tarwheel 

Back in the commute mode today after taking a week of work for a bike tour. I was sort of hoping for a rainy day as an excuse to take a day off riding but the weather is nicer than it's been here almost all summer, so I figured that I better take advantage of it.

My friends and I rode about 450 miles last week along the Erie Canal trail in New York. We drove to Albany the weekend before last, took the Amtrak to Buffalo with our bikes stowed in cargo, and then rode back. It was a fun trip but nothing spectacular. The high points were stopping in diners for food along the way. We were blessed with nice weather, very little rain and mild temperatures. Most days we rode about 65 miles, and about three-fourths of the route was along greenways and gravel trails. Most of the sections on roads did not have much traffic, although we got shunted through rush-hour traffic in Rochester due to a closed section of the trail and detour. The detour was not very well thought-out and took us well out of our way, adding an extra 10 miles to an already long day.

esmith2039

Felt a bit tough this morning. Bike was really heavy with Monday morning junk and there was a bit of a headwind. Took 10psi out of the rear to see if it helps with flats for now.. going to get some mr tuffy's this week. May get new tires in the spring. All the bearings are regreased at least, it's been a year and still looked ok going with 2 years next time.

baron von trail 

Crappy hot & humid weather is back. Last week was a mirage apparently.

noglider 

It's exciting to see people checking in here from non-English speaking countries, @Atvar in Italy and @dsanchez in Slovakia. It's exotic to me, though @Atvar, your story is too common here. I like the way you tell it, however.

@tarwheel I'm glad to hear of your tour. I've been curious about that route. It sounds nice, but on the other hand, I think my wife and I might find other tour routes we might enjoy more.

My goal has been to increase my average number of bike commuting days. I think it's slightly below two per week. Last week, I bike commuted two days. It was hot and humid, and I wore cycling clothes and changed at the office. That worked out fine. My clothes got saturated, but changing got my dry and comfortable. I change my clothes in a wiring closet which is off my boss's office. It has airflow from the data center's big air conditioning system, so my clothes are dry by the end of the day, and no one gets grossed out by their presence. I'm not even very aware of how hot and humid the weather is while I'm on the bike, and that's a blessing. My office is sufficiently cooled, and I have my own box fan which changes the air pretty well.

Today, I drove my wife's car in and dropped it off with the repair mechanic near my workplace. I hate HATE HATE driving a car in the city. The subway, my usual mode other than cycling, is hot and stinky and has a rough ride, but it is a world better than driving a car in traffic. When we moved back into the city three years ago, I sold my car.

timvan_78

First AM that felt like fall. Cool crisp air, bright sun burning off fog patches, crunchy crispy dry leaves under the wheels. Love fall, except for the fact that summer's over.

groovestew

Haven't touched a bike in almost 2 weeks, and I felt it almost right away, and definitely on the hills. Cool this morning at about 8C/46F.

I might be having motivation issues. When I worked downtown, driving was too expensive (parking), and riding was almost as fast as the bus (and I dislike taking the bus), so it was easy to motivate myself to ride. At the new office, parking is free, and driving takes 10 minutes as opposed to 35 minutes by bike. The new route isn't as enjoyable as the old one either. Suddenly, it's become very easy to make excuses to drive. But today I rode, and it was fine.

Phil_gretz

Eh. I was tired and dragging today. Knees felt a bit of a twinge on the ride. I may be fighting a low grade infection or something. Thankfully, we're taking next week off at the beach with the grown kids/spouses. I'm not pushing myself then and hopefully I'll recharge.

tarwheel 

Schools here have reopened for fall session and the increase in traffic is substantial. Looks like I'm going to have to start leaving for work about 30 minutes earlier to avoid the big rush. My departure time tends to slide during the summer months when schools are out and traffic much lighter.

The weather here has finally started to moderate, and it's almost feeling like fall with high temps only reaching about 90 F with dewpoints in the 60s. For most of the summer, our high temps were in the 95-100 range with dewpoints in the mid-70s. It was like a steambath.

mgw4jc

I was off work yesterday, so no commute. It was a very comfortable 70 and lower dew point this morning. Taking a day off makes my goal of averaging 100 miles per week a challenge. I ride 26 miles round trip, but Thursday's ride is usually shorter due to meeting family half way home. Thus I try to leave a little early and add a couple of miles on mornings such as today. 15.5 miles on the way to work.

Wolfhaven

Big storms blew through yesterday. Had some errands to run by car so I avoided riding in them. Today it was 64 but cloudy and gloomy for the morning ride. Should clear off. Looking like I'll have to mount one of my better headlights for the morning rides. Should be a nice 77 for the ride home. Thinking off taking a detour and riding a few extra miles on the ride home.

Last Friday I skipped work and headed over to a canoe rental service and had them drop me and a kayak off at a canoe landing on the Brule river. Paddled the beautiful river for five hours. Took a long lunch break under some cedar trees and just relaxed. Perfect weather to be paddling too. Left their kayak at the landing and drove a couple miles to the North Country Scenic trail which is a sand/dirt road through the county forest. Road my bike for a little over an hour in complete solitude. managed to ride up on a black bear that was meandering down the trail. Made enough noise to spook it as it rounded a corner and it disappeared. Was a fabulous day.

wphamilton

The commute is still difficult at times, painful uphill and starting at lights especially uphill. I did a number on my ankle on the run last week, when it was already sprained. Worse than I expected. I feel like it's improving, and biking is easier than walking, but maybe I'm not giving it enough rest to heal quickly. The other knee is protesting, probably compensating for my shortened stride, both shins made themselves known yesterday but are quiet today, I even felt some weakness in hips this weekend.

I conclude: running = bad news, if you try to get in shape fast.

I'm thinking of the commute as rehab so I'll probably keep it up, but with platforms so I can get my heel on it as needed.

baron von trail 

A little better weather this morning. Less humid and T around 65. I can handle that but still arrived to work drenched in sweat. I sure am looking forward to when the morning T is in the 50's.

wphamilton

That's cool no-sweat weather here. 67° and I saw several cyclists in long sleeves, and a few wind-breakers. It will be 90 on the way home though.

baron von trail 

Yeah...it's all relative. I often ride in a T and shorts when temps are in the lower 50's and see people all bundled up like it was winter. I'm usually pushing a 1200 calorie per hour pace during my morning commute. So, staying warm is rarely an issue.

groovestew

Nice enough commute this morning, 11C/52F and breezy. Should be tail/cross winds for the ride home.

My new route has a stretch along a very busy road. It has a huge shoulder, so I'm not sharing a lane with traffic, but I discovered yesterday that it can be a challenge to traverse a couple of lanes at the point where I need to make a left. Had to wait quite a while for a sufficient break in traffic.

timvan_78

I'm not sure why, but I was blazing home last night, passing everything. Passed 2 cervelos and an S-works.


Got passed by a roadie drafting off an E-bike, and before I could catch up, I had to turn off a different way.


All good fun--got home early too.

Darth Lefty 

I've been sitting it out. The same (unserious but I'm not really comfortable sharing) problem that kept me off my bike in the spring has continued. Last week, after a bad flare-up, I scheduled a surgery for it, and as soon as I was off the phone and ever since then it started feeling better... scared straight? The last week has been better. I have about two weeks to wait it out and see if it continues improving and I cancel the surgery, or go ahead with it. It's been really frustrating, both its chronic nature and the feeling it might be going away that is then betrayed, over and over for six months.

joeyduck

We are moving Thursday and today is my last day at work! I have worked here for 7 of the last 9 years and it will be a big shift, for both me and the company. I will likely do some contract work for them when it is needed and if it fits in my schedule.

We are moving to Nanaimo which is across the water to Vancouver Island which is a great smaller and laid back and relaxed place.

My wife has a nice job lined up and she will be working three days a week at the office and being home with the little girl the other days. My wife is lucky, her office is very bike friendly, they have lockers, storage, showers, and company jerseys; and she's committing herself to bike one day a week. It is a 13 km one way ride along a path nearly the whole way and it is mostly flat. She even wants to take our daughter, whose daycare is next door to my wife's office, she can literally see the playground from her office window. She does seem a bit apprehensive about riding since she's not really ventured out on rides to work in 3-5 years, nor since the accident. But since it is a paved and protected path she feels safer and will build up to it. We talked about it and she knows to take her time; plus the distance is shorter than my one way trips were usually.

I on the other hand have no job yet, none of the schools have contacted me. I also applied at a medical marijuana grower but I have not heard from them either. I will not likely be able to cycle to work, but I will be able to kayak from the island we are living on to the big island; so that is a new routine I am looking forward to. I also fear we will need to buy a second car, ideally I want a plug in car, but that's not feasible until we have a house.

Anywho, our place is filled with piles of boxes. We are putting a lot of things in storage so I have logged every box and (nearly) every item in each box so that we can easily find them in our storage unit. I have at least 38 boxes for storage and many others to be in our new place.

Last week I also had the pleasure to meet up with @timvan_78 and @HydroG33r at a place where paths are easiest crossed. It was great to meet them and get to know them and made us wonder why did we wait so long. I had met @HydroG33r a few times for part drops and he visited me once in the hospital, but that visit was just before my meds were really squared away and I was super out of it. So it was nice to get to know them in a a normal state.

essiemyra

That kind of fabulous days are so much fun!

The commute today was a nice uneventful ride.

Phil_gretz

Great report, @joeyduck! Here's to hoping that the new routine turns out great for your family. Kayaking? I'd be thrilled to do that as part of my routine. I wonder how kayaking in the rain compares to bike commuting in the rain? Phil G.

Phil_gretz

On this morning's ride, I blew by a new commuter (never seen before) who had panniers on a drop bar type bike. I didn't feel like chatting, so just sped along. Maybe if I see him again, I'll slow down and say hello. I did wave, though, as I passed...

baron von trail 

Strong finish for the month with 500 commuting miles in the last 10 days or so. Makes up for the almost no miles during the first 20 days of the month

This morning was another ride through soup. But, knowing that this will soon end, I was OK with it though.

wphamilton

That would do it. I only burn around 800/hr on a typical commute.

Today wasn't that though, I took it easy on the way in, got passed twice and didn't even chase. Beautiful day if you don't mind 80% humidity and there were 5 or 6 cyclists out, which is a lot for weekday mornings here.

tarwheel 

The humidity was back up again here big time this morning, which made for a sluggish commute. My legs are also very tired after riding 11 out of the past 12 days. I would take a rest day but need to drive tomorrow for a doctor's appointment and Friday is looking like it might be a rain-out with a tropical storm approaching.

Kayaking to work would be almost as nice as cycling, @joeyduck. I used to paddle a lot and have known a few people who were able to do that. You certainly would have to watch the weather, however, even more so than with cycling.

Wolfhaven

Chilly ride in this morning. I leave my gloves and helmet in the garage in front of a fan I leave running and each morning my gloves are soggy wet. Nasty. This morning I donned a lightweight jacket the wind blows through so it was enough protection to keep me from getting cold. Bare legs and sandals made for cold feet though. Rode my touring bike loaded up with a couple days worth of clothes and lunches so it was a slower ride in. Had a young bear pop out of the woods and stop in the road in front of me. Slowed down while he figured out what I was and run back into the woods. That's two bears in 3 days of riding. Guess fall is coming.