Thought it would be another gully washer this morning but only sprinkled a bit. 60 degrees is about the cut off for too cool in the rain.

Odd commute today. A combination of Surreal and Zen. Surreal was having a crotch rocket blow past me at about 115 mph as I pedaled along the country road cutting through the cornfields leading to the city MUP. Zen was everything else.

Time stood still it seemed as I made my way to work. Half the time I was elsewhere. My mind was completely checked out until I reached the busy area. Then, I noticed that I was part of a greater culture....a car culture.

Overcast but no rain. Not hot at 71F but a bit humid. Just a fine ride and glad it is Friday.

Flashy new bike, much, much cooler weather, client appointments that took me on new routes—It's been great the last few days.

For the 2nd week now I took my bike to work on the car, with the intent of splitting my commute between Thursday and Friday. And for the 2nd time I had to take the bike right back home on Thursday. This time because we had an emergency situation where wife locked keys in car and I had to go pick up kid from school.

Was a nice and crisp 56F this morning. Great weather for riding. Used the baselayer under the jersey for the second time since early spring. My car is being held hostage by the mechanic for the second week. So have been commuting from home for the second week in a row solid. Racking up ~432 miles since Labor day. Also broke a spoke in my front wheel on Wed and replaced with a new wheel I bought from Velomine.

Interesting ride home from work last night. We wound up receiving over 5 inches of rain and there were flash flood warnings out. On the way home there were a few sections where the river had come up over the banks and the MUP was underwater. Two of those sections I was able to walk the bike round the flooded area on higher ground.

The third section was under a railroad trestle and there was no easy way around without retreating a long, long way. The part of the MUP that was submerged was only about 30 feet long. It was just standing water with no current in a low spot detached from the river, so I wasn't worried about getting washed away. I thought, "How deep can it really be?" and rode through it. The answer was "a lot deeper than I thought." Almost a foot. My shoes got soaked but I made it through just fine.

This morning the storm system had passed and we had a nice day in the forecast, albeit a windy one. Knowing I was going to fight the wind I decided to take the road bike. There was lots of mud and puddles on the trail where the river had overflowed, then receded. I was going along just fine until I came across one section of the MUP that was completely impassable. So I wound up retreating back to a trailhead and riding through streets until I was able to get back on the MUP past the flooded area. Added some unexpected time to my commute and made me a bit late for work.

Unfortunately, I misjudged how muddy the "dry" parts of the trail would be. My road bike is covered in mud. This is going to be an extremely busy weekend and now I have to figure how to squeeze in time to give the bike a wash. First world problem, I guess.

For the second time this week, I got to gloat at the office because my co-workers all got stuck in traffic due to a collision on the freeway, and I rode completely unimpeded. Nice commute, soured only after I got to work and realized I forgot to pack underwear.

Always keep extra at work!

50F & grey. I could see the edge of the cloud ceiling but never got out from under it. Short 12 mile detour (vs usual 6-7 mile straight-ish shot or longer 25-30 mile detour when I have more time)

D'oh! Could just go commando for the day, though. Missing a traffic accident (or other delays) is one reason for cyclecommuting. The others for me are:

- No train schedule to worry about. Only choices are 6:15am and 7:08am for the morning.
- No jamming into the sardine can that is the NYC subway.
- You get to meet other folks on your commute.
- You can eat a lot of food. I think I've at least doubled my intake but still weigh the same.
- How you feel after exercising is priceless.

It was pretty cold this morning! But there was a wonderful full moon lighting my way, some bright stars, and no wind. A nice morning to be out on a bike.

Then I got on the train, and that was even colder. Brr.

Moon was out when I left this morning. Cool and beautiful.

Here is my story of after my evening commute home.

Foggy Bottom commuter this morning.

Not a nice commute this morning.

Half a mile from the train station I heard someone calling, so I stopped, and there's a woman walking along the sidewalk saying she needs help. She didn't seem disoriented, but didn't know where she was. Said she was walking home but didn't know which way to go. This didn't quite compute; judging by her location she had been walking along the main road only minutes earlier, and had turned off it into a sleepy residential neighborhood; if she intended to walk anywhere, she should have stayed on the main road. Said she'd been ***** last night and the police wouldn't do anything and no one would help her. I had about five minutes to catch my train, and there didn't seem to be anything I could do for her, so I gave her directions back to the main road and the train station, where she'd certainly be able to get help. I admit I was torn between a desire to help and a desire to get away from there ASAP. But the bottom line was, obviously couldn't give her a ride on my bike, and there was nothing more I could do for her.

I got to the station in time for my train, only to find that it had been cancelled on account of police activity at the Elizabeth, NJ, train station, which has made the national news and you've probably heard about this by now. Announcements on the station PA said all train service had been suspended until further notice, so I decided to ride back home. But just as I was getting on my bike, another announcement came on the PA saying my train was 26 minutes late; so I stayed and waited a little longer. And sure enough, a train came a little while later, I got on it, and got to my office about an hour late.

When I got to NYC, it was raining... and I was pretty wet when I got here. But I got here.

I didn't know what SMIDGAF was and had to look it up in the urban dictionary. Glad I wasn't drinking my coffee since I might have spit some of it out in laughter. Classic acronym this is...

Back on topic, I took a rainy day off. First time since late winter taking the train. Figured a day off can't hurt since I was riding every day from home to NYC for the last two weeks.

Overcast with a few little drip drops here and there. Wet roads, but not bad.

I pulled the trigger on a new bike yesterday. Cannondale Synapse is their "endurance road" as they market it.

55F, sunshowers. Wore a raincoat, socks, shoes, lost 2+mph avg speed, no real time difference though

nice looking bike


I drove today I have a meeting this evening and it is supposed to be raining thunderstorms all day.. wife was not keen on my riding home at 7:30 in T storms. It would have been a long day. So I drove
for what it is worth... it was really really weird to drive to work. 5th time since July 1st..

mgw4jc enjoy your new bike, it looks beautiful.


The commute this morning was foggy and misty wet in the fogginess. Though the temp was 67f degrees and a bit humid.

A pleasant 50 when I left. Didn't push a pace, instead I just enjoyed the ride. My noon hockey league started yesterday so I won't be able to commute on Mondays until next summer. It's a good trade off.

The commute was great yesterday despite being dog tired from demoing a bathroom. Today though felt like a slug. Didn't drink any coffee starting out.

A nice ride in. Clear and a little less humid.

I got stuck behind a school bus when exiting my hood. He makes three stops all in one quarter mile. The second two were maybe 4 houses apart.

Why don't these kids walk to one house or another and wait together? When I was a kid waiting for the bus, half the neighborhood would walk to one place and we'd all wait together.

Cooler with lower humidity this morning made for a nice ride. I took the fixed gear today, but kept the exertion to a modest level. I had some knee discomfort after racing three days to/from work last week. It seemed fun at the time, but I have a bit of soreness as a result.


Managed to avoid the passing rains yesterday by just minutes on each end of the commute. Yay.