RidingMatthew

@ill.clyde i saw your picture on the National Bike Challenge

ill.clyde

Woo hoo! I'm famous ... err ... infamous!

RidingMatthew

i recognized your profile picture. have a great ride

PatrickGSR94

Really awesome weather going home yesterday afternoon, lower humidity and only 80 degrees. Problem is that cooler temps and lower humidity always means north wind, and indeed I had a constant headwind heading north to go home yesterday. It added about 5 minutes to my total moving time.

Also I heard some guy yelling out of his truck as I passed an intersection. I'm not totally sure but it sounded like he said "Get outta the lane!" or something like that. If it was directed at me then that's a first since I started commuting over a year ago. He wasn't even on my side of the road but rather in the oncoming left lane, waiting behind other cars who were yielding to oncoming traffic (my direction) to turn left through a green light. And there were other cars beside me also going straight through the green light.

A bit later I was in the center lane of a 5-lane road about to turn left onto a side road. A woman was there on the side road, turning left to go out to the same direction I was going before turning. Normally I would pass in front of her car and go around to make the turn, but she just kept on pulling out, phone to her ear the whole time as she looked down the road past me. So I just cut the turn short and went by the passenger side of her car. No big deal to me, but I yelled at her to get off the damn phone.

So yeah I guess it was a pretty eventful commute yesterday. Plenty of traffic on the rural 2-lane roads but nearly all of them were courteous and hung back until safe to pass.

50voltphantom

No commute today, but last night's trip home involved a 20-25 MPH headwind while heading south. Brutal. I actually stopped and rested a minute during my longest climb. The combination of a nearly 1 mile-long hill and strong wind on a SS was a bit much. I had owned that climb the day before.

timvan_78

I drove the other day...construction delays, and an accident-induced gridlock...racing at a snail's pace against time to pick up Thing2 from daycare before closing time... No A/C, no stereo (crappy car), idiots shortcutting through parking lots... I wanted to SNAP a la Michael Douglas in "Falling Down"!!!

This morning I turned off my mind and pedeled serenely... love it.

jaxgtr

Great commute today....avg over 20 mph on the 7.5 back home today at one point avg 27 mph over a 2 mile stretch. I was amazed since I live a very flat existence in Florida.

wphamilton

The one day I decide to just ride home in my jeans and take it easy, that's the day I get passed by a fast rider on a racing bike. I'd normally love to chase a good rabbit but today just a half-hearted effort for a couple of miles. It's been months since the last time. dang.

joeyduck

@wphamilton Bummer.

I did not got to work today so no work commute. But we rode to the beach for a bbq. The arsenic hour was almost over and I was loading up gear in anticipation of going. I went to give my son the 10 minute warning. As I am watching him about to interrupt he throws a bucket of water in a little (15 months old or so) boys face. Completely unprovoked, they had been playing for 20+ minutes. The little guys was shocked and soaked, but okay. I provided a profuse parental apology, the other parents were not to upset. Just a bit surprised and happy to see their young did not freak out. So we went right home no more fun.

On the way home Thursday I had a bus driver tell me I was supposed to be frap and filtering in rush hour.

I told him no, that is not always the case. He insisted, I said sorry you are wrong and that is a shame as a professional driver. I briefly explained right hooks and dooring. I told him I would ride frap on busier roads with shoulders, not rush hour with a parking lane. He was polite but insistent. I wrote a letter to our transit authority to ensure driver education with regards to bike laws.

After picking up my son Thursday I got kudos at a intersection from a cannondale kitted rider. He said I had a really good pace. I felt good hearing that, since I had felt pumped that afternoon. Personal pride +1.

dcb23

75F / 24C and a nice Monday ride in, skies are staying darker longer.

On a side note...a bunch of bikes were stolen from the garage of my building (karma rebate to those b*stards)...so gone now is my old Jamis of 10+ years, the bike I rode for my first year of commuting in 2010.

parkersdad

It is the first of the month so we had to be here early to restart all of our servers and do all the upgrades. I left home on my bike at 4:20 AM this morning. It just got done raining and was 65°. It actually woke me up because the water flying off the roads was so cool. Great ride in though

mgw4jc

Sorry for not posting on Friday. I know everyone was concerned and wondering if something happened. I simply had the day off and therefore no commute. You can stop worrying now.

Simple enough ride in this morning. Forecast says hot today (91F), but cooler the rest of the week. Looking forward to it.

dramiscram

Cloudy, cold and windy morning, felt like october.

ill.clyde

Ummm ... cold? It's July and I had a headwind all the way and it was 58 degrees. I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt under my t shirt. It's insane.

My ride home Friday? OMG ... maddening. I'd had a crappy day which ended a crappy week and I was just off. But as I neared, quite literally, the busiest part of my commute, I'm tooling along on the far right, cars whizzing by on my left and a kid, on a MTB with headphones on, turns left on my street, but doesn't cross traffic and salmons right toward me. Was a sheer moment of panic and terror for me. I realized I had no idea what he was going to do, I couldn't bail out to my right because of the curb, I wasn't about to pull left into traffic for fear he veers left too. So I just held my line and gave him an EARFUL as he was passing me. I was livid. And it took me several blocks to calm down.

tarwheel 

Great ride this morning with warm temperatures AND low humidity, a combination we don't see very often in NC. A strong cold front is blowing through the state today, which means much cooler temps and even lower humidity for the rest of the week. The only downside is that I might end up having to battle headwinds on both legs of my commute today, as I rode into strong southerly winds this morning and they are likely to shift to the NW by this afternoon. I might just take a few days of leave this week to take advantage of the nice weather. We rarely ever get mild weather like this in July.

the sci guy 

News Flash: Summer in Houston is hot.

Ride in was uneventful, save for the copious amount of perspiration. First ride with a new rack and behind-saddle water bottle mount. Seems to be OK. Needs tightening.
The locker room we have to change in just doesn't have the AC turned up enough. No matter how much I towel off I am still sweaty. I even tried a cold shower - like actual cold water - the other week, didn't really help.

The ride home should be nice. It's 97 with a heat index of 104.

lwb

Beautiful day for cycling in CT, but my saddle fell off 15 mi. Bolt sheared off. Last 15 mi of the commute up on the pedals -- was surprised at how much more effort that required.

the sci guy 

oh also this morning i was signaling a turn and the jogger on the corner thought i was trying to give him a high five. awkward moment.

joeyduck

Ha that is hilarious. I always wonder about that happening.

dcb23

Bwahhh!!! That just made me crack up at my desk.

67F/19C coming in...a w bit cool for DC summer.

essiemyra

The temp was 60f degrees when I left the house this am with bright sunshine. It was a nice uneventful commute in after having a long weekend.

parkersdad

Very nice ride in this morning. The temperature was about 60 degrees and low humidity. Now back to yesterday afternoon, I had someone pull up in an old rusted out Oldsmobile care and do a burn out right in front of me. It was hilarious. The things we see riding bikes.

mgw4jc

Wow! 15 miles without sitting? That would be tough.

Like other North Carolina commuters here I am enjoying cooler temps and lower humidity. I left a little early and added a couple of extra miles on the way in today. Pushed the pace for part of it and still just barely broke a sweat. This has to be the coldest July on record as this is the third major cool down I know of.

PatrickGSR94

Well it started out as a beautiful morning commute, 68 degrees with a nice tail wind, feeling good. Just before the halfway point of the 15 miles, I'm cresting a small hill, oncoming car almost beside me, and a car behind me coming up and is NOT SLOWING DOWN! I swerve over to the right fog line and this @$$hole buzzes me with literally 6 inches or less between the mirror and my bars. I'm still freakin' pissed about it almost 2 hours later. Idiot could not slow down and wait literally TWO SECONDS to be able to safely pass me.

I swear I wanted to tell this person off so bad, but unfortunately these are rural roads with no traffic lights in sight, so there was no chance of catching up.

And then I had a county maintenance pickup tailgate me around a sharp S-curve and then floored it as soon as we got on the straight, while I was doing almost 25 MPH downhill.

Very odd as I almost never have problems from anyone.

tarwheel 

Fantastic commute this morning with cooler temps, lower humidity AND a tailwind. My average speed was the fastest in quite a while, in direct contrast to yesterday when I battled headwinds and red lights on both legs of my commute. My commute home yesterday was almost laughable with the red lights seeming to be out to get me. I swear, every single traffic signal on my route turned red just as I reach the intersections, which must have added 10 minutes to my overall commute time. Thanks to more favorable traffic signals and the shift in wind direction, my average speed this morning was more than 2 mph faster than yesterday.