Commuting - your best commute moment ever?

What is your best commuting/general biking moment ever?
<p>Last summer on my regular 8mile hilly route to driver's education I was standing up. Pumping my legs as hard as I could, as I (rocketed) up this semi steep hill, just feeling like superman. BTW-its a straight section of road with 5 steep hills, and then at the very beginning theres a monster, or atleast it seems like it when your at the base looking up, but I was going up that hill-at about 13mph, on my mountain bike. Suddenly it evened out, got some gs' as I hit the peak, and I shot towards the base of the next hill, maybe 150yards downhill to the base. I would say that I got about 35-40mph on that, but right when I hit the peak it was amazing. The sun was coming up and it had just suddenly lit up the succession of hills. The wind rushing through me as I sped up, and started passing the cars again. 25mph speed limit, O:) It was just one of those magical moments as that pretty much everyone in this room shares. The reason we all love bicycles so much. With every hill you go up, you must go down it too. In my opinion the climbing is the best part though. I've learned to love hills. Don't be shy, share your stories.

February 2001, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, around 6.30pm. Riding in a torrential downpour, watching a massive storm roll in across the Pacific (seeing a spectacular light show), yet to the west it was clear, I could see a gorgeous sunset behind a rainbow. I only wish I had a camera for that one.

Road closed due to accident. Dismount, walk the 50 ft on the sidewalk to get past the accident. Smile at all the cars that have to take the 4 mile detour!

2nd best-
rode past 6 mile traffic backup. Beat many of my car trapped co-workers in to work by some margin.

3rd best-
Wierd fog one morning (desert doesn't get fog very often). Made everything that I knew look different. very exciting ride.

Several rides stand out: Riding during an eclipse. Riding at the extreme high temps in summer. Coldest, wettest in winter. Riding home last year with the Croy fire going full blast. Making the 20-mile trek in 55 minutes once (courtesy of a pretty serious tailwind).

Over 5 years, quite a few commutes stand out.

Speaking of tailwinds, why has it been so windy here lately? A couple of weeks ago I was able to clock 65km/h without even touching the pedals. :eek:

Mine Comes about 10 years ago , Riding to work during a snow storm , The cars wer not moving , I was ! Passed a co-worker in a car 8 miles from the office. They got in 1 1/2 hours after me.

The one that comes to mind is the first time I got caught in a major thunderstorm. :) The bike just seemed to float down the road, there were no cars, and it was wonderful. :) It was the end of a long, hot week, and the rain felt wonderful.

I've had many but what comes to mind is cruising along on a hot summer day enjoying my commute home when this car full of kids go cruising by and chuckled out loud at me. Well, a short distance later I passed them in stacked up traffic and returned their chuckle... they just stared dumbfoundedly.
--Mark
PS Devster, that was in New Hope, I figured you'd know where that is being from Wayzata.

Off topic-best name for a liqour store "New Hope Liqours". Some good biking in Minnesota for sure though.

This is one of my most amusing moments....... as my user name states I am a firefighter. On many of my rides I will bring along my dalmation who runs along side of me. well one evening we were rideing through our local university, as we rode past one of the dorms a fire alarm had just sounded and students were fileing out of the building. When I ride I wear my duty jacket that has a large reflective "MARYVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT" on the back.

Well anyway here we where a firefighter and his dalmation on a bike, I am sure the students thought that the city must have made some drastic budget cuts. The students got a kick out of it.

Guess maybe I should load some fire hose on my rack so that I am always prepared.:D :D

I have had many wonderful moments on the commute.

Watching the sun rise behind Mt. Hood and seeing the mist rise off of the Wilamette is breathtaking.

Burning off office stresses while mounting huge hills is another.

but my favorite come in the middle of of driving rain, either before 6am or after 9pm, depending on my schedule. The realizatioin that it is cold, dark, and raining like crazy, yet I am ever so happy, those are my best commuting moments.

[ but my favorite come in the middle of of driving rain, either before 6am or after 9pm, depending on my schedule. The realizatioin that it is cold, dark, and raining like crazy, yet I am ever so happy, those are my best commuting moments. [/B][/QUOTE]

Strangly......there is something about what you have said that appeals to me too (although not time specific)

One of the other guys at our shop lives near me so our commute gets to be a pretty spirited ride, usually averaging in the low to mid-twenties. It's great fun and only takes 5 more minutes than driving. Besides that, every now and then we see people that we actually beat door-to-door if traffic gets to be particularly bad.

Looking down and seeing 14.05 mins on the clock for a 4.5 mile commute, still my fastest time.

Offering to jump-start a stalled car with the big 12 volt battery I was using. It could have too, it was one of the Hawker/Gates batteries.

One morning I had a driver slow down to let me pass, then he revved his engine and honked, trying to startle me. I caught up to him at the next light and started knocking on his driver's side window.."HELLO, I know you can hear me. Looking away does not make you invisible...Sir, are you OK? Are you having some sort of seizure?" at the top of my lungs. Several other drivers were laughing their butts off because they had seen the whole thing. The offending driver kept ducking down in his seat til the light changed. I laughed all the rest of the way to work, to the point my belly hurt. :)

keeping pace with 2 young deer for about 60 yards on a bike trail, and getting challenged by a 10 point buck on the same trail during a commute back home in late fall (sun down at 5pm)

lots of critters along my ride sunrises and sunsets in fall /early winter.

"John"

Car full of girls waving at me. Hey, I'm 42 years old. That doesn't happen very often.

Riding home at a cold clear winter night. Deserted road with just me and my very bright HID light. Felt like I owned the the whole county.

I know it's juvenile, but my finest moment by far was definitely the day I caught up with the carfull of teenagers who'd sprayed me with the Supersquirter and doused the "shooter" with my water bottle while the car was stacked up in traffic. Her screams were like the wail of the Wicked Witch of the West as I sped away, leaving her to rail against her just deserts.

The first time I rode from home to work and back. Considering that I was completely out of shape, 70 miles in one day was quite an accomplishment.

Offering to jump-start a stalled car with the big 12 volt battery I was using. It could have too, it was one of the Hawker/Gates batteries.

:D That's really a good one.

I took an alternate route one morning. A group of kids were standing out in their front yard. They saw me coming up the hill and started cheering. Now I know how Lance feels.

Mine would be a tie.

It's either climbing out of the saddle for a long stretch and noting in my helmet mirror that a car load of hotties following me were clapping; or

sprinting a long four-lane stretch with a slight downgrade and massive tail wind. A guy pulls up beside me in the left lane, rolls down his passenger window and shouts at the top of his lungs with even a hint of alarm in his voice, "Do you know that you are going 40 miles per hour?" I shouted back, "Well hey, so are you!" The look on his face was priceless. It was a cross between 'yeah but I'm in a frikkin car' and 'no frikkin way that I could ever do that on a bicycle.'

I took an alternate route one morning. A group of kids were standing out in their front yard. They saw me coming up the hill and started cheering. Now I know how Lance feels.

This comment brought back one of mine.

Spinning down the residential part of the ride under the autum leaves at sunset, passing a man raking leaves and his 6 or so year old daughter, who looks up from the leaf pile, points and says, "Daddy - he's FAAAAST!

Many here but the best was when I was in the bike lane in a not-so-nice-part of South Minneapolis. I rode over the contents of a wallet - credit cards, library cards, checks, no ID. I stopped to pick them up and I called the number on the checks which belonged to a woman in the neighborhood in which I also live. I did not know her. She was happy that I found them and wanted to meet for the drop. I suggested a coffee shop near our houses after work. I was sitting outside on the sidewalk in my commuter garb looking dorky as all heck, hot and sweaty (summertime). Up the sidewalk were four of the hottest young women you have ever seen! The other people at the shop saw them too. All of us (females too) were slack jawed and they were a block and a half away! You guessed it. One of them (the one with glistening abs and a belly button ring) was the one belonging to the wallet. She brought friends in case I was some creep. The wallet was stolen from her house early that morning and her German Shepard chased the thief off. She was grateful and I got to meet a new neighbor. Plus I got to hang out with four incredible women. I told my wife that I was returning a wallet I found and would be late getting home but she heard about how hot these women were from other neighbors! "Since when is Paul hanging with Playmates and why hasn't he been letting me hang with him?" Gotta keep my woman on her toes! :-)

Not knowing it was a race, and beating my friend to his house 7 miles away.
I phoned his cell, said meet him at home. I didn't know he was in town, he saw me ride onto a MUP so we left town @ the same time.
Kicked his car driving butt!

Oh and once I had a guy yell out his car window 'If my girlfriend had tight little @$$ like you, I might ____ her more often!'
I thought it was pretty funny....or at least better than 'bikes suck!'

This week the temps in North Florida got back into the range of "normal", which meant that many of the fine young ladies at UF were trading in hoodies for bikini tops. The other morining, one the biggest hill I ride, I was eating up the rider in front of me at about a meter a second. As I swung around him on the left, a Jeep full of swimsuit-wearing coeds honked and waved appreciatively. As I drifted back over into the bike lane, the pretty girl in the back seat caught my eye and blew me a kiss. It definately gave me a little boost on the way to class.

Almost every day on Ustick or Fairview road headed home while passing cars for miles and miles and loving every minute of it. Of course, once we get further out, many of them catch me....so I have to behave myself.

The best day, however, was this winter the morning of a snowstorm. Cars were backed up everywhere. I passed cars almost the entirety of my 9 mile ride in.

I guess I just like to pass cars:).

There are so many! Here are just a few in no particular order:

Catching 4 nekid teenagers doing the "wild thing" in what they thought was a secluded spot along a single track trail. One of them yelled "F**k!" and, as I was tearing around the corner, I said back "Looks like."

Catching a guy and a girl with certain parts of their clothing pushed up and pulled down against a tree...again doing the "wild thing".

Catching a guy and a girl in a pickup truck (he was standing outside with his pants down) doing the "wild thing", in November...at about 30 F. When you gotta, you gotta ;)

(By the way all of this activity occurs at a place called...I kid you not...Johnson Park.)

The man and woman who steamed up the windows of her car every Monday night during football season at a park near my house (not Johnson Park). They did that for a couple of years. I ran a regular soap opera through my head for those two years imagining the scenario.

Nonsex related great moments (I do have a few of those ;) )

Heading home as the temperature plummetted from 50F in the morning to 11F in the evening. I was freezing, literally, and feeling very sorry for myself until I got about a mile from home at which point my route took me past I-70 in Denver and the road was blocked solid! I took an extra lap around the lake so that I could laugh and point at the losers in their stopped, albeit warm, cars.

Going home once in a sudden ice storm, again I was freezing and feeling sorry for myself until I got home and noticed that I was covered in ice (about 1/4") thick. I looked like a glazed donut! I had ice sliding off the visor of my helmet in kind of a mini glacier and I cracked when I moved my arms. Probably one of my coolest rides :eek: ;)

Finding an absolutely outstanding fly rod case in the middle of the road that contained not one but two complete fly rod set ups - rod, reel, line - everything. One of the rods was an G. Loomis 2 wt rod that is still my favorite rod!

Oh and once I had a guy yell out his car window 'If my girlfriend had tight little @$$ like you, I might ____ her more often!'
I thought it was pretty funny....or at least better than 'bikes suck!'

Brightened up an otherwise mundane afternoon at work, thanks!


Finding an absolutely outstanding fly rod case in the middle of the road that contained not one but two complete fly rod set ups - rod, reel, line - everything. One of the rods was an G. Loomis 2 wt rod that is still my favorite rod!

On one ride, I was heading to mountains to fly fish. I caught the Swedish Bikini Team oiling themselves up and I lost two fabulous fly rods. ;) *-see the mundane afternoon at work for the reason for this.

My best commute: Probably when I got new tires (slicks) on my old MTB. The next morning was super fast, the weather was great, and the traffic light! Just felt good. :D

Many moons ago, I was riding to work on a Saturday morning. The sky was a cloudless, sharp alpine blue, there were no cars anywhere and I was on a long straight downhill with no lights. The poplars lining the road cast a dappled shade. I had kicked it into the big ring and was cruising easily at 45+ km/h when a wave of energy just crashed over me. For 60 seconds, endorphins screamed through my brain, I dropped two more gears and was just flying. It felt so good - tears of joy were pulled from my eyes and shot out past my ears. The feeling faded, and I've been chasing it ever since...

There are so many!
Tell me about it. Here are a couple of mine:

1) Any time there is a traffic jam. I like to blow by the cars at high speed and try to make it look like I'm so bored I'm not even breathing

2) The first day I took my racing bike home (left my commuter and gear at the LBS to pick up the following day). It was Friday, the weather was excellent, and I rode at my absolute limits. To improve things, I had a strong tailwind. I must have looked like a lunatic because one driver jokingly challenged me to a race. When I arrived in my home town, a bike cop pulled me over for failing to signal a left turn (it was soooo tempting to just pour on the speed since I barely heard the command to pull over -- but I figured I'd get nailed later for pulling a stunt like that)

One dark cold Winter morning I saw the Northern Lights! Spectacular!!!

Exactly 6 months into commuting I needed my ride home to make it an even 1000 miles for the 6 months. It snowed most of the day, totalling 5". My co-workers responces fueled my desire to ride home in the white stuff, although I did have an offer for a ride home. As it turned out, My meeting ran late, I missed the opportunity to turn down the ride because he didn't wait for me, during my meeting the snow stopped and the plows were opening the roads in front of me. (I saw the plows up ahead entering two roads that I rode on and had to wait less than a minute for a third!)

...a bike cop pulled me over for failing to signal a left turn...
What world do you live in? Bike cops? I feel like I'm 30 years behind the times. We don't have any bike cops here.

Every commute is good.

I did have a memorable moment a few weeks ago. The aqueduct that serves all of Washington DC runs a block from my house, under the only major road in the neighborhood. That morning, the aqueduct sprung a leak during rush hour, the temperature was around freezing, and within moments there was a four-car pileup and the road was closed. Pretty quickly the entire neighborhood became mired in gridlock. I rode off to work on my bike past all of the stopped cars. Just as I was thinking, "Ah, the cleverness of me!" my chain came off, and I wiped out in a spectacular, slow motion, arm-waving, foot-kicking fall, right in front of all of the stopped cars. Humbled, I didn't even have the presence of mind to say, "I meant to do that."

I had a good one this afternoon. Passing thru Petaluma I saw a car stall, blocking a right-hand turn lane. When my light went green I rolled over to the car, parked my bike, and offered to push the car around the corner to the J & D smog shop. The driver had recruited another pusher and the two of us got the compact moving. As we passed the front door of the shop the looks we got from the mechanics were priceless. The thing that made me feel good was knowing all the motorists arond us had seen a hard-core cyclist stop and help a motorist. Offering to help jumpstart a car with my bike battery is still the best (see earlier post).

Every commute is good.."

I refused a ride into to town from a friend I had to do an errand for tonight, said I like riding.
It was uneventful...and very nice.

I Rescued a small Shi Tsu from almost certain death on a busy road, and actually found a lost dog poster with the owners phone number. And if that wasn't enough the poor dog only had one eye, which made it very easy to convince the owner it was indeed her dog. When I first called the owner said the dog had already been found, only to find out from a guy on a bicycle that the dog had escaped again.

It was a very rewarding experience.

I had just moved into my apartment and was up until about 1:30 a.m. listening to music and talking with my roommate, fully aware that I had work at 4:30 that morning. I finally fell asleep around 2 on the mattress I set up in the living room (no furniture yet). When I awoke, I got dressed and ready to go (reluctantly, considering the amount of sleep I had). I stepped outside and it was snowing incredibly hard. For New Mexico, these types of snowstorms (especially in downtown Albuquerque) are far and few between. My awe at the rate/accumulation of the snow had awoken my roommate and we watched it for a little bit. But it was back to business and I set out on my slicks.... The ride was an adventure, through blinding snow and 2 inches of accumulated wet/frozen snow. Amazingly, I was only 5 minutes late to work! I like to refer to it as my 8 miles of terrifying beauty.

Thanks for the thread, I've been needing to talk about that experience for a while.

----
Reza Fakhrai

The one ride home I'll never forget was the first time I sprinted through a particular set of double lights on my old steel MTB. They go green/red together, are about 100 yards apart, and favor the cross roads. I had to circle a parking lot to wait for my buddy to get through, which gave me just enough time to wipe the look off my face.

The first time I topped the hill that had kicked my butt in three straight attempts! Another is riding in a construction zone (the flagman put me there) while all the cars had to wait.

Best moments on the commute:

- Mt. Baker silhouetted by a rising sun - only happens a couple of days a year from the perspective of my route, and you'll be lucky those days aren't cloudy. I've only seen it once in three years, but God it was beautiful.

- Tailwind days.

- Biking home through the first snow of the season, on the last working (commuting) day before Christmas. My internal jukebox was playing the Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York', and I was giddy as my Christmas spirit finally kicked in.

Down here, the main farm crop is sugar cane, which is hauled from the fields to the mills in huge farm trailers towed by tractors, often down main roads. My commute route goes down a two lane highway with good shoulders. State law prohibits vehicles from using the shoulder to travel on, so cars stack up behind the cane tractors.

Caught & passed a line of about 24 cars behind a tractor one day. Tried not to show how hard I was working to do this. The big grin on my face no doubt helped. One driver yelled 'That's not fair!'

Same road, another day, pulled away from a stop right behind a laden 18 wheeler. Drafted him until I ran out of gears at about 44 MPH. Minivan with some school kids behind me going nuts as I pulled onto the shoulder.

3rd best-
Wierd fog one morning (desert doesn't get fog very often). Made everything that I knew look different. very exciting ride.

I am in Tucson and we may be thinking about the same fog. Yep, that was really cool. I was above the clouds at the northern end of town first then gradually went into the fog that morning. I even had the camera, and took several pictures. Fog just doesn't happen here.

Another time I had a great tailwind. On sections that I usually ride near 22 mph I was at 34 mph! I went fast enough on the ride home that day that drafting cars was easy. The hum of the tires going that fast is great.

One of my best commuting moments is when I roll into the office every morning. The satisfaction of realizing I once again missed all that traffic and feel great. Why don't more people do this? :)

1. The first time I broke the 1 hour mark for my 20 mile commute.
2. The hooting, whistling and cat calls made to me from a car full of cute college co-eds at the lights.
3. Everytime I beat either of the two guys I commonly cross paths with on my commute home on our all out race home. ("Blue Cannondal roadie guy" & "Red MTB guy w/ slicks")

T.J.

My story is a modest but satisfying one. I don't ride on ice, and thus I had never ridden in January. I mean I had not only never commuted in January, I had not ridden a bike in January at any time in my life. Two years ago I missed one good chance - I was on call on New Years Day and had to go in to work, and went by bus, and it was warm and the streets were clear and I kicked myself for not riding, vowing to do it the next work day. Of course a blizzard came over the weekend and that was it til March. To further dash my hopes, in December 2005 I got caught in an afternoon ice storm that started while I was at work, and I tried to ride home on my 1.25" road tires and fell, and had to limp home on ice on my cleats with great caution, and pretty much resolved not to risk a January ride.
But that's old news. I commuted in January. The streets were clear. I ignored the cold (I ski, after all) and rode in -8C (approx 17-18F). I can die happy.
RGC

During an early morning commute as I rode lazily (recovering from sprint uphill in a construction area) down a residential street I watched two elementry school kids run to the corner. As I passed they yelled "we beat you!"

Prickly: was that fog in 2000? If it is, I have some great pics.

My best moment thus far, after two commutes, was my first time finding the path of the trail I ride to work on (goes through town and bypasses traffic like you wouldn't believe). I ended up going through a construction zone and ducking under a cut chain-link barricade. I crossed to the other side of the trail (from the North side to the South side) and continued on. I ended up coming to a wall...set my bike on the other side and hopped it. Ended up in a townhouse complex with the street name of "Borg". I tried to go through it but resistance was futile...;)

After conquering the Borg, I dealt with a bit of traffic and went into work feeling better than ever.

The "hanging with the playmates" story is cracking me up!!! The second best, for a fisherman like me, was finding the 2 wt G Loomis rod-holy crap!

My best story to share is boring. After many years of getting fat, I started riding to work again in '05. I tend to ride in the dark to and from work. One day I got off early and got to ride home in the daylight. While I was pedaling, I happened to look down at my cranks and there was a strange bulge making my tights stick out below my knee and above my ankle on my right leg. I looked over at my left leg, and it was there too! This is what I said out loud: "Is THAT what I think it is!?" I reached down with my hand to feel and you guessed it-my calf muscles. I was dumbfounded. I was just so surprised and I felt like a king. Great day!

See ya
MN Dan

Best Commute: During the day, I had to drive back to the office (in an office car) for two hours in a steady ran. It was utter misery. I got back to the office, changed, and rode home in the same steady rain. I don't know why, but that was one of my most fun rides--pure joy the whole way.

Runner up: As I explained in this old thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=81827), last January, I was riding home along a riverside bike path after dark. It was raining pretty hard in 55F weather. It was part of a quick warm up after a lot of snow and ice.

It was completely dark, and I noticed a little water on the path. But a couple hundred feet in front of me, I saw a blinkie moving forward. I assumed that the path was ridable at least to where the blinkie was. To go back would have been about a two mile diversion.

The water got deeper and deeper. I think it topped out at about where my bottom bracket was--it could have been as much as a foot deep. I could feel my panniers dragging in the water. It went on like that for 100-200 feet. Then, about 100 yards farther, I had another 50-100 foot stretch of deep water. I just kept thinking, "Keep moving forward, keep moving forward."





During an early morning commute as I rode lazily (recovering from sprint uphill in a construction area) down a residential street I watched two elementry school kids run to the corner. As I passed they yelled "we beat you!"
Great story!