Today was a day that tried my commuting soul. Even though I ride my 14 miles year round in Boston, I was starting to get adjusted to spring with AM temps in the high 40’s. Yesterday though rainy, I had a nice tailwind. This morning however, the temp was 36 degrees with an 18 mph headwind, 33 degrees at my destination, and snow in the far western suburbs (and I took off the studded tires this past weekend.) I went back to bed at 5:30 AM planning on 15 minutes, but strongly entertained the option of an additional 45 minutes in bed, then taking the train with a further 30 minute nap.

There have been several threads about motivations, and arousal techniques for early morning commuters. At a penny for my thoughts, here’s my $ 0.4 worth.

1) Last week I started a rigorous 10 week Century training schedule, and today’s quota is 15 miles
2) I know that invariably when on the road. literally the first few feet, I’ll feel good
3) When I arrive I feel much more fulfilled than if I took the train and even more so than if I drove
4) On a bad weather day (cold and/or raining), I’ll invariably be asked that perennial question, “You didn’t ride today, did you?”

The second person I met at work after riding asked me a variation of that question, “How was your ride, pretty cold? And it’s April 28 (grumble, grumble)...”

EPILOGUE:

On the VFW parkway I encountered a well-appointed strong rider and rode with him for about a mile. He was riding out to Dover for fun after work. We chatted and he mentioned that his co-workers were concerned about him as he left, warning, "There's frost on our windshields."

As we came near our split in the road, I asked him, as I usually do of strangers, had he heard of Bike Forums? He did and posted rarely. I introduced myself as “Jim from Boston,’ and he pointed and said, “I read your posts all the time. See you later on the Forums.”

39F and overcast with winds from the NNW @ 17mph giving me headwinds. Actually had to pull my gloves back out for the ride in cuz it was a little chilly. I'm not sure if it was due to the winds, the trip i did last night, or a combination of both but my legs felt pretty tired this morning. My body felt fine but my legs weren't really able to push fast at all.

Catch up from yesterday first. I took the Dahon on an errand at lunch to pick up a temporary insurance card maybe 1/2 mile away.

They are pretty busy streets, so I decided to ride on the sidewalk. I almost got "mowed down" by a landscaper with his motorized mower. I heard an engine and thought: "I wonder what that is?" Then, he shot out across the sidewalk from behind a bush. I don't know how he could just assume no one was on the sidewalk.

I braked just in time and gave him the stink-eye. He looked scared & guilty. Close call. There are different hazards when riding on sidewalks. Before someone chimes in with "That's why I ride on the street." I'd like to add that I STILL feel safer on the sidewalk. No road rage there, or people driving while intexticated.

This morning, it was 29°F when I left. Frost on the grass. I have a North Face Denali fleece I've been wearing, and it is perfect. It is a little cold for about 20 seconds and on my arms at speed. But my core temperature comes up quickly, and it is only my arms that get cold. I tried a GoreTex jacket, and it was way too hot. They don't breath enough.

The new bike (Fisher Simple City 3) does not have a hill gear, and it is a killer. I have decided whether to look into gearing it down or wait a while and see if I get strong enough to climb hills with the low gear. The top gear is also too high, so I'm thinking that gearing it down would be wise idea.

<rant>Prior to getting two consecutive three-speeds, I never realized how much I used the gears on my 21-speed hybrid. When are they going to learn that 3-speeds is enough, as long as they're not too high? If I'm concerned about speed, I wouldn't buy a 3-speed anyway, so why not make them suitable for normal commuting speeds for a normal set of legs?</rant>

Still, I'm looking forward to the ride home.

Not enough lube, or not in the right places, apparently.

The commute home yesterday was great. I took my Dahon on the train, and met two other guys with folding Dahons. What are the odds of that?

One guy had a Boardwalk single speed, I had the Curve D3, and the other guy had a 7 speed Mu or something. Had some great conversation and found out the Mu guy was a chess player too.

Nice ride, temps in upper 30's and sunny.

Got all excited about yesterday afternoon's tailwind (20-25 mph), only to have my leg cramp up a little over 3 miles (out of 7) in, so I took the rest of the ride easy. Disappointing. And weird, cuz it was the first time in over a year of commuting that I've had any sort of pain or muscle issues. Oh well. Ate a few bananas when I got home and drank lots of water, and the leg's feeling back to normal today. At least I cramped up a little with a tailwind. Made easier pedaling possible, as opposed to a vicious headwind.

The ride in this AM was coolest in quite a while. Temps in the low 40s. Long sleeves definitely warranted. Bit of a headwind most of the way -- good workout. Meeting my wife for lunch a a couple miles away, so that'll add a nice 3 or 4 extra miles at lunchtime, too.

today is my oficial comeback! after 2 months of car commute, im back on the saddle.

This time im riding my new (1986) Tommaso road bike. My first roadbike ever! Im still getting used to the breaks being on the drop. The ride was smooth, but at the beginning i had to stop because the back wheel was rubbing againts the frame...had to get off and straighten that then really tighten it... im starting to see what many poeple said about this bonded aluminum frame flexing, yet the ride is really good and stable...

the day was sunny with a bit of headwind, around 85f

4C and breezy, enough to slow me down. If the wind doesn't shift much, I can look forward to a nice push home. The streets were wet, but the rain had stopped. Too bad, because we need the moisture, and I really don't mind riding in the rain.

Hello everyone! The temp was nice and cool this morning, 4am, a little breezy but not too bad. The way home 11:30am was brutal. 40+ MPH headwind.
I do have to tell something funny from work today. A coworker from another location needed help with loading bags of ice onto the truck, so I got picked up. Once we got the ice we headed back to my location. The truck's undercarrage picked up a french fry box before we got onto the highway. By the time we got to my place, the box was still there! I took a picture with my phone. We could not stop laughing the whole way, because we could hear it underneath the cab! LOL
Well have a great day everyone!

Rainy, windy, unpleasant weather today, so it was a bus day for me.

48F and scattered rain with winds from the NW @ 18mph giving me some nice tailwinds. Legs felt a lot better this afternoon, but still ran out of energy on the climb to my house. I think i need to start intaking more calories during the day. Decided to change up the route a little bit, and it was great. I'm gonna start going that way on the commute home from now on.

Are you getting enough protein? Lack of protein can cause muscle cramps too.

Full of win today. Dry, low 40sF. A bit of a quartering tailwind. I engaged in some Silly Commuter Racing. Something red was far behind me and every time I slowed down it got a little closer. So I spooled up and got out of sight of this red thing, and then left the MUP onto a dirt trail into the woods, where I lay in wait.

Red thing turned out to be a guy on a skinny-tired hybrid. I'm on dual-susp MTB with street tires. It took me a little while to get back onto the MUP, and by then he was about a quarter mile ahead of me. I gave chase and reeled him in, but he made me work for it.

Invigorating! Also a hangover cure, as it happens.

Lovely ride in this morning. It was cool (40s) out and the wind has died down a lot since yesterday. I also got to ride a different route, as I had to pick something up on my way. It was a nice change of scenery and added about a mile to my ride for a total of 7.5 miles.

Celebrated my 3rd year anniversary of bike commuting this week while topping 10,000 miles commuting over that period. I started out just riding on dress-down Fridays but quickly increased to 3-4 days/week after trying it out.

Perfect ride in this morning. I hadn't ridden in over a week due to business travel. It was about 60 with a moderate tailwind. I set a record for the ride in at an hour and six minutes. The ride home will be gruelling though. The wind is expected to be in mid-20s with gusts to 40 mph!

Nice ride in today... testing my legs to see how jacked they are from yesterdays crash. Left leg is good, right leg can't take much mashing. Given that my single speed is inoperable, I rode my geared tank. It was a nice chill ride. And somehow I avoided the 20-40mph wind gusts that the weather folks were reporting.

Windy, 20 mph, and 62° this morning. Wind was behind me for half of the ride, across for the other half. made my best time so far averaging 17.5 mph.

Going home will be a different story with a high wind warning. 25 to 30 mph with gusts predicted 40 to 45 mph. Going to be a tough ride.

Windy, 20-30 mph with 35 mph gusts. The forecast said south wind, but somehow I was right into it when I was heading east. Hmmm. Wind and that one hill really took me down a notch.

Today was the first day I used the Topeak MTX bag instead of my courier bag. The extra freedom was nice, but I think it is heavier than my courier bag. The extra < 1 lb. is totally worth not having anything on my shoulder or back. I sweat less.

I'm also realizing how brilliant the centerstand is on my Simple City 3. I can pull up next to either side of the rack, put it on the stand, and my frame doesn't have to bang the rack all the time. I think my paint is going to thank me for it.

This is the first bike I've ever had with fenders, and my 3rd day riding it, so it is weird to me to hear the pebbles hit the insides of the fenders. (instead of feeling them on my face!)

But there's no denying this bike is heavy, with all its kick-butt accessories. I'm starting to see why so many of you who don't live in cities have lighter, racier bikes.

I'm nearing the end of my first week of bike commuting after several years off. I can feel a huge difference in my legs. They have been sore the first couple days, and now they are burning. I think I will take it easy on them this weekend and let them heal and get "ripped" properly. I had forgotten how much more energy I had when I biked before. It seems counter-intuitive.

My workplace is bribing us with $100 to get a fitness assessment with blood draw, and will pay another $50 if we are found to be healthy. I think I still need to lose some weight to get the $50. I'm going to do this and reward myself with a Brooks saddle for the SC3 or Dahon.

Sad and dark. Very sad. Sad, sad, sad. Did I mention sad? Indeed, sad.

Canadiens 2 - Capitals 1. Need I say more? I have a sign hanging from my desk here at work I printed out first thing this AM - "Personal Day of Mourning R.I.P. Capitals Season '09-'10"

Think I'll pull for San Jose and/or Vancouver now. San Jose b/c my wife's from NoCal and Vancouver, b/c I still want a Canadian team to win the Cup after all these years. Just not "Les Habs" this year (for obvious vengeful reasons).

But this is bikeforums, not hockeyforums.net, so I'll get back to cycling stuff and say that I desperately hope that I'll be in slightly higher spirits by the time I go to volunteer at the soon-to-open bike coop tonight.

I did not ride today due to sustained 30mph wind and gusts of 50. Also most of the street lamps were out. I did not want to take any chances, and on my way home usually big trucks pass me. Even in my car I am afraid of their trailers if they happen to be empty in winds like this. I will however take a ride around my neighborhood to keep up the workout. Also that way if the wind gets to me I can stop any time and rest when I get back home. Looking forward to riding tomorow if there is no lightning. I hope I can ride tomorow. Oh, I have a coworker whom lives about 10 miles away, and instead of walking that far, due to no car, he finnaly found a bike and is riding also. I had to tell him that he needed a headlight and taillight for how early we have to get to work. I hope he gets one soon. I told him great job for makeing it in this wind. Well I am going to get changed from work clothes to riding clothes, and I'll keep an eye out for falling branches. This is Kansas afterall.
Have a great day!!!

40F, sunny

Cool and breezy. Might be the last time I get to wear my wool jersey and knickers for a while, though. Passed a line of vintage Porsches. They looked like they were heading to a rally or something. Pretty cool.

Took my hardtail mtb with slicks out for commute instead of the road bike. What a mistake. It was windy this morning. Headwind btw! It felt like I was going up hill for the entire time eventhough it is flat! And I kept looking at my tires to see if I got a flat!
I hope going home will that westerly headwind will become a nice tailwind. Riding upright on my commuter mtb just made it worse.