It's a really nice day here. There is a nice breeze, and it was behind me for most of the way. I love that. I'm doing some form of upper body exercise every morning now, and it seems to help me feel much better on the bike these days. I'm wearing brand new rock climbing shoes which are gigantic in the toe box. I'm using neither toe clips nor cleats, and I'm shifting my feet around on the pedals every few minutes to prevent me from putting pressure in any one place. It seems to help.

I changed the tires on my Bianchi Volpe to narrower, lighter tires, 28mm. They didn't make me faster, but the bike feels easier. I think it's a good change.

I notice that I tend to gravitate towards a 14 mph pace. I checked my graphs from ridewithgps which confirms this strongly. Nothing wrong with that, but I want to improve my endurance, so I'll see about increasing that just a bit.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kW...e=w725-h230-no

I took a ton of photos in California, but none that are cycling related. We did a lot of walking in Yosemite National Park, Sierra National Forest and San Francisco -- more than 60 miles for the week. I'll try to post some photos on Flickr in the next few days.

Being summertime in Vancouver now, I decided to resume my favourite route to work yesterday, whereby I'm riding on riverfront paved/unpaved MUP for a good stretch of my ride in. Means about 10% longer distance and a rapid loss of 100m of elevation from my house to sea level (which I later have to climb back up and over to get to work), but well worth it for the peace and serenity.

Unexpectedly set two PR's and Top 10 Strava placings on this route yesterday (hadn't ridden the route since last fall). Took the same route again and decided to push it; KOM (out of 107 people) on the first segment (one mile, fairly flat paved road with just a set of train tracks to cross and a 4-way stop to slow down for). 4th overall (admittedly out of only 52 people) on the ~3 mile paved/unpaved MUP. Pretty happy as I'd smashed both of my previous PR's (including the ones I set yesterday).

I've also ridden roughly double the miles so far this year as I had the same time last year.

Feeling good :)

Ironically I didn't ride much last week; I hate BTWW in Vancouver... too many people out there perpetuating the stereotype of cyclists that everyone loves to hate. Just coincidence that I couldn't ride 3 days last week, but worked out in the end :)

Yesterday afternoon, before riding home from the station, I found my back tire flat. Totally flat, not just squishy. I pumped it up and rode home; by this morning it had only become a little squishy. I pumped it up and rode to the station. No doubt I'll have to fix it before long, but it's so hard to find the cause of a slow leak, I figured I'd leave it for a while.

Got up this morning and it was raining, so I did not throw the bike on the rack and just drove the car all the way in. By time I got closer to the lake the rain stopped and the high winds were already drying the road. Now I am sad I did not ride today :(

Yesterday's forecast for today wasn't far off, it was 4C/39F, a headwind for much of the ride (resulting in a "Feels Like" of 0C/32F which seemed about right) and a sprinkling of rain the whole way. This is not June weather, even for here. The rest of the week is to be a bit better but still single digit (Celcius) morning temperatures although not quite so severe. I had to get out my early spring kit. On top of that, I guess it was just the buffeting of the wind against my rear panniers but it felt like my rear tire was really soft and the tire was flopping back and forth but it was fine the whole way. What a day it would have been to have a flat though.

Hope your day is warmer than mine!

Off to the hot shower I go.

A glorious morning with low humidity and low 60F temps. It felt chilly compared to yesterday and the past week or two really. Just right for a morning ride.

Woah, had to dig out some gear I'd packed away thinking I was done with cooler weather - 51F t this morning. I guess it is still spring... summer on the brain

Was a nice sunny 61F this morning. I wore a baselayer under the jersey and knee warmers. Chose the warmer option since it will rain later on today. Have another case of creaky bike even after I pulled and cleaned both the bottom bracket and seatpost last week. Yeeay...

Perfect weather this morning, with low humidity, temps in the low 60s and a tailwind much of the way. It doesn't get much better around here. I also had a very pleasant ride home yesterday afternoon, as the cold front that brought the pleasant weather arrived midday.

I'm itching to ride my new commuter bike but haven't had time yet to set it up. I just picked it up from the bike shop on Monday afternoon and have been too busy since then to install a rack, fenders, computer, etc. It's an early 80s Specialized Sequoia that I had built retro style with single pivot brakes and bar-end shifters.

Hit a metaphorical wall on the ride home last night. lol...I was even passed by two elderly women who I usually fly by on a normal day. Took me two hours to ride 30 miles.

Fast century on Saturday plus racing home on Monday are part of the cause. I also blame the wife because she woke me up at 2:30 on Monday night for...well, entertainment. Not that I complained, but it definitely threw me off the next day.

A very nice ride in this morning. I did see a fox cross the road in front of me this am. This is my first ride since last Wednesday as we went to visit our son in MI and got back home yesterday.

So today I am more in keeping with the usual program. I had a very nice not so uneventful commute as I saw a fox cross the road in front of me. Other than that still a little cool and windy.

It was cold this morning, but since I missed yesterday's ride, I could not wait to ride today!

I can't believe that it was even cooler than yesterday's 4C/39F, it was 2C/36F but the sky was clear, the sun was out and it is already 7C/45F now. There was a slight breeze in the wrong direction preventing me from getting a good time for the ride in but it was a good ride nevertheless. Because of the cool start, mist was hanging over the nearby lakes and ponds and in valleys which made me regret not bringing my camera with me. I'll have to start doing that next week.

Have a good day!!

No smart phone with camera? I've enjoyed always having a camera with me.

Cooler here too - around 55F - this morning. Quite nice for the ride in. About one-half of a mile from home I remembered something I forgot - a mid-morning snack my wife had made for me - so turned around to go back home for that. Bonus mileage!

Another day of Goldilocks weather in NC. I'm enjoying it while it lasts because the temperatures are supposed to be in the mid to upper 90s this weekend.

I rode and commuted on my new (old) Specialized Sequoia today. It's going to make a fine commuter bike, possibly my primary choice after I get it tweaked and adjusted. Still need to add fenders, and I might change the rear rack and trunk bag to a Carradice bag. The old-style pedals and toe clips were a short-lived experiment and will be replaced with SPDs today. I had forgotten what a hassle it is to clip into toe clips, and I have to do it a lot on my commute route with multiple traffic lights.

Had a late night at work so came in later this morning. What a difference from 6 to 8 the commute is.. definitely warmer but wasn't as many cars as I expected.

My first bike commute since April 26. Aside from the long delay, it was unremarkable. Cool clear summer morning. I'm glad to be back.

Nice and cool this morning. Set a new best: 1:05 for 20 miles. That's probably pretty damned close to the limits of what can be done, given the stops and various spots that require me to run no more than 14 or 15 mph.

Summer finally arrived this morning. Got to work and was pretty sweaty.

Since I've started working for this particular client, my route from home to their office is only 4 miles. On days I don't go to our company office first I've just been wearing my work clothes and pedaling easy. This morning even going easy I arrived pretty sweaty. Looks like I'm going to have to switch over and start changing into my work clothes after I arrive.

Haha, you must have a different definition of climbing shoes than I do.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=526364

I figure Tom meant approach shoes, like these:

Five Ten Guide Tennie Climbing Approach Shoes (Men's) - Mountain Equipment Co-op. Free Shipping Available

Nice ride in this morning, though at 13°C = 55F I was a bit too cool in just my summer merino T-shirt, but adding another thin merino long sleeve was too hot.
[MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION] and [MENTION=333933]timvan_78[/MENTION] may be interested to know that they're installing a pedestrian/cyclist controlled light at Fraser & 14th Avenue in Vancouver. This is a great lesser known route just off the busy 10th Ave bikeway, but I often avoid this specific intersection as it can be tough to cross Fraser @ 14th in rush hour if you simply have to wait for a break in traffic.