rhm

On Friday, when I got off the train, it was not raining. After I walked out of the station, walking across the parking lot to my bike locker, I felt a few drops. As I turned my bike onto the road home, it started raining.

A quarter mile later, I felt a blast of tailwind and the deluge began. But it didn't last long; I felt a blast of headwind, and I rode out onto dry pavement, where it wasn't raining. Nice!

A half mile later, I felt another blast of tailwind and suddenly I was in the heaviest downpour I've seen in years. Within a hundred yards, I was so wet I couldn't have gotten any wetter by jumping into a lake. I rode through that storm, thunder and lightning all around me, for about a mile. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, I rode out of it again. Dry pavement. It was dry the whole rest of the way home (3 miles or so) but I was still drenched when I got there. My wife looked at me and said "what happened to you?" The rain never did catch up with me.

KCBikeCommuter

It rained pretty hard last night, but it was finishing as I was headed out the door this morning. The roads were wet, but at least nothing was falling from the sky. Temps in the mid-60's with a fairly strong head-wind... although it should make for a good push home tonight!

baron von trail 

We have weird pockets like that here too. Last year, I rode home in pouring rain. I get home, and my wife says, "You're drenched."

I tell her it rained the whole way home. She replies by saying, "It just started raining here."

15 minutes later the rain is over. I assume the cloud moved at my speed, and it literally hung right over my head the whole way home.

Tundra_Man 

Today marked my 50th consecutive bicycle commute to work.

Went out this morning and ran a few miles before I hopped on the bike to ride to work. 55 degrees, overcast and a mild headwind. We had quite a rain storm yesterday evening (1.5" in about 20 minutes) and then some more rain throughout the night, so the ground was wet and there were puddles. But nothing falling from the sky while I was out. Really it wasn't too bad weather-wise.

About 1/4 from my house I saw where a car had missed a corner, driven through a yard and hit a house. Weird. Curious what the story is behind that one.

Accidentally got too close to a group of goslings and the mama goose took after me. Thankfully I can ride a bit faster than a goose can run and she didn't decide to go airborne.

tarwheel 

Last week I passed my "9th year anniversary" since I started bike commuting, so I'm now working on my 10th year. I've bike commuted more than 36,500 miles over that period. My goal is to top 40,000 miles before I retire but I'm not sure I can last that long at work. Ironically, I've ridden my classic Italian De Bernardi the past two commutes, which is the bike I first started commuting on. The De Bernardi is proof that you can commute on just about any bike. It has none of the features most commuters look for in a bike -- namely, room for larger tires, mounts for fenders and racks. However, I commuted a lot of miles on that bike using a Carradice bag to carry my gear and forgoing fenders. The bike rides so nicely that it's as comfortable on 23 mm tires as my touring bike is on 32s, and it's a heckofa lot faster. Here are some shots of my De Bernardi from the "old days."

wphamilton

Since my road bike's 8-speed shifter bit the dust yesterday I decided to take the fairing bike for a change. It felt a little strange since I hadn't used it this year and only once or twice last fall and winter. I'd been keeping it in reserve for really nasty weather, which we haven't had for awhile, so I needed to modify it a bit yesterday so I wouldn't be sweltering inside. Opened up some breeze flaps outside of the handlebars for a little air flow, which also improves the handling but I forgot that the downtube indexed shifter (that I moved to the handlebar LOL) is a hair off and I needed to tease it into gear. But that wasn't really all that distracting. I remembered to throw a pump in back but no tube or patch kit which was a little distracting.

It's the only bike of it's kind in existence so it draws a few stares, but thankfully no video recording. That I noticed. Maybe local drivers are finally used to me.

wphamilton

@tarwheel That's a lot of miles

I'm one commuting year behind you but I'll only have about 30,000 commute miles in two years. Looking back it seems like it's been a long journey.

snow_echo_NY

i have had some really awesome commutes. and i have had some really jarring awful commutes.

someone honked at me as i took the lane (and signaled way ahead of time) b/c of course someone was parked in the bike lane that i had to go around. i started yelling "do not honk at me, i have a right to pass someone parked in the bike lane. do not threaten me. you're not even going anywhere." as i passed this person stuck at the light while i made a right onto another bike lane.

it's infuriating that people do not share the roads or the space. why the hell do they think they're more entitled to the road than anyone else?

in any case. last Friday a tour bus proceeded to run me off the road. i had to literally jump the curb to not be run over b/c the tour bus was tailgating me, and honking, leaning heavily on the horn. which i of course then yelled at everyone touring NYC on that bus telling them they are paying for someone to run over people so that these jerks can give them a tour, and are they proud of that? i then said they should report the driver that he is unsafe. i of course passed these @$$holes as well because car traffic in NYC goes no where (stopped at lights indefinitely).

then on Sunday as i was cycling the last block to home with my child on the cargo bike, another jack@$$ proceeded to honk at me, even tho i was to the far side of the lane, not even taking the lane. if he felt uncomfortable passing he should just slow down and not pass and STFU but instead he honked at me. to which i yelled/roared, "do not honk. stop honking your damn horn."

i'm a commuter and i get around on the weekends with my kid on a bike.

so i have had some rough encounters to say the least. and i bet this is not just me. this season has been REALLY unsafe. two brooklyn cyclists have been killed within this last week. 2 Cyclists Killed in Brooklyn Streets to Be Memorialized... it's been utterly horrific on many levels.

bulevardi

Rainy weather today.
When I left, it looked like it could clear out a bit, so I started riding with my normal clothes...
Until the rain started to drop little by little...
Did not want to stop to put on rain pants over my normal pants...
I thought, it's only one mile left to my destination.
... too lazy to change clothes...
Started to rain more more more.
Hmm, almost destination, trying to sprint harder... already wet wet wet.
and more more more rain...
Arrived at the station soaked!
Went in the train, to the toilets, put off my jeans and put on rain pants instead.
It totally does not fit my other clothes right here at work... but hey.

HardyWeinberg

40F, blinding sun. Supposed to be back in the 80s next week.

dcb23

Well done @tarwheel, now I know why it's so hard to catch up to you in the mileage thread

66F/19C warmest commute yet...and bugs, bugs, bugs.

jrickards

Still cool, 1C/34F, but at least not sub-freezing. Cloudy or overcast while riding, but after getting out of the shower at work, the sky to the east was clear and sunny, I should have ridden in a bit later to enjoy nicer skies.

Got a couple of new lights for my wife and I from Mountain Equipment Coop (Mountain Equipment Co-op). I got the Cygo-Lite Streak 350/Hotshot SL Combo lightset for my wife and the Cygo-Lite Dash 350 front light for myself as I already have a decent rear light. I'm impressed with all of them. I've been buying lights from eBay in the past but they lasted only a couple of years each time so I decided to spend a bit more and get them "locally". So far, I'm impressed.

Have a great day people!!

tarwheel 

Tough commute this morning with a stiff headwind almost the whole way. On the plus side, it's sunny, warm and supposedly very little chance of rain. The next couple of days are looking very iffy, however, with a high probability of thunderstorms both days. I'll make the call tomorrow morning about whether to take my chances riding. I might be joined on a commute by another BF member, @JimFromBoston who is visiting the Triangle for a few days, if the weather cooperates.

mgw4jc

@tarwheel - 36,500 is big. You'll be close to 40 at the end of this year.
@snow_echo_NY - can you ignore the honks? It sounds like you get them often enough that letting them get you upset isn't worth it. As long as you aren't in the wrong, just let the honks go knowing they are just impatient and inconsiderate and letting you know that with their horn.

mgw4jc

A bit of a tailwind yesterday afternoon helped me get home. Enjoyed that.

A nice ride in this morning. Right about 60F. No rain in the forecast here in NC, so looks to be nice all week.

This morning I stopped for a quick photo of the sunrise hitting this pollen/leaf sprinkled pond.

snow_echo_NY

i used to ignore it and not let it rattle me b/c i wanted to stay focused on the road. but it happens so much and ignoring it is not helping - i've ignored for several years. then two of our own brooklyn cyclists were run over and killed in the past week b/c two @$$holes think they can do whatever the hell they want. when i shout back, i want to let them know it is NOT okay to honk at cyclists b/c they think they own the road. many people here are not interested in sharing the road while others realize it is the reality of transiting in NYC. when they honk they look like the jerks but some people agree with that line of thinking! being vocal about it at the time it happens is the only thing that quiets them up and makes them think about whether they are actually in the wrong.

this is like when people make an insulting Asian joke and think it's OK or say a demeaning misogynist comment and think it's fine. i don't let that crap fly anymore. people need to know that others do not accept that and if they've nothing nice to say, don't say it. it's a basic human thing we were taught as kids, that people still can't seem to grasp as adults.

and just like the roads - SHARING. if kids can learn to share, adults should be experts at it. but they're not.

mgw4jc

I'm sure it's a frustrating situation especially given the recent tragedies. I can see how ignoring is not helpful, but I doubt confronting them is going to lessen it either. It's probably just always going to be a reality of where you commute.

One thing about car horns is that most driver's don't realize just how loud those things are when you're outside the car. Stay safe up there!

rhm

Thunder woke me a half hour before my alarm this morning, and I enjoyed lying in bed listening to the rain, being glad I was still warm in bed and not getting rained on. But eventually my alarm went off, and the rain continued. The rain seemed to have stopped when I left the house, but it started up again before I got to the station. Pretty wet. I don't really mind getting rained on, and I don't mind sitting on the train for an hour, but sitting on the train wet, for an hour, well... I don't like that so much. My feet are still wet.

I ride less than a mile of Manhattan traffic between Penn Station and my office, and it's generally a hoot. I very rarely experience the kind of driver aggression @snow_echo_NY describes. As I'm fond of saying, almost all Manhattan drivers are professionals, and they generally know how to coexist with cyclists. That said, even professionals make mistakes. Today, riding east on 36th St, I passed a long line of cars stopped at a traffic light at 7th Ave, I think. A lot of them had right turn signals on, and I wanted to get around them before the light turned. Complicating this, there's construction on the east side of the avenue, reducing 36th St to one lane for a short while. Well, while I'm waiting, a full size tour bus comes down 7th Ave and tries to make the left turn onto 36th. He got about halfway around the corner before he realized it wasn't going to work. Then my light went green. I crossed and got on the sidewalk, gave a friendly "excuse me, officer!" to two policemen who were standing there. Clearly they were debating giving me a citation for riding on the sidewalk, but then their attention was drawn to the tour bus. By the time one of them looked back at me, I was on the street again. The rest of the ride, all the way to my office, I had the whole street to myself. In my helmet mirror I could still see the front half of a tour bus jammed into the corner where I'd left it.

snow_echo_NY

i have doubted that shouting back at them is going to lessen it either. i don't confront - confronting i see as pounding on their window - which i've seen. there are crazy people on the roads (both cyclists and motorists), but mostly there are people just transiting. and when i do yell back it's to wake people up from behind that windshield view that we are people. several of these people driving think it's perfectly reasonable to speed and think they own the road and cyclists do not belong among other things - just, no. what you do on the road has an impact on people.

yes people in cars who honk do not hear their own honking and quite possibly do not know how bad it is - but does that excuse them from it? no. absolutely no.

so my choices are shouting back vs. let myself and my child be honked at? we're already vulnerable. so far the responses i've seen are shame on the part of the driver, and shirking back and letting me transit. so i'm going to continue this experiment and see how it pans out.

mgw4jc

I don't commute in anything like what you do, so can't really say what would help. But could you give a wave of acknowledgement? It seems this may let them know that you know they're there, but also kind of says, "Get over yourself, honking ain't gonna get you anywhere quicker."

snow_echo_NY

@rhm i ride 10 miles a day in both brooklyn and manhattan, and many of the spots are in very congested areas. for a ride less than a mile, i don't think you're going to see issues. my husband rides 13 miles a day as well in both BK and midtown Manhattan and drivers have tried to run over him while he's in the bike lane.

but for the most part his rides are easy and good and he likes it.

i do want to point out that what i said up there ^^ are just a few incidences in the past couple of weeks. which means for the rest of my 50 mile weeks it has been smooth sailing and super pleasurable riding. i wave hi to the traffic / crossing guards on my way into Manhattan. i get to see/ride alongside the east river then cross the east river, i get to see brownstone brooklyn. it's nothing short of beautiful. but every now and then i'm woken up from that reverie to the sound of someone honking for no good reason. it's rush hour and everyone's frustrated, i know - and i've just had enough of the nonsense.

snow_echo_NY

haha i have done the wave many times. i have also shouted, you have a nice day too, sir/maam! it depends on the situation i think.

rhm

I understand, and I agree. Like I said, I very rarely have trouble with drivers. Obviously, very rarely is much better than frequently, but any is too much. I'm normally pretty cheerful on the bike, but one confrontation with a driver can make me wary and aggressive, as an urban cyclist, for months.

Aside from that, I also suspect some drivers honk because you're a woman. Men want to be noticed. It's on the XY operating system.

baron von trail 

Woke up tired from last nights fight against the winds. Checked the weather and saw heavy storms predicted for the afternoon. Let's just say, today is one day I was very happy to have a car to dive.

Tundra_Man 

46 degrees. Dry. Fairly uneventful commute.

On the section of my commute where I ride on the MUP I approached a guy walking his dog. He was walking square down the middle of the path and his dog was running back and forth as far as the leash would let it wander. I slowed way down and rang my bell a few times. I thought I saw the guy give the 'head nod' acknowledgement, so I slowly passed him.

Apparently the head nod I saw wasn't really a head nod, as when I came into his field of view I startled him. Then he was mad at me.

Not sure why people seem surprised when they encounter others using the public MUP, but it happens all the time. He was acting like this was the first time he'd seen a bicycle on the path.