Tude 

WHOOT! Personal "best" here this morning. Left the house at 4F with a constant 25-35mph headwind - and the forecaster said with windchill - it was -20 to -40F. (before my "best" was -16F during a semi-blizzard). Roads looked decent this morning though - the last week was nothing but ice storm to sleet, etc.

jeff-o

At long last, in -18C weather, my streak has been ended. Due to the combination of rust due to salt and extreme cold, my brakes, derailleur, chain and garage door were stuck solid this morning. I made it to the end of my street and, unable to stop or shift down, decided it would be best to turn around and admit defeat. With no spare brake cables it would have been impossible to fix the brakes (long story). Now, I still took the bus instead of the car, but my long streak of bike commuting that started in May 2006 finally came to an end.

A sad day, indeed.

Intheloonybin

-10F very little wind. Was comfortable.

But... Did not want to get up- am kind of sick. Thought about calling in sick, but am not sick enought to justify it. Thought about driving but figured if I can go in, I can bike.

Had to walk through part of the park I go through due to drifted snow.

Had some wonderful driver buzz me unnecessarily (not that there is ever a necessary time). I saw him coming in my mirror and waved him off angrily as he passed. This earned me a finger. I waved toward the lane again and he pointed to the right side. Granted I was riding the edge of the snow/ice in the lane, but there was no one oncoming on a two way street. I finally returned said finger. I don't usually return the gesture, but did not care this morning. As I gestured toward him, I wondered if the point got across through a pair of lobster gloves. This made me laugh a little, but was not a good way to start the morning.

Sorry to hear about your streak ending Jeff-o. WD40 and grease have been a good friend of mine this winter to prevent problems.

HardyWeinberg

Nice and cool, 42F, misty, I think spring is here. Fingers X'd, knock on wood, etc... I took the studded tires off yesterday, commute in 2mph faster over 7 miles.

pinkrobe

It was only -10C this morning, and the wee bit of snow we got on the weekend had packed down nice and hard. An extra 10 psi in the tires made the ride pretty quick. It's supposed to get to +2C today, and +5C tomorrow, so it will be sloppy!

habernac

a lovely way to celebrate my 38th b-day, weather was pretty mild and no one tried to run me over.

gstevens

Nice ride. 2 degrees F. Wind chill down to -11. I was nice and snug in my face mask jackets and rain pants.

Itsjustb

Easy commute today, no problems at all. A little chilly and the fingertips were numb at the end.

SDBluefish

Happy birthday Habernac - 38 was a good year!

Nice clear morning here - 50 degrees at my house, but probably closer to 40 in the canyon & down by the lagoon. Almost hit a rabbit. Got on the bus and couldn't figure out why everything looked so blurry. Then realized my glasses were all fogged up.

bbunk

It was a great morning to ride here in the desert. It was in the 40's this morning (F) and the ride home is looking like it is going to be in the 70's.
I found out that one of my neighbors commutes by bike and leaves close to the same time I do. When I was getting close to work I hear a car honking behind me and I was getting annoyed because I was in the bike lane. Looked back and seen my neighbor on his bike in the right turn lane and the car was behind him honking at him to get out of the way, impatient people. He just turned and waved, yelled a greeting in my direction and went on his way. In all the time I have been commuting it is the first time I have heard someone honk because you were in the turn lane getting ready to turn. That streak is now over.

J B Bell

A balmy 5 deg. C this morning going in with light rain--totally manageable with rain pants, even with a jacket that's not really waterproof.

One schmuck gave me less than 2 feet of clearance when I had to get into the middle lane to avoid construction. That was a bit of an adrenaline moment. Had to divert onto a main road earlier than normal because of yet other construction, or I probably would not have had that conflict. Otherwise, fun ride, and I think the cleaning I got for the bike shaved a good 3-4 minutes off my ride! Wow.

--JB

trombone

Sorry to hear your sad news, Jeff-o. Time for a new bike?!

Weather has perked up a bit over the last few days, but it's still much wetter than usual. Last Feb Sydney received 4mm of rain in the first week. This year it has received 176mm! I know we need the water, there's been a drought yadda yadda, but I'm starting to get bored of riding in the rain!

Yesterday was nice though, although the road crews I think were taking advantage of a gap in the rain to resurface part of my route. Didn't realise what the traffic queue was until I reached the front, and then saw that they were re-surfacing. Traffic was being directed onto the new tarnac, so I rode over it. The tar was still very wet though, so not only do I now have tar splashes on my nice new frame, the types also picked up a nice coating of tar, and then subsequently a nice coating of gravel. It was like I had my own personal road glued to my tyres...

I was worried about a puncture, so one I was through the roadwork stopped and did my best to scrape if all off using one of my plastic tyre levers. Bit of a pain in the ass, but no punctures so all is well. Just need to clean up my bike. Perhaps I'll do it at the weekend.

caloso

My agency took today off for Lincoln's b-day. Seems like most others were working today. Anyway, it was a relaxing morning: made waffles for the kids, met my buddy for a recovery ride while we post-mortemed our Cherry Pie performances, back home for a nice shower. Rode easily to work on the FG. Couple of hours actually getting stuff done (amazing how productive you can be when your clients think you're not in the office). Now home to help Mrs. Caloso put on a family dinner party.

Hope you all have had as nice a day as I have.

Intheloonybin

Trombone- we call that rust-proofing the frame here .

It's kind of cool to see the different measurements used here.

My ride home was pleasant. Better than the above morning ride.

People seem to be psychotic today. Is it a full moon? Or is everyone around here sick with what my family has (makes them crabby(flu!))?

joshandlauri

13 degrees/-2 windchill, coldest yet for me,normal 7.5 miles, legs and fingers cold for first mile, then ok. at every redlight I had to uncover my face as I was sweating.

SDBluefish

Didn't get to ride home today because I wound up with my first flat of the year. And me without my patch kit or a spare tube! (Still don't have my office infrastructure totally up and running since our move.) A kind co-worker drove me & my wheel home so I wouldn't be late picking up the kids. Patched it while they did homework and looks like I'm good to go again.

Mazaev

Nice ride in. Picked up a really thin balaclava at EMS today which is absolutely awesome for sub 25 degree rides.

17 degrees on the Watchtower clock. Come to think of it, that Watchtower has to be the most pessimistic thermometer in NYC. All winter, it has consistently been showing 2 degrees lower then the forecasted low for the day.

arnijr

Conditions were better than yesterday, all the gunk that was wet and heavy then was frozen this morning. One hill I ride on the road was even clear, what a difference that made. Really looking forward to riding on clear pavement come spring.

MIKEnDC

Nice seasonable ride in this morning--a bit cold (23F/-5C) and calm. Wish I could figure a way to keep my fingers warm (they have been very susceptible to the cold since a youthful rock climbing indescretion about 30 years ago). Lobster mitts and glove liners don't quite do it.

Interesting note from yesterday's ride home. The one main intersection I go through (Univ of Maryland entrance next to ComCast Center) was shut down in all directions while a motorcade with two big tour-type buses went through (motorcycle outriders, State Troopers, and even a Baltimore city police car). I heard on the news later that Obama was on campus yesterday afternoon. I wonder how many times he used the word "change" while actually saying nothing...

jeff-o

Heck no! Replace my beloved trike? I'd never hear the end of it when my wife sees the bill!

I was back on the road this morning, with repaired brakes (one new brake cable and a caliper overhaul) a new chain and a freshly lubed derailleur. It rode like a champ again! I'm still going to look into hydraulic brakes though, as I have no desire to do a weekly flush/replacement of the mechanicals I've got now. Brake cables really aren't meant to be removed and rethreaded on a weekly basis!

tarwheel 

Nice ride to work in the low-30s this morning except for the red lights. It was like my bike was emitting some kind of rays that caused all the traffic signals to turn red as I approached. However, the last light on my route -- which is also the longest one -- turned green just as I got to it, so it all averaged out in the end.

Someone in a minivan blew their horn at me while passing, but the horn apparently wasn't working and it sounded like a cow mooing. That was funny. Beautiful sunrise this morning. Now that the days are getting significantly longer, I'm riding in the dark for only the first 10-15 minutes of my commute and get to see the sun come up.

CMY

50's, light breeze.

Nothing spectacular.

bayareawheeler

weather is so nice I took the long way in


Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 2:32:20 3:30 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:20:06 3:13 pace
Distance (mi ) 43.44
Moving Speed (mph) 18.6 avg. 40.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +2,596 / -2,558
Temperature (°F) 44.6°F avg. 44.6°F high

jterribili

about 35 this morning
uneventful ride..fingers got a little numb though...same as yesterday
hopefully miss the rain on the ride home

HardyWeinberg

nice and warm, well into the 40s, and sunny! I am really loving not having the studs on. I didn't realize how much peace of mind I got from those silently rolling slicks.