Last night was beautiful. Calm, spotty cloud cover and warm. The ride was nice. It started to rain right as I was getting home.

As [MENTION=333933]timvan_78[/MENTION] mentioned it was windy. About a 30 km/h wind from the SE, pedaled right into it. The gusts were blowing me all over. I didn't get any rain but expect it tonight, I hope for a tail wind also. But we ask know how hoping for a tailwind goes.
[MENTION=297562]dramiscram[/MENTION]. I know my love is snow is ridiculous. But having grown up on the tug hill plateau in the lake Ontario snow belt and getting ten feet of it a year I was used to it, so was everyone else in town. So it was never an issue, but it seems to be a big deal these days.



I did stop and watch a heron for a few minutes.

After being sick myself or home with sick kids for a couple weeks, I'm happy to have 110km of cycle commuting under my belt this week (and counting...) Also seem to be running smoothly again after the new chain, new rear derailleur cable, rebuilt freehub, and a tune up.

Forgot my Garmin Cycle GPS upstairs this morning and couldn't be bothered to take my gear off to go back up and get it; my first ride without it! I think it was liberating and aggravating in equal measure.

Also, drivers are crazy this time of year. Continuing to observe 1-3 incidents each commute supporting this.

It's not ridiculous at all and I don't mind the snow, I just don't miss it

I also saw a blue heron this summer, I didn't know those birds were spread that wide across the country. Around here we mostly see white heron.

I remember that you had seen one. They are likely the same, they have a wide habitat (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_blue_heron) . They have a blue gray coloring.

I find them gorgeous to watch. As I was saying yesterday I dislike stopping but the heron makes me stop.

They are not even new or novel to me. I just like them. The island my in-laws live one has a large rookery in the spring. They are loud and stink.

In regards to the snow. I miss it since we don't get it here. I guess I don't miss the snow in the summer.

35F/ 2C with a strong headwind on empty streets. Everyone out shopping or sleeping I suppose.

Email clean-out day here at the office.

Very cold, -20C/-4F. I got about 5 minutes into the ride when my front tire, that had a slow leak, decided to speed things up and it was flat. I walked the bike home and got a ride with my wife. From today's low of -20C, it will warm up to +6C/42F on Sunday, I can work on the tire then when it is "warm".

As if I wasn't tired enough already from increased commuting mileage this week, I had my ass absolutely HANDED to me by a strong, persistent headwind this morning. My commute was predominantly heading west... weather office says the winds the past couple hours have been from the west at >32 km/h = 20 mph.

T I R E D

[MENTION=348526]HydroG33r[/MENTION]. That sucks, no matter what. Unless you can tuck in behind a cube can going 30.

I honestly didn't notice the tailwind heading east for the drop off. I mostly ride narrow tree lined side streets. But after I left the daycare the wind was pushing me around. Especially as I crested the bridge it was not pleasant.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Haha, I endured the same thing. Thankfully it didn't shift and it was an easy coast back home.

Well I got the head wind. I was about 3 km/h slower than my normal and 5+ minutes longer.

@timvan_78 I tore apart my buggered STI lever and found the problem. It works for now, but I will keep it as a spare. If I am able to find a piece I will try to fix it.

The right lever was torqued outward and broke the mechanism inside; keeping it outboard of the inner lever and catching and not letting it upshift. The broken bit is in the red circle. It was nice to tear it down and clean it up and re lube it, it looks nice ans shiny now. I did not try to take apart the mechanism, all the pieces were just to get to the mechanism. I temporarily fixed it by squeezing together the broken bit.

All the bits


The problem in red


Not blown up pic



@Mr. Hairy Legs and @HydroG33r and @timvan_78. Enjoy the snow. Do you ride in it? I am trying to convince my wife to let me get studs, but she wants me to stop for the season after the 40+ accidents Tuesday.

Every year I plan to not ride in snow/ice, but end up doing it anyway. I feel like I'd rather break my neck than sit in traffic 5 days a week.

another beautiful So Cal morning; traffic was heavier than it was yesterday, and heavier than a typical Saturday. I suppose people are out early looking for bargains. Any of you starting to see holiday lights yet? I see them popping up; perhaps a holiday light thread is in order. I can't believe that we're already heading into December! I look forward to my ride home this afternoon.

Car accidents, I am guessing? I feel safer on my bike (with studded tires) than I do in a car when the winter turns ugly. I have better grip, generally - can't count the number of times I have passed cars helplessly spinning their tires - and I also have more choices as far as avoiding gridlock. I do change my route to avoid heavy traffic and I ride more conservatively than I do in summer, but every year I have been surprised at how much more mobile I am with the bike than my friends are with cars.

My commute today was a tad on the chilly side... -21C air temp and a north wind bringing the wind chill down to -34C... I bundled up and rode in to work because it's faster than taking transit (and it's downhill), but I think I'm rolling the whole rig onto the train for the way home The roads were perfect for studded tires, all nice hard-packed snow without any chewed-up bits or glaze ice yet. That'll change by Monday, unfortunately.

Mid 40's today, melting snow and ice mixed in with road salt....sloppy! Looks to be single digits and windy again on Monday. Welcome to the Midwest.

My mom sent me this, it's a hotlink, I can't speak for its provenance. Stay safe up there in the frozen North

Happy Monday. 52F/11C Streets were busier than usual it seemed and I now know I cannot take my alternate inbound route anymore, too much construction debris around the old SouthWest waterfroint here in DC. They're building a series of condos and shops etc to replace some old clubs and parking garages. Problem for riding, especially early moring dark, is all of the cuts in the road, gravel, steel plates, and holes. Just not safe.

I'll resume when they get closer to completion...in another year +.

It was a very nice commute in after being off the bike for six very long weeks. The weather was warm at a 39f degrees when I left the house this am, with dark partly cloudy skies. I am not sure how much I will ride in the next month or two due to road conditions and what falls from the sky. But today was a gift!

very nice commute this a.m. . unseasonably warm temps in the 50's. not sure how long it will last.. also not sure how long will be riding. see what mother nature brings.as long temp is somewhat reasonable and roads are safe i will keep on riding

Just can't do it this morning. 16F(-9C) with a feels-like temperature of 5F(-15C). If it was a shorter commute, then maybe. But 1hr 20min in the saddle... I think I'll take the car today.

Slow ride this morning due to tired legs and a headwind. I missed a lot of rides last week until Thanksgiving, and then tried to make up for it between Friday and Sunday. One of my goals this year was to ride a metric century every month, and Sunday was my last chance in November. So I took my new touring bike and cranked out 62.3 miles on a beautiful sunny afternoon. My legs were feeling it this morning so I took it easy.

My new Soma Saga touring bike is working out great so far. The fit is absolutely perfect for me and it rides surprisingly nice for frame designed to carry heavy loads. The bike it replaced, a Gunnar Crosshairs, never fit me right. On paper, it looked fine but in practice the top tube was just too long.

Nice ride in today. A little chilly but not cold enough where I needed my face mask. Got a flat tire about 1.5 miles from work. I'm really disappointed in Gatorskins. Three flats in 5 months (roughly 1300 miles) and horrible handling in the rain. All on normal suburban roads in pretty good shape.

Short week last week, but back to Mon - Fri this week. It was 51F when I woke up, but had dropped to more like 45F when I left. I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt though because it will warm up to near 70 this afternoon.

New things seen:
Some Christmas decorations
Dead raccoon in road

Only 3 more weeks and the days start getting longer again!

Nice ride in, cool 6° celcius but it will drop to -8° celcius for the ride home. How do you dress for such weather? Fortunately I've got a lot of space to spare on the bike so I brought more clothing for tonight.

Post Thanksgiving break lull, just not feeling the commuting love this morning with 33F but rode anyway. Saving grace was a 20mph tailwind, which of course will be a 20+mph headwind on the way home. Ah well, the things we do for love

A lovely morning. The dew fell with a heavy thud and then steamed up into Tule fog. I saw only two other bike commuters, which is unusual. I did wish I had some fenders because the roads were wet from a rainy weekend. This will probably be the week's only bike commute as the forecast is for more rain.