Thanks for the response. I know belt drives are in common use on motorcycles, so it's not an iffy technology. I may look into it further

Right now its 31 degrees outside, with a nice 5-10 mph tailwind. I've had a crappy day at work, and I have been asked to put resources into researching something that is just plain asinine. Its times like these that I appreciate the bicycle more than ever. If I drove home right now, I'd be a complete grump with my family. The bike will allow me to leave my frustrations on the road...so to speak. Enjoy your evening everyone!

17 degrees when I left the house this morning. I thought it'd be a good day to try my Gerbings battery powered liner vest...turned it off after about 10 minutes because I was too hot. I also started with my snowboarding gloves, but had to trade them for my lighter pair. My ski goggles stayed on though. I also found out that the liner for my motorcycle pants works awesome over tights for my next sub-20 degree commute.

A nice day at 29F (-2C) and much warmer than yesterday.

ditto for DC area

Temperature 10+ degrees warmer than it was yesterday morning and winds were light, so I rode to work 5 minutes faster today. That was good because I overslept and left home about 15 minutes later than usual and then caught every long red light on my route. Forgot to charge my batteries last night so I used the old Magicshine, which has become my backup light, and I was surprised that it was so much brighter than my Stella 300 altho the beam is more floody and less focused. Cruised through the drive-through lane at the library on my way to work and returned a book, saving a 10-mile round trip in my car.

+5C this morning. The part of the MUP that was poorly plowed was very slow because of the soft snow. I'll probably be on the mountain bike for the next few weeks if this warm weather continues to make a mess of things. I passed another commuter in the park on the way in. He was hugging the curb, slowly fighting through the loose snow to stay out of the way of cars. When I go through the park I just stay in a tire track. As far as I'm concerned park users have priority over motorist using it as a shortcut.

Yesterday I went for an 80km ride on some roads west of the city. The shoulders were mostly clear of snow and ice. When I went back into the city on the way home, the roads were wet, sloppy and a bit of a challenge for my narrow touring bike tires.

80km/h winds forecast for this afternoon, so it will be slow going on the way home. With luck the forecast will be wrong.

biking to work in the morning. in shorts. in january! in Chicago! = joy.

this has been the weirdest freaking "winter" of my life. they say we might break 50 tomorrow!

Last evening's ride home was beautiful: 70F, sunny, slight tailwind. I couldn't have asked for better riding weather.

This morning it was about 45F, sunny, no wind. I did finally trip a troublesome traffic light for the first time. It's the little things...

Warm ride in this morning. I overdressed and arrived at work dripping from sweat. You'd think after 5 years of riding in winter I'd know better! Beautiful and clear day though. Looking forward to the ride home.

Cool nice ride in as of late. Unfortunately, my Quickfixer 7 for Topeak Dynapack DX broke going over speed bump. Had to carry the 8lbs of stuff in my hand for last 2 miles of ride on road bike. Going to leave it at work for today and just bring repair kits in my pocket. I guess I will use messenger bag tomorrow... bleh... at least I am in recovery ride mode for tonight and tomorrow... so shouldn't be sweaty... (yeah So Cal).

I had a couple unpleasant surprises, although nothing catastrophic, on my 18 mile commute this morning. I was crusing along in the bike lane and a car blared his horn exactly as he drove by me, then proceeded to cut off the guy in front and to the left of him as he sped by. My suspicion is that he was not all that aggravated by me being in the bike lane and taking up a whole foot of his territory, and that he just acted that way to be a jerk. Of course, I could easily be wrong on that account. I threw up the obligatory one arm in the "what's your problem, pal" motion, which maybe was not my wisest move. But I was my first experience with a jerk driver and I kind of lost my cool for a moment. Of course, I have read many accounts of a similar nature on these forums. Later, as I approached the University campus where I work, a girl on a cruiser was going the wrong way down my bike path, headed straight for me. She clearly had no intention of moving, even though I clearly had the right of way. Luckily there was plenty of room on the right for me to move over. I see lots of people riding the wrong way on the sidewalk, especially near campus, but not often in the bike path. Crazy!

A normal winter continues to be missing in MN, with the temp at 29F this morning--several degrees higher than the normal high. This afternoon may break the record 47F for this date. As a result, I saw more bike tracks and cyclists out this morning than I have in quite a while. It's nice to have company. :-)

31 degrees this morning, no wind. I decided to take the main streets rather then the side streets I usually ride, and it was very pleasant. Plenty of cars on the roads but no problems. On the way home was one of those great tailwinds that make you feel like Greg LeMond - - -

Great ride today and all week. A little on the cool side (around 0 in the morning every day this week) but still great. This afternoon I had my fastest commute ever, averaging 28.7km/h for riding speed over a 24km commute (not including stops at the ferry dock and traffic lights).

Very pleasant ride in this morning, temps close to 40F.

Witnessed two bikes making some stupid moves on the way home last night, both went right through red lights when they could have just waited, thought one of 'em was going to buy it. (I do blow off red lights sometimes too.)

Quite a cycling week to start the New Year. I've ridden every day so far except Jan. 1, and it's been very cold and extremely windy at times. The last couple of days have been relatively calm, however, and my commute times about 5 minutes faster as a result. I dressed lighter today than usual for the temperature (low 30s) because it is supposed to warm up to the mid-60s by afternoon. So I pushed the pace to keep warm, which worked well all except for my fingers. Should have worn my warmer gloves and carried some lighter ones in my seatbag for the ride home.

One of my coworkers rode today for the first time that I am aware of. I'll have to talk to him later and give some encouragement. I've been the only one in my office building bike commuting over the past month or so, and it would be nice to have some compatriots.

Amazed at the weather right now; woke up to 46F and breezy, in Cleveland... in January, so I wasn't going to pass up a chance to ride in to work. Unfortunately, I didn't account for a lot of the snow melt run off so I got a bit splashed up and muddy (note to self: buy some fenders already) on the bridge into downtown. Was so refreshing though! Hopefully the weather sticks around for the weekend, I'd love to log some more significant mileage.

Woohoo! 42 degrees this morning in the Twin Cities, and I hit 40.0 mph with my *hybrid* with *studded* tires going down Ramsey hill in St. Paul. Never done that before. Those studs were singing on the pavement! :-) And yes tarwheel, winter seems to be absent in MN so far. They predicted a colder and snowier winter than normal, and they totally missed it. I've been setting personal records left and right from Nov through the present. :-)

Mid 30s, a little cloudy but a beautiful morning, left a bit late so I caught the tail end of sunrise.

Fantastic ride this morning, 0C with a strong tailwind and a light snow. A lot of snow and ice melted yesterday and the overnight cold made for a dry commute. Yesterday's ride home was very slow. A very strong headwind and lots of slush made the whole ride a struggle.

Sunday is supposed to be +5C. If that is the case and its not too wind I'll try for a 100km ride. The forecast for Monday is +9C, it probably won't happen but I can dream. Riding in shorts in January would be something.

My favorite piece of new kit are my calf compression sleeves. My calves get strained getting bounced around on the ice and snow. In December I was getting to the point where I was going to have to stop riding for a while. But the compression sleeves allowed me to keep on riding without any pain. I often keep wearing a less snug pair during the day at the university and sometimes overnight. The dilemma will come in the spring when I have to decide if I want to ride in shorts with knee high socks.

This was my first bike commute in about a year and a half. It was 20F and I was worried about the cold, but I bundled up and actually stayed warm. My water bottle was frozen solid by the time I got to work though. Had my chain fall off twice but got it back on both times and just used my back gears until I get it adjusted this weekend. Also got a flat on my front tire. Luckily, I was riding with my friend who tours and he was well prepared with a pump. I never had a pressure gauge on my pump at home so I've always just eyed it. Wow, what a difference it makes! Once it was up to full pressure, I was off and gliding down the road no problem. I'm going out to invest in a pressure gauge today.

It was a nice ride of about 8 miles despite the mechanical hiccups.

Welcome back to the club!

Wow, 36f on Jan 6. Beautiful day. Rode three days this week. Supposed to be in the upper 40s later. Considering how cold the winters have been here the last decode or so, a nice change.

Last night on way home some jerk yelled at me. I think I held him up about 10 seconds in a construction zone.

It's 45 here in Chicago, and way too nice to not commute today. I thought I was done commuting until spring, and thoroughly enjoyed riding in today. Especially when I rode around the pile of broken glass on the section of the MUP I couldn't see when I rode home on my last commute and got my third flat tire of my commuting career.