Tundra_Man 

So going into this last weekend, "Snowpocolypse" was supposed to happen. We were supposed to get somewhere in the 6"-10" range between Friday night and Sunday morning. A decent amount, but not one that will phase us come Jan-Feb. However, the first major snowfall of the year always freaks everyone out. Once we get that first snow out of our system (pun somewhat intended) everyone calms down and the subsequent snows rarely slow down life as we know it. So I was bracing myself for the annual freak-out.

Sure enough, by Friday afternoon the local news outlets were in full force telling everyone that Armageddon was about to arrive. The amount of "freak out" seemed to be above our typical first-major-snow-of-the-season normal. By Friday evening, before a single snowflake fell, announcements started being made about events getting cancelled due to the pending weather. The schools shut down all weekend activity, including a Winter Formal dance. I couldn't believe it. A friend of mine even called me to get my opinion about whether or not he should cancel his event on Saturday night. I told him he may want to wait until it at least starts snowing. He reluctantly agreed that maybe it was a little early. I told him that by 2 PM on Saturday we should know whether or not the snowfall will be significant enough to cancel his 7 PM event. Even then, I encouraged him to keep it scheduled as our weather here is to unpredictable for any forecaster to consistently get right, plus we're in South Dakota and people would still drive through 10" of snow to attend.

The snow was supposed to start by 10 PM on Friday night. I went to bed at 11:30, and not a flake had dropped. When I woke up on Saturday, still no snow. By then the weatherman was telling us we would see a "significant snow event" starting at 11 AM. Closings were still getting announced. Even our local cycling group cancelled their fat bike ride due to inclement weather. What? Isn't inclement weather the reason you buy a fat bike?

Around 1 PM flakes started to fall. My friend immediately cancelled his event. By 4 PM the snow had pretty much wrapped up with only about an inch on the ground. Ugh. I think weathermen and politicians are the only two kinds of people that can constantly be wrong yet people still believe them.

So on to this morning's commute. 23F with a 10 mph headwind. Because we only got an inch, the plows didn't run. By this morning the main roads were in pretty good shape, but the back roads were a bit sloppy and snow packed. The temp hadn't gotten above freezing since our ice storm last Wed, so there are still plenty of icy spots. The MUP was either snow covered where the wind had drifted it, or covered in sheet ice.

It was a slow commute, but I made it.

Steely Dan

15 mph wind, gusting to 25 mph, right at my 12 0'clock.

i was 5 minutes late for work.

and quite tired.

arsprod 

I had that as a tailwind, not looking forward to the ride home!

pdlamb

The front that came through my part of the world cleared out Saturday night (after it brought ALL the leaves off the pecan in 10 days! That usually takes 4-6 weeks, for heaven's sake!). The post-front 24 hours of wind wound up yesterday afternoon.

So today it was a little cool, but clear and no significant wind. A bit frazzled getting out of the house, but a lovely ride this morning.

wphamilton

Over the weekend, re-greased my hubs, changed to winter tires, flipped to fixed gear, tidied up the chain case cover with some vinyl glue. The tires are perceptibly slower but it was nice to be riding fixed again.

haphaeu

After the start of expensive tolls in the city, even more expensive around rush hour, the number of people commuting with bike increased a lot, but the vast majority of these use electric bikes. Their number is so large that my rough guess is that we're nearly reaching 50-50. Thankfully most of them are "legal" elBikes, limited at 25 km/h, which still can be passed on flats and downhill, but not in climbs... However a couple of them of very annoying tweaked bikes with limiter removed, and these guys rush past you in flats and even downhills, very unfair competition :/ But on the good side, I see myself pushing harder as a not very hopeful attempt to catch up with these folks =)

Chinghis

I nailed the clothing on my commute. Put on tights and an extra long-sleeved shirt under my jersey. I thought I was going to overheat at one point, but it turned out OK.

timvan_78

Very rare crash the other night: it was dark and raining and I was almost parallel to a curb cut that I usually go up to go into a parking lot. I went up the curb cut a bit earlier than normal (because a car was backing out of a driveway up ahead). My front wheel washed out and I went down. Elbow and knee took the impact (I was clipped in) but it's all good--minor road rash and a bruise and a bent rear derailleur--I'll take that. No biggie.

Darth Lefty 

mgw4jc

Just below 40F for the ride in. I wore shorts and got some cold knees.

I hop on a sidewalk to stay off a busy road for about 1/10th of a mile. It goes from a neighborhood entrance to a shopping center entrance. At the neighborhood entrance there are two metal doors that open to some sort of gas or utility pipes under the sidewalk. They've always been closed and are fine for biking across - not grates, just solid steel. This morning one of them was open but nobody was around. I'm glad I saw it because the hole is big enough for most of my bike and me to fall into. Probably a 3.5 x 2 foot opening and maybe 4 feet deep. I stopped to close it. It was heavy enough that I had to get a good position for leverage to do so.

RidingMatthew

it was damp yesterday and i was thankful for the mid week fender install. Though the bike shop left out a part and it rattles. (I have been back and they said they would find/ order the final part.) I was thankful for the fenders. Supposed to be muck colder the rest of the week. I saw 32F this morning.

RidingMatthew

@darth_lefty I forgot my bike lock keys yesterday. I ended up leaving the bike in the parking garage unlocked. I was quite nervous all day.
just didn't make sense to ask my wife to bring me the keys. not fuel efficient anyway.

last night I almost got clipped by a guy pulling a trailer. he immediately turned the corner and we had some words. he got up in my face and i was surprised. I thought he might have hit me.

this morning I had multiple people yelling "get off the road" and being aggressive towards me. One guy from Alabama pointing at the bike lane as we approached a round a bout. I tend to take the lane so that people see me there.

<RANT> I am not sure why people are so aggressive to someone on a bicycle. I will find a different route home even though it is closer and should be easier the hill climb with all the traffic is not worth it. Since people are in an all fire hurry to sit at the next light crawling up a hill. </Rant>

Tundra_Man 

22°F with a 10 mph head wind. Light dusting of snow overnight and flurries this morning. The tricky part was that the MUP was still sheet ice in a lot of places, and the light snowfall covered everything so it was difficult to spot the slippery areas until I was on top of them. Slid around a bit even with the studs, but stayed upright the whole eight miles to work so it's all good.

About a mile into my ride my headlight went into low battery mode. I knew it would do this at some point during today's commute, but I was estimating that it would be about a mile from the end of my ride. I was riding so slow this morning that around the halfway mark I started to worry that my battery would go completely dead before I got to work. The last two miles were on busy streets, so I really wanted all my lights to better my odds of cars seeing me. I flipped my light into strobe mode which is much more battery efficient, even though it was still pretty dark out and the steady mode would have been more useful. Thankfully the battery lasted until I got to work.

I had a charger at my desk. The office lights were still out, and I had a moment of stupidity where I went to pull the rubber cover off the charging port but instead yanked the rubber cover off the switch. Oops. I plugged it in, and when I returned from my shower and the lights were now on I was able to get the switch cover mostly back in place.

@RidingMatthew: I have a similar situation this morning. I keep a bike lock on our rack at the office rather than transporting it back and forth every day. This morning I arrived to find it so encased in ice that there was no way it was coming apart to lock up my bike. So I just left my bike on the rack unlocked. Our office is in a cul-de-sac on the edge of town so there isn't any pedestrian traffic. I'm guessing it will be fine as nobody is going to drive all the way out here just to steal my crappy winter bike.

clengman

Yesterday - mid 30's with driving rain. Blech!
This morning - cold and clear. Nice!

noglider 

Coldish and quite windy, with most of the wind in my face. I felt strong and warm despite it all.

arsprod 

Interesting and reminded me of the glut of e-bikes that emerged here over this summer. I expected to see some as year round commuters but apparently not - I've seen none. Unfortunately, it's still a fad here in the states not a viable transportation alternative. They're missing out on lovely,cloudy, 31F mornings, with light snow!

Tundra_Man 

I think the price point for a decent quality e-bike is a barrier to entry for many.

pdlamb

10 degrees cooler this morning than yesterday, but not quite down to freezing. Really a nice day, high clouds, little wind.

Last night I had to play Bicycle Mechanic; there was a buzzing noise from the rear fender, and when I looked the mount had slipped down. This one takes an adjustable wrench holding a Nylock nut and a hex key with 1/6 turn of free space. So, after I loosened that, moved it up, repeat and hold it while tightening it, the buzz was still there. Had to take the wheel out to check All the nuts. It was a leaf fragment stuck in the mount.

I took the MUP for the first time in a couple weeks to see if I could see the surface this morning. Everything was clear except scattered white oak leaves over maybe 30' of the path. And I picked up another leaf.

If this were Cartalk, I'd turn up the radio.

mgw4jc

Just at 40F and I opted for the leg tights today. I saw more police cars today than normal. One passed me - rare because I'm riding back roads through 3 towns. At least two more sitting on an adjacent side road either watching for speeders or browsing Pinterest. And another one had somebody pulled over.

Hypno Toad

I miss my daily commute (moved to a home office in 2015); I got a reminder about how much I liked started my day on a bike when Lisa left her office shoes at home. I got no my bike to deliver them, only 3 miles one-way ... so 6 miles at 25F with snowy/icy trails (no need to ride roads from own house to her office). I wish my Pugsley with studs wasn't stuck in the shop - some of the trails in her office complex were un-plowed after the 2-3" of fresh snow - but the gravel bike with 700x45c tires was up to the challenge. The best part of the ride was riding past a couple kids waiting for the school bus, one girl tells me it's not a good idea to ride a bike in the winter, I said it's a great idea with the right bike and gear ... after thinking about it, she replied she doesn't have the right bike.

RidingMatthew

weather APPS said light snow this morning.. 34F but I did not see any snow. I wore too much. I was toasty! VERY disappointed in the lack of snow

noglider 

I think today was my coldest commute of the season so far. It was 28°F when I set out, and the radio said the wind chill was at about 25°. I dressed very warmly and ended up being slightly overdressed. The wind direction has shifted gradually over the days from west to north. My morning route is north-northeast, so both of those wind directions amount to headwinds. But the speed is less than previous days, and I even managed OK yesterday. The sky is unusually clear for a December day, so it's actually bordering on pleasant. I think it's going to be a good winter for me, and by that, I mean that my tolerance for low temperatures has built up well. I wore my big lobster claw gloves, and they're the best so far. I still need a solution for my toes, as they got cold. The only saving grace is that my ride is less than 40 minutes, not enough time for it to be downright painful. Last year, my distance was twice as long, and I suffered in the cold. Still, solving the foot problem will be valuable. I'll try tape around my shoes or some kind of inserts in the shoes. I don't think I can justify dedicated winter shoes.

I think NYC has a smaller fraction of helmet wearing among cyclists than other places in the country. There is an rebellious attitude (though there is no law requiring helmet use), and New Yorkers don't like being told to be orderly or safe. Yet I see a definite increase in helmet use among Citi Bike users. That means people carry their helmets to and from their rides. I also see a sharp increase of eyeglass-attached mirrors on Citi Bike and personal bikes. I've worn one for several years, and I'm glad to see others take them up.

Tundra_Man 

18F this morning, but the wind was very light so it was a pretty easy commute.

Got downtown and heard screaming as I pulled up to a stop light. A guy was having an extremely loud and explicit argument with someone across the street. I looked across the street and there was nobody there. Mental illness sucks.

I received my new derailleur for my winter bike and installed it last night to hopefully alleviate my chain skipping under heavy load woes. Unfortunately, when I stood up to accelerate from a stop sign this morning it did it again. So my issue remains. I seem to have eliminated the most common causes:
- Chain is brand new (about 60 miles on it.)
- Cassette is brand new (replaced at the same time as the chain.)
- Front chainrings were replaced two years ago and have about 1200 miles on them.
- Derailleur hangar is aligned perfectly (used my alignment tool while changing the derailleur last night.)
- Derailleur is brand new.
- Cables are two years old and show no sign of binding.
- Inspected the chain and don't see any stiff links.

At this point I'm wondering if I have a defective freewheel where the pawls aren't grabbing hard enough? The issue started happening right after I replaced the freewheel and chain, and with everything else checking out it seems that however unlikely, this appears to be the next logical thing to look at.

So it looks like I replaced a derailleur unnecessarily. That's OK though. The old one had lasted 16 years and was pretty well worn out. The new one only cost 20 bucks:



Old winter bike derailleur after 16 years of use.




Brand new derailleur ready to be destroyed by winter riding.

pdlamb

10 degrees colder again this morning -- it's down to below freezing. That's enough, doggone it! Unless it were to snow. But it was sunny, so I took a longer than usual route in.

Last night was strange with the parade. My memory of Christmas parades as a child was that most of them were on a Saturday afternoon, or just a few blocks downtown. This one was going through a neighborhood (I thought I'd get around it going that way, and wound up on the route itself). Dark street, just a few "atmosphere" street lights that barely light up half the street, widely spaced. What are the kids and adults going to see when it comes through there? Not to mention it's one of the worst potholed streets in town. Maybe the mayor wants everybody to know how bad that road is before he repaves it.

mgw4jc reminded me I saw a police car coming in yesterday. I was going to ask him how fast he caught me going until I saw he'd actually pulled someone over. I decided to mind my own business at that point.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that the showers at work were closed today. As it's been a while, I brought in some fresh baby wipes. Attentive readers will be less surprised than your oblivious author was to learn that baby wipes brought in a pannier through freezing weather are not nearly as warm as a nice hot shower.

noglider 

@Tundra_Man, I guess it is your ratchet (freehub). Given the conditions you ride in, I could easily imagine the pawls getting stuck in a partially engaged position.