Tundra_Man 

4F this morning which was 9 degrees warmer than yesterday morning but felt a lot colder. I think it's because yesterday there was no wind during my ride to work while this morning there was a steady headwind.

Edit: after I wrote this I was curious so I checked the weather and discovered the headwind was 16 mph and the wind chill was -20F. So yeah, I wasn't dreaming that this morning was a tougher ride than yesterday.

HardyWeinberg

48F, gray

robertorolfo

Yes, kudos to rhm, since I wimped out today as well. Originally I had the same thought he did: 'snow isn't bad, and if the rain gets me going home, I don't care because I'm home.' But then I remembered I have to meet a client in the late afternoon, so it's just not on.

Also, I had a little tumble yesterday right outside my apartment, still on the sidewalk, fumbling to put my gloves on while already in motion. Had my forearms on the bars and hands reached through the non-aero brake cables... not smart. Pretty embarrassing.

joeyduck

@Tundra_Man I got worried when you started that you wimped out. I thought you threw in the towel and lost that amazing Sioux Falls Streak.

Anywho all is going well here. I got a job that I thought was permanent two weeks ago but I got the contract to sign yesterday and since I am technically only qualified to teach Chem and Science and the job was for Science, Math, and CompSci it reverted to a temporary posting. So I have emailed HR about changing that. I would love to have t least one permanent class. The school was all very happy that I got the job and were glad to hear I would be around longer term.

Riding and boating has been good throughout a nearly record breaking rainy January in the past 126 years. We have not had the great winter views we had last year due to the rainy weather though, but gosh the longer days are nice.

I have quite a bit of bike work to do on our family of bikes, that is this weekends plans. Next weekend is set aside to fix the golf cart and replace all the throttle to pedal linkages. I gues a 25+ year old golf cart needs to be serviced eventually.

Anywho stay warm and dry out there.

rhm

Okay, yesterday evening sucked.

The sun now hits the horizon just about when I'm getting on the bike, which is nice when the sky is clear, but when it's raining, that means it's dark within minutes. The roads are deteriorating fast these days, and the potholes are sprouting up everywhere, faster than I can keep track of them. And in the rain, they're completely invisible. So I hit more than one pothole, veered suddenly around several, and rode through puddles up to six inches deep. A lot of the way I was riding in inch deep water, my fat tires making a wake like a powerboat, soaking my feet thoroughly. And it was cold.

When I got home, all my clothes went into the washer, I dried off, and put on my pajamas.

Then my wife called. She was about 4 miles away, driving in traffic, had hit a pothole and got a flat. I know how that goes! I got back on the bike to go change the wheel for her. It's dark... it's raining... I jack up the car, remove the wheel, lower the spare tire from under the rear (not easy, directions in the owner's manual not applicable to this model, hands cold and wet...). Mount the spare... try to mount the spare... what's wrong with this picture... okay, no, the damned spare tire definitely does not fit the hub! She's had the car almost four years and we hadn't figured that out yet, so I guess that's a decent run of good luck, but how does a car dealer let a car out with a non-fitting spare tire? I rode home, still in the rain, while she waited for a tow truck. Again, all my clothes went into the washer when I got home.

So, like I said, yesterday sucked.

mgw4jc

Wow @rhm! Quite the day. I hope you don't have any more like that.

Pleasant ride in this morning here. Upper 30s and a tail wind to start out with. This was needed because I left about 5 minutes later than I like to. I made up some time and got to work on time. Averaged 17.4 mph! That's about 2 mph faster than most days.

I had a school bus chasing me for a bit. He wouldn't pass, then stop, pick up kids, catch up, stop, repeat until finally he turned into a neighborhood.

Darth Lefty 

Two MTB commutes this week. Getting my nerve back for little jumps. Not sure why I lost it in the first place.

there should have been two daycare commutes but time allotted did not permit. I’m disappointed

rumrunn6

do you think MTBs provide a faster commute than a road bike because the smaller diameter wheel allows getting back up to speed faster after a stop?

noglider 

I start a new job on Monday, only seven miles from my house. In my mind, that's an ideal distance for a bike commute. And it is also along the Hudson River path, which I love. I didn't even want a job closer to home, so I didn't apply to the places I could walk to.

Harhir

That is a perfect distance. I have an 8 mile commute. But in summer our office will move to a new location which is only 5 miles away. I have to "find" some extra miles then.

Darth Lefty 

lol

Atvar

First commute after neighbour's dog attack on Jan, 12th. It feels good to be back on the saddle.
Italy is back in the game!

jrickards

Another cold day, it's been pretty consistent this week with morning temps in the -16 to -20C/3 to -4F and today was smack dab in the middle at -18C/0F. I got some speed up coasting down a hill and I even felt the wind chill inside my ski helmet (actually, my son's helmet and his head is bigger than mine so there is a bit of a gap plus non-closeable vents on the top). All in all, a nice ride in.

Have a great weekend!!

Tundra_Man 

Landmark day! With this morning's commute I celebrated two years since the last time I drove to work. Well, technically Feb. 10th is the day, but seeing as I'm not working tomorrow (and therefore not commuting) I am celebrating today. Kind of like a government holiday.

Coincidentally it's also Winter Bike To Work Day. The only difference to me from every other work day is that I got to stop by a downtown coffee shop for a free coffee and a baked good on my way in.

We got 4" of fresh snow last night. I got up an hour early to plow the driveway before I left for work, and so I would have some extra time for the ride and the coffee stop. 2F this morning with a -13F wind chill. Of course, I had to ride straight into the wind because that's the way it always works.

The back streets were in really bad shape as the plows hadn't yet come through. For the first 1/2 mile of my commute I was worried it was going to take hours to ride the 4 miles to the client location. The 4" of fresh snow on top of the previous snow pack from earlier in the week made it pretty tricky to keep the bike upright. I kept sliding all over the place and couldn't go any faster than about 4 mph. I'm glad that by leaving early I avoided most of the traffic as there was no way I could maintain any sort of straight line. I was using the whole lane weaving back and forth just to keep from laying the bike down.

Thankfully after about 1/2 mile I got to a road where the plows had already come through and got a 1/2 mile reprieve from the treacherous roads. Then I reached the MUP for the next 3 miles which again was unplowed. At least the MUP had less traffic through the snow so it slowed me down but wasn't as much of a struggle to keep the bike on two wheels. It was a tough ride and a lot of work. By the time I got to the office my clothes were drenched in sweat.

I did stop and commemorate the landmark with a photo, though. I snapped about 10 pictures hoping for a good one. This was the best of the bunch and was still a bit out of focus. Apparently my hands are a little shaky in 2F weather with my heart pounding from the physical exertion of riding through the unplowed snow.

ptempel

You must have been soaked. I know I was soaked pretty good just re-shoveling the sidewalk at home in the rain. Maybe you can get a dinner (or something else ) from the wife for being the hero? Sadly, I didn't cyclecommute today. My 5 yr old son got me and my wife up a few times last night. I think he got some sort of stomach bug from school and was complaining about stomach pain but had no fever. Yeay. Was dragging a bit getting to the train and slept on it this morning. Feeling better now (2nd wind maybe).

rhm

Well, she lets me borrow her car sometimes, that's something, right? Last Saturday I drove it two hundred miles or so so I could ride a randonnee.

This story isn't over yet. This afternoon I'll take my folding bike on the train, go a couple stations farther than usual, so I can pick up the (fixed) car.

The irony just occurred to me: Last weekend I had to drive the car so I could ride my bike. This week I have to ride my bike so we can drive the car!

HardyWeinberg

38F, gray, clammy. Only 2 mile ride, dropped the car to get a new windshield, popped the bike off the rack and rode to work.

PatrickGSR94

So I've been off the bike 2 weeks now. My whole family got slammed with the flu last week, which included an overnight hospital stay with my son. I've been at home and working from home all of last week and this week, and finally came back into the office today but drove the car. I still can't really talk, which really sucks. I'm so tired of having to whisper to everyone. Can't wait to get back to cycling hopefully next week.

Darth Lefty 

You snow city cyclists have my utmost respect as ever

kellichou

I felt really lucky to ride today--my baby (2 years old) is in the hospital (respiratory issues, viral, 5 days so far, probably an 8-10 day stay, although no one can say). My spouse is with her right now. I will relieve her tonight, so she can get some sleep in a decent bed and without constantly waking up. Our medical team is wonderful.

It was 40s (F), so quite warm by my standards. Foggy and some snow flurries. Beautiful.

Did 12 miles each way, felt so good to get out on the bike, blast out the cobwebs and fatigue from the last few days.

I was cycling on the MUP in the darkness, and a pedestrian was approaching, so I held down my light, down and away from him. He screamed at me to turn off the GD light as he limped and staggered by, which startled me. I felt bad. The homeless are our most vulnerable. I got to sleep in a safe, warm bed and cycle to work. I wish we could solve our many societal problems, including homelessness.

Although most of the people I encounter on the MUP, both people who are homeless and fellow commuters, as well as runners and others, seem grateful that I'm turning my headlight away from them. So there's that.

Harhir

You Sir have my utmost respect. This is what I call determination. Here in Texas when temperature are getting close to freezing people offer me lifts home and think I am crazy to ride in these "harsh" conditions.

robertorolfo

Weather was absolutely nasty that day, and with the added car nonsense, I feel for you. Non-fitting spare tire would probably make me go ballistic.


Tundra_Man, great job on the landmark.


Great news about the job, and awesome that you get to ride that path, which is definitely nice.


Today I commuted on my Basso P-R for the first time ever. My boss told me he wasn't coming in today, so I didn't have to worry about him seeing the bike and asking too many questions (yeah, I'm weird like that). But another guy who works in my building and also commutes pretty often definitely noticed that it was a different color to my regular commuters (it's bright yellow).

noglider 

I wish a speedy recovery for your baby and some sleep for you and your spouse, @kellichou.

wphamilton

I figured that the creek flood had receded enough to be passable, and that was true if you don't mind dragging the bottom bracket through water. In my defense it was atypical, over the banks earlier this week from rainfall further north - not that much here - quickly dropping then a day later heavy rain flooding it again. So I figured the ground to be less saturated allowing quicker run-off.

But I had just lubed my chain the day before, so of course I forge through and wash it all off. It wasn't kind to my chain cover either Oh well, it was fun at the time and about time to lube hubs anyway so I won't complain ... more than I already have anyway ...

jrickards

A bit milder this morning compared with last week's morning temps, -16C/3F with little to no windchill (other than that produced by cycling speed). I learned a limit to fat bikes, deep heavy snow thrown over the bank by snowplows onto the pathway that I was cycling on: it just bogged me down in 3 places along the route so I had to walk about 10m/yd each time to get out of it.

I'm glad I got off that path when I did, a few minutes later, my wife saw the snowplow on the same road throwing huge amounts of snow off the road onto the path that I rode on. I hope that the sidewalk plows will go along the path today or I'll be forced to ride on the side of the road (yuck, slushy snirt!!).