Tundra_Man 

Thanks. I've got all my remaining vacation/sick days for the year accounted for already. I have to take my wife to see her family over Christmas, so I need to save my time-off for that. Also my client contract ended yesterday and I'm starting a new contract today with a different client today, so they had a bunch of meetings and things set up for me. Wouldn't have been a good day to miss.

But otherwise, yes that would have worked to keep the streak going. Believe me, it did cross my mind.

ChicagoDan

This morning was my first ride since upgrading my lighting system to a B&M Luxos U. The difference between what I could see with the stock light and the new one is amazing. Even though I still need to tweak the alignment, I could see a lot further down the road and to the sides.

joeyduck

@Tundra_Man. I applaud you and your valiant streak. Giving in this morning was probably the wide decision, you would have regretted not trying.

The only days here I don't miss riding are the days just a few degrees above freezing and raining. Those were miserable, always cold to the core, and wet. Good for those riding though those days.

It's nice to hear of all you still going strong.

esmith2039

Crisp 27 this morning but was a fun ride in hitting all the frost on the road. Tonight though was horrid. Hate wind gusts as their particularly bad around some of the landmarks I pass. And it was a direct head wind.. but I made it home so haha mother nature! Riding the newest addition tomorrow. Supposed to be 26 hope I don't have any problems. Have a hitchhiker problem I may have to deal with sometime...

Phil_gretz

With forecasts for rain all day, and having my gear soaked from yesterday's commute, I planned to drive in this morning to restock some supplies and to give myself a break.

It was foggy and drizzly for this morning's short drive. Visibility was poor, and it made me wonder how well I might see any pedestrians or bicyclists. Bike commuters would need to be careful today. There were none that I passed, though.

esmith2039

Wind was at my back most of the time and this Trek seems to fly compared to the Specialized. Didn't think their would be that much difference in the 26 and 700 tires but seems to be. Now I know why this Trek was hardly used. The back derailleur was so far out of adjustment would go on the three bigger cogs and even with the screw all the way in still won't go on the bigger one. Take care of that tonight.. if I was smart would of test drove it before commuting nah.

dcb23

Coming in from Huntington Metro area I can verify it was really poor visibility. On the Mt Vernon trail coming around the bend at the south end of the airport I could not see any light coming from DC, none. Weirdest thing I have seen in a long time, as if the city were just gone.

mgw4jc

One of my more rainy rides last night. My wife usually bails me out, but it would have been tight schedule wise and I figured I could get wet. I was wishing I had fenders on my bike. Most of my wetness was due to spray from the tires. On the other hand the water drops that fly off the top of the tire look pretty cool when lit up by my headlight.

The hourly forecast this morning said the next batch of rain wouldn't start until 9am and should stop by 5pm, so I rode. A bit of light rain started about 7:40, or about 2.5 miles from work. So a little more wetness for my ride in.

However, at 55F it was much warmer than yesterday morning so I skipped the tights and just wore shorts.

tarwheel 

Challenging ride home last night as a dense fog settled in during my commute. It was just starting to develop when I left the office and was like pea soup by the time I was about halfway home. The fog continued this morning but I had to drive due to meetings across town and after work. We are supposed to get more rain and possible thunderstorms this afternoon, so it's a good day to drive anyway. The forecast is calling for sunny weather on Thursday and Friday, so I should be able to salvage a decent week of commuting.

jrickards

The ride home was in 1C temp with a light spray coming down which made patches of compressed snow into very slippery patches. I realized this early and had a safe ride home until I got into the alley behind the line of houses that includes mine and I hit a patch of ice and went down. My knee hit a bit of exposed gravel (the patch of gravel I was moving towards to maintain my tires' grip on the surface) and got a bit of a skinned knee and probably a bruise in the next couple of days. I'm getting used to this falling on slippery patches/ice but that's a long way from saying that I'm enjoying it.

Today's ride in also was in 1C temp but on a different route because I had to take the Jeep to the shop (with the bike on the rack behind it) and then ride in to work from there. I rode on some newly paved roads (this summer) and they were very smooth, very little texture, so I was careful because at least with texture, a thin surface of iciness will settle in the valleys between the pebbles in the asphalt but with little to no texture, the iciness could be like an ice rink. I moved from patch to patch of leftover grit from previous sanding earlier this week or the weekend and stayed up. However, when I got to a gravel parking lot that is across the road from my office building, a parking lot I don't normally have to cross because I approach the office from the other direction, I had to walk because it was a virtual sheet of ice.

I'm away tomorrow and Friday so when I return on the weekend, I'm going to put on my DIY studded tires (unless the weather gets milder and then I'll put it off a bit longer).

Ride safe and keep the rubber down (don't follow my example!)

Tundra_Man 

Back on the bike today after yesterday's failed commute that wrecked my streak. So starting over on day 1...

29 degrees with a medium head-wind (about 18 mph.) The plows had the streets pretty clear. Rode on a packed layer of snow/ice left after the plows came through for the 1st mile. No trouble for the studded tires. Way easier riding than what I'd experienced the previous two days.

Got to the MUP for the next 5 mile stretch of my commute. Wasn't sure if they'd be plowed out yet or not. The city does a good job keeping our trails clear in the winter, but they're the lowest on the priority list after all the roads have been cleaned. It makes sense, as the MUP usage drops considerably during the winter. Anyway, right as I got to the access point the truck with the plow blade came blasting by going the other direction. Perfect timing! I got to ride on a freshly cleared path. Saw a buck with a huge rack on his head running through the woods.

At one point the MUP branches across the river into two routes. It crosses the river using an old railroad bridge which is too narrow for the truck plows. They hadn't yet cleared the snow from the bridge with their snowblowers, so I had to walk the 100 yards or so across the bridge as the snow was too deep to ride through and the wooden surface was very slick underneath.

Dropped a chain at one point when shifting into my smallest ring. This bike doesn't normally do that. Thankfully just shifting back up to the middle ring was enough to get it back in place. The next shift down was successful. That was weird.

The last mile of my commute is through some apartment building parking lots and down some limited use dead-end roads. I take this route because the alternative is two very busy high speed four-lane streets with no shoulder. I'd rather be alert for cars backing out of parking spaces. These parking lots and streets hadn't been plowed very well, so that was kind of slow going. But I made it just fine.

I did have one guy out shoveling give me "the look" of bewilderment. Apparently he's never seen someone riding their bike in the snow before.

arsprod 

Well the 1st day of December was a tease, today it was 30F and we're expecting a snow/rain mixture. I was running late so, of course, had a flat, on the rear

HardyWeinberg

40F and wet. No rain, just a lot of standing water from last night.

Also, a county bus chose to stop in the traffic lane rather than crush me out of the bike lane.

HardyWeinberg

Also, a motorcyclist died on I5 Monday, went down on the slick road (33F and raining), then rushed to get back up again and slipped into another lane where a tractor trailer gobbled him up.

spivonious

Another rainy day here in PA. I really need to figure out a way to keep my feet dry.

timvan_78

Dark and wet but at least it wasnt close to freezing!
My front (white) blackburn flea 2.0 light is officially dead and won't hold a charge. Strange because the rear (red) still works great.

Crazy crows around these parts.

essiemyra

Well, today the commute was not fun. Way to foggy. It made me nervous. Next time I see fog like that I am not taking my bike to work. It was a warm 43f degrees this morning with wet roads and fog, not a great mixture.

dcb23

For really rainy weather I use a pair of nylon booties from Showers Pass, they cover up the whole shoe.

43F/6C First dry ride in three days but came with a strong headwind, I was barely doing 9 mph along the Potomac.

mgw4jc

One the way home last night a pickup truck passed me on a sweeping curve - double yellow line and all. I could see the headlights of a couple of oncoming cars. They weren't too close, but close enough that the truck had to make a quick correction back into my lane. He was already plenty past me, but his quick correction caused him to start fish-tailing on the wet road.

The backend of the truck went left, then right, then left again before it straightened up. He came real close to side-swiping one of the oncoming cars. I don't know why he chose to pass on the curve. He had been sitting behind me waiting for a good spot to pass, but then just went for it.

The rain and dreariness moved out last night and brought a clear, cooler morning and dry roads. A nice ride in at about 42F. I left slightly later than I like to, but pushed the pace a bit for a couple of miles and made it to work at normal time.

wphamilton

This was my first commute using my early Christmas gift to myself: a Dawes SST single speed (Dawes Streetfighter review) I have set it up with a larger frame (56cm) and high stem for a more relaxed, very upright position, which is more of an adjustment for me than the single speed per se.

tarwheel 

Similar weather to mgw4jc in this part of NC, with cool and dry weather for a change. Roads were still a little wet, mainly a concern on sharp corners with leaves still falling from trees. Temperatures are supposed to drop during the day, and my ride home should be colder than this morning, which is unusual. I hope that I'm dressed warm enough because I didn't want to overdress this morning.

arsprod 

26F and clear, lots of ice patches. I should have ridden studdly tired bike but at the moment he doesn't have a crank - that will be remedied tonight!

wphamilton

I almost got right-hooked this morning. I was on guard for it having noted her turn signal behind me and sure enough she rushed up to the "hook position" beside me just before the intersection. I'd already grabbed some brakes to be behind her at that point, but evidently she finally realized what she was doing and stopped in the traffic lane! Leaving me in the awkward position of deciding whether to wait her out or ride up past, risking her changing her mind and turning into me after all. After a couple of seconds I went by, but in hindsight I should have simply moved out into the traffic lane behind her to remove all ambiguity from the situation.

bmthom.gis

Well my commute was a tad painful today. Riding my single speed (track dropouts), rear wheel somehow loosened up enough to succumb to chain tension and slide all the way forward, jamming the chain between the cog and hub, the wheel jammed up on the chainstays and over the bars I went!!

Ouch. It was cold enough I was wearing jeans and a jacket. So I got some road rash anyway, but it could have been a lot worse. Right now my forearm just below my elbow hurts the most...I expect some good bruising there. Two people stopped to ask if I was okay and/or needed a ride. This happened in a residential type of area in the city after accelerating out of a traffic light.

Luckily, I was even carrying a set of wrenches in my messenger bag! I had thought about taking them out this morning but decided against it, so I was able to leverage the chain and get it back on the cog and tighten the hell out of the wheel.

I'm mostly upset that now my phone has a crack in the screen, but the wife already said we can look into upgrading, since it is that time on our plan anyway.

Tundra_Man 

Google, weather.com and a local news web site all said it was 5 F this morning. Two thermometers at my house and a bank sign all said it was 13 F. Someone's lying to be but I don't know who.

Threw on a base thermal layer this morning. During my ride it felt like the actual temp was somewhere between 5 and 13. The base layer proved to be a little too much as it was soaked with sweat when I arrived at work. I certainly don't set any speed records when the temp gets this cold (probably averaged around 11 mph) but it sure feels like I'm working harder than I do in the summer.

Outside of that, nothing else really interesting happened on today's ride.