Beautiful, peaceful ride in the rain this morning. This rainy, dreary weather can be so nice to ride in sometimes.

Had a guy pull into the bike lane a good 100m before an intersection. He clearly wanted to use the bike lane as a right turn lane, except that he couldn't get cleanly into the lane and then just stopped diagonally and blocked the whole bike lane. I went around on the left and rapped on his door as I went by. I didn't look back, but I hope he spilled his damn coffee.

Other than that, it was a fine morning for a bike ride.

Left the house this morning on the bike. At Westminster Hwy & No. 1 Road I stood up and accelerated away from the intersection when suddenly the chain derailed. WTF? I pulled onto the sidewalk. Was it the derailleur? Was it a broken chain? Was it a loose link? It took me a minute to realize what happened. The screw connecting the rear rack to the bike frame had come off the bike causing the rack stay to jam onto the rear sprockets.

Since I did not have a replacement screw on me, I pulled the rack out of the sprocket and cycled home for repairs. Found a bolt which would fit but it was a bit long so I added a nut as a spacer, a bit of Loctite thread lock and voila, back in business. Seeing as the screw had to have been loose for this to happen, I decided to check the other side of the rack. Yup, it was loose too. So I applied some Loctite to the screw and reinstalled the rack. Could have been worse.

Called into the office letting them know I would be late. As I headed out to begin the commute again, a strong headwind came up impeding my progress. I arrived to work late. Oh yeah, for whatever reason, a lot of cars stopped to wave me across intersection and such today. I'm so glad to be alive.

It was a good ride in, but I got soaked. 57F and rain with winds from the N @ 8mph. Today: rain = more passing distance from vehicles. During the beginning of the commute, about 3 miles from my house it turned into a dorrential downpour and was like that for a good 15-20 mins. I couldn't believe how many cars there were that didn't have their lights on. Once near the college, I tried out State St to the campus. State St itself wasn't bad, but getting from Wilbraham Rd to it took forever due to heavy traffic and poorly timed lights.

Unfortunately this afternoon I cheated and got a ride back home from my friend. I was and still am feeling wicked drained and tired, probably due to getting very little sleep last night. She has an Explorer, so my bike fit very nicely in there with the back seats dropped down.

111°F right now - wondering if it will creep any higher when I start on my way home in an hour...

Had to return a DVD, so I got up earlier to travel east and double back, which meant taking the roundabout, which is the part I dread the most as the bike lane ends there. Forward leg was alright, but I got squeezed to the side by a massive GMC Sierra. Not the most dangerous maneuver, granted, but still, I can't help but be a bit pissed. :twitchy:

Also, this marked the first time I had to commute in the pitch-black. Quite uneventful save for one stupid passing maneuver that I decided not to go through with.

Wimped out today
 

Long story short; I wimped out today and spent money on a cab ride that would have been better spent on quality rain gear.

As punishment conditions were of course perfect for what could have been a glorious ride home.

I will hang my head in shame and flog myself with some repentant mileage tomorrow, even if it means getting soaked. :o

Successful trial run :)
 

University doesn't start until next week, but I had some things to do so I decided to try out the commute from my new house. Overall it was a complete success :) The route I picked follows some fairly quiet residential roads, with a footbridge around halfway that crosses the busy A3, which gives a bit of a rest 'stop' as cycling over is specifically forbidden (though people cross on bikes all the time.)

There's no cycle paths or lanes along the route, but motorists around here seem to be fairly considerate to cyclists. Mostly I ride in the left tyre track (we drive on the correct side of the road here :P) moving to the middle where there's traffic islands etc in the road. Passing cars seem to overtake properly by moving in the right lane regardless of where I ride.

What's more encouraging is that I wasn't there for very long, so effectively I cycled both ways in one go without breaking too much of a sweat. Looks promising for next week

Pete

Yesetrday, while riding home at a quicker pace than normal trying to beat the soaking rains coming, I noticed the broken neck of a Rolling Rock beer bottle and swerved my front tire around it, but just as quickly, I heard that awful sound, PSSSSSSSssssssssssssss. It had sliced my back tire. So the rains I tried so hard to miss, came down on me, and the cars when happily by splashing more water on me from an overloaded storm drain. I could only laugh while working. Others in here seemed to have bigger problems than me, although I would like to have bike lanes, along my ride.

Nice ride in, and since I had a summer of no flats, lets see how far I go this time. The rte 29 interchange is replete with broken whiskey and beer bottles, and they never seem to do away, and when they do, they are back just as quickly.

Put a new chain on, and two gears on my cassette are skipping under load. :mad: I replaced the old chain at .75 wear (gauge-tested).

Cheap cassette, or replace chains earlier? Oh well.

Rainy today.

I had to bust out the long-sleeve shirt today! Awesome ride in. I noticed a rattling noise, and discovered my rack's front bolt had come loose. I tightened it best I could and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

I could tell by your "correct" spelling of the word "tyre"... ;)

Sounds like a good route, though. Hope you enjoy the commute!

I wimped out this morning - cold & pouring rain - but yesterday I strapped on my Garmin Forerunner for the ride home and found it was about 4km longer than I had estimated....

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=171617

Seeing the ride on google earth confirmed that there is a more direct route but the section of Fisher that runs through the Experimental Farm (yes - we have a farm in the middle of suburbia in Ottawa) is narrow and very high traffic volume.

With the rain & poor visibility yesterday I was surprised to get a compliment from a motorist for being visible (I have a 2w PB Blaze & Superflash that I use pretty much all the time)

Quite windy yesterday afternoon heading home... headwind naturally. Winds S20 G24 according to the NWS. Given that, though, it was a surprisingly nice ride home.

This morning's ride was still on the warm and humid side, but it looks like the rest of the week should finally see cooler, and eventually drier, conditions. Given that it's almost October, it's about time we get more than just a hint of cool weather!

A rare headwind this morning (not much of one, though). Also the coolest morning by far this season at 55 degrees. Broke out the windbreaker. My legs were a little chilly in shorts. Should have perhaps the best weather EVAR for the ride home though- about 80 with a tailwind.

65F, MUGGY. Apparently this should be a pineapple express but the moisture is too low in the atmosphere to rain, so it's just oppressive humidity.

Last night for the ride home the temperature was an incredible 27C/81F, such a nice treat after such a miserable couple of weeks. I didn't even really mind the headwind I had most of the way.

This morning, a pleasant 12C/54F, calm, dark, and raining. Got soaked.

Sluggish ride in this morning while trying out a new Smartwool baselayer I picked up last weekend for $10. I was way overdressed for a 15C ride and just overheated on the way in. As a bonus though, that base layer is nice and warm and doesn't snag on the bike. Plus my Garmin 305 is working again. Now I just have to seal the case! :)

I wimped out today too. I was tired, my gear got wet yesterday and it hadn't dried yet this morning. Strangely enought my excuse to not to ride was thinking myself, "I can't possibly ride in with wet gloves in this downpour." So I drove the car instead. :(

Rode my 20 km to work. Cloudy, roads wet from night before. Guy in white car speeds up as I am making a right turn, then turns the corner around me. Not cutting me off but coming close. I thought he could have exercised more patience for me to clear the corner before speeding up. I yelled at him.

As I am making my way up the big ass hill from Marine Drive to 41st heading north on Cambie Street, this guy riding a 49cc gasoline-powered scooter (you can ride these with just a class 5 car driving license. No motorcycle license required) passes me pootling along the bike lane.

Did not wear any lycra today. Two layers of t-shirts and generic polyester shorts.

This morning was cool and nice, about 52. I had a nice ride in but it took me about 10 extra minutes this morning. I really dont know why. I guess I was lollygagging (sp?).

Wow, was it a provincial "Wimp Out Day" in Ontario today? :)

well everyone i feel so happy to tell you that today i did not wimp out!! but only because i dont have a car and that means me not going to work and boss's get mad! it got cooler outside in JC today which was fantastic to ride in! this morning was a little on the wet and dark side but for some reason i blasted up those hills like no other and now about to grab a backpack full of cloths and ride to the laundromatt to get some cleansies. GO BIKING!

Going to be hot on the way home tonight: 101F. Summer has finally arrived in NorCal, only 3 months late.

I took Monday as my car day since it was raining. Still trying to wrestle fenders onto my bike. With mechanical things, if I walk away and think about it for a while, I come up with more ideas. So a new plan has formed. Hopefully it'll work. Looks like I've got a good stretch of clear days ahead to work it out. Meanwhile, I did get to ride in today. Finally, it's cool. 55 degrees this morning. Debated tights over my shorts and ended up sticking with shorts, jersey & jacket which turned out to be comfortable. It's nice not getting all that sweaty. Looks like I'm going to need a head covering soon. My ears were a little cold even this morning.

It must be! LOL

The worst part is that, as usual, the weather forecast was wrong; it's been warming up (around 21°C right now) and the sky is clearing.

Yeah... we're not hardened like you Prairie boys! Don't worry, though; when the freezing rain comes we'll still be riding on our studs and passing all sorts of 4-wheeled forms of transportation that are slipping and sliding all over the place. :thumb:

35F and sunny on the way to class yesterday, 45F on the way home. Wrong gloves, cold fingers. I guess that this late spate of warm September weather is officially at an end.

Today, 33F and cloudy. Lack of sun and little bit of wind made it feel 10 degrees colder than yesterday. Right gloves, warm digits. Hope warms up a bit before I head home.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/...86cb704a_z.jpg

Took a pic of the first termination dust on Chugach this year while coming home from the library late Sunday. Get your hats, winter's a-comin'.

Eh, I'm not so tough; I've wimped out plenty of times myself. And I don't even anticipate riding much this winter. I just thought it was amusing that three of you from the same general area of the country all wimped out on the same day.

One thing I've learned, though, in the past year and a half of cycle-commuting: I've almost never regretted riding my bike, even in crummy weather; I can't say the same thing about taking the bus.

Absolutely beautiful ride home. 20 some degrees cooler than last week. Sweet.