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2014!! How was your commute today?

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2014!! How was your commute today?

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Old 09-02-14, 04:58 AM
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Egads it's like summer out there...humid and sticky. Have a great week everyone.
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Old 09-02-14, 05:10 AM
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The commute in this morning was a nice uneventful ride.
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Old 09-02-14, 06:53 AM
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I wimped out and drove due to the heat and humidity today. We are having our hottest weather of the summer after unseasonably cool temps in July and August. I could stand the heat or humidity by themselves, but the heat index is supposed to top 100 this afternoon, which would make for a miserable commute home. I rode 52 miles in the heat yesterday and just didn't have the stomach for doing it again today. I can't wait for fall weather to arrive. This is the worst weather of the year as far as I'm concerned.
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Old 09-02-14, 07:25 AM
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Had Friday off, and of course Monday, so I finally got back to it today.

Excellent ride ... 67 degrees, a little muggy, not much wind. And I earned my platinum badge in the National Bike Challenge
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Old 09-02-14, 10:11 AM
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Took a nice long weekend as well. I hustled home Friday to get changed (no shower, sad face) and pack and rush to the ferry in traffic.

Dropped off the family at the terminal and went to get parking at our no longer so secret lot. I got the last spot, good thing we have a small car and I can back it through a pin hole. Getting ready to pay and at 6:53 (by the dash clock) my wife calls to say we are on the 6:55 ferry. Damn. Sprint all the way (usually a 10 nature minute walk) along the roadway, get on. The ticket woman recognized us since we are always late and the last ones on. Got on and had a great weekend.

We ate only garden fresh veggies. We made some dehydrated tomatoes which were like pure candy.

I had a nice commute this morning, a little drizzle/rain. But not too different, saw a few more commuters than usual. Kids are still off due to impasse with the government and teachers union.
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Old 09-02-14, 12:02 PM
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Very muggy this morning, first time I ever finished a whole water bottle on a 5 mile ride. Hopefully it won't be too bad this afternoon
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Old 09-02-14, 12:15 PM
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Thunderstorms this morning though let up at the beginning of my ride in. I've got to find a better warm weather rain jacket - might as well not wear anything for as wet as I get with sweat
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Old 09-02-14, 12:27 PM
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Uneventful, other than having to stop and put a foot down and wait before a truck, who got to the stop sign plenty before me, would go ahead and go.

Also I was feeling a bit spent still after the 40 mile ride yesterday morning. So the ride was fairly slow.
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Old 09-03-14, 04:47 AM
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More of that morning heat and humidity.
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Old 09-03-14, 04:48 AM
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Awesome.. after 4 days from it well needed. Had to go another route since they're doing road work on my normal route. This route seems shorter and alot safer and smoother! Time to switch. Also with storms coming in the lightening was lighting up the sky. Just awesome all the way around!
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Old 09-03-14, 06:06 AM
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I started out this morning and noticed there was a noise coming from the back of my bike. After a mile I turned around and went home. I took the remaining piece of the broken back fender off. I now need to adjust my brakes cause they are rubbing. But the good thing is I did this fix by myself( with a little help from my husband). I will fix the brakes after work and ride again tomorrow.
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Old 09-03-14, 06:13 AM
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A hot ride home yesterday. The first two miles are always the roughest as I'm dealing with traffic and have more stops and turns. But once I hit a stretch that offers some shade and I can get up to 18ish mph, the breeze makes it more comfortable.

Morning rides are not too bad. Humid out, but again the breeze keeps it ok.

One neighborhood I cut through is on a golf course. That golf course is hosting the Chiquita Classic this week. There are all kinds of signs, workers, trucks and police through there. Not really affecting my commute other than giving me new things and activity to look at as I pass through.
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Old 09-03-14, 06:48 AM
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Humid windy ride into work. I swear it rains everyday around here. We had the 3rd wettest Aug on record. Over 10" of rain. Last week my bike started creaking and popping. Finally narrowed it down to the right pedal. The pedals are only a couple of months old, but I ordered them from ebay so maybe they were rejects. Bought some cheapy $8 pedals at the local shop to get me by until I can find some better ones. So far I like them. I might just keep them on the bike for awhile. Supposed to get hot again this week. I keep reminding myself I'll soon be freezing my ass off.
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Old 09-03-14, 06:59 AM
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Nice, uneventful ride this morning. Sunny and 65. Low humidty. Really just about perfect weather wise.
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Old 09-03-14, 07:14 AM
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It was 13C/55F and I overdressed (mid-weight jersey over the summer weight jersey) so I was really sweaty when I arrived.

This is the time of year when I'm cycling directly into the sun so that isn't pleasant but at least it is sun; the last few days have had torrential rain so this is a nice change.
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Old 09-03-14, 07:25 AM
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A lot of Wind so far this week, very humid, more traffic since the kids are back to school.
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Old 09-03-14, 07:48 AM
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after figuring out that my tire is shot I put the old cyclocross tires and rode to work today.

I put both tires on the bike. would you have just put one tire on or switch them both? just curious.
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Old 09-03-14, 08:28 AM
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Originally Posted by RoadTire
Nice ride again this morning. Only a couple cars, no pedestrians. Lots of confused bunnies on the trail. Gave in to temptation and ran every stop sign, (so much for being a good citizen) except the 2 where I had police cars right beside me, (What's that about?) ...which took 3-tenths off my avg speed. Yep, I did say average speed. It's how I know I'm going to make it on time, and a goad to push harder.


Wish I could turn the auto-stop (on the computer) off, though that seems counter-intuitive. It would be better if I knew average based on overall time, including stops for commuting.
Turn on Strava and look at the elapsed time.

I find that on average, from one commute to another, my non-moving time doesn't usually vary more than a minute or two.
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Old 09-03-14, 09:24 AM
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Nice ride this morning. But my shoes were wet from last night, so that was a bummer.

I had planned to go buy new shoes and a new computer last night and a few other things from the local gear coop. The magic interweb told me they were open until 9, so I opted for dinner and a few other errands first. Got there at 8, closed at 7. Bummer. Went and got a beer and a bag of chips instead. I regret the chips.

But I got a mirror for my LHT. It is a mirracycle for STI. It attaches perfect and seems nice this morning, though I need to get used to it, it was catching me off guard in my vision's periphery.

It was raining and somewhat dark on the way home last night. I did not see a few cyclists as early as I normally would, they were just in shadows with no visibilty. I hope people start to remember to become more visible in the next few months. I hope all the cars see them.
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Old 09-03-14, 10:22 AM
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Originally Posted by joeyduck
When I could run a friend I ran with was getting sick. So I told to just run the ***** out of the cold, he did. He ended up actually having a severe sinus infection, went to the doctor. He told the doctor he tried to run the ***** out of the cold, the doctor told him he was an idiot and prescribed appropriate meds. He gave me crap for it, I told him he was genetically inferior. We have a good friendship, true story.
Since almost all sinus infections are viral, meds will do absolutely nothing. Hopefully the doc didn't needlessly prescribe antibiotics.

I've also noticed I don't get sick as often or as severe as before I started riding regularly. Exercise really is the best medicine.

They're doing road work near my house, and have the roads all grated for paving. The problem is that they grated them last week and then moved over a few blocks. It makes for a very rattling ride for half a mile.
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Old 09-03-14, 11:45 AM
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Beautiful morning, turned into an even more beautiful day... jonesin to ride home!
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Old 09-03-14, 12:28 PM
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Originally Posted by arsprod
Beautiful morning, turned into an even more beautiful day... jonesin to ride home!
Me too ... sunny and almost 80 out
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Old 09-03-14, 12:59 PM
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Yesterday afternoon's commute was a hot & humid but a pleasant reminder why I bike to work, the state road going out of town was closed for 3 hours to clean up an accident regarding a tractor trailer, a small car, and a pick-up full of corn. From what I could gather the pick-up swerved into the path of the semi, and the small car slammed into the back of the trailer. There was nothing left of said car, the truck looked like it had been cut in half, and the semi driver was med-flighted to the nearest hospital. I just passed all the stopped cars on the shoulder, a couple motorcycles (I assumed were riding together) decided to buzz between me and the stopped cars to my left on the wide shoulder, startling me to a point where all I could think to do is yell "A$$holes!" at the top of my lungs. Illegal passing/reckless driving, and yet neither one of them got a ticket.

This morning's commute wasn't as hot/muggy as yesterday, and uneventful.
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Old 09-03-14, 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by jrickards
This is the time of year when I'm cycling directly into the sun so that isn't pleasant but at least it is sun; the last few days have had torrential rain so this is a nice change.
That situation scares the crap out of me.

I was driving my car one day, not too long ago and I couldn't believe how blinding a low sun can be - and I was wearing sunglasses. There's very little safety colors and blinky lights can do for a biker in that situation.

Luckily, the sun is behind me on my commute but if it weren't, I'd seriously consider leaving earlier/later to avoid dangerous sections.

BTW My commute last night was one of the best recent. A flash storm rolled through 20 minutes before I left work. Of course, my bike was wet when I came out but the downpour took the sting out the 90 degree heat. It was fun to play in the puddles and put the fenders to the test.

Last edited by Marc40a; 09-03-14 at 02:03 PM.
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Old 09-03-14, 02:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Marc40a
I was driving my car one day, not too long ago and I couldn't believe how blinding a low sun can be - and I was wearing sunglasses. There's very little safety colors and blinky lights can do for a biker in that situation.
Blinkies can help. I was on my motorcycle about a year ago, heading east on a long straight stretch into the rising sun, and I could see something blinking read over half a mile down the road. When I caught up to him it was a bicyclist, and all he had was a plain Planet Bike blinky. It was visible (and attention grabbling in flash mode) from a long way off.
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