A very nice commute in this morning with a light mist and the temp at 51 f degrees. I could smell some of the lilac bushes this morning. A nice way to start my day!

Since the forecast was for temps close to 50 in the morning, with hardly any wind (which is true for most mornings, for some reason) I decided to ditch the leg and arm warmers. I still used full finger gloves and wool socks though. I was a little cold but never uncomfortably cold.
My return trips are always into the wind for some reason. 10-12 mph winds coming from SSE or ESE while I head south. Well, more workout for the legs, I guess!

Glad to see you're getting back out. You jumped back into the forum just after some e-bike bashing. But don't worry, most of them just don't like being passed by them.

Do both! Commute can just be the warm up. I often run in the morning before I commute to work. It's a nice cool down recovery ride in.

A very nice morning here for riding. I left early enough to fit 15 miles in on the way to work. I was glad the MUP was mostly deserted so I could hop off and admire a couple of trees for a moment.

Weather was absolutely gorgeous when I got on the bike yesterday afternoon. If there's such a thing as a perfect temperature, this was it. And it was sunny, no wind... mmmm.

Stopped at a traffic light a little shy of half way home (so, about 2.5 miles into the ride) I saw another cyclist in my mirror. Looked like a roadie. In fact I think he was the first recreational cyclist I've seen on my commute this year. So when the light went green I cranked it up and left him far behind. But over the next mile he gradually crept up on me, and then the hill got steeper and I find I'm doing a much more intense power burst than I'd ever intended. But I wasn't going to quit yet, dripping sweat, breathing as fast as I could, started feeling tingly all over my legs and chest, kept up that insane pace for almost another mile until ... oh, nuts to this. I let him pass me. Why do I do this to myself? I don't get it.

Nice late spring ride today, sunny and warm. It's taking a while to cool down and dry off, since it's about the same temperature outside as inside; this afternoon is going to be hot.

Pulling into the parking lot, I noticed a mama killdeer running in the gutter with one of her chicks. I doubt the little one would top my 6" scale, but it was moving pretty good. At the risk of sounding girly, it was SO CUTE! I hope the mother can keep the little one out of traffic. Some of the Canada geese have already hatched, too. They foul the place up, I hope wild dogs and cars can thin that flock. Who says I have to be consistent?

Why bother? When it tops 60-65F, I find a jacket just makes me hot and wet with sweat, instead of comfortable and wet with rain.

50F, raining

[MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION], I do that, too, sometimes, and I don't know why, either.

I haven't ridden in a week! I was away for five nights in Georgia and Florida and didn't get a chance to ride at all. I popped into work yesterday afternoon even though it was still a vacation day, because we have some systems giving problems, and I'm responsible for them. I should have taken my lock home from the bike rack at work, because I had a doctor's appointment this morning. Since I didn't, I had to take the subway instead of riding my bike today. Oh well, tomorrow I can ride.

It's some kind of a glitch on the XY operating system.

You bet. The only time I see women racing is when they're racing.

Got in the elevator to ride up to the gym to shower/change. Coworker looks at my backpack/helmet/clothes and says "Wow. Looks like you're really taking this Bike Month thing seriously."

You're probably right, but living for so long in the PNW, I'm only half-kidding when I say that I only feel comfortable when I have a water-repellant jacket handy at all times. I figure the flexibility of having the jacket will be useful. Showers can lower the temp 10+ degrees F like it did yesterday, and I'd rather be soaked and toasty under a shell than soaked and cold in too-light gear more suitable for warmer and dry conditions.

GCN says having a rider behind you will make you an average of 4% faster. Think of it as a good excuse to push and get stronger. It's hard to tell how many commuters want to do that versus settle for a comfortable speed that they maintain so they get into work looking relatively neat, but sounds like we're more the former. My nature has me pushing to go faster every time I'm on the road. Even when I set out making a mental note that I can take it easy if I'm not feeling 100%, once I'm out there, that goes out the ears and I just go for it.

I have the same tool and also think its worth having. I have to get better at using it though. I watched a guy in the shop use one and he did a lot of little bends all around the wheel. On the hanger on the Ridley, I have to be careful to not crossthread. Or at least it feels like its going to do that...

Sorry to hear that. Maybe you can sneek 30 min on a mag trainer now and then until she heals up?

Third straight day of nice weather in a row. That's unusual.

Just had another ebike run-in last night. Was starting to head over the bridge, when I notice a guy coming up quickly behind me (and crossing over into the oncoming bike lane to pass another rider, in a spot that is VERY bad for that kind of move). As I keep going on the uphill, I look back again and see that he is pretty close behind me, barely pedaling, bolt upright and not looking particularly like a rider making an effort. So I try to wave him by but he doesn't do anything, just sitting right behind me. Eventually, when the bridge flattens out at mid span, I sit up and slow down a little, waving him by again with my left hand. Sure enough the doughnut hits the gas (or whatever you would call it), and decides to squeeze past me on the right.

So of course I decide to say to him that if he is going to ride that thing on the path, he needs to know what he is doing otherwise he is going to kill somebody (hyperbole, yes). Naturally he takes offense to this, and starts asking me what my problem is, and saying random nonsense like, "now I'm your problem." When the bridge started to go downhill, though, he dropped pretty far off behind me, so I'm thinking it must have been governed to 20mph or something, and that was the end of it. Just another clown.

Ha, I'm the same way sometimes. If I'm going someplace just a few blocks away after work, I get there thinking, "what a tease." Or sometimes I ride farther to meet my GF, and I have to try and go super slow so that I'm not all sweaty (rarely works though, see below...)

Exactly! Sometimes I'll keep telling myself before a commute/ride, 'just take it easy, you aren't in a hurry and you need to save your energy...' Yet I always end up pushing at least a little bit. Just last night was headed to a soccer game that I knew would be pretty intense, so I wanted to stress my legs as little as possible. Didn't happen.

I'm not sure if the frenetic nature of NY streets has anything to do with it. No matter what the situation, there are always countless cars whizzing by you at some point, making you feel slow.

I'm sure you'll love it especially when you have a wife who worries too much and keeps beeping your phone while you're on travel. Well, I must say that this had help me so much, It'd be less hassle for me to check my phone texts/calls from her. Instead, the device itself will notify her where I am currently.

Keeping busy, eh? Don't forget about Mother's Day this Sunday. I bought my wife some flowers and a card from the local Whole Paycheck store yesterday. Then we went out to a local bar/restaurant with my son for dinner. I needed to do this early since we're going to Vermont to see some old friends this weekend. Hope you your wife's Mother's Day is good and pain free.

It was a good ride into work this morning. It was ~61F so wore the knee covers and long sleeve baselayer. I felt good and was keeping up with a truck going down Broadway. Also had a nice spin up Harlem Meer hill and got pretty winded afterward. Happy Friday to y'all!

I finally got to ride a bike today, after a week. I couldn't ride my bike, because I'm not going back to the apartment tonight, so I took Citi Bike. I got a bike with a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub, and 2nd gear is too low, and 3rd gear is too high. At 40 St, there is a station on the river path, so I docked the bike so I could trade up. The system seems to enforce a wait of a minute or two after docking, so I took this picture from the pier. I got a bike with the NuVinci hub that has a continuously variable ratio which is much nicer. When I ride with this hub, I'm constantly adjusting it. It's both fun and useful to keep my cadence roughly the same while adjusting the ratio. My average moving speed overall was 10.5 mph which is slow because the Citi Bike bikes are 50-lb tanks, but really, given the bike and the headwind, that's pretty good time. I'm sitting at my desk letting the sweat dry off me.

Interesting day so far...

Started with lots of rain during the night. We wound up getting about 1.25 inches, which isn't that much. However, with all the snow we got in April things were already pretty saturated. I have two sump holes. One is always bone dry, the other keeps a little water in it but the pump never runs. During the night I woke up to hear this odd humming sound. Then I realized it was my sump pump emptying out the hole. This morning I looked and they both have water in them.

Most of the rain had passed by the time I left the house. A light drizzle was coming down the whole ride to work, but not enough to really get me wet. The river was pretty high. It had been near flood stage after the late snow melt. With last night's rain there were some low areas where it was overflowing the banks. In a couple spots the river came right up against the MUP, but I never had to ride through any of it.

Then, 1/4 mile from the client's office I'm coming down a street going about 18 in a 20 mph zone. I was 1/2 block from an intersection where a bunch of cars were stopped for a light when suddenly this guy in an old SUV tries to aggressively pull around and beat me to the light. I was already taking the lane, so as he pulled next to me he was close. Close enough that I easily placed three fingers on his passenger window and hollered, "Three foot law, guy!" He added a finger in response and screamed for me to do something biologically impossible.

About that time the light changed right as we were arriving at the intersection, at which point a new right lane formed. I was still moving about 15 mph, but I saw the new right lane was empty so I pulled into it to let this clown go by. Instead, he slowed down and changed lanes, then gunned the accelerator to come at me. I was watching in my mirror to see if he was actually going to try and hit me so I could attempt evasive action. Instead he changed lanes and close passed me again. Then he sped through the next red light, I'm assuming so he wouldn't have to deal with me at the intersection.

I had a pretty good adrenaline rush from the altercation. Thankfully it's extremely rare that I ever have a problem like this with a motorist. After calming down and reflecting on the situation I decided that the guy was probably having a bad day, and he was likely going to rage at someone before he got where he was going. I just happened to be the unlucky recipient.

When I left the house it was 57F. Within a few minutes (with the sun up) it was in the low 60's - I overdressed! There's something about that "5" that makes me think "cool." and it's a little embarrassing considering I've been doing this a long time. Oh well, I'm resigned to not learning!

[MENTION=175954]Tundra_Man[/MENTION], glad to see you're here to post after a run-in like that.

The only "incident" on my ride was running across "my" mechanic. He was on his way from his early morning job to the bike shop, so I rode with him for a few blocks.

Pretty warm, starting at 68F. I thought I saw some sweet shrub blooming, but didn't smell anything. Later on a narrower road, yep, it's sweet shrub! There's a dome of intense, sweet smell about 50' around each bush. The wider road must have enough traffic to dissipate the odor.

Sure, and always someone going "full gas" on an e-bike "just because they can."

Wednesday was mildly eventful; riding in, I felt so slow, I got off to see if the wheels spun freely (as one does) and for the first time like ever in my history of double-checking that, the rear wheel was genuinely bound up w/ flower petals gumming up the entire fender/tire space. In the process of scrubbing plant material from the fender, I found out it had loosened at the chainstay bridge attachment point. I pushed it up and continued on. At departure time, found my rear wheel flat, so with more incentive to remove the rear wheel I finally tightened the fender into the right position.

Today, 48F and gray.