Trying something new today. Rode my bike to work even though I have a dentist appointment at noon, and I'm planning to ride to the appointment in my street clothes, which I never do. The weather is too nice today to miss a ride, so I decided to give it a try. The high is supposed to reach 60 F by noon and the mid-60s by mid-afternoon, with lots of sun for a change. The distance to my dentist office is only about 3 miles, so I should be able to ride that distance without getting all sweaty or taking too much time. The only problem so far is that I forgot my wallet, which is a first for me commuting. I rode one of my bikes that I don't commute on too much, with a smaller seatbag, and simply forgot to pack it since the bag is tight on space.

First commute of 2013 was today. Warm and sunny with wet pavement here in Okeechobee, FL. Actually, this is the first commute in several months for me. Early in Sept of last year, my father passed away after a short illness. He was 89 years old and a decorated veteran of WWII and I only saw him every other year or so. But his passing hit me hard, and kind of took away my drive to commute, or do any physical. It took me several months to get past that. Then, I decided that the high bottom bracket on my Bacchetta Giro was causing me some back pain, and went looking for a solution. I found a Bacchetta Belladare, used in Seminole, Florida and bought it. The Belladare is the steel brother of the new Bella, a long wheel base recumbent with a 20" front and 26" rear. This is a sweet ride, with a low bottom bracket height, long soft ride and long legs for a long ride on the weekends. So, I finally got all the parts together, and new shoes, and today was the day. Had a great ride in, traffic was easy, and I had no problems. Glad to back among the cycle commuting community.

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

We wondered where you had gone! We were about to send out the search dogs! Sorry to hear about your father, that situation is never easy. Congratulations on getting back on the bike! We need more "Tractor"s here!

First real commute of the year! 1h26 to do my 27.2 kms ride, in summer time I do it in about 55 min.

Steady rain and 49°F.. fun, fun fun.
No really, it was actually quite enjoyable. It was kinda' like being a kid and riding bikes in the rain..

Cars kept an extra wide berth today (wonder why?).

This was an opportunity to try out my make-shift rain gear. I have Levis commuter trousers that are water resistant. I also treated a jacket, boots and other outer wear with a water resistant product i bought from the local hardware store. The water beaded up and rolled off, i stayed totally dry except for a little ring of sock above my boot.

The commute home last night sucked....or blew, depending on how you look at it. Steady rain (normal for this time of year) and 30-40 mph gusting headwind. It made my normal 42ish minute ride almost 52 mins! Plus, the rain being driven right into my face the entire time made visibility pretty bad. The wind was still whipping around this morning, so I drove. I've got a hearing downtown tomorrow, so I'll be driving again, but I'll bike in Friday.

Nice, calm, quiet, dry 44º. Rode with a co-worker, as I pass by his house about 20 minutes into my commute. He was about 100' behind me at one point. I was taking the lane. He told me a car almost hit me, jerking to the left & swerving around me at the last second. I don't currently have a mirror, but will definitely consider it, as I was completely clueless that this had happened.

Finally managed to get my act together to take a good long ride into work like I'd done before. Foggy and cold but I was able to get in 1:45 total, with a solid 60' at tempo (and hit my target to the exact watt).

One funny thing near the end of my ride: As I came into town I was catching up to a guy sitting bolt upright on a city style bike with panniers. I was doing 23 and putting out close to 300 watts but was having a time of it trying to reel this guy in. He was barely turning the pedals and I was killing myself. As I finally got up to his wheel, I saw that he must have been riding an electric assist bike. Cheater!

My commute is 20 miles and I am pretty out of shape. Got all the gear out the night before and in Oregon gear= rain gear. Suited up this morning and went outside to find it was clear and dry at 0500 but the wind was blowing from the east (headwind) two miles into my ride I am sweating buckets and panting like a dog in August so I stop to take off the rain gear. Just when I finis that the wind does a 180 to a west wind (tail) and huge messy drops start falling... Drops the size of ball bearings... I am already running late (story of my life these days) so I say to hell with it and ride in my shorts and tshirt in the rain, using the cold and tail wind to push me along. End result was I got to work on time, added 2 mph to my average speed for the ride and 6 mph to my top speed( a long downhill with a tail wind on a big road 38mph by GPS). Also ended up at work looking like bill the cat. For you youngsters google Bloom County to see what I mean.

It was already raining like crazy at 5:00 this morning at my place, the time I would head out on my bicycle. I'm sore enough from running yesterday that I decided to take my motorcycle, and go home a long route via Corvallis to pick up some stuff I have ordered at the Co-op there. Irish Breakfast Tea....

I need to either quit running or do it more often than once a month!

Yesterday evening, I met two bike commuters coming out of my office building. I rarely see any. One gave a nice hello and smile, and the other discussed his commute and mine.

Today, I did what I had planned for yesterday: 1 mile ride to station, 10 mile train ride, 2 mile ride to work. On the train, I sat across from a fellow cyclist who had his folding bike. He admired my safety gear and my saddle. He incorrectly identified the saddle as a Brooks, which is understandable. His bike has a Brooks. Mine is a hand-made RHM saddle. There have only been about 30 made so far.

My commute was a hoot. I took the old Rockhopper Sport from Southeast DC to Bethesda, MD. Still on knobbies took double the time of my roadie. Left the house debating on rain gear.......guess what- it rained just as I was pulling in. Just walked out and saw the rain stopped. Should be a fun ride with no renders. At least it is warm out and all downhill from here.

Foggy. But the temp was 65*F so I added 8 extra miles on the way home, mostly on bike trails. The only annoyance was the need to wipe my eyeglasses every minute or so. The MUPs were pleasantly deserted.

Nice commute today but surprised by some rain in the afternoon. I got good use of the fenders on my new Trek Allant (Christmas present from my wife) coming home.

Today was the first day of the year that I saw any other bicyclists out while I was commuting. Must be the slightly warmer weather....

I have managed to commute every work day so far in 2013. Tomorrow I am going to telework from home, though. I am having some lingering mild hamstring tightness, so a day off the saddle will probably be a good idea.

I am soooooooooooooo looking forward to getting the winter tires off my bike this spring!!

Congratulations on your new Trek! After you've put some miles on it post a review - the Allant looks like a pretty good commuter, especially for the price

46F/8C I was overdressed coming in this morning.

Ride home last night was another "Only in DC moment"...got stuck waiting for Hamid Karzai's motorcade to pass.

Warm and humid this morning with wind out of the SW and temps in upper 40s. We are having a very mild January and I'm making the most of it, riding every day this week so far. Yesterday I even rode to my dentist appointment at noon and actually had to take it easy so I wouldn't get too sweaty, with temps hitting mid-60s. My streak will probably end tomorrow as the forecasters are calling for rain and I'm a wuss when it comes to getting wet.

We get lots of moments like that in NYC. There are these motorcades with dozens of giant black SUV's, and they don't stop for anyone. They often don't warn us that they're coming and not stopping, and the rest of us have to figure it out before we get smooshed.

I worked from home yesterday so commute was a pleasant 68F. This morning's ride was 32F and the MUP is finally clear of ice, so uneventful ride (that's a good thing!). The temps are supposed to get in the mid-high 40's this afternoon with rain and chance of thunderstorms... thunderstorms? in January?!

It was as nice as it gets here in January, and I was able to get home in under 30 minutes which is sort of a benchmark target for me. It looks like the forecasts were wrong so there will be little or no rain today with temperatures rising to pleasant! My own forecast is for a moderate number of strava-segment riders for the next few days.

Yesterday morning was fun, on hard packed ice the studded tire did great. But we got a bit of rain and warmer temp so last night was a nightmare, big 50-60 mph headwind/sidewind on solid ice, it was really dangerous.
I'm lucky it's all on rural dark road so you know a car is coming long before it gets to you and you can get off the road and let it go by.
I only saw 8 or 9 cars on my 27.2 kms commute back home that took me 1h50!
For the first time since I started bike commuting I didn't have fun at all.
This morning with the same kind of wind I took the van.

First experience in rain, it wasn't bad except for the traffic and my lack of fenders. Getting to work with your butt/back pack covered in dirty water isn't the best experience.

Beautiful today, just above freezing and dry. The sun even made a brief appearance!

lol, yeah that seems like an NYC motorcade for sure!

Mellow commute in, long day ahead, then two weeks vacation. See you all at the end of the month.