txcrash

I LOL'd at this.

Well played kids, well played.

timvan_78

I can't believe I thought that would be a good idea to eat that leftover sushi for breakfast before the morning commute.

joeyduck

It's funny what we think is good for us sometimes.

How were the roads after this weekend? I've been on the island and am curious what it looks like when we get home tonight.

timvan_78

Fine. Some branches down here and there but no biggie. Wet & windy. Some congestion due to traffic lights out (no power) but take it easy and it's all good.

essiemyra

A very nice uneventful commute this morning. The kind that makes you think the ride should be longer.

esmith2039

Simply awesome.. Head winds coming in and home so the summer weather pattern is in place! But it's awesome since I feel like I got my mojo back. Almost a week taking a allergy med for my breathing issue and seems to be clearing up. Really put the metal to the pedals this morning.

mgw4jc

Humid, but not too hot this morning. I got an extra mile or so in on the MUP.

I saw a father & son biking through a neighborhood for the second time today. The son, probably around 10 years old, has a backpack and looks to be heading to school. The father seems to be escorting him. A great idea, though I don't think there is a school anywhere near where I see them. Perhaps they are riding to a bus stop or friend's for a carpool.

tarwheel 

Great ride this morning after missing a commute yesterday due to morning thunderstorms. It was humid and warm, but I'm used to that now and pretty soon it will be chilly in the mornings. They finally finished maintenance on the boiler at work, so I was able to take a hot shower after my morning commute for the first time in about a month. I'll say one positive thing about cold showers: they stop your sweating.

spivonious

Riding home last night, shifted to a lower gear in the back and *snap*. Guess I'm riding a 3 speed now.

SonofLars

My first bike commute to work was this morning! I've been wanting to do this for years and finally got around to it. I'm excited to turn this into a habit. Weather was great and there was only a single honk-plus-one-finger-salute so I'd call it a win!

locolobo13 

Dark. Monsoon last night. Trees, a few power poles, lights out, lots of debris in the road. Especially in the bike path. Several traffic lights were out. At least McD was up and had coffee.

Get to work, AC not working, most of my servers are OK but they went down during the night. Still checking things out.

arsprod 

Good for you and welcome to the addiction! 71F, clear, slight headwind and humid - I'll take it! We're finally getting some summer weather now that it's September - supposed to be in the 90's today

joeyduck

Welcome to the club. It is a very addicting habit and one that is good for you and very enjoyable.

The one finger salute is common and you to come to not even notice after a while.

Where abouts are you?

txcrash

I wish I only got one finger salutes.

Great ride today, despite the $&@& that purposely shared lanes with me (on a 3 lane each way road, no less) and then informed me I wasn't supposed to be on the road after being confronted about it.

The adrenaline plus fresh legs made for a quick commute. Beautiful weather!

GovernorSilver

Congrats! My first bike commute was earlier this year.

I've been honked at too, as well as being subjected to other motorist misbehaviors that the experienced commuters are too familiar with, but after just a few months I found it's all just part of the noise and bustle of commuting in a major metropolitan area - hardly bothers me anymore. I do try to be alert, look around often, etc. but I've managed to avoid paranoia. Having a mirror helps a lot!

GovernorSilver

Today's commute made me really appreciate the three glorious commute days I had last week, when the weather was perfect. Summer was back, and the humidity with it, draining my energy level faster, as reflected in my average speed, except as always on the street, where I have to sometimes sprint defensively.

This morning, here were a couple of guys who kept racing ahead of me on the sharrow street that everyone uses to ride through National Mall in the eastbound direction, while I pedaled casually in my usual easy gear, high cadence style. I caught up with them several times at red lights. I later passed them as they were riding on the sidewalk, when I sprinted on the street to keep the car that was coming up behind me (I rode to the right of the lane) from possibly speeding up and right-hooking me to turn onto the same street I wanted to turn right on. I was maybe a third up the hill before I realized I was climbing it on my 2nd highest gear because of the momentum from the earlier spring.

I only noticed one dedicated cyclocross trainee today, whereas last week, there was a whole team of them. I didn't realize how much seeing a roller skater on the MUP would make me laugh, although she does have a right to be there as much as any other trail user. Picked up a couple of boxes of wine and oven-ready chicken drum sticks at the grocery, then still made it up the hill to my house with the extra load.

essiemyra

It was a very nice uneventful commute to work today. Though last nights ride home was great. There was a group of kids having a lemonade stand. I had to stop and buy a glass of lemonade. I love lemonade stands. I asked them what they were planning on doing with the money they made. They plan on making a go-cart. Go-carts brought back such pleasant memories of my brothers when we were growing up and they built go-carts.

mgw4jc

Felt pretty sluggish this morning. I don't say much about it here, but I am training for a fall marathon. On weekdays, the best time to fit runs in is before work. Tuesday through Friday, I get up between 4 & 4:30, run, eat, shower, get ready, and bike to work. Wednesdays are the longest of the weekday runs with the past couple of weeks ranging between 10 and 14 miles. Today was 14 miles. Then a 12+ mile commute.

So I'm a bit tired on Wednesdays. And hungry.

tarwheel 

You're really doubling-down, mgw4jc. More power to you. I ran one marathon when I was in my 20s and felt so bad for several days afterward that I decided that it couldn't be good for you. Had to quit running a few years later due to injuries.

Trying to "enjoy" the return of hot, humid weather this week by reminding myself that it will be chilly and dark before long. Rode the long way home yesterday afternoon because my wife was going out with friends, so logged 44 miles commuting on the day. I really enjoy my long commute route because it is mostly on greenways with nice scenery and no traffic. The only downside is that the last 5 miles is uphill, climbing out of a river valley, and I'm starving when I get home. Went to Subway after the ride yesterday and ate a footlong for dinner.

Tundra_Man 

Went down this morning. Was looking in my mirror at traffic when I dropped both wheels into a parallel seam in the concrete. Hit the ground fast and hard.

A little bit of road rash and some bruises but nothing serious. Thankfully I "fell correct" and didn't stick my hand out to break my fall, so no broken collarbone.

Bike suffered some ripped bar tape, a scuff on my seat and pedal and a bent derailleur hangar. Checked the frame and can't see any damage, so at least that's a bright side. I got back on the horse and rode the rest of the way to work but it's not shifting right. Will order the parts to fix it today and milk it home. Thankfully I have a few other bikes I can ride until I get this one repaired.

Not one of my better commutes.

dramiscram

It's been 2 months on my new commute on a dedicated bike path and I can't get used to it: It's boring! The bike path runs thru several small villages so early on weekday mornings I'm all alone, except for two other commuter that I cross each morning. I miss the small amount of traffic I had my previous rural roads commute. There wasn't much happening but still...

PatrickGSR94

Nice commute yesterday, although I got one of the first honks I've heard in a LONG time. A woman in an Expedition SUV had to go slowly behind me for literally 10-15 seconds before she got to her turn, and turned left behind me as I went straight (T intersection, both 2-lane roads). As she turned she let out a nice honk temper-tantrum. The motorist behind her continued on behind me, changed lanes and passed me safely and calmly.

Also had different people try to pass me around different S-curves, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. In both cases I stuck my left hand out, angled down, and they stayed back until after the curves.

txcrash

Made it out the door a lot early this morning - early enough that I felt I might make the earlier train.

Well, by the time I made it down to the bike I had a few minutes less than I like to have, so I huffed it hard. PR on the segment that runs most of the home side morning commute, now I'm 22 of 333 - one of these days I'll hit that segment hard unloaded and warmed up, but it's fun racing myself - especially knowing that my former PR (back in early July) was, in fact, warmed up and hitting it hard (and not loaded down with my commute load). I'm getting faster, which feels good.

Still a little perturbed over yesterday's close pass, but at least it helped me set some PR's too (now 11 on one of those segments, I barely placed before).


The bad of the commute - the close pass:


The good - one of my favorite parts of the commute - the wooden bridge leading into a very pretty park:

arsprod 

You forgot to add the most important piece of information - did anyone see you fall? Speaking of fall (Fall), I noticed fallen leaves on the road and trail today. eek

RidingMatthew

I rode home yesterday and had to hustle to a meeting at church with the family. I average 16mph so that is good. I was still late to the meeting

I rode this morning leaving later than I wanted because I was playing with my dog. I realized I had some time and spun some extra miles on the way in this morning.