Pantah

Snuck in one last commute before the storm hit the west coast yesterday. Super foggy and damp in the morning and raced the storm back home in the evening, thankfully did not get rained on.
Not a big fan of riding in the rain, so I'll be driving for the remainder of the week and into next week.

Darth Lefty 

I would have liked to also ride today before the storm but turned up sick late last night and have been working from home today with "flu-like symptoms."

peregrino

For the last three months I've been commuting part-way using Bluebikes bikeshare and public trans, but yesterday started doing the full commute using my own bike. Haven't done it in years. I'm thankful so much of the route has bike lanes. 20+ years ago, when I last did a full year of commuting, it was much different.
However the area around Berklee Music School / Symphony Hall is a disaster. Sure there are pylon-protected bike lanes, but that doesn't stop traffic from making sudden turns into the path plus a whole lot of construction and delivery vehicles in the way.
But for now that's my route until I get my legs and lungs back in shape to take a less busy route that has hills.

groovestew

The most interesting thing about my commute today was before I even started, standing beside my bike on the driveway, when a bird threw a chicken bone at me. Bounced off my arm. It was the weirdest thing.

Otherwise, the ride was a repeat of Tuesday. Overcast, chilly (right around freezing) and breezy in my face.

On the way home the other day, I took a selfie so y'all could see what I look like.



Have a great weekend everyone.

Darth Lefty 

Speaking of the storm. No telling if I'm riding Monday but really glad I don't have to Sunday

Welshboy

Very busy at work so I've worked more days again (six instead of three) but did take a two-day break from cycle commuting by taking the car. This is my first 'lapse' since starting at my work location in mid-July and I only did it because of a very bad weather forecast that included thunder and lightning. Discretion is the better part of valour...

groovestew

Some time ago I mentioned my primary route was closed due to construction - an old road, closed to motorized traffic, through a ravine was being completely torn up and rebuilt. I've been checking on the progress every couple of weeks. Late last week, I swung by again, and it looked like the project had been abandoned. Signs describing the project were still up, but no machines or active construction signs. From where I was looking, I could only see less than 1/4 of the ravine, so I had no idea what the other end looked like.

Today I took a chance and rode the old route. First, I really need to leave earlier because riding through school zones during drop off is a nightmare. Second, the ravine is fully open, and yes, the project does appear to be abandoned. One side still has the old crumbling pavement. The other side is hard packed gravel/road crush. It looks like it will be really nice, if they ever complete it, but from what I've seen, they won't be starting up again until next year, if ever.

Warmer this morning than it has been recently, and I dressed too warm. Still breezy too. Looking at the long range forecast, I think I might be hanging up my bike soon. Winter is coming.

esmith2039

It's been a long long time since I posted in here. My commutes are rather mundane except for the occasional bad driver.. mostly construction issues and the wind never changes. Decided to repurpose the cheap mountain bike for commuting duties, I'm not coordinated enough to offroad as the doctor bills shows. I had this for over a year and not even 40 miles on it. The shifting is horrid but kinda forgot to lube it so that's 3/4 of it lol. All I can say the comfort factor of the 27.5's over the 700c x 35's is amazing, I typically runs the 700c between 65-80psi and my body really takes a beating. The 27.5's just glide over the horrible roads, burns more doughnuts though.

Pantah

It was clear this morning but with the sheer amount of rain the last 48 hours, several sections of the path I take to work were under a foot or more of water, so I elected to take the Jeep to work for my commuter floodwater fording duties. I'll keep the bike hanging in the garage until the flood plain has had time to drain.

Darth Lefty 

Have spent the entire week at home with the whole family due to "flu like symptoms" (wink). Confirmed with a home test, and at least two of my kids got it too. Apparently got it from the preschool, which was also shut down all week, but it's also possible I brought it home from work. My ADHD 7yo is so grateful not to be in school. Have ironically gotten a lot of work done, no stress to get up early to get the kids out the door and no work interruptions for school runs. But there are some things running behind because there are some things I can only do in the office

Darth Lefty 

Man, I didn't mean to kill the thread, lol. We all tested neg this morning and will probably be going out to do things tonight and definitely tomorrow. But we made non-trick-or-treat plans for the drive in movies and wife wants to stick to them due to sunk cost of the ticket. There's a costume bike ride in Davis we know about.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1300:

1300. That's a nice round number.

Here it is November 1st and I finally had my first sub-freezing commute of the season: 24F. Crazy that it came so late this year. At least a month later than average.

Wasn't too bad of a ride. Got my first ice-cream headache of the season coming down a big hill less than a mile from my house where I'm not yet warmed up. That happens thoughout the winter, but by January will only happen in single digits and lower as my body adapts.

Took the road bike. Got about 1/4 mile from the house and thought to myself, "Boy, I feel light today." Then I realized I left my backpack sitting in my garage. So I got an extra half mile of riding in while I turned around to retrieve it.

Pantah

Managed to squeeze in one ride to work last week on Thursday, the only really dry day. Hoping a dry day will happen later in the week, forecast looks good for Wednesday and Friday. I've ridden in the rain before but it's honestly not the most enjoyable, plus it makes a mess of the drivetrain and is a pain in the butt to clean, so I'm a mostly fair weather rider these days.

Darth Lefty 

Did not check the weather this morning and was surprised by rain showers at noon thirty, just before the return leg. I wasn’t kitted or configured for five miles in the rain. Wife was kind enough to come get me. I’m not sure if the week’s schedule will allow for any more bike rides.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1301:

Second sub-freezing commute of the season at 23°F. Humidity was 85% which made things feel chillier than normal, but the wind was light so once I got warmed up it wasn't bad at all.

Had to go 8 miles to the office, so I wore my balaclava instead of just my headband. Usually I find the balaclava too warm above 20°F, but I didn't sweat too bad. I brought my headband with me so I'll wear that at noon when it's in the mid-30s and I'm riding across town to a client.

When I arrived at the office I saw that a co-worker also rode today. He usually rides fairly regularly until either the snow or ice hits, then he calls it good until spring. He's not set up for winter riding the way I am.

Pantah

Got my last bike commute in today with actual daylight on the ride home, what with daylight savings this weekend and all.
Wicked foggy on the way in but clear skies on the way home. Did have some clouds rolling in on the horizon but won't see any rain from that until after I'm in bed so didn't worry about that.

DQRider 

29°F this morning. Did my 6-mile commute in 25 minutes on my Peugeot Canyon Express.



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Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1303:

29° F with pea soup fog. Visibility was low enough that on the MUP I nearly rode past my turns because I misjudged where I was on the trail, and thought I was further back than I was.

Caught up with my my co-worker who commutes. Got within about 20 feet before I could tell it was him on his bike. Before I could pull up next to him he turned to take a slightly different route than what I prefer. Turns out I beat him to the office by about 5 minutes, so his route is definitely slower. Once we got to the office he said he didn't even know I was behind him.

We hadn't dipped below freezing until Nov 1st. The first four days we've been below freezing every morning, so I guess fall is finally here. Our trees can't figure out what is going on. Usually by November they're bare, and some of them haven't even started to drop leaves yet.

Darth Lefty 

No ride today, several excuses that all read lame when typed out. Seems like whenever there is a multi day disruption to my schedule it takes me a few weeks to get back in the groove. That's especially a bad habit right now since we are headed into holidays and rainy season.

Welshboy

The clocks went back in the UK last weekend so it's quite light on a morning (no lights required) but really dark very early on an evening. However, it was the perfect week really with all six rides in the dry although I'm using my bike with fenders until the Spring comes. In work there has been some fantastic rainbows!!

essiemyra

Today is the first ride in a few weeks, but it feels so much longer. I miss when I do not get to ride. It was a chilly start this morning with the temp at 32f degrees and frost. I noticed light was starting to hit the ground at about 6 am. A good ride all in all.

essiemyra

Same here,

The ride this morning was a pleasant ride with the temp at 33 f degrees.

I will no longer be commuting by bike on Thursday's and Friday's as I am bringing my granddaughter to pre-school. I am hoping after this last year at work I can bring her by bike to pre-school next year.

Tundra_Man 

Does it work logistically to haul your bike to the pre-school, drop your granddaughter off, then leave the car parked and bike to work from that location? Then ride back after work and retrieve your car.

Just throwing it out there as a possible option. I did that a bit when I had to take my son to school. At least I could still get my bicycle commute in.

DQRider 

35°F this morning. Rode my 6-mile commute in comfort, now that I have my cold weather gear sorted. Treated myself to breakfast at the Cahill Diner about 2 blocks from work. I'm thinking of doing that at least once a week throughout the winter. Food and service are excellent, and prices are about what you would expect these days.

I'm trying to get last rides in on all my commuter bikes before switching over to my dedicated winter steed. They are calling for snow flurries this Friday, and we could get accumulating snowfall any time now. I'll be mounting the studded tires this weekend.
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Darth Lefty 

That's what I've been doing this school year. Next year twins start kindergarten much nearer, will no doubt change again.

It rained last night but the forecast now is 17% chance of 0" of morning showers, so I'm risking it. I packed the MTB which has fenders - actually it does not at the moment, I will be installing them after preschool drop off since I don't have ten minutes right now.

Edit - this all worked out perfectly until the last five minutes when I got a sprinkle mild enough not to matter.

Edit 2 - it was sprinkling pretty good at lunch time but for the return leg at 1 it was only puddles.