The snow was basically impassable by bike for long stretches - I had to dismount and walk. Main streets were clearer, but horribly backed up, and the huge snowbanks on the sides gave me almost no chance to slip by traffic jams as bike commuters typically are able to do. Road conditions required a lot of concentration; and I'm sure lots of drivers thought that many times I was swerving all over the place completely out of control, while I was in fact doing abrupt and precise front wheel corrections (MAD SKILLZZZ D00D :D), necessary to keep the bike in control in deep rutted snow. Of course, I made sure I had a fair chunk of lateral space to play with.

Despite all the delays I still made it more or less on time, and had a blast doing that. Saw one bike messenger on my way in, and three other commuters, one of whom was not riding, but was standing on the sidewalk next to her bike, with a look on her face that said: "WTF are all these mountains of white crap everywhere and WTF am I supposed to do now???" :D

Had a couple of people comment along the lines of "Wow, tough weather to ride in." Friendly, good stuff.

Oh, shut UP!

Will they NEVER forget that? Will we be remember a thousand years from now as the city that called the military to dig them out of the snow once? :D

New to the list
 

Hi folks. I recently joined the list and thought I would submit my first post here. After weeks of riding in tons of snow today was clear. It was still 10 degrees F when I left home, but the sun is shining, the ice is melting, and in maybe another month the bike lanes will be clear of snow;) It was a real treat though to ride on bare pavement for a change and be able to spend a little more attention on the birds, the trees, the gorgeous (and snowless) clouds, rather than navigating sheets of ice. I'm glad I found this commuting forum - I've learned a great deal going through the threads - and I wish you all safe and smooth rides.

A little bit of sleet and a headwind made the morning commute a bit brutal. I just used it as motivation to ride faster, though. The ride home wasn't bad - a bit misty and colder than I'd like, though.

On a side note, I need a new saddle for my Bianchi. I've been riding on a hard plastic (!) Vetta for awhile, and it's fine out very short rides around town, but on my 6-7 mile commute each way it's starting to hurt. I'm debating between a weight weenie Selle Italia (have one on my Cannondale
and like it) and trying a Brooks. I've never had a Brooks before, and kinda want to see if they really are all the rage as everyone says.

Oh, and welcome to the forums, Crotach! :)

Argh!
One thing I like about winter is the lack of trail users on the MUPs I use.
However, apparently the trails have been taken over by mindless dog owners.
This doesn't happen in summer that often. Every freaking day I have an issue in the last mile of my ride!
Always some idiot woman walking her ankle bitters without a leash.
One woman twice in a week.
If I did not like dogs so much I would be of half a mind to get of my bike and punt the little buggers. Better yet, punt the owners. It's not the dogs fault their master is an idiot.
Today was a trio of pugs charging towards my bike. Slammed on the brakes causing a lovely skid. The owner apologized. All I could do was shake my head at her and leave.
This is ridiculous. I would be beside myself if I ran over one of the buggers and hurt it or myself.
I hear by advocate automatic tasering of dog owners that do not use a leash on a MUP.

Had to ride quickly to class to get on there on time! Also, made my best time, just under 30 min for a 10 mile ride :) Of course the dumb comes with the good and when I was parking, I coasted to the rack, swung my leg over the bike, caught the seat with my thigh and brought the whole thing down with me on my side... luckily I was in a busy walking area where everyone could see me. Glad no one missed that.

My commute was interesting today. I was about 10 miles into my commute and enjoying the weather when I hit a large pothole and my front wheel came off. I flew about 20 feet and rolled a couple of times on hard concrete. Two more feet and I would've ended up smacking a lamp post.
Luckily, my helmet and my backpack took most of the impact. My helmet is cracked right down the side and the entire front of my backpack is torn to shreds. I suffered a couple of sprained fingers and a sore shoulder. It hurts like hell but I'll live. Lessons learned:
1. always wear a helmet
2. always properly tighten the front wheel
I'll be back at it again as soon as I get a new bike. The old girl is all torn up. I was thinking of getting one of those SAAB folding bikes. Anybody know if they are any good?

Ouch! Your front quick-release must not have been tightened properly for the wheel to come off. Do you often remove the front wheel? Glad you weren't hurt any worse.

Thankfully, my commute today was pretty uneventful. It was chilly, mid-30s F, but that's mild for this time of year. Had a tailwind coming to work after fighting headwinds the past few days. Saw a great blue heron flying over one of the busiest streets in the city, during sunrise. That was a nice sight.

A little dusting on the hardpack/ice today... Kinda nice actually. One of the construction guys told me to "be careful on that thing" before I left. I smiled and said "I have studded tires" His jaw dropped in amazement and he called his buddy over to have a look with him. I'm not usually one for showing off, but it was kinda nice.
On the way home there was a 10inch snow bank in my path. It seems someone finally got around to plowing a little bit. I got a "HE** YEAH!!" from a guy in a car when I lifted the front wheel over it then shifted my weight forward to let the back wheel jump it. I got a little bit of air. I'm definatly thanful for toeclips. I would have lost it without them.

Welcome, Crotach! You must have a beautiful commute!

Mine was very pleasant. I actually left the house at a reasonable time to take a more pleasant and less direct route than I usually do in the mornings. The lovely weather seems to be holding: this morning was 43F with bright blue skies and no wind.

heh heh heh. I've only seen snow that bad once here. St Patty's Day in 98. The snow was over the hood of my car. Took me 3 hours to shovel the driveway. But we didn't have to call in the forces. We got moving in about half a day. :)

I remember that day - we called it the St. Patrick's Day Snow Massacre. My roomie had a 4x4, so we managed to get to a ski hill without sliding off the roads. It was ridiculous snorkel pow all day. When we got back to Calgary, everybody had snow forts in their front yards and were drinking heavily. Okay, that was mostly me drinking, but you get the idea.

The ride in was okay. Gusting winds out of the north pushed windchill down to -31C, and provided a vicious reminder that Ma Nature does in fact pwn me. I'm not riding home today, instead going to a bar and having some pints.

I haven't been here in a while.

It's my birthday, I commuted, I almost got run over by a school bus.
I have a real bright light. Ask my father. He was coming the other direction one morning and made the point of telling me about how bright it is. It was the first thing he said when I saw him one night. It's a mounted LED flashlight with 4 brightness modes and two flash modes. It's super bright and I have yet to outrun it's beam. Even on some serious downhill rides. I've also had some drivers flick their lights at me. I make sure it's point up just enough to see ahead but not blinding. Anyway I ramble.

I get to Kings Mountain High and the buses are pulling out to go get their cattle. As I was pedalling by I see a bus come up to the road to turn left, into my lane. I slow, the bus doesn't and makes a wide turn into the oncoming lane. I swerve left all the way over into oncoming traffic (no cars) and yell a few choice words as I flash a certain finger into the ladies window. I was with in inches of her bus. She glances slightly and then floors it to get in front of me. Happy Birthday to me. Oh, and I was also getting sick and barely made it to work without passing out. Happy Birthday again. Thank God, I'm driving home. I feel like crud.

Between substructure's tale and my own, I can only assume idiot drivers must be leaving their hibernation here in NC.

I worked from home today but ran some errands on the bike around lunchtime. First I had some morons in an SUV yell "SIDEWALK" at me as they drove by. I could see the driver looking back at me so I let him know I think he's #1, and then waved at them, asking them to come back. I got the bike up to ~28 mph trying to catch up to them, but they were too fast. Cowards.

Another guy yelled at me as he drove by about 2 miles later, but he was going the other way.

The topper came as I was leaving the shopping area. There's a poorly-designed intersection in front of the strip mall, where concrete barriers force left-turning traffic stay in the turn lanes. As I was about to pull into the turn lane two cars came the wrong way out of the barriers, nearly hitting me head-on and forcing all the traffic around me to stop.

I followed the two cars back into the parking lot. I waited next to the car of the first driver (she was on the phone--now there's a surprise) while she parked. Finally she rolled down her window. "Do you realize what you did back there?" I asked. "Yeah, the line [huh???] said I could go straight and by the time I noticed it was too late. I'm sorry."

Guess I should be happy with the apology, but it doesn't seem equal to nearly killing me.

Finished off the week with a 31 mi RT commute (#27 YTD). Perfect day, almost 70F when I left the building and headed home. First "no knee or leg warmers" commute ride this year. Have a great weekend, tomorrow is my rest day.

I was out last Sunday running an errand--lovely sunny warm day. Was riding along a three-lane (each side) divided thoroughfare approaching a light with additional turn lanes both right and left. I saw a guy approaching in the right-hand turn lane behind me, so I moved over to the right of the right-most straight through lane to approach the light's stop line. As the knucklehead passed me on the right, he said something to the effect of, "Supposed to be riding on the right side!"

Before I knew it, I replied quite audibly, "F**k you!" When I saw him looking back in his rear view mirror, I offered him, very clearly, a place to sit down (while reiterating and further emphasizing my earlier response).

It's bothered me all week. In retrospect, I should have simply indicated that I was going straight rather than flipping him off. Better to educate than infuriate.

But having things yelled gratuitously (and usually quite wrongly) at me gets really tiresome after a while. I'd like to think that I'm better than that, but... :o

Wonderful to read the great stories offered here. I will have to write something up for my next commute.

Gee, you guys must live in a bike heaven if things like things bother you for days on end. I can't say that Toronto drivers are particularly aggressive or nasty, but for me idiotic comments, and even more so idiotic actions by drivers, are just part of everyday riding. Ignore 'em, brush 'em off, go on. As long as it's not something very dangerous and very deliberate, which, thankfully, doesn't happen that often.