drew3

first bike commute in my professional life. cloudy and 50 deg F here in seattle. my trip is an MUP/bus/MUP/street deal, 15.5 miles in all, 12 or 13 on the bike. took me about 1 hr 20 min on a pretty uneventful ride. got a few pannier/clothing issues to iron out but all in all it went well. i expect to shave a few minutes off the time as my legs get stronger and i figure out breakfast. but the bus portion of my commute could throw a few wrinkles as well as the weather gets nicer and more people are riding.

i've been lurking this forum for a bit, glad i can finally contribute

HardyWeinberg

40F, drizzle. Rode geared, too much cargo crap to pile onto the fixie even though it now pains me to get my derailers wet. Also generally beat after 3 day weekend of plumbing.

Doohickie

For the time you wait for the bus, and the distance you're riding (~3 miles?), is it even worth it to ride? Or does it help you avoid some bad traffic or hills?

corkscrew

Warm and wet. Rode in the rain, wetness be damned. It was 40 some degrees F out though, so I was sweating under my cheap windbreaker I use as a rain cover.

Cold cotton pants ended up being hell on my knees though.

Chalupa102

That lack of sleep definitely showed itself on commute home. 57F and cloudy with winds NWN @ 16mph. I had tailwinds but they didn't seem to make an difference too much. It seemed like i had no where near the energy that i should have had. I even had a slightly harder time making it up the hill to my house, but at least i made it. I'm definitely going to be hitting the rack early tonight.

bugly64

It's still cold in the morning here in Montana (30F). Tomorrow we're supposed to receive 3-4 inches of snow. At least today the wind was mild and I had a tail wind for ride home.

genel

Nice weather today tail wind this afternoon. But I left a little early and hit extremely heavy traffic. All the kids from the high school and all the buses.

Fourth flat in two weeks, ok one of them was because I missed the glass, still a lot of flats. I think the county salts the road and bike path with glass in the sprong.

genel

Welcome to the club!!

TuckamoreDew

I made an unplanned stop at the grocery store on the way home from work. Since I bought too many groceries to fit in my backpack I just used a nylon cloth bag from the store and hooked it to my rear rack with a couple of carabiners. I've gotten away with this before....but not this time. On the way home I hit a bump, one of the handles of the bag broke and a bunch of bananas fell out and made contact with the spokes. The spray of mushy banana and shredded banana peel was pretty impressive.

I wonder if pureed banana is a recommended chain lubricant?

buzzman

nice ride in on the bike path this morning. I've got to replace my chain and cassette though I've worn them down to nothing and they are starting to skip and jump. My schedule has been so intense lately I've barely had time to deal with the bike and it's showing the strain. It'll feel so great to have a smooth running machine again.

Met my wife for the ride home and it was a delight to ride home together. She's a tyrant with her bell on the bike path!- I'm way more of a wuss with the bell than she is.

canyoneagle

Par for the course since November........ 6 blocks on foot. I miss my bike commute!

fletchh

Dark and chilly, but a good ride in at 4 C ( 40 F). Expecting rain when I leave, which is fine. The weather will get warmer after today.

tarwheel 

Beautiful weather in forecasted in NC all week, sunny with highs in the 70s. The pollen has finally dropped a bit after nearly choking everyone here last week. We had the highest pollen counts on record, and I rode every day in it. Had my highest mileage week in a long time, 280 miles including a 3-day bike trip over the weekend. My legs were fried after all that riding, so I drove yesterday despite the perfect weather. Back on the bike this morning and all felt well, although I'm still recovering from the 200+ mile weekend.

vtjim

So is mine. She's actually a bit of an aggressive rider. It's a bit embarrassing. Lord help me if I try to counsel her, too.

Mid-30sF for me today. Sunny. No wind. A rider came out on the MUP behind me but drifted further and further back until I didn't see him any more. I passed a woman. Saw someone else riding the other way. More cyclists trickling out, day by day.

Someone had a puppy.

primeowl

Another lovely day here in tokyo with the cherry blossoms now beginning to fade but still lovely. Weather all over the place though, one day 10, next day 20. I am now in my 9th year of commuting...feels good!

EKW in DC

Tacked three extra miles onto last night's commute home making the ride 10 miles - most of the extra distance was just for fun, the rest was to stop at the grocery store for a couple items needed to make dinner. Wanted to go at least another 10 miles, but didn't have enough time, so had to call it quits.

Great ride in this AM. Cool temps (around 50) w/ a bit of a crosswind, but nothing strong. Dark ominous clouds all around presage the rain that's forecast for later today.

genel

Chilly head wind this morning. Hope that means a fast ride home.

Changed to Conti tires, they're usually up to the demands of commuting.

CATEYE wireless out again. Not sure if I should bother with the new battery exercise or just switch to a different brand. Cut off temp has gradually risen from 20's to 40's since feb.

groovestew

I know it's not a race, but...

My commute includes a decent climb - I don't know the grade or elevation; people in San Fran or Seattle would probably snicker at what I call a climb - but here in the flatlands, it's a decent climb. When I started cycle commuting a year ago, I took that hill in my granny gear, and a few times got to watch a much stronger rider blow past me on the way up. Today, as I rode up the hill using the middle chain ring, I easily overtook another rider spinning in his granny gear. It was kind of like seeing a distant echo of myself.

I'm not the fastest guy out there by any stretch, but it was nice to see how far I've come in the last year.

HardyWeinberg

48F, grey, wet, but no precip.

Another day riding geared w/ no trail-a-bike or trailer.

drew3

Oh I wish there was no bus ride involved. The route to work takes me across the 520 bridge and there is no bike lane, so I'm forced onto the bus. There are a couple of much longer options that take me around Lake Washington, but I'm going to need to get in better bike shape to pull those off in a timely manner.

RB1-luvr

first commute since rotator cuff surgery today - WOOT!!!

nice day, 49 degrees on way in, should be sunny n 62 on way home.

feels so good to have wheels under me again. doc said keep the rides short for now, 10 miles, for two weeks. It's only been 32 days since surgery.

Standalone 

Last week was one of the few full 5-day commutes I've done since becoming a bike commuter in Feb '08.

The week came to about 79 miles of riding, total.

I'm off work this week, but last night's 15 mile r/t ride to a church meeting was awesome. I rolled right up the tallest and longest hill (high enough to be a former nike missile site) in the big ring for the first time, only one cog from the top gear for most of the way up. In the saddle!

I finally got around to hooking up my $9 sigma computer to the Panasonic and was surprised to find myself cruising at around 19-20. I thought I was much slower!

Standalone 

In my riding and driving experience, and from what I observe and hear as a teacher, school bus companies and districts have their schedules set so tight that bus drivers are really under the gun to get one age group picked up and delivered before returning to another school for that round.

Hence the pushiness. There's a spot on my commute where I often have the same bus behind me on the same one way block uphill. There's room for cars to squeeze by, but not the bus. This makes the driver pretty mad, even though it's only one block.

I'd call the interactions I've had there more than mildly annoying. Awesome! I know nothing of your route or locale, but I'd look at options that would skip the bus ride-- if it's only 2 miles of your commute, why bother with the bus wait and the expense?

If it's a section of dangerous road that you're skipping by using the bus, I bet you'll feel more comfortable tackling it after you have a few more weeks of commuting under your belt. Playing around with maps.google.com really helps, too.

asphalt junkie

Strong head/cross winds this morning. I'm sure they'll reverse direction for the ride home.

BA Commuter

I had a strange experience on the way home. Our exit from work has a delayed green. Usually when the approaching vehicles slow down and stop, our light turns green and allows about 3 cars to exit.

I was the only vehicle exiting and as I saw the car across from me stop, I proceeded to pedal into the 5 lane intersection without looking at the light. However, the light NEVER turned green! I look up and see cars to my left pulling away from their light and the cars to my right beginning to head into the intersection. Yikes!

I got into the center lane and waited until it was clear. I was surprised I didn't get heckled or cursed. There have been other times when I was the only vehicle and I have using this exit for 3-4 years. Maybe they changed the switching/timing mechanism or it didn't recognize a bike. Guess I'll be paying more attention!

Cheers!