mgw4jc

I did not bike to work. Double excuse of rain and needing to pick a couple of things up on the way home. And I'm off work the rest of the week. Have a Happy One, you turkeys!

jrickards

Colder today, -9C/16F, but the skies were clear which meant that it wasn't snowing as I was riding in. It was a better ride overall because the streets, sidewalks and paths had been cleared and I wasn't trying to plow through thick heavy snow. I think my DIY studded tires are working out fine: I went over an icy patch and lost grip with my rear tire (maybe as little as 1/10th as many "studs" in the rear tire) but my front tire held firm. I had to put my foot down because I was near some pedestrians. I had to walk up another icy hill but other than that, I'm happy with the tires.

I wore thicker mitts and my hands were fine. I'm riding a MTB so it is easier to operate the gears and brakes than perhaps using brifters.

spivonious

Drove the Subaru in today. Steady rain right now, but temperatures are falling and it will soon change over to snow. Forecast is 3-6" by the evening drive home.

arsprod 

Nice! I often berate myself for not stopping and taking pics, but then again compared with your (and other's) scenery mine is boring. 23F and almost no wind, what a pleasure

tarwheel 

I was totally skunked on bike commuting this week, for the first work week this year. The short work week didn't help, but the main problem was a saddle sore that I got on Sunday. Before that, I was on track to have my best commuting month of the year. Oh well, don't count your chickens before they hatch, or your miles before you ride them.

PatrickGSR94

Had my bike packed and ready to go, woke up at 5, but was just too tired to get up. Plus the 28 deg. outside just made me want to stay in the bed. So I went back to sleep until 6 and then drove to work.

Oh well, I'm still only driving to work twice this week, just as if I had commuted my usual 3 days, so I'm still good on not using the car much.

wphamilton

Beautiful day for the ride this morning, and almost no one out on the Greenway. Likely put off by the forecast, which never happened.

I had a very strange dream about a wipe-out on ice last night which made me cautious at first but there was nothing unusual today or even recently.

dramiscram

Nice ride this morning, NO WIND AT ALL!!! which is rare around here.

Last night I had a hard time getting back home with a 60-80 kmh headwind, it took me so long that I met my wife on the road: she was worried so she took my van and came to see if I was o.k. I was touched by that, so I guess I'll keep her...

jrickards

I realized later that those photos have no place here, in this forum, because I forgot to take the obligatory "bike in the scene" photo. Disregard all photos!

arsprod 

I thought it might be buried

bconneraz

It was 48 degrees when I pushed off this morning; the weather was perfect. Traffic was "holiday-light" for sure; I'm anxious to see how things go this afternoon when I roll by the big shopping areas. Hopefully I'll be able to enjoy 2 more days before I re-route around the crazy shopping areas.

joeyduck

@jrickards Those are some nice pictures. I miss snow.

@arsprod I almost never stop to take photos either. First I have to stop. Second I have to dig my phone out of my bag. I have to get it out of the ziplock baggie and then try and take a photo. I am just too lazy to do that. Plus I rarely have spectacular scenery.


Oddly enough I almost never notice the rain in the dark unless it gets under 5°C. If someone was to have asked how hard it was raining last night I would have answered "some". But as @Mr. Hairy Legs pointed out it was really rainy. I had a nice ride home last night and a nice ride this morning.

I chatted with a few cycling comrades which was nice. The one guy i see once in a while and he told me about an open group ride this weekend. I have to watch the weather since it is supposed to be hovering around freezing. Which worries me that I may have to take the bus next week.


To all my fellow Americans, have a happy Thanksgiving.

jrickards

Last year, I did my record (not many years as you can see) for total distance ridden on a bike (not separated, commuting vs other but it is mostly commuting). This year, given that I had taken leave of my senses (no pun intended) for 6 weeks in the summer and not ridden at all, I figured that I wouldn't be able to match or beat last year's total. However, given my current winter riding distance (~13km/day) and ~20 work days left in the year, I'll get pretty close to last year's total with a current difference of ~385km and a projected ~275km commuting before the end of the year, I'm pretty pleased all told.

tarwheel 

What app/website do you use to track your mileage? I like those charts.

jrickards

MapMyRide.com

spivonious

@jrickards - nice pics! I wish I had a bike path so I could safely ride into work on snow days.

jrickards

I'm laughing to myself because, with the exception of the last photo, the "bike path" is actually a "bikes forbidden, pedestrians only" path but I figure at 7am, I'm going to meet very few people (certainly not the security who patrol during the daytime, summer only) and I always give pedestrians the right of way to the point that I'll stop for oncoming pedestrians (especially if they have dogs) and I'll give those traveling the same way, as wide a berth as I possibly can so I don't infuriate any who could complain. I also wish them all a "Good Morning" to get them on my good side.

DiabloScott

First commute in almost six weeks; since I broke seven ribs in a crash on a century event. It was about what I expected - no trouble turning my head or braking or getting out of the saddle... but the bumps and curb jumps hurt a little more than I was ready for. I was getting really sick of driving in traffic; nice to get that morning rush of exersize and cold air.

bconneraz

welcome back- you'll be back to 100% in no time.

enigmaT120

Good ride in this morning. It was almost 50 degrees and not raining. I was hoping something would break down at work so I could get off early and have a longer ride home (and in the day time!) but I'll just have to ride in the dark.

Darth Lefty 

This is not about my bike commute. We are on a trip to visit family and today we were in downtown Chicago. We were walking along Lake street near State when a group of anonymous-occupy-ferguson protestors - white idealist millennial types - went the other way. They were singing "Hey hey ho ho these killer cops have got to go," which was strange, because the only people paying any attention to them were about forty cops, all on bicycles, forming a wall around them. They were all preceded by two cops on Segways. It didn't seem like anyone involved in either side was making an effective use of his time. The protest was silly small and the cop presence was silly overkill. I guess protestors around the country have been blocking freeways the last few days so the cops need to be on guard for a turn to the ugly.

metro2005

Still pretty warm today, rode to work with 7 degrees celcius outside. Almost to warm for a jacket still and its almost Decembre. Im not complaining though.

jrickards

Cold, -8C/18F but clear.

Took a slightly different path today because the path I've been taking through Bell Park is actually a "pedestrian-only no bikes" path but at 7am, I figured that the 4-6 people I meet and carefully avoid wouldn't mind (and haven't spoken to me about my bike yet except in wonder). So today, I decided to take the official bike path. It is a service road but in very poor condition, even during the summer and so when the snowplow tried to clear the snow, it did a poor job. Furthermore, there are large ice patches (my back tire slipped a couple of times) and a couple of ice-covered deep (5cm/2") puddles that I broke through but managed to keep upright and move through them. The bike route is awful, tolerable in the summer but awful in the winter. I'm going back to the pedestrian path from now on until I get a complaint.

dramiscram

Big headwind this morning, I left a bit late so I had to push a little more so, in the end, a good workout.

A bit of snow during the night but noting to slow me down. I didn't miss snow at all

timvan_78

Last night I made it home before the rains began.

Warm/windy this AM! (11degC) and it only rained for the last 10 mins of the commute. I hope this east wind keeps up so I can sail it home.
Today was the first day I rode in the dropped position since i hurt my hand (mtb) Sept 1--it's getting better.