Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1561:

The wind today is what sadness feels like. The air temperature wasn't too bad this morning at 29°F, but with the 25 mph wind with 40+ mph gusts and heavy snow falling, it made for a brisk ride. Took me an hour and 15 minutes to make it the 8 miles to the office.

When I arrived I noticed that whoever plowed the snow in the parking lot pushed a large portion of it right in front of the bike rack. Then I discovered my bike lock had frozen solid and wasn't going to move any time soon. So I just parked the fat bike on top of the drift and left it unlocked. I'm guessing there won't be too many people motivated to ride away on a bicycle today.

We're on day 3 of the current winter storm. It started with rain, which then switched to freezing rain and now has turned into snow. There's probably a couple fresh inches on the ground, with another couple predicted to fall before I head home tonight. Temp is supposed to drop throughout the day and the wind pick up even more, so it's going to be a chilly ride home.

I usually try to ride between 3,000 - 4,000 miles per year. After today's ride I've got 31 miles to go to hit the 3k mark, with six commuting days left to do it in. Normally this would be a slam dunk with six days left, but the temps next week are predicted to drop below zero. A few of the days are supposed to have daily highs in the -5°F range, which mean the lows will be in the double-digits below zero. To keep my wife happy I agree to do split commutes (ride to the bus stop, take the bus, then ride to the client) when the air temps are below -5°F. This means I'm likely going to be riding the bus some next week and as a result won't be logging as many miles. I think it's going to be really close, and if I hit my goal I'll do it by just squeaking over the line.