very nice... took it slow. first time on the bike in a while. I got spooked after a commuter fatality happened not far from my route. fine, though.

Beautiful day after a stormy night - the trails were nice with no dust. Started out in high 50F and ended low 60 with some wind. Great 25 mi RT. Tomorrow may be another story - afternoon and evening thunderstorms for the trip back.

Cheers from Chicagoland
Gene

There I was, riding down a path along a road in a residential neighborhood. The sun was shining through the trees, then I noticed a bird pirched on a branch up the path. It happened as if in slow motion. A flash of color dropped from the branch as I sped towards it. It dropped just to the inside of my right arm and splattered directly on my knee.

Yes, I got bird poop on my knee. Other than that it was a wonderful ride!

^^^^ This story is great and a good example why riding a bike makes for a cultural shift. This kind of thing rarely happens when everyone is sealed off from their environment and one another in a car.



Oooh, that's good luck you know!

My ride was nice. Had a student matinee performance early today so rode in for that. Then auditions all over town and got back to the theatre before the lightning and heavy downpours. Nice ride home tonight. Again, there were people leaving the theatre on their bikes. I love when I see audience members packing up their bikes after a night at the theatre to ride home.

Nice this morning. Mid 60sF, and a bit humid, but the sun was coming out and the MUP was drying off from some rain over night. A flock of geese flew over me. No poop though. :p TGIF!

Fast commute this morning on my Merckx Corsa, one of my quickest morning commutes ever. It was very warm (71 F) and humid so I was sweating like a racehorse when I got to work. It's fun to do a fast commute every now and then. I might just start riding the Corsa to work several days each week as I don't have nearly as much gear to carry during the warm summer months. The big problem is thunderstorms with no permanent fenders on the bike, but I've got some SKS RaceBlades that I can slap on it when the weather is iffy.

My flat tire yesterday turned out to be from a repair boot I put on the tire a while back. The tires are really nice Conti GP 4 Seasons that picked up a huge piece of glass in the rear about the second time I used them. I didn't want to trash a $40 tire, so put an Park adhesive tire boot on the inside of the tread. It appeared to do the trick, and I went about 3 months with the boot in place without a flat. However, when I examined the tube carefully after I got home I realized that it had flatted right at the boot, which had cracked in several places and worn a hole through the tube. Guess I'll need to figure out a better way to boot the tire as it has lots of mileage left on the tread and I don't want to trash it.

Enjoyable ride in, temps in the upper sixties when I started out around 5:45. Hopefully the storms hold off this afternoon.

A nice day. I missed the thunderstorms again yesterday going home. They were more sever yesterday than the day before.

As I got off my bike yesterday, when I arrived home, I was remembering the days of always getting in and out of my car, but now the feeling is
of always getting on and off my bike. Changes happen, but sometimes the repetitiveness is still there.

had to drive today, stupid work stuff.

oh so sick of the rain third day in the row im staying dry but still when is it gonna stop, oh wait not for another week boooo

I just moved to a new apartment, and luckily it is within cycling distance of my workplace. Commuting to my old place meant more than an hour spent on the train in each direction, it was much too far to commute by bicycle.

Anyway, on my second day at my new place I decided to ride my bike to work. I didn't know enough about my new area to know which roads to take, other than knowing the general direction.

I work in an area called Kaihim Makuhari, which is a super-modern business district outside Tokyo. It is also a popular convention site, and is home to the Tokyo Auto Show, the annual video game show, and others. The center of the district contains some tall buildings which can be seen from some distance away. The district is also near the seaside, which makes it even more pleasant to me.

Finding my way from my apartment to my workplace was a simple matter of following the nearest large road to the seaside, and turning right. Following this route for several kilometers put me close enough to see the buildings in the center of the district. The total distance was not far, only 12 kilometers. Luckily, the roads I took were wide, smooth, and with light vehicular traffic. I plan to ride as many days this summer as the weather allows.

A few thousand people commute in and around Kaihim Makuhari on a daily basis, the only difficulty many people have is finding an empty place to park their bike. I am lucky enough to have a closet at my workplace large enough to put my bike into.

For a number of reasons, I decided it would be easiest to drive today. Pity, since the weather is absolutely perfect for cycling this morning. But I still have a quick cycling-related commute story to tell...

Driving to work, three lanes in the direction I was travelling, and I was in them middle lane. Someone in the left lane decided to move right without shoulder checking, forcing me to jam on my brakes to avoid a collision. It was the kind of incident that deserved a good honk on the horn, but what stopped me was the two cyclists in the right lane just ahead of me...I didn't want them to think I was honking at them. Funny how your attitude changes when you can see a situation from another perspective.

If I had to ride by the beach on the way to work....I might develope attendence problems.

EKW in DC, I go through that very same intersection every morning (heading North, then N.E., toward DC) and 2 to 3 times a week in the afternoon (I like to change it up a little an continue on the MVT to Slater's Lane the other days). I think you were certainly in the right and, your reasoning is correct. In any case, nobody should be passing you on the right and they certainly shouldn't act/speak aggressively toward you. I don't like that intersection since: 1) you have no bike lane option while waiting at the light or navigating the intersection and, 2) it's such a long, sweeping turn that you're exposed to potential cross traffic if you don't hustle to get through it. Once I'm on the other side of it I try to stay in the bike lane but, am often buzzed several times on my short jaunt down to Duncan Ave. Depending on timing and traffic, I've even cut out that intersection entirely by cutting through the (closed) service station parking lot, past the Suntrust-on the sidewalk, then, to the southbound lane of traffic on Mount Vernon when safe. On the other hand, I sail through that intersection in the morning, of course I'm doing that at 5:50 or 6:00 in the morning, there's little traffic at this time. It's funny, I've been riding into DC for 8 years and have only encountered aggressive/angry drivers near home, never once in DC. I still can't figure out what is so upsetting about cyclists to drivers, we may only slow them for a few seconds whereby they immediatly pass us and continue on unfettered. I would certainly recommend reporting license #'s of such drivers, if nothing else it could increase police patrols and/or encourage improved traffic devices for cyclists. Hope your ride home today is uneventful.

No commute yesterday, took the day off to pack and do stuff in preparation for the move to my new home next week.

My word but it's humid here this week. I'm not sure showering is even worth it with the bad A/C in my locker room.

As mentioned I move next week. The new house will only be about 3.5 miles from my new job. I find myself considering alternatives. Riding a route that's totally indirect? Riding in, running home that afternoon, running in the next morning, riding home that afternoon, and so on? I'll have to see just how easy the new commute is.

50F and sprinkly

Was nearly taken out by a kid coming off a sidewalk, around a blind corner, entering the intersection against the light. No contact, but I thought I was going to have to change my shorts.

House sitting for the in-laws at 840ft above sea level. Was absolutely wrecked when I got back yesterday; I like riding uphill but need to go a bit easier before I hit it.

Speedy ride in this a.m. in light drizzle.

This week was "bike to work week". I saw a few newbies braving the rain but loads must have been put off. Feel sorry for the organizers.

We had similar weather here for our BtWW; turnout was much lower than in years past. :(

I cut through the parking lot and stuff there to "run" the light there if it's red when I'm northbound in the AM. I've been commuting pretty much every day for over a year and this is the first incident I've had there, so I'll chalk it up to the driver just being a prick this time. Hoever, there does seem to be some impetus for redesign of that instersection for cyclists given the recent addition of the bike box, so I would guess I'm far from the first to have had issues there.

Thanks and +1 in the aggressive drivers seeming to be less of a problem in DC. Even though I do almost all my riding in Virginia, most of my negative encounters have involved drivers with Maryland tags. Go figure. That being said, two of my three most serious encounters - this one and another along Commonwealth - have involved VA drivers, so...

Me neither. One of those things that make you go hmmm... (a la Arsenio Hall Show)

Yeah. In the moment I was more concerned w/ trying to catch up to him and giving him a piece of my mind, useless and futile as that exercise would have been. I have reported a couple other plate #s from other encounters, and I certainly generally agree w/ your advice.

Today's ride HOME will be on metro w/ bike in tow after rush hour. I'm going to happy hour w/ my wife to kick off birthday weekend celebrations. Last night's ride home = a little more eventful. No crazy drivers, but crazy weather instead. Got caught in that afternoon thunderstorm. Man, that was a doozie!!!

My commute home today was developing into a routine one until I got caught in a heavy downpour the last 5-10 minutes of my commute. Then it became interesting.

Within minutes I was soaked and my sneakers were swiming in water.

I wear those oversize sunglasses you wear over eyeglasses but still the rain got through and it started to sting my eyelids. Yes, it was raining that hard.

I was too near home so I kept going even though the last few yards I practically had little visibility. However, I just went slow, triple checked for cars and made it home in one piece. To say that I was thoroughly drenched is an understatement.

Oh well, I was dreading being caught in a downpour all this week and it finally happened. Unfortunately, I can expect this to happen more often in the next 2-3 months. High percentage of rain/thunder storms expected next week too.

Next time I see ominous clouds overhead, I'm going to head for cover instead of thinking I can outrun it. Silly me.

tornado touched down in boise, never seen that before. Rode home in 60mph gusts and hail and rain, lame lame lame

Hazy hot and humid in NYC today, the ride was uneventful. I broke down and switched to padded road shorts though as I couldn't bear to wear my work pants. I think that will be a permanent change.

I can't get the image of the Wicked Witch of the West riding her bike in the swirls of the tornado out of my mind. You didn't by chance see her did you....and her little dog too? :)

I'm glad you got home safe. That would have been one scary ride for me but you make it sound so matter of fact.

well i didnt have much of a choice, when i was leaving work some lady told me i was crazy for riding in it bit when i asked her for a ride she wouldnt give me one, and no i didnt see the wicked witch of the west but i did see a mail person get blown over, that was funny to watch, this morning it was actually not raining but its in the forcast for this evening luckily i work a double and might actually miss all the bad weather today. I still cant believe a tornado hit here we live in a valley and never thought one was even possible, i just want summer here i can deal 100degree weather much easier than rain and hail

Yesterday was my first day back commuting after a minor MCL tear a couple weeks ago. I missed it like crazy, and not getting my daily rides in was adversely affecting my mood. I tried a new route home, but it wasn't as good as my standard route, so I won't be trying it again.

Then this morning I was out getting a bit of work done on my boat, when I thought it would be a good idea to check my work email. Bad call, there was a major server outage and we needed to take care of it. My supervisor, bless his heart, took care of the initial stuff, but I needed to order the backup tapes, which I could have done from home, but there were a few other things I wanted to take care of too. Feeling time was of the essence when I got back from the boat, I took the short way into work, which means a terribly filthy tunnel, with an impossibly narrow ped/bike path. I cut my commute time in half, but I feel like I smoked a cigar. I finished up at the office and just rode around the city for a few hours to re-de-compress and get back in a weekend frame of mind.

Hi all, this is my first post here.

HOT today (as usual) in NYC. Being drenched in sweat arriving at work is never fun, but I've gotten used to it. Can't wait for cooler weather...

yay i missed out on rain last night on way home and this morning might not be so lucky this afternoon. Super nice out though low 60's. Had a really fast commute this morning not sure why but for my 6miles in i averaged 19.2mph yay sundays(note a good portion of my way in is down hill on a few i hit 40mph)

It was a tad cooler this morning at 15 C (60 F). It quickly becomes lighter, even at 5:30, so this is always a short lived different sensation of riding in the light in the morning. I am not sure which one I like better, riding in the light or morning darkness. However one thing for sure, I love the heat and warmth of spring and summer.

Beautiful morning in NC today after a week of miserable hot, humid weather. The morning temperature was about 65 with relatively low humidity, and it felt great for a change. It's been in the 90s every day lately with very high humidity and heat index around 100 or higher. I went on a group ride yesterday that started at 8 am, and the heat and humidity were bad from the start. You know it's going to be bad when your sunglasses are drenched in sweat after 10 minutes of riding.