Warm coming hot going. Don't mind the heat though I actually prefer it.. hate the cold. Going to take a couple day break from biking. No problems during the ride but my knee/legs are sore and stiff in between. If I can get a good run in usually that helps more than a break.

1st post in the How was the commute thread. Going in was casual but I was on the roads before 7am. Coming back was a bit of a chore. The city of Spokane is hosting Hoopfest; " the world's largest 3 on 3 basketball tourny" this weekend =/. Basically they shut down most of the streets downtown (where I work),....set up a bunch (a lot) of courts and let out of shape white people play ball (I'm stereotyping,...I'm sure not all of them were out of shape,....or white).

Basically all traffic was routed onto two oneway arterials through town. I went through the alleyways till I could find an open oneway that was free of basketball courts and traffic to head back to my neighborhood just west of downtown. Once I got through all of the Bball courts the remainder of the west end of town was clear.

Now there is also a round about (we have a few of those in this town) about two blocks from my building and as I approached it I took the lane going straight through the round about. I figured I was entitled (I hate that word) since traffic is supposed to slow down for the round about and the cobble that make up the crosswalk is lousy for traction. That didn't stop a cabby in a minivan from crowding out and passing me in the round about.

This is my first week of commuting and I am certainly getting a crash course in etiquette and the lack thereof by some drivers. This isn't gripe so much as a realization that I'm going to have to grow a thick skin, and ride defensively (about how I drive). Let me know if I'm in the wrong on the round about.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I met up with some salmon (they looked like pensioners) on the sidewalk. Luckily I was in the roadway were I was supposed to be and didn't risk hitting them. This was on the stretch heading into my neighborhood before I encountered the cabby. I wanted to say something to them but I'm still in the mind my own business mindset.

Typical high humidity Virginia morning. Interesting that it was probably 5-10 degrees cooler near DC than it was when I left the house west of town this morning. Lots of kamikaze bunnies again this am for some reason. Some days are like that.

Did a fairly lazy ride rather than arrive at work soaked, but still made good time. Saw only one other cyclist on the 25 miles in, do they know something I don't?

Yep, and I still love this weather. We are supposed to get something tonight that will cool down the temps for this week. Middle of the week at night is
supposed to be 58 F (14 C). That will be an cool down. I just hope I get out of here before any large fronts move in.

I had a very wet commute to work today. Left at 5:50am just as the rain went from a little sprinkle to more like an inch of rain an hour. I installed a new set of fenders on my bike over the weekend and they worked flawlessly. Of course I was still soaked to the bone when I arrived at work a half hour later. This was my first wet commute, and I had two pieces of equipment let me down. First my bike computer regularly jumped between 4.5 and 34miles per hour. And logged 8.4 miles on my 7.33 mile ride. The second thing that let me down, was luckily a borrowed pannier from a co-worker. It's a Seattle Sports Rain Rider Pannier Bag: http://tinyurl.com/2a5wyvr

The large compartment did exactly what it was supposed to, and kept my clothes and laptop dry. The zipper pouch on the side however had an inch of standing water in the bottom of it when I arrived at work. I'm both happy, and disappointed my Google Nexus One survived.

Guess it's time to buy some rain gear for myself. Being soaked was ok, but not real comfortable. :)

Wet! 70F and very humid. The rain made it comfortable, but I went through a good soaking rain coupled with a 10 or 15MPH headwind, and arrived needing to towel off. "Beats driving." :P

My jury-rigged gear shifter from last Friday worked to get me from the office to a bike shop, on to home, and eventually to my pedicabbing job Friday night, where I was able to throw my bike up on a stand and replace the derailleur cable. Even w/ the help of my friend/coworker who is a mechanic at an LBS, couldn't quite get the rear derailleur dialed in exactly (the joy of super entry-level components - my RD lacks a common adjestment that would normally completely solve the small problem I do have), but it shifts properly almost all the time, so I'll leave well enough alone for now.

Ride in this AM was pretty warm already, so I imagine this evening's not going to be much fun commute-wise. I'm really liking what I see in the forecast by the end of the week, though -- temps in the lower 80s, almost 20 degrees cooler than it has been! :D Woohoo!

HH&H today. I think the weather's making drivers angrier and less willing to share the road. Had almost no space to maneuver and some drivers trying to edge me to the side. Lots of tailgating and general unpleasantness.

I took the Central Valley Greenway into work today again. It's a much nicer trip staying off the main roads. As I'm in for a very short week, I thought I'd try to up the mileage to make up for it. Today I thought I'd try taking the trails up the North side of Burnaby Mountain. Despite what all the bike routing tools say, going up Gaglardi is much easier overall than taking Pipeline trail, Trans-Canada trail and then trying to get up Cardiac. I won't be doing that again. It was threatening rain, but that held off. I forgot to bring my tupperware container to use for breakfast today. :(

Took the long route today. Saw 2 other cyclists, one clearly a commuter (panniers, etc.), the other might have been but wasn't carrying any gear. Uneventful.

This morning ride was pretty nice, 57* and overcast. Was able to cover the 9 miles in 43 minutes, was paced by another rider for a mile or so. I saw 3 commuters and 5 walkers.

Running an hour late but still got in. My almost 9 yr old's 1st day of summer camp. He wanted to shake things up a bit and ride his razor scooter instead of his bike, but after a block he turned around, said he couldn't handle the vibration. So he rode his bike w/ comfy pneumatic tires after all.

60F and grey. My headlight was visible on the ground, when all winter it is washed out by streetlights.

The good news is the commute this week (other than this morning) looks marvelous! 79 Tomorrow and Wednesday, with no rain forecast for the rest of the week.
I picked up an old Schwinn Traveler a few months ago that I cleaned up this weekend. Assuming I get the wheels repacked in time, I'm going to try and ride one day this week. Should be interesting, as I've never had a road bike before and I'm not sure how it will deal with the urban decay of west Washington Street (Indy).

Hot and wet.

Insert your own joke here. Ooops.

Nice cool morning. 80 on the way back. No ragin cagers,...no salmon (some sidewalk riders though). Stopped by the LBS to get my front inner tube replaced as I don't have the proper tools yet. It was busy so the LBS owner bought me a coffee (iced mocha breve) at the cafe next door. Talk about awesome customer service.

A lovely ride in the upper 70s (middle 20s C). It is supposed to be cooler this evening and tomorrow morning, but that is all realtive in good weather.

Didn't happen. I was dressed and ready to go but, walked outside to another flat. This with a new (loaner) wheel, tube, and tire. My wheel is still in the shop awaiting the installation of a new axle. I was running late and didn't even investigate this one, my guess is that the tube's valve stem was cut by the wheel as the shop put a presta valve in a rim drilled for schrader-the valve stem was noticably crooked and was probably cut. Monday was my first day back on the bike after a week's vacation and, after numerous flats (4 or 5) in the weeks preceding vacation. So, I can't seem to win, I might take the week off while I re-evaluate the situation, it's gotten too frustrating at this point.

Nice day today, sunny, cool, and calm. First ride since GRABAAWR legs still a bit sore.

woke up late after getting no sleep and rushed out the door without breakfast or coffee. took the hybrid/winter commuter. getting the feel was a little funky but it's a comfy bike so the ride was quite pleasant. the new chain and freewheel were smooth. still kinda funny riding a bike with fenders this time of year ...

13.3 miles
28.9 max
15.6 max
51 min saddle time

Had a flat when I got downstairs to my bike last night. Slow leak of some sort, cuz no holes were visible. Something wrong w/ the valve perhaps? Anyway, threw on my spare tube and got it inflated enough to get to where I needed to go and then on to home.

The ride in this AM was really nice. On the cloudy side, which kept down the heat from the sun, and yesterday's afternoon thunderstorms really dropped the humidity a lot (and the temps some, too). It all made for a comfortable ride to work.

In other good news, I'm getting my first Surly! OK, not a bike - just a fork... I've been wanting to replace the crappy suspension fork on my hybrid for a while now, and a friend (who's a mechanic at an LBS) texted me to tell me he could get me a new Cross Check fork from a friend of his for $40 that would work for my bike. It's w/in about 10 mm of what I calculated I'd need (in terms of suspension-corrected axle to crown) to replace my current fork, so I asked him to get it for me. I hope to be able to pick it up Thursday. Who knows when I'll get it installed - maybe Saturday AM at the co-op. Nonetheless, I'm excited to make the switch to rigid. It'll be nice. :D

Took the Central Valley Greenway in today again. I'm getting better at this route. I'm trying to stretch my commutes out this week to make up for the extra long Canada Day weekend coming up.

drank too many beers at the ball game last night... combined with late-night dominoes pizza resulting in a less than optimal ride in to work this morning.

50F and grey. Still, at least. Expect wind going home tonight.

Last night ride home had to deal with headwinds most of the 8.5 miles, so it was a slow ride. This morning was 55* and overcast. It was a busy commute, saw an all time high number of commuters, 9. Sure have been enjoying the Axiom Seymour panniers, makes loading and unloading so much easier.

Happy to report I didn't have a flat...but my wife did. On her car!

When we bought the new house a few weeks ago my wife predicted she'd get a flat on the car because of all the nails and screws lying around. Sure enough, when I changed her tire it had a nice screw sticking out of it.

My ride was uneventful.

I went to bed late and had a headache when I woke up but I didn't let that stop me from riding my bike back and forth to work. 60 degrees heading in about 75 on the way home. Perfect weather. Got passed and cut off by a right hand turning cager on the way home. It was inconsiderate and dangerous but I made it out alive.

A beautiful day. 76 degrees, a bit chilly compared to last week. Nice, nice ride.

Hey a fellow CVG user! :) Where abouts do you start and end on CVG?

I start around Hume Park and continue on into Vancouver.

good ride home. love to sweat! :-) the traffic cops working the repaving detail got an eyeful as I accelerated explosively through their section (only when waved through of course!)