CptjohnC

Not a bad morning - - though I chose a shorter ride to ease my knees a bit. I thought I had misjudged the cold when I left off the Balaclava in favor of the beanie, but a mile or so in, all was right. Much less wind than the past few rides, which was nice, and more people out, possibly because of my later than usual start.

Oh, and I bought another used bike last night... Bad boy! It has some mechanical needs (derailleurs are frozen-ish), but overall it seems pretty sound. Guess I'll be visiting the mechanic's forum.

EKW in DC

A dangerous affliction. One I'd surely suffer from if I had more space to store bikes and more money to buy them with. Have fun with the restoration! Co-ops (Velocity on Alexandria and Phoenix Bikes in Arlington) might be good resources (both expertise as well as tools/stands) for you as you move forward with your projects.

NJ_Falls

So I guess the new year celebrations aren't over. Apparently somebody through a beer bottle at my front porch and this morning on my way out the door, I rolled my bike out the door with one arm and held the door open with the other (so I couldn't really see the evil that awaited me on my front porch until I had rolled my bike out the door), promptly closed the door behind me then I heard the nightmarish sound of air escaping my front tire. Sure enough I had rolled my bike right over the jagged beer bottle and in turn had to cancel my commute for the day. So I guess you could say that my commute was short?

jimcross

50s and lite rain. Not a great Texas commute. That and I think I think my freewheel is toast. At least it got me home.

gecho

Nice ride today, -8c so I didn't need to dress as warm or wear my respirator. The MUP was ploughed so I was able to go pretty fast. The 1km section of road near the university was very unstable making me slide around, since the speed limit is 70km/h I'll stick to the sidewalk until the road gets better.

Below is a reason not to park your bike outside the campus bar overnight. These bikes have been upside down since late October, there were more of them but I think some got taken home during the break. There is another bike there that looks like people were jumping up and down on the back tire trying to bend it in half.

CantiLever

-5C with a little wind this morning. It snowed a couple days ago, but they sanded and salted it pretty quick, so I got to stay on the road the whole way in and back (5 miles each way).

Ski goggles were fogging up it was so warm

All in all it was a great ride, it felt good to be back in the saddle after so much slacking over the holidays.

dcb23

Mellow ride in this morning, slight headwind, cold mid 20's I'd say. My zen was shattered by news of some dumba$$ rule in my building that we are not to leave clothing in lockers...during the day. Serious wtf. Ok then, the long underwear shall be hung out to dry....in my office.

-holiday76

mid 20's I'd guess, no wind thankfully. Today was my second day commuting since I've started a new job. the commute is 15 miles each way on a bike trail. All Flat.

The first day I had a flat on a new tire. Nail. Also my dyno driven headlight didnt work. Luckily I had a backup headlamp. Aside from that the commute was ok, but i felt very slow.

Today i took my long wheel base above seat steering recumbent that I havent ridden since I got back from a long unsupported tour in 2008. I soon remembered that it shifted like crap and I really need to convert to rear mech to friction with some thumb shifters.
Aside from that it worked great, i just feel slow and my feet were cold even though I had two pairs of socks on and wind covers over my shoes. Oh and the cleats in my shoes need to be adjusted for riding a bent. I've always found the cleat needs to be closer to the center of your foot on a bent.

The commute took like an hour 15 minutes to do the 15 miles. So hopefully my speed comes back as bit as I get back in shape. the last 9 months of not commuting really took its toll on me.

EKW in DC

Glad it was "warmer" this morning since I forgot my full finger gloves in my office overnight. Had only my half-finger gloves. Temp right at freezing when I rode in, though the wind is starting to come back - a steady 10-15 mph headwind out of the north was not a welcome travel companion.

Speaking of travel companions, I seem to have found the perfect one, but I never met the individual. I say that because for the 4 or 5 miles of my commute that are along the MUP, someone on a bicycle was pretty much the same distance behind me the whole time, no faster, no slower. If I were a character in a John le Carre novel, I'd be worried that they were a KGB or CIA tail, but as I'm not, I'll assume that they just travel the same speed as me.

HardyWeinberg

36F, somewhere between mist and drizzle. I kind of preferred 10F cooler and dry but I hear we'll be back to that next week anyway.

daijoubu2k8

I found the limits of my studded tires this morning! Riding the Brunette River trail my rear wheel kept slipping in the curves and it didn't occur to me that I might be riding on ice, I was thinking mud or a flat until the bike washed out in a corner and I tried to stand up. I'd been riding on a sheet of ice with a layer of rain on top! Not the best conditions to be trying to set a personal best... Now I know what ice feels like. I have a few bruises and some road rash, wore a hole in three layers of pants and tore up my bar tape.

About 2C/34F with rain until 2/3rds of the way up the mountain when it turned to snow. I love riding in the start of a snowfall when the roads are still clear.

Now I have an excuse to replace the tape on my bars!

CptjohnC

A fine commuting morning, right up until I got to EKW in DC's wind. Fortunately I only had to fight the breeze for the last couple of miles. downloaded a free cyclocomputer app for my phone, to use as a speedometer and so I can watch my time (since I wear my GPS on my wrist), but I need to work on the screen sleep time. Does anyone have an android bike app they find particularly good? Free or cheap preferred of course ;-)

Thanks for the tips on Co-ops. Space and money? My wife would say I have neither, but I couldn't pass this one up -- a nice looking near orphan needing a home. It did motivate me to post my old roadie on CL to see if I got any decent bites, so hopefully it will be a break even on space, at least. And if nothing else, my oldest son can ride it once I fix it up, so it has a purpose (though I'm really planning it to be my backup and 'snow' bike).

irclean

Ouch! Glad you're okay. What type of studded tires are you running?

HardyWeinberg

Sounds like it could have been worse. Well, any landing you can walk away from...

If a studded tire is slipping, one quick check would be to let some air out. I run my 35mm studdeds around 70 psi but would have no qualms cutting down to half that if needed.

Sixty Fiver

Wet, slushy, and dirty... and I have to do it twice today.

I love fenders !

jdgesus 

cold. it wasn't that cold, but for some reason, i felt extra cold today

fletchh

It was a decent ride in at 20 F ( -7 C). Acceptance of winter has set in, but that doesn't mean I like it. As is the case with many things in life.

dcb23

Since the winds died down and it wasn't terribly cold in DC, I shed the ski jacket and went woth my REI zip up, balclava and akigloves. Felt pretty good for the most part, a little chilly but I was seriously overheating before.

Nice, mellow ride in.

Hey, there's another 2011 daily commute thread someone started, should these two be merged??

tarwheel 

So who is the moderator of this forum? Seems like we need to make the new 2011 thread a sticky and/or lock the 2010 version to avoid confusion.

I'm off to a good start in 2011 with my third day bike commuting this week, despite missing Monday due to an alarm clock malfunction. It rained here overnight and the roads were still wet during my ride but at least we avoided more snow for the time being. Temps were hovering a few degrees above freezing, which felt warm compared to the teens and 20s we've had most mornings since early December. The local forecasters are saying we might get another big snow storm early next week, which could put a real damper on my commuting, but I'll believe it when I see it.

HardyWeinberg

45F and drizzly

EKW in DC

I'm starting to hear grumblings to the same effect here. Just looked at the Nat'l Weather Service site, and they're saying 30% chance and don't mention accumulation. They're also saying we could have some snow showers overnight and tomorrow here, though at this point that appears as if it's only going to be a dusting. Won't keep me from riding.

Heard something go pop on my ride in this AM. Thought maybe I'd just run over a little stone and kicked it off to the side. Closer to work, I noticed my front wheel had a slight (new) wobble to it. Upon closer inspection, I found one of the spokes had broken. Just let go from fatigue I guess, b/c I was on a VERY smooth patch of MUP pavement when it had to have happened. Guess I'll be buying a spare spoke (or a couple) and fixing the wheel tonight. :-\

Winds calm for a change. Temps in the upper 20s. Comfortable conditions all things considered.

daijoubu2k8

Some DIY screw tires with the studs on the edges. I wasn't expecting any ice so I was running them at 75 psi. Lack of experience.

daijoubu2k8

I was just being stupid. I was 8 seconds ahead of a personal best going into the trail and didn't want to stop to check the tire until I hit the pavement at the other end. Now that I know what it feels like I'll know to stop and adjust them.

abracapocus

This morning was heavily overcast which concerned me a bit but just now the sun came out like it was supposed to. It was a little warmer than Tuesday, 41F. Should be in the high 40s for the ride home. Another commute without seeing any other bikes. Come on, it's not that bad!

CbadRider

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