Winter....anyone.

Ron Wallenfang

From the look of the national weather map the whole northern US from
about Montana east is caught up in a real cold spell of weather. In
Milwaukee, we've alternated between snow and cold fairly steadily ever
since late Nov., though with a week or so of record or near record
high temps in between that melted the first batch of snow, the next
batch arriving just as the first was limited to snow banks. In all,
we're closing in on 50" of snow for the season, with a half dozen or
so below 0 degree F days. (My inbound commute this morning started
out at -4F.) Worse, the snow has an an uncanny way of arriving just
in time to make biking hazardous. Two weeks ago, I started home in
what looked to be a little light rain, which turned into an
unpredicted howling snow storm. I had to take cover and get my wife
to pick me up, which took a long time because auto travel wasn't so
easy either. That's the second time this month she's had to do that.
Anyway, I'm about to suffer the indignity of back to back months of
well under 1000 miles, which hasn't happened since 1995. The best I
can say is that I have gotten at least one mile of biking in every
day. The month got off to a bad start when, as per an earlier report,
bike trouble kept me from getting a century. Besides weather problems
and work commitments, I had low mileage days in order to attend the
two Packer playoff games, the last of which they lost, as some of you
may have noticed. At least I was acclimated to the cold and didn't
freeze.

So how's your winter going??

Mitch@GreenerMarin.com

....here in Marin, Ca - rain, rain and more rain...but that keeps it
warmer - in the 50's today - and perfect weather to ride to the
coast. Best wishes to those impacted by last nights flooding in
Marin and Sonoma counties.

Tom Sherman

Ron Wallenfang wrote:
> From the look of the national weather map the whole northern US from
> about Montana east is caught up in a real cold spell of weather. In
> Milwaukee, we've alternated between snow and cold fairly steadily ever
> since late Nov., though with a week or so of record or near record
> high temps in between that melted the first batch of snow, the next
> batch arriving just as the first was limited to snow banks. In all,
> we're closing in on 50" of snow for the season, with a half dozen or
> so below 0 degree F days. (My inbound commute this morning started
> out at -4F.) Worse, the snow has an an uncanny way of arriving just
> in time to make biking hazardous. Two weeks ago, I started home in
> what looked to be a little light rain, which turned into an
> unpredicted howling snow storm. I had to take cover and get my wife
> to pick me up, which took a long time because auto travel wasn't so
> easy either. That's the second time this month she's had to do that.
> Anyway, I'm about to suffer the indignity of back to back months of
> well under 1000 miles, which hasn't happened since 1995. The best I
> can say is that I have gotten at least one mile of biking in every
> day. The month got off to a bad start when, as per an earlier report,
> bike trouble kept me from getting a century. Besides weather problems
> and work commitments, I had low mileage days in order to attend the
> two Packer playoff games, the last of which they lost, as some of you
> may have noticed.

I have noticed that people in SE Wisconsin say "Packer game" instead of
"Packers game".

> At least I was acclimated to the cold and didn't
> freeze.
>
> So how's your winter going??
>
Sounds like the weather here in Milwaukee County. The latest snow
stopped about an hour ago.

Yesterday morning it was cold enough that some of the salt slush refroze
on the road, leaving patches of invisible "black" ice. Bunch of cager
accidents (again).

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"And never forget, life ultimately makes failures of all people."
- A. Derleth

Patrick Lamb

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:00:32 -0800 (PST), Ron Wallenfang
<rwallenfang@wi.rr.com> wrote:
>So how's your winter going??

Cold, and thanks for asking!

I've been having a pair of low mileage months for me, but then since
I've never made 1,000 miles in a month, all of mine are low mileage
compared to yours! My DW treated me to a case of the creeping crud
last month; first time I'd really been under the weather for 22
months. About the time I started to recover, it got really cold
(meaning way down into the 20s!), and a couple days commuting by bike
convinced me I needed to ease back into it. DW also got T-boned last
month (she's OK), and the shop has been slow fixing her car up. I've
been driving a car at least a couple days each of the last two weeks,
so I could take her to work or pick her up to get the car back.

Of course, the benefit of an exceptional drought (since June 9 in
north Alabama) is that there aren't too many rainy days. I'm hoping
either we get a lot more rain, or I get back on the bike a lot more
Real Soon Now. Or both!

Pat

Email address works as is.

joseph.santaniello@gmail.com

On Jan 26, 4:00*am, Ron Wallenfang <rwallenf...@wi.rr.com> wrote:
> From the look of the national weather map the whole northern US from
> about Montana east is caught up in a real cold spell of weather. *In
> Milwaukee, we've alternated between snow and cold fairly steadily ever
> since late Nov., though with a week or so of record or near record
> high temps in between that melted the first batch of snow, the next
> batch arriving just as the first was limited to snow banks. *In all,
> we're closing in on 50" of snow for the season, with a half dozen or
> so below 0 degree F days. *(My inbound commute this morning started
> out at -4F.) *Worse, the snow has an an uncanny way of arriving just
> in time to make biking hazardous. *Two weeks ago, I started home in
> what looked to be a little light rain, which turned into an
> unpredicted howling snow storm. *I had to take cover and get my wife
> to pick me up, which took a long time because auto travel wasn't so
> easy either. *That's the second time this month she's had to do that.
> Anyway, I'm about to suffer the indignity of back to back months of
> well under 1000 miles, which hasn't happened since 1995. *The best I
> can say is that I have gotten at least one mile of biking in every
> day. *The month got off to a bad start when, as per an earlier report,
> bike trouble kept me from getting a century. *Besides weather problems
> and work commitments, I had low mileage days in order to attend the
> two Packer playoff games, the last of which they lost, as some of you
> may have noticed. *At least I was acclimated to the cold and didn't
> freeze.
>
> So how's your winter going??

I wish some of the winter was headed my way. My skis are quite
lonesome sitting on my porch. I'm at 60deg North (equivalent to 1300
miles north of Chicago) but right in the path of the Gulf Stream and
it has been above freezing for weeks. As high as 7C (45F) a few days,
lows at night around -2C (28F) so sometimes slippery on the parts of
road in the shade (low sun angle adds to this), but mostly fine. I've
been getting in about 8 hours per week on the road. Very windy however
with winds out of the south west which gives me a headwind home, so
I'm going slow disappearing in glare from the low sun and wet road.
Kind of nerve-racking at times.

Joseph

PS: Panaracer Duro Extreme tires stand up to an amazing amount of
sharp wet gravel.

Tom Keats

In article <91ump352ij4hleoqq3qd2c0fqnmm5jhe8t@4ax.com>,
Patrick Lamb <pdl678NOSPAM@comcast.net> writes:
> On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:00:32 -0800 (PST), Ron Wallenfang
> <rwallenfang@wi.rr.com> wrote:
>>So how's your winter going??
>
> Cold, and thanks for asking!
>
> I've been having a pair of low mileage months for me, but then since
> I've never made 1,000 miles in a month, all of mine are low mileage
> compared to yours! My DW treated me to a case of the creeping crud
> last month; first time I'd really been under the weather for 22
> months. About the time I started to recover, it got really cold
> (meaning way down into the 20s!), and a couple days commuting by bike
> convinced me I needed to ease back into it. DW also got T-boned last
> month (she's OK), and the shop has been slow fixing her car up. I've
> been driving a car at least a couple days each of the last two weeks,
> so I could take her to work or pick her up to get the car back.
>
> Of course, the benefit of an exceptional drought (since June 9 in
> north Alabama) is that there aren't too many rainy days. I'm hoping
> either we get a lot more rain, or I get back on the bike a lot more
> Real Soon Now. Or both!

These days, it's really pretty -- sunny, clear and freezing
(but dry) during the weekdays while I'm at work. Then the
weekend comes, and it snows. A local snow storm is incipient
right now as I say this.

I love the rain, even when it's just above freezing.
But I also love clear & sunny & dry, even when it's
below freezing. I despise what we in Vancouver BC
call "snow". It's just an ugly mess that screws up
my weekends and forces me to hoof it to the laundromat
while taking The Lord's name in vain many times,
under my breath.

It's a bad time to bake bread, but a good time to
make (and subsequently eat) clam chowder. It's also
a good time to steer clear of drivers who think
they're able to deal with it.

Worst of all are drivers who come here from places
where they get /real/ snow. They think they're
experts at dealing with Vancouver "snow", and set
out to teach the local populace a lesson about how
to deal with it. Boy, do they get a surprise
(or two,) and leave us locals with the impression
that folks from the wrong side of the Rockies or
north of the 60th Parallel are way too officious.
And dangerous.

How I long for the summer heat! Oh, well -- no
use whining about it. But looking forward to it
gives me sustaining hope. Then, it'll be clear,
dry & sunny while I'm at work during the week, and
just rain on the weekends. I can live with that.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Jay

"Ron Wallenfang" <rwallenfang@wi.rr.com> wrote in message
news:e7f3b2d1-f25e-456d-94d6-f208263eb00b@x69g2000hsx.googlegroups.com...
> From the look of the national weather map the whole northern US from
> about Montana east is caught up in a real cold spell of weather. In
> Milwaukee, we've alternated between snow and cold fairly steadily ever
> since late Nov., though with a week or so of record or near record
> high temps in between that melted the first batch of snow, the next
> batch arriving just as the first was limited to snow banks. In all,
> we're closing in on 50" of snow for the season, with a half dozen or
> so below 0 degree F days. (My inbound commute this morning started
> out at -4F.) Worse, the snow has an an uncanny way of arriving just
> in time to make biking hazardous. Two weeks ago, I started home in
> what looked to be a little light rain, which turned into an
> unpredicted howling snow storm. I had to take cover and get my wife
> to pick me up, which took a long time because auto travel wasn't so
> easy either. That's the second time this month she's had to do that.
> Anyway, I'm about to suffer the indignity of back to back months of
> well under 1000 miles, which hasn't happened since 1995. The best I
> can say is that I have gotten at least one mile of biking in every
> day. The month got off to a bad start when, as per an earlier report,
> bike trouble kept me from getting a century. Besides weather problems
> and work commitments, I had low mileage days in order to attend the
> two Packer playoff games, the last of which they lost, as some of you
> may have noticed. At least I was acclimated to the cold and didn't
> freeze.
>
> So how's your winter going??
>
Hey Ron:

I don't talk about it much...I just ride, every day, year round, 20 miles
daily in Chicago.

Winter happens, on a predictable schedule. Dress for it. Ride an appropriate
bike.

Why do I need to lecture a Packer fan on COLD?

This is not rocket science...and I do know rocket scientists.

Chicagoan J.

Tom Keats

In article <nb2dnbXyjtsNLAbanZ2dnUVZ_o6knZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Jay" <jbollyn@gmail.com> writes:

> Why do I need to lecture a Packer fan on COLD?

Oh, well.

> This is not rocket science...and I do know rocket scientists.

Just as there are various kinds of rockets,
there are various kinds of COLD.

I opine the PNW kind of COLD is among
the most miserable.

Rocket bikes pique my interest.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Andrew Price

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:29:43 -0800, tkeats2005@ehotmail.com (Tom
Keats) wrote:

>Just as there are various kinds of rockets,
>there are various kinds of COLD.
>
>I opine the PNW kind of COLD is among
>the most miserable.

Why ?

Tom Sherman

Jay Bollyn wrote:
> ...
> Why do I need to lecture a Packer fan on COLD?
>
Because DA BEHS kicked Slacker booty in the last cold weather game they
played?

> This is not rocket science...and I do know rocket scientists.
>
I know some rocket scientist (sic) in the Chicagoland area:
<http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/home.asp?URL=wisil/main.asp>.
(The "We could be rocket scientist" page seems to have disappeared,
however).

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"And never forget, life ultimately makes failures of all people."
- A. Derleth

Tom Sherman

Tom Keats wrote:
> ...
> Rocket bikes pique my interest.
>
I have a Rocket bike like this one:
<http://www.ransbikes.com/Rocket07.htm>.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"And never forget, life ultimately makes failures of all people."
- A. Derleth

Tom Keats

In article <s2enp39fsfinj5u7i7ujgn9kpghflpjupj@4ax.com>,
Andrew Price <ajprice@free.fr> writes:
> On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:29:43 -0800, tkeats2005@ehotmail.com (Tom
> Keats) wrote:
>
>>Just as there are various kinds of rockets,
>>there are various kinds of COLD.
>>
>>I opine the PNW kind of COLD is among
>>the most miserable.
>
> Why ?

Because the coldness is accompanied by a
clammy, insidious dampness. It chills you
simultaneously from the skin in, and from
the bones out. If you're wearing the wrong
kind of clothing, it feels like your wearing
clothes fresh out of the cold water cycle of
your washing machine. And they exuberantly
stick to you. Even the Pacific Ocean air we
breathe is cold & wet. You can't stand in
the sunlight to warm up a li'l, 'cuz there
ain't any. Just grey, overcast sky, and
a bleak, dismal vista to pervade your mind.

Our humid coldness will make you shiver and
scrunch-up your shoulders. You can stand
on the land or swim in the ocean: same
difference. Cold + wet.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Ron Wallenfang

On Jan 26, 4:17 pm, "Jay" <jbol...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey Ron:
>
> I don't talk about it much...I just ride, every day, year round, 20 miles
> daily in Chicago.

I can get at least one mile in every day, but to do 20 on some of the
storm days is a real challenge, unless you've found a route that is
salted early and often (my last wintry a.m. on business in Chicago, I
did a bunch of loops from the Planetarium to the Field Museum, which
roughly met that criterion.)
>
> Winter happens, on a predictable schedule. Dress for it. Ride an appropriate
> bike.

That can keep you from freezing, but it doesn't make the roads
passable.
>
> Why do I need to lecture a Packer fan on COLD?

Even though Lambeau is 200 miles north of Soldier Field, it doesn't
have those howling lake winds. Favre said that Dec. 2007 game in
Chicago was the worst weather he ever encountered for a game. A Yahoo
account of the 20 or so worst weather games in NFL history showed a
good sampling from Soldier Field, even though the Ice Bowl at Lambeau
was the single worst. (I must boast that I was there).
>
> This is not rocket science...and I do know rocket scientists.

I don't
>
> Chicagoan J.

Claire Petersky

"Tom Keats" <tkeats2005@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:mi4gnf.u13.ln@vcn.bc.ca...
> In article <91ump352ij4hleoqq3qd2c0fqnmm5jhe8t@4ax.com>,

> Worst of all are drivers who come here from places
> where they get /real/ snow. They think they're
> experts at dealing with Vancouver "snow", and set
> out to teach the local populace a lesson about how
> to deal with it.

Just came back from your fair city this evening. It was snowing to beat the
band. I <3 Vancouver. It's such a great city. I always feel like Vancouver
is to Seattle the way I'd feel about a more glamorous cousin - about the
same genetic material, but more beautiful, more sophisticated, more on top
of things.

ObBikeContent: the professional two-day workshop I was at had about 20% of
the people attending get there by bike. I thought that was a remarkably high
number, especially for this time of year.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky