bugly64

Today was a terrible commute, but still better than driving my car. I was scolded at the base gate for not wearing reflective gear even though I have ridiculous amount of lighting on the rear of my bike. Three miles before I reached work I had the single worse cross-chaining catastrophe of my 45 years riding bicycles. I was convinced that I destroyed my rear right shifter that I purchased one Amazon, but it just started working on the way to my friends truck. I was happy that it was working and I rode happily home.

mgw4jc

A bit colder this morning - enough to wear the tights. But otherwise not bad. On one uphill where I'm going pretty slow and even able to ride to the right of the white line, a car does a close pass. He even went slow as he passed. There is a middle lane of left turns along here that doesn't usually have anyone turning and most cars use that to easily go by me. But not this guy, he was trying to say something I'm sure. I think his message was, "I'm a jerk who doesn't like cyclists."

Skipjacks

Spring yesterday: I'm here! I have arrived! It's time for sun and warmth! Let's get some flower's growing around here!

Spring today: Ha! I got you so good! It's still winter! Now you're out riding a bike when its 35 degrees! Oh man I got you so good!

pdlamb

Sunshine! Brisk!

One of those low-40s to upper-60s spring days. My recovery ride fell victim to "Dang, it's cold, I've got to pedal harder to try to warm up!" Of course this afternoon will be a conundrum, how much do I wear vs. how many clothes do I pack?

But compared to dressing and undressing for 5-10 minutes each, I'll take it!

HardyWeinberg

38F, partly sunny, clammy

Darth Lefty 

arsprod 

Back to work after 10+ days off. I don't know what's harder, getting up to speed on the bike or being back at work!

noglider 

Maybe you could put your biggest kid in the front seat and sit in the back with the other kids. But of course, that's a big decision, and it could set a bad precedence.

HardyWeinberg

Bummer.

I would be weighing the risk of an actual crash (and the risk of an airbag malfunction, a friend had their's go off w/ a 2mph fender-bender) against options like turning the airbag off (I think most cars let you switch off passenger airbags to accomodate small women who airbags are designed to kill) or just jamming the seat as far back as it goes (the big explosion is only w/in the 1st few inches, people who haven't had their sternum cracked are supposed to be safe beyond 10" from the dashboard, perhaps if you could get 2 feet back from it, keeping in mind the likelihood (hopefully low) of it getting deployed ...

I don't envy you but am glad you are doing well enough to start getting out and about!

essiemyra

A very nice commute with the temp at 23 f degrees this am but mostly dry roads.

Tundra_Man 

Had some sort of bug that took me out for 4 days. I was too sick to go anywhere. Today I felt well enough to go back to work, so I decided I must also be well enough to get back on the bike.

This morning was the first above freezing we've had since fall, at 36F. That was the good news. The bad news is that it is pouring rain, and projected to rain for two days. They're predicting that we'll get up to 3 inches of rain. Unfortunately, the ground is still snow covered and frozen, and the storm sewers are snow blocked and frozen. This rain has nowhere to go but intersections and basements. Flooding is already becoming an issue and if we get the full 3" it's going to be real ugly here.

Because of the temp, rain and the fact that I've been sick I decided to do the mixed commute this morning where I rode about a mile to the bus stop, took the bus downtown, then rode another half mile to the client's office. I probably wound up getting just as wet while standing at the bus stop waiting versus just riding the full four miles in. Oh well.

Both of the clips on one of my Ortlieb city roller panniers has broken so it will no longer latch (might have to rig something together for the ride home in the rain.) I sent an email to Ortlieb. Hopefully there's a way to just replace the plastic clips as everything else is in good shape and I would hate to have to replace the whole bag just because the clips broke.

liampboyle

Ok, been busy so here's the list for March so far:

• Morning Commute 3/1/19 33°F, 8 mph wind, cloudy
• Evening commute 3/1/19 37°F, light wind, cloudy
• Morning Commute 3/6/19 17°F, 8 mph wind, sunny
• Evening Commute 3/6/19 30°F, 7 mph wind, clear
• Morning Commute 3/7/19 27°F, light wind, cloudy
• Evening Commute 3/7/19 32°F, 7 mph wind, flurries
• Morning Commute 3/8/19 33°F, 5 mph wind, winter mix
• Evening Commute 3/8/19 forgot to note weather
• 3/10 did some grocery running traffic was horrible - almost got hit by a jackass running a red light.
• Morning Commute 3/11/19 39°F, light wind, light overcast
• Evening Commute 3/11/19, 51°F, 7 mph wind, clear
• Morning Commute 3/13/19 46°F, 4 mph wind, cloudy - had to ride on the sidewalk briefly at one point to get around some construction and almost got left hooked, both the SUV and I were able to stop in time - I should have just waited and gotten into the traffic lane.

pdlamb

It seemed the city decided to do some work today. There was a pothole patching crew rolling into my neighborhood, and a gas line replacement crew when I got close to work. (If the city patches all its potholes this year, we won't have a problem with unemployment, though there may be a budget crisis!)

Fairly stiff south (head) wind this morning. We gotta get us some Gulf moisture so we can have rain and storms tomorrow, I guess. So it was overcast because of the humidity, and warm-ish because of the south wind. I took it easy, still trying to recover from last week's cold and the daylight time shift, so it took me a whole 6 minutes longer than normal.

Still beats driving!

HardyWeinberg

30F, gray. Got sprinted past by a wannabe roadie. I maintained my 12mph pace and passed him after he blew up a couple hundred yards down the trail.

Phamilton

essiemyra

Another day of arriving to work by bike. The ride was pleasant and uneventful until I got to work. Where a young man asked about my car, and if it was alright. I told him I much rather ride my bike than take my car. So I ride when I can. I don't think he understood my point of view.

madpogue 

Exactly what happened to me at the end of my first week bike-commuting. I changed jobs 19 years ago mostly so I could commute by bike. Started in January. Neighbor and I exchanged hellos every day, and finally on Friday he asked "so what's wrong with your car"?

Steely Dan

holy warm front batman!

it was 57 degrees this morning with a 20 mph S wind (80% of my morning bike commute is due north), so i was FLYING up the bike path with an absolutely ripping tailwind wearing nothing but shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt (haven't done that in a long time).

this was the warmest morning ride i've had probably since november.

Tundra_Man 

Challenging commute for a lot of people in my city today. Not so much for me.

35F and the rain continued. Flooding has become a big problem for much of the city. Thankfully my basement is still dry, but I'm starting to become a minority. We've had over 2" of rain fall and it's still coming down. Usually that amount wouldn't be a big deal, but when the ground is frozen and the snow is packed there's just nowhere for all that water to go except for places without snow, which most of the time is plowed streets and people's houses.

A big portion of the MUP is completely submerged, so I didn't even bother trying to ride the entire way. I did the split commute I've done a handful of times where I ride a mile to the bus stop, take the bus downtown and then ride another 1/2 mile to the client's office. The areas where I rode were higher in elevation so I didn't have to cross any deep water. While I was on the bus I was listening to the transit radio. They were having to shut down certain routes due to the flood waters being too high and there not being any open detours the buses could take. It sounds like the entire southwest side of town is currently cut off unless you have a boat. What a mess.

Winds are strong today. About a 30 mph headwind with stronger gusts as I came in. Normally I hate wind, but today I might welcome it to aid with evaporation of some of this moisture. In fact, even though the rain was falling, when I arrived at work my jacket was dry because the wind was strong enough to dry it out before it could soak in.

Later this morning the rain is supposed to turn to snow. They're talking 2"-3" of snow, and then the system should finally move on this evening.

arsprod 

55F, rainy, and 15mph headwind. The ride home should be fun!

noglider 

Asking about your car, that's funny! Bike commuting has become common here in NYC. Common means 1% of trips are done by bike. That's quite low, but you see people on bikes all the time. You often see people wearing or carrying helmets while walking, and this is a place where helmet usage is lower than in the rest of the country. Nowadays, when I arrive on a bike, people are not at all surprised and don't make comments unless the weather is cold or inclement. I've ridden a fair bit this winter, and it bothers me a lot less than it used to. I've been trying to live by that Minnesota saying, and it's worked well for me, "There's no bad weather, only bad clothing." Learning which clothing to wear for each condition has taken a lot of time and refinement, but I've learned well. Now I have to relearn how to deal with higher temperatures.

pdlamb

Bare-legged and shirt sleeves this morning, yay! Headwind, boo! I didn't complain about the 15-20 mph wind out of the south last night, 'cause it was a headwind going home. It strengthened overnight; 30 mph gusts in your face take a lot out of you.

Otherwise, cloudy with a couple minutes of sunshine, the storms haven't got here yet, and traffic was well behaved.

Just got a notice that the city schools are shutting early. I take that as good news -- when the schools do a pre-emptive closing, the bad weather usually misses us.

wphamilton

Today I have passed 32,000 miles biked to and from my current job - seems like a milestone. 98.6% since I started here in 2010.

I'm really looking forward to the ride home, nice warm weather, full daylight, and I'm on my light road-bike and regular cycling clothes. I might have to take the long way home.

robertorolfo

That's a nice milestone indeed. Well done.

That does sound low, but at least half of the bikes I see every day are strictly for food deliveries. But biking really is the best way to get around the city. On Tuesday I had a work appointment just 11 blocks away from my office, and just as I was getting ready to walk it, I decided to ride instead. It's a super easy and fast walk, but riding there is even quicker and easier. And no, I decided to forgo the helmet for that ride, in keeping with your statistics.

noglider 

Today I saw a woman at least 70 years old mounting an old English 3-speed. I see increasing numbers of old people getting around on bikes. It's heartening.