Shanghai Dan
New member
Will ride tomorrow! Ventura to SF...
Then back on Thursday. A nice little 800 mile round trip!
Then back on Thursday. A nice little 800 mile round trip!
Who rode today?
- Thread starter Woodswoman
- Start date
randy1149
New member
Nobody riding here.
They'll be no riding for us in the NE for a while. We still have 28K people in Westchester County out of power from the last weeks storm. NOW 2 more low pressure weather cells well be meeting late tonight. A snow and ice low pressure from the northwest and a 2nd rain cell from the south. When the 2 meet 12 - 20 ins. of snow expected in the Northeast area.
This will probably increase the number of people out of power and make it impossible for ConEdison to make headway on bringing back the 20K people still out.
The temperature in lower NY has been below freezing at times and all those thousands of people without power for 4-5 days may have to deal with broken water pipes in their houses. These people may have to wait another 4 or 5 days. A foot of snow will hamper any restoration of power.
According to ConEd this outage has been the worst power outage in history in the lower NY area, worst than Sandy. There where over 70K people out of power now down to 20K.
They'll be no riding for us in the NE for a while. We still have 28K people in Westchester County out of power from the last weeks storm. NOW 2 more low pressure weather cells well be meeting late tonight. A snow and ice low pressure from the northwest and a 2nd rain cell from the south. When the 2 meet 12 - 20 ins. of snow expected in the Northeast area.
This will probably increase the number of people out of power and make it impossible for ConEdison to make headway on bringing back the 20K people still out.
The temperature in lower NY has been below freezing at times and all those thousands of people without power for 4-5 days may have to deal with broken water pipes in their houses. These people may have to wait another 4 or 5 days. A foot of snow will hamper any restoration of power.
According to ConEd this outage has been the worst power outage in history in the lower NY area, worst than Sandy. There where over 70K people out of power now down to 20K.
Last edited:
Shanghai Dan
New member
Awesome! A bit cold in the morning going over the pass from Santa Barbara up until I hit Santa Maria, other than that it was great. Tomorrow I ride back down - probably do quite a bit of it on the 1!
kujawskir
Member
OK, I've been puttin' off mentioning my daily commutes in southern PA (As much an oxy-moron as northern FL). Today I gotta fess up and give a lil' advice.
This is my second winter on a bike. I've been riding through most of them and loving it. I take the cage when there's snow or ice, real or predicted. I'm not crazy insane, I just like the bike. In summer I ride to work if it's dry, I don't care much if it rains on the way home cause I can always dry off or shower at home. 30° F or higher in evenings past has been fine with any rain or snow on the road still melted. 17° on completely dry roads has been no problem at all with the right layers of warm clothes and wind protection. I am not a fair-weather only rider by any means. This is basic transportation so the lady can have the van whenever her friends call for unplanned outings.
This morning was 30° with mostly dry roads, it was not advisable at all, and I'll never do it again. Every dark spot was totally frozen with the sun too low in the sky to help geo-anything. I managed to keep her rubber side down and only wiggle a bit at one slow corner. Praise the Lord for good reflexes and a light, easy to handle bike (CTX700 manual with fairing). Going that slow through every corner to stay safe was neither fun nor was it an efficient use of my time.
From now on, anything under 35° F merits a pre-walk down the block to look for wet stuff. If there's water that's not splashing and/or running the lady must take me in or do without that day. We had agreed on that when we chose a "second car" with less than 3 wheels, and now we're going to stick with the plan. I'm still down with the coldest temps if it's dry, that's never shown me cause for pause, but even Bambi knows there's a limit to how cold water can be before it gets hard.
+ Shiny side up,
+ K.
This is my second winter on a bike. I've been riding through most of them and loving it. I take the cage when there's snow or ice, real or predicted. I'm not crazy insane, I just like the bike. In summer I ride to work if it's dry, I don't care much if it rains on the way home cause I can always dry off or shower at home. 30° F or higher in evenings past has been fine with any rain or snow on the road still melted. 17° on completely dry roads has been no problem at all with the right layers of warm clothes and wind protection. I am not a fair-weather only rider by any means. This is basic transportation so the lady can have the van whenever her friends call for unplanned outings.
This morning was 30° with mostly dry roads, it was not advisable at all, and I'll never do it again. Every dark spot was totally frozen with the sun too low in the sky to help geo-anything. I managed to keep her rubber side down and only wiggle a bit at one slow corner. Praise the Lord for good reflexes and a light, easy to handle bike (CTX700 manual with fairing). Going that slow through every corner to stay safe was neither fun nor was it an efficient use of my time.
From now on, anything under 35° F merits a pre-walk down the block to look for wet stuff. If there's water that's not splashing and/or running the lady must take me in or do without that day. We had agreed on that when we chose a "second car" with less than 3 wheels, and now we're going to stick with the plan. I'm still down with the coldest temps if it's dry, that's never shown me cause for pause, but even Bambi knows there's a limit to how cold water can be before it gets hard.
+ Shiny side up,
+ K.
Oh yeah....nice big bags on the CTX700D
gonna ride up again Sat...probably 50's morning and 80 afternoon....
gotta kiss bikeweek goodbye for this year...LOL
Professor*76
Member
Well, here we are in Hilton Head SC....60 to 72 degrees....sunshine. This is our 4th winter vacation down here, and this time we're asking ourselves why don't we live here and visit Rochester in the summer? My wife is tired of the snow, so we are considering it this time...year around riding and we love the area. We'll see.
I'm retiring June 1st, so am looking forward to riding alot this season. I usually commuted to work, so I got my fair share in. Problem is my wife is 11 years younger than I am, so not close enough for retirement. So we're not going anywhere. We have a residential travel trailer about 30 miles south of our home. So I'll be taking the pups down there with me for longer weekends. Take them down in the truck, then come home, pick up the bike and go back down again. Glad it's close by.
kujawskir
Member
I feel your pain trying to make such decisions.
Next year will be my minimum retirement age, meaning I can retire and delay payments for another 6 years and not lose any points, but also no income except my previous retirement (50%). I could take immediate retirement and lose so much it's not worth it, or wait a few years and break even, or wait out 6 to 10 years and be comfortable, depending on how many cross country trips we want to take each year.
If one of us was at full retirement, we might think about the other using the delay plan so we could travel now while we're both young, or just take a few years off and then go back to work. As it is, we're holding out and taking a couple trips each year until till we can afford at least 3-4 trips a year after retirement.
Seems the longer we wait, the more un-taken trips we'll want to make up each year after retirement.
Next year will be my minimum retirement age, meaning I can retire and delay payments for another 6 years and not lose any points, but also no income except my previous retirement (50%). I could take immediate retirement and lose so much it's not worth it, or wait a few years and break even, or wait out 6 to 10 years and be comfortable, depending on how many cross country trips we want to take each year.
If one of us was at full retirement, we might think about the other using the delay plan so we could travel now while we're both young, or just take a few years off and then go back to work. As it is, we're holding out and taking a couple trips each year until till we can afford at least 3-4 trips a year after retirement.
Seems the longer we wait, the more un-taken trips we'll want to make up each year after retirement.
Have you thought about "semi-retirement"? If your future retirement is mostly funded already with your 6 year out date, you might find a "placeholder" job in between. Perhaps one that offers summers off. Think school district, local college, winter maintenance crew work with a utility, highway department or in a retail environment as just a few of the many opportunities that exist. I did exactly that in order to fulfill my desire for bicycle touring abroad. As it worked out, I'm glad I did. Shortly after my full retirement, I became ill with a chronic disease that makes me unable to ride a bike. While early retirement may have risks that you can assess, postponing your passion for travel as you get older carries risk that you cannot. You may want to ask friends for a referral for a financial adviser to determine if this is a possibility for you if you don't already have one.
Last edited:
I decided to go at 62. The make up time for SS was at about 72, after that you'd make more on SS. I didn't want my first time off starting in the winter, so delayed it until 62.75, and start drawing in September when I'm 63. That's a loss of about 24% but fortunately I can absorb that. I was more concerned with health and being able to do stuff than I was about the money. Most of my buddies have already been retired for at least 10 years. Every single one of them said the same thing. Money is fine, but to risk not doing stuff is simply not worth that. Not one had a regret going early. But yes, I'll have a pt job to at least get through the winters.
kujawskir
Member
Yes, the placeholder job is definitely part of any delay plan right now, just brought it up as an option.
Also I'm not sure I was clear that my wife and I are nearly the same age. Because she'll still be young when I retire we're in a different situation and pretty much waved off the delay thing unless work gets so miserable I want to move to a different employer. It's more for those with a difference in age thinking about using savings and one retirement to get a good first year or two.
Also I'm not sure I was clear that my wife and I are nearly the same age. Because she'll still be young when I retire we're in a different situation and pretty much waved off the delay thing unless work gets so miserable I want to move to a different employer. It's more for those with a difference in age thinking about using savings and one retirement to get a good first year or two.
Professor*76
Member
Yipeee....The Silver Bullet is home and out of storage. We got wet during the ride home but that's what the rain gear is for.
Now to get the shop (my garage) ready to install that big pile of mods I've been accumulating all winter. Spring is here...
Now to get the shop (my garage) ready to install that big pile of mods I've been accumulating all winter. Spring is here...
Woodswoman
Member
Congrats, Professor! That's exciting.
We had some rain here today, which made a great start on washing away our remaining snow and getting some of the salt off the streets. It gives me hope!
.
We had some rain here today, which made a great start on washing away our remaining snow and getting some of the salt off the streets. It gives me hope!
.
DesPeresMark
New member
Been raining hard and cold temps for the better part of two weeks since I bought mt CTX and have barely been able to ride it. Finally a break in the weather today, but today only. Cold and raining again starting tomorrow.