EKW in DC

Good luck. BTW, I think that's always the way it is w/ fenders. Get 'em installed and it doesn't rain for a couple weeks. I had to wait a while to give mine a proper test.

groovestew

I wussed out and took transit. There's always tomorrow, but with today's high predicted to be 1C, there won't be much melting.

caloso

Pollen-filled wind. Bleh.

opie

I rode over to the train this morning (5 miles vs 10 all the way to work). Wasn't feeling the full commute with a 6 mile tempo run this afternoon. I'm glad I did. I'm tired already and will still have the ride home after the run

z3px

Finally rode to work this morning. I've always had a level of anxiety with riding to work, but I just bucked up and did it without any problems!
Pretty dense fog most of the way, luckily i was on trails through most of it.

JeremyZ

Hey, congratulations on the first time! No matter what happens, (except bad weather) stick with it for at least two weeks. You'll get your routine and packing refined. Your legs won't be sore any more, and you'll have a lot more energy.

Chalupa102

Pretty good commute at 78F and sunny with winds from the SW @ 11mph. It took a little longer because they were doing road work on one of the streets that i was taking and had to use a detour around. Still quite a bit of debris and sticks in the roads. Had something interesting happen about 1/2 through the ride though. I'm not sure if i hit something or not, but my front fender ended up getting folded between the wheel and itself. It almost stopped me dead when it happened. I pulled over and fixed it pretty quick. Luckly there was no major damage to the fender or wheel. While i was fixing it another cyclist w/ a road bike went by heading the same way i was. I got going and was about 30 sec behind him but he turned left at the stop sign and i kept going straight.

Brando_T.

Yeah, major thunderstorm on the way home. Fenders worked great, but realized I broke off the "shift down" lever on my old suntour shifter in this morning's fall.

Question, not worthy of it's own thread: Biking in a thunderstorm...seems like a bad idea to me, and i sought cover during the worst of it, but lots of other cyclists kept on truckin'. Thoughts?

buzzman

if you do a search you'll find some threads on this subject. (look in road biking/touring as well as commuting). In a nutshell, hopefully, most people are aware that the "rubber tires" theory of "insulation" is a myth. Unless you're on a carbon fiber bike you're pretty much riding around on what amounts to sitting in a steel folding chair or an aluminum lawn chair in a lightning storm- not really the best of ideas.

If you are in big city, like NYC, and riding on narrow streets between big buildings you're less likely to get struck than if you are riding along the river on an open stretch of bike path. Granted the chance of getting struck in almost any case is pretty small but reducing the odds is not a bad idea. States like Florida, that get a lot of storms, and have a lot of open flat space have a higher incidence of lightning strikes of people. Perhaps the greater risks to cyclists during thunderstorms come from reduced visibility for both the cyclist and motorists, blowing debris, falling trees and branches and flash flooding. Add all that to lightning and it's probably a good idea in most cases to take shelter when a thunderstorm passes. I think people who continue to ride in a bad storm tend to do so either out of ignorance, machismo, willingness to risk and gamble or are in such a hurry they just don't give a crap about getting struck by lightning.

For me today was a great weather day. Pretty much not a cloud in the sky and temperature in the mid 70's. I stopped at the par-course fitness area along the bike path and did a little workout- never did that before- that was cool.

zacster

The closest I've ever been to a lightning strike was right here in NYC. It was on the day of the Escape NY century and the remnants of Hurricane Hugo were coming through. The start was at 122nd Street and Riverside, I made it up to about 135th when the rain started coming down in buckets. By the time I got to 140th I was totally soaked, then the lightning started. One bolt came down that clearly hit ground, in the vicinity of 122nd. It scared the hell out of me. The ride was cancelled at that point. Nobody was hurt. I waited under an awning for about a half an hour when I decided to make a dash to the subway. I was dripping wet in the 15 seconds or so I was out there. When I sat down on the train the water squished out of my padded shorts. EEEEWWWWWWWW.

zacster

As for my commute today, this was my 5th commute from Brooklyn to the Grand Central area of Manhattan. It is 10 miles each way and takes about an hour, give or take depending on the lights. Today was a beautiful day, but a bit windy, in my face of course, on the way home. The commuting is getting easier as I do it more. I've figured out an easy way to secure my backpack to my rack without any additional hardware, just the one specially made Blackburn cord for the rack. I'm still figuring out the best commuting clothes, and I still don't have a shower. My route takes me up two hills, and I try to take it easy up them so I don't get too sweaty. On days without perfect weather I still take the subway as I've done for 40+ years.

Best of all though is that I'm only in traffic for the final 2 miles. Most of the trip is either in bike lanes or totally separate paths and it is still pretty much direct. And those last two miles are on the cities hit list for adding bike lanes. They are pretty quick about it once they decide.

undisputed83

I never enjoy my commute in because I'm always running late... and have to try to go as fast as I can without sweating my sack off. I got out at 11pm tonight... which is my usual time... and I kinda got into a stand off with a ****** bag co worker... so the ride home was actually a good way to blow off steam from that situation... and it was still 55 degrees out, which is perfect for me.

vtjim

Cloudy. Damp pavement but no rain. ~50F. Saw one regular rider-ette going the other way. Nobody riding my way.

Everything smells great. Spring.

tarwheel 

Busy day on Wednesday. Commuted to work and back and then loaded up 3 kayaks on my truck to go paddling for 2 hours after work. The weather was beautiful for cycling and paddling, sunny, warm and not too humid or windy. It is a lot warmer and more humid today, nearly 70 F on my morning commute with the afternoon high supposed to top 90.

mskibinski

Better commute this morning than Tuesday, when I had 3 flats. Noticed the tire had a little cut in it on Tuesday when I got home. Changed the tire out last night and had no problems this morning. 49 F this moring with a headwind of 12 mph combined with 30 miles of riding made it a good workout this morning. Looking forward to a projected tailwind on the way home. I thought Cheyenne, WY was the windiest place on earth until I moved to West Michigan.

making

I have got to the point I dont post unless it is a great ride, but today's ride in was absolutely great. Temp was 54 degrees (perfect), a few lingering puddles from storms around midnight, no breeze, stars, Birds, clean air, little traffic, sunrise about the time I rolled up to work. Bet the ride home aint like that.

EKW in DC

Glad you got to try out the fenders! As for thunderstorms, I'll ride if it's only thunder or if the flashes are far enough away. Count between lightning and thunder... you know. I'll stop if the storm seems too close and there's a place to do so. Along my commute, largely MUP, there really isn't anywhere to take shelter except under trees and that's a dicy proposition in a storm, too. In a word, I generally keep going unless my instincts tell me I better get to a safer place somehow.

Great ride in this AM. There were a slight tailwind and more riders than I usually enounter (I came to work early today so I can leave in time to get to my pedicab gig tonight), which made the silly commuter racing game a little more fun.

Starting in seven hours I get to make $ for riding a bike!

In other fun, commuting-related news, DC's Bike to Work Day is May 21. I hung a sign on the door to my department's office, in the lunchroom, and by the bike parking area in the basement. I figured it as mostly a way to let fellow commuters know they could get a free t-shirt, etc., and to maybe get a couple of them to sign up as a result. Well, to my pleasant surprise, one of the custodians in the building (who doesn't really speak any English) had taken note of the sign and wanted to give it a try. He came to my office yesterday w/ another custodian as a translator and I registered him online for the event. Yay!

Doohickie

I overslept and drove today. I just heard that a cyclist has been hit along my route.

(I actually take a slightly different route to avoid traffic, but I have taken the route in question in the past.)

groovestew

1C and fairly calm. First cycle commute in over a week. I don't feel too bad about that because (1) this past Saturday I rode a week and a half's worth of commuting miles (200 km brevet) and (2) we had 5 inches of snow on Tuesday. The snow is disappearing quickly but the gravel trails are still sloppy. Saw only 2 other cyclists out this morning.

Itsjustb

Humid ride this morning but I felt good--stopped at the chiropractor on the way in and could feel the difference in my lower back.

As I arrived at the bike rack the other guy who commutes was just walking towards the building. We hadn't me before so we stopped and chatted. His ride is longer than mine (8 miles vs 5) and heavier traffic. He rides a hybrid with knobby tires. He must be working hard on that ride as it's pretty hilly.

The downside of running into him was that I had to wait for the shower and he took quite a while.

sseaman

A 40 minute ride near the house, working from home again due to flooding. Weather was nice and sunny.

drew3

ride home last night was great weather wise, but the MUP is getting really crowded in the afternoons. it's still relatively cool here in seattle, but i swear when spring is even hinted at the population seems to grow ten fold. no idea where all these people are in the winter...

today would have been good riding weather but i'm taking the day off to let my legs rest, i'm experiencing a little pain in my right knee, not sure what the deal is. i've been pretty active my whole life and never really had any knee issues, so this is concerning. i'm experimenting with moving my saddle around a little to try to eliminate the discomfort. it's not so bad that i can't ride, just trying to nip this is the bud asap.

bugly64

I took a two week break from riding. Actually, I had to take the family to California for a family thing. In-N-out was just as good as I remembered. I came back to Montana for some Montana snow and cold on my commute (30F). I can't wait to retire and head to Arizona.

vtjim

Glorious sunshine. High 40sF. A quartering tailwind, but not enough to notice. Saw some people riding the other way. I reeled in a woman on a hybrid with panniers. She was doing about 15MPH so I didn't pass. I kept getting glints of red in my mirror. Eventually I did a head check, and sure enough, something was bearing down on us. Having rested for a mile or so, I bolted. Passed the woman and sprinted. Eventually I left the MUP, got to the first red light in town, and stopped. The light turned green and red guy was about a block behind me. I took off up the 2-block hill to my office and didn't see him again.

TGIF!

Doohickie

Freakin' gorgeous. 70 with a tailwind of about 15 mph. During the day the will shift around and I'll have the same tailwind pushing me home, with temps in the low 80s. Today may be the best commuting weather, EVAR.