I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on February 1, 2013 at 7:53am

You guys are troopers.

I can do it in this cold WITH the wind but even then the constant sniffing and my feet and hands.

My cut off is usually 10-15 degrees any colder and I can't breathe.

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Permalink Reply by blair on February 1, 2013 at 8:20am

I did this earlier today, but then when I went to transfer to another bus, the wait was 24 minutes. During rush hour.

I don't ride the CTA often, but when I do, I feel like I'm a magnet for what I call a "ghost bus". Trackers tell me it's 3-4 minutes away, but it never shows up.

Anne Alt 2-10 said:

When it's this cold and you need to wait for a bus, why not use Bus Tracker and delay going to the bus stop until just before the bus is due? Sometimes transit is the best solution on a particular day, and tools like Bus Tracker make it better.

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Permalink Reply by djm on February 1, 2013 at 8:27am

Agreed. And if you are riding into the wind, your personal wind chill can be far lower than the reported value.

Paul Michael Ignacio said:

Which brings me to the most important point re-learned last night: wind chill readings are much more important than ambient temperature, since on a bike you're constantly moving in that cold air. And last night it was well below zero.

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Permalink Reply by E A on February 1, 2013 at 8:52am

I was sweating when I got to work... but I had a hard time breathing through my nose. I keep my mouth and nose covered to breathe in the warmer air.

But I think my goggles constrict my nasal passages and I end up mouth breathing ==> fogged glasses. I also hate exposing my nose to breathe the cold air (below 20-deg).

Beyond that - I was toasty warm and happy as a clam.

Mike Zumwalt said:

You guys are troopers.

I can do it in this cold WITH the wind but even then the constant sniffing and my feet and hands.

My cut off is usually 10-15 degrees any colder and I can't breathe.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on February 1, 2013 at 10:24am

And if you live on the southside, you always get a headwind in both directions. :)

I'm pretty close to having the perfect kit for this stuff. My thumbs especially and fingers a little bit were a bit cold. I need to follow the advice from last month and get one more layer for my hands - some kind of shell. But overall I was too warm by the time I got to the loop.

I've been riding the Voyageur (my fairly awesome built in Japan Schwinn touring bike) for > a month now since the SA 3 speed hub on my commuter blew up on me. I have to say drops in this kind of weather suck. Although I guess they help keep one's head out of the wind a bit.

I'm not sure how happy clams are, but I reckon I was in the ballpark, at least in terms of my ride this morning.

djm said:

Agreed. And if you are riding into the wind, your personal wind chill can be far lower than the reported value.

Paul Michael Ignacio said:

Which brings me to the most important point re-learned last night: wind chill readings are much more important than ambient temperature, since on a bike you're constantly moving in that cold air. And last night it was well below zero.

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Permalink Reply by E A on February 1, 2013 at 11:06am

How is the LFP today (particularly north of oak?)???

Any icy patches to watch for?

Stuart said:

Exactly!! I didn't see a lot of people on the LFT today though. No one on two wheels passed me, I felt a little alone. I thought the ride home last night was a little tougher, riding into that wind. Nice to see so much sun today! And most importantly, we gain about 2 minutes of sunlight every day now!

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Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on February 1, 2013 at 3:13pm

I could not ride the last two days due to work reponsibilities. For those of you who did - I was with you in spirit - I suggest a short video about Lewis Pugh who chose to make a global warming statement.

He swam 1 mile in the frigid waters of the geographic north pole to raise awareness about global warming.

Now, none of you rode the last few days to save the planet. You have your own reasons. But, I think all of you fall into the same category; you are making your own personal statements, unique to each of you.

For the short (2:34) news report version, click here.
For the medium (8:40) version, click here.
For the TEDtalks longer (20:54 - recommended) version where he talks about his fingers blimping to sausage size, click here.

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Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on February 1, 2013 at 4:23pm

Yes, I do not like crowded buses/trains. Necessary evil sometimes...

h' 1.0 said:

So the goal of bicycle advocacy is to get people to stop using transit?

Anyways, today felt like the 'coldest' day of the year by far. I have a stupid balaclava I bought at REI that has a shaped nose and a breathable panel for the mouth-- nice idea but doesn't work worth squat in practice. I had to pull out of the street and onto the sidewalk because I couldn't see at one point (glasses fogged up.)

Drivers all took an extra stoopid pill this morning.....

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Permalink Reply by David P. on February 1, 2013 at 7:19pm

I rode to work as usual, but my hands were not up to a round trip from Avondale to downtown and back tonight; it was nice to take the train and wear clothes that I like but that I can't wear on the bike.