I’ve ridden to work 7 times so far this January, the same total I had this time in 2010.  In the news media, everyone has been complaining that this winter has been colder than usual.  That may be true on average, but it seems like the mornings haven’t been as cold as last year’s.  I…

Here we are in 2011, another year of bike commuting.  I spent most of the Holidaze doing things other than riding.  As a result, I was a little out of shape for my first ride of the year today.  Hopefully, that’ll be short-lived. I rode to work 174 times in 2010, eclipsing 2009’s total, which…

Perfect biking weather lately.  20° with a wind chill of 10..  pitch dark at 5:00pm..  wind advisory until 10:00pm..  what’s not to like?  As long as there’s no snow or ice, I’ll take this over hot and humid any day. I’m still figuring out the optimum layering strategy for comfort in these conditions.  I think…

Typical winter day at the office.  I spent an hour riding in sub-freezing weather, and was perfectly comfortable and warm for the entire ride.  Now I’m freezing cold sitting here in my 70° office.  Never underestimate the power of moving around to keep blood circulating, I guess. This was my coldest ride into work of…

Looking back, I see it’s been just about a year since I started blogging regularly about my bike commutes to work.  One thing is for sure:  Winter is the most interesting time of year to ride, because the varying weather conditions give each ride its own set of challenges.  That starts with figuring out what…

Thought I’d put a plug in for my favorite commuter saddle, the Forté Classic, available at Performance Bike for around $40-50. I bought one of these in 2002 when I initially bought my road bike, because the racing saddle that came with it wasn’t working for me. The Forté Classic seems “just right” in almost…

After not working a single 5-day work week in November, I have 3 straight full weeks of work between now and the extended Christmas break, starting today.  Weather (and health) permitting, I’m hoping to turn that into 15 rides. This morning was my first ride of the season that truly felt like winter.  It was…

I’m beginning to notice a trend.  The more often I ride my fixed-gear bike, the more comfortable it seems to get.  Last week I took my first ride on it in about 3 weeks, and my shoulders and wrists were bothering me after the first half hour.  Now, a week and about 5 rides later,…

I rode on single track Sunday for the first time in around 15 years.  I had forgotten how different it was from road biking.  I woke up Sunday morning with a bit of an upset stomach, so I didn’t want to do anything too strenuous, but I wanted to get out and test-ride my newly…

November hasn’t been a very prolific month for riding to work.  Looks like I’m on pace to top February, but that’s not saying much.  I was out the first 2 weeks of the month, and it’s already a shortened month due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  As a matter of fact, weather permitting, I may actually…