I may regret it, but I decided to squeeze in one last commute today to bring my monthly mileage over 600. Hurricane Irene is bearing down on NC, but heavy rain and high winds are not expected until tonight. Based on my experience with past hurricanes, I might not be able to ride for a few days or even as long as a week, so I went ahead and rode to work this morning. Weather was warm, dry and calm but cloudy and extremely humid. If the weather starts deteriorating, I may have to head home at lunch and return in my truck.

Schools started back this week, so traffic is much heavier and kids are standing on the street corners waiting for buses. I'm getting a lot of funny looks from young kids who apparently didn't see me commuting last spring. It has also gotten noticeably darker in the mornings, and I'm now running my full light system in mornings -- headlights on my handlebars and helmet plus to tail-lights.