So nice to have spring with the warmer afternoons. Was ~45F this morning. Nice and crisp. Am rocking the new shoes this morning:

Louis Garneau Milan Road Shoes - Performance Exclusive

with new grey Keo cleats. My 4yr old son helped me put on one of the cleats this morning. Gotta teach 'em young. Just need to play with the cleat placement a bit. I think they are a little too far back and need a little rotation (turn heels out a bit). Yesteday was ok in the morning. But it was a second shower going back to the car. I left earlier but the rain still got fairly heavy for the last 10 min of the ride. Then I saw sun come out around 5:30 after I got home. Should have just left work late but who knew...

That wind sure was brisk this morning, but it was still a great ride.

Last night I almost got smoked by a white mercedes SUV pulling away from the curb while i was bombing down great northern way at 50km/hr. I had a feeling she would do that so i was on top of it.

It's the time of year when commuters don't know what to wear: some riding in shorts & short sleeves, but one guy's still rocking the balaclava and ski goggles. LOL.

Another nice e-bike commute, though a bit chilly. I decided to try a different charging strategy this time, that is to charge the battery to 80% last night before bed, then this morning I let it charge to 90% while getting ready and then riding to work. That should give me a little more wiggle room with the charge level and not have it drop so much by the time I get home in the afternoon.

You may have explained this already and I just missed it... but what is the reason for charging to 80% or 90% instead of just charging to the full 100%?

Apparently lithium-ion batteries last longest (most charge cycles) when kept between 80% and 20%, and they don't like being stored at 100%. Charging to 80% the night before, then topping off to 90% just before leaving for work is a technique I read about on electricbike.com and it seems to make sense.

Mrs. Lefty out of commission today with a nasty, brutish, and short stomach bug. Gotta take kiddo to daycare and then come home to play Florence Nightingale for her and the twins.

The winds of last week calmed down over the weekend. And with the local schools on spring break this week, it was quite the pleasant ride this morning. I left early to allow for a layover at the gym and a stop at the ATM.

Full week this week, but next week will be short as I'll be running the Boston Marathon on Monday and then traveling back on Tuesday. I've never been there before, so looking forward to it. No time to do any biking unless I hop on a share or something.

Still cold, but will be about 35° warmer this afternoon. That's sometimes a minor challenge on the road bike when my bag is over-filled on the home leg, from an extra jacket and gloves and so on. Although today I just under-dressed for it, I think I've finally devised the best solution with a new handlebar bag I designed over the weekend and tested on this commute. It uses my handlebar hook and stem brace structure, built into a canvas backpack which folds in half, round, for the handlebar use. Instant on and off with no fuss, and when I pull it straight up to take off it becomes a normal looking backpack with a little hardware on bottom. I'll test it out and refine it for a few months but I think it's a keeper.

Venus was rising and the moon setting on my commute in this morning.

Yeah, the 30 degree temp swings are how I know spring is finally here. It was 43F leaving my home this morning. It will be mid 70's F or so this afternoon. I just dressed for 40's F this morning. But I use leg covers with my shorts. So I only swap a jacket for a short sleeve jersey and leave the leg covers and long sleeve baselayer off for later on. Was about the best I could do for this temp range. I also used open finger gloves instead of full finger ones. So they stay the same (I always like to wear some sort of gloves in all weather).

Last night they were predicting rain this morning. I decided that I would set my alarm for 5:15 and if it wasn't raining I'd go out for a run, but if it was raining I'd crawl back into bed and get another 1.5 hours of sleep.

My alarm went off. I looked out the window. The pavement was dry. At that moment I was disappointed because I felt like going back to sleep. However I forced myself out the door and ran 4.5 miles. Sprinkles started falling the last mile or so.

At home I showered off and by that time the rain was coming down steady. Today's client was less than 4 miles from home, so normally I would just wear my work clothes and ride slow so I don't sweat them up too bad. But because of the rain I wore my bike gear, put my work clothes in my waterproof bag and changed after I arrived.

37°F with rain and a stiff headwind. Was actually kind of chilly. But I made it just fine. As I just read on another thread, regular bicycle commuting pretty much just comes down to "gear and gumption."

That would be my normal routine also but I'm still in denial of the cold mornings - no jacket no leg warmers. I'll need to stuff my bag one of these days though, to see how well it rides.

40F, clammy, mix of blinding sun and thunderclouds.

Fought the urge to drive since it's not a good roadbike day but I sucked it up and rode the cross bike w/ panniers and lights.

It was raining pretty hard this AM, and i was 1/3 of the way in, and a BIG nail went through the tire: in the side and out the bottom. The wheel wouldnt turn properly because the nail was hitting the brake caliper.

There was an EVO about 200m away (car-share with a bike rack on the top) so i drove that back home and then drove my car in.

I'm pretty sure that's cheating. :-D

It was a very nice uneventful commute with a full pink moon, 50f degrees temp and clear skies.

Yes, we had cool looking moon as it set too. A bit warmer here at about 58F. And this was the first morning where I felt like it was light enough when I left to wear my regular sunglasses instead of clear lenses.

Funny, and reminds me of this lady caught cheating who then tried to cover it up on Strava.

Me too, a beautiful ride this morning, bright full moon, warm air, didn't need a cap under my helmet. Still feeling slow after a long ride over the weekend.

Contrary to the past weekend's beautiful sunny and 15C/59F weather, today's ride was in freezing rain, -2C/28F with a strong cold, wet wind. School buses are off the road, so was I, I didn't risk riding on the road so I took the sidewalks where a cycling path wasn't available. I put my foot down at one point and it nearly slipped out from under me, I'm glad I didn't put away the studded tires last weekend but with the forecast for the next 14 days being good, I'll take them off this Easter weekend.

A pleasant 55F, wet roads from overnight rain, but clear skies. It's starting to smell like Spring!

Yesterday rained most of the day, and when I left work it was turning to snow. Not sticking on the ground thankfully.

Temp continued to drop, but at least the rain stopped. This morning it was 28°F, but sunny and dry. Had a very mild headwind and there were some icy spots on the road, but not enough to make me take the studded tire winter bike.

Got halfway to work and realized I left my phone and my office door FOB sitting on the kitchen counter. I pulled over and debated for a minute on whether or not to go back home. I was right on schedule and returning would have made me about 20 minutes late. I decided to go a day without a phone. When I pulled up at the office a co-worker was also arriving so it was good timing because she could unlock the door with her FOB.

Was a nice 63F park and ride into the city in shorts and short sleeve jersey. Could have used a baselayer under the jersey, but sucked it up since I definately won't need it later on. Its supposed to go up to 80F this afternoon. Should have brought the sun tan lotion. I rode from home yesterday for the first time this season. Was fairly tired last night. So will have to ease back into it and do it only 2-3 days a week for now.

Forecast storms this PM so I drove the car... sadly.

30F, foggy. Took the roadbike (no headlight) because it's supposed to be glorious later in the day (then back to downpour the rest of the week). I wound up taking x-walks to circumvent traffic circles rather than count on my other hi-viz stuff to clue in oncoming traffic.