jolly_codger

My Monday commute was a new record for me: 5-degrees F, woo hoo! Went well save for my arthritic thumbs getting cold; this was with my new winter motorcycle 3 finger mitts. I am giving up my quest to find gloves/mitts that will work for me and have decided that heated gloves are my next purchase. Yes, I do have bar mitts but am waiting for a consistent cold spell to roll in before they go on; today it got up to 56 and pogies would be way too hot to ride with.

pdlamb

Brrr! (Well done!)

Maybe five years back I dropped from 14F to 7F as my personal record, and decided I needed some wind blocking tights. Naturally it hasn't dropped below 15F since then, but on those days, I had nice warm legs!

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1326:

Temp was a balmy 33°F this morning, which is the warmest morning I've had in a week. The snow from Tuesday had mostly melted off, and seeing as I had a 22 mile day ahead of me I took the road bike. There were some icy spots I had to be careful with (unclip and coast across with my legs down on either side) but I made it without any issues.

Supposed to get about 40°F today and sunny, so that will probably take care of a good chunk of the ice that's still hanging around. Just in time for a huge blizzard we're supposed to get tomorrow. My wife is already in a panic about it, and asking me how she's going to drive through it to get to work. I just stared at her and asked, "You do realize that I'm going to be on a bicycle?" lol

When I arrived at the office I was locking up my bike on the rack when I heard a muffled voice from behind me. I spun around and nobody was there. I was pretty early and the parking lot was dark and nearly empty. I looked around for a minute, but finally decided I was just imagining it. I was continuing to fiddle with my bike when I heard a cough from behind me that most definitely wasn't my imagination. Once again I spun around and nobody was in sight in any direction. I was starting to get creeped out and went inside the building. A few minutes later I realized there were a couple maintenance guys up on the roof, and that's who I heard. I was relieved to discover I'm not starting to hear random voices.

Darth Lefty 

At 8 the forecast said no more rain and I loaded up the truck my MTB, whch has fenders. But did not get out the door til nearly 9, and the forecast changed. It rained all the way to the daycare. Decided to go home and put away the bike and get a cuppa with my wife. That done, as I drove to the office about 10 there was no more rain. Haw-haw. Only got one lap this week.

Welshboy

A five-day week but only on the bike for three of those days due to forecast 50-60mph winds and heavy rain. It was great to be back on the bike today!

essiemyra

I like your thinking but it does not work because of the time constraints involved with I her drop off time and what time I have to be to work and then back to pick her up. Biking would take to long. Thank-you though for your idea.

It is my first day commuting in what seems like forever. It was a warm 35 f degrees this morning at 5 am when I left the house. Hopefully I can get 2 days in this week before we get bad weather or some other circumstance that disrupts my riding.

essiemyra

Another pleasant and uneventful commute (to steal a tag line from the Mainer's "the way life should be") in to work today. The temp was a little chillier at 32 f degrees with clear skies.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1331:

Palindrome commute number!

The last 24 hours of commuting have been interesting, to say the least.

When I left work yesterday evening, the temp was 47°F. In mid December. In South Dakota. Crazy. However, it was pouring sheets of rain. On top of that, there was thick fog. I didn't think it was possible to have that much rain fall, yet be foggy at the same time. As I rode home I watched the river, which had been frozen solid from the previous few weeks of cold weather, as the rain flowed on top of the ice. That was also a new one.

After I got home soaking wet, it rained hard for a few more hours. Then the temp quickly dropped about 30 degrees and the wind came up hard. The rain turned to snow. We were predicted to get gusts of more than 60 mph, and I'm pretty sure they were accurate.

I didn't sleep well. In the middle of the night I woke up, and my brain clicked on as I dwelt on some ongoing personal issues. As I laid awake in bed I could hear the wind howling. I started to dread the morning commute as I knew I would be riding straight into that wind. That didn't do much to help me relax and fall back to sleep. As a result, when the the alarm went off at 5:45 AM I wasn't very rested.

With all the rain we had and then the sudden temperature drop, it turned into a "flash freeze" situation. When I got up and looked out the window there was a layer of ice on the pavement. Rats. I decided I'd better pull the bike with studded tires down from storage and take that to work.

My studded tire winter bike hadn't been touched since last March. When I pulled the bike down I was dismayed to see the chain was completely rusted and seized up so that it wouldn't spin. I threw the bike on the repair stand and spent some time oiling the chain and breaking the links loose so they would go through the derailleur. I hadn't accounted for that time, and wound up leaving the house 15 minutes later than planned.

As anticipated, the ride straight into that wind sucked. The air temperature was 18°F, and with the 30 mph headwind that put the wind chill at -1°F. Gusts pushed the wind speed higher than that, but thankfully weren't hitting the 60 mph we were getting during the night. The wind was strong enough that if I stopped pedaling I would come to a stop in about 10 feet.

Between the wind and the ice, I averaged about 6 mph. I had to stop a few times to drag large tree branches off of the MUP, where they had fallen due to the wind. I started to get pretty cold as I rode, as the wind went straight through my clothing. Oddly enough, despite how cold I felt, about five miles into the ride a steady drip of sweat started to fall from my left eyebrow. It would pool and freeze in the bottom of my ski goggles. Strange.

It took an hour and 15 minutes to ride the 8 miles to the office. Today was one of the days where if I didn't have a long streak going, I probably would have thrown in the towel and driven. I arrived to work 15 minutes late, a frozen popsicle and in a foul mood. When I put my bike in the rack and tried to lock it up, I discovered that my lock had frozen solid and wouldn't move. I decided that if someone wanted my crappy old winter bike they could have it, left it unlocked and went inside to warm up.

Darth Lefty 

First lap since last Monday, I think. Water on the ground but none falling. I brought my cold weather stuff to the daycare to start the ride but elected not to wear it - changed my mind about halfway, wished I'd had the heavier gloves.

Might have a couple more laps this calendar year. Not counting on it!

pdlamb

Beautiful day for a ride to work. 69F according to Goofy (the Garmin). Stiff south wind, but that pushed me home.

But...

Almost 70 in December? We got lucky last week, pity the poor folks in Kentucky who bore the brunt of that storm. Another cold front coming down tomorrow night; praying for a gentle rain, but checking the batteries in the radios.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1335:

Pretty mild morning, with the temp at 23°F and about a 10 mph breeze. I took the hybrid even though there were a few very icy spots. I decided to just be extra careful in the places where ice had completely covered the pavement. I guess I just wasn't in the mood to ride a winter bike with studded tires when 95% of the pavement was dry.

Today is my last commute of 2021. I logged 3,160 miles on my bicycle riding back and forth to work. There were days when I really questioned the sanity of riding, days where I reached the office and wished I could keep going, and plenty in-between. Add them all up and that's another calendar year of not taking a car to work a single time.

As per my tradition, I took a photo to commemorate my final ride of the year. After looking at the photo it became apparent how much last week's rain melted off the big piles of snow. A week ago this photo location wouldn't have happened because it was just a giant drift. You can see that the river is still iced over, though.

Welshboy

A four-day week and all eight commutes had no rain - really rare at this time of year in the UK. The morning traffic was noticeably quieter as the schools are off and also many construction sites take a two-week break. Only three days for me though as I'm back in on Boxing Day.

Darth Lefty 

Well, didn't get any more rides in this week. Merry Christmas everyone!

Welshboy

Another four-day week but only three on the bike as I used the car today due to a forecast of heavy rain and 50mph winds. All three days that I did ride were wet and I'm quite the expert at drying my cycling kit in work now despite the crap facilities offered. That's me done for 2021 and I'm looking forward to continuing to cycle commute in 2022!

esmith2039

30 degree's this morning had a guy yell me "Aren't you cold!" .. Nope I had the right amount of layers, actually was a little warm. Ending the year today and driving tomorrow. 2500 miles this year which is pretty average for me. For 2022 not going to track mileage like I have been, just going to go by the ODO on my main commuter and if I ride one of the others I might do a Strava. The wind has been beating me down lately, the insane winds back on the 16th was crazy. I put up a few snippets over of it YouTube... .. The camera doesn't do just how bad the wind actually was!

Tundra_Man 

I put together my final commuting highlights video of 2021. It's been a few months since I posted the last one. I'm sure the delay has disappointed tens of people.

Shortwave

im new here, but you are by far the most fun to read about. I do hope you keep up the logs for us to read.

Tundra_Man 

Thank you! And welcome to the forum! Please feel free to join in and share your own commuting adventures as well.