Zin

Nice commute this morning, well, nippy (34F) but nice. The ride home was incredible! 73F with haze in the skies. Many fields are being burned off prior to planting barley. An'Bush gets a large portion of its barley from this area.

ollo_ollo

It was another nice Spring day after a light rain last night, partly cloudy with dry roads & a light breeze. This evening we had a little thunder shower but it didn't last long.

Chris L

Panniers won't snuff out your resistance that much. I was using them while riding into 130km/h winds in that mini-cyclone a couple of months back (not to mention 5 consecutive days of 60km/h+ winds on my tour of Tasmania). I think the tyres are slowing you down more than the panniers. It could also be a relative lack of conditioning at riding into the wind. Believe me, it's very different to riding in any other kind of conditions or terrain.

Chris L

In answer to the original thread topic. Slight southerly wind this morning, relatively low temperatures for the time of year (or indeed any time of year). Had one silly cow try to run me off the road, but they failed dismally.

Ed Holland

Oh to be back on the bike! I missed Friday, Monday and yesterday being caught up with holidays and train travel - not even setting eyes on a bike for for days. This morning was beautiful, warm and sunny - perfect cycling weather. I had a great ride along the scenic route and (I think) set a new average speed record just into the 19 mph range. Excellent.

Cheers,

Ed

Hants Commuter

This mornings ride was a little cooler with patches of mist in places. Didn't stop me from extending my ride to enjoy the early morning sun and quiet roads.

Chris L

Well, this evening two morons tried to run me off the road, both of them failing dismally (when will they get the message?). Still, I drew an awful lot of satisfaction blowing by them in the holiday gridlock, never to see them again. Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

ridealot

Rain all day yesterday after I got to work, very windy too. A co-worker took pity on me and offered to take me and my bike home. I looked out the window saw the rain coming down and the wind blowing the trees around and said "OK" (yeah I am a wuss).

Anyway, the ride in this morning was pleasant but chilly with tempature around 35(F). Supposed to get to the mid 50's this afternoon.

seely

Yesterdays was great but a bit brisk with a strong headwind in some sections. Once I got "downtown" and made my left I lost the headwind and was able to maintain a good pace. Injured knee started to hurt on the ride but I rode through it. Smart? Probably not.

My 1mi ride to school today is shaping up to be nice. Its reasonably warm, traffic is insanely heavy as always and its sunny. Ahhh nothing like dodging sorority chick drivers early in the morning!

modmon

good friday was my first commute to work. it was great! was strange to leave my house on the bike and somehow ending up at work. commuting is great exercise but it exercises your mind just as much as your body. during the commute, im sucking in everything around me and am able to have peace of mind. commuting on a fixed gear also adds to the experience. im not stuck in my bubble speeding along, making my way to work unconsciously.
so yeah, im a commuter now. its not a huge distance (8 miles to get to work, i live in the county and bike into the city) but i dont have to wake up early in the morning to get my exercise ride in. kill two birds with one stone kind of thing. you know, its been raining almost everyday since easter, but i dont mind riding in the rain at all. but i got a flat on monday and was caught without a wrench in the rain. that was stupid of me.
ive been riding since about feb and i have to say ive learned a lot since then. the bug has definately bit me, and i havent stopped riding since.

mjw16

This morning was the first this week without a steady, soaking rain. Although the trail was flooded in a couple of places (most notably near the sailing marina), it was a much more pleasant ride than Mon and Tues when I was soaked through coming and going. I, however, was exausted this morning and rode in a daze most of the way. It's only Wednesday and I've been riding at a more conservative 15-16 mph average, I shouldn't be so wiped out. I'm wondering if the lousy weather contributes to that. I didn't even make it to the gym last night, just showered, ate and fell asleep on the couch around 6:30, and STILL couldn't fall out of bed this morning. Man, I'm hoping the ride home is easier.

LSD

Thanks for the info Mark and Manic. Yes I was shifting up and down with the wind. Perhaps I should just stick with one middle-ish gear and let the gusts come & go. Plus replace the flappy windbreaker with something sleeker and the knobby wheels with something streetier.

ollo_ollo

Just cloudy & gentle rain showers this morning but starting to really come down at lunch time so I may chicken out & drive back to work. don

Hants Commuter

Weather was great for the ride home this evening, clear skies and a light breeze. sadly I just couldn't get into the rythm of things and opted for the short route home

blueline

I guess it was just a bad luck day, although most of the ride was fine. Cool in the morning, near freezing. Just getting out of the driveway, the mount that I've been using to support my home made front light snapped off. Fortunately, it is getting pretty bright out close to 7 AM these days, and I have a backup light (Cateye halogen) for visibility purposes.

On the way home, weather was pretty nice, probably already in the 60's (supposed to get up to 74F by now). On another down note, I was approaching an intersection with a stop sign where I make a right turn when I was overtaken by a pickup hauling lawnmowing equipment. The truck runs the stop sign turning right, directly in front of me. Fortunately, I was already coming to a stop for the sign, so he did not come THAT close to hitting me. Nevertheless, it did really tick me off. Funny that.

Kodama

Rainy this morning with a headwind to boot. A nice ride though, I was feeling better than I did yesterday and the trail was clear of fare weather users. The wind has really whipped up though since I've been at work, hope its blowing my way tonight.

Jean Beetham Smith 

Last night's ride home was late and very rainy. I learned the hard way that in a real down-pour SealSkinz socks don't do much good if you don't have rain pants over them. It was funny pouring the water out of them when I got home, just not so funny riding home in them. I don't know if it was because I didn't have any supper before riding, or just riding in cold, wet, sodden tights, but my legs cramped every time I lay down. Stretch one cramp out, then the opposing muscles cramp. I didn't have much in me for the ride in this morning, so I took the most direct route and took it easy. I had to stop for a young Tom turkey playing crossing guard for his flock of 2 hens, he fanned his tail and drooped his wings, strutting in the lane a rod in front of me. "I'm so big I would do serious damage to you and your bike." When finally allowed to pass, I got to the clinic and perched on the road shoulder waiting for a chance to cross the road. The receptionist stopped to try to make her left turn into the clinic, the car behind her decided they would just whip around her right side, even though there is no lane there. Actually, there isn't even much shoulder there, certainly not a paved one. Fortunately, he finally realized about 6 inches away from me that it just wasn't going to work. Bike & I were on the grass completely off the road. Some people shouldn't leave the house without their 2nd cup of Joe, I guess.

Desertrat

The bike I use to commute suffered its first mechanical casualty today since I bought it five years ago....front deraleur cable broke a block away from my house. I was forced to pedal into work on the smallest chainwheel but was able to shift the rear just fine. This bike is a Novarra Alance with Shimano components. I must say I am impressed with a 5 year old bike that has had nothing done to it except routine maintenance and a few tire and tube changes.

seely

Actually cables should be part of your routine maintenance on some level. If you use a lube like GT40, Tri Flow, T9, Finishline, or basically any drier/teflon based synthetic lube, I recommend wiping down any of the exposed cable as often as possible. This keeps mostuire off the cables, which in turns prevents corrosion. Also, typically if you are riding almost everyday or even more than a few times a week its best to replace the cables once a year. Its pretty cheap to do ($1.99/ea cable, $1ft. housing, maybe $10 labor) and then you get your derailleurs adjusted while they are at it. Good to hear it didn't cripple the bike though!

Chris L

Still no rain on my commute, although we got some last night, which was acceptable. Another nimrod driver today, again he failed to get near me in the gridlock -- I could be in trouble when all the holiday traffic dissipates next week. Just about over the calf injury I picked up last weekend, all should be good for this weekend.

ridealot

Good ride home last night, it was warmer and windy but the wind did not seem that noticeable.

Ride in this morning was chilly around 34(F). High temp today is supposed to get around 69 Woo Hoo!

Szpirit

My first commute of the season today. A beautiful morning. -1C and chilly. Even with gloves, my fingers froze, but here I am at work feeling incredibly good!

billwatson58

A wonderful ride in this morning with temps in the 50s and a slight tailwind. No jacket required! This afternoon should be in the 70s with a strong SW headwind to have fun with on the way home. Thanks to commuting, I'm approaching 1,000 miles YTD.

Ed Holland

Good riding at the moment. Last night I did the country route in reverse for the first time (it was light enough to ride in the evening). This was great except, perhaps because, some of those hills are steeper when approached from the other side. It does explain how I'm able to reach 40mph going the other way in the morning.

This morning's ride was good too, slightly cooler than yesterday but just as pleasent. Fast too, I managed to average 19mph again!

Cheers,

Ed

ET_SoCal

modmon & seeley - where you at? (update your profile)
I like to see how's the weather/commute in all the areas we all are.

Another nice morning, all week it's been at 40 degF, not a bit of wind
Going home; between 70 & 80, with a cool breeze...