Well I knew it was was inevitable, and today it finally happened, I took my first fall. I was at a stop sign waiting to make a right turn at a supermarket 'mini-mall'. It was taking a while because of heavy traffic, so I decided to just turn into the sidewalk instead. I stood up on my pedals and veered past the line of cars into the sidewalk, only to see at the last minute that someone had left a shopping cart completely in the middle of the sidewalk. I tried to avoid it, but it was too late and I slammed into it and went down. It was more embarrassing then painful.

Then on the way back home I almost had my second fall. I was going up the incline to a pedestrian crosswalk that passes over the freeway, when around the corner I see a couple of pedestrians just as I am pushing myself up the crest as hard as I can go. They were 4 of them walking side by side and taking up the entire crosswalk. I had to slam my brakes as hard as I could and I nearly went over the handlebars, but managed to hold on.

No damage to the bike, or myself, but I guess today is just not my day. I'll get back on the bike tomorrow and hopefully things will go more smoothly.

Post some pics of the two areas.
Thanks

I didn't take a photo, but it just happened about a hour ago, so it was at night time. I just think I was a victim of bad luck. Some jerk left a shopping cart in the middle of the sidewalk. Sometimes people move bus stop benches in the middle of the sidewalk or picnic tables in the middle of the bike path at the park just to be jerks. Normally I can see those in plenty of time to avoid them, but this came right as I turned blind into the sidewalk and it got me.

Let me whisper it, lest I bring forth a conflagration <vehicular cycling>.

Really nice ride in for me this morning: 42 or 43F/~6C and windy with wet pavement from overnight rains. Knickers and sleeveless T under my jacket made for a very comfortable ride.

The remarkable thing was that I came across another guy on a bicycle! Probably only the second or third person I've seen in my early AM runs into the office ('bout a year and a half now, I guess). Probably some unfortunate whose car was broken down or something. Wearing a dark blue coverall and work boots trundling along on a (probably borrowed) mtn bike--no lights, helmet or anything a seasoned commuter would consider SOP.

As I passed, I just said, "Good morning. You ought to get your self some lights." I consider my rig to be a fair example of how it "should be done," so he got a good look as I kept on rolling along. But I must say, I ride in solitude so much (and like it!) that I was probably as surprised as he was. :D

Some soupy wet snow in sections, but otherwise just wet pavement. No rain though, so that's good. Temps in the lower 30sF. Annoying headwind off of the lake. I felt slow.

December 1, temps above normal, still no thoughts of studs. :)

One of the sucky things about having a long commute is that road conditions vary considerably from my house to my work. A bit after the halfway point in denver I encountered icy roads. Somehow I managed to stay upright the entire time but my average dropped to 11 mph. I spent the last part of my commute lamenting the fact that I should have either taken the train halfway or grabbed my hardrock instead of my FG with 700X23 tires. Ah well.
The nice thing is that my new descente shelter tri-comp winter tights are hella toasty at 25F.

After raining all weekend, the sky was crystal clear when I walked outside to get the newspaper at 5:45 am. The roads were still wet from the rain, however, so I left the RaceBlade fenders on my bike. Good thing. It had clouded up again by the time I left for work, and the roads were still wet the whole way. My experience with fenders is that they don't help that much when it's really raining, but they are great for light rain and wet streets.

I had nice ride into work after not riding for two days due to the weather, so my legs were well rested. The weather forecast is looking good for the whole week, so I'll bike try to bike commute every day. I don't mind riding in the cold, but I don't like the rain.

It was about 3C this morning. Today i could be faced with the odd situation of a colder ride home in the afternoon than the morning ride in. Also could be the season finale and i'll be just shy of 6,000km.

Good commute. I got caught in the rain on Friday, and underdressed for the Saturday temperatures, so I was a little put off riding and not looking forward to this mornng.

I was dressed just right for the high 30s, though, and enjoyed the ride.

Looks like my commuting days for this year are (apparently) coming to a close. My left calf muscle is still sore from the bike accident last week (in fact, it feels worse now than it did Friday). I may do a little light riding, but no commutes until it heals. :(

I take centre, 4th, then 5th to Elbow.

The person i kept emailing was Jim Stevenson, our alderman. Copy the mayor as well.

http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server....ode=2&userID=2


Todays ride in was nice, very warm for a Dec 1. I'm a little worried about what the ride home might be like.

Streets were wet from a rainy weekend, but it was 50+ degrees, so I'm not going to complain.

Agreed, wish I would have grabbed my mtn bike instead of the skinny-wheel too. I actually took my first winter fall, the only damage was to my pride.

Snow commute. I freaking rule!

Well.... I did manage to rack myself. :(
Iliff was a sheet of ice and I dismounted and moved over to a clear sidewalk.
While getting back on my bike I forgot that my new tights are a bit slick. I managed to slide off my saddle towards the back onto my rack. :roflmao2:
However, my junk was none to thrilled.

Props to that! I'd probably wimp out if it snowed here. (not like it would ever happen)

It was a balmy 52 degrees, overcast with a misty fog on the way to work this morning in Mt View.

Sunny, fast ride. Cloudy now, rain is coming. Would be nice if it holds off until I run out and grab lunch stuff, since I forgot to pack leftovers in the frenzy of getting going this am for the 1st time since Wednesday...

It's nearly 50F in Vermont now. :wtf:

I'm dressed for 34-degree rain. My ride home is going to be... Warm...

Had at least 6" of wet snow to deal with this morning. No bike commute for me. Rest of the week doesn't look to good either.

First commute in awhile. I was off for two weeks for a little vacation and then T'giving week. Not an auspicious start to the month: cold, foggy, and I flatted about a mile from the office.

Cold darn it cold. Upper 20's ice on the ponds but clear and crisp.
Yeeup we have a lot of those days in Nevada. Although I would like more precipitation the roads are nice and dry, ahhhhh!

Oh my it's dark ...
 

... my first commute this week was in the dark both ways. Seems like it's only at this point I realise that the lights I have are about as dull as me. I had to ride from streetlamp to streetlamp. Also, I see everyone else is a lot faster than I am at getting going. What? Do I have to be a quick change artist? It would seem like it! Still, I'm doing better all round than the guy that I pass each day that cycles in his underware. I guess he thinks he can dry off and put his work clothes on later. Thankfully it's colder today and he's put on some pants. :lol: Semi-Naked Cyling is something for all commuters to consider. Well OK, perhaps just in Summer :) Tomorrow we're looking at Ice rain or snow. Nice ...

Today was eventful especially the ride home. The ride in from my drive (hybrid car/cycle commute) was sketchy because of the black ice everywhere and I didn't exactly have the tyres to compete with it either so it was my balance battling the ice instead. I took it fairly slow on the way in thinking that I will get some wider tyres with more tread on the way back, from the LBS near my work (3 miles about).

After work I headed off to the BS and ideally wanted some 32s instead of the 28mm Conti's I have on now and they only had 38mm. They kindly let me use their workshop with the bike in the stand and they didn't fit my 1975 Dawes tourer which I thought would have plenty of clearance :-( Back go on the original tyres and they let me keep the new tyres there to be refunded tomorrow. I ride from the shop starting the 14 mile ride to my car and on a large, busy roundabout my rear tyre blows and I find myself hobbling into a side street. I knew my bike didn't feel right!

The problem was- I was fitting my original tyres against the time because the shop shuts at 6pm and it was about 5.50 when I started to put them back on. I left a pinch in the inner tube and I could even feel the bump when I starting riding, doh.

After entering the first side street I came to I luckily had my pump and spare inner tube, THAT was a god send and I eventually rode home after repairing the bike under a street lamp and in front of a trucker with his lights on- so good amount of light to work in!

Home safe now, and thinking of what I could of done to prevent all those stupid things

- check tyres after pumping for bulges even in a rush!
- weigh up whether you should really go to the BS after work or not

OH well

Sam

:wtf: indeed! It's only 46 here in Texas!

beautiful ride in this morning.
first commute since getting my clipless shoes/pedals this weekend.
Woot!
how awesome. I wish someone told me how much nicer riding with clipless is.
even went out of my way by 3 miles getting to work just because =)

also.. side note... this is my first year commuting. So to say that I've commuted into December makes me feel good. Sadly, we've not had much rain, but need it badly. Since I have agreed not to ride in the precipitation, it's awesome for me, but sucks for our land. We need the rain badly.


and again... Woot to clipless!

44 here in Maine
commute in was a little dicey: snow followed by rain @ 34 deg F: slush.......getting my studded tires on asap........the ride was OK at 6am in the dark.........should be OK tonight at 730pm

32 and ice/snow falling from the sky...but I was fast! I averaged 22mph on the way in because of the 10mph tailwind...and 18mph on the way back in...which is pretty good for me...usually average 15-18mph.

Commute was canceled today: a thin layer of ice everywhere. I rode up to the main feeder street, and as I rode away from the stop sign, found myself doing spinout after spinout. Then looked at the feeder street's surface, and saw ice all down its length.

Turned around, put the bike away, and decided to walk to campus (I teach).

On my walk in, I saw a poor fellow trying to ride into town; he fell at least three times that I saw. The last fall looked painful, but he said he was okay.

The commute started warm (9C), but as I dropped into the small valley (Nose Creek), the temp must have dropped about 10C. It usually drops a few degrees but this was very noticeable. During the day we had a change of weather and I had to strain against a cold northerly wind, adding 20% to my cycle time! Tonight we are getting snow but I hope to cycle with my slicks still! Is that crazy?