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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Traveling Nomad
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    6,763

    Riding in the New Year: January 2018 Rides

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    Hi all! Thought I'd start the new thread even though the earliest I'll be willing to ride in our temps (and I'm in central Florida...lol!) is this coming Sunday. Just way too cold and windy this week, and I know it's much worse everywhere else in the US. I am sure Northwoodsgal will be riding, but maybe not too many of the rest of us!
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Guilty as charged, Emily, though I didn't last too long, yesterday in the sub zero stuff. Had the roads and trails all to myself, though.

    We are going to get above zero, today, so will try again. Been putting off doing the indoor thing with the trainer as long as I can, but I really do need to at least supplement this Arctic riding with some trainer time, at least.

    Believe me, though, I would do just about anything now for some nicer weather. I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy. For sure, already dreaming about spring and, up here, that's a long way down the road (typically late April or even May). Even 30 degrees would feel like a heat wave, now.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 01-02-2018 at 04:05 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    Several club rides that were scheduled for New Years Day were cancelled in my area due to the cold. It looks like one ride was not cancelled; I know someone who was planning to do it so will have to ask if he actually went, and if anyone else was there. It was 10 degrees when I got home from a NYE party around 1:30-2:00, and 16-18 degrees for my entire drive from NY to Virginia with a lengthy stop to visit a friends in NJ. Significantly colder than average around here. (And did I mention that my car battery is showing signs of giving up the ghost, helped along by frigid temps and too many short drives with the defroster on? For the first half of the drive I had the heat and stereo off in order to make sure the headlights remained bright enough. Of course this sort of thing only happens on major holiday weekends.)

    My friend in NJ did go out for a very brief ride, because she likes to start every year with a ride on Jan 1. A few days earlier she and her husband went out for a ride. They are both bike commuters and he does brevets, so they're not strangers to riding in adverse conditions. I suspect that a few other friends who are veteran bike commuters also went out for a short holiday spin.

    I was just reading about the storm that is expected to hit the east coast later this week. Looks like Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and DelMarVa beaches are in its path. I am crossing all available fingers and toes that current forecasts hold and the storm stays east of DC. And am also hoping that Long Island is largely spared. It does look like the New England coast will get hammered by a winter "hurricane." And then we all get a blast of polar vortex for the cherry on top. Good thing I took my space heater out of storage.

    And so as I said in last month's ride thread, I hope the books I got for Christmas will be good distractions for stationary cycling at the gym. Not sure which I'll start with -- I have a couple of novels that are set in the area where I grew up, plus Carrie Fisher's diary from her days filming the original Star Wars movie (which I still refer to as "the first Star Wars movie" -- never mind this new hope number four thing).

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Traveling Nomad
    Posts
    6,763
    It is snowing and icing in northern Florida this morning.

    Here in the greater Orlando area, we're getting a chilly rain with temps in the 40s and wind. Miserable. Supposed to go to 31-32 tonight, and we'll be under a freeze watch and a wind chill advisory.

    I know this is nothing compared to what most of you are experiencing, but this is Florida, fergoshsakes!

    I'm currently waiting for a break in the rain so I can bundle up and walk to the gym.
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Been following the weather reports and pretty spooky stuff for some areas. Take care.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    Have I mentioned that my current method of handling bad winter weather is to pretend it's not happening? So I am just not thinking about the imminent snow here. And continuing to hope that the worst of it stays east. The expectation is that tomorrow morning's rush hour will be a mess, because even a small amount of snow will freeze on the roads with such low temps. So I got the new car battery installed today and topped off the gas tank and I will hit up a grocery store on my way home tonight (late, so it probably won't be crowded but the shelves may be empty). And I will be prepared to stay home tomorrow. But I am still planning/hoping I will be able to go to work and then to the gym afterwards.

    The temperature went all the way up to 33 this afternoon and it felt positively spring-like in the sun. I guess that's one benefit of the cold -- the next time it hits 40 it will seem warm.

    But in the meantime, I hope everyone in the path of this "bombogenesis" storm stays safe and warm.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    I went on a hike with my bike club today. At 20 F at the start and 29 when we finished around 12:45. It did feel positively boiling out! But, it was a beautiful, bluebird day, with sun.
    We are in the 8-12 inches zone for snow, so a snow day tomorrow. Unfortunately, Friday and Saturday will be a wind chill feel of -20 or so. Hoping I might get to the local nordic center on Saturday, but really, am targeting Sunday for a trip up to NH. I may try and go out and play in the snow during the storm, though, since it won't be that cold at 25.
    Why are people lining up at the grocery store? Really, you don't have enough food for a day? The roads will be fine by Friday morning.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    If the forecast for this area holds, the roads will probably be fine in time for the pm rush tomorrow (which is why I still hope/plan to be able to leave my condo and go to work and the gym). But people here are crazy and they tend to panic at the mere mention of the word "snow." (Except for the ones who had no idea a storm was coming and who walk through a blizzard to buy necessities at the grocery store only to be shocked that the store is closed. These people somehow still exist.)

    And snow storms down here are not handled as well as they are farther north. Even when there's a relatively small storm, it can take days for some residential streets to be cleared. And it can take a week or more for some areas to have power restored if high winds cause widespread outages. And then there are the school closings -- some counties will close the schools at the drop of a hat, because they don't want to be responsible for anyone being injured on icy roads or stuck on a school bus in an epic icy-road induced traffic jam. I mean, under the right conditions, a tiny amount of snow can lead to widespread gridlock that turns a 1-hour commute into 8+ hours of sitting in your car wishing you'd filled up the gas tank yesterday.



    So, with a new calendar year I have been looking over the rides I did last year and deleting old rides from my Garmin. I had forgotten that I'd managed to get out for a couple of night rides last January. I don't know if it will warm up enough for that later this month, but I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to get in a daytime ride or two on weekends.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    My first ride last year was on Wed., Jan. 4th. That sure didin't happen today!
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Traveling Nomad
    Posts
    6,763
    Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
    My first ride last year was on Wed., Jan. 4th. That sure didin't happen today!
    LOL -- I looked mine up too when I read your post. Last year it was warm here, and we rode Jan 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6th! Still hoping to ride this Sunday or worst case Monday. It's been seriously chilly and sooooo windy in central Florida. We have walked, but just can't face the wind on the bikes.
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    Someone I work with went out for a bike ride last night. Temps were in the high 20s. He had hoped to ride on Jan 1 but it was about 20 degrees and he "didn't have enough clothes."

    So we got 0.5 inches of snow. All the schools are closed. East of DC they got a few inches, with higher accumulations near the ocean. The combination of 0.5 inches of snow on my car and a cold wind did not make me happy but I had no trouble getting to work. The highways around here are clear, so I just need to be prepared for icy spots on neighborhood roads when I go home tonight. And the condo association did nothing to clear our parking lot so I will expect that to be icy until Monday when we finally expect temps to rise above freezing. Things might melt a bit when the sun comes out tomorrow but any puddles or slush will freeze up at night.

    Meanwhile, local news in NY report 16" in my home town with heavy bands of snow still passing over the area. I'm still waiting to hear from family there. I also heard about 30 foot ocean swells off the NJ coast. And wtf in Boston -- motorists being rescued by boats due to flooding. Those must be some cold flood waters.

    It is very windy today. I think it is expected to stay that way through Saturday. I completely agree with you Emily -- even if the temperature was higher I would not be planning a bike ride with these winds.

    On the other hand, I have a couple of gift cards for the LBS so I might head there this weekend. I have one helmet that I use for daytime rides and another that I attached small lights to for use at night. After my last night ride I dropped that helmet. It only fell a few feet onto the pavement so it might be okay, but I had been thinking about replacing it anyway with a MIPS helmet. So this seems like a good time to go helmet shopping.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    There is flooding in the usual coastal spots, Scituate, Newburyport, Plum Island, the Cape and pretty much the whole south coast. However, we now have the ocean overflowing the Seaport District in Boston (a first) and several rivers, too, that are close to the coast. Also, one of the T stations is flooded, by the Aquarium.The snow is still going here in the NW suburbs, but winding down. We have at least a foot, probably 15 inches. It's powder, here, though. DH is outside, for a first pass at cleaning off our cars, so it doesn't freeze up. He just has nothing to do now that he doesn't have to snow blow and shovel! The guys who plow and shovel our little condo street have been by a few times.
    I wasn't here for the Blizzard of 78, so I guess we are lucky that the storm is moving right out and up the coast. Apparently it got so bad in 78 because it was the same type of storm, which got "stuck" and stayed around for 48 hours. I was here for the No-name storm (A Perfect Storm) which demolished most of the coast, with just rain. It was bad out here, but my DH took my kids out to trick or treat. This is just one reason why I would never live within 10 miles of the ocean.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Single digits for highs, these last few days, but, yup, still riding. Really, though, it's not too bad, since I can bail out and be back inside in minutes. Be a lot more serious an issue if I was 15 or even 10 miles out and started have problems with the cold, or worse, a breakdown. I'll wait for more reasonable temps before I head out farther down the road.

    I'm usually good for about 45 minutes to an hour in these temps, just fat biking around our trails and neighborhood roads, but it's still a good workout and it is every day. It's basically just enough to keep me in good bicycle shape, anyway, without having to resort to the indoor trainer. (Uugh!)

    We've been in something of snow drouth these last couple weeks. What snow we have is getting thin, old and crusty, so the XC ski and, especially the snowmobilers, are crying the blues. The fat bikes actually like the hard packed, crusty stuff, though. Fly right along ... no waxing needed ... dirt's as good as snow ... even ice, no problem ... great winter riding machines, these fat bikes.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 01-04-2018 at 02:07 PM.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    My parents are only a couple of miles from the LI Sound but they are on a hill. I never met my grandfather, who had the house built when my father was 12, but he was in the merchant marine as a young man so I suspect he considered flood risk when he chose to live on higher ground. As it turns out, they only got 8" of snow with this storm (the reports of 16" were for a town in New Jersey with the same name as my hometown) but there was some flooding near the sound. The main risk for our family during floods is that it's not possible to go anywhere until the water recedes, and if things are really bad there would be no help from the fire or police department in an emergency.

    Around here we're now just waiting for the cold air and wind to go back where they belong. It might actually warm up enough for a night ride later in the week, but the roads right now are white with salt, so regardless of air temp I will need a good cleansing rain before I can do much riding outside. All that salt is bad for the asthma. If we don't get rain, maybe next weekend I'll be able to take the mountain bike out, maybe on the C&O canal towpath.

    So, today instead of a bike ride I did the next best thing and went to the LBS. I ordered this helmet in white...

    https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...olorCode=black

    ...and used a gift card from Christmas to help pay for it. I was able to try it on in the store but they didn't have the color I wanted in stock there. It seemed pretty comfortable and I like that it comes with a removable visor.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    Why is the weather not cooperating? I am glad we will have some normal weather in the 30s for a few days, but Friday we leave for Franconia, NH for the long weekend and x-country skiing. It will be 36 and raining, even up there. Saturday, even worse, 27 and freezing drizzle. With a 2 foot base of snow, Saturday might be salvageable with good grooming, but with the freezing rain, ugh. It will be close 60 here on Friday, but pouring out, so, even if I was at home, I couldn't ride.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

 

 

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