Map tester

Finally got the wife, son, and me back riding together to school/work, after dealing with some health issues. Lower 40°s and sunny, but the weather will change this weekend. Happy trails!

billwatson58

Tuesday was my first bike commute of the year, to a new job at REI in Niles IL. It was about 15-20 degrees with a decent tailwind for my 14 mile trip. It took 55 minutes and my average (while moving) was 16.1mph. When I got off work there was a couple of inches of new snow on the ground and the wind was blowing pretty hard, so I took the bus home. Last year I commuted 10 miles each way to downtown Chicago. I'm looking forward to the extra 8 miles per day as well as not having to ride through some pretty nasty neighborhoods on the west side of Chicago. We are due to 6+ inches here tonight, so it might be a while before I'm riding all the way to work again, but I do plan to take the bike on the bus which involves pretty short rides on either end, and having to switch buses, but at least I won't be stuck in my cage (car).

RicardoJM

Nice ride in this morning. The temps were in the 40's and there were some very strong gusts of wind in my face. I saw 8 other people on bikes this morning. Looks like the good weather will extend into next week. Let the commuting continue.

caloso

Had to drive in today because of an after-work family event. Assuming that I'm even able to leave the office before it's over. It's going to be one of those days, which makes me even more frustrated about not being able to ride.

Enjoy the ride, friends.

RonH

How was the commute today? Terrible and wonderful.

Terrible because I haven't commuted by bike since last Friday. Work committments required me to drive all week. My breathing was all out of whack and my legs wouldn't go fast.

Wonderful because I really look forward to riding to work.

ollo_ollo

53F & patchy fog this morning. Had a quiet ride in alone in the mists except for a few passing autos. I live on a small lake & began hearing the first froggies singing 4 or 5 days ago. Usually this event runs March-April so we may see an early Spring this year.
Enjoy the weekend. Don

Michel Gagnon

It was ore comfortable than I thought it would be.

I was well dressed, with 3 pairs of socks, rain trousers over my regular trousers and long underwear, 3 sweaters and windbreaker, one neck piece, one scarf, one skull cap, 2 pairs of gloves.

Anyway, it was about -24 C, but not windy, so I arrived quite toasty at work.

darkmother

-24C, -35 with windchill. I had a nasty headwind too. Honestly though, I was pretty comfortable. My feet got slightly cold towards the end, but that's only b/c I still wear my summer cycling shoes.

slone130

I had a funny thing happen to me yesterday. It was about 0 degrees F here but I put on all my gear and rode to work. I got here about 630 or so. I haven't worked here for very long, about 5 months or so, so the people I work sith sort of know me but not really. At the end of the day, my boss asked me to go into his office because he needed to talk to me about something. Of course, right away I started thinking of all the things I had done wrong...I couldn't think of any-at least any that he could possibly know about. He started by asking me if everything was alright at home to which I replied yes. He then asked if I needed to borrow some money..and I told him no with a question as to why he would ask that. He then told me that he saw me riding to work on my bike and thought since no sane person would ride in weather that cold that I must not be able to afford gas for my car. He then told me if I ever needed a ride to call him and he would pick me up. I thanked him for his kindness and generosity and then I broke the news to him that I choose to ride to work. I told him of all the benefits-saving gas, environmental issues, health issues, etc. that are gained from biking instead of driving. He just sat there noding and smiling. I thought it was a very positive contact..he now has me scheduled for a psych exam next week. Just kidding.

thomasali

interesting commute today... i rode my new klein palomino to work to swap the stem and get steerer tube cut down some more(i work in a bike shop), I must say for a full sus it performed great!
Only thing is it peed down with rain on my journey home and my shiny new bike got baptised in filth!

superstar4410

too cold for me to commute

balto charlie

Balto/ DC area: icy, snowy shoulders, black ice, coooold temps 12F/-11C with a bit of wind. Hands never got warm(there goes my coffee theory). My single track section was really tough 6-7 inches of unbroken snow for 1 mile. Would have had a better commute w/Xcountry skis. Still....better than a car Charlie

PaulH

Having just gotten back from a long ski weekend at -27 F / -33 C, it seemed really warm on the ride in. Mostly packed snow and slush in Arlington; would have preferred black ice. I decided the snow was deep enough to bypass the Mult Use Path -- this added some distance to the trip, but made it an easy ride. Maybe I'll follow BaltoCharlie's approach and try the trail on the way home. It's about a half mile, but cuts a half mile off my commute. Anyhow, beautiful morning!

Paul

caloso

slone130's story reminded me of something that happened last week:

A group from my office was driving out to the suburbs in a minivan and we were talking about some proposed budget cuts that would affect our pay and benefits. My boss sees a homeless guy on a bike and says, "Yep. That's how they want us to get to work every morning."

I say, "That IS how I get to work every morning." Everybody laughs. I don't take it personally, but it's a reminder that most people consider it odd that someone with a good job and a nice home would voluntarily ride his bike for transportation.

Anyway, more fog here in the Great Central Valley. Cool, still, and a little bit eerie on the way to work.

SaskCyclist

Awesome commute this morn.....-8C with no wind. It is supposed to hit +4 later today. For the first time this winter I had a crash. Nothing serious though. I was riding in a rut not really paying attention to where in the rut. I caught the edge; the studs started to bite but not enough as I was clipping along pretty good. Down I went. It felt like it was in slow motion and just tipped over. I am not quite sure why I couldn't correct it before I crashed as it seemed to take forever to actually crash. It could have been alot worse. Hopefully the plus 4 temps will take care of some street slush and ice.

Have a great day.

clevernamehere

Finally back on the bike again! Hadn't ridden to work since Wednesday morning (managed a recreational ride on Saturday though )
-6c when I left. Bike paths cleared, so just hard-packed snow, streets pretty good. Supposed to get to +5c today, so ride home could be very sloppy... the side streets I usually take on the way home may not be passible if they melt to much.

andygates

Fell off on ice, spun my 'cross tyres on glass ice, fell over again, bailed, drove. Dammit!

vtjim

-8F. No wind. I'm sorry to say I may be hanging up the wheels until the trail clears. It's unplowed and a real bear to ride now. It's pockmarked with pedestrian tracks. Even the X-Country skiers don't like it. (Neither do the runners, for that matter.)

I don't have a direct and/or bike friendly route other than the trail, or I'd take roads instead.

On the other hand, I've started a bit of a movement to get the city (Burlington) to plow the trail. Many runners and some other crazy cyclists are supportive of the idea.

If anyone near Burlington wants to make his/her opinion known, shoot me a PM and I'll give you an email address.

billh

You Canadians and Northerners are awesome!

tg1896

All you folks in the frozen tundra will get a kick out of this. This morning was my coldest ride yet in Atlanta - 15 degrees (that's PLUS). As I'm tooling along I pass an apartment complex and see a car doing a full skid into the gate. There was NO precipitation. It's been so warm down here that the yahoos left their sprinkler system set to run in the early a.m. There was about three inches of ice in their parking lot. We southerners just don't understand how to deal with the cold..............

spidercyclist

Good ride to work and home .My street is still not good to ride on. But the rest of the ride is good .
I also rode ss to work today . Just to bad that work is so bad all the time . Have a good nite .

Zin

32F and a light breeze. Its nice to be able to commute again!

Morning twilight with a bright moon hanging over the Rockies made for a spectacular morning commute.

PaulH

This morning, it was 29 F / -2 C. I opted for adventure again and took the shortcut on the Route 50 and Arlington Blvd. multiuse paths. This gave me a half mile of technical icebiking -- snow to plow through, nasty bits chewed up by pedestrians, snow piles to ride through/over. The all-road route is still faster, but the MUP gices me a chance to play while commuting.

Paul

Rescue35

It was COLD this morning. Must have been a whole 72* []

Little cloudy but itll keep the sun off of me this afternoon.

RicardoJM

Another good morning ride. The temps were in the high 30's - low 40's and no wind. I saw 8 other people out on bikes this morning. This must be the time of year for trail construction projects. The improvements will be nice. The detour I encountered this morning will be in place for quite some time, at lease a month.

This is a major detour on city streets in a warehouse area. They have done a very good job with signs, both "Go this way" and "Share the Road". I was also happy to see they layed down some new white lines so there is a well defined shoulder area for bikes.