I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Permalink Reply by Fran Kondorf on February 1, 2012 at 11:42am

 Yep, each weekday so far.

Some highlights;

 Monday-Discovered a flat tire just as I was leaving, (old patch leaking), fixed it and then experienced the rare tail wind on the way home. Woo-hoo!

 Tuesday- Hot tip for all you West Logan/Avondale folks; Pulaski north of Milwaukee is stellar. Despite the lack of official bike lane and the xpway entrance/exit, the pavement's in mostly great shape and it's wide as hell.

 Today- Actually met a few respectful motorists out there. Keeps my hopes up.

 And I got by wearing a fleece vest and jean jacket. Can this really be February?!

Hey, Gene- great pics! Thanks for sharing.

Permalink Reply by Holly on February 1, 2012 at 2:22pm

I was underdressed. That required high speed manuevering through shitty traffic and all those "I'm just gonna cross the street wherever I want" people who buy their booze at any given liquor store on Milwaukee north of Diversey.  Did I mention school buses? I'm convinced that anyone who drives a school bus must be baked based on the terrible driving. 

Fortunately, when I got going, I got really warm fairly quickly. Then I had to walk some dogs. Then, I was cold again.  The theme of my bike winter experience when I'm not dressed properly is:  feel cold, ride to get warm, walk dogs. Lather, rinse, repeat. This is something I can usually power through because I have to, but being tired made it excruciating today. Did I mention I'm kind of crabby? 

Permalink Reply by Gerry G on February 1, 2012 at 3:56pm

Gene, it looks like a ginger haired monster, yikes!  The angles and curves in the harbor bridge shot are terrific.  Likewise with Grant.

Glad you guys are successfully navigating around the door prizes!  

The meeting at Sulzer looked very well attended.  I was able to bounce in for few minutes at the tail end of the P.M. commute.   Met John Greenfield, Serge Lubomudrov and Gin Kilgore.  It's great to read your work, see your photo's and then meet these nice people in person.

Permalink Reply by Liz on February 2, 2012 at 6:39am

Schools are the worst part of my morning commute, if I leave early I hit elementry school arrivals, if I leave late I hit HS arrivals.  

The bus drivers are weird, and the buses give off awful fumes. 

Have you tried carrying a wind shell layer with you to throw on while dog walking?  I usually keep a shell and an extra warm hat on hand for when I get off of my bike. 


Holly said:

I was underdressed. That required high speed manuevering through shitty traffic and all those "I'm just gonna cross the street wherever I want" people who buy their booze at any given liquor store on Milwaukee north of Diversey.  Did I mention school buses? I'm convinced that anyone who drives a school bus must be baked based on the terrible driving. 

Fortunately, when I got going, I got really warm fairly quickly. Then I had to walk some dogs. Then, I was cold again.  The theme of my bike winter experience when I'm not dressed properly is:  feel cold, ride to get warm, walk dogs. Lather, rinse, repeat. This is something I can usually power through because I have to, but being tired made it excruciating today. Did I mention I'm kind of crabby? 

Permalink Reply by Holly on February 2, 2012 at 6:48am

I was wearing jeans, wool socks (regrettably quite thin), a wool sweater, a cashmere sweater and a windproof jacket and a light cap from Erin. Gloves were too light weight. My problem was the head/feet/hands thing which was exacerbated by it being damp-ish after dark. That's the trouble. The sun goes down and I'm screwed if I'm not dressed right. 



Liz said:

Schools are the worst part of my morning commute, if I leave early I hit elementry school arrivals, if I leave late I hit HS arrivals.  

The bus drivers are weird, and the buses give off awful fumes. 

Have you tried carrying a wind shell layer with you to throw on while dog walking?  I usually keep a shell and an extra warm hat on hand for when I get off of my bike. 


Holly said:

I was underdressed. That required high speed manuevering through shitty traffic and all those "I'm just gonna cross the street wherever I want" people who buy their booze at any given liquor store on Milwaukee north of Diversey.  Did I mention school buses? I'm convinced that anyone who drives a school bus must be baked based on the terrible driving. 

Fortunately, when I got going, I got really warm fairly quickly. Then I had to walk some dogs. Then, I was cold again.  The theme of my bike winter experience when I'm not dressed properly is:  feel cold, ride to get warm, walk dogs. Lather, rinse, repeat. This is something I can usually power through because I have to, but being tired made it excruciating today. Did I mention I'm kind of crabby? 

Permalink Reply by Craig S. on February 2, 2012 at 11:27am

I rode a loop on the LFP.

BEST

WINTER

EVER

Permalink Reply by Gerry G on February 2, 2012 at 3:17pm

Yo, to and fro.

Permalink Reply by Mark Newald on February 3, 2012 at 3:27am

First ride in today on my new Marathon Plus tires. Early reviews are they are awesome. I feared having treads on my road bike would feel slow and heavy. These felt great, I did not really notice on difference. Now I hope they solve my many flat tires problem. As an added bonus, they have reflective whitewalls.

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on February 3, 2012 at 4:07am

I definitely rode today! A bit gray outside, but for the first time this week, the traffic was really light and had a great commute.

Since I fixed my flat on my daily commuter I also changed out the tires from the bontrager hardcase and  put on some Ritchey Speedmax cross tires that I bought from one of our fellow Chainlinker for winter riding. I thought I would be riding slower, but it seems the lower pressure and flatter middle section make me go faster- I have no idea why- and the ride is much smoother, too.  Since it seems that even tires that are touted to be better at resisting flats still get flats, I'll just make sure I keep a spare tube on me as I like the ride these are giving me too much to invest in another set. 

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on February 3, 2012 at 6:54am

You have no idea what the hell you are talking about.  Seriously, nothing you have written here is correct and I would really quite like it if you stopped talking about something you obviously have no idea about.

Steve Istvan Horvath said:

The reason for the awful smell of fumes coming out of School Buses' is due to the Diesel Fuel. This fuel is also used in Medical Emergency vehicles, which run 24/7. The problem with Diesel Fuel is that the Engine must run at all times, and so it does not give have a chance to be cured or cleaned, nor do the Diesel Fuel which is full of harmful particles that are not removed by the same process as your normal Gasoline fuel at the processing stations. 

Steve Horvath 

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on February 3, 2012 at 11:29am

These are just awesome tires for commuting.  I had the same fears about them being slow and heavy, but while they're not race tires, they are not slow and heavy.

More important, I've not had a flat with these in 2+ years.  I used to flat at least twice a month.  With the Marathon Pluses, nada.  I'll trade no flats for an additional 30 seconds in rolling resistance any day.

Mark Newald said:

First ride in today on my new Marathon Plus tires. Early reviews are they are awesome. I feared having treads on my road bike would feel slow and heavy. These felt great, I did not really notice on difference. Now I hope they solve my many flat tires problem. As an added bonus, they have reflective whitewalls.

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on February 3, 2012 at 3:14pm

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