Light fog. 51° at start. Fog changed to mist near the end of the ride. Overcast and gloomy. Light traffic. It was actually quite nice.

-Shin

I had Friday off in exchange for Memorial Day Monday. Knowing the traffic would be light, I altered my route some. All was great until about a mile from the office. I was passing a runner on a MUP, hit a spot of mud, and my back tire went out from under me. Unlike Tom in slow motion, I was sliding on the wet asphalt before I knew what happened. The runner and two other people stopped to check on me which was nice.

It didn't tear my shorts, but my right hip has a pretty big road rash mark. I put my right hand down at some point and the palm is a little cut up. And somehow my left thumb has a cut on it too. I think the bike is fine. The grip tape was a bit scuffed up, but it rode and shifted okay. I hadn't fallen in at least a year I think. Oh well.

Nice morning for a ride anyway. But humidity is becoming more noticeable.

Overcast, threatening rain (but none fell), comfortably cool (14C/57F) long ride in this morning to explore a route I had suggested for a community ride. My commute this morning was a nice 32.8km/20.4mi distance but I was slow and there were lots of hills so my average speed of 20.8kph/12.9mph was reasonable.

Showers are forecast for this afternoon's ride but that might not happen (the showers that is, not the commute home) but I'm carrying my raincoat in my panniers all the time so I'll be fine.

Have a great week!

Nice day today. I just went in about noon and left about 2. Still morning haze at noon, by 2 the mountain was out though in front of a cloud/haze layer that it was previously behind.

Tomorrow need to meet carpool at 7:15 so would really need to leave by 6 to both cool down to change clothes and to make printouts for tomorrow's meeting. Will see if that happens...

Coolish, 10C/50F, but sunny ride in. The forecast for the early afternoon is rain and lightning but clear by the time I have to go home, I hope it doesn't change significantly from that, I don't like riding during a thunderstorm, in fact, I avoid it.

Yesterday I made it home about 30 minutes before some evening storms rolled in. We had a good down pour off and on for about 2 hours.

Just a fine ride in this morning. Traffic was back to normal after the holiday weekend. Humid and sticky though.

Pleasantly boring, 57 and sunny

After I got home Friday night I realized that I was at 490 miles for the month of May. My previous best month ever was August of 2015 when I logged 533 miles. I figured out that if I rode a couple times over the weekend, I could set a new personal record this month.

Got up early on Saturday only to discover that the 33% chance of rain turned into 100% chance of downpour. I wasn't motivated enough to go out in it.

Instead I got up early on Sunday and went for a ride. I rarely ride on Sundays because I have to be at church early in order to lead music and that usually tuckers me out by itself. But seeing as I was shooting for a record and I didn't ride on Saturday I figured I'd make an exception. I rode nearly 25 miles that morning.

Then Sunday night I started crunching the numbers and figured out that breaking 600 miles was within the realm of possibility if I averaged 28 miles for each of the next three days. So Monday morning I got up and went out for a ride. I figured since I had the day off I could go a little longer and take some of the burden off of the remaining two days. The wind was very fierce, but I persevered and logged 43 miles.

This morning I took the long way to work. At lunch I'll ride across town to a client's office, and then home. At the end of today I will have 594 miles for the month of May. 6 miles on Wednesday is nearly a slam dunk, as just riding to my nearest client and home is 8 miles. So it looks like I'm going to set a new personal milestone of more than 600 miles ridden in the month of May.

Sweet! We have a bike contest here every May and I used to go out of my way to bike everywhere always, and there still weren't enough places to go to and distance between them to get me up to 600 miles. Frequently could hit 500. This year, I'm at 250ish right now, drove today, but tomorrow should be good for another 13-18.

My step-dad got lens replacement surgery a few years ago. He initally had trouble with not wearing glasses since he had then since he was a kid for 60 or more years. I could tell that they look a bit different when light hits them at some angles.

My ride in this morning was good. There was just a light spritz of rain (barely perceptable) with 59F. I'll take that all day long. Also replaced the Shimano 105 9-spd crankset and BB this morning. I got an Ultrgra 6500 crankset for cheap and had another BB already. Its nice to get rid of the partially stripped right crank arm. When the bolt would loosen, the right crank arm would move by a degree or two thus giving a strange feeling. :( I have a definate love hate relationship with Shimano Octalink V1 BBs...

Took kiddo to daycare in the kiddo seat. Riding with a 3yo is great. "Whoa, look at that! Is that a trash truck? Is it a yil (little) one? We are going too fast, get on the sidewalk. Is that a bulldozer? Is he going to dig up the road? I need a stick, daddy."

First ride also with the 12-27 replaced with 11-34. My knees thank me

New experience this morning: I got a citibike with a Nuvinci hub. Very smooth. They usually have Shimano or Sturmey Archer three speeds, which are fine, but the Nuvinci was a fun change.

Learning what works for me
 

This weekend, swapped out Schwinn Street Comfort tires (or something like that) and heavy duty tubes for Geax Street Runner City Tires, and Geax Ultralight tubes. Totally amazing how much lighter the wheels are with the different setup, but would they be faster, and would they hold up?

Also adjusted my seat down, and adjusted the handlebars to (slightly) increase the seat to hand grip distance. A quick ride on Sunday seemed more comfortable, and faster, but the real test is the commute, with all the stop signs, traffic, and lights.

Well, averaged 0.7 mph faster on Tuesday than the nearly identical route on Friday, over a total of 17 miles round trip. More important, no punctures. Have two patch kits, but definitely can and should carry a spare tube, since I have a pannier. Also more comfortable. See, the Trek 800 sport is a small (16.5") frame, but I had managed to hike the seat up too high, which naively I thought was impossible.

When I took my first drive + bike commute last year, I worried excessively about everything that could go wrong. It's amazing that I stopped worrying long enough to do something about it, but I knew, knew that I had to do something. The mental changes have been greater than even the physical.

July 1st last year was the first day; not even 3 miles each way, and it left me soaked in sweat (well, it was 85F and humid). I made it to late September, before the darkness during the evening commute put a close to it. My best month was 162 miles total, and I was proud that I did that.

Today, I made 163 miles for May, having started on the 6th, so only 25 days. I am doing 8-9.5 miles each way, but I have an alternate of 5 miles if weather is bad, or I am running late. For June, my goal is 20 or more days of riding, and 200 or more miles. Also, I intend to improve my lights, clothes, bike fit, while keeping to my budget (which isn't much).

I hope this long post is okay; obviously what I have accomplished isn't to impress anyone here, but I am the happiest I've been in a long time, and just wanted to express it. I love the variety of experiences, people, and of course bikes that are Bike Forums, and am grateful it is here.

Got a PR. First one in a good long while. It's the little things.

Great that it is working for you and you are getting things dialed in. Keep it up!

@Tundra_Man, 600 is huge. I hit it once or twice a year. When I do, it means I didn't have many days off work - so a blessing and a curse?

I hit a kamikaze rabbit this morning. He darted at me as I was already passing him. I didn't really feel anything, but I looked back and the rabbit was about 4 feet in the air. His foot or something must have gotten caught up in my back spokes which threw him up. He landed and scurried away, so I'm hoping he was okay.

Good ride otherwise. Humidity!

I was planning on going for ride this morning but it wasn't going to be a commute in.

My wife called me about 3pm yesterday afternoon and asked if I was going to ride home because the weather was looking worse. I told her that the forecast was for thunderstorms and they hadn't happened yet so maybe I'll just leave my bike at work and take a ride home in the car with her. (In the end, the weather cleared and it was nice, warm and sunny (but very windy). She also mentioned that she starts work today at 6am and that if I drove her into work (5 min drive from my work), I could take the car to my work, hop on my bike and go for a nice ride starting and finishing at work (but not a commute as I said at the outset). This is what I planned on doing so when I got to work at 6:05am, I reached for my mag card to let me into the parking lot (and then the building) and it wasn't there, I guess I hadn't brought it home with me so therefore, I couldn't get in to get my bike, so I just went home.

As I was getting ready to head out the door again at 8:15 to drive in to work (and borrow someone's mag card to get into the parking lot), I noticed on the shelf where I put my keys, my mag card. Sheesh, I could have done the ride as planned.

Oh well, my wife is out of town tonight so I can ride the long way home and make my dinner when I get home and not worry about her dinner.

Only slept about two hours last night. Ugh. Rough one. It was tempting to be lazy this morning, but I forced myself to get out and take the long way to work.

I rolled past the 600 mile mark for the month of May. By the time I get home tonight the tally for the month should be 617. When the odometer hit 600 I stopped and took a picture to commemorate the event:
https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...a6&oe=59B27C9D

A few miles down the road I rider was passing me on the MUP. As he went by he slowed down and we figured out that we knew each other online, but had never met in person. So we rode together and talked for about five miles. Always nice to make a new friend.

I hit a kamikaze runner on the ride home yesterday. This happened almost exactly 4 years ago - young woman runner, ear buds in, I ring bell several times, as I reach the no return point she turns right into me. The difference is last time I did my best not to hurt her and went down - broken thumb and concussion. This time my reaction was to lead with my shoulder and never lost control. The runner's reaction was the same - "sorry, my fault, you ok..." run off the other direction. WTF is wrong with these people?! MUP's are roads - would someone turn and run the other direction without checking for traffic? It's rhetorical...

This morning was beautiful

I forgot pants!
 

Color me embarrassed. I forgot to bring trousers. Actually, I didn't forget. I decided to wear the spare pair in my office to keep my bag light. I guess I forgot that I brought that pair home at some point, so now I'm wearing a dress shirt, a cardigan, and my bib tights. I'll sit at my desk for as much time as possible. Good thing classes are out now. (I work at a college.)

I got one of those last week. It's fun. On the Citi Bike thread, people complain that it doesn't shift easily. I fully disagree. It worked like a champ for me.

50F, gray, clammy (but no standing water!)

Last time I took my 3yo (almost 4) in the kiddo seat, she screamed and bawled for the first several minutes. Once she figured out there was no danger of falling, she calmed down, but kept reminding me not to crash. I'm sure she'll be much better next time.

Between feeling fatigued and a (slight) headwind, today's commute felt like a chore. Maybe it would help if I rode more than once a week!

Mine started off in a trailer and I put him in a bike seat as soon as I could, it's a lot less work. He never complained about the trailer but the bike seat made him cry a few times last year. But I think it was more 2yo cussedness than fear or dislike. He'll be three in a month and he loves it now. Good luck with your threenager!

Story of my life.

Actually I did forget a helmet today.

As I left this morning, I thought outloud to my wife, saying that when I'm wearing a cap, I tend to forget my helmet, since I have the sensation of something on my head already. And you know the rest of the story. Plus I forgot my keys as well, which isn't that big a deal. My boss has the key to my office, and a neighbor can let me back into my building when I get home.

I did have my under-helmet hat on so my head wasn't immediately chilled by stepping out uncovered...

I do leave spare clothes of all descriptions in a filing cabinet drawer but when I use them I try hard to remember to replace them, which sounds like it might have been your downfall...

Same route, good commute. Windy this morning. Breaking wind the whole way north. *no, not THAT breaking wind*

[MENTION=188444]groovestew[/MENTION]

I started the boy in the bike seat at about 8 months, he didn't like it but quickly got used to it. I would have to say that the 3-4 year age was the best to commute with him. We would chat and pass snacks back and forth. It was great. My favorite was the day he learned about photosynthesis (he went to an awesome daycare) and he explained it all to me. That is a memory I won't forget.

I think that my daughter would love to be in the seat, but I don;t think that my wife will ever allow me to get another seat.

PS [MENTION=188444]groovestew[/MENTION] You said you used to vacation in Parksville right? Just an FYI, we live in Nanaimo now.

[MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION] and [MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION] I wonder what our old friend [MENTION=369902]TransitBiker[/MENTION] is up to, he used to be a big supporter of those hubs.

My first day back to commuting to work since hurting my arm. I went to see an orthopedist this past Friday he said an hour a day is okay for riding until my arm is better, my arm is about 80% and I miss riding so I am commuting to work. A very nice foggy uneventful commute with the temp at 51f degrees.