My Morning Commute

[Certifried]

sucked I drove today, despite knowing the weather would be nice. I ate at the “Original Pancake House” in Bethesda yesterday, and by afternoon was feeling pretty nauseous. I’m not sure it was the food, nor do I really have any idea what the issue was really. Still feeling a little “blech” today, and woke up way too late to ride.

Just another manic Monday.

Topic

[creadinger]

My Garmin said it was 9 degrees on the east side of the Anacostia this morning. What did y’all get? If true, it would be about equal with my coldest non-sleaze ride ever.

It did feel significant colder than the ride I did in November that was 18F. I can usually keep a pretty good bubble of warmth around my face and stuff on these cold mornings, but riding north into the wind I could feel my cheeks burning a bit from the cold and my beard wasn’t just frosty, but frozen.

[dbb]

I saw 14F on the 14th St Bridge.

[Sunyata]

@dbb 170102 wrote:

Wouldn’t that attract the attention of your employer?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15954[/ATTACH]

[kwarkentien]

@Sunyata 170097 wrote:

Do you think anyone would mind if I built a fire by
my desk?

Box 11103 for a structure fire
2100 Clarendon Boulevard
Engine 110, 102, 103
Tower 104
Truck 105
Rescue 104
Medic 110, 104
Battalion 112, 111
EMS 112 respond

Report of a fire on the 4th floor. Bring marshmallows.

[cvcalhoun]

@dplasters 170078 wrote:

Buckle up everyone, its going to be a cold one 😎

This morning, I wore two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, a t-shirt, a sweater, a neck warmer, a wool cap, ski gloves under my Bar Mitts, and an electrically heated jacket. I was quite warm enough (maybe a little too warm). But pedaling the bike took a lot of extra effort, having to overcome the resistance of all those clothes.

[dbb]

@cvcalhoun 170139 wrote:

an electrically heated jacket

There seems to be some confusion about the scope of E-Biking

[cvcalhoun]

@dbb 170141 wrote:

There seems to be some confusion about the scope of E-Biking

What, no 688 page thread debating whether electrically heated jackets are allowed in Freezing Saddles?

[huberww]

As I was toodling down the Capital Crescent heading south towards Georgetown (just south of mile marker 9.5, a stretch with wooden railing just upstream from the curve not far from the sewer works/detour, enjoying my last ‘morning’ commute [term used loosely as it was already about 10:30 AM by this point] of the year and trying to evaluate layering options and my low temperature limits for the upcoming Freezing Saddles silliness that Bob encouraged me to sign up for), I came upon a US Park Police cruiser totally blocking the path with its emergency lights on. An officer was standing on the trail talking on his phone. I could see a second cruiser parked across the trail a few hundred yards down at the other end of the wooden fencing, but no other signs of activity or foul play. The light ice sheet on the river did not appear to be disturbed (so it did not look like anyone fell in), though I could not see the shoreline very well.

Officer: Stop! You must turn around. The trail is closed.

Me (surveying the otherwise calm winter morning scene, then pointing to the parallel canal towpath above us): “Is it OK if I go up on the towpath and ride in that way?”

Officer: “Hey, whatever, it’s your world!” He turns on his heel and walks away towards his cruiser, still on the phone.

Umm… how to interpret that response?
‘Gee, buddy, keep on riding in that direction. There’s an active shooter, but you can proceed at your own risk.’?
‘If you are stupid enough to be out riding a bike on a frigid morning like this, you deserve whatever may be coming to you.’?

My world indeed. On the plus side for me, I got to ride in through Georgetown on the towpath and saw the reason that the canal has been dry all year: locks 3 and 4 are being renovated, and a new canal boat will be built. Hopefully there was no foul play or such …

Happy new year all!

[DrP]

First commute of year was lovely. Cold, but I guessed nearly correctly on layers (about a half layer too much on top), so not uncomfortable. Beautiful sunrise over the nearly frozen river (almost a perfect mirror image of the sun, but the ice wasn’t perfectly smooth. Beautiful anyway).

28 on the counter for today and, shockingly, 67 for the year.
Weren’t all you freezing saddles folks supposed to be riding all over yesterday? Miss the Rosslyn counter in your travels or did everyone sleeze ride?

[Judd]

12 degrees when I left the house this morning. Definitely ski goggle weather for me. Upper body was layered perfectly a long sleeve base layer, midweight wool base and a jersey with a softshell jacket. Legs ended up being a little cold for the last mile with just softshell thermal tights. Hands were a bit sweaty with midweight gloves in bar mitts.

I saw three other people on bikes and gave them all the nod.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Ski goggles for me too. I hate wearing them, but they make a big difference in cold weather comfort. I pretty much wear them only when it’s below 20 or so. Both of my Garmins were effectively dead this morning due to sitting in my shed for the last week. Both had full batteries, but one wouldn’t stay on and the other wouldn’t get a GPS fix. Looks like it’s now officially “keep the electronic bike gear in the house” season…

[hozn]

I love ski goggles in this weather.

And I break put the bar mitts when it’s below 20° too.

Legs were warm enough in Amfib tights. Even with the headwind.

Feet were ok in Specialized defroster boots w/ midweight wool socks, but glad I opted to skip the Bikenetic hills preride. My feet wouldn’t last 2+ hours at these temps.

Studded tires were overkill but the Xerxes roll well enough (when inflated pretty high) to leave them on a few days.

Wool LS baselayer and Endura softshell worked fine, though I would have been comfortable (not sweaty) with an additional jersey on too.

[huskerdont]

@DrP 170476 wrote:

First commute of year was lovely. Cold, but I guessed nearly correctly on layers (about a half layer too much on top), so not uncomfortable. Beautiful sunrise over the nearly frozen river (almost a perfect mirror image of the sun, but the ice wasn’t perfectly smooth. Beautiful anyway).

28 on the counter for today and, shockingly, 67 for the year.
Weren’t all you freezing saddles folks supposed to be riding all over yesterday? Miss the Rosslyn counter in your travels or did everyone sleeze ride?

I was 18 for the year on the Rosslyn counter yesterday, and I wondered why there were even 17 other masochists. I think I was 8 this morning.

Nice moon over the frozen Potomac and the Three Sisters. Suppose I could post it where it belongs, but:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15981[/ATTACH]

ETA that I don’t even like wearing my ski mask while skiing, but I did compromise this morning and put on my turtle fur neck covering.

[Judd]

@huskerdont 170501 wrote:

I was 18 for the year on the Rosslyn counter yesterday, and I wondered why there were even 17 other masochists. I think I was 8 this morning.

Nice moon over the frozen Potomac and the Three Sisters. Suppose I could post it where it belongs, but:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15981[/ATTACH]

ETA that I don’t even like wearing my ski mask while skiing, but I did compromise this morning and put on my turtle fur neck covering.

The moon was absolutely incredible this morning.

[Emm]

@Judd 170507 wrote:

The moon was absolutely incredible this morning.

YES!!! I saw it around 7 am. Huge and bright. It was amazing.

Today my balaclava froze to my face. That was a new experience. I was otherwise dressed well for the weather and found my ride to be enjoyable. But while pulling the balaclava up and down (a few times I just needed unrestricted airflow), it froze solid…and then continued to freeze along my cheeks when I pulled it back up. Luckily, not too uncomfortable since it occurred during the last mile or two of the ride.

The cold led to some other fun issues though: my light wouldn’t un-attach from my bike due to the cold messing with the plastic mount. I broke one mount in the cold a few weeks ago when this occurred, so I ended up just unscrewing the whole mount/light combo and bringing that into the office. Fighting with the cable attachment for my u-lock also proved futile.

[Author]

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