It's for sure not something to take lightly! I was almost nailed by a falling tree in a storm last year, literally testing my brake's limits to stop just a few feet away. Then a couple of weeks ago I got to see first hand the kind of damage it could have been. Riding through a dirt lot to the local greenway trailhead I heard a loud explosion, which I thought at first was a back-fire, and at the same time a huge cloud of dust billowing up and out. Rotted 18-inch thick pieces of tree rolling to a stop. As the dust cleared I finally saw that an SUV had been smashed by a falling tree - hood, windshield, the entire top caved in. Windows splintered. In a parking lot! So I completely concur with the wisdom of taking no chances when trees are falling.

The ride home was cool (1C) with 43kpm N winds so 2/3 of the ride home was while fighting the wind. Slowest ride to date but I'm not fussing about the speed, I'm happy to be continuing to bike commute.

Had a nice fog-laden AM ride and skirted it back along the bay on the way home. Wore a hi-vis jacket but sweated it off. I'm ready for some 40 degree weather.

I have the "lightweight merino hoodie" from MEC. Love it! The hood is perfect for cold rain and thin enough to stay out of the way when I don't need it.

I also recently picked up some Smartwool merino liner gloves, and they are working well.

This morning was wet, but it was worth it for the evening commute. Temps in the teens (C) and a large moon staring at me. Also, I finally got a proper headlight (Urban 550) which is making the night riding a lot more fun.

61F/16C. Ridiculous for October 30th, but I guess I won't complain. The Big Storm just grazed Burlington here in Vermont, so I didn't think twice about riding to work. The roads were wet and I had a helping tailwind. I wore my rain gear in case it rains later today.

Missed 5 days of riding due to out-of-town guests as well as Hurricane Sandy, so I rode this morning even though Sandy was still affecting NC with wrap-around winds and rain. Got a window in the rain showers when I got up and the winds were not as bad as yesterday, but I battled steady headwinds and the coldest temperatures of this fall all the way to work. To top it off, I got a flat on my rear wheel half way to work and had to fix it in the dark. Easily the toughest and slowest commute of the year for me.

Maybe, but you did it anyway. Me, I wimped out today but the conditions were (are) 1C, 45kph N gusty winds and light rain which means that I would have been very cold and very wet after 45-50 minutes riding, the last 20 or so into the headwind and rain. I don't have the gear for these conditions: if it is warm and wet or cold and dry, I'm ok, but cold and wet, no, not yet.

Update: just viewed the Weather Network data and gusts are up to 58kph. That would have been a forward-impeding challenge.

We're getting the remnants of Sandy here in MI. The last couple days coming in have been pretty miserable. 15 mph headwind and swirling gusts. Luckily, my commute is pretty short. Temps were about 37F this morning, a bit warmer yesterday. The good news is on the way home, the tailwind is a lot of fun. I hit 33 mph surfing a gust yesterday without even working that hard and was still accelerating when I hit a red light.

Slowest commute of the year so far, from the wind and being bundled up in flapping clothes I guess.

Fastest commute back home last night with Sandy pushing me at an average of 44-45 km/h for a good part of my commute.
A bit slower this morning with crosswind, headwind of 20-30 km/h

It was raining this morning on the commute. Steady, but not real hard, and the temps were quite mild (mid 50s F). I wore my water resistant tights (Novara) and an actual rain jacket, which is lighter than the insulated jacket I wear when it gets colder. I didn't even bother with the booties, since it was a relatively light rain.

The hurricane stinks, nothing but rain and wind. Work got cancelled Monday.

Was awesome yesterday. Was my Friday, so I took off a few hours early and took the long way home. 7.5 miles to work and 22.5 home - no rain and about 60 degrees. Except for the wind, an almost perfect cycling day.

Best wishes to the peeps on the east coast.

See what a 90 per cent chance of rain gets you? It did rain on me a little on my way to work.

Starting tomorrow I'm cutting my commute in half. Call me lazy! For the winter months I'll drive halfway with the bike on the rack, then bicycle the rest of the 7 or 8 miles in and then ride back to the car after work. Older? Lazy? I dunno, maybe I'm just not as "political" as I used to be and I'm just doing it for fitness.

5C and I was definitely overdressed. Wet roads and since my mountain bike has the studded tires on it, I took the touring bike instead.

The paint on my fat bike fenders should be dry tonight, so Ill ride my Pugsley tomorrow. Last night when I was putting air in the tires one of the valve cores came out. That was annoying, so I picked up a core tool today.

I'm going to give it a try in hurricane ravaged NYC tomorrow. There's no subway, but my office is open so I'll go in. I did this before when things were all closed and was the only one there. I'm expecting a lot of leaves and debris on the way, but otherwise should be OK.

I'm also going to try out my new/old Trek 7000 as a commuter. This is a clone of my 8000 that my son took to college.

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Untitled by zacfi2000, on Flickr

Remnants of Sandy today, wet but not too windy. Did see something rather amusing on the way home (around 7:30). I saw a dark shape heading toward me on the opposite side of the road. It was some guy on a scooter-style e-bike with a dead battery. The pedals were in such a stupid and inconvenient place that he was using it as a big, expensive skateboard. Had a good giggle about that as a I swept by on old reliable.

My new Necromancer Pugsley is almost ready for commuter duty. The rear rack should arrive later this week. Those fenders took the better part of the weekend to build from a pair of Planet Bike Cascadia 29er fenders. The red strip on the rims is 3M reflective tape.

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Woke up to the East Brothers Light House fog horn. Ditto day today. You all have a Happy Halloween... Boo!

Just a cloudy morning, post Sandy at 41f (5c). I had off mon and tues, due to Sandy, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The Jersey shore got clobbered. It was my first hurricane in 55 years to come ashore as such. Most others came in as Tropical storms. The erratic weather patterns are getting more interesting.

A monster! A veritable monster!:thumb:

Our limited exposure to the outskirts of Sandy (winds up to 60km/h, light but driving rain) was over yesterday. Today's ride was in 2C, light rain, 21km/h N wind so I was comfortably cool with a bit of dampness on my legs through my tights and a bit on my lower back where my coat ended.

I didn't dress up but my (too late) idea was to get a skull balaclava for the ride in and then wear my mostly black biking outfit as my costume. I didn't have enough time to buy it so maybe I'll get it for next year.

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It was 23degree when I left this morning, only average 16.6mph. I guess the cold do really effect my average speed, gotta love the MN cold weather lol.

that's soooo cool!

I had icicles hanging from my beard when I got to work this morning--a first for the season. Happy Halloween!

I'm feeling beat this morning. I woke up late to find a flat tire so I rolled out my trusty GMC Denali, strapped the lights and pump on it, felt up the tires and figured about 30 psi - enough for 10 miles to work - and rolled out. By then I was runing late, and dressed for rolling slow, and with no speedometer on that bike I maybe pushed a bit too hard. Made it on time though.

I rode today in defiance of the remnants of Sandy, 38F with 15mph winds. Fortunately, the winds are out of the west and much of my route is shielded by buildings. The few times I was out in the open it was brutal. Unfortunately, my route is directly north-south so I get to do it again on the way home and the forecast is for a high of only 44. Good thing is I'm in no hurry!

Anyone recommend some windproof pants/tights?

cool (mid 30s) with frost on the ground. Only a light breeze (5-10mph) which was a lot better than Mon and Tuesday (20mph, with gusts up to 40pmh). My bike felt a lot faster without the crosswind.
Uneventful traffic wise, I rather enjoyed it.

Another commuter just getting back to it post-Sandy. Lots of leaves and debris in places asking the commute, but otherwise fine. Nothing so big or bad I had to get off my bike. There was a spot with some broken glass along the 14th Street Bridge, that had a lot of cyclists dropping and walking/carrying their bikes. I slowed, but stayed on my bike, made my way through slowly and was grateful for my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. Nice not to have to worry about that kind of stuff so much.

Cool enough to break out the full fingered gloves this morning at around 40. Come January that'll be warm enough for fingerless gloves, but I'm still getting acclimated. :-)

Happy Halloween everybody. I'll be taking my six month old son around or apartment building and down the block. Having a kid makes the holiday a little more exciting...