Slowest commute ever! We had about 2" of heavy snow during the day, and the ride home was one tough slog. The 10 mile trip took 1h 20m. Felt like I was riding uphill the whole way home, and whenever I actually had to go uphill, I had to get off and walk. I guess the next time there's a forecast of significant snow during the day, I'll take the bus!

Quite warm today. I dressed for rain which didn't happen, and I sweated buckets instead.

Sadly, or joyfully, depending on your perspective, today is my last day in this blog as I retire today. It's been great to see and here stories about cycling to work every day. A special thanks to those who also rode in the winter and blogged here. On those cold dark rides in the morning, it meant allot to see others doing the same thing. My wife got rid of her car and I gave her mine, as I was finding less use for it. Whereever I end up in the world, it will be on bike and public transportation. I drove for almost 40 years, and now with a little luck in health, I can ride for the next 40. Best wishes to you all, and no doubt I will see you in other bike forum rooms.

Congratulations on your retirement Fletch! What am I gonna do without your DC-area weather postings...you always get F/C right! Keep riding, it changed my life and it sounds like it changed yours too.

Safe riding.

Cold coming in today.

Congratulations, and good riding in your retirement.

Wow, fletchh enjoy this new phase of your life!! May you have health and happiness for many more years!. Though I will miss your posting every morning. I always look to see how your ride went as you are more often than not the person who posts just before me.

I did not ride to work today, though I did do a quick ten mile ride before leaving for work. I did not want to miss my fix of riding.

Today was the first snow ride for me ever so I was a bit nervous not knowing what it was going to be like. There was very little snow, maybe 0.5cm (0.25") on the cars and a dusting on the road but enough to get me nervous. I was more cautious going around some corners where there was snow on the roads but most of the roads had a layer of water where the snow had melted and I knew I would be fine. Right now, I'm still on my new-this-year 29er with 700x35 tires (Marathon Tour Plus) and no fenders. I'm going to watch the weather over the next couple of weeks and when it appears that snow will be more prevalent and thicker, I'll switch to my old Norco Bigfoot with fenders and wider tires.

It was -2C with a 23km/h NW wind on today's commute. The last 7 of the 16km is N and E so I was able to determine that my DIY toe covers were at their limit of protection from the cold so it looks like I'll have to invest in something better.

I also realized that I actually might have a merino wool base layer in my ski gear that might be better than the fleece I'm currently using, I'll dig it up and try it out next week.

Almost uneventful. The weather was perfect, clear cool. I wore my work clothes (shirt/tie over dockers) with just a light jacket. 10 miles and I don't think i broke a sweat.

Back to the almost part, I was coasting down a one way street (median separating east and westbound lanes), when an SUV turned onto the street headed straight at me, going the wrong direction. I checked speed, kept rolling.. at first i maneuvered left to make sure I was seen, then back to the right.. she ducked into the correct lane through a cut in the median at just the point where I passed.

Two traffic lights on my path were holding red. I hate running red lights but I did, following three cars through one of them.


fletch, congratulations!! I like your plan.

Commute was great so far today, still got to go to work later tonight. Woke up to a nice chilly morning and went to a local dinner for some breakfast and to enjoy the weather change we are getting here. I look forward to this weather all year and now that it is here I hope to put in some nice mileage while it lasts.

It was cold, dark and sweet!! ;). I be pushing strong flashlights up front for lighting, and I dress very warm. With those factors included, a ride in the dark cold morning is super fun!! ;)

Commuted on a different bike all 4 days this week. Missed riding on Monday due to Hurricane Sandy. Today I rode my lightest commuter bike and had my fastest commute in many weeks -- despite the coldest temperatures since last spring (mid-30s), a mild headwind and lots of red lights. I've been battling cold winds all week from the wrap-around effects of Superstorm Sandy. Amazing that it's still affecting our weather 5 days after it passed by NC.

-3C with a 25kph headwind and freezing drizzle. The drizzle was freezing on my glasses making it difficult to see, especially when there were oncoming headlights. the roads weren't slippery on the way in, but seemed more icy when I walked across the street for breakfast. Maybe it will be melted before I leave at lunch.

My feet were getting cold, so I might want to start wearing my winter boots on colder days. My thumbs were getting very cold near the end of the ride. I think that was partly due to using flat bars the whole way, since I haven't got my Ergon bar ends yet.

Raising my seat post 1/4" before heading home last night made a huge difference. Since I haven't got my rack yet, I've been riding with a backpack the last 3 days. It hasn't been too bad, but the only backpack I have that I'd want to ride with can't hold very much.

I cheated and rode the motorcycle today. I had a workout at the gym that kicked my a$$, and I think the ride in would just be an exercise in frustration.

Plus, this is the first day we've had with dry roads in a few weeks now. :)

First ride in way too long for me.

I got my fat ass up on the bike today, and am very glad for it.

Going to go for 100 miles in November to help me get over all of the turkey and stuffing i'm certain to crush in a couple weeks.

It's been a good few days of commuting since the storm passed and everything opened up again. Most interesting thing to happen was on Wednesday, when on my return trip home in the afternoon, a Natonal Park Service Police helicopter was landed by the boat ramp near Gravelly Point, rotors spinning, and some sort of activity going on by the water. Not sure what was going on, but it was a sight I;d never seen before.

The wwwwake of the storm has brought cooler temperatures, which is fine. It's still no" 'cold" yet with morning temps in the low 40s F. Certainly bearable with long sleeve tees or a fleece. It's actually nice because wven when I've ridden hard, I haven't really been sweating at all this week. :)

Hey, best of luck, fletchh! You've usually been the first DC area rider to post each morning, and I'm going to miss your reports of what you've seen on your pre-dawn rides to work.

Take care and keep riding. And please do check in from time to time on the other forums (50+?).

That is awesome! Congratulations.

Day 3 of post Sandy commuting: There seemed to be even more riders today coming across the bridge and riding in downtown Manhattan, and there were probably more bikes than cars. I stopped at the end of the bridge for coffee from Transportation Alternatives, but the ride was uneventful, as was the ride home.

I won't be riding Monday if the subway is running, and the promise is there will be something by then. Bloomberg promises power to lower Manhattan tonight and that should let the trains run through.

My ride home would have been more enjoyable if A) I had taken my mountain bike which had studded tires or B) Waited an hour before leaving.

It was very icy when I left the university. I let a lot of air out of my tires but it was still sketchy and I slide around a lot. Turns out I was riding 10.5 psi rear, 10 psi front, when I checked the pressure after getting home. While waiting at a light just resting my foot on the clipped in pedal was enough to spin out the rear tire. While walking the bike across an intersection I was able to push the bike sideways with little resistance.

I decided to stick to the MUP so I could ride on the grass if necessary (it was necessary). Near an underpass I had a near zero speed fall as both tires slid sideways. So for about 5km I rode on the grass and walked the bike where there was no grass.

Then the snow picked up, which provided traction on the pavement, so I was able to ride rest of the way home.

Studded tires will definitely be a necessity for the winter conditions we get here. Oddly enough the studded fat bike tires are much lighter than the tires that came on my bike.

Congratulations, fletchh! I'll miss your posts, which I alwas kept an eye out for. Here's to lots of happy riding in retirement. Lucky dog... you're going to have so much time to go bike touring now (or maybe I'm projecting my own dream retirement on you).LOL All the best!

Nice and sunny on the way in, stormy with a nice tailwind all the way home.

Wait... that's cheating?!

It was a cold 38f this morning, but I had thick gloves that kept my hands warm and a wool sweater and jacket I was fine. I loved this mornings ride it was very enjoyable in the cold. Though tonight I am not sure how that will go as it gets dark earlier and riding in the dark in the am does not bother me as hardly anyone is on the road but tonight it should start to get dark about fifteen to twenty minutes from my house so I guess I will wait and see how I like it.

Yesterday's commute was pretty nice as far as weather went, but, when I approached one intersection, I waited for my light to go green...At this intersection, when the light does go green, I always wait a couple of seconds for the people who always run the yellow/red lights...so I waited, then proceeded through the intersection, except someone flew through the intersection (running a red) at 35+ mph. Their light had been red for 5 or more seconds. Good thing I was not going very fast, so I was able to react properly...but still, it was scary.

I ended up having a late night at school yesterday (welcome to being a music major), so I took a ride home with my roommate, so no commute this morning....I'm regretting it already, wishing I rode my bike back yesterday! Oh well. :)

Wow, exciting! Good luck!

34F/1C for me this morning. Stiff headwind keeping my speed down. There are reports of snow at higher elevations. My friend said it's snowing heavily around Montpelier.

I adjusted the Soho's front brake caliper yesterday and it's nice and tight and grabby now.

Congratulations on retirement, Fletchh. You could still ride to the coffee shop every day and count that as a commute. There ought to be different rules for retirees.

I'm approaching retirement myself, but probably still have another 5-7 years of bike commuting, depending on the stock market. If it keeps crashing every 3-4 years, I may not ever be able to retire.

Definitely a chill in the air this morning...and a steady headwind made it worse. Long pants, gloves, hat, winter riding is here.

Was back on my bike this morning for the first time in a very long time. I kind of quit riding in September after my fathers death, and didn't get back to it for nearly two months. Only rode around 100 miles a month in September and October. Now with the time change, it's light in the mornings early enough to ride well, so I was back on my Bacchetta Giro 26 this morning and into work. Will be off the bike tomorrow (supposed to rain, and I need to get to the polls) but weather forecast is good the rest of the week, and a bit colder, so I expect I'll be riding Wed-Fri as well. Feels good to stretch my legs in the morning and get breathing hard.

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

I'm getting up earlier now, partly the time change and partly because I woke up to a flat tire last week with no time to spare. Sure enough, another flat this morning. The walmart stick-on patches appear to be failing. Age or colder temperatures, but they're all going at once. Luckily I'd patched up some tubes yesterday with some better quality park tool patches!

I was way overdressed thinking it would be cold - google's weather app has it at mid-30's but it felt much warmer and I arrived hot. Still, better that than freezing on the way in.

A beautiful morning with daylight - thank you DST! Today was my coldest commute so far, 27 deg F. I feel like a bit of a slacker compared to you canucks! I've never rode year round and committed to stay with it this year (or maybe I need to be committed?). I was actually more comfortable than I expected, thanks to some great gear suggestions from this thread. All was warm except my toes. With wool socks and a borrowed pair of neoprene covers my feet are still cold. I think I just need to give up the idea that I can use cycling shoes through Fall and Winter and switch to some insulated shoes/boots.