Working from home today so no ride but wanted to relate yesterday's ride home. About a mile from work a guy in a pickup pulled next to me and started yelling about how I stopped (or rather didn't) at a stop sign. I really should have kept silent and ignored him but... I said "what, are you the bike police?" Wrong - now he's yelling how I'm just like a motorcycle and have to follow the laws. I should have kept silent but... I said "oh, you're cop right?" Now he's pissed and luckily he just pulls off. To a stop light. Where I end up right next to him. And now he's at it again. I crossed the intersection ahead of him and then made sure I blew through the next stop sign. Yes, I must have a death wish. Fortunately he turned.

[MENTION=322871]arsprod[/MENTION] - My rationale for rolling stops is that I'm the one that's going to get hurt if a bad decision is made. It depends on the stop sign, but I'll usually slow down and make sure I'm good before going through. A couple I know I'll have to stop at and a few I rarely/never have to.

Majorly muggy this morning with some drizzle and head winds: 74F + 73 dew point. The drizzle and winds almost kept me cool, but I was still pretty sweaty upon arrival.

Consecutive commute number 325:

56°F this morning, very humid and very windy. Made for a chilly summer commute as my backpack was already loaded down and I didn't want to add the weight of a jacket that I could have used during this morning's 8 mile ride, but won't need when I ride 10 miles across town to a client's office over lunch. So I just sucked it up and rode hard to try and stay warm.

Wind was fierce at 30+ mph. Mostly a cross wind, but there were a few miles where I got to fight it. It'll be the same story at noon, but then I should have a tail wind for most of the 4 mile ride home.

The state soccer tournament was starting this morning in one of the parks along the MUP. Parking lots were already full and there were a lot of people in the park. I was impressed that at spot where the MUP crosses the entrance to the park, they had stationed someone there to direct traffic. I was even more impressed that he was stopping cars to wait for the MUP traffic, rather than the other way around. I thanked him as I rolled by.

60F, sunny, pretty awesome. Also, last day of school for my kids.

Cool (10C/50F) but otherwise very pleasant ride in this morning, a couple of impatient jerks notwithstanding. No harm, no foul.

Here's the t-shirt I'm wearing today:



I bought it at the Amsterdam airport a couple years ago after a short bike tour. What I find amusing about the shirt is that the image is of a brakeless fixie, but out of the thousands of bicycles I saw in The Netherlands, I saw maybe 1 or 2 fixed gears. Anyway, I rode my fixie today (which has one brake).

Slow, and wet. Stayed up till 1am last night like an idiot watching a couple episodes of Agents of Shield...got up bleary eyed at 6am and rode 15 miles through drizzle and wet paths. All in all still not a bad ride though. Should be blue skies and 80f for the ride home. No agents of shield tonight....thinking a bottle of delirium tremens and a book.

My commute home last night was slow, I had to walk the whole 700 m. My flex connector on the hitch (the rubber part connecting the trailer tow bar to the hitch attachment on the bike) on my old burley trailer decided to break. I have in my possession some old fuel line and a spring that I used to fix my father in laws trailer (exact some model and issue) years ago. It is an easy and apparently secure fix since my father in law still uses the trailer to haul things. So I will add that to the weekend of fixing things and packing

Moving day in 6 days. We need to get to work packing.

Hottest week of the year. Coolest day was 111 degrees. 119 on Tuesday. The good news is the days are getting shorter!

A very pleasant ride to work this morning. The first time this year I have been able to extend my ride on my way in. I was able to ride past the house with the gardens and I noticed she has a perennial that I just put in this year.

Overcast and cool, 11C/52F, but a nice ride in anyway. Some of the roads were dry, some had puddles, some appeared to be recently wet but I didn't feel any rain during my ride in. Rain has been forecast for every day this week and although the afternoon temperatures are reasonable, 20C/68F, they are below normal. Weird summer so far, difficult for me to get myself out for long rides when there is such a consistent forecast for rain.

Enjoy the day people!

Back to commuting after being forced to take a week off. Every time the seasons change, my body kinda resets.

It was a nice cool breezy commute.

I was surprised to find a new stop sign on a descent that I really used to enjoy!! Right at the intersection of Peaslee and Naticook road. Earlier, it was a stop only for traffic coming from Naticook road and joining Peaslee road and I used to just whoosh past that point. Now I have to stop or slow down to a crawl.
descent.JPG

The reason I really looked forward to this descent was that it used to come right after perhaps the toughest climb of my commute
climb.JPG

Anyway, if the new stop sign increases my chances of reaching my destination in one piece at the cost of a little bit of speed, I'll take it.

I'm on vacation this week, so no commuting for me. I hope to take some fun rides. My wife and I took a lovely one yesterday in the sun.

A little cool spell this week. Only 58F this morning with the dew point at only 56. Almost felt chilly when I started, at least until I hit the first big hill. Highs in the low 80s all week supposedly. Great riding weather.

A little cool here also, 53 degrees this morning. Felt great on my sore muscles though. Spent all weekend putting a roof on the back porch. Unfortunately won't hit my goal for the month due to working my butt off on it.

Cool here too, 51F this morning and I actually wore tights.

Rained most of the night, so this morning the streets were wet. However, by the time I left the sun was out and there was hardly any wind. Temps were in the low 50s and the humidity was really high, so that combination made it pretty chilly for June. I threw a sweatshirt on for the ride in. Won't need it for the ride home.

Saw a lot more bicycle commuters out this morning compared to most mornings.

Cool here too, maybe 53*F. 6.5 mile commute, last week the two days I wore dockers style chinos, today it was jeans and a tee. I'm thinking maybe I should get some convertible pants made of some sort of wicking fabric. The mountain bike knobbies are rubbish for making speed on the MUP, still debating between selling the bike and getting a cheaper flat bar hybrid, and just putting some thinner city tires on this.

59F, gray.

16C/61F and windy. Got a good workout this morning.

Are you staying in Nanaimo, or moving somewhere else?

We are staying in Nanaimo, even on the same island.

We are moving a whole 600 meters. The best thing is it will be our house (in 25 years) and I am not planning on moving for at least 40 years.

It will double my morning ride to just over 1 km, or I can walk and hike up and down the 74 or so steps towards our place. We will be almost the highest point on the island.

It was a nice and cool 68F this morning. Shaping up to be a great day. Wimped out of riding from home and did park and ride instead. Will try riding rom home tomorrow. I'm now officially a red neck without a pickup. I got some sun burn on the top of my head and the back of my neck on Saturday. We hung out at the neighbor's pool for a few hours. My four year old son had some fun in the pool and also used a little boat (floating edges with a mesh in the middle).

More @#$%-ups today. I go to get the bike out and the rear is flat. There's a gash in the tube on the inner side... I don't know what to blame, the rim tape is intact and smooth. But I know it's not helping that the tubes are small and the tire is medium. Swapped it. Took kiddo to daycare. He had to stop 2 miles into the ride for a pee in the bushes, because he is three. Soon as he's done with that, I turn around and my back tire is flat. Patched it while kiddo played with sticks. Got the tire pumped up just enough to ride and get frustrated with pumping. Got him delivered and detoured to Walmart. I have this dinky CO2 inflator that's been knocking around my bag for years and never used. I figure today's the day. Walked past the bike section to the pellet rifle section and bought a round of 12-gram CO2 cartridges... they are way cheaper than the bike section, less than half the price per gram. Feeling pretty clever, I take them out to my bike and no dice - my little inflator takes threaded cartridges. I go back in and can't find threaded cartridges in either section. I go back to the bike section feeling foolish and buy a new inflator, plus a 2-pack of 16-gram cartridges that fit it, for $22. I still don't have the right tubes - need medium-stem, medium-size which is fairly oddball. Will check my supplies at home and see how many I might have in a box and order some more if I need to.

A pleasant commute this morning as I was able to extend my ride again. The gardens at the house that I pass on my ride is looking very nice. I saw a lone turkey. I am not sure where the rest of his group is.

Very nice ride this morning. I couldn't bike commute yesterday, and I was a little surprised at how much I missed it already. And then I also realized that on the days I don't ride to work it takes three alarms to get me out of bed by 6am. But on the days I do, it's only 1 alarm at 4:10am. Huh, I think I might be hooked. Shame about those seven hours in between riding, though .