Wow rykoala !!
I have said the same thing so many times I beleive people
skip over my posts if a quick scan reveals the word 'fix' in it :roflmao:
Ill let you take over the chore of representing for the Fix-0-crats for a while !

Nice bike !! I think RedLine might owe you some royalties for it....??
The 925 :roflmao:

Have a great Lemorial day everybody...
I am off to NYC this weekend for visiting, KulTure and hi-adventure
Brooklyn style :eek: :cry:

Be safe.........

Well, I'm not sure what the rules are to join this club, but I'd been putting off the start of any earnest commuting due to a self imposed, somewhat draining, schedule at work, but with the arrival of the warm weather the past couple days, I decided not to put it off any longer, so at 10pm last nite I rode the ten miles home. I just happen to have my commuter with front and rear lights, orange glow vest, head lamp, reflective panniers. It was unusually warm, the stars were clear, and the smell of lilacs permeated the air. What a beautiful evening.
Yeah baby!....back in the saddle.


Someday will run into that guy with the zebra fur:)





edit..and by the way, i realize ten miles is really zip to most of you on here...the more i read the more i am impressed by the milage you guys are doing.

Reading this thread is what prompted me to increase my morning mileage from 5.5mi to 13.5 miles from now on. I realized that my commute is very short! And, lately, I've had the urge to just pass the office and keep riding. I'm not sure how much of that is burn out and how much of that is that I love to ride. Equal amounts maybe? If I could just get my bike to run Linux, I'd never have to stop riding except to .... well... you know.....

Does a Sharp Zaurus strapped to the handlebars count as the bike running linux?

No... I guess not... :(

I used to have one of those! I loved that little thing. It had limited functionality though. I have a Treo 600 now and I like it alot, seeing as how its a phone and all. The only problem is that I can't think of a *reason* for a bike to run Linux. Maybe I should turn in my Geek Card?

And now back to your regular scheduling

Reasons for a bike to run linux:

5. Built in MP3 player
4. Cadence, speed and distance recording
3. Wireless connectivity to home network for uploading ride data and downloading podcasts
2. Programable LED blinkie for messages when passing cagers

And the number 1 reason to run linux on your bike:
Because you can! (well, ok, I can't yet, but just wait)

Well this day started off bad. I woke up at 8:50am, needed to be at work at 10:00am. I left at 9:20am and made it by 10:10am. That’s a 20.27 ride time average speed for the 16.89 miles. Then on the way home a white truck run me off the shoulder of the road. He seen me coming and then went on the shoulder just to run me off of it. I went up a drive way onto the grass. But then tried to get it on to the sidewalk doing 23 mph with a 2 inch higher sidewalk. It was all bad form there. The tires hit the side of the sidewalk and sent me over with the bike. I now have road rash on the left knee and right fore arm. I also bruised my left shoulder.

So I'll not be running any more TT for a while. And well be running a lot slower for a few days. That is if the knee lets me ride at all. I must go fix my wounds now.

Well I looked over the bike it looks fine. I had to realign the handle bars. But everything else looks ok.

Mars, I have been looking at some bike outfits. But don't thank I’ll go with clipless paddles. I like the platform paddles in traffic. I am doing a try out for that, road racer that I ran hard that one morning, next Tuesday. We will be doing a 30 mile run in about 1:35 min. with a average speed of 19 mph. But we will see what I can do. Even after the crash on the way home I still had an ARTS of 18.57 mph.

Cig: After reading your run-in with the white truck, conspicuously absent is a rant against the truck driver. Usually when someone posts an incident like this, there is a hate stream, often joined by a dunny-ful of other posters. You didn't.

This deserves my sincerest congratulations. It's even better than your awesome TT results! :beer:

Why do fixies often have a top tube wrap?

I am totally strapping my Zaurus to my bike later this weekend, taking some shots of it, and posting it on the commuter pics thread...

heh...

or maybe that's just the vino talking tonight...

CIg, glad you are mostly ok...wishing you speedy recovery

Cig- OUCH!!! I am very sorry to hear that. Kudos on not instantly bashing all drivers, as jur said. Jur- lots of track bikes have a clear protector that goes over the top tube so that when the bike isn't being ridden, the handlebars don't whack the top tube and cause the paint to scratch, since many track bikes don't use bar tape. So, its a track bike thing I guess. I personally don't get it, but then again I'm not a hipster like Lem (ducks for cover) Just kidding Lem!!!

As for Linux on a bike- I already run Linux (Fedora Core 5) at home and at work. I'll just stop there..... ;) Although I can see it coming in really handy for data recording and analysis!!! But heck I don't even have a wal-mart bike computer anymore. For me, bikes are as anti-technology as you can get (hence the fact that I ride fixed gear...)

Why would I bash the driver for my stupidity. I was the one that did not slow down before trying to get on the sidewalk. But I was mad at him for causing me to leaving the shoulder at high speed.

Thanks for the support guys.

Oh, I admit shamelessly...I want the whole posuer thing ......
Im going through my male menapause right now so it was either the
ko0L, rad fixie or a Vette and a gold chain...
I love pink furr...Pink and black are the ultimate commuting colors :D
Nothing says "I might not want cut this guy(?) off" like pink
furr in public .
Really though... ..Along with the shameless posuerism, the bike came shipped
with the top tube damaged. The handle bar shifted in the shipping box and put
a nice smooth gouge on the top tube that I obsessed over when I looked at it.
Because I built it up with all that cardboard tubing stuff on it I didnt notice
it 'til post build. After I flipped out, I accessed the damage and beleived it to be only
cosmetic but I still kept focusing on it. So.....like, in a way that might make a future
in politics for me....I engineered a really ugly, unecassarily complicated fix for the
non-problem !! :roflmao:

CigTech....If one where to attach actors personalities to posters in this forum I think
you would be assigned Clint Eastwood....You're as kool as pink furr !!!

I have first dibs in Pee wee Herman !!

Off to NYC for me after a 12 hour reprieve from the c0-pilot !!

Jur: This is a holdover from track cycling days. The wrap is where the handlebars hit the top tube.

Cig: glad you are okay.

Cig - Glad you are OK, last time I went over the bars I broke my clavical and couldn't ride for several months.

I rode my fastest commute on Friday when I was running late for an early morning meeting. 54:00 for fifteen miles, got there, quick shower and ran through the building to the meeting (getting all sweaty again), rolling in with two minutes to spare - only to find out the meeting was canceled. Oh well, I upped my personal best, so the motivation was worth the frustration.

Got my 10-yr-old to do 7 miles with me this morning. That is the longest ride ever for her. She decided to ride a 30-yr old Free Spirit I bought for a loander instead of her brand new, low end MTB. She likes the ride a lot better and has adopted it as her bike - now she wants me "pimp her ride" so Im getting ready to paint it next week. I may see what I can do to lighten it up a bit also, it weighs a ton.

Hey guys even hurt I can make it to work in 56 min. That's a RTAS of 18.24 mph for 17.02 miles.
But on the way home I only did a ARTS of 15.48 mph for the 17.93 miles.

Anyways I did manage to get these pictures of the String Rays this morning from the Friendship bridge. I thought you guys would like to see them. In picture 3 and 4 there are about 20 string Rays but there did not come out very well. Enjoy

Your bike is only as good as your tires!
 

Cig, glad you are okay! I really like your posts, your speed, your bikes, and your attitude. Thanks for inspiring decency!

Well, I did not commute today, being Saturday--a day that I don't work, but I had to post here because I'm sure not going to tread into that dreadful swamp called the Road Riding forum!

I blew a sidewall on my tire today 10 miles into a 50-mile road ride on my beloved fancy-schmancy handmade roadbike that I definitely do not expose to the underworld of DC that is my daily commute! Luckily I was among friends, one of whom stayed with me on the side of the road so as to protect me from nefarious characters in pickup trucks, and the other of whom raced back to the car to rescue us.

Be sure to check your tires from time to time. My bike is new; I got it in October. The tires, although new when I bought the bike, had probably been hanging around for some time in storage or at the shop before being put on my bike. There was plenty of dry rot and cracks.

Tomorrow I'm not riding; I'm finally going to start the picket fence that I mentioned a while back. I might have to ask some questions of Newbie and Cig, house-repair gurus.

You guys could try fixies with cheaters ( brakes). That would give you the chance to learn to love the fixie.

Velogirl, are you using fence panels or are you making it from post, rails and pickets?

Either way you'll need to set the post striate up level. To keep it level you'll need to hold it in place by screwing 1"x4" into the post and a stack in the ground. See the picture. Then after the concrete is set up then you can connect the rails or fence panels. Hope this helps you get a better idle of what you need to do.

Dude, brakes are not cheaters. Freewheels are cheaters! Get it straight! ;)

I've ridden my morning commute brakeless twice. The first time on accident (forgot to reconnect the front brake, the ONLY brake after reassembling the bike) and another time when the cable inexplicably came unattached from the handle. I didn't have the time to fix it so I rode the rest of the way to work with no brakes. Neither time did I need the brakes when I didn't have them. But, I still do not recommend brakeless riding unless you're on a closed course ;)