I'm getting the picture that if I keep with this faster-longer commute route on the artery roads, I'm not going to see anything interesting except traffic accidents. I may switch back to the MUP, since the time is a wash

I would do that. Once I stopped timing/tracking my commutes it became a lot easier in general to stop and take stuff in on the way.

Today, 35F, sky back to normal.

Happy Spring!

I left an hour early this morning to hit the gym for a bit before work. Chilly morning at 35F, but gonna be nice and in the upper 60s this afternoon. And maybe breaking 80 tomorrow!

First commute to work in 1.5 weeks, and my FIRST E-BIKE COMMUTE!!! I got my Luna Bafang BBS02 system set up last week, and put 41 miles on a single charge between Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I charged it up 100% last night, then rode to work this morning in just 59 minutes. That's 16 MPH average for a total weight of me, bike and cargo of nearly 300 pounds! It was nearly 60 degrees, and I had a 10 MPH headwind. Riding home should be awesome, and I should be able to get home about the same time as if I had taken the car, which was one of my goals for doing this e-bike conversion.

Today would have been a good day to ride in. I dreaded the thought of it. I reminded myself that once I get going, I enjoy myself, and not just a little. Still, I couldn't get myself to do it. Must think about this and what's going on with me.

While I did ride to work today, I did the exact same thing with running.

It would have been a great day for a run. Decent temp (low 40s) and dry. I got up early and dressed for running, even putting my shoes on. Once I get going I love running. When I'm done I feel great and I'm glad I did it.

Yet instead of running I found myself snoozing in my chair for an hour with the cat laying on my legs. Just couldn't get myself out the door.

I must have a case of the Mondays.

Thank you for that. I'm going to make that my story, too. I had fun on the weekend and wasn't looking forward to going back to work.

I lifted my barbell with the bigger weights on it. I did the over-the-head press -- what's that called? -- and some dead lifts. I also did some push-ups, which I should pat myself on the back for, because I avoid them, and I avoid them because I need them. Lifting weights does me good in the one way that riding does. It deepens my breathing, seemingly for the rest of the day, which seems to help me think. I have a thinking job.

33F and sunny, great series of lenticular clouds coming off the mountain.

Spring is here, spring is here, life is skittles and life is beer, I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring! I do! Don't you? 'Course you do.

Today was a drive-to-daycare day. That route may take a bike in the future but not yet today. The weather tomorrow and Weds shows rain. But it's confusing... it's all in fits and starts. The weather website says 7 tomorrow morning it's 85% chance of .02" accumulation, and 6pm is 59% chance of zero inches! How am I supposed to plan for that? :D I think if the road is dry in the morning I'm going to ride.

havent commuted in a week. Last week was the first week in probably over a year plus of bike commuting when I drove every day. so many different home commitments. (home renovation projects mess with bike commuting)


I did get a chance to get my mountain bike and ride almost ten miles on my new mtn bike tires. It was a fun change of pace. Even more fun to out climb a guy on a carbon rocky mountain thunderbolt on my 2010 Jamis 650b1 with 80+ miles on my legs haha


hope to get back to riding wednesday through friday of this week. Hope to complete the laying of flooring in our house this week so i can.


although riding in will be DARK at 6:27AM EST for a while.


#ImissmyBIKE

Today was my first commute back since returning from vacation in FL(where I got to ride alot!) The temp was 30f degrees when I left the house, though it will be in the high 40's on my way home. It was a nice uneventful commute today.

It's called the Overhead Press, of course!

20 degrees warmer this morning over yesterday. A very comfortable ride at 55F. Squirrels were definitely more active and near the edges of the roads and MUP. On one wooden bridge I hear a loud pop and was sure my tire was about to go down. But it must have just been an acorn or small stick maybe.

Tree Frogs!!!
 

One of the signs of approaching spring is the sound of tree frogs singing before dawn and at sunset. I heard my first tree frog songs today on the ride in. Yay, spring.

Yesterday morning's commute was almost balmy. Coming off of last week's low of -18C/0F, yesterday's commute in -1C/30F felt warm to the face.

This morning is a bit cooler at -5C/23F and it is getting cold again this week.

Discovered yesterday afternoon, as I was putting on my helmet to go home, the spider lock, that you rotate to tighten your helmet band to your head, has broken: it turns and tightens but it doesn't lock at the setting except for wide settings so today, when wearing my hat under my helmet, I was fine but yesterday, going home in +3C/37F without a hat, my helmet didn't stay tight. Time for a new one, but it has been several years and I really like this one.

Much as I like my heavy steel fixed gear commuter, it felt really nice to get on the road bike again. But I swear that the temperature must have dropped 15° when I dropped from the surface street down to creek-side on the Greenway! A micro-climate for sure, one moment 63° and the next, 40's - I almost turned back to take the streets :lol: But I knew that with a little effort I'd warm up in a couple of miles.

A week after that bizarre late season snowfall, the streets are clear but there are still large piles along the curb and partly blocking sidewalks and even parts of intersections --you have to be careful on turns! So as you ride, there are warm patches and cold patches. Feels like spring.

I saw a fox crossing the road in the distance, and I was so focused on that that when a bird flew up right next to me, it really startled me. I think it was a flicker.

Chilly morning. 32°F but the wind is blowing pretty hard and the humidity is high so it feels a lot colder than it is.

I went for a 4.5 mile run this morning, after skipping yesterday due to a case of "the Mondays." Hands and legs got pretty chilly.

On the bike, I was 1/4 mile from home approaching a sharp right corner when I heard a car coming up from behind. I look in my rear view mirror just in time to see a small SUV passing me at 50+ mph. This is in a residential area where the speed limit is 25, but most of us go about 20 because of all the pedestrians. The driver made it around me, then slammed on the brakes when they realized they were going WAY too fast for that corner. I really thought the SUV was going to flip over. The motorist made it around the corner upright, paused for about 2 seconds (I presume just long enough to realize that they were still alive,) then gave the vehicle full throttle and accelerated back up to 50+ mph again.

I really have no idea what was going through the driver's mind to think that driving like that was acceptable. Of course another 1/2 mile down the road the street emptied out onto a major artery that is usually quite gridlocked, so the driver saved absolutely no time. I passed them on the MUP as they sat in traffic.

45F and a bit of a tailwind. I've been off the bike almost a week due to work travel - back on the bike and all's well with the world!

First bike commute day!
 

Biked to the gym & work for the first time today (well.. other than a dry run on Sunday). Beautiful and cool morning. No issues. Got to watch the sunrise. It's about 8.6 miles to the gym and about .5 miles back to my office (the gym is past my office). I hit the gym, rocked the massage chair, the showered and got to work. Great first commute to work.

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42F gray clammy. Not much standing water though!

Well yesterday was... wow. First e-bike commute, and there was a big tailwind going home so made it home in just 52 minutes, when it normally takes around 65-80 minutes on my regular road bike. 18.5 MPH average! This will help me get home at nearly the same time as if I drive my car, which wifey likes. :thumb: And I don't feel beat up so I was able to ride my road bike in this morning.

So this morning... back to the slowness lol. Had a little front/side wind, but surprisingly made the trek in 76 minutes when it's usually 80+ minutes in the morning. I think subconsciously I was trying to push my regular bike harder, to try to match my e-bike speed or something? Dunno, that will surely never happen as long as I live. :lol:

I could have ridden, probably. The weather looked more annoying than problematical - a dripping headwind and road maybe damp enough I'd wish for fenders. SWMBO really didn't want me to. The forecast called it "thunderstorms," ooo scary!

But in good news I scored a toddler seat yesterday at Performance for $51 out the door - Copilot Taxi that mounts on an included Blackburn heavy duty rack. It's on deep clearance because a new color scheme is coming, and 20% off coupon. My hope is that daycare days are going to become bike days. I'll need a frame bag, too, though. Neither backpacks nor panniers work with the seat mounted and kid seated.

[MENTION=456888]tlester[/MENTION] welcome to the club!

I'm not surprised, cats are hard to move, they seem to warp gravity.

Seduced by the Nashbar 30% off coupon and a really screaming deal they have on some off-brand pedals, I'm going to try clipless again. This is what happens on rainy days...

ughhh the wind. Yesterday the wind was with me. Today it was most assuredly against me, both in the morning and the afternoon. I was actually slower this afternoon than this morning, which is out of the ordinary. Took me 26 minutes longer to get home on my regular road bike commuter as compared to yesterday's e-bike ride home.