xroader - I have no idea how you did that ride in only shorts and a short sleeve jersey. I left the house at 4am with tights and a UA long sleeve cold weather shirt under my jersey and I still thought about turning around for a jacket. I was also wearing gloves and a head band to cover my ears!

Tahnks for all the support guys, today I drove in, my lower back has been bothering me, but only off the bike (adaptation haha) I don't even feel bad about it, thats the first time I drove since last Tuesday...felt really weird!!! Also I hava an off and on sore throught just one spot, Allergier? or pulling the hydration pack to hard? or ? anyway I may take a day or even two off once in a while s I don't burn out, maybe hurry home tonight to catch up on sleep. I know at 200 miles a week i SHOULDN'T FEEL BAD FOR DRIVING ONCE IN A WHILE but to be honest I am now at work and don't feel like myself. Its a downward spiral, I even stopped and got fast food this morning, although I honestly suspect it's lack of sleep. When you get sleep deprived your body releases hormones that make you crave garbs etc to "make up the energy" somehow. I have read much about this but will look it up to quote source if there are strong doubters.
keep rolling, more later and thanks again!

Between commuting to work, losing stuff out of my rack top bag and finding other commuters' stuff, I cannot find a level piece of 3 mile road with no horrible doglegs or traffic lights in it. I have even gone far and wide of my commute but it looks like a lost case so far. :mad:

There's a lot of pressure on at work on me, so up early at sparrows fart and home when everybody else is curled up before the fire (assuming they had a fire). My lights and blinkies are getting a workout not to mention my legs.

Tomorrow I turn 46, so home a bit earlier. And Out early to post 'FOUND' posters for the dude who dropped his expensive looking cycling jacket on the path.

First commute
 

Bit the bullet and rode to work this morning. 20 miles took 1 hr. 30 min. Traffic was not too bad at 5 am but decided gloves and glasses are needed. My eyes teared up so bad I couldn't watch my fingers turn blue. Ride is from Hershey PA to New Cumberland PA. Bike is a '91 Diamondback apex that my neighbor gaveaway last week. Only had to buy a saddle and a light. Wish me luck for the ride home this pm!

Good luck! :)

Does that bike have knobby tires? If so, you should get some slicks asap. It will make a world of difference to your riding.

Tnxs Mars,
Yeah you're right. Slicks help. I had a set of 1.5 inch slicks from an old comfort bike that I replaced the knobbies with. I love the ride of the old rigid Apex. One of the guys at work saw me riding in and told me I would undoubtably be killed and wants to take out life insurance policy on me. I think he was half kidding but the last two miles are pretty traffic intense. I'm thinking of scouting out a side route to bypass the worst of it.

Riskun, just ride faster it will keep you warm.

Wonkemtel, I know what you mean about the car feeling really weird. Last night I took the car to get some new bike tires and at 40 mph it felt like I was not going that fast. I guess if I can't see the road moving under me it feels like I'm standing still. And with on wind in my hair it just did not feel right. I have not taken a car in about 3 weeks.

Jur, how long is the longest part of your commute (and safe) for a speed run. If you can get 3.2 km to 4km (2 to 2.5 miles) I could let you do it in a shorter run with no handicap.

Slabfoot, I had a Diamondback apex that some one through out. It was not that fast even after I put road tires on it. It come with a 22/32/44 Chainrings with a Rear Cogs 9-speed, 11 - 32 teeth. Which is for off road. If you change the Chainrings out for a 52/40 or 52/38 it while be a lot faster. But the frame is still to heavy to be a road racer. It would make a good fast commuter though.

Mars, you and I know that you can bet my record with the bent on a flat run. Just do the run on the 3 miles stretch and use a stopwatch. I'll take that run time from you. I did go over the whole bike and cleaned the drive train and re-lubed the whole thing. Along with the new gear I'm hopping to increase my TT run.

Well, have traveled a little for work, but am back on the bike.

Speed week, an interesting idea. I usually do my 20 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes. The only problem is that I ride the w&od and custis trail and have numerous street crossings. My tempo riding is 19-20 mph, with my strenuous efforts abput 27 mph. The few hills that I have to climb are at 15-17 mph.

My strength is not going fast over a short distnce but a long distance. Two weekends ago, did a 140 mile ride, Vienna-Paris-Vienna while stayiing in Virginia that had over 7K feet of climbing in 8 hours and 15 minutes, which included time for my stops for an average of 16.9 mph.

I commute from downtown Denver to Interlocken. 26.5 miles the long and safe route, 20 miles even if you throw in more road and one real bastard of a hill -- each way.

It's not such a bad deal given the multiple derivations you can make to keep things new.

The best commute I know of locally is a guy who does Denver to Golden. 16 miles each way via the short course -- but you can bomb the longer 30 mile nearly all downhill run along bike paths for fun.

So I did my 3mi time trial today, only to get home and re-read the rules. I forgot to start from a stop. I did just over 17mph each way today, so I'll try to match it from a stop tomorrow.

Cigtech, I'll have to pass on the 5mph handicap - make it 2 and I think we are in pretty good competition. It will give me something to strive for when we run another speed week later in the summer.

I felt great on the ride in. Even though the rest of the ride was slower, I averaged over 15 mph (58:00 total) On the way home, I completed faded after the 3 mi trial, and thought (just of a minute) that I would have to take a break.

Riskus - I just about when back up too - but my legs never feel very cold, so dispite my frozen finger tips I went on in - my feet were numb when I got there. Today was better, but not much (of course I didn't learn from yesterday and wore the same thing:D )

I finally rode home today. After having a bit of the blues, too much work, and too many meetings requiring a car, today I was liberated from all that. Well, I still had to go to work, but it was less intense today...tomorrow will be different.

After 5 days off, I'm still fine. My time for a leisurely ride home, including a stop to talk to my hairdresser on the sidewalk (and make an appointment, of course), was 1:16. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get around to that time trial, but perhaps not. And that's okay, too.

Oh, and I know this is not the Extreme Commute Club anymore, but we did have another murder on my route last night. Actually is was just a block from my house. Yikes! On a good note, we now have a cafe in our neighborhood, to add to the juice bar and ice cream shop (still have too many liquor stores, though).

Peace and good tidings.

Xroader, ok 2 mph handicap then.

I played at the beach all day today. Back to commuting tomorrow. I'll see if I can bump my speed up a little. looks like I'll have a 3 mph headwind going in and a 6 mph wind comming back.

CigTech, Yes, the gearing is a bit slow but then so am I. I'm able to pedal easy 15 to 18 mph on a level stretch with the chainwheel that's on it now so I'll just stick with it til I replace the drive train next year. I'm running a 42=32=22 I salvaged from my old comfort bike.
Well, made the ride home without incident. Then had to spend two hours pushing the lawn mower. Not bad for my first commute. I feel tired and pleased. Goodnite.

Like they say, when it rains it pours! My week of bad luck has finished with a real doozy. The company where I work has decided to tighten its belt so they've cut the funding for the project I was on and now I'm out of a job, so next week I'll have lots of time to go do the 3 mile time trial on my 15lb road bike.

On a happier note, happy birthday Jur!

Happy Birthday Jur!!!:bday:

Cyclaholic, that is TERRIBLE news! Do you have some leads on a new position? Best of luck, my friend, hope it all works out asap!

Cyclahoic sorry to hear that. Hope you find something soon.

Happy B-Bady Jur. Well you made it another year.

Great commute home yesterday, 32 miles of sunshiney 70 degree weather with a mild tailwind! I made a decent time of 2:04. One of these days I'll do a full 16.0 mph average over the distance. I think I got my first yelling-at from a pickup hick this season. But I was stopped at a light turning my head so I didn't catch what was said.

hi JugglerDave, You do a 64 mile run every day? Nice way to handle the Red Necks.

How about a fixed gear category, my gear is 42x17. I did my 18 mile verion of commute in 1 hour 2 minutes.

PS: What are the rules for speed week?

Happy Birthday Jur.

Nope, not that ambitious. 1 mile + train ride + 3 miles in the AM, 32 miles ride home.
This is my 3rd season commuting, so I didn't post the AM details again....

I also 'invented' a new acronym yesterday, "CATS" = Cute Athletic Twenty-Somethings, because there were so many of them on the MUT yesterday due to the fantastic weather. (Philly - Kelly Drive path between the art museum and falls bridge, the last 5 miles of my commute home).

Well, I finally fixed my brake! Yay for me! Tomorrow I'm back on the horse...all 25miles!

The maintenance question I had was that the wheels, gears, chain, everything, seems to get really dirty. Don't know if it's road grime, exhaust from the cages , or what...

Ta for the B-day wishes... I was leaving work early today - or so I thought. I prepared, dressed etc, got outside 1/2 h later than I wanted, wheeled the bike out... what's this?! A puncture in my punture-proof tyre? Another 1/2h gone fixing it. It was a whopper of an ancient rusty nail, right through the middle. First one, hopefully last one with these tyres.

Cyclaholic, mega-bummer news mate. I sincerely hope for you to get a new job soon, better paying, better hours, and further to commute.

Check out the first post in VLCC week 6.

Happy Birthday, Jur!

I hope things work out for the best, Cyclaholic...there's a silver lining in there somewhere.

I took a completely different route today through Capitol Hill and in front of the Supreme Court and Library of Congress. It was quite nice.