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Yesterday's commute was pretty good. Beautiful autumn morning. National Park Service has impressively managed to keep Mt. Vernon Trail relatively free of the dreaded leaves. I did make one questionable decision - riding around a stopped bus, only to have bus quickly catch me while I was slowing down on a climb. Fortunately, the bus switched lanes - the driver must be used to dumb cyclist decisions with the ever-increasing cyclist traffic in this city.

Evening commute was also nice - just cool enough that I wasn't a sweaty mess when I arrived at my favorite bar on U St. about 16 min. later. Enjoyed the Tues night steak special and beers, as well as the show at Black Cat. I then took advantage of the after-7pm rule to ride to the Metro station and take it home w/ the bike. Climbed the hill home without my lungs feeling like they're going to burst or sweating by pedaling on the lowest gear at a leisurely pace.

Tomorrow would normally be my next riding day but "heavy rain" is predicted. I don't mind getting wet, but the prospect of riding on wet leaves is making me wuss out.

Going to be a wet one going home with half an inch expected during my commute. The storm front is knocking down small trees and flooding places as it approaches. It should make for an interesting ride.

Your next benchmark is a full year. After I hit that I drove in once just so I could stop counting ;)

I couldn't have said it better myself.

While I'd love to go a full year I'm also realistic enough to know that's a pretty lofty goal. Our winters are pretty darn harsh and my wife gets nervous if I ride too much below zero. If the snow gets deep I'm just not motivated enough to leave hours ahead of time in order to bust my way through it before the plows run. Our never-ending wind while annoying in the summer can become dangerous in the winter. I'll ride most of the time this winter, but the cards would have to align perfectly for me not to drive at all.

Baby steps. :) My next goal is 150 days. Then I'll re-evaluate.

As expected, super fast heading north yesterday afternoon. I felt like an A-group rider, cruising easily at 20-25 mph on the flats, and even getting up to about 30 in places where I usually barely crack 20.

However the wind was gusting up over 25 mph straight out of the southeast, so on the sections where I turned east, some of those gusts brought me to nearly a standstill. So unfortunately the ride home wasn't as fast as I'd hoped for, it was about 69 minutes. Still far better than 90 minutes from the morning commute.

Right before the turn into my neighborhood I passed a small medical clinic office which has a metal roof, and I could see a couple of the metal roof panel sheets trying to peel off in the wind. There were a couple of people walking out who I assumed were employees, so I yelled out as I passed by "YOUR ROOF IS COMING OFF!!!" No idea if they heard me or not, or if they cared or did anything about it. Oh well.

Crazy rain last night. Monday and Tuesday together we picked up nearly 5 inches of rain. We were an inch below normal for the month before this week, now we're at least 3 inches above normal.

I don't know about you "guys" (guys of both genders) but the weather sure is mild here, well above seasonal normal. This afternoon's ride home was in 12C weather, 12C above normal daily highs. However, the forecast for the rest of the days of this week and next week are for temps more like normal. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Bad ride in the rain. Tons of leaves. Destroyed my roller clutch hub. Slips under pressure now. What a bummer.

A new low for my evening commute to work. According to Accuweather on my phone it was 0*F at 19:00 in Anchorage AK. Boy am I slow in that kind of temps.
Justin

This morning the commute in was very nice and even warm with the temp at 42f degrees when I left the house. I was confused on how to dress and had to take my jacket off before even getting on the bike. I brought it with me just in case.

My hours at work are changed so I can ride home in the light in the afternoon, which means I start earlier in the am.

The problem with a long streak is the longer it gets the more determined you become in the quest (at least for me). I hit the five year mark back in October, but around then we moved from DC over into VA and I now have an 11-mile commute one way. I think the streak ends once winter sets in.

No signs of winter yet: 63F / 18C, light rain. This is November?

I totally lucked out with this storm system that dropped all the snow in Colorado and Kansas, then gave the crazy winds and rain to Kansas City and Indy. I had a bit of wind going home last night, but nothing too crazy.

The rain started last night around 7:30, well after I got home. It was just light rain for a while and then came down heavier during the night. By the time my 6am alarm went off it was pretty well cleared out.

My ride was on pretty wet roads and my feet were bit damp from spray, but I was dry overall. And this was the warmest morning of the week at 64F. Forecast is for a high of 72.

I forgot to mention the deer that I saw this morning. I saw one about to cross in front of me. He slipped a bit on the wet road, but was far enough ahead of me that it wasn't close. But I saw his buddy about to try the same thing. If he had kept going we may have been on a collision course. He made a quick turn and then paralleled the road for a bit and raced me for about 30 yards until he turned away.

That's why you randomly pick a day, drive in and stop the streak, so that it doesn't feel obligatory. I figure after one year you've handled everything already.

We're supposed to get some freezing mornings in a day or two, that's winter enough for me.

Same here. Had a great tailwind for the ride home last night. Sort of fun to see my old (heavy) commuter bike hitting those kind of speeds!

A little cooler for the ride in this morning (35F/1.6C), and finally a break from the crazy winds. I left my shoe covers at work last night, so my toes just started getting a little cold by the time I arrived. Actually my hands were the coldest. Wore a pair of gloves that were just a little too thin. Otherwise, a fantastic commute!

About 20 degrees cooler this morning than it was Tuesday morning, but no wind this time. Dang I'm slow(er) when it gets cold.

I was jipped! By the time I got going home the winds had died to a paltry 10-12mph. A little cool this morning, mid 40's and headwind again. But something strange happened - the sun came out

Consecutive commute #143 :

Today was another tough one, both weather-wise and logistically.

Weather-wise, it was 27 degrees with a 30+ mph headwind that dropped the wind chill down into the low teens. I bundled up and wasn't too bad except for my feet. My bike shoes are ventilated which is nice in the summer but crazy cold in the winter. I need to get some warmer SPD shoes for the in-between days when it's cold enough to need warmth but not yet snowy enough to make me switch to my winter boots. Don't want to spend the money for them right now though.

Anyway, the wind coming straight at me dropped my speed to 10-11 mph even though I was on my road bike which handles wind much better than my hybrid. I would gear down and try to spin but the gusts would still make me feel like I was mashing. Going up hills my speed would drop into the single digits and my heart rate was racing just to maintain what little speed I had. Thankfully the wind had calmed from the 60+ mph speeds that happened during the night. One advantage of my slower pace was I was able to see several tree branches that had fallen on the MUP in time to avoid them in the dark. Even with my bright headlight they would blend into the pavement and I wouldn't see them until they were directly in front of me. Three or four times I stopped to move large limbs that had fallen and were blocking the path. Mornings like this you realize how easy it is to outride your lights even on a bicycle.

The logistical challenge started yesterday. A co-worker hit a deer with his car earlier this week and had an appointment to drop his car off at a body shop across town. He asked if I would be willing to pick him up at the shop this morning and take him to work. So I had a dilemma. I really didn't want to break my streak by driving, but at the same time I didn't want to be a jerk and tell him "no" because I knew he didn't have anyone else to ask and didn't have money for a cab.

So I devised a solution: I got up an hour earlier than normal (yeech) and rode my bicycle to work and showered as normal. I then borrowed the company car (reserved it yesterday) and drove down to the body shop to pick him up. I was back at the office 15 minutes before my usual start time (which is about when I normally get to my desk anyway.) So while I did drive a car this morning, I didn't use it to get myself from home to work, and vice-versa so I'm allowing my streak to stay active on a technicality. :)

On a positive note, I broke 4000 miles for the calendar year today. Previous to this year my best was 2361 miles. I've still got another month and a half to go so I'll probably wind up in the 4400 mile range.

I hear ya! It's been cloudy here for days. But today... for one day only... we have sun!

rainy morning but hope afternoon weather forecast is right.
 

60F and pouring rain. I put my toe covers inside my shoes :innocent: above my socks and it worked pretty well. Toes were dry for 7.5 miles the other 3 plus miles my feet were pretty soggy.

I wore my rain coat.. since i own a cycling specific one, body stayed dry for the most part... other than sweating. I wish my rain coat had zips up the bottom side of the sleeves. It would be perfect. It is supposed to be 71F on the way home. IN NOVEMBER.


new chainrings, chain, and cassette sure make the bike ride AWESOME TOO.

cold & clammy, no actual rain. A bit of wind but not like the last couple days.

Three round trips this week. The mornings have been cold, the evenings have been dark with a pretty half moon

There were warnings about heavy rain today, so I took the subway. So far, we've only had very light drizzle, but they say we might get up to 1.5 inches today and tonight.

Same here [MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION]. I sweated in my rain gear this morning. It just started raining a few minutes ago, so it looks like I made the right decision.:)