noglider 

I have a few things in common with yall including @PatrickGSR94.

I had a banner month last month, at almost 600 miles, and I'm also commuting by bike more than before, which has been a goal. Right now, my log shows 2,491 miles for the year, and my goal for the year has been 2,500 miles. I'm going to exceed that for the day, so I could quit for the year if I wanted to.

I had several run-ins yesterday, too. A woman cut me off by crossing the bike lane and pulling into a parking garage. I normally wouldn't do or say anything, but I did this time. I asked her to look before turning. She apologized profusely and told me many times that she hoped I have a blessed day, so what else could I say? I said I wish the same for her.

I rode home on 5th Ave which is pretty crazy at rush hour. I was on the way to the blood center so I could donate platelets. Several taxi drivers honked at me furiously from behind. One of them tried to push me out of my lane by getting increasingly close as we went at nearly the same speed. I yelled NOT SO CLOSE NOT SO CLOSE, and he kinda-sorta backed off and didn't acknowledge my presence with a head turn. OK fine, that's life.

The blood center had plenty of drama, too! A first-time donor threw up after her donation, in front of everyone in the waiting room. We all sympathized, though she was embarrassed. The waiting room was unusually packed. I wonder if the Las Vegas disaster made people want to help. Three of the four platelet machines broke down, and there were several of us waiting to donate platelets. They can take whole blood instead, but I had donated whole blood only two weeks earlier, so I didn't qualify to give another whole blood donation. The guy ahead of me who was queued for platelets volunteered to donate whole blood so that I could donate platelets. We made the swap for everyone else's benefit. The guy on the table next to mine was in pain and complained. Some pain is a risk we donors take, but I also understand his point of view. Normally, these visits aren't nearly so eventful.

They say we shouldn't exercise after donating, but I rode my bike home, as I usually do. I've never suffered.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah the crowds at the blood center were absolutely because of the Vegas tragedy.

Rode the road bike home yesterday, which was pretty uneventful. At one spot where I prepare to turn left and motorists often have to wait behind me for a few seconds, there was actually a back-up of traffic due to paving operations ahead. Traffic and construction definitely holds up traffic more than a cyclist.

Took the e-bike today. One guy passed me in the 2nd lane on a 5-lane arterial, going WAY over the speed limit. I had forgotten to change batteries and delete video files off my GoPro last night, so I didn't catch him doing it. Other than that uneventful, save for an AMAZING sunrise this morning!

*edit* what the heck happened to Attachment settings? The file types allowed have to be TINY to upload anything!

groovestew

Just above freezing, clear and calm.

A driver passed me and then turned immediately turned right...I guess that would have been a right hook, but I was turning there anyway as well. It's an intersection where 99% of vehicles make a right turn, so I suppose it was a safe assumption by the driver that I would be turning there, but I was still a bit irritated that she didn't stay behind me until after the turn.

timvan_78

Forgot gloves and had cold hands this morning!! The post-commute shower water felt like lava. I wont forget again.

PatrickGSR94

Uneventful e-bike commute this afternoon, except for one bone-head pass with oncoming traffic. Oh well.

As soon as I pulled up into my driveway I heard a hissing sound. First puncture ever on these Schwalbe Big Apple 2.15" tires, with over 2,000 miles on them. I'm sort of disappointed that I couldn't find what caused it. Whatever it was, was super small, not visible on the tire, not the inside or outside, and only the tiniest hole in the tube. But it was flat within a matter of minutes after getting home.

Thank goodness it wasn't out on the road. It was the rear tire (as it ALWAYS is. Every. Single. Time.), and with a 60+ pound bike, rear rack, permanent rear fender, and disc brake, it's very hard to get the rear wheel out and back in. I put a proper patch on the tube with a Rema patch and rubber cement, so it should be good now.

PatrickGSR94

haha I know that feeling when I get to work with frozen toes. Ouch!

On the other hand I just got a haircut this week (my usual #2 blade shaved) and the warm shower on my head felt heavenly!

essiemyra

I leave the house at 5:20 am and earlier if need be. I prefer if I must ride in the dark that it be in the am when no one else is really around. If I push my hours of work later then I get out later in the day. I do not want to be on the road in the dark with people just getting out of work, needing to catch up on the texting, making life plans, basically not paying a bit of attention to the road.

A very nice commute this am with the temp at 51 f degrees. I saw a rabbit at the edge of the road run back to safety, good for you buddy, I thought.

mgw4jc

One neighborhood I go through as short structures in the median to do the same thing. And cars will either do the same and accelerate to get by me or sometimes just go around on the other side of the median if there is not an oncoming car. I prefer the speed humps or tables as I don't even have to slow for those.

My theory is that the rear tire is more likely to puncture simply because it bears more weight. A small rock may not pierce the front tire, but the additional pressure on the back can force it through.

Slightly warmer this morning at 56F, so just short sleeves, but I did wear lightweight gloves. Friday traffic is usually a bit lighter, so that's good.

jrickards

Coldest morning to date as far as I can recall, 3C/37F but clear and sunny. I wore a Buff folded as a beanie (https://packpaddle.com/wp-content/upl...tifunction.jpg), light gloves, light merino baselayer shirt under a short-sleeved jersey and thick long-sleeved jersey over top. I ended up being too hot by the time I got to the coffee shop for a Pumpkin Spice muffin and an Americano so I stuffed the thick jersey in my pannier and was fine for the rest of the ride with just the baselayer and short-sleeved jersey (and Buff beanie and gloves). I wore shorts, no tights and I was comfortable on the legs too.

To the Canadians out there, Happy Thanksgiving Weekend, and to the rest of you, ha ha, you go to work on Monday, LOL (but have a great weekend anyway).

PatrickGSR94

Yeah that's probably true. It's just super annoying. I suppose I could have just fixed it without removing the wheel: just pulling one side of the tire off the rim, pulling the tube out while still in the rear triangle, and patching the tiny hole. But that probably would have been even more trouble since I have so little access around the rear tire with the rack and fender in place.

Tundra_Man 

Forecast for today was rain, and they hit this one right on the nose. When it was time to leave the house it was pouring, with thunder and lightning. The cat was a little freaked out by it all and was running around the house looking out the windows. I considered working from home, but at the moment I'm working on a project where I'm interacting with hardware and I need to have physical access to the equipment. I (very) briefly considered driving, but today would be consecutive commute number 383 and that seemed like a weird number at which to stop. So I decided, "It's just water" and rode.

It was just water. A lot of water. Like cars having their windshield wipers on high and still can't see water. By the time I rode the four miles to the client's office there wasn't a single part of me that wasn't soaking wet. My "rain resistant" jacket could only slow the deluge. Every finger in my gloves had a pool of water in the bottom. It felt like I had buckets of ice water instead of shoes.

Thankfully my Ortlieb panniers are completely waterproof so when I arrived I just toweled off and changed into my dry work clothes.

In retrospect, it really is just water. Wasn't a big deal at all in the grand scheme of things.

PatrickGSR94

Anyone else get to see that awesome full moon/moon setting this morning?? I don't think I've ever seen a full moon that bright, that late into the morning hours, 6AM to 7AM and after.

59°F this morning. Used a wind breaker for the first half of the commute, then removed it. Took my road bike for the 2nd time this week, which I believe makes the first time I've commuted twice on the road bike in one week, since I built the e-bike in March (I used to commute twice a week, always on the road bike). This also marks the 2nd week in a row with FOUR commutes for the week!

And the sunrises, man they've been amazing.

Yesterday's sunrise:


This morning's full moon, almost perfectly due west, opposite the rising sun:

wphamilton

That, plus the rear wheel will track over stuff that you dodged with the front.

50's is long-sleeve weather down here. Lots of cyclists are even wearing jackets the last week or two.

pdlamb

Haven't gone to long sleeves for the commute yet, I'm just too stubborn to give up on summer. (This is despite going to long sleeves for the cool office a week and a half ago!) But I was thinking about something a bit warmer when I got over 10 mph this morning. Fortunately the sun came over the ridge and things warmed up ever so slightly.



Nyah, nyah, Columbus Day is Monday way down south of the (Canadian) border!

jrickards

Hah! Got me, didn't know that.

Then have a Happy Columbus Day!!

HardyWeinberg

45F, partly cloudy

noglider 

It has occurred to me this week that if I had video cameras on my bike and I shared my ride with you folks, you would be shocked and distressed with how crazy life on a bike is here. It's invigorating because it requires so much mental acuity and alertness. Yet I see lots of new kinds of people bike commuting here. Three years ago, there was a big wave of fat people on bikes, and they look great. Then came the old people who tough it out, and they look great, too. Now I'm starting to see kids, sometimes with parents, sometimes not. There are men and women who could be magazine fashion models riding all kinds of bikes elegantly. There are working class people of all kinds of professions. It's becoming a microcosm of New York City, hardly a niche segment.

phx1973

About 65 degrees and clear this morning. I'd call that near perfect. Decided to stick to one gear today and see how that felt, both workout-wise, and also what difference I would have in speed. I ride a Kona Dew hybrid with a rear rack. Anyway, it was my fastest commute of the year, but also one of my best workouts lately. Bloomington is pretty hilly, so I spent a lot of time standing up to get through the hills in the same gear. I guess you could say I was practicing while considering going SS for my next commuter. I was a sweaty mess when I got to work. I work on a college campus and our office building is actually a former hotel that was purchased by the university many years ago. So I actually have a bathroom/shower connected to my office, which is great. After 3 years on the job, I used that shower for the very first time today. May start doing that more often so I can get a good workout on the ride in.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1217644181

liampboyle

I've still been commuting daily, just haven't been posting because things in life have been a bit chaotic lately.

Anyway for the last couple of commutes:

Yesterday to work - So my Gear S2 stopped capturing my location while cycling. While there has got to be a setting somewhere to fix this, I haven't found it yet. So I'm recording rides with Strava directly and wishing I had a phone mount for the Trek.

Anyway, as I'm riding in that morning I start rolling up to a three way stop. I have a large pickup truck behind me, the turn is to my left so even a turning vehicle would be moving away from me, and there's another pickup stopped at the intersection going the opposite direction. Not wanting to be the hood ornament on an F-150 I pull an "Idaho stop" and roll through the stop sign so I can get out of the way of the larger vehicles. Of course, the guy going the opposite direction takes offense and shouts at me, whatever.

A bit further up on my commute I'm on the right side of the straight lane and outside of the right turn lane, and I'm traveling straight. So the guy in a jag coming up from behind me in the right turn lane decides he needs to honk at me for being in his way even though I'm not even in his lane.

Yesterday home from work - You haven't lived until you ridden across an intersection with a six lane stroad with multiple bags of groceries hanging off of you handlebars. I am accepting donations of a rear luggage rack and panniers.

This morning on the way in was quiet except for a suicidal (possibly homicidal) squirrel who ran right in front of me at one point causing me to have to hit the brakes a bit hard.

Also, as the weather has been cooling down, and I've been riding in my work clothes not cycling gear, I've noticed I seem to get less flak from drivers the less I look like a "cyclist." Has anybody else noticed a similar effect?

Tomodachi

Looks like some sweet pictures commutes here.

mgw4jc

Leftovers of Hurricane Nate brought us some tropical weather - humid and 75F this morning. We had a good bit of rain overnight, but it was mostly done by this morning. There is still a 20% chance of rain all day. I rode to the gym for some weight training before work. Another regular there asked how my ride was this morning. I said, "I got 20% wet." He laughed.

Skipjacks

My commute was quick and easy in my car this morning as what's left of Hurricane Nate is dropping an absolute deluge of rain on my area.

Seemed like a good day to take the car. (A canoe was a half rational alternative today)

I still got soaked just walking in from the parking lot. Can't imagine how miserable this ride would have been on a bike. But I've got a buddy who rides rain or shine every day. I'll either gets a message from him later with a lot of profanity laced tirades about how miserable the rain was....or find out he called out of work 'sick'. hahaha

liampboyle

It was about 69F damp, and misty. It rained all day yesterday (still 20% chance today), so the roads were still very wet, and my T-shirt now has the "I ride without fenders" skunk strip on the back. Had to stop a couple times to wipe the eye glasses, and I was running the blinkies front and rear (I pretty much always run the taillight on blink mode, but not always the headlight) for the whole ride. Other than that, this morning was pretty uneventful. Kids are off school today so that limited traffic a bit.

Tundra_Man 

Got up early this morning to put some extra miles on the bicycle on the way to work. I realized it had been early July since I'd gone for a ride for any purpose other than commuting, so I figured I'd better make use of the weather before winter arrives.

51°F with a steady north wind. I wisely headed straight into it for the first nine miles, then turned around had had it push me nine more to work. A local cycling group is doing a contest this month inviting people to post pictures of their bike in the dark with lights. I figured as long as I was out early, I'd kill two birds with one stone and snap a few photos for the contest:

HardyWeinberg

33F, pea soup fog, and I was feeling really sluggish the whole way. Usually am at my most fired up on Mondays. Could have just been the temp I suppose.