PatrickGSR94

oh yeah almost forgot, I saw some rain coming late yesterday before leaving the office, so I put the fenders on the bike. And sure enough, I got NO rain at all other than a couple of sprinkles on the 15 mile ride. I think I ended up going between a couple areas of rain.

timvan_78

17C (63F) dead flat calm water, beautiful sunrise this morning! Very enjoyable after not riding in yesterday.

On the bike path a very slow woman was veering left (rounding a left-hand bend). I was going to pass on the right (I don't usually do that but I didn't want to go into oncoming bike traffic), and she made a sudden swerve right--a real squirrel move! I laid down a strip of rubber, drifted around the bend and then was gone.

kj6cec

That sucks so much. Any way you could hide the pickup near work and ride to it earlier in the morning?[/QUOTE]

Great Idea, however I work in a different city every day, so the truck has to come home with me. It also carries alot of expensive safety supplies. So since the weekday commute is out, I am commuting on errands after work and on the weekends and spending more time riding recreationally. Going to look at a lightly used BMC Superstroke full-boinger sometime this evening....

buzzman

If you have a good reliable shop near where you work it may not make a difference. I doubt the broken spoke will be covered under warranty. If you feel an allegiance where you bought the bike and want to maintain a good relationship that's a reason to bring it there.

The other option is to start learning to repair your own bike...but I say that with a warning. Replacing a spoke on a rear wheel, while a pretty straightforward repair, has a steep learning curve. It's one of those things you can make a mess of the first couple of times you do it so get some coaching if you do make the attempt.

droy45

After not being able to ride in yesterday, I was disappointed today for the torrential rains that kept me from going again today. It just wasn't safe. Fog and heavy rain made visibility very low. I drove and the interstate speeds were taken down to 45. Bad day. Planning some mountain biking this weekend to make up for it all.

downwinded

Had a first happen yesterday. Another cyclist and I rode together for 2 miles on the morning commute. Turned out we had been introduced at a social function some time back. It was really different and very enjoyable to have someone to chat with on the ride. I know it sounds silly to those who see dozens of cyclist on every commute, but there are very few days I see anyone other than myself commuting. Some sport riders in full kit occasionally, and that's about it. They are usually going the other direction so I don't have a chance to "scalp" 'em the way Joey does!

dude72

used my "old" commuter today. with a new set of reelights (700 series from www.reelights.com) works fine, but the magnets cause a lot more friction than i had imagined.

dcb23

Monday: Rear puncture, 30 minutes to replace it, oily grimey hands...and cut my hand with the object that was in my tire.

Can only go uphill from here right?

jrickards

Coldest morning this fall so far, 2C (36F) and somewhat windy but clear. I dressed for it with warmer gloves, a cycling jacket and tights. I didn't wear a hat or other head covering and wondered if this was wise but my head got warm through the ride so I was fine. Tomorrow mornings forecast however is 0C (32F).

Installed a new front tire over the weekend, a Michelin Pilot Sport (700x32). I wasn't sure what the puncture-resistance rating of it was but I looked it up this morning and it seems to be ok. I reinstalled my Schwalbe Marathon on the rear because it is a little fatter and therefore, might be a little softer on the butt: it is a 700x35 but, compared with the Michelin and the tire on my road bike, the Marathon appears narrower and "taller", somewhat aerodynamic which might explain why its ERTO code is 37-622 rather than 35-622, the Michelin Pilot Sport tire is 622-32 which makes sense because it appears more round than the Marathon.

Due to construction on two parts of my route, I've had to take detours which allow me to add 6km to my route for a total of 22km (13.7mi) each way.

spivonious

Steady rain this morning, temps around 60F. I got a few minutes into my ride and had to turn around and get my jacket. I've been at work for 25 minutes and have already had three people say "You didn't ride today, did you?". Maybe I am a bit crazy, but it's a good crazy.

dramiscram

A rainy, cold and sad morning. Arriving at work I learned that one of my co-worker, Nicole, died this week end. She was 56 so it was quite a shock. It's gonna be a long day...

jrickards

It was colder where I am but dry so your conditions were worse. I too got a similar response from one co-worker.

arsprod 

Back to regular commuting schedule (yay), low 60's and windy. Gonna try something new (to me) today - have to teach a class at nearby college and I'm going to ride over in street clothes

dcb23

Much cooler out today, I broke out my outerwear top...hands were actually getting cold.

Lots of media trucks were parked by the Navy Yard as I rolled by...surreal world.

tarwheel 

Gorgeous weather this morning, temps about 60F, low humidity and nice tailwind. Only downside was that I caught almost every single red light. I still made good time but got more of a workout with all of the starting and stopping.

Yesterday I drove due to a saddle sore, but that turned out to be fortuitous because a surprise rainstorm popped up during commute time and thoroughly soaked my usual route. The forecast had called for a 0% chance of rain, and even the morning weather didn't catch it. The evening weather guy made one of the few admissions I've ever heard them make about blowing a forecast.

jrickards

Cool again this morning (3C, 37F) and a bit breezy but the worse thing was that it was foggy. For the first 3km (2mi), I was in thick fog, my glasses fogged up and I although I could see the residential roads I was on, I couldn't see the bumpy patches and probably hit them all. I got concerned because up ahead, for 8km (5mi), I had to ride on a 2-lane highway and I didn't want to ride it in this fog but through the second 3km of the 6km to the highway, despite riding beside a lake, the fog cleared up and the highway, with the occasional misty sections was fine until I went down to the turnoff for the next road when it was so thick, I could barely see the red light across the road. I knew that my bike wouldn't trigger the light to change and the fog was so thick, I couldn't see cars coming at nearly highway speed on the road I had to cross until they were fairly close. Then a car pulled up beside me and I thought, "I'll let this car trigger the light" which it did. Barely 200m (yd) up the road, the patch of fog cleared and was clear for the rest of the ride.

Tomorrow is forecast to be milder but currently, the forecast is for fog/mist again.

droy45

A cool 38degF this morning with a slight NW headwind. Took the road bike today as it appears dry weather is here to stay for little while. It took exactly the same time as it does on my regular commuter. Appeared to be more traffic than usual this morning.

spivonious

Brrr!! A cold ride in today with temps in the upper 40s and a 10mph headwind coming right over the handlebars. It also seemed to be "see how close you can pass the cyclist" day.

dramiscram

A cold 3° celcius when I left for work and a cool 9° celcius when I got there. Very sunny, no Wind, nice ride.

wphamilton

I nearly got clobbered this morning. Two cyclists, side by side coming out of the tunnel under Webb Bridge Road. There is a sharp right turn at the end of the tunnel and I'm coming the other way just as these guys are leaving the tunnel, and they are filling both lanes. I holler heads up and get over as far as possible, but the one heading at me snaps his helmet up and then jukes towards me. I don't play the "guess where he's going" game with unskilled riders so I bail off the path skidding (turning) left towards the vertical concrete wall at the tunnel mouth. I get my front tire stopped a couple of inches from the wall but I still have momentum and feel my rear rising in a stoppie. Fortunately because I was turning I was able to throw my weight down and rotate around the front so that my rear came around to hit at a tilted angle, without me slamming sideways against it.

Since I was then turned around looking back the way I had come I could see the two riders going away still on the turn. They didn't slow or even look back until I called out "Keep right guys." Run someone off the path and into a concrete wall, and don't even bother to check the damage? What's up with that? I'm kind of longing for a hard winter about now, to clear the paths out.

spivonious

Some people are jerks. Glad you were able to avoid a collision!

daihard 

My first commute since I installed a computer on my bike...

Distance: 10.0 miles
Time: 44 min. 9 seconds
Average Speed: 13.6 MPH
Max Speed: 25.6 MPH

Not bad, I hope.

eofelis 

Rode my carbon fiber go-fast bike to work today. I'm planning a little road ride after work. About half way to work I noticed I picked up a goathead thorn in my front tire. (My usual commuter bikes have mtb wheels and slime.) I stopped to look at it. It was sort of on the side of the tire and the tire was holding air so I decided to leave it. Got to work ok. Pulled the goathead out and.... whooosh. I'll have to change a flat later.

arsprod 

Good job avoiding that one! After spending last weekend riding in Chicago I will think twice about ragging on riders on the mup's around here. Nothing personal Chicagoans, but your trail users have no trail etiquette and are generally rude. Then again, if I had to deal with that many tourons (tourist-moron) I might be too.

First chilly morning, 53F, enough to warrant long pants and jacket. Then again, the colder it gets the less people using the trail which is just fine with me!

caloso

Yeah, that's they way they work. I have learned to leave them in until I get to my destination if the tire is holding.

My office has moved buildings. We're right across the street from our old building but in a much nicer, newer one. And I have window which will provide a view of the new arena when it gets built. Not looking forward to the pile-driving, though.

It's a LEED whatever building and touted its bike parking, but I'm not impressed. It's a large key-card access cage (good) up a very steep ramp (fine for me but I can see that it would discourage a lot of casual riders--I certainly wouldn't want to try it on a city bike). Two old fashioned wheel bender style racks (bad). At my old building I had a fully enclosed box and I'd gotten spoiled by the fact that I could bring my nice bike without worry and leave my shoes and helmet in there during the day.

First world problems I guess.