55F, rode to meeting elsewhere in the county, 13.5 miles it turns out, and I left some time and wound up getting here an hour early, so I am notifying you all before continuing to cool down and then reading the pre-meeting documents...

There was this one descent where I was twisting/turning downhill in the woods >30mph and no shoulder, not sure if I want to climb back up that hill going home later (w/o a shoulder to hide in)

edit> I took a different route home and a) longer stretch of no-shoulder with more traffic (albeit it wasn't vertical so I was going more like 15mph than 8...) and b) there was another 2 solid miles of wide shoulder filled edge to edge with broken glass, smashed up bottles, car collision remains... so I can't say I shouldn't have just sucked it up and reversed the way I went in the morning

Sounds like a blast! (except for the near-miss part...) Back in the 80s I lived in Brooklyn, and rode into Manhattan a couple of times.

Glad you're feeling stronger.

Congratulations on the MS! Like VP Biden said to Obama at the signing of the ACA - "it's a big f***ing deal!"

Congratulations Smaug1 on your daughter's graduation!

Rode with all three kids to grade school one last time. Nearly-12yo still griped about "having" to ride. Then he turned it into a race - so much for riding together - and made it there first.

I need a mountain bike.

I don't need a mountain bike, but I'd sure like to have one.

There's some road construction near the office on my usual route, and for safety and sanity reasons, I think it's best to avoid it. There's an alternate paved route that would add about 10 minutes to the ride (yay, more time to ride!?), or a dirt trail which reduces the usual distance by 25%, but takes almost as long anyway because it's rough, rutted dirt path, mostly uphill, and not great for riding on with low volume high pressure tires. I much prefer the dirt trail, actually, but I need a mountain bike.

Anyway, this was a one-off ride because the kids don't have school today so there's no drop-off duties. Today was my first outdoor bike ride of the year. I hadn't even taken the bike off its hook in the garage until this morning. Just pumped up the tires and away I went.

I spent a bit of time catching up with recent posts on this thread. Lots going on! Wishing you all the best as you navigate life's trials and tribulation. See you in July! (maybe sooner)

Yikes! Be careful! Fatal bike-electric scooter crash on the QBB.
https://bikesnobnyc.com/2026/05/29/b...e-they-lasted/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/n...smid=url-share

Finally rode to work yesterday after a few days. It felt great! 48F-52F with cloud cover made it just right for windbreaker and shorts. The main commuter was fast and comfortable and the trails were almost vacant.

It was one emergency after another at work. None of my creation, but it made for a chaotic, stressfull day, as projects I had planned on finishing yesterday kept getting interrupted and pushed back.

There was a birthday lunch for a former co-worker 2-miles from the office, and I was going to bike it, but due to the small parking lot, there was a car-pool, so I hitched a ride with them.

I ended up working an extra 2-hours, leaving at 7pm. I put my headlight on my bike, but didn;t need it, even when arriving home at 7:40p. I took the shorter, surface street route instead of the trails, but due to traffic, and two unexpected construction projects on "my" sidestreets it ended up being a little longer and a little bit frustrating. But over all the ride home helped dissapate the stress of the day.

I have a blood test this morning at the health fair my wife helped organize at her office, so I had to eat quickly when I got home in order to fast...and so no food or caffeine this morning. The last time I had my regularly scheduled bloodtest, I rode to it which seemed to elevate the prostate numbers. I did it again a couple weeks later and drove and all was fine. So that, plus the fact I'll be a t work a little late and need to hit the groud running made me decide to drive today.

But I will do my 20-mile loop this weekend since I read they have officially re-opened a highway underpass that I had to circumvent for a few months. The photos show it has been graded and gravelled so I am looking forward to using that as an excuse to bike it. I may even link it to another 20-mile loop...but we'll see how I feel and what time constraints I have.

50F low cloudcover ... as of yesterday evening was supposed to be cold and raining this morning, but it wasn't, so I took the road bike w/ no fenders, we'll see how it goes in the afternoon...

edit> oh, I edited my last post to show that when I thought I should change my route for different conditions, the alternate route was in fact worse, road-conditions-wise, there was, however, a 4 car pileup with pedestrian fatality on the route I didn't take, so that was good to not go anywhere near

It's a strange week for me. Monday and Wednesday were holidays, so no school. Tuesday was Field Day for almost all of the students, so no classes for me to teach, but I stayed behind to babysit those who were in the building.

Yesterday (Thursday) I was feeling too fatigued from my job even though I'd not really done any work. It's emotional stress. I notice teachers take mental health days as sick days, so I did that yesterday.

Today is Friday, the only day this week I'm teaching any classes. And I still feel like garbage. I feel like I might faint. And I do have a tendency to faint at mysterious moments. I have one more period to teach, so I'll warn my co-teacher, and I might sit down. I normally stand during classes.

Yesterday I had errands to do, and the weather was glorious. I had to visit my college to pick up a graduation ticket and my cap and gown. My last course for my masters degree (in the fall) was online so I haven't been on campus much. After picking up what I needed, I took a seat in one of the halls which is a little like a public lounge, and I watched the crowd go by. I really like being on the campus with everyone moving about and talking about their classes. I am going to miss it. I attended Hunter College as an undergrad from 1982 to 1987 and dropped out. I returned in 2019 and finished my BA and then got my masters there. So I have a lot of time there. I hope I can cook up reasons to be there again such as taking occasional courses. It was nice doing the bike commute between home and the college once again, especially with the absolutely perfect weather. It was about 70º (21ºC) and very sunny. There was a fierce crosswind going up, and it was effectively a headwind, but I didn't mind. And of course, going back, it was effectively a tailwind, and that was a lot of fun.

Of course I did see the story about the two people who died. People are calling for new laws but we don't need them. We need enforcement of the existing laws. I hope the mayor understands and takes action. He has shown he's in favor of promoting bike commuting, so we really need him to do this.