The last time I posted in this thread, it didn't occur to me that it was already the last time I'd be bike commuting from my present house. But there it is, we are moving. Not far, across the river. That route and all its variations are now past history for me. Move date is firming up to be July 3 and we will be frantically preparing to move until then. My first ride from the new house will come after July 4. The route is a lot shorter, 2.8 to 3.5 mi rather than 5.5-6. The dirt portion is ok, but it's mostly covered in DG for the dog walkers.

Due to circumstances within my control, I had a 5 mile, bike-only commute Monday and Tuesday, instead of driving for an hour+, and then hopping on the bike.

I have bemoaned the pain of my commute for years (and started adding the bike as part of it 2 years ago almost to the day as a stress-reliever), but experiencing what life could be like was a significant eye-opener. I have to start searching for a solution; move the homestead, or move the job. Each option has its pros and cons, so I am undecided which to pursue.


Meanwhile, I think I dropped a bearing when I re-greased my wheels (first time taking them apart), now have to find a source for a replacement...the wheel on the bike goes click, click, click...

:thumb:

Beautiful moon, very little traffic, and the lowest humidity for the day= good ride. I even got the shower situation figured out at work, so now I'm back in my usual spot.
I really have no excuse to not ride at least three times a week, but when that alarm goes off at 4:20 in the morning there's an evil voice that keeps telling me, "Nah, you'll do it tomorrow, just go back to sleep." I've gotta work at beating that into submission.

A good ride in this morning. This makes 2 weeks in a row of bike commuting all 5 days. Next week we have the 4th off, so max of 4 days. I won't mind the break.

I saw more cyclists out this morning than normal. I saw about 6 or 7 total, 6 or 7 more than normal. Mostly recreational riding I believe.
[MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION] - I'd love to see a typical commute video.

More like swam to work today, in 97% humidity. It's going to be almost 90 on the ride back home. Some slight tailwinds might help.
I am enjoying my new route, which is almost 19 miles one way. I do see more bikers on this route, so I know I am on one of the more popular roads :)

It's 81F, and it feels like 91F already, and that's where it's headed. The dog days of summer took a long time to arrive here, and they are here. I rode at a decidedly moderate pace. I didn't want to go slowly because I wanted a little cooling from wind, but I didn't want to go fast, because I didn't want to heat up. Unusually, there is no wind on the river today. It's somewhat common in the summer but not the other three seasons.

But it was a very pleasant and uneventful commute.

I look at the people as carefully as I can. I'm fascinated by demographic changes. I play a game in my head, gathering clues about people by the way they dress and comport themselves. I imagine their life stories from the tiny bits I can see. I like to see if trends are changing. There are lots of very well dressed people riding bikes. The number of over-55 people on bikes is increasing. And now this summer, I see children of various ages commuting on my route, some with their parents, some of the older ones are not.

[MENTION=366933]mgw4jc[/MENTION], maybe if I swing my phone mount back on my handlebars, I can point the camera forward. I won't be able to see the phone, but that's OK. I have no skill at video editing, and it's about a 35 minute ride. What's an easy way to condense that into a three or five minute video? And how do I dub my voice or music onto it? I have a Mac at home, and I understand the tools can do a decent job.

Supposed to be over 100F today with heat index and just realized I forgot to shave today. Hmm...

Whew... It was 111-degree heat-index for the ride home last night! Supposed to be the same today.

Oddly, that makes me feel better about the 105 heat index I'm facing this afternoon.

Was a good ride in this morning. The summer is here with 91F for the way home. It is supposed to go up for the weekend but I usually don't ride then. I actually won't be riding for all of next week since I'm on vacation! :thumb: I will be visiting my parents in Georgia. We'll plan day trips to Athens, Atlanta and maybe even Six Flags. Will see what's available. Also saw a page on canoeing near Atlanta called "Shoot the Hooch." Would be cool to get the wife and kid into a canoe for a few hours. We've never done that on the Delaware River water Gap (which is closer to us) yet. Have a good weekend y'all!

Starting Monday, my commute home will give me more exercise. The elevator in our apartment building will go under major renovations, and it won't be running again until the week of August 20. It's a six-story building, and some are dreading the burden. I live on the 4th floor, and lucky for me I'm a decent cyclist and good stairs climber. The stairs at home are the only stairs I don't normally take because they are steep and irregular, but I'll be taking them now.

A very nice uneventful commute in this am.

With Friday's ride home I hit 2,000 miles for the first half of the year. Much less than last year when I was closing in on 3,000 at the end of June.

Plenty warm today and all week it seems. Looking forward to a day off on Wednesday.

I recorded my ride like that one time with the phone mount. I have a Samsung and it has a way to record in a way similar to a time lapse video. It allowed me to compress my 48 minute ride into about 6 minutes. I think iPhones have something similar, but couldn't say what it is called. Otherwise you could just record for short sections at a time perhaps of the more interesting parts.

Nice n easy commute this morning. Except near the end of the commute to work where I hit a 1.2 mile section that rises 170 ft at a 3% grade. Last week, unknowingly I broke into the top 10 for that section. Now, I can't help but go all out when I reach that point. Bested my PR by 2 seconds there today.

Apart from that, I interrupted a staring contest between a squirrel and a rabbit. The squirrel was standing upright in the middle of the road and the rabbit was by the side of the road. Both had the same color so, probably they were wondering if they are related :roflmao:

Traffic was very light this morning, probably has something to do with July 4 and vacations. Easy ride in this morning, partly to recover from the weekend's rides and partly to try to keep from melting. Clear and sunny, which seems to add 5-10 degrees to a summer ride. And that was on a mid-70s base temperature with 90% RH. What can I say? Summer's here!

Let my leg rest last Friday after my little accident. Got back to it today, everything feels good little sore. Was bucking a headwind for most of the morning, so that was a workout. Hopefully the wind stays that direction so it's pushing me on the way home.

I noticed that as well. There were much fewer cars on the street than normal this morning.

It's hot again today, and the humidity is building. They say it will stay hot and humid through at least Wednesday. I rode at a moderate pace. I have a steep climb at the end, and I rode gently in my granny gear, which I don't usually use. I was still drenched by the time I got to my office. I rubbed witch hazel on myself and changed clothes. I'm lucky I have a private office with a door. Anyway, the ride was pleasant as usual.

I rode yesterday at the peak temperature in the afternoon. People thought I was nuts, but I was fine.

It was a hot 10 miles this morning and I took it easy. It'll be an even hotter ride home and I'll take it easy going home too even though that's the part where I usually ride hard.

I rode 50 on Saturday, started at around 7:30am, and was done by noon. I lost over 4 pounds. Sunday I just said fuggedaboudit and didn't leave the AC in the house.

I cut my ride short yesterday in the middle of the day, didn't want to push the acclimatization thing too fast, too soon.

I don't think I'm fully acclimated yet. After a ride in the sun, I come inside and I need a nap. But I'm fine while on the bike. I'm careful to drink tons of water.

We did a couple of really smart things this year. First of all, we didn't procrastinate with putting in the window air conditioners. Some summers, we don't put them in until late summer. Some years, we don't put them in at all. We just suffered. Not only are they in now, we have new ceiling fans. Man, the combination of both A/C and a ceiling fan is great. I run the A/C for a short time, and then I turn it off, and I have cool air blowing on me for hours.

I had a pretty uneventful ride today, and it was only a little too warm for me instead of way to hot to ride like it was for most of last week.

A very nice uneventful commute with warm temps.