[aguy7]

Yep, soggy ride this morning–hopefully it washed the salt off the bike. If I had not had to get to work, I would not have been out on a bike this morning. In a three mile ride the rainwater ran down the raincoat sleeves into both gloves and soaked them. All else stayed dry, including the shoes and socks now that I’m putting plastic bags under the spandex shoe covers and running the tops of the bags up under the rain pants. I wear a cycling cap–that is, one with a small brim–when I ride in the rain to keep the raindrops from stinging my eyes. Works. I’m thinking of switching to disk brakes. I think they’ll require less maintenance than caliper brakes which seem to require new brakes pads all too soon after I put new ones in. Also I think they’ll work better in the rain.

[aguy7]

@cyclingfool 75964 wrote:

This was my morning commute, and it was beautiful!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4592[/ATTACH]

Lovely. My commute, on city streets, is not scenic, but this morning while waiting for the light at 1st & K NE I was feeling good with the sun streaming on my face in the still, cold air.

[aguy7]

When I saw that it was snowing last night I thought I might have to take the bus/train to work this morning, but by morning the city streets only had a film of filthy saline slush that wasn’t deep enough to stop me from biking.

[aguy7]

@jrenaut 75817 wrote:

I’ve wondered about this in the future – if we really get biking’s mode share up where we think we want it, there are going to be traffic jams on the busy bike lanes in DC (PA Ave, 14th and 15th, etc). Not a terrible problem to have, considering the alternatives, but something to think about. 15th NW is definitely slower when I leave at 5 and it’s reasonably nice out – I miss lights that I otherwise make because of all the other bikes.

We’re in the golden era right now. Once the streets are thronged with cyclists on dedicated cycling lanes with their own traffic controls, we’ll actually have to start obeying the controls and the police will enforce the rules. But yes, that’s a good problem.

[aguy7]

Back to 80 layers this morning–I’m weary of that. But I got the layering right and was not too hot or cold.

Bike: 3 miles each way–15 minutes of riding. Free parking in the garage.
Car: I”ve never done it but it would be 3 miles and depending on the time about 20 to 40 minutes. $13 per day to park.
Transit: About 40 minutes (the bus leg is slow going). $6.40 for the round trip if it includes a Metro train, $3.20 round trip if I use only buses.

[aguy7]

How nice this morning to not have to wear 80 layers for a 3 mile ride.

[aguy7]

These are the conditions in which I don’t bike. Took a bus and two trains to go the three miles to work (NE to SW), but I just don’t enjoy or feel comfortable or safe when the part of the road on which I usually ride, heck, today, when the whole road, is a salty, slushy, icy, snowy, wet, mess. I was amazed at the crush of humanity on the Metro at 10:30 A.M. When I got to the office I was clean, dry, and unfrazzled, which wouldn’t have been the case if I’d gotten out there with the cars on a bike. I did see a couple of cyclists at it, bless their hearts. Fortunately this doesn’t happen often here.

[aguy7]

A wooly morning, but fresh and quiet with the damp and fog. Didn’t have to stop once until I got to Independence and 3rd SW.

[aguy7]

I’ve never seen as many cyclists during my commute as I did this morning, even with the cold (though it was beautifully sunny and still). Everywhere I looked folks on bikes! Love it.

[aguy7]

What a string of vile weather: wet, cold, wet, cold, and this morning wet and cold. With the temperature hovering around freezing, and rain, I was surprised OPM didn’t cancel or delay the gov. The sidewalks and streets in my neighborhood in NE DC were icy so I slowed down. I saw a few patches of frozen stuff on the roads on the way to the office in SW, but it wasn’t bad. The rainwater ran down my rain jacket sleeve into the battery powered heated gloves, and I stopped to put the jacket cuffs outside rather than inside the gloves–that fixed the problem. I was wondering if the gloves would short out if they got wet and electrocute me, but that didn’t happen. All in all not a bad ride and the air was fresh and bracing.

[aguy7]

If yesterday morning was a kitty cat this morning was a lambykin. Thank you, higher powers, for no wind this morning. I wore the same gear today as yesterday: Craft base layer top and bottom under the office clothes, a sweater vest, shoe covers, windproof overpants, cycling jacket, balaclava, neck gaiter, a watch cap, a ski cap, and the battery powered heated gloves turned on high. I was comfy with some foot coldness by arrival, but with no cold wind squeezing me like a python I kinda wasn’t hating the ride this morning. Breathing through the nose felt good.

[aguy7]

That was intense. As I stood inside the house with all the gear on I thought that surely I’d overheat, but I stepped outside and, nope, no overheating this morning. It took almost as long to put the gear on as it took to ride to work. As last Friday, I was glad the ride was no longer than the 3 miles that it was. The saving grace was the wind. While certainly not a still morning, the wind wasn’t too bad, and if it had been stronger, the ride would have been a much uglier animal. I appreciated the dry clear pavement. The sun, amazingly, from 93 million miles away was warming through the cold even less than an hour after sunrise. The battery powered heated gloves, turned on high, performed well, and by the time I got to the office the only cold part was my toes. Usually the shoe covers keep my feet warm, but this degree of cold was defeating them. How warm and welcoming the garage felt. This was one of those mornings when I remind myself to move no farther north.

[aguy7]

@hozn 73707 wrote:

Which gloves do you have?

I can answer your question this morning. The gloves are from Gerbing’s Heated Clothing Co. (http://www.gerbing.com). They performed well this morning, turned on high. I ordered them online. I only need them on those infrequent days when the temperature is very low. Friday and today were the first times I’ve needed them in three years. If you get them, on days when you use them bring the charger with you so you can charge them for the ride home. And turn them on a few minutes before departure so they’re warm when you leave–it takes a few minutes for them to heat up. Good luck.

[aguy7]

@hozn 73707 wrote:

Which gloves do you have?

The gloves are at home and I’m not so I can’t tell you the brand right now but I found them online.

[aguy7]

@Terpfan 73690 wrote:

I thought they were cable operated? I had a similar problem the night I rode home in the snow. I stopped and realized it was just snow that had accumulated and so I tried to brush it off (failed–tough when you’re wet, can’t feel your fingers and barely able to see). Then I decided to bounce my bike and off it fell. I don’t expect any precipitation on the ride home tonight or tomorrow, so I’m not too worried about this.

Just trying to figure out my bug out point. I think I will ride to OT Starbucks, pause for coffee and then continue on. It’s about near the exact middle of my ride making it only two 30 minute segments rather than an hour.

Just in case it’s real bad have stops identified to allow you to do four 15 minute segments.

[Author]

Posts