TwoHeadsBrewing

Wonderful! I've driven to work the past two days due to crazy 40+ mph gusts, downed trees, and torrential rains. This morning it was still raining, but just a quiet drizzle, and very little wind. It's supposed to get worse this afternoon...but I don't care so much when I have a warm shower at the end of my ride home. The next couple days should be even better, with "chance of rain" in the forecast. A welcome change from the "hold onto your ass" forecast of the past couple days.

ausfix

Methinks you were interacting with this fine fellow in that Honda pickup thingy: https://hamcall.net/call/KE7BVF

I could be wrong, but I don't think so . . .

doorunrun

How many times have you sung, "Rider On The Storm" to yourself on a day like today......it looked like we were going to get pounded by rain this afternoon with a tornado threat right around 5:00. Luckily, the storm moved through early and by 5 we were down to just a light drizzle. Just as I got to the end of the ride home it started coming down heavier. A lot of times the forecast is for gloom and doom weather-wise as it just doesn't pan out. BTW, catch the Doors' big hit here: https://popup.lala.com/popup/360569823129910378

buzzman

nice quick commutes in and out of the city today. but man, yesterday I had to rush from one location to another for work and did a hammer sprint mid-day and ran up 4 flights of stairs when I got there and wow!- did I feel it all day today. I must have ridden harder than I thought.

wheel

That's fantastic. A big thanx. I will have to remember this source. Maybe a friendly greeting card .

It will go nicely with the police report I filed on him.

wheel

My ride was an adventure at best. Thursday night
The first 10 minutes saw me crossing a creek in the middle of the road about 3 feet high. (gutter U shaped in the middle of the road) It was a total downpour roughly 1.8 inches rain for the day (a record). I had to detour around the wash, to find a bridge over it. That went fine. The headwind was the hardest thing 36 mph starting out and then going down to 25 mph. The gust were up near 40mph. The water flooding on the roads was unreal. I haven't rode in a bike lane in the last 3 days. I was in the middle lane of a three lane road at one point, and taking a wide 15 foot lane at another.

My feet were a little frozen (sandals and wool socks), My panniers have water in them after being submerged numerous times. Everything worked well. My ride will be wet if the gear doesn't dry out.

Despite all that it only took an extra half hour.

My morning ride, Thursday.
It started to rain just as I got outside. I didn't bother with the rain pants since I was going home. Rained the whole way home. I had to detour around the wash.
I combined a shopping trip and everything went fine until I rode home. A pickup truck buzzed me. I finally made it home.

Fizzaly

it was crazy nice today 55 on way to work at 6pm at 2 am on way home 38 crazy, the last few days ive only been wearing my adidas wind jacket over a tee idont know whats going on but it makes me feel where gonna go through hell in idaho during feb

vtjim

Down around 10F/-12C. Very pleasant. The sun was rising. There was some fog from the lake wafting around. Reeled in the same guy I reeled in yesterday. Saw more people out walking their dogs. One person waiting for the bus, bundled up, hunched over, with hands in pockets, looked at me as if I had lost my mind as I rode past. I smiled and said hi. I love winter riding.

I took a picture yesterday on my ride home. That's Lake Champlain, and way off in the distance, the pointy peak is Whiteface Mountain.

duckbill

Tail wind this morning made up for the head wind I had on Monday. Overcast and minus one degree Celsius. Witnessed the trees filled with Crows again this morning, I have never seen anything like this before. The cawing noise is all you can hear it is that loud. I would swear there are more than five hundred birds. Has anybody on BF know any thing about such a large gathering of Crows?

Artkansas 

It was nice. I woke up 45 minutes before the alarm. And after weeks of rain, snow and wind, the winds were calm and the temps at 48 degrees F. The sun is coming back so there was a glow on the horizon and enough light to see by. Starting out early, I avoided traffic.

larryfeltonj

Another very nice commute here in Atlanta. I started at 6 AM, and there was a very light rain. The temperature was 38 F. Light traffic, and the traffic signals were kind to me. All in all it was a pleasant low key commute (on Fridays I seldom feel like sprinting to work).

tarwheel 

Certain kinds of birds -- mostly blackbirds (starlings, grackles, crows) -- often gather and migrate in large flocks during fall and winter. It is not unusual for millions of them to roost in particular location for a while. We had some roosting in woods behind my neighborhood when I was a kid, and the ground was white like snow after they finally left.

I am stuck at home today, so no commute for me. Got rained out yesterday so I drove. Hopefully the rain will let up later today so I can go for short ride around the hood.

bikegeek57

drizzle is fun. helmet light is so intense it lights up the drizzle. going fast is like one of those screen savers from yesteryear. going slow the particles float in front of you. very cool. 38 deg and drizzle/fog. nice ride actually.

CCrew

It was ... what's the word for it? WET! That's it! LOL

EKW in DC

Wet and chunky. i.e., rain with the occasional sleet thrown in. Glad this storm isn't what they were suggesting it could be in this area. I was worried I'd have to pass on the bike commute today. Luckily, I awoke to see only liquid around and to a wonderful, liquid rain only forecast for the day.

Glad I got my fenders re-ordered last night, though. They would have come in handy this morning. At least I'll have them soon.

PaulH

I was looking forward to making the first tracks of the day, but it all tuened out to be just rain. Lack of snow bums me out in the winter.

Paul

HardyWeinberg

30F and sunny. Threatening our run at warmest January on record!

caloso

I believe the correct collective noun for crows is a murder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crow

You need a crow gun. It's basically butane or propane cannon; no projectile, it just makes a boom every couple of minutes.

yarb

Happy to be back commuting after a couple of weeks away from home. Roads were dry! Not especially warm but I wore shorts and fingerless gloves to encourage the weather gods.

wheel

Rear View for the rare day in PHX. A play list of videos which show my morning rainy commute and the adventure. So sit back and watch . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6vdJxccuNY&feature=PlayList&p=AF4857DAE75EF498&index=0&playnext=1

buzzman

Had to go in tonight around 6pm so my commute was at a different time than usual. It made a difference in driver attitudes- probably in part due to it being a Friday night.

Despite my heavy commuter bike with a pretty wide profile studded tire the air was still enough and I was feeling frisky so I was able to book along one section through Brighton (an urban mixed residential/commerical area) by fully taking the lane and keeping up with the traffic. When I do this in the morning on the way to work in the am it doesn't seem to cause the drivers too much distress.

But tonight I had two cars get right on my rear wheel and attempt to force their way around me. I was holding a distance of about 35' between me and the car ahead but they felt the need to fill it. When there was no oncoming traffic from the opposite direction they chose to whip around me and fill the space. Ironically, of course, in less than 1/4 mile traffic came to a complete halt as there was congestion for well over a mile. Naturally, I just moved easily through the traffic leaving them well behind me.

When I got to Commonwealth Avenue, another urban (more commercial than residential) section that runs by Boston University, despite traffic congestion and slow traffic speeds yet another driver chose to whip around me and then right hook me (they signaled) and almost took out 3 pedestrians as they rounded the corner.

The strange thing is had I driven this same route to work tonight I'd have arrived a good 20 minutes later than I had on the bike but drivers seem to continually have the impression a bike on the road is slowing them down.

duckbill

This is a serious problem in Southern Ontario especially in Toronto where 10 pedestrians have been killed this year. Many pedestrians have been killed or injured from vehicles turning right at an intersection where the pedestrian had the right of way. I have witnessed many, many vehicles turning right on a red without coming to a complete stop as the law requires all the time looking to the left for through traffic. Maybe the only recourse is to ban right turns at a red signal.

Quiet ride in this morning except at the point where the Crows are roosting. Minus three Celsius with an easterly wind, (east wind usually means a change in the weather around here).

rumrunn6

yeah - taking the lane doesn't always make friends and there are certainly different attitudes during different times of the day and night! heck I changed my evening commute time by one hour and there was a whole new crowd that's gonna get an educational real soon! I just hope I survive their education! ugh

duckbill

I had not read the news for today when I had posted this, it is now 12 pedestrians dead in the City of Toronto!

buzzman

WTF??!!!

Second rough ride through Brighton today. Ended up with me having such a serious confrontation with a driver that I ended up calling the Boston police on the guy.

Same stretch of road as yesterday and today this guy in a white van buzzes me and he's crowding me as he cuts back in front of me so I give a tap, literally a tap, to the side of the van with my mittened hand to let him know he's cutting waaaaayyy too close. He jams on the brakes and gets out of the van to tell me to get off the road because I have no right to be there. He then tells me don't ever "touch his van"- this was a pretty beat up white work van, by the way. I attempted to let him know that I had every right to be on the road and if his van was passing me close enough for me to touch it then it was too close and that 3' might be a safer distance to pass me.

He was having none of it and insisted I had no right to be on the road and he was going to get me next time he saw me on the road. I asked him if he was threatening me. He gets right in my face and it was getting very close to a physical thing between us. I said, "One more threat and I call the police and they will tell you I have every right to the road." He says, "Go ahead!" and so I do and this idiot actually waits for them to arrive. They arrived with a squad car and a paddy wagon and I told my side of the story, they said I did the right thing to call, ID'd him, gave him a brief lecture and let him go. As they walked back to their vehicles he signals me from his van and mouths, "Ill be watching for you. I'm going to get you."

What fun! I ride this road pretty much every day unless I take the bike path- so it's pretty likely we'll meet again. Rode it home tonight at 11 pm and watched for my new found friend. White van license plate 95R***. Guy was a real jerk but this was my week for running into a bunch of them- weird thing is I haven't done anything different this week just lucky, I guess.