Shooting for 7500

[bikerHen]

Hmmm Iph, I've been trading the number 10 TE club spot with you on BJ lately. Just noticed tonight your up by 48 miles. Your goal of making 7500km is going to make me try harder too! Maybe even pass you.

My studded tires come first of next week, just in time for the first forecasted snow. I guess I'm going to have to continue with my daily commuting, no matter what the weather throws at me. I really am enjoying my cold weather riding, I just hope the studded tires keep me riding upright on the ice and snow.

I was happy to hear I'm not the only one finding it much harder riding in the cold weather, I've also adopted the "just grind along" motto. My evil commuter hill was starting to be my friend, but the last couple of weeks it seems to have gotten a lot steeper and longer. I've got my big ol' mt bike tires on my Surley now, I hope the studded tires don't slow me down even more. bikerHen

[lph]

You're on, bikerHen A little competition is fun.

But 10th? When I look at my ranking I'm around no.20 (and around 1000 overall, which puts things nicely in perspective again )

It's just below freezing here, and I'm having trouble with the gearing on both mtbs. I think I fixed one yesterday, but it's hard to tell until I've ridden a while on it. While fixing it I noticed that one of those little plastic wheels in the rear derailleur (jockey wheel?) would barely turn by hand. The joys of cold weather. I guess it would help if I kept them a bit cleaner though

Ok, breakfast then off for a ride. DH is sleeping in, we were at a party last night but I came home early and he stayed.

[bikerHen]

And I took the day off riding, to quilt a quilt top, darn! Guess I'll spend the rest of the day cleaning my bike cause it sure needs it! Tomorrow is my day off but now I'll have to take a spin around the block. bikerHen

[Geonz]

I had to ride around the block a couple of times over hte holidays just to keep my consecutive streak going. I only hit 9000 yesterday so it'll be a challenge to get to 10K... and we're on teh "rain snow line" for a mess coming in this weekend so it seems no matter what it's not going to be NICE.
HOWEVER! I, too, have found that it's not bad riding in cold if you've got the layers, especially since my top one is Gore-Tex (a hand-me-down). Monday's 33.2 degrees in the rain made me laugh because I *knew* I looked miserable, and I knew other people *were* miserable... but it was a most euphoric ride. Today wasn't even as pleasurable. Maybe it's my swimming background but I *like* the feel of spray on my face and it's physically pleasurable to ramp up the heartrate and feel the furnace kick in and radiate all over that cold stuff.
I've watched other people turn blue and shiver and would love to know exactly how much of it is controllable. I do know the extra bits of subcutaneous insulation help ... and then when I don't wear as many layers, people tell me how much weight I've lost - NOT )

[bikerHen]

... so it's that subcutaneous insulation that's helping me stay warm. And here I thought it was the extra rpm's. I like the spray on my face too. But I always wonder what's coming off the road in that spray. Looking at the nasty stuff I have to clean off my tires it can't be good.

I got my studded tires yesterday, put them on the bike and totally wimped out on riding to work this AM. We got about 4" of snow last night, and after hearing about all the slide offs and accidents on the morning news I decided it would be prudent of me to let everyone remember how to drive in the snow before I venture out to join them. I do think I'll take the bike out around the neighborhood tonight and try the tires though. bikerHen

[lph]

Be careful out there, bikerHen! That ride on Sunday on gravel roads in the woods was exhausting, with a 4-5 inch layer of wet slush on the ground. Just enough to pack up in the treads of my rear tire and make it skid a few inches EVERY (insert expletive of choice) PEDAL STROKE!

I was very happy I wasn't out commuting that day. (But still a bit too stupid to just turn around and go home).

[Geonz]

4-5 inches ?!? I'm impressed!!
We'll just see waht happens if/when it snows here on a work day. There's a perfectly good bus line but I d on't know which one to get on yet. I might just get up a whole lot earlier for the adventure of the travel - that was my inclination when I had my car, but if I hadn't driven in more than two weeks I'd drive so the caterpillars and squirrels didn't move into the engine. And when it snowed it was a blizzard so I dind't have to go to work.
I have 981 miles to go... we'll see

[lph]

4-5 inches ?!? I'm impressed!!
We'll just see waht happens if/when it snows here on a work day. There's a perfectly good bus line but I d on't know which one to get on yet. I might just get up a whole lot earlier for the adventure of the travel - that was my inclination when I had my car, but if I hadn't driven in more than two weeks I'd drive so the caterpillars and squirrels didn't move into the engine. And when it snowed it was a blizzard so I dind't have to go to work.
I have 981 miles to go... we'll see

Uh - well, I can see why Sorry, I get my conversions mixed up sometimes, I meant 3-4 cm. Which isn't *that* impressing

Today was a terrible commute. Icy roads, as in completely covered with hard shiny rutted ice, with rainwater streaming all over it. The perfect frictionless surface we used to read about in Physics class. I balanced myself carefully through the first few quiet roads, and happily got to the ice-free bike path without crashing. Then it started raining with a vengeance. When the rain stopped half an hour later, I hit another long icecovered stretch and very almost went down. Thankfully the final stretch down a busy road was icefree, or I would have had to balance along the narrow and bumpy sidewalk.

But still - after hanging all my soaking gear in the drying cupboard (we have one at work!! I love my job ) - I still felt I'd had a pretty neat start to the day...

750 km to go. Have to pick up my mileage as soon as this filthy weather gives me a break. Go, Geonz!

[Melalvai]

Uh - well, I can see why Sorry, I get my conversions mixed up sometimes, I meant 3-4 cm.

You mean you get your stories mixed up?
Or you could be like my daughter--the amount of snow increases every time you tell the story!

[lph]

weeellll - I TRY to use inches and miles, so that I'm not totally out of it, but I forget to convert sometimes. Celsius and Fahrenheit are the worst, there's no way I can just guess what the equivalent temperature in F is.

[lph]

woop-woop! Passed 7000 km on my way in to work today

Forgive me if this thread is a bit/very egocentric, but it's just fun to write this stuff down somewhere. Last week's appalling weather has lifted a bit and it's now well above freezing, so taking slightly longer routes to work isn't too bad and some days downright enjoyable. And biking is just easier when the temps are above freezing, even though it can get a bit wet.

Still shooting for 7500, but I realized that if we were going to go away skiing for a few days around Christmas as planned I would look a bit too neurotic dragging my bike along too, so I have to amp up my daily mileage a bit to make it before Dec. 27th...

How you doing out there, bikerHen, kfergos, and the other commuter gals out there? I'm a bit scared to ask how much Geonz has ridden recently...

[Voodoo Sally]

Oh, man, I have been the loser here. I was doing great, riding in freezing cold and drizzle and late nights right up until last Friday. Then over the weekend it snowed and iced, and a big chill settled in and hasn't left. So, each day I have tried to assess the situation, from my car, and it seems like there's just too much snow and ice in the shoulders. The roadway has become narrower, and it looks like there's not enough room to ride. That and the patches of rock hard ice and snow here and there. So I feel a bit like a loser. How do you do it? I have ice tires which I will put on, but I can't seem to get over the narrowness problem.

[bikerHen]

We've had a little bit of everything weather wise lately. But, I've been able to get in almost 20 miles a day. Not enough to pass you, or even come close, but better than sitting around doing nothing. The forecast is calling for cold but no snow for another week so I'm keeping my finger crossed.

And I think your skiing trip should focus on skiing, not biking. That way I can creep a little closer to ya in the standings. Besides, we all need to take a little break from our bikes every once and a while! bikerHen

[lph]

short answer VoodooSally - I don't. I'm lucky enough to have a choice. If the roads are narrow because of ice or snow I (try to) pick the route with a bike path or sidewalk, which is longer but still gets me there. The bike path will usually be in worse condition, but at least it's safe. If the ice is level and not too slick I can ride on it fine with studded tires. Sometimes I'll misgauge the situation, and end up just pedalling like a bat out of hell with a long line of cars behind me...

It doesn't bother me that much actually. I figure I'm not polluting their air, they shouldn't mind giving me a little time.

[lph]

Just me checking in again. I'm on schedule, I think, but it sure didn't look like it yesterday. I've spent the last few days swearing at my rear derailleur. It's really ancient (as in, it was on the bike when my dh bought it used at a police auction 8? years ago and is maybe the only thing that hasn't been replaced on that bike, and has seen a LOT of use) and I think the spring is just getting weak.

So I took my bike in at work yesterday (I LOVE my workplace, I can do stuff like leaving a snowed down bike to drip and draggle all over the floor), thawed and dried it thoroughly, than spent an hour trying to clean, lube and adjust all the appropriate points. Only to find out that it was the front cogs that are the problem, the middle one is worn out and is like touching a mouthful of sharp puppy teeth.

So. Spent an hour and a half biking home with a skipping middle cog, thoroughly discouraged and freezing cold. Turned out it was 10-12 F, and dropped to 5 F that evening. My dh tried to convince me that biking in this morning would be a complete waste of time, but I decided to switch the studded tires over to my other mtb and give it a try if it wasn't too cold. Lo and behold: 16 F this morning, vaseline on my face, homemade face mask (Buff with a hole cut in it ;-), closed my slightly too snug neoprene booties UNDER my tights rather than over, and I had a BRILLIANT ride in. Almost too warm! With a bike I could PEDAL on! Still floating in the adrenaline glow

Long story short - I'm back on track for my mileage, 89 miles to go and should make it fine unless something breaks on this bike too.