Darth Lefty 

New pedals installed. Bike still clicking - when standing. That pretty much means it's the BB. Will torque it up, but no high hopes. Looks like 73/118 Power Spline bottom brackets are a little hard to find, which puts me in the mood to upgrade, but that would increase repair price by a factor of 5

mgw4jc

Much shorter than normal commute for me after dropping the family minivan off for some regular maintenance. I pulled up into the drop off queue right behind a pickup truck with a license plate reading, "I BIKE". And he had a sticker in his back window that said, "If I crash, upload to Strava." I thought that was odd, does he record his driving around town? I don't think he saw me unload my bike and get ready to ride to work.

Just under freezing for the ride. I did see some frozen puddles, but they were far enough right on some side streets turns that I could easily avoid. Worse was the potholes or 'repaired' potholes making things quite bumpy. I'm glad this is not part of my regular route.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 879:

Another unseasonably warm morning for us at 33F. That's the day's high, however, as temps are supposed to drop throughout the day. We had a full 24 hours slightly above freezing, however, which is pretty weird for South Dakota in January. Having any part of a January day get above freezing is unusual here, let alone an entire day.

Freezing drizzle on the way in made for careful riding. The packed snow/ice on the MUP actually made for easier riding than the clear pavement on the streets, as I had more traction. Felt the wheels slip out from under me a couple times, but never came close to going down so it's all good. Had a slight 9 mph headwind, but it was nothing compared to yesterday so I hardly noticed.

Turned on my headlight as I rolled out of the garage and the low battery indicator came on before I hit the end of the driveway. Thankfully it lasted the whole commute in. I now have it charging as I type.

I'm guessing with the freezing drizzle continuing and the temps dropping it will be a lot of sheet ice for the ride home tonight.

pdlamb

I was grumpy this morning. Who schedules meetings so early that I have to start riding while it's still dark to get there on time? My boss. Started with lid light and rear blinky going. The blinky battery (USB charged) died before I got to work, but I didn't get run over, and I guess the sun was up -- and the dyno lights were still going strong, so I didn't get run over.

It was kind of interesting looking at the lights going in; streetlights started turning off half way there, and there's a bank just over a mile from the house that's been there for probably 10-15 years, but I never remember seeing the bank sign at the top of the building. It was bright against the dark gray clouds.

Good parts of the ride: it warmed up overnight, so it was warmer when I left the house than when I got home last night. And I beat the rain in!

arsprod 

Easy solution, don't stand! Much warmer this morning at 32F, but the sunshine is gone and rain and snow are on the way.

Darth Lefty 

If only. I meant that I know it's not the seat or post system... which does wobble a little, droppers aren't perfect and this one's a cheapie, but it's not noticeable to me when riding.

davei1980

Me to Dr.: "my arm hurts when I go like 'this'"
Dr. to Me: "don't go like 'this'"

mgw4jc

This reminded me of Car Talk and their solution for getting rid of a pesky warning light on the dashboard: black tape!

arsprod 

Wait, you knew my father? He used to say that to us all the time... funny guy!?

pdlamb

Or their solution for a squeak or rattle: turn the radio up!

Welshboy

Even though my commuter bike is in bits awaiting a rebuild (external BB problems but also swapping the groupset to a very basic 2x7) I got back in the commuting saddle today by using my old Giant Defy on my regular 2 x 10-mile commute. Thankfully, the roads were dry as my Defy doesn't have fenders and I managed to do a Strava segment PR on the 1km long bridge leading out of town.

I'm not working tomorrow so I'm going to knock out a 38km ride to get my weekly total to 200km and then have a wrenching session after lunch. Well, that's the plan...

esmith2039

Just slush and only a little snow in a few places. Really disappointed! But at least the wind pushed me most of the way.

mgw4jc

Rain and cold made me skip the morning commute. And I have to meet my wife right after work. Excuses...
Kinda bummed as I thought this month may have had some decent mileage, but not looking so much now. One more week left.

arsprod 

40F and rain, yuck. Temps supposed to drop and rain snow mix tomorrow, much more fun to ride in!

davei1980

Same. Mid 30s and rain for as far as the weatherman can predict. Still beats driving though.

arsprod 

True dat

Darth Lefty 

Ride With GPS won't allow cropping except with subscription. I have a lot of 4-mile rides now that should be 3.7 since I didn't turn off the app for ten or twenty minutes. It's also throwing some weird elevation bugs. But when the ride is loaded over to Strava it does some error checking, I guess, and there I can crop it. I should try Strava's watch app and see if it picks up heart rate. Might go back if it does. But Strava is still showing me a much higher power estimate from going faster on my road bike than the MTB, even though the heart rate is about the same.

phtomita

Got a Te-Rich ultra bright light from amz, that says outputs 800 lumens.
Charged last night and is much brighter than my current that is at 320 lumens.
Will check on way home where I get oncoming traffic that makes hard to see the trail path.

madpogue 

After a crash (deer vs. Saturn) many years ago, I had a loaner car from the glass place that replaced my windshield for a few days. '90s VW, uh, a Jetta or something. The CE light was on perpetually, and they had literally put a little label over it (you could still see the light lit behind it) that said "ENG OK".

Little bit of everything this past week. Single digits F one day, driving snow the next. 30 MPH winds off the lake yesterday AM. Poss. rain on the way home tonight. They're trying to keep up with MUP maintenance, been making much hay in the news about new money in the budget for maintenance even on weekends, still a number of problem areas. Got lucky earlier this month and came into a FREE set of Nokian W240s, so I upgraded from my old W106s. Definite improvement, esp. on the side streets that don't get plowed as early/often. Only real PITA this week was the failure of my 10-LED MonkeyLight. Wires broke RIGHT at the connector, and of course, six months out of warranty. I was able to strip back the wires and just shove the open strands into the corrseponding female terminals on the other side, and tape the daylights out of it for a temporary fix. About half my commuting is in the dark lately, so finding a more "sustainable" fix is high on the list.

Lots of C&V bike porn sightings. Just walking around the square today, two Giant Iguanas, two Rincons, a very faded Sekai and a Schwinn World Sport. Oh, and a bright red Firenze that appeared to be a well-maintained daily driver. Whiskey Tango....

wipekitty

Well, that was a new one!

I left pretty late today...like 10AM. Cloudy, windy, 42 degrees. Good weather for some wool socks, fleecy tights, a softshell, and a thin wool shirt.

I missed the memo that it was going to get warm. Some nice Gulf Coast air showed up, apparently. 65 degrees?! I thought it might cool down after sunset, but no such luck. I rummaged around my office for a short sleeve shirt, but nope, nothing but sweaters. Off I went with hot socks, hot tights, and the sleeves on the wool shirt all pushed up.

After six years in the Upper Midwest, I got used to bringing extra layers for the cold. Since I'm going home after sunset, it never occurred to me that I might need extra layers for warmer weather! Not that I'm complaining...

Darth Lefty 

The last couple of weeks have been a mess. Last week was a work trip and I only put in two round trip rides. My truck, dropped off that Monday, stayed in the transmission shop for two full work weeks, four days over estimate, so this week I rode all four days. Thursday there was at least a possibility it would be released so I rode my seldom-used roadie bike so I could retrieve it, but it was a false alarm. Finally returned this afternoon, a day off.

Tomorrow my twins turn three.

The next couple weeks are equally messy but not in a way that's going to make riding easier. Our nanny quit, with plenty of warning, but we still have yet to line up a replacement. So my kids are going to drop-in daycare 2-3 afternoons a week until we deal with that. I'll be the one to pick them up, and that means the truck. I've also got my ICD replacement the 3rd and we have a family trip mid-February.

mgw4jc

Goodness - I hope there will not be a quiz! And Happy Birthday to the twins!

Just a normal Monday for me. Left early and went to the gym on the way to work. Just below 40F so easy to be comfortable in that.

Only different deal going on in my life is the wife and I are house shopping. We've been renting and think it's time for us to buy. Of course my commute is a factor - distance and safe route. Neighborhoods we've looked at range from 1 mile to 16 miles away from work. I'm about 13 miles now. I think 16 would be about the farthest I'd want. I'd have to allow a bit over an hour for that which gets to be a lot every day.

madpogue 

^^^^ Another commute/location factor - focus on locations east of where you work (or, alternately, focus on work locations west of where you live). At least presuming you work a regular day shift, wrt. visibility, whether you commute by bike or car, you're better off at commute time with the rising/setting sun behind you, rather than in your eyes.

pdlamb

Lesson Available to be Learned

Note I didn't indicate I learned it. When the weather report says "light mist" and the radar indicates the rain has moved on through, it's worth taking the time to look outside before I head out. Even if it's dark. I'm not sure if it was fog so heavy it was falling, or rain so light it was obstructing sight like a fog, but it sure was damp this morning.

At least it wasn't too cold. And I wasn't in the car.

Oh, and the meadowlark was singing across the road from work. It didn't freeze last week! (or go south, either, dumb bird!)

mgw4jc

Yes - good reminder! I have that now. South and then west in the morning; east and then north in the evening. And just as important, the sun is not in the eyes of the drivers behind me.