HardyWeinberg

38F and foggy

arch2wheel

Woke up to rain and decided screw it, I'm riding. The rain stopped by the time I got on the road but being a desert rat (Phoenix area) I thought I could get by with just a rain fly. Showed up to work 11 miles 39 minutes, soaking wet and muddy. Looking on line for fenders right now. Anybody have suggestions for 700x23c tires? Not even sure they make em that skinny.

tarwheel 

Arch2 .... Generally you want fenders about 10 mm wider than your tires (at least), so your best bet would be 35 mm fenders, which are widely available -- eg, SKS, Planet Bike, etc. If it doesn't rain much in your area, you might want to consider clip-on fenders such as SKS Raceblades and PB has a similar item. Clips won't keep your bike as clean as full fenders but are good of keep the splash off your back.

kmcrawford111

Windchill about 5F when I left and about -5F when I came home. Tailwind on the way there. On the way home I "cheated" some of the wind by taking the MUP, where wind is negligible. Rode my Marathon Winters at near max. pressure on a half-inch or so of snow in most places. No sliding. Got an errand done going out of the way about 1.5-2 miles total.

Certainly one of my coldest commutes but every bit worthwhile. After a pretty slow and snowy start to the year I'm now at 67% commuting by bike for the month.

yarb

Bleurgh. Hungover.

Passed a car doing 10mph on Stanley Pk Rd (a very quiet one-way road, perfectly safe) with the driver's dog galloping alongside. Driver was sipping a latte and yakking on her cell. Was unable to prevent my mouth forming the words "you lazy c***"...

wheel

I do rain pants and sandals with wool socks. Forget the front fender.

I prayed with the radar all night and it was fine with out them

My fun in the sun videos here fresh from Thurs commute,.
https://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...CF819B1B5A28D0

arch2wheel

Yeah, it kinda seemed like just the rear one is needed. I kinda enjoyed watching the water splash up from the front wheel. I do running pants under shorts on the way in which got muddy, but I don't wear em on the way home, just need to keep my shorts dry. Shoes too. Don't want to pack in an extra pair.

Nice video, every time I come close to getting clipped it's by someone trying to rush in front of me to make a right turn.

arch2wheel

Yeah, it doesn't rain much here but I don't want to be dissuaded from riding when it does, especially after reading from some of the people on the forum that ride in the snow. Crazy. I think clips are the way to go. Thanks for the tips.

rumrunn6

wheel ~ that somewhat moving city omnibus didn't give you ANY courtesy room did they? even with the bike lane those drivers should be a little more considerate!

about the front fender - I'll disagree - at least my neck of the woods. come summer I'll take them off, but not until after the spring rains!

arch2wheel ~ it's snowing right now and I can't wait to ride home! :-)

wheel

Reminds me of a filter to the front and then the bad pass. Only here its a bike lane?

Yes and the rear doesn't get in the way as much.
Extra gear I bring heck yea. Extra socks, shoes, etc

caloso

Foggy, cool, wonderful.

CCrew

Morning ride in was decent.... Afternoon ride sucked.. 15mph gusting to 25 headwind, blowing in that frigid air we're supposed to get tonight I'm sure.

I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to enjoy a ride in winds like today, although I seem to keep buying into it.

EKW in DC

I hear ya!

It's days like today I'm glad my commute is N-S along the MVT and not E-W on the W&OD or Custis!

rumrunn6

left early and made it home before dark!
rode in the snow which has accumulated an inch on the shoulders and grass
the roads were just wet with rare ice
warm enough to give the lower bike a quick going over with a hot soapy brush and sponge
dried the chain with a shop towel
lubed the chain last night
happy bike

12.9 miles
26.3 max spd
12.5 avrg spd
1 hr 1 min saddle time

bugly64

03 °F with hardly any wind on the way to work and on the way home it was a little windy and 35.4 °F. The snow is starting to get to slushy making it harder to get going in some places.

jyossarian

I was hip-checked on my way home! By a woman wearing a full length down coat and jogging! She pushed me or bumped me or whatever as I was turning a corner and she was running in the street. We got to the corner at the same time so I avoided her, but apparently she didn't bother to avoid me. It took me a few seconds to even figure out something happened. Lesson learned: give crazy people a wider berth.

irclean

We're having a real cold snap here after a couple weeks of mild weather. My RD is not co-operating (dunno if it's the cable or the derailleur itself that's frozen - probably the cable) and the bike's stuck in 4th gear. The FD is working well enough to give me the big and middle rings so now my 24-speed is a 2-speed. I'll bring it inside this weekend to thaw out, clean up, and lube. Someday I will own an IGH - Maybe even a SS now that I've proven to myself I can survive without all of my gears (at least for my short commute to school, anyway).

buzzman

had to be into work this morning at 9:30 am and got out about 10:30 pm so a long day preceded an expedition-like ride home in 40 mph gusting headwinds and snow squalls with temps about 18〫F. The temp is dropping rapidly towards single digits.

I was plenty warm enough on the ride home and chose the bike path route home due to black ice conditions on the road. Plenty of black ice on the bike path but the solo ride along the river in the full moon was fantastic.- the studs held with just a few sections that were a bit funky but all manageable. The 8 miles I was on the bike path was basically a thin coating of snow over sheer black ice. The roads were actually worse once I got off the path closer to home.

tarwheel 

I rode to work every day this week, my second time this month. I rode in the rain on Monday, which I don't normally do, because it was looking like we would have rain/sleet/snow by Thursday or Friday. However, the weather has been dry the rest of the week and unseasonably warm, at least in the afternoons with highs in the 60s the past 2 days. That is supposed to change today, and the wind had shifted from the SW to NE overnight. That made for a relatively fast morning ride as I had a tailwind much of the way, but this afternoon will be tough. We are supposed to get a winter storm tonight and tomorrow, with 4-8" of snow and sleet forecasted. I will believe it when I see it because the forecasters are notoriously bad at predicting snow around here and usually get it wrong.

vtjim

Down near zero F. I saw -7 on my bike computer for a while (about -22C). Luckily the roughly 30MPH wind off Lake Champlain was at my back. I was quite comfortable. Fleece top and bottom, covered by nylon top & bottom for a wind break. Gloves of course. Balaclava with ski goggles. No exposed skin. That'll be more important this afternoon when I'll have a headwind.

I was waiting at a red light and a guy driving a big Pepsi truck gave me a big smile and a wave. I waved back.

Yesterday I rode home after a snow squall dropped about an inch of snow in 15 minutes. No problems except the very strong cold front was coming through and I had a 40MPH crosswind. Very similar to Buzzman's ride. Brutal.

duckbill

It was cold enough to freeze the air inside my tires this morning but luckily they did not go out of balance.
Minus sixteen degrees Celsius with a wind chill feel of minus twentytwo.

Jim from Boston

I would not normally comment about my winter commute because it's not as heroic as our Northern and Midwestern neighbors, but I did today in response to this thread on the Northeast Regional Forum:

Winter is back 18 degrees is [too] cold to ride.

Bah, humbug

doorunrun

Yesterday afternoon I took the plunge and did some after work shopping at Sam's Club on the commute home. It didn't take much to load down the Detours Toucan panniers I normally use. But anyway, it's a step toward being car-free. Also, now remember this is North Florida, I saw robins "bob-bob-bobbin'" along on the ride home. Does this mean it's Spring? I usually gauge the arrival of Spring when the Sandhill Cranes fly by on their way back north. We shall see!

HardyWeinberg

39F drizzle; no kids today

vtjim