2009-2010 Fall/Winter Commuter Challenge is on!

[Biciclista]

got my roadbike back. Oh my goodness, it was like stepping into a sports car. It just responds INSTANTLY! and it's fast, and all the gears are easy to find, and i had like a dozen more below where that ten speed was gasping.
Got outside this morning (dark) and the light on my helmet revealed the tiny droplets of fog floating around in the air. 38 degrees happy to have my bike back, fancy paint job and all.

[Biciclista]

hey, am i the only commuter left?
rode to work today knowing full well it will be pouring for my return trip home.

[7rider]

hey, am i the only commuter left?

I think so!

Looking at the condition of the road - and those darned sidewalks I need to go down to get out of the neighborhood with their HUGE snow banks - I won't be riding until April!

[out_spokin']

I'm still in...not really fair that Colorado seems to be the only place in the nation without good snow right now, but hey it's good for the commute. Crazy though -- yesterday I fell on a little patch of ice (granted, at a very key place) after weeks of getting through much bigger/scarier sections. Bike's fine, equipment's fine, and despite a sore shoulder and bruised knee I'm pretty fine. Another moment of being grateful for a helmet - it easily took a little knock, when otherwise I woulda had quite a headache at best.

Biciclista - do you have some pics of the new paint job?

Melalvai - I laughed about your "muck protects against muck" theory. I totally get it....in my case though I'm lifting my bike on and off the bus so much that my gloves and other equipment is telling me I better give them a break from muck-land. Didn't get it done last weekend, so this one is key.

I got 2 for 3 this week. I drove today in favor of a social event -- I really need to see some peeps! But my excellent news is that the commuter bus is back from the dead, so I'll be able to keep up the bike/bus through the year at least. Woohoo!

[bikerHen]

I'm still going strong here in Spokane. We are having a non-winter and I am loving it. I had 20 commuting day in January and nine so far this month. Sorry east coast rider, you're having the winter I've had the last two years. Suck doesn't it! I actually rode to work in sunshine this AM. It's raining now, but I like riding in the rain. bikerHen

[Biciclista]

non-winter?
bleah. We have wind gusts of 20+ MPH and i got caught in a downpour. wah wah wah.
but my trusty bike got me home.
Photos soon, i promise.

[bikerHen]

Well I was going to say a Seattle like winter . . . you know lots of rain and mild temperatures. At least we haven't had much wind. I love the rain but hate wind. bikerHen

[kfergos]

hey, am i the only commuter left?
rode to work today knowing full well it will be pouring for my return trip home.

Gosh, I totally fell off the TE wagon for a while there. Hi, everybody! I've missed ya'll.

Commuting these days is awesome yet humbling. Three days a week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday - I ride the 20-mile commute both ways. Two days a week - Tuesday, Thursday (obviously...) - I ride 8 miles to the transit station and take a bus the rest of the way. That's the ideal case. My AmeriCorps internship has so many exceptions and unusual things happening that no week has actually panned out like that yet. On Mondays I'm attacking hills and zooming along at 15 mph average; by Friday, no matter what my commute actually ends up looking like, my legs feel like Jell-o and I'm creeping along at like 13 mph. My average weekly mileage tends to be 150 to 165 miles.

I've been dropped off at work and picked up from work by car once since I started on January 20, which isn't an astounding record but still pretty decent. I am LOVING the balmy Seattle weather, and this winter particularly has been so nice I rode home in SHORTS a couple days in the last few weeks. I just got my first flat in over a year on the Burke-Gilman Trail in Kenmore by NE 153rd AVE (to be precise). I really didn't expect that on the bike path, and my stupid CO2 cartridge exploded instead of filling up my tire. Now I have a Road Morph pump that I trust will do the trick in the future.

That is all for now. Happy riding!

[Jenerator]

I'm still in. Ridden every day that I've not been on-call or traveling. Way too mild a winter in CO has made it easy.

[Melalvai]

Worked at home, then biked to the bowling alley to pre-bowl for tonight's League game. We don't like to be up that late, so we're going to pre-bowl every game! We'd decided I'd ride home with my husband, but I remembered on the way that I had taken the bike rack off the car for the trip to Lawrence this weekend, and hadn't put it back yet. So he got to stop at the grocery store by himself and pick up feminine supplies for daughter, poor guy. And I biked home. And got back to work!

Actually yesterday's drive took a lot out of me. My daughter & I went to my mom's to help her cook & clean after her hand surgery. On the way home, we were stuck in a traffic jam on I-70 for TWO HOURS. Well, better the traffic jam than the cause: 30-car pile-ups on BOTH SIDES of the highway! When we finally got out of it, the snow was coming down thick, and visibility was horrible. We nearly got a hotel right there, 20 miles from my mom's, but decided to press on home and "keep an open mind about stopping" (as my daughter advised).

I got a good night's rest but I've felt exhausted all day nonetheless. I keep hopping up to do some light exercise hoping it will energize me (yoga, Wii Fit). It does, for a little while.

It's just funny how driving a car in stressful conditions can take so much out of me, but I feel great the day after a long bike trip.

[pfunk12]

3 out of 4 for me this week. Very excited to be back on the bike after 2 blizzards hit our area recently. I may not see the bike trail until spring but I am fortunate that I have many options of getting to work on city streets.

[Biciclista]

what caused such a huge accident?

. On the way home, we were stuck in a traffic jam on I-70 for TWO HOURS. Well, better the traffic jam than the cause: 30-car pile-ups on BOTH SIDES of the highway! When we finally got out of it, the snow was coming down thick, and visibility was horrible. We nearly got a hotel right there, 20 miles from my mom's, but decided to press on home and "keep an open mind about stopping" (as my daughter advised).
.

[out_spokin']

2.75 for 3 this week. Gotta pick up the car we let a friend borrow so won't get the full commute in tonight.

I was SO FRUSTRATED with myself this morning -- the first section of the commute was fine, light snow on the paths/streets. But in Denver it was a total ice rink on the sidewalks and bike paths. I HAVE STUDDED TIRES but NO, procrastination on getting my spare rear wheel checked out means I didn't have it mounted and ready, so regular tires and high level of stress it was. I walked several sections. DARN. Luckily I've got some city street options for the way home, too.

The good news is that I'm above my goal, at about 80% for the challenge, with a month to go!

[Melalvai]

what caused such a huge accident?

Sudden ice and visibility. It did happen suddenly, it was such a weird day. One moment snow would be coming down thickly, the next moment the sun was shining. There were pileups on other highways in the area too. No one was hurt, amazingly--and we saw 5 cars scrunched between a semi and the concrete barrier.

After last weekend, I was on my bike every day this week, and what lovely weather! It was positively balmy yesterday! I even managed to find enough places to go that my commute was 10-15 miles total most days.

[7rider]

Hmmmm.
You know that sidewalk I have to go down to get to out of my neighborhood at the start of my commute? (The one I've been b---hing about all winter?)
Well....it's still completely (well, 80%) clogged with impenetrable ice blocks 5 feet (1.5 m) tall.
But.......
The sidewalk across the street....that gets more direct sunlight.....is nearly clear. And rideable.
So.....
The question becomes, do I cross 6 lanes of traffic (without a light) to get to the side walk on the OTHER side....ride down the sidewalk a mere 1/3 mile to the light, cross as a pedestrian at the light, and start riding again to work? Or...do I just say fuggettaboutit and drag my DH out of the house to take me to Metro each morning and take the subway in until the snow on my side of that hell road melts more?