On the commute today

[alexb]

Bloody cold and windy on the ride in this morning. Looking out the window it appears to be snowing quite hard. I'm glad I've been too lazy to take off the winter tyres...

[matthew]

Return trip to Frimley Park for Physiotherapy this morning. 30 minutes with a glorious tail wind to the Hospital, cold but good riding. Appointment finished early enough that I could either stand waiting 30 minutes on the platform at Frimley and then make a quick connection at Ascot or ride home and get the same train from Sunningdale with 10 minutes to spare.

Soon learnt how strong the tailwind had been when I had to turn round and ride back into it. 

ETA this is the most riding I have done in weeks, and it was only just over an hour. Thighs are now pleasantly sore.

[zigzag]

with a nice tailwind it wasn't too cold to ride in; the ride home might be quite different!

[Redlight]

Bracing!

Intrigued to see several sets of bare legs and one woman riding along in short sleeves.

Very pleased to see that fewer cyclists than I would have expected had been deterred by the cold.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Saw 2 blokes with bare knees on bikes this morning, too tough for this little black duck!

[caerau]

I did that this morning as I could find no tights to put on.  This was a mistake, I should have looked harder - it was  coooooooold! 

[jane]

Bit like jane:

About 6.30am, quite heavy snow started to swirl down in SouthEast London West Suffolk (or my bit of it at least).  But it didn't last long. It's still at it, intermittently. No birds singing, quite a change from last week. Dull Brisk, freezing and no other cyclists.

I'm still cold.

I spoke too soon- it's been snowing off and on all morning.  I have just come in from the playground where I have been teaching children how to catch snowflakes on their tongues.  At least running around with a bunch of under 11's keeps one warm.

[Dora]

On the commute today I realised I picked the wrong day to start commuting by bike again.   I also realised that skinny jeans when paired with cycling clothes make me look like a t_______.

[Jurek]

What an excellent ride home that was!
Fourteen or so miles with the wind at my back for most of it
Effortless.
I emerged from the lift shaft on the southern side of Greenwich foot tunnel to witness a deep howling noise that I don't think I've ever heard before.
'Twas the wind playing with the miles of rigging on the Cutty Sark 

[hatler]

What an excellent ride home that was!
Fourteen or so miles with the wind at my back for most of it
Effortless.
I emerged from the lift shaft on the southern side of Greenwich foot tunnel to witness a deep howling noise that I don't think I've ever heard before.
'Twas the wind playing with the miles of rigging on the Cutty Sark 

Now imagine yourself, at sea, hearing that noise.

[Jurek]

What an excellent ride home that was!
Fourteen or so miles with the wind at my back for most of it
Effortless.
I emerged from the lift shaft on the southern side of Greenwich foot tunnel to witness a deep howling noise that I don't think I've ever heard before.
'Twas the wind playing with the miles of rigging on the Cutty Sark 

Now imagine yourself, at sea, hearing that noise.

I fear it would be accompanied by a noticeable degree of landlubber squealing.

[JBB]

What an excellent ride home that was!
Fourteen or so miles with the wind at my back for most of it
Effortless.
I emerged from the lift shaft on the southern side of Greenwich foot tunnel to witness a deep howling noise that I don't think I've ever heard before.
'Twas the wind playing with the miles of rigging on the Cutty Sark 

Now imagine yourself, at sea, hearing that noise.

It was force 6 gusting 8 this afternoon. I've been at sea on a yacht in over 50 knots (that's 9 gusting 10). You can't hear anything but a roaring sound. Shouting is useless; mime works best.
I drove in this morning wimp that I am!

Julia

[ian]

I'm not sure arranging a meeting at 9am this particularly Monday morning was my best idea. Even with ski-mitts my hands were baltic by the time I rolled into the office. I seemed to managed enough layers to be marginally warm though the wind cut right through. Tailwinds proved elusive, I got a nice push through Burgess Park, but everywhere else I had the sensation of the wind carefully positioning itself to blast right at me. Arrived home mid-afternoon looking like a snowman after passing through a flurry.

I did see the cyclists in shorts too. But worse, the lack of gloves. My fingers were howling, I'm not sure how the hell you can cycling in this weather with bare hands.

[clarion]

A helpful bit of tailwind on the way home meant I could kid myself I was riding ok.  Mind you, in failing.to keep up with a fast lad up to Brixton, I did drop everyone else

Made a diversion to drop off a small package, then meandered home by general sense of direction through unknown streets and across a couple of commons.

Thoroughly cold when I got home, but glad to have done it.

[Ashaman42]

2h25 to cover 16 miles home, and that was with the wind behind me! Thankfully a tailwind or seeing where I was going would have been impossible. However trying to speed up meant it all suddenly going a bit sideways so slow and steady won the race.

Had decided it wouldn't snow much so left the spikes for my shoes at home, nearly proved a very silly choice but I kept upright albeit doing the splits slightly at one point.

My hands, despite silk liners and winter gloves were nearly too cold to unlock the front door when I got home.

My prize? Well I get to do it all over again tomorrow :s

[Tim Hall]

Looked out of the window and saw snowy goodness. Toyed with the idea of refitting spiky tyres to the MTB, but didn't. Rode the fixer in, against a bastard headwind. Cold hands.

Rode home with a lovely tailwind and more snow. Stopped at a friend's halfway home for coffee anna chat, then out into the, now colder, night. Going well, I thought, nice tail wind, slow moving cars. Then, BANG, down on the deck, just near Steph's place.  The previously melted-by-cars snow had refrozen into slipperyness.  Thankfully no damage to my lovely Howies jacket, nor any other clothing. Elbow and knee a bit sore. Apart from losing the mudguard stay caps, dislodging the rear mudguard and losing a bar end cap no damage to the bike either. Pushed it to Schlumberger gateway and caught the train home from Gatwick.

Found small hole in my knee and elbow when I was in the warm and able to disrobe.

Tonight I shall be fitting spiky tyres.

[Steph]

Got home yesterday morning as the snow was starting to settle. Shortly after my arrival, the wind picked up and the morning became a bit blizzardettesque. Got up early for my last night shift, and it was vicious out. Spent an hour fettling the MTB by the light of a headtorch with snow blasting up my jacksie (bloody good job I didn't have a skirt on) through the open shed door, and then an interesting ride. The snow had converted the road into hardpack separated by crud, and the footpaths were fluffy fresh.
Once through Tim's aforementioned gateway the fluffy stuff on the road turned into hardpack again, so it was a slithery ride for two or three hundred yards. Loads of colleagues either not in or stuck on the road. Three-quarter length shorts on; should have dug out some longs or put some winter tights on. Shins hurt..... will ride back by Riverside tomorroqw and get some supplies in the town centre. Looked out at 0300, and it was still horizontal snow.

[Jurek]

I can hear the wind outside.

I think this morning, I might take gears.

Yeah, I know. Wuss. 

[clarion]

I took gears.

Very slowly.

Breathing was...interesting

[Riggers]

Well, I could have cycled in, but given that: it would only be at walking-speed anyway, and the huge disparity in the chance of of my falling like the proverbial sack of potatoes from my bike, as opposed to me staying perfectly upright on two feet walking in, for the same amount of time taken, was a no-brainer! I can cycle another day.

Sensibly dressed; long-johns, long socks, hat, gloves. Sorted.

Vehicles abandoned will-nilly on my short route to work. Last evening, cycling cautiously home witnessing the slow ballet of cars sliding with wheels locked down Preston Drove, I was breaking out in sweat on their behalf. To be fair people were driving sensibly, but it doesn't take much for collisions to occur. Fortunately they are at low speed. The volumes of vehicles will only make the likelihood of it happening that much greater. I guess people imaging if one stretch of road was/is manageable, then the next 100 yards is as well. Au contraire.

[Nuncio]

Rode in in the buff today, which was a mistake.  Definitely a 2 buff day.

Snow was settlingl, but so lightly that if a car drove past it swirled, winnowed and eddied away in pretty patterns.

[GothonaBrompton]

One day someone will use SCIENCE to work out how to put a buff/scarf/balaclava over the mouth and nose and not fog up glasses instantly.

I tried one of the wrap round bandit type scarves with a little air hole at the mouth but it wasn't any better.

[fuzzy]

I could have bottled it and driven home after work yesterday and, tbh, I gave it serious consideration. I opted to ride however, just making sure to put my overshoes on to protect my toes. I took the shorter route home as I needed to continue my demolition work on the garden wall when I got home. The wind was in my face most of the way home, which meant that it had siezed up by the time I finished my ride

This mornings ride in was accomplished with another layer. My outie had become a stubby, almost an innie by the time I got to the shower.

Have to go elsewhere straight off tomorrow so will be driving tonight.

[Tim Hall]

Rode the SNO bike in today. Bloody hell, it's hard work. Or I'm unfit. Or both.  I'll blame the headwind (and look forward to the tailwind this afternoon).

[Kim]

One day someone will use SCIENCE to work out how to put a buff/scarf/balaclava over the mouth and nose and not fog up glasses instantly.

Ski goggles, I think.  I used to have some, back in the days when I had a working knee and before I needed glasses...