I was all set to get an early start on today’s ride when the equipment gremlins struck.  First, the cheap plastic clip broke off the back of one of my rear blinkers.  Two blinkers are a must during the dark days of December, so I fashioned a new clip out of metal pipe strapping.  It’ll probably last longer than the old one.  Not sure what I’d do without pipe strapping, zip ties and duct tape in the toolbox.  But unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of my troubles.  For some reason, my rear fender, after over a year of trouble-free operation, decided to start acting up today.  I noticed it occasionally hitting the tire during yesterday’s ride, so I figured, no problem, I probably just need to tweak one of the struts.  No such luck.  I ended up having to fiddle with it for 15 minutes to get it to stop rubbing.  I had to bend both of the struts at about a 10 degree angle just to get it aligned with the tire.  The wheel is straight and true, so I’m not sure what’s up with the fender.  When I get the chance, I’ll pull it off, straighten the struts, and carefully remount it.  Today I just wanted to get it to stop rubbing so I could leave on my ride.

Today’s conditions were almost identical to last night’s, except for it being light out.  The roads are still icky and wet with lots of standing water and gunk that sticks to the tires.  Definitely not ideal biking conditions.  I’d almost rather it be raining..  at least the rain would rinse the crap off the bike.  Weather was overcast and a very clammy 46 that felt more like 40.  Wore toe covers, hiking socks, leg warmers, cycling shorts, short sleeve athletic tee, light long sleeve cycling jersey, hi-vis windbreaker, light gloves, and head band.  The ride was about as comfortable as one would expect given the dampness.  Cold front is supposed to come through today, which will hopefully start to dry things out.

Kind of a double whammy of dark descending on us this week.  Not only are we into the shortest days of the year at one week removed from Winter Solstice, there’s also a new moon on Wednesday.  So this week’s evening rides are going to be…  dark, particularly in the park and on poorly-lighted Lawyers Hill Rd, towards the end of my ride.

Other than the utter blackness, tonight’s ride was uneventful.  The temperature was a not-quite-balmy 46, and I wore the same stuff as the morning, minus the rain pants and shoe covers.  My tires behaved much better after I wiped them down.  Road conditions were so-so.  Mostly dry but still some washed out areas, but still a lot of road grit and debris everywhere.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer with more fog in the morning.  The rest of the week looks dry.  I will probably take the road bike again tomorrow and then switch to the fixed-gear for the rest of the week.

Note to self:  after oiling bike, remember to wipe off excess and make sure it doesn’t get on tires.  I somehow managed to get to work without falling down, but boy was that some white-knuckled, slick-track excitement this morning.  Didn’t help that the roads were wet and oily (especially in Catonsville) too.  I survived by staying in the saddle for 90% of the ride and spinning up the hills in low gear.  Would have been a real drag if this had been the fixed-gear bike.

Rode into Ellicott City via New Cut Rd, then up Oella and Westchester Ave, and through Catonsville via Rockwell and Edmondson Ave.  Around 13 miles at a rather deliberate average pace of 14.3mph.  NWS says it’s only 34 degrees, but it felt warmer.  Mostly sun and some clouds, with fog around the river.  I wore a short sleeve athletic shirt, long sleeve Under Armour top, cycling shorts, leg warmers, rain pants, wool socks, toe warmers, shoe covers, light gloves, REI helmet liner, and hi-vis windbreaker.  Felt comfortable the whole way, and probably could have done without the rain pants, as they ended up with just a tiny bit of spray on them.  It had been about 16 hours since it rained.

I’ll be thoroughly wiping off my tires before the ride home tonight!

Friday evening ride: 33, clear and breezy.  Same clothes as the morning ride.  Quick 8 mile ride home.

Today I spent a couple hours cleaning Thursday’s muck off the road bike, degreasing stuff, etc. so it’ll be ready for the coming week.  Will likely need it at least tomorrow because I’m expecting the roads to be wet.  Love the master link on my new chain…  I don’t need a chain tool to take the chain off the bike any more.  Made the job go faster.

This year, I’ve started keeping several changes of clothes at the office, so I don’t have to carry clothes on the bike every day.  I am really happy with how this is working out.  Sometimes, I’ll shoot over to the office over the weekend to drop the clothes off while I’m running other errands.  Other times I’ll designate one day a “cargo hauling” day, strap on a backpack and extra pannier, and carry everything on the bike.  It all depends on the weather, how much extra gear I’m bringing (cold weather usually means more cycling gear), etc.

Looking forward to another week of bike commuting.

Yesterday’s 5pm ride:  Same gusty west wind as the morning, temperature around freezing.  Bundled up a bit more than I ordinarily would for low 30s because of the wind.  Top:  Short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, PolarTec pullover, hi-vis windbreaker.  Head: fleece headband, REI helmet liner/balaclava.  Hands: mid-weight winter cycling gloves.  Legs: thermal tights.  Feet: wool socks, road bike shoes, toe warmers, neoprene shoe covers.  8-mile ride home.  A little sweaty at the end, but felt like I was dressed appropriately for the conditions.  The ride was comfortable and my feet didn’t have long enough to get cold.  My STI shifters are starting to miss shifts occasionally.  Last winter I fixed that by squirting WD-40 inside the shift lever mechanisms, so it may be time to do this again.

Today’s morning ride: Colder but not as windy.  Around 23 with a wind chill of 14.  Wore the same clothes as yesterday evening and, again, ended up sweaty but comfortable after an 8 mile ride in.  Took the fixed-gear.  There was a bit of ice here and there where the runoff had frozen overnight, particularly in the park.  Nothing too treacherous, but I will need to look out for it later when it’s dark.

Wow, where to start with today’s ride.  Upper 30s with a 15-20mph west wind.  Same clothes as Monday 12/7 morning (including arm warmers).  I was comfortable in these clothes, but the real story was the wind and mud.  I took Montgomery out to New Cut Rd, which was uneventful except for a head wind.  New Cut dumps me out on Main St in Ellicott City, and at that point I have the choice of taking Oella Ave and going through Catonsville, or taking River Rd and going through the park.  Oella is kind of hilly, and I wasn’t feeling particularly energetic this morning, so I chose River Rd which turned out to be a mistake.  River Rd apparently flooded out during the rain we had Tuesday night into Wednesday, and while it was rideable, there were a lot of muddy, washed out sections.  There was also mud in spots on the Grist Mill trail, and lots of standing water, runoff and debris pretty much everywhere.  My bike ended up looking like I had just taken it through a cyclocross course.  It’s covered with mud and also making lots of unhappy squeaking noises.  This weekend it’s getting a thorough cleaning.

When it wasn’t muddy, I was fighting a strong head wind heading west through Relay and Arbutus.  Taking Oella would have avoided most of this, too.  Of course, if I had taken Oella, I’d be complaining about having no energy during all the endless hill climbing, blissfully unaware of all the mud and wind I was avoiding.

The ride home tonight may be a little chilly, but at least I remembered my headlight this time..  🙂

Overcast/41.  Same clothes as the past 2 or 3 rides.  Fairly comfortable.  The big story with this ride was around 3 in the afternoon when I realized I had left my headlight on the other bike.  Fortunately I keep a mini “Mag Lite” flashlight in my rack trunk, so I strapped it to the handlebars with a couple zip ties and rubber bands, and it was my stand-in headlight for the ride home.  It’s really not bright enough, but I know the roads, and I have a front LED blinker for visibility (ironically, I remembered to move the blinker over from the other bike, but not the headlight).  So it was enough to get me home.  Ideally it’d be nice to have a brighter LED flashlight that’s about the same size as the Mag Lite..  that would give me a brighter emergency headlight if this ever happens again (or if the “real” headlight ever stops working on me).

Around 15 miles again today.  34 or so at the start of the ride, 38 or so at the end.  Partly cloudy.  Same clothes as yesterday’s afternoon ride.  Feet cold after first half hour.  Head really sweaty at the end of the ride.  Comfortable otherwise.  I’m going to need to do something about the cold feet if I want to take longer morning rides in January and February.

I took the geared road bike today because bad weather is threatening for later, and the road bike has fenders and additional storage capacity for rain gear (side pannier).  Turns out I do have the same issue with this bike with the right shoe cover too close to the crank arm.  I guess I just never noticed it before.  Anyhow, when I get around to it I’ll adjust my cleat(s).

It was around 40 degrees for the ride home.  Left at 4:45 and had a little bit of light for the first half of the ride.  Wore exactly the same stuff as the morning, minus the arm warmers.  This would have gotten a bit warm if the ride had been longer, but it worked for the approx 8 mile trip home.

So, this is the first time I’ve ridden the fixed gear bike with shoe covers, and the right foot is a little too close to the crank arm, to the point where I can feel the crank when I’m pedaling.  I’m hoping I can correct this by adjusting the cleat.  My right foot is slightly larger than my left, so I occasionally have problems like this.  But I don’t have the problem on my geared road bike, so the cranks obviously have something to do with it too.  Both bikes have identical pedals (Look Keo) and I ride them with the same shoes.