principia 650

i had a nice commute girlfriends last night and just as good this a.m. .rain had stopped and temps were in the 50's F. Dreading the winter temps coming but as long as you are dressed correctly it is not bad.

essiemyra

The temp was 42f degrees when I left the house this am. The commute in was a nice cheery commute as I said hello to two different people I saw walking this morning.

wphamilton

Today is a new milestone, one year of consecutive bike commutes without driving in. Even though it was fewer commuting miles than previous years (3,650 vs 4,400) the winter was rough enough that I feel like I accomplished something.

Still it was tempting to drive in today with the thunderstorms predicted. I did beat the rain here, just barely, and I'm glad I resisted the temptation.

jrickards

Mild but wet ride in, 14C/57F. Started with light spray for about 25 min, stopped for a few, then light rain for the remaining 20 so I arrived soaked.

Forecast for heavier rain this afternoon and stronger winds (55kmh/35mph), hopefully (but unlikely) in my direction.

jrickards

Nicely done!!!

mgw4jc

A bit lighter out this morning because there were no clouds or fog hanging about. Nice ride in. They (whoever they is) cut back the weeds that were growing on the edge of a couple of roads I take. They were getting bad enough so that I either had to ride further out in the lane or else my right hand and/or right leg would take a beating from the grass blades.

jrickards

How tall is the friggin' grass where you live that it hits your hands while you ride?

wphamilton

Thank you. The funny part about it is psychological. Just getting to work, even in sub-10° or 100° days or blustery rainstorms didn't take any determination. You don't think about it. But when I realized it was almost a year and set a certain date as a goal, it's suddenly not so easy even with nice weather.

Last year I drove in on the 3rd just to break the "streak" of 100 commutes, so that I wouldn't feel like I had to bike, just to keep it going. My objective was now that I've got a year straight, which I probably won't do again, I won't need to think about that any more and just ride.

ill.clyde

Congrats ... that's awesome!

Woke up to a huge blob of rain over the city that was taking its sweet time moving along. I opted for the car, but was wishing I hadn't. There was a huge accident that shut down two or three lanes, backups for miles. Talking 45 minutes to drive 6+ miles ... I bailed and went through downtown, but ugh.

mgw4jc

Weeds. Tall enough that they curve and dangle out into the road, at handlebar height or higher.
Typical around here:

rpecot

Nice cool ride in this morning with a new light. I got the Cygolite Dash 320 and man, what a difference. I had been using a mostly useless single LED blinky light. Not very bright. The battery finally died on it, so I ponied up and got a real light.

Two observations from this morning:
1. A car pulling out of a subdivision, normally not a lot of traffic, no street lights. Very unlikely he would have seen me with my previous set up. I instinctively grabbed the brakes. But no doubt he saw me this morning. He stopped, I proceeded on my merry way.
2. Lots of rain last night. Big puddles all along the road. Without the new light, I ridden through most of them in the darkness of morning. I would have been a soaked mess pulling into work.

Very happy commuter today

icepick_trotsky 

Windy!

joeyduck

I was happy last week after years of no maintenance they trimmed some heather and blackberries which took up almost all of a sidewalk access to the bridge.

It was a nice commute this morning. A few idiots but only a little worse than normal and not really a threat to me.

There was a guy blocking an intersection last night so no one could go left, right or straight.I picked my way through and gave his rear window a hard smack. I got a good laugh with the terrified, unexpected and angry, "what the f uck!"

I had a ten year old shoal me this morning. I bit my tongue and didn't say anything to him not his parent. But the kids didn't have a good idea of self preservation. He had barely stopped previously at a sign then squeezed between me and a school bus.

Darth Lefty 

Nice job @wphamilton!

I did not fail to notice that it was a nice morning but it wasn't a great ride. Not feeling good, went slow, and had to stop and pump up the back tire a few times. This was the spare - the second one in the rotation got a hole two weeks ago and I hadn't patched it yet to put it back in the kit. I've patched the one here at work and hope it holds home. I ordered a couple of patch kits yesterday from Nashbar and will patch every holed tube I can find in the garage once they appear.

jrickards

Forecast is coming true for this afternoon's ride home: there are strong winds out there blowing the rain hard. I don't know which direction it is blowing in and whether I should be calling my wife to open the garage door as I get blown in to it or call my friend and tell them to set another plate for dinner because I will be blown in their direction.

joeyduck

That forecast makes a weekend even more welcome. I hope the wind fills your sails and saves your legs.

enigmaT120

Today was the first day this week I didn't have to haul stuff around for work, too much even for my motorcycle. So this was my first bicycle ride of the month. Chilly in the dips, warm up on the ridges, and while it was dark and I miss my scenery, the air smelled good.

Todzilla

My commute sucked.

I had some complications from a medical procedure that necessitated driving a car. Beautiful day too, but it rained a bit on the drive home.

HydroG33r 

After a ~3 month hiatus, I started and ended strong for my first week back. On two days, broke the rides home up with train rides in the middle to cut out ~150m of climbing. Generally felt myself getting slower as fatigue wore on through the week, but my ride home today was close to keeping up with the paces I was setting in my peak form in June.

dude72

perfect weather for commuting, not too hot not too cold and dry.

dcb23

52F / 11C and dark, no sign of sunrise until the very end of my ride. And it's watery eyes season now until spring.

I'm so paranoid about broken spokes that a crunched acorn has me thinking I popped another one.

RidingMatthew

45F this morning and i guessed right about what to wear. Tested out a new long sleeve jersey i got from Bike Nashbar for $11. I was pretty comfortable with only a few seconds of foggy glasses at 2 lights. Altogether a wonderful ride in. Supposed to be 72F on the way home. I am working for the bike ride today.

turned one year older over the weekend and I am in the best shape of my life. I Love It!

mgw4jc

This morning was my first ride since spring where I was actually chilly on the way in with 49F temps. I wore a long sleeve shirt, but still wore shorts since it is going to be 74F this afternoon. My hands are still cold from the ride. Otherwise, it was clear and nice out.

jrickards

Quite cool (5C/41F) and a bit wet this morning (very light sprinkles) but generally a nice ride in. The rest of the week looks to be similar.

ill.clyde

47 and chilly, tried to spit rain on me, but was only a half hearted attempt.

Put on the shoe covers this morning and they made my feet very happy. I also found the base layer gloves that I usually use under my cycling gloves. They're actually winter golf gloves, but they work great for this. Also used the earwarmer band thing which was nice.

Was out in the garage yesterday, and nonchalantly checked my bike tires like I always do, and found a rear flat. Had a piece of wire go into the sidewall and puncture the tube. It was a VERY slow leak, so I patched it, cleaned some of the gunk off my derailer and made a note to do a thorough degreasing very soon.