On the commute today

[GruB]

-9 today.  First ride along the canal.  First 9 miles was really technical and bumpy.  Nearly had an off into the canal too 
The last 9 miles are lovely and smooth. 
I managed 12.4 mph average in the end.

The best bit is this new cycling location and bike and technique has reinvigorated my commute.  It was getting a tad boring but not any more. 

[Moloko]

-9 today.  First ride along the canal.  First 9 miles was really technical and bumpy.  Nearly had an off into the canal too  
The last 9 miles are lovely and smooth.  
I managed 12.4 mph average in the end.

The best bit is this new cycling location and bike and technique has reinvigorated my commute.  It was getting a tad boring but not any more.  

I'd say that's bloody good going for a dodgy towpath. You reckless git!

[hawkeye]

The pool is closed for essential maintenance so it wasn't a timed commute but I did fall off. Going down icy rutted Easby hill, I was confused by a pedestrian randomly hopping from rut to rut and doing a bit of gratuitous sliding in between. Neither my bell nor my call penetrated his earphones and I found myself about to run into him or bail out into the verge. For some reason I found the slow fall into snowy grass was hugely funny and I couldn't mount up again for slithering around and giggling.

When I got to the pool a generator was grumbling away outside and there was no heating and certainly no tea or coffee. I came home on the main road in the sun and slush.

[GruB]

-9 today.  First ride along the canal.  First 9 miles was really technical and bumpy.  Nearly had an off into the canal too  
The last 9 miles are lovely and smooth.  
I managed 12.4 mph average in the end.

The best bit is this new cycling location and bike and technique has reinvigorated my commute.  It was getting a tad boring but not any more.  

I'd say that's bloody good going for a dodgy towpath. You reckless git!

Yes, at times it was.  I somehow convinced myself that if I kept my speed up then I might be able to simply forge through the danger zone 

On an aside, the ice on the ground was like a zillion diamonds in the light from my Exposure Joystick.
It was very very pretty.

[Jacomus]

13.2mph average tonight, I was pretty nervous though. The roads had that thin little crust of ice on, I could see bits of it flick into the beam of my headlight off the front tyre. Everything was a tad skittish. Saw lots of motorbikes and other cyclists being very careful. Lots of motons driving with absolutely no regard for the conditions - loads of wheel slip out of TLs or junctions.

[clarion]

Still OK down here, and I'm trusting the BBC that we won't be getting snow in London till later this evening.

It was a fab ride, though, with loads of cyclists about, even on the first half of the ride, where I rarely see more than one or two.  And on the main roads, it was good enough to get a decent speed up, so I wasn't too slow overall.  Fun.

I'll probably not ride tomorrow, though </wuss>

[PaulF]

 looked outside and decided that since I haven't commuted in nearly a year I'd use the train. One the walk to the roads were very unslippy and I realised that I should have ridden in

[clarion]

Tha daft wazzock!

But tomorrow may be a different matter....

[jogler]

Despite the weather I did my commute to the office barefoot

[clarion]

I hope your landing is carpeted!

[pdm]

Space blanket - check
Spade - check
extra layers - check
Blizzard penetration specs - check

Phew! made it!
Left in a blizzard, rode the leading edge of it all the way.
Yeti like countenance on arrival.

Will have fun going home! 

[GruB]

Fell off big time this morning.  Hit a tree branch that was sticking horizontally out of the hedge.
I forgot it was there and as I left home slightly earlier today to go on a special job it was darker than previously.  It hit my left shoulder and took me off.  I seriously banged my right shoulder, right knee and the right side of my head.  Luckily I was wearing my helmet as all I could see was stars !!  My helmet light was dangling off the fixture so was casting an odd light pattern about me and I could see I was right on the edge of the canal so I leapt up and then promptly had to lie down again as I was not right.  I led on the icy ground for a minute or so and then got up.  Shoulder was on fire and so was my knee.  Seriously thought about going home but for three reasons I didn’t.  Firstly my Bradford Score is already bad enough.  Secondly I need the mileage for my internet race with a chap in Scotland.  Thirdly, I do not like to admit defeat or be beaten and was not prepared to be beaten by a tree limb.  So I slowly kept going and then eventually got my wits about me and managed to get some speed up again.
At work I have shown all and sundry my wounds and the Business Manager dressed my leg once I’d dropped my trousers.
I have a bruised right forehead and my right shoulder is now covered in red Tiger balm to try and ease the discomfort.

Everyone is telling me to get a car!!

[FyPuNK]

SNOW   what the ****is going on here? I met up half way through the commute today with a chap I chat to on the few occasions we meet on the ride in, he was walking along with his bike, had a couple of moments he tells me. 50 mins to do 6.5 miles and it aint stopping so could be slower on the way home.

[Paul D]

Woah Grub, be careful!

Dorset is much the same as yesterday. More dry-but-cold main roads. Snow forecast for later today so I'm offski at 4 to try and beat it.

One pleasing thing from yesterday: On the way in I spotted a patch of sheet ice on a short 10% climb. I made a note for later, when I'd be hurtling down it. On the way home I rode down the footpath on the other side of the road, but as it was dark I couldn't tell whether the ice was still there. This morning a car-bound collegue said 'nearly lost it on the ice down the hill into Bere Regis'.

[longers]

From Oldham to Glossop on roads that hadn't seen a snowplough. 10/10 for fun!

[clarion]

Hey Grub, we don't want you freezing in a ditch somewhere.  Take care of yourself and your mile-munching legs.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Grub, slow down a bit . . .

I know you are a fast bu&&er, but this isn't the weather for tearing along.

Canals are shallow, but this isn't the weather to risk landing in one. From experience of having to go into the river in winter (when I lived on the boat), you have less than a minute to get out before your muscles lock up. You'll then drown, no matter how good a swimmer you are.

[MattH]

From Oldham to Glossop on roads that hadn't seen a snowplough. 10/10 for fun!

<jealous>

It's very cold here, and I took the main roads as a couple of the back roads I normally ride had sheet ice yesterday.

Had a few conversations in the office about riding to work in bad weather; one guy who isn't riding in at the moment  (a 10 mile commute) as his wife is close to term on her pregnancy and he wants to be able to get home quickly if needed has got his MTB with studded tyres in the boot of the car so he can abandon the car in case the weather gets bad.

Another guy is hoping for really bad weather so he can play in the snow on his ride in. A couple of non-riders have commented to me that at least I'll get home on my bike if the weather turns bad. No one has made the expected comments about being stupid to cycle in this weather 

We are in Basingstoke, everyone is expecting to be sitting in major jams again if the snow hits.

[MSeries]

take it as a warning Grub. Be careful. Is your internet race more important than your health ?

[Cyclops]

For the first time in the 10 years I've lived in my house the lock on my side gate was frozen solid so I had to carry the bike through the house. A lot of hard packed snow with frozen tyre ruts but as a taxi had to be dug out when it got stuck in my street yesterday I figured I'd get further on 2 wheels. I had a few slips and slides but stayed upright thanks to the studded tyres although I had to get off and push the bike across the road to turn right as riding at right angles across the frozen tyre ruts was impossible.

Note to self: bikes are largely composed of metal so will quickly equalize with ambient temperature. So when it's -7 don't take your gloves off before you carry the bike into work to avoid your hand freezing to the top tube.

[eck]

Secondly I need the mileage for my internet race with a chap in Scotland. 

Can't think who you can possibly mean. 
I'm happy to call a truce until the roads are safer.

take it as a warning Grub. Be careful. Is your internet race more important than your health ?

+1 to that. Jings, man, look after yourself, eh?

[vorsprung]

It wasn't as cold as yesterday today.  But I took the slightly lower road as there had been more snow.
Quicker than yesterday riding in as I didn't have to stop and push around any ice
New ski mitts are good

[GruB]

Cheers all.  I was being careful, seriously.  I even slowed down a bit.
But I take this off today as just one of those things that happen.
The tree branch should not have been there.
I fixed it though so it will not happen again.

My mileage issue is not the be all and end all.  I know that.  It is great motivation though.

[FyPuNK]

here is my trusty steed freezing its wheel nuts off, taken a few mins ago.

[CommuteTooFar]

Another failed commute.  A little further.   Got a puncture after six miles. I decided my hands were too cold to fix it so I went to Pontyclun station and waited 55 mins for the next train. It was a slow puncture so I added air at Bridgend station and rode the two miles to work on a mostly flat tyre. So half distance commute.