Had an interesting experience yesterday afternoon. Sitting at my desk--felt my desk chair kind of rock--thought mm that was strange--rocked again, felt a bit of vertigo and that was it. Told a co-worker we must have had a thunderstorm go thru or there was an earthquake. He said he didn't notice anything. Heard on the news that we had indeed had a small earthquake. That was a first for me! Ride home was humid and for the most part uneventful. Pleasant ride in this morning.

We had a similar event out here a few years ago. First "earthquake" for me, too. My wife, of course, grew up in the Bay Area and thought nothing of it. It rattled the windows at my office and it felt like a big truck had smacked the side of the building. Now every time we visit her folks, I hope for a little baby earthquake that I can feel, but nothing yet. I suppose I should watch what I wish for...

I agree, the CVG is pretty poorly signed around Cariboo. It did work out as a nice extension to my commute though.

Nice ride in this morning. Decided to take the more direct route and not go out through New Westminster. I managed to make it to work before the rain came and I'm hoping the clouds disappear for the ride home.

Changed my route home from work and happier for it. Old route was a busy 2-lane street, lots of cars parking on the right hand side, delivery trucks, j-walkers, stop lights. Coming into work the traffic isn't that bad, but going home it's been getting annoying.

Decided to jump 1 block over to the east, initially I was worried because of the higher speed limit, and many people said I should avoid it because it's 'too dangerous'. But, less traffic, faster moving - but also smoother flowing. No parking on the right hand side of the street, and there is a nice chunk where there is a park on the right hand side so no intersections and it's pretty much all downhill. Adds on about 1km to my ride home, but the overall time it takes to get home is reduced by a few minutes. Feel much safer on the new route than my old one.

I did ride today despite the forecast (100F, heat index of 106), but I took the short route as I'm playing Ultimate tonight at 6 o'clock. Yeah, that should feel good.

I proved (again) yesterday that I am incapable of timing my exit correctly to miss a storm. I got absolutely drenched on the way home although I'd left work early to "miss the rain." The last 1/4 mile before my house was directly into the wind and the rain was hitting my face so hard it hurt. I got home, changed my pants, put the dogs on leashes, and stepped into the garage. No rain and the sun was coming out of the clouds. 5 minutes?

Hot and humid in Northern VA. Had to pick up some Cytomax due to cramping. Idiot woman on phone did not see me but I saw her and stopped before she plowed into me.

The 4H Club -

Hot, humid, hazy...

All of which together contribute to the fourth H - hellish! LOL

Still can't think of a better way to get to work, though... ;)

Crazy hot. Even moving it was like riding into a blow dryer. They said it was 98, but on asphalt in the city it was clearly much hotter than that.

I live 75 miles west of work, front's moving through and temp ha dropped 15 degrees and humidity is definitely dropping. Should be a sweet ride in tomorrow at least.

didn't ride today because i had an appointment that didn't allow me to. and i wish i had an ultimate game tonight. we've only got 1 pick up game locally and its on sunday afternoons :(

I couldn't ride in today as my twin daughter's junior high graduation was in the early evening. Given the weather though I doubt I would have anyway. Hazy, hot and humid here too. It was 94 when I checked at around noon.

Tomorrow is supposed to be better.

I was asked at work to stop riding in. They felt it was too dangerous for me. They couldn't afford to lose me. Maybe I should ask for more money then...

Great today here in Chicagoland but lots of trees across trails from last nights severe storm.

But, I found a route home from my commute I like much better. It is 5 miles longer but very pleasant - only roads I need to go on to get to trails are 1-2 miles of two residential streets :D . Now I have two options a 25 mi RT commute and a 30 mi RT commute :D Oh happy day.

Gene

We felt it pretty good here in Burlington, VT. My bicycle is in my office and it was rocking on its kickstand. :eek:

Yesterday I was on the leading edge of a downpour most of the way home. I got wet, but missed the truly soaking downpour that arrived after I got indoors. It was a very fast ride home.

This morning it was 58F and 100% humidity, with a light quartering headwind off Lake Champlain. I didn't notice the humidity though. I saw a woodchuck standing up on its hind legs in tall grass. Very cute. And a chipmunk ran out from the side of the MUP and right between my tires. I scolded it. :)

It was a nice ride in temp in low 70's, humidity was a little high. Much better than last week in the 80's though.

Perfect!!!

Maybe it was just because of the contrast with the humid, hot, stormy weather lately, but today's ride in might have been the nicest of the year so far.

Zacster, I have a feeling that they might respond by saying something like this.

I took the short route in today because I'm riding at lunch (and my knees, back, ankles, etc. are sore after last night's pickup game).

Some cliches are true. A Porsche with one of those why-bother-having-a-muffler mufflers passed me doing about 65 in a 45, came across 3 lanes and made a right in front of me (not close, fortunately) onto the road to my office. I spotted where the car pulled into another parking lot and decided to follow it and see the driver. As expected, he hit most of the points on the Porsche-driver checklist:

Male, check
Middle-aged, check
Vanity plate, check
European-style frames on sunglasses, check
Custom reflector for windshield, check
Parked in a "RESERVED" spot right in front of the building, check

The only thing he was missing was driving gloves. I couldn't resist; I pulled up about 10 feet away, caught his eye as he got out of his car, pointed, and laughed. Somehow I don't think THIS was the kind of attention he was seeking.

Yesterday afternoon was definitely a scorcher. Like ccrew said, NWS said it was 98, but I'm sure it was much hotter than on the roads w/ all the asphalt in the city.

The ride in this AM was great. Heavenly, almost. Felt cooler and much drier than the other days this week. Not a single complaint about the ride UNTIL...

I get to work. I pull into the parking ramp if our building and downshift as I slow. Standard procedure, except MY rear shifter cable snapped as I did it!!! :mad: :twitchy:

I tinkered w/ it a bit when I got inside. The break occured inside the v-brake shifter, and I can't even get the cover off b/c it's got a screw where the phillipshead + is badly worn down. Doesn't matter anyway b/c I don't have a replacement cable.

Of course, the lack of tension on the cable puts the rear in the highest gear, so it's a bit much even to try to ride as a SS. I'll have to see if I can hold it taut w/ some zip ties and inner tube to get me into a lower gear until I get a replacement cable and deal w/ that pesky screw...

I was planning on doing an overhaul/replacement of all the cables and housings on my bike soon. Guess I'll be doing it sooner. :shrug:

Thats funny

Yesterday's commute wasn't too bad despite the heat. It was in the '90's. I worked 'till 1 am last night and biked home in cooler temps and on quieter roads. Today I was beat and being uncertain how late I'd be kept tonight I decided on the subway. Nevertheless, I think I'm near the end of my regular bike commutes for the summer. Too hot. Too much trouble to keep up appearances. When school is out, I usually stop biking to work (but continue riding recreationally), when the kids return I hit the road. Here school's in until June 28th. I'll probably do it once or twice a week, but I think I'll take up running at night.

Beautiful morning for a ride. My third commute in to work and it keeps getting easier. I have found a good circular route that seems to minimize the amount of hill climbing I have to do. I still haven't found a way around the big hill at the end of my commute home. After 50k RT I have nothing left so I have been walking up it.

Pull the cable if you can and then tie a knot in it. You can mess with the cable clamp on the RD to keep it aligned in the gear you like for the ride home. You could also use the limit screws on the RD, but then you'd have to fix them when you put the new cable in.

Todays commute was much faster than it felt. After dropping my son off at his babysitters, I took a leisurely cruise in to work as my legs were suffering from the last week. Still made it in near record time. Something about climbing makes me push way harder than I plan. It was nice coming in later, the sun was up, clouds were gone, and it was up to 16C so I could ditch the arm and leg warmers.

Hot, damn hot but still better than driving the truck.

:) It's funny. No matter how "bad" a commute is, it seems to beat driving. Rain, snow, hail(!)... Beats driving. I was getting pretty wet yesterday but I was smiling and happy when I got home.

+1 My wetness yesterday was all due to profuse perspiration, but I agree - a bad cycling commute > a good day driving or taking metro.

I rigged it b4 I saw your idea, but thanks for the tip! What I did seems to have worked pretty well. I pulled the cable out from the shifter and got the excess length tied up/wrapped around things it won't interfere w/ on the top tube. I didn't have my trash inner tube w/ me to fashion the solution I originally had in mind, but I got some grippy cloth tape from one of the maintenance guys, wrapped it around the top tube closer to the saddle, pulled the cable tight to put it in the gear I wanted, taped it again and zip tied it as tight as I could. I did this in two spots.

I just made a 3 mile round trip for a lunch date w/ my wife and it did a good job keeping the rear on the 4th cog out of 7. A couple times, it jumed down to the 5th, but I was able to pull on the exposed cable closer to the stem to tighten it back up and force it back into 4th when needed. I think I could probably do a reasonably good job shifting up or down a couple gears each way, too. :-)

I'll be picking up replacement cable on the way home this evening... hopefully I'll find time to replace the cable this weekend.

Oh I hope the early hot weather isn't a prediction for nasty hurricanes like Ivan, Andrew or Katrina.:eek:

I live in Central Florida - Melbourne. My relatives in Miami tell me Melbourne is a dream compare to where they live. When they were here recently, they were overjoyed that it wasn't as hot and sticky as Miami.

It's only a few degrees cooler than Miami it seems but there's definitely more greenery here besides it being a little more breezy. I guess that makes a difference.

Okay! My commute. It's getting really boring. Same scenery and conditions is making me zone out.

Also, this heat doesn't want to make me race anywhere so instead of my commute being shorter, it's now longer.

I think I'll plan some side trips/errands after work just to explore new territory, assuming I'm not racing ahead of a storm. Right now the only side trip is the supermarket, which is on the direct path home.

It was pretty hot, but not as humid as the last few days. The ride in was pretty slow, lots of traffic, lots of lights, and 1st Avenue is all dug up (to build a bike lane!) so I took 3rd. 3rd has its own problems. I also took a different route home, slightly longer, but not worth it. My regular route just seems to be the best one even if I want to add miles. The best way to add miles is to just loop around Prospect Park a few times, or maybe Central Park. Now there's an idea, go CP and then take the west side greenway. It'll add about 7-8 miles.