wonkemtel, I saw your post about riding the Fox River Trail. Where do you live/ride. I live in St. Charles, IL and commute to Naperville. If yours is the same Fox River Trail then maybe we'll meet up sometime (though I don't usually ride that trail since is adds a handful of miles to my already VLC).

Newbie, get yourself a really well built, quality wheel. You have shown your dedication to this form of commuting, so you deserve it.

I have a bunch of new stuff, starting with pictures of my commute. Unfortunately the camera battery died about 1/3 of the way to work (doh, next time charge that sucka). I plan to take more pictures tomorrow morning with a fully charged battery then maybe post them early next week. I also traded out my 23c cheapy front tire with a 28c gatorskin to match the 25c gator in the back. I must say, it's much smoother going over those railroad tracks now. Lastly, I slapped on a pair of clipless pedals (eggbeaters) that I got on ebay and a pair of shimano casual mtb shoes picked up at a local shop over the weekend and took to the road locked in. I fell over a couple times first trying them out since I unknowingly had the cleats set up for the larger of the release angles, but now I've got them figured out. Impression from initial commutes - I think everyone should eventually try them out. They are definitely keepers for me.

And oh, I don't have a cycle computer or even a digital watch, so getting exact numbers for the time trial thing is tough for me. I also have a few lights that I have to wait quite a while for, but my typical time for the approx 18mi commute is 1hr 10ish min. I think I'm going pretty fast, but I don't really know.