About a year ago - on election day, if you can believe it - I was buzzed by a bald eagle as I rode out of my neighborhood. They were nesting by Lake Natoma very near my house. In February they built a bigger nest and by April they had chicks. My neighbor told me a pretty good story last night, but I'm not sure if I believe it: Once the chicks fledged, the park service tore out the nest. They wanted the eagles to go somewhere less accessible so they wouldn't have to go to the effort of policing all the idle bird watchers. But, he says, the eagles are back. I haven't been able to find any info about this. It seems like if it were true, I should easily find someone on the Internet furious about it.

Here in Portland, OR...nice morning commute into downtown, a dry, kinda-bright and crispy 48F and this evening, windy, 50F and moderate rain. Great weather to test out the new wax on the bike and my new Arkel Orca panniers.

A very nice uneventful ride in this morning with wet roads due to rain last evening. I was fortunate that the temp was 37 f degrees and not below 32 f or I would not be able to ride on wet roads.

Wish we hade a like function here in the forums. So many awesome photos.

:thumb:

It was cold here this morning too. A freezing 54°F!

Back tire was flat when I went to leave yesterday. During the change, I felt inside the tire and found this tiny piece of metal poking through. It was smaller than a staple and not easy to pinch to pull it out.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ra...27Lkrw=s583-no

Unfortunately my spare also had a hole and I had no glue in my patch kit. So the wife had to rescue me. We stopped at a LBS for a new tube and patch kit on the way home. And obviously my fingers are still a bit dirty from the repair job.

Cool but not bad this morning at 40F. A squirrel tried to play chicken with me. I'm not sure he saw me at first. I went right to give him space. He did a U-turn, started to go my direction and was about to cross in front of me (or more likely under a tire) until he saw how close I was and went left instead.

Extended my 3 miles in to 14 this morning. I'm pretty cold tolerant but will admit to the toes getting a chill by the time I pulled into work, 30F ride (I cannot bulk them up and still get them into the toe-clips). Just gorgeous this morning though here in Indiana. I'm dreading putting away the Miyata for the winter and losing all that speed...

It was a nice and cool ride in this morning at ~38F. Should go up to 46F or so later on. I felt better than I thought I would. I worked from home yesterday so no riding for me. Was coughing up yellow goo at that time so I took it as an indicator to take it easy...

Yeeay. Reminds me of a staple (!) I got in my rear tire last year. I picked it up around the Harlem School of the Arts (W 141st st and St Nicholas St). Another nice gentleman told me about a small bike shop a little further uptown on Amsterdam. I did the walk of shame to the shop and bought two tubes. Of course it was also raining. :rolleyes: But I fixed the flat in the shop so was at least dry for that.:thumb:

Absolutely agree that for winter riding studded tires are a must. I've discovered that there are different kinds of ice and different tires to fit them. I started out with W160's too but my route has a lot of rutted ice especially on the mup. The W160's don't have enough studs on the outside and I switched to Schwalbe Marathon Winters... which are different than Schwalbe Winters. The Marathon winters have a row of side studs - the regular winters don't. Confused?! The difference is remarkable. Where I used to slide sideways and about poop my pants in ruts I'm rocking the ruts now!

31F this morning. I stayed late yesterday and found out I'd forgotten to charge my headlight. Amazing how it gets darker the farther out in the burbs one gets, directly proportional to the amount of headlight I had left. Fortunately my backup, a little opticube I use for a flasher, gives enough light to not crash!

44F, partly sunny. Wind down to 15mph from yesterday's ~30. Again no rain on the ride in but everything plenty wet from 2" of rain last night. Supposed to get 2 more inches tonight.

Amazing stories about eagles, [MENTION=339610]Darth Lefty[/MENTION].

Back steps were icy this morning but the streets were dry, and the temperature was mild, or at least over freezing. It started to rain on my way to the station, but not heavy.

The real excitement came after I got to the city and got on a CitiBike. Just as I'm speeding up to dash across 34th St before the light changed, a pedestrian walks out in front of me. The sidewalk was crowded and I was concentrating on dodging J-walking pedestrians coming from my right, and I guess I was going 15-17 mph and the guy on the sidewalk (to my left) abruptly changed direction and stepped directly in front of me, less than ten feet away.

I yelled "woah" and hit the brakes. First I felt the rear wheel go into a skid as it locked up, then the front wheel locked up and the rear wheel came off the road, and then I hit the guy. Not a hard blow; he didn't go down. I said "are you all right?" He said "I'm all right." I said "all right!" and I rode away before he could reconsider.

Happened so fast that my adrenaline didn't kick in at all! Still, I'd rather not repeat that.

The fang of the road gator!

A very nice commute this morning with the temp at 35 f degrees when I left the house. The sky was partly cloudy so it was very pretty as I arrived at work and the light was hitting the clouds. I saw a bunch of turkeys on someone's lawn this morning.

:thumb:

Good reflexes [MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION]. Kinda sounds like he deserved at least a smack to wake up and let him know he should look where he's going.

Clear, cool morning at about 35F. I'm enjoying the fall colors and crunching leaves on the MUP.

57 degrees.. nothing like shorts in November! Kinda windy but it was pushing me off and one, 20+ mph was the norm.

35F with a 30 mph headwind out of the north. Pretty chilly ride in. I certainly didn't break any speed records.

Found this on the MUP. Didn't see anyone in the vicinity. I'm assuming it got lifted and ridden to where the thief wanted to go, then abandoned. I posted a picture on our local bicycle group page in case someone is looking for it.
https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...39&oe=5AAF6D97

Yesterday was completely uneventful, but my layering was a bit off. Upper 30's in the morning, and I decided to take the e-bike, so I wore thin running tights with regular sweat pants over it, and then a base layer, long-sleeve t-shirt, and my Nashbar soft shell jacket. I was pretty comfortable. In the afternoon it got up to 65 around 3:30, but then started dropping fast. When I left I had on just the sweat pants and the long-sleeve tee, and I was feeling a little chilled. I stopped and started to put the soft shell jacket on, but figured that would be too hot, so I put on the sweater I wore at work during the day, over my t-shirt. It let just enough wind through it to be comfortable at ~55 degrees.

This morning was TOUGH! I was tired, lack of sleep, it was 15 degrees warmer (lower 50's) and so I was overdressed, and I had a headwind. The commute on the road bike took 21 minutes longer than on the e-bike yesterday. Wind should be in my favor this afternoon so hopefully it will be a little better.

42F, rain, headwind - yuck! At least rain and tailwind for the ride home is better

46F, still. Wet from 1.5" rain overnight. My son took off into the many hour long downpour to his school, it was down to a sprinkle when my daughter left ~15 minutes later, and stopped by the time I left a few minutes after that. Plenty of standing water to navigate, though.

Head wind!

I rode today for the first time this week.

There are lots of joggers on my route. This morning, there was a pregnant woman jogging and appeared to be going fast. You go, Girl!

A cyclist with a fancy road bike was examining his bike. I stopped to help. His chain was twisted, as if someone had taken two pairs of pliers, a foot apart and twisted. There was no way he was going to be able to ride or fix the chain. I told him in all my years as a shop mechanic, I've never seen that happen. He probably had a mis-shift and then pedaled hard.

Another view of the bridge with cairns in the foreground. There are three mallard ducks in the water. Two males swim close together, and one female swims parallel to the males.

https://ridewithgps.com/photos/3214111/large.jpg

The highway is above, the railroad is below. Sticking out of the river is a restaurant called La Marina which is at the end of Dyckman St.

https://ridewithgps.com/photos/3214110/large.jpg

Tomorrow would have been my first opportunity to ride in two weeks but the forecast is too wet for me. Looks likely I won't make 1000 miles this year.

What happened here is obvious to me, not sure why you can't see it...
THE RIDER WAS ABDUCTED BY ALIENS!!

Another clear, cold morning at about 35F. I haven't had to ride in below freezing yet this fall. It's supposed to be over 60 this afternoon, but at 5pm it drops pretty quickly as the sun goes down.

I passed a jogger and her dog on the MUP. The dog was a chocolate lab and it was very happy as it carried a log that would be a good addition to a campfire.

The forecast for yesterday afternoon called for a decent tailwind, but when I actually left the office there was almost no wind at all, so I didn't get as much help as I was hoping for. It rained in the early afternoon, and because it was overcast, the ambient light dropped off much quicker in the 4 PM hour than if it had been a clear sky. By the halfway point, it was straight up dark and drizzle was starting. It drizzled the rest of the way home, which felt sort of refreshing.

Oh and my front light was nearly dead, with wet streets. Not good. I am reminded once again that daily light charging is a must this time of year. I tried to go 2 days on one charge, but the light wasn't having it.

32F and very wet from yesterday's rain with lots of leaves on the trail. Frozen leaves are scary. My doctor says I shouldn't ride below 45 degrees because of recently discovered breathing issues. So I negotiated - below 45 i'd wear something over my mouth. He didn't agree but I don't care... except I hate having my nose and mouth covered, drives me nuts. I'm going back and forth between a merino buff and neoprene face mask - they both suck. Suggestions are welcome but I'm sure they will suck too!

I was too tired to ride home yesterday, so I left my bike at the office and took the subway home. I took the subway back to work today, of course. Well, I could have taken a bike, but then I would have THREE bikes in the office, and I don't want that many.

I'll ride home today, inshallah.