RidingMatthew

I think that is a great idea! I will attempt the warrior yell while at appropriate moments during commute tomorrow. I rode 31 miles today and I am going to need some extra umph. I realized this year that I can not beat myself up if I drive. I have to have balance and do what is best for me, my family, and my sanity

Sixty Fiver

Today's commute was outstanding... took the low and dirty side.

seafood

Normally I don't give my Brooklyn commute much thought. But this afternoon coming home, the air was cool and I just didn't want to rush home like usual. So I took a more pleasant and longer route, feeling in a bit of a playful mood. What I didn't realize was that this was going to get AWESOME with a capital AWESOME

I have one bike that fulfills all my duties: commuting/groceries, occasional touring, recreation, etc. It's a circa 1990 Raleigh road bike that I got cheap and have been incrementally augmenting and improving to suit my needs. I love that bike. I run it with fenders and a rear rack, upon which typically sits a bag with my work computer and office clothes.

So anyway, back to my ride home. As I left my usual route, turning to a more hipsterific neighborhood with lots of bike lanes and lighter traffic, I saw a guy decked out in roadie gear ahead of me. I wasn't trying to race him and I don't think he was trying to be ultra fast, but somehow it felt fun to catch, pass, and leave him.

As I continued on, I found myself midway through my journey in a slightly more industrial neighborhood with rougher roads and traffic flowing more freely. As I sat at a red light (respect red lights, kids), I heard an unmistakable sound of a small two-stroke engine idling behind me. I looked back and saw a young lady on a Puch moped. I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. When the light turned green, she passed me with ease, but as I broke away from other bicycles, I found myself keeping the moped in sight and eventually reeling her in. When she hit a bit more congested traffic, I caught up to her and passed her as well, after which I was able to maintain a decent rate of speed down a long descent. I stayed in a low tuck the whole way, the Puch never catching up to me. As I slowed down to make bumpy tight turn, another cyclist yelled at me from behind, "You look so aero!"

Shortly after this, I was rolling through my neighborhood, just blocks from my building. There was a guy on a mid-1990's Honda CBR900RR -- a motorbike I've always loved -- catching up to me and eventually going by, making lots of vroom-vroom noises coming out of a nice pipe. He was clearly enjoying himself and I dug his bike, so I found the whole situation agreeable. I took a different route than him, but soon our paths intersected, when I found him turning onto the same street, but now behind me. Soon he was in front of me yet again, but was stopping at a red light close to my place, as I was coming up behind me. I caught him, just as the lights turned green and he began to accelerate, but not until I passed him on the right. As I did so, I reached over with my left hand and momentarily and lightly pressed his front brake lever -- in the same way motorcycle road racers used to "cheat" in the 1970's. I didn't really cause his bike to brake, it was just a little joke move. I don't know why, but I didn't think for a moment that it would be taken the wrong way. I looked back at him and smiled -- and he laughed, then opened the gas and left me in the dust.

Fun ride.

essiemyra

The commute in today was a quiet uneventful ride, which was nice after the ride home Tuesday. I had to get out of the storms that were passing through. We had lightning and thunder and very heavy rains.

dcb23

Big drop in temps! 65F / 18C I must have very sensitive eyes because I was tearing up the whole way in.

mgw4jc

Nice story of seizing the day, and the brake.

Yesterday's ride home was quite pleasant with the temperature drop and all.

A very enjoyable 65F and lower humidity this morning. It made me want to push it a bit on the way in. I think my overall average speed may have been one of my fastest for the ride to work. I had enough time to add about 1.5 miles too. It's such a nice break from the heat I wish I could ride all day.

wapiti

Haven't left the house yet. House smells like smoke. There is a grey/yellow haze outside. It's already 23*. Going to be hot and unpleasant today.

tarwheel 

Coolest morning commute in a while with temps in the low 60s F. I wore knee warmers and could have used arm warmers. The drop in humidity was the biggest factor, however, and should make for a pleasant ride home this afternoon.

ill.clyde

Back at it after two days off and my legs feel great. 62 degrees(!) in July, very little wind. Took the road bike while I wait on my Crank Brothers pedal rebuild kit for my commuter.

I'm off tomorrow so no commute, but the reason I took tomorrow off was solely so I could ride my bike. Looking forward to a nice, long, unrushed ride.

Ky_Rider

Temps in the 50's F this morning! Long sleeve top and a light jacket felt very comfortable. I even had to break out my spring/fall gloves. I little fog made the sunrise even more beautiful. New wheels and 22/32/42 crankset are really saving my legs on the hills. So far I think I made the right decision to spin more.

joeyduck

I had a nice ride this morning. It was a bit overcast near the north shore mountains, but once I hit about 24th ave in Vancouver the sun was shining and bark clouds to the north.

My son was hilarious this morning. He kept talking about an earwig he found on his shirt. I think he named it and talked about what it was doing. Then it blew away. When it blew away he said something to the effect of, "The carbon dioxide air blew him back to his home. Since that is where he wants to go."

We did have to stop and fix his broken map (rope tied on his seat).

I discussed with him the merits of shoaling, again.

I did not feel as great as I had hoped with two days off. I think I might be fighting something, my son was feeling a bit off a few days ago. I wonder if he brought home a not fun surprise from daycare.

RidingMatthew

59 degrees when I left the house this morning! On a crazy descent (reach 30+mph without pedaling) less than a mile from home all the hair on my body stood up with chill bumps. I rode with the wind vest and it was chilly. Figured i might have brought my knee warmers but did not want to carry them I hope the ride home is as pleasent as this mornings.

my ride home yesterday I caught up with the biking and walking coordinator for our city. It was fun spin through town, to a greenway and around a lake i then rode home. 22.9 total. I rode under a 105-110 year old bridge it was pretty cool.

riding my commuter and felt really slow compared to my road bike yesterday.

enigmaT120

When I go riding or running in smoke it makes me nostalgic for high school cross country practice. There used to be a lot of grass field burning in my area.

No riding today -- board meeting after work. I wouldn't care so much if my motorcycle were running, but I'm stuffing money in my pickup's gas tank instead. Ugh. I'll go running at a park before the meeting.

walrus1

So I get home and realize I don't have my keys. I keep a spare set with me I take them out and they only have the key to my door and spare keys for my bike locks but not the building's door. I rush back to the rack outside grocery store where I last used my keys and can't find them! I take my u-lock out to lock my bike and guess what's in the keyhole? That's right my keys!

essiemyra

The temp was a little cool this am but a very nice uneventful ride in this morning

RidingMatthew

Drove today at wife's request so I can pick up pizza for dinner + we have a friend coming over. 83.8 miles in 3 days is not to shabby.

joeyduck

Mmm, I am looking forward to my frozen pizza and a cold beer tonight. My favorite brand was on sale last week so I picked one up knowing it was just my son and me tonight. On the way home with the pizza a few beer league softball players were laughing at me. I am not sure why, I was just a guy with a frozen pizza strapped to my son's bike seat. I cannot think of the last time I was laughed at, and I did not even have my fred vest on?!

Last nights ride was great. I had a great pace over the bridge, completely unexpected. It is one of the two or three strava segments I push on my commute and I was not really going for it last night. But I got place 5th and 6th out of about 220 on two respective segments. I never expected that and it was nice when I checked it when I got home.

The rest of the ride was great. We got to see the train which my son loves watching. Stopped and ran a few errands. My son talked about the sushi we were getting and how he would hold it and keep the crows away. A nice picnic in the grass and some playing and off to bed.

I had a baby sitter come over so I got a swim and a beer in also last night.

This mornings commute was uneventful, it was a nice cool morning and a leisurely ride.


I have a friend in Charelston, SC who is going to start bike commuting. Are there an LBS or co-op's there I can recommend for him? He is completely new to it and I have been helping the best over the interweb and phone. But any shop recommendations would be great.

Notso_fastLane

Looking back at my records....this is the first week I managed to finally ride all 5 days! Sad, but there's just always something going on where I need the truck for some reason or another. This week, I just decided all those chores and errands will have to wait until I bike home and shower.

Feels good. Temps have been right around 100F all week in the afternoons, but the mornings are perfect, in the low 60s.

RidingMatthew

springing for the freshly prepared Papajohns tonight. can't really carry it easily on a bike and it still be hot by the time I get home.

joeyduck

Wrap it in a towel or wool blanket and put it on the rear racks? I know it is unreasonable to bring home piping hot pizza on a bike.

We are in a new neighborhood and my wife has the now ubiquitous wheat allergy, though we have been doing it for over 10 years. But to make it worse she developed a tomato allergy after our sons birth. The worst allergy in the world in my mind.

So I do not go searching for pizza places much. We make hers from scratch and I go the lazy route and buy frozen.

I make a mean bbq chicken (homemade bbq sauce), with homemade pesto, spinach, red onion and mushroom pizza. Man I want that now. That might be Tuesday or Thursday night's dinner.

essiemyra

I enjoyed the commute in this morning, a nice ride in with cool temps.

dcb23

This humidity! Also, a guy wityh a dog in a backpack, front paws on his shoulders, passed me going the pther way.

parkersdad

Today's commute was great. I bought a brand-new Trek 7.3 FX yesterday solely for commuting. I love my road bike but it is a pain to have to clip into the petals every day. I also bought a new Bontrager waterproof bag to carry my laptop. I am about 1 mph slower average on this new bike then I am a road bike.

mgw4jc

Congrats on the new bike. That's always fun.

Quite the humid and foggy ride in this morning. My sunglasses kept fogging over so I eventually took them off. It's rare for me to see other cyclists in the morning, but today I passed 4, one of which was likely a commuter.

dramiscram

Back to work after a 2 weeks break. I didn't miss it... but got to pay those bills.

During my vacation I managed to go ride a few times to keep the legs in shape.

Nice ride this morming, good tailwind.

After two weeks the attacking bird was still up for a fight this morning, I hope it will stop soon because I can't get used to it and it makes me jump every time.