Rough morning for me.

This morning my son had the first of three days' worth of tryouts for the school golf team. They were scheduled to tee off at 6:30 AM, which meant he needed to be at the course earlier for warm-ups. My wife is not a morning person at all, so I volunteered to be the one to get up at 5 AM and drive him to the course.

I went to bed last night and was just about to sleep when my son came in the room in a panic telling me he just realized he'd left his golf clubs at the course when he was there practicing earlier that afternoon. My wife had gone to pick him up, and they walked into the pro-shop because there was a hat in there they wanted to buy. When they left, they walked out a different door and got in the car and left without either of them thinking that his clubs were still sitting out by the practice green.

Being 14 years old and in the full throngs of hormonally induced emotions, he was freaking out and sobbing. He'd spent the previous 2 1/2 years scrimping and saving every penny he could earn to buy these golf clubs. The thought of losing $1500 worth of golf clubs was overwhelming to him. Tryouts were first thing in the morning and if he didn't have clubs he couldn't make the team. Golf is one of his passions, so not making the team would have been devastating. He'd tried out and made the high school JV squad the previous two years even though he was still in middle school. This year he's gunning to try to make the varsity squad as a freshman.

So while my wife attempted to calm him down, I hopped out of bed, got dressed and drove over to the golf course. Thankfully, with the help of a flashlight I found his bag and all of his clubs untouched out by the practice green where he'd left them. I threw them into the car and drove back home. When I pulled into the garage my son came out and hugged his bag with tears of joy streaming from his eyes.

With that crisis averted, I returned to bed. By this time it was nearly midnight. Unfortunately all the excitement had really gotten me wound up, and I laid there wide awake for several hours. It was nearly 2 AM when I finally fell asleep. The next three hours were fitful as I kept waking up with weird dreams. The 5 AM alarm came way too early.

After I dropped my son off at the golf course I returned home and tried to sleep for another hour, but didn't do much more than doze. I still managed to ride to work, but I think I was half asleep for a good chunk of the ride. I certainly didn't set any speed records on my way in.

Got close-passed by a guy on a fat bike that likes to show how fast he can go whenever he zips by me, but it's easy to see from the size of his rear hub that he has an e-assist. Given my sleep deprived mood this morning I felt unusually indignant about him, like he was cheating the system versus those of us who have to work for all the speed we attain.

I'm allowing myself an extra cup of coffee this morning.

At my job, we have Fridays off in the summer (YAY!). I rode into work all four days last week, which is unusual for me. I was feeling really strong and enjoyed every ride. Friday, I needed to rent a car, as my wife, who has a car, was out of town. I noticed it costs $90 extra to rent from Manhattan where I live than from anywhere else, so I rode 12 miles to a car rental place in the Bronx. So that ride was an adventure, going through lots of neighborhoods I don't normally go through. I passed by a crime scene just as several police officers were arriving. I suspect it was a personal robbery, as there was an old-ish woman who had called the police. I passed the scene of a fire fight where I had to lift my bike and step over the big fire hose. Life in the big city keeps us busy.

GPS tracks

Today is the first day of not riding in a while. Yesterday I rode extremely vigorously over some big hills, and my legs and butt hurt, in a good way. That doesn't happen to me often, so I take it as a good sign that I rode well. A day of rest seems like a good idea, and combined with today's very rainy weather, it works out well.

That is some drama, [MENTION=175954]Tundra_Man[/MENTION]! I am slowly forgetting my kids' teen years, but I remember them being that dramatic. Do you think something unconscious led your son to forget his clubs? 14 is the most difficult year for many people but it's also a year of deep influence entering the mind.

Good luck with your surgery and recovery, [MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION]. Keep us abreast.

I think both he and my wife just got distracted in the pro shop. They found the hat he wanted, which my wife and I were going to go "halves" with him on. She then realized she'd left her money in the car, so there was a trip out to the parking lot and back. After they bought the hat they walked out of the door closest to the parking lot, but opposite of the practice green where his clubs were sitting. Both of them got in the car and drove off without even thinking that he hadn't loaded his clubs.

I had been out in the garage earlier that evening and noticed his clubs weren't sitting in their usual spot, but I just assumed they were still in the back of the car ready to go for this morning so I didn't mention it. We're lucky that he remembered when he did, otherwise we would have discovered the missing clubs this morning. He left the clubs at a different course than where tryouts were being held, so by this morning it would have been too late to drive to get them and make it on time. That is, if the clubs would even have still been sitting there after being abandoned for that long.

I remember being 14. I agree, that year sucked big time.

I can't recall a run of luck this bad with flats. Today it was an outright slice. Probably glass; it was just past a large intersection. Having no tire boot and only souvenir paper money, I stuck a tube patch inside the tire. It held as far as work but is obviously bulging.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/...aecbd8ea_z.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...4f07af84_z.jpg

Good job [MENTION=175954]Tundra_Man[/MENTION] my kids are 16 & 12 and it's interesting to keep some awareness over how bad some things seem to them based on their own experience of how bad things have ever been vs your experience...

http://chutzpah.typepad.com/.a/6a00e...5639086970c-pi

also

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...d41f3099b2.jpg

Installed dollar bill, per tradition. First time I've ever tried it. I told my wife and she's astonished I'd risk it. Inflated it at 2:30, will evaluate at 5:30

Edit: made it home without incident thanks to GW

I wondered if it was my imagination that this thread and this forum has been slower this year.

In 2015 and 2016, the Aug 7 posts were #2042 and #2016 (funny coincidence). Today's first post in this thread was #1824.

The total mileage logged in the other sticky thru the 6th is 105451 in 2015, 90,358.4 in 2016, and 64306 in 2017.

back in the UK after a week of hiking and science in Utah. Much more O2 air sea level than at 11000ft. Much easier to exert myself here :) also, I wasn't so excited about constant AirCon and 100F temps every day in Utah :(

Changed my hours this week and has been interesting, the ride in this morning was no exception. Seen four other bicyclist, one with a trailer stacked with equipment that I'd question if it stolen, one other I haven't seen in ages and took the interstate shortcut .. one brave SOB. Still have the lower back pain which is interesting since riding doesn't seem to effect it, although carrying the bike up the stairs does!

Back to my first commute of the week, in a drizzly 64F weather.
I recently got a basic fit done for my other road bike at the LBS. He set the saddle height at 32.5 inches. I came home and measured my commuter's saddle height and it was 1.5 inches shorter. So, today I decided to raise my commuter's height to the same level too. The top tube length is almost the same on both bikes (3/4 inch difference). So, here are my observations from this morning's ride:
1. The 1.5 inch increase made higher cadence easier.
2. Higher center of gravity made for tricky handling.
3. I was slower than usual today. Maybe there were headwinds?
4. Glutes got a workout!
5. Now I have to get out of the saddle every time i stop and unclip.

Will stick with this height for some time to see how my body responds.

That's huge. You're lucky to have been able to ride with the patch/boot. This reminds me of the spectacular blowout a few years ago. Sounded like a gunshot and shredded my back tire. I had to walk to the nearest bikeshop from work to get a new tire.

Disaster averted! :thumb: Oh, boy. I wonder of this is what life will be like when my son gets to his teenage years...

I'd say that you earned it...

Was a really nice ride in from home. Took advantage of the good weather today. I was off on vacation yesterday. So no riding then. Thought I felt a light spritz of rain but knew that it wasn't supposed to rain. A guy pulled up next to me at the red light before I go across Rt 3 bridge into Park Ave Rutherford. He confirmed that he could see my rear taillight from far away. So the CyberShot Pro 80 works as expected. Only drawback is that it might piss off other cyclists that are riding behind me. Can't have everything... I received the replacement brake and derailleur cables and bar tape via Amazon last week. Have been a bit busy and then lazy to install over the weekend. Maybe can do that one night this week.

55F. Cloud ceiling at treetops (vs yesterday down on the pavement).

Outdoor communities on sidetrails to the MUP getting more 'colorful'.

Last night and this morning bracketed the rain nicely. I left a bit early last night, and somebody upstairs must have flushed the rain bucket half hour after I got home. Heavy rain about 5:30 woke me, but it had stopped by time to ride. Now it's clear blue sky!


I think I like pushing the start of high school back half an hour; the traffic has seemed remarkably light, despite riding by an elementary school that hasn't changed its schedule. Must be those darn high school kids who drive everywhere...

I'll guess it's my lack of posting and the loss of [MENTION=86492]tarwheel[/MENTION] to retirement. The mileage is certainly on tarwheel.

Anywho all is good here. I'm just working in bikes and cleaning things. I'm still backlogged on the bike repair department. But I'm waiting for a parts order.

Today on the way back from work, here I am pedaling up a small hill, saying to myself "round and round, round and round" ,with cars politely passing me to my left, when I hear a sharp yelp of a dog from a passing car. It felt as if i jumped 2 feet in the air at the sound! Moments later I was laughing so hard that it was impossible to maintain cadence.
That was the highlight of my commute.

Low 60's this morning.. a bit chilly and it's August!

I'm still riding a lot in retirement, but not visiting the Bike Forums as often. It doesn't seem right posting ride reports in the commuting forum now that I'm no longer working, even though all of my rides these days are "job related" in the sense that being retired is now my career. BTW, I highly recommend retirement as a second career.

Ironically, my total cycling mileage is lower this year, partly due to not riding to work several times a week. However, I've also been traveling quite a bit, without a bike, and trying to diversify my exercise for more total body fitness. (I just got back from a hiking trip in the Pacific NW, in Mount Rainier, Mt. Saint Helens and Portland.)

I miss certain aspects of bike commuting, but not dealing with the traffic and weather conditions.

Quite uneventful ride in to work today morning. The highlight was spotting a deer and its fawn running in a field. They both came to a standstill the minute they spotted me. They must have been puzzled to see a guy on a bike wearing florescent green jersey! LOL

I was hiking at Mount Rainier last week, and it went from about 100 miles of visibility on Monday and Tuesday, to dense haze from wildfire smoke the rest of the week. Fortunately, we got to see some incredible views before the smoke moved in, and the temperatures were relatively mild at high elevations (80s). On Friday, our last day of hiking, we got up high enough that we were above the smoke and it was remarkably clear above that level.

Pouring rain this morning. I rode my hybrid with fenders and waterproof panniers. Got to work and was quite soaked. As I was walking across the parking lot a person looked at me and my helmet rather incredulously and said, "rain or shine, huh?"

Not sure why people find it so amazing. I toweled off and changed my clothes and now I'm drier than the people who had to park in the ramp down the street and walk to the building.

Left the house 15 minutes earlier this morning just so I wasn't in such a rush to get to work on time. Traffic was much lighter and I was able to breeze thru most of the stop lights/signs along my route. Didn't have to push near as hard, but it didn't take any more time than normal! Amazing what a difference 15 minutes makes! (or maybe it was just today? :foo:)