I drove to work today because it was raining when I got up and it's supposed to continue all day. I got enough of riding in the rain yesterday. My friends and I were supposed to ride a metric century, but everyone bailed because it was so cloudy and a few minor sprinkles just as we were starting. They turned back, but I decided to stick it out. My decision appeared sound for the first 30 miles, but then the sky got very dark and it started raining. Not a soaker, but it rained lightly and the roads were wet for the rest of the ride. I ended up with 52 miles, not bad for a solo ride with the last 22 miles in rain.

My bike was filthy when I got home, so I spent about 30 minutes cleaning it and my commuter bike, which got caught in the rain one day last week. That is the worst part about riding in the rain -- cleaning up afterwards.

fricken fracken razzen stiff headwind into work All I can say is - it better still be blowing when I get out so I can enjoy one heck of a fast ride home courtesy of that (potential) tailwind.

I rode my Feb century on Saturday and my legs still have not recovered.
It was my fastest to date but I think my electrolyte balance went wacky 3/4 of the way through.
Anyhow, I took my MTB since it snowed a bit yesterday and rode the shorter 10mile each way route.
No snow anywhere! Oh well. At least I was in the mood to lazily ride to the light rail and ponder why trees keep getting cut down along the North Platte trail. It was a nice 18F smell the roses type commute that everyone needs from time to time.

good one this morning - nice and warm although wet - really need to get those fenders!! took a little performance hit as well since I did not wear my bike shoes and instead wore my street sneaks so my bike shoes would not be wet the rest of the week. My sneakers kept slipping off the pedals!

Drizzly and mid-thirties on the ride in this morning. It could have been worse, I suppose, as I woke up to a torrential downpour.

My "avoid-the-main-thoroughfares-at-all-costs" route has been decimated by pot-holes this winter.

Usually I don't commute Mondays and tuesdays as the wife works, today is an exception, I got home for lunch and it was 70 degrees in FEBRUARY!!! So I ate quick and road my new road bike in, took 23 minutes to go 7.5 miles, fastest ever for me, nearly 20mph avg!! So as maryland weather is ever changing, it was 45, windy and raining on the way home, took 27 minutes, not bad considering on my winter commuter I take 28 mintes on the best of days.

Raining here, all the ice is gone. Probably should have pumped some more air into the tires. I'm still commuting on the mtb with studs, both because you never know what happens during the day, the ride home might be on ice and because it's my only bike with fenders. During the weekend I did however inflate the tires on one of the road fixies (700x23c). Man what a difference hard narrow tires make. I think I'll get some poser fenders for that thing and use it for a good weather commuter in summer.
The mtb got a speedometer and power grips over the weekend. The speedometer is there mostly to whip me on, if it's there I'll become obsessed with keeping the avg speed up. Today with the studs I made the trip in 22 minutes, avg speed of 19,5km/h (hilly terrain). That's almost up to last summers avg speed, but with studded tires. I think the hard trips during winter have paid off in better shape. Now I'm excited to put the slicks on and see what I can do on them. Better wait another month though, weather is bound to turn. The Power grips seemed nice on the first trip. I could feel that I was pulling the pedals up and I didn't feel trapped in them.
I realize what 19,5km/h does not seem like much, but it's what I'm doing these days. In my defence, the commute does include a fair bit of climbing and downhills where I can't really build up much speed. I do a bit better on the road bike, but without significant flats or fast downhills it's not a whole lot of difference. Now it sounds like I'm obsessed about this

I had a 20+ mph tailwind on the way home from work. That was a fun ride.

34 degrees hot hot hot hot hot hot

Great ride in this morning, this on a dinner of bbq pork rinds and a bloody mary (I had a terrible craving for this, what can I say?). I woke up with terrible heartburn, a stomach ache, and a little dehydrated--go figure.

Just below freezing, but almost no wind. The Historian accompanied me on the ride to my carpool before he headed back home.

Back to seasonable here--just above freezing with a stout little headwind.

Was treated to a beautiful "moonset" this morning, though. Nearly full, I caught a couple of glimpses of the whole thing. Mostly, though, it was backlighting some long, low clouds. Would have stopped to marvel longer but I, insect that I am, had to be on about my own business.

WIndy. I witnessed two accidents on the way home yesterday. Sigh, why can't people learn to drive.

The weather is getting nicer week by week. Yesterday the high reached the mid-70s, but I didn't ride because it was raining when I got up and forecasters said it would continue all day. They were wrong. Big surprise. The sun was out my late morning and it was a gorgeous day, although windy. I did ride this morning and it was a great ride in. The mornings are getting much brighter and pretty soon I won't need my headlight to see at all. I'm looking forward to the day when I can wear something other than one of my yellow or neon jerseys. My red jerseys are very visible in daylight, but not when it's dark or dim outside.

The hard part about dressing now is wearing clothes that are warm enough for the morning commute, but not too hot for the afternoons. Somedays my seatbag is more full riding home than going to work because of all the layers I've had to shed for the afternoon ride.

Annoying ride this morning.

Pulled up to a light today and the guy in the truck behind me rolled down (I'm assuming, since it was fairly cool out) his window to yell something about the sidewalk. Unfortunately, I lost it.

[I'm first at the light, not taking the lane. He's behind me with room to pull up beside if he chose.]

me: You're a big man in the cage M.F.
him: stunned look
me: shakes head
him: mumbles to himself
me: turns back around
him: puts truck in park
me: does a casual check to make sure he's still in the car
me: "P*ssy"
me: notices the suit in the car beside me... oddly, not really watching the interaction.
him: stunned look
me: turns back around
him: opens the door, gets one leg out and postures like he's going to do something
me: shakes head... "P*ssy"
him: gets back in the car

light turns green, I ride away and he squeals his tires as he makes a right turn behind me.


--------

I wish I'd either ignored him, or thrown the bike down and walked over as soon as he cracked the door.

He seemed to be annoyed that I was blocking his right-turn. The ironic thing is I would have moved further right and motioned him by if he'd kept his mouth shut. I frequently do this if I'm first in line...

It was a warm, sunny weekend, and the snow is off the roads! Mostly. Regardless, the switch to slicks was worth it. That was an easy ride in! Taking almost 3 pounds of rotating weight off of the bike makes such a difference when trying to sprint through traffic.

Neil F. prepared a route for me back to his place and my car after I rode with him to his carpool. The route was very good, aside from the large patches of ice along Plainfield Avenue. I came closer than I like to a New Jersey Transit bus while climbing the hill to the intersection of Plainfield and Central Avenue. Filtering was decidedly a bad decision in that case - I should have dismounted and walked.

Longer than has been typical lately, took both kids to their respective destinations for the 1st time since fall. 32F, slippery on the back deck, but no ice on the road. Lotta fog though. After dropping Thing 2 at her downtown daycare, I was going to take the main drag out of town to work, but decided w/ the fog to double back and take MUP, less likely to be randomly collided by cagers. Success, no collision.

I was wondering whether slicks would work this week... I'm thinking I need to get back out there! (Hey, I'm a west-coaster, you've gotta give me a few winters to get used to this stuff).

Anyway, was wondering which bike to bring out - it is something of an adventure to get into the shed and then back across the thawing-dog-poo minefield of the yard with a bike, and I don't really want to do it more than once!

Choices are: random mountain bike with knobbies (there's 3, I'll grab whichever is on the outside; none have rack or fenders), road bike with slicks (also sans rack & fenders, but I have some that will fit it), or old trusty Raleigh (with medium grippy tires, but steel rims - already set up with rack & fenders though). Thoughts?

Bus commuting sucks, by the way. You know you're a bike commuter when you spot someone out there in -50C windchill and think "hmmm.... wonder what he's using for a base layer... and how he's stopping his cables from freezing..." rather than "oh my god, that man is dangerously insane." And when you calculate how far you could have ridden in the time you have been waiting for the bus, taking the headwind into account, and realize you'd be there already...

you do know this is just a tease, right? Mother nature will kick us in the collective cajones with something brutal in the months to come.

Buglady, I'm still riding knobbies just because I hate switching back and forth. This week a bike with slicks will do just fine. I like my fenders, rack et al so I am prepared for anything.

Gotta love it when it's this warm in Feb.

I ride more or less a hybrid part slick part off road no knobbies. Town and Country are great tyres.

Absolutly perfect on the way in. That nice chill in the air, no breeze, that awesome sound of nature just before dawn.

...the way home. sucked. Cold. rainy. miserable. So i hopped on light rail, only for it to go one stop, then the conductor tells everyoen to get off, their having trouble, another tain will be by in half an hour to an hour. So i had to get back out in the rain and force myself home.

*I now have an emergency poncho on my bike

3 weeks into my trial 4 weeks as a bike commuter - and I'm getting faster! This morning I got to the bus stop in 45 min (vs. 55 min my first week). (OK, so today I hit all the lights, but still!) And home in 60, uphill the whole way.

Chilly in the morning with a fog set in. It is too warm usually for a balaclava, but I wore it into town knowing that fog is deceiving--my cheeks were glad I did. Fog burned off in the afternoon so riding around town was pleasant during my lunch break. Traffic treated my kindly. The ride home was dark and warm, and wearing jeans did not hamper my natural heating/cooling system, so the ride was comfortable. the hills really didn't faze me much tonight, and I am happy for that because my back has been acting up lately. Pulling a muscle swing dancing will keep me wincing for another week...

None today. I took a personal holiday for the Tour of California. Coincidentally, Stage 2 finished right in front of my building.