mgw4jc

Forgot to mention that my headlight died yesterday and I had to use a small headlamp I have for running. Not so great but got me to the gym.

I thought it was just the battery, but when I plugged the headlight in it showed full charge which I knew wasn't right. I unplugged it and it still wouldn't turn on. Last night I took it apart to see if possibly a connection was loose or some moisture had gotten in. Nope and nope. I looked up the purchase date - November 2014 - and realized the battery just couldn't hold a charge anymore.

Researched a bit. $20 for a new Li-Ion battery. Also noted that my tail-light was purchased at the same time, so figured it won't last much longer. It was a Cygolite Streak 280, so not super bright but okay for me. Checking Amazon, I found a Cygolite 700 plus rear light for same price I paid 4.5 years ago for the 280. Skipped the battery. New lights will be here tomorrow.

Meanwhile, it isn't that dark when I leave at 7am, but with an overcast morning, I wanted something. I had one of those batteries you can charge up simply to take with you and recharge your phone if no plug is available. Figured why not try it. I zip-tied it on, wrapped the wire around a bit, and off I went. Picture below is after I got to office and unplugged the battery. I stuck the plug in my Garmin watch mount to keep it from flapping about.


It kind of flickered a bit, but not like it was in strobe mode. More like a light sensitive night light that flickers because its own light makes it think it should be off and gets caught in an infinite loop.

arsprod 

@mgw4jc Nice Magyver'ing! I haven't needed a headlight in the mornings for over a week now - odd how freeing that is. Haven't been able to ride in shorts in the morning yet but yesterday was shorts and no gloves, almost 70. I like it!

OhLylo

Mon PM: 85F and windy. This was probably my worst ride since I started commuting. I'm doing the low carb thing and I bonked - hard. By the time I got home I was just flat exhausted and I still feel it this morning. My HR data showed this was a tough effort. I've only ever felt that crappy after marathons and stuff, not after 10 mile rides home from work.

Tue AM: 59F and windy. Yesterday's stiff headwind is this morning's tailwind, a much-needed boost. I was slow getting going today and I'm still feeling it from yesterday, but once I got moving it wasn't bad. And I'm leaving work early, which is nice. It's supposed to be quite windy this afternoon, 20+ knots sustained, so I'm hoping I don't bonk again.

Darth Lefty 

Today is six weeks post-op. Things are looking good! I realized on Friday or Saturday that I no longer feel wounded, just sore. Yesterday I took the first ride since surgery on my trike, about five miles along nearby Lake Natoma. Riding the trike is no problem at all, zero stress on the chest. Last week I had an echocardiogram and yesterday the doctor called with a follow-up. My gradient - the pressure drop caused by the blood flow stalling around my extra heart tissue, which caused chest pain due to insufficient blood to my coronaries - is down to where it's hard to measure. Mitral valve regurgitation (previously caused by the pressure drop holding the valve open) has been reduced from bad, to the high side of normal. I told my employer I plan to return to work on Monday the 15th. So this, I think, will be my last weekly update on my progress. There's likely to be one more hiccup because my defibrillator is due for replacement, but that's just an overnight inconvenience. I'll report in again in the autumn when I'm able to get back on a regular bike. Other than that, ride reports resuming as normal.

HardyWeinberg

47F, clammy, in between thunderstorm squalls

phile

been 2 days now where i've been riding comfortable at a higher gear than i usually ride, in fact my usual gear is currently too slow. wondering if i'm getting stronger or if have had 2 really good riding days in a row.

SylvainG

How was my commute today? What commute?!!! It snowed 5 cm and my commute is 20 km so I took the stupid car and was stuck in traffic. That's how my commute went today Won't thaw until later tomorrow afternoon therefore the roads are going to be a mess tomorrow morning so I'm going to be stuck to use my car again tomorrow Can't wait for this frigging Winter to be over! Common, it's APRIL ALREADY! STOP IT WITH THAT COLD WEATHER AND GIVE US A SPRING!

phile

so i did something dumb.

i usually have 3 bungee cords on rear bike rack, 2 of them from rack to saddle loops and a third oen that i tend to use as extra support for whatever is on rack. i did not pay attention as to how i left that 3rd bungee cord yester and just took off. less than a minute i i stop cause of weird noise and realize bungee cord got caught by rear wheel.

turns out it somehow got caaught twisted itself around the shaft(?) of rear wheel. had to first muscle it out from teh twist and then untwist the metal hook in order to get it off. bike seems to be ok it wrapped itself around a rubber bushing on the rear wheel but that seemed to be ok afterwards.

mgw4jc

Good morning ride. I left a little early and managed 15 miles total. Took a MUP that still has a lot of drainage from Monday's rains. A bit messy through there.

Tundra_Man 

Today marks four weeks since the last bomb cyclone hit, and our river is still above flood stage and there are still low areas underwater. We're now getting another bomb cyclone to add additional moisture on top of everything.

Lots of rain and thunderstorms that started during the night. The rain is expected to continue through the day, change over to ice (some models project up to 3/4") and then change over to snow for tomorrow (most models predicting in the 12" range.) Winds today are in the 35 mph range, and projected to reach 50 mph. As tough as the riding is today, I think tomorrow's commute is going to be a real challenge.

Got up early this morning because we had our monthly bicycle commuter breakfast scheduled at 6:30. My alarm was set for 5 AM, but we lost power at 4:55 and my wife noticed so she woke me up. Thankfully by 5:10 the power was back on.

I got on my bike and left the house. It was 34F. As I started down the street, through the beam of the headlight I could see larger chunks of moisture falling. It appeared to be ice. I decided to turn around and switch to the winter bike so if we do get any ice accumulation I'll have the studded tires to help get me home.

Rode to the breakfast. The strong wind was at my back and gave me quite the push. Even on the winter bike I was able to move at a pretty good clip. In fact the push was so strong that it was difficult to enjoy it, knowing I'd be fighting that same wind (or worse) when I went the opposite direction on my way back home at 5 PM.

Only two of us showed up at the breakfast. While we were eating and chatting it started to hail. After it had finished I went out to my bike to finish the ride to work and my bar mitts had chunks of hail that had collected in the bottom of them.

I think the rest of this week is going to be a commuting adventure.

Notso_fastLane

Finally got a few days in a row of weather that I could commute in. Very rainy and wet yesterday, but tolerable with the right gear.

This morning....more snow. :/ So back in the car.

pdlamb

Nice ride this morning, clear, cool, sunny, and calm. Dogwoods are beautiful and the azaleas are coming out.

I had to wait for a sheriff running full code at a stop sign this morning. Unusual, since he was heading out of town with lights and sirens going full bore on a surface street with a parallel, limited access road a quarter mile away.. Usually the city cops only run their sirens near traffic lights, and the county mounties drive quietly out of town.

Phamilton

That's terrifying. I have nightmares about my bungees coming loose. I installed p-clamps over where the rack stays are mounted at the chainstays and hook my bungee ends there to keep them secure when little/nothing is on my rack.

Phamilton

Unusual morning headwind 15mph from the NE. Tomorrow's winds are forecast as E20 gusting 30 and similar on Friday but from SW and with rain. I may not be commuting tomorrow/Friday. Not because the rain, because the wind. It seems like the winds are always 5-10 higher than forecast out in the open country after I'm outside city limits. Yesterday's pm commute had winds SW 20 gusting 35. I'm not a strong rider so those big gusts nearly stop me in my tracks and/or blow me over. I don't like when I can hear the wind howling through my spokes. This is all whining, though. No below freezing temps in the forecast, I can still be pleased with that!

OhLylo

Totally agree, even in the burbs. Work is in wide open area, and then I transition into more urban areas as I commute. The winds are way worse in the wide open flat areas than when I get into places where there are more buildings to break it up. We had similar winds here yesterday and it was wretched. +15 minutes to my commute over 10.5 miles. Ugh. I'm having an IBD flare so I stayed home today, but the forecast was for similar winds today so I'm grateful for the reprieve in that sense.

noglider 

I still don't have a job to commute to. Still searching.

Last night, I had my weekly singing rehearsal. I've fallen in love with my track racing bike. I built it and raced it in summer of 2014 and hadn't ridden it since then, until now. It gives a harsh ride with those 22mm tires and everything else. But it's fun. I would have thought that the gear ratio would be hard to deal with, but it isn't. I'm running 46/15, which is an 83-inch gear. It takes a minute to get up to speed, but it's not hard, and I don't feel like I'm wrecking my knees. I think I have a preferred cadence without being conscious of it. I never measure it. And since I'm geared high, I spin up to it and ride faster than normal. My normal speed in traffic is 12 mph, and a lot of that is because of lights and hazards. But last night, I averaged 14.6 mph on the way out in daylight and 14.1 mph on the way back in the dark. Wow, that's a big difference. It did seem there was a big margin of speed between me and everyone else, but I didn't feel a bigger effort. The bike is light, of course.

I have a front brake on it, because I'm not crazy, so I can brake as well as everyone else.

phile

i just didnt pay attention and was wearing backpack this morning as an added layer since it was a bit cold. usually put it on rack

wphamilton

I don't know what it is about it but my fixed gear handles most of my commutes for the last few years. Mine is nowhere near racing level though.

mgw4jc

Wow @Tundra_Man! You're getting some rough weather for sure. Hope it doesn't turn out too bad.

Easy weather here. Had to leave a bit later than normal this morning, but made good time and got to work on time. Somehow managed to average 17mph. Normal is closer to 15.

The new headlight and taillight came in last night. Charged them up and ready to go. Didn't need the headlight this morning, but turned it on in the house and can tell it is brighter than old one.

I'm off work tomorrow to get my remaining 3 wisdom teeth pulled. May even take Monday off too, but mostly just so I can watch the Boston Marathon on TV. I have several friends running it and plan to track them too.

Skipjacks

It was 45 on the ride in today and I felt like my face was going to freeze off.

Funny part is that when its' a 45 degree ride in February it feels like summer and is glorious. But 45 in April feels like the dawn of the next ice age.

pdlamb

Toasty this morning at 69F. Hard work fighting the headwind coming in, so I was sweating pretty hard. I need to dig up my summer clothes -- but it's probably still too early to put the winter clothes away. If I can keep the bike upright on the way home this afternoon, the tailwind should make for an awesome ride!

Have you ever had a bird chirping in time with your pedal cadence, or bike wheel revolutions? I had something like that with a pickup this morning. Truck was idling, and the valve lifters were clattering. When I first heard it I thought there was something wrong with my wheels, and it was getting worse (noisier) fast. As I passed it I could hear the rest of the engine noise, but it left me chuckling.

arsprod 

The winds have arrived, along with cooler temps. 45F this morning and 12-15mph crosswind. The 30+ winds are supposed to arrive by early afternoon and I thought about driving (I HATE winds). But they're going my way - directly out of the south for my ride north. Time to set the sail!

HardyWeinberg

47F, drizzle

Phamilton

37F and winds out of the east at 20 steady, gusting 40. It was misery except for the fact that I was riding a new (to me) bike, and recognizing that it'll be a tailwind on the way home.

oldgeezerjeff

About 45 degrees this morning, light east wind in my face, but only 3 - 6 MPH. I will have a nice 12-15 MPH east wind at my back going home. Looking forward to it. Trail Critter count: 6 bunnies, 0 skunks, 1 opossum (dead) 0 coyotes.