RidingMatthew

At least you made it! At 3.98 miles in I put on the brakes and it completely locked the rear wheel. I could not get anything to budge. I could not see (glasses fogged up) I had to call my wife to pick me up.

Taking the bike to shop today and telling them to fix it somehow.

Tundra_Man 

Last night's commute home was somewhat notable. First, I would occasionally hear something lightly rubbing on a tire when I would go over bumps. It sounded like it was coming from the front tire, so I kept watching that area. Couldn't see anything obvious up there, but I thought maybe a fender stay had come loose and the fender might be rubbing a little. When I got home and got off the bike I turned around to see that my Ortleib bag was hanging near upside down, suspended only by the little hook at the bottom which usually is only used to keep the bag from bouncing against the rack. I must not have gotten the top hooks securely clipped to the rack. I have no idea how it didn't fall off. Odds are that if it had fallen off I wouldn't have even noticed until I got home, and would have been forced to go back and hunt for it. Considering that (among other things) it contained my wallet and my work laptop I got really lucky. So that sound I heard wasn't coming from the front, it was coming from the rear.

The other thing that happened was about halfway home I came across a woman walking down the MUP. She flagged me down and asked if I'd seen a dog. I could hear another guy in the distance calling the dog's name. The woman's face was very distraught. I told her that unfortunately I hadn't seen one, but I'd look around the parks surrounding the MUP the rest of my way home, and if I saw the dog I'd bring it back or at least come back and tell her where I saw it. I looked for the dog but wasn't able to find it. I hope the dog turned up. The look on the woman's face haunted me the rest of the evening. I can only imagine how upset I would be if I lost my cat.

This morning's ride to work was pretty tame in comparison. Fairly warm at 23F. Light wind. There is still rutted ice, but now the sections where it completely covers the MUP is limited to about a half mile stretch; all the other areas now have patches of dry pavement near them where I can just ride around the ice.

arsprod 

Nooooo! We're supposed to get first winter snow tonight and I'm already dreading next week's rides. 24F this morning so not quite beard freezing potential

pdlamb

Not as cold as @mgw4jc's ride, just in the mid-20s. Considering I was riding in shorts Tuesday, that felt cold. I bundled up in everything but my going-to-Antartica (or maybe South Dakota) tights, and since I wasn't too chilly, I put some speed on this morning and worked up a sweat despite the wind chill.

Bright sunny day, clear as a bell, and I got more human interaction this morning than, well, hardly ever. The kids waiting for the bus answered my "Good morning!" as did the guy walking to the bus stop, the homeless guy I passed on the bike, and the crossing guard. Usually the most I get is the crossing guard waving. Nice way to start a day!

wphamilton

A hard lesson that I STILL sometimes overlook, if I hear ANY unusual noise stop and check it. A rustle like leaves, click, whine, anything at all, even if my first thought was "I must have run over something" because if I have to think "I must have", I probably didn't. I dropped some keys one time, and by a fluke remembered where I heard an odd sound and went back and found them! A year or two later I ignored a sound, same keys were lost costing me about $70.

HardyWeinberg

40F, high cloud ceiling

davei1980

Indigenous people of the area called Mt. Rainier "The Big One" - I miss that view although I don't miss looking at it while stuck on 405 on my way to work!

RidingMatthew

I got yelled at today. A guy rolled his passenger window down in 18F to yell get off the road. why do some people dislike bicyclists so much?

then my rear brake locked up and had to call my wife to come get me.... I ended up driving. I am taking the bike to the shop tonight

kevincgove

My commute is nothing to complain about this morning compared to the others on this thread. 50 degrees and no rain...though my commute home will be wet. The one thing I'm becoming even more acutely aware while commuting is the increasing number of homeless on my route. Makeshift shelters or the number of campers/rvs has easily doubled over the last year.

Darth Lefty 

I'm going to have a surgery. I've been debating how much to share and in what venue. Suffice to say it's for my bum ticker. The surgery will be the last week of February. Due to the risk to re-injuring the sternum I can't drive or lift more than 10 lbf or even go to my sedentary job until the end of April. After that it's "take it easy" until the end of August, so no lifting toddlers into their cribs, yard work... or cycling.

Of course I was instantly negotiating with my wife and surgeon both about it. Cycling is my only workout and I'm worried about doddering around the neighborhood accomplishing nothing half an hour at a time for "rehab." And it's part of my identity and recreation, I'm worried about losing fitness. I know I'm going to lose all my upper body strength no matter what I do. I'm going to get a recumbent trike once I'm back to work. I'll try one out before the surgery to make sure the steering forces aren't too much. I'm fortunate that we have a specialist shop nearby, Laid Back Cycles. I'll give them a visit. I'm not likely to stay with it past my recovery, I like riding my MTB through puddles too much.

(assuming survival *cough*)

Broooce55

First commute of the year for me today - finally! 8 miles commute in, still riding MTB at the weekends, so at least it isn't a complete new start to pedalling in 2019!
Nice weather : 7 deg C this morning cycling in, wet roads but not raining so its a success!

essiemyra

It was 16 f degrees when I passed the sign at the bank this morning. It was a very pleasant yet uneventful ride. My first ride in what seems like a long time. Hopefully this week should be a good week for riding!

acidfast7

A little chilly for a blazer/T-shirt combo and no gloves. But, on the whole a nice ride.

7C or so and a slight breeze of about 10 mph in the face.

arsprod 

Geez, good luck with the surgery. I can relate trying to convey to docs (and my wife) how important riding is - they just don't get it.

Wimped out today - lots of snow and temps in low teens. I need to recommit my self promise to ride no matter what the weather... or not

esmith2039

May the biking gods be on your side.. Sorry to hear this would be tough for me as well. Kayaking would be out of the picture to yuk! I guess alot of walking if you can! They say the fitter you are the quicker you'll bounce back and better you'll do during surgery.

esmith2039

Snowed 6-8 inches over the weekend. The roads were clear but of course the side was not. Had to dodge cars that thought I was in their way, only a few though. The new winter bike is doing ok, I can tell a difference over the old heavier bike with 26's.

mgw4jc

Best wishes @Darth Lefty. I think walking is a great exercise. If I could do nothing else, I'd walk a good hour plus each day. I already enjoy a nice 40 or so minute walk at lunch 3 or 4 times a week.

Near the end of last winter I bought a pair of winter cycling shoes off of a co-worker. He had never used them. Northwave something with Goretex. I didn't want to transfer the cleats from my current shoes, and hadn't gotten around to getting a new pair until just after Christmas. Last night I finally put them on. The shoes remind me of cross country ski boots and come up over the ankle a bit. They were great for this morning's ride, though it wasn't super cold at about 35F. They are about one-half size larger than I'd like, but with a thick sock and tying them tight, they'll be fine for commuting.

I am also upgrading my bike trunk with some Christmas money. I'm getting a Topeak MTX seat-post mounted rack with a bag that slides on and clicks into place. This will give me more storage and an easy way to carry the whole bag into the office with me. I picked up the rack from REI Saturday, but the bag is on its way from Amazon (had a gift card for each) and should be here tomorrow.

Commuting is going to be a bit easier and more comfortable!

RidingMatthew

Best wishes @darth_lefty and quick recovery.

We had a lot of ice sat- sunday. We lost power at my house. I could have ridden in but I was worried about my rear brake freezing up. My wife asked me to drive because school was delayed and she thought the roads could be tricky. The roads were fine.

Tundra_Man 

Sorry to hear about you dilemma. I hope you reach a satisfactory solution.

I have open heart surgery looming in my future as well. It's not a question of "if", just a matter of "when." I have put it off for the very reasons you state: cracking the chest basically negates doing anything (workout or otherwise) for about six months. I have my annual "negotiate with the cardiologist" visit in a couple weeks to see if I can get another year's furlough or if it's finally time.

Steely Dan

we got about 3" of snow over the weekend. streets were all plowed/salted, but i can never be too sure about conditions on the MUP that makes up 75% of my route.

i rode my studded tire winter beast just to be safe (and because erring on the side of caution after a snowfall is almost never a bad idea).

the MUP had been plowed/salted, but not thoroughly, there were lots of "snow drift packed down to ice and rutted with footprints" patches, especially on the bridge underpasses.

so glad i was rolling on studs, even though i didn't need them >95% of the time.

26 degrees, light W wind, heavy overcast. not bad at all for mid-january.

clengman

Had exactly the same conditions this morning. It was my first time on some ice with my studded tires. I liked it!

pdlamb

Dark with heavy overcast (but no rain), NWS and Goofy the Garmin disagreed on just how cold it was. (I think Goofy was closer this morning). I rode early, so traffic was pretty light except for one nasty-looking crash in an intersection. I thought about rolling past the car until I saw all the glass and plastic shards -- then I decided to take the right on the other side of the traffic island.

@darth_Lefty, here's hoping you pull through and get back into shape before next winter. Do pay attention to the docs -- my wife still talks about one of her patients who decided to split some wood two weeks after he was released from the hospital after open heart. Poor guy took about a year to heal up after he re-cracked his sternum.

Any chance they could go in through an artery or vein to do your procedure?

kevincgove

A few drops of rain with more anticipated this afternoon for the ride home. Had a nice tailwind from the incoming storm which is always appreciated.

HardyWeinberg

Black ice today. And tomorrow, followed by rain for the foreseeable future after that.

I am home sick today. Put on studs for tomorrow or just drive tomorrow and hope for no more black ice after whenever the rain clears?

I was sick Friday at work. Last week, I rode Monday and Tuesday, carpooled Wednesday and Thursday, Friday found my rear tire flat, slow leak. Pumped it up, rode to work. Found it flat mid-day. Pumped it for ride home, and then was fighting off nausea. If I stopped long enough to puke in the bushes the tire might have been fully flat by the time I got back to it. I expected to stop at the bottoms of various hills and walk the rest of the way but I would up I just riding it out, all the way home.

Darth Lefty 

Hope you come out ok too. I can't image you have what I've got (HCM), and still go riding with studded tires in the wind. But if you do, I've got lots of education to share

Nope, it's all meatball