I'm having a heck of a run with flats these days. Woke up to another flat tire this morning, changed it, and then the valve stem tore as I finished pumping the tire. Changed it again and need to stop by Canadian Tire on the way home. Good thing I figured out how to get there on my long ride home last night. Nice short commute today otherwise. I'm making good time these days.

50F and gray. Biking over to give blood at lunchtime.

Felt a little sluggish today, and the commute took a couple minutes longer than usual. However, I did clock my 1000th commute mile for 2010 on the way in today.

The ride in was great today. Last night I put on my first bullhorn handlebar (Easton aluminum Delta Force with Tektro RX 4.1 brake levers) and tested it out this morning (love it). I took my favorite route to work (1300 West in Salt Lake City, little traffic and wide shoulders) and discovered that it was blocked off, sidewalks included, about halfway through, where concrete was being poured and road repairs were being done. A construction worker saw me and walked me through the work area so I wouldn't have to take a detour, which was pretty swell of him. I love the new horns and plan on taking the long way home today.

Do you check your tire and wheel for sharp things before putting the tube in, or are you just having bad luck with different punctures?

I had the innards of a presta valve shoot out of the stem once after I fixed a flat. That was not my day.

Overslept and had to drive, kinda funny since I was up late working on my bike so I could ride it in. Oh well, least it is fixed.

I had that happen last weekend when I was adding some air to the tires after doing some other maintenance. Kinda surprised me, because I didn't realize that the tubes I've been picking up for $4 new at the bike co-op had removable valve cores. Now I know, I've tightened up the cores and have been a little extra careful to make sure that only the very tip on the valve gets unscrewed the last couple times I've topped off the air in the tires.

A very nice ride in this morning. I did have an interesting happening while cutting through the local college today. Normally, the campus police in the
front and back parking lots, and they never bother me on way through the campus. Today however they did follow me out throught the campus, rather
strange. Headiing out now, looks great out.

Worst Commute Ever!

90ish degrees, 71% humidity. Wind out of the north, making all of my climbs into the wind.
And then...... The Crash.....

So here's the story. I was a half mile from home in the neighborhood behind my house. It's still under construction, and so it doesn't have the top coat of pavement in place yet.
I was doing about 18 miles an hour, when an oncoming car swerves to his left across the center line to avoid a parked car.

This forced me to swerve to the right or get hit head on. When I went to the right, my tires hit the 1-2" lip between the unfinished road, and the shoulder. The tires stopped going to the right, but my body didn't.

I managed to get my foot... out of the right SPD pedal which saved me from some wicked road rash, but left me with a very sprained ankle instead.

My left knee must have gone over the handle bars as it's got a good abrasion on it, and the headlight on the bike is all twisted. And the bar tape under the right brake handle got chewed up. No other injuries which is good I guess

The driver who nearly hit me didn't even slow down. As I was finally getting back up, and moving around another person from my neighborhood came by and stopped to see if I was ok. I thanked her, but said I'd be fine. I was only 2-3 blocks (was a half mile) from home.

Here's a photo I took on my phone while in the ER waiting to find out if I broke anything


Guess I'll be driving for a week or two.

Ahhhh bad luck Absenth. I'm glad though that you're basically ok. Really sucks that the driver didn't even stop. Good news that you were close to home and that you got yourself checked out in the ER.

Hope your healing time goes by fast and you're back in the saddle real soon.

Oh wow, after reading the above, my commute was basically uneventful except I got my first honk from a motorist. I obviously wasn't pedaling fast enought even though I was on the extreme right hand side of the street. She had more than enough room to pass but she wouldn't pass me but obviously wanted me to hurry up.

I didn't. I gnored her. When she honked I was about to make a right turn and I sure wasn't going to speed up while making a turn. I guess she didn't see my signal or just plain ignored it. My guess is #2.

Just got back from my 3-mile commute in pouring rain, not a single spot of my clothes remained dry. The highlight was riding through 8" of water on the road. Thankfully I love riding in the rain and that's not sarcasm

Some *blankity blank* tried to kill me with his SUV.. even though I was going at least 30mph.. floored it with about 3 inches to spare so he could beat me to a red light a half a block away. I still won because he had to stop behind other cars. I wish I could've socked him in the jaw..

Absenth - here's to a quick recovery.

For the last two days it looks like many had a bad ride in. Car drivers do need to get used to bicycles on the road, unfortunatley we have to be the trainers, as we are the ones out there now. I don't know how many times I have used the right turn hand signal, left hand turned up, but few
ever understand what the signal means. But that is ok, because they usually just sit there until I make my turn. It was a good ride in, and the weather is staying good. This is a good thing, since I am riding up to Baltimore on Saturday evening for a Manchester United vs. Milan game.

Had another one stop to let me turn left in front of her yesterday.

Also yesterday, I had an interesting interaction with a beat-up Subaru Outback on the road, too. I was coming to a red light with 3 or 4 cars stopped. Braking from ~20MPH. Outback woman decides she just can't be behind me. Speeds around me, cuts me off to get back fully into the lane, and brakes hard to avoid rear-ending the stopped cars. I purposely got so close to her back bumper that if I straightened out my bars, my tire would hit it. Then I leaned down over the bars and glared at her in her mirror. She was pretending to be interested in something else, of course.

As it happened all the cars ahead of her were turning right. When the light turned green, the delay caused by the turners gave me the time I needed to pass the Outback (on her left) and get back into the lane ahead of her. Vengeance was mine!

This morning... A bit humid, low 70s, overcast with an angry-looking sky. Hardly any cyclists out.

Warm and humid, at least for around here (17C/88%). Probably would seem cool and dry to some of you.

Get well soon, Absenth!

Uneventful ride in this AM. After work, I'm heading to Arlington Cinema and Draft House to catch (hopefully) Chasing Legends (the pro cycling documentary currently touring the country before a wider release from what I understand). Online tickets were sold out by the time I went to order yesterday, so I'm hoping they'll have enough left at the door that I can ge tmy hands on one. If not, then I'll just go for a nice long bike ride instead, so it's really not so bad either way.

It's just bad luck with different punctures. I need to ride further out in the wheel tracks and avoid the old abandoned bike paths. I've been exploring lately and some of the old bike paths have become abandoned minefields of broken glass. I keep looking at a set of Mr Tuffys, but they just seem like fixing the problem from the wrong end.

52F, grey. Really fast ride today.

Yesterday on the ride home I took an alternate long route. It ended up having a pretty steep hill compared to the more-southward road I normally take in that part of town (Midvale). There also were no shoulders, crappy-or-nonextant sidewalks, and lots of cars, so I don't think I'll be taking that route again.

I got a late start this morning, and so it was hotter than usual, with the ramification that I was a little sweatier than usual getting in to work. Rinsed my face off in the bathroom, but there are no showers or anything here. Luckily I don't sit close to anyone in my office .

I've got another alternate long route planned for this evening (trying to increase my daily bicycle mileage), comprising parts of my normal route and parts of routes that I take for recreational rides, so I'm familiar with them and looking forward to a pleasant ride in this evening.

Thanks everyone for wishing me a speedy recovery.

Dr. tells me I need to stay off the leg for 2-4 weeks using crutches. And I shouldn't get on the bike until mid September. He said at that I should be taking it easy on the bike through August.

Looks like the Hilly Hundred is out. I don't stand a chance of completing that in early October now.

Sorry to hear about your accident!

Forget the race, I'm wondering if you'll still make your mileage goal this year.

Did you leave out the "least" in "he said at least that I should...."?



My commute was wonderful this morning. Nice and rainy

Real fun ride home. I did a little single track riding, and there was a gnarly headwind but it didn't bother me much. I noticed something was shadowing me far behind, but not getting any closer. I got to a high traffic location and slowed up, following a couple. The woman was... easy to ride behind.


The thing I saw behind me pulled up behind us. A bona fide roadie! I let him pass, and weave through some traffic, then I let things clear up and gave chase. Jeez he was fast. I caught him but he made me breathe hard. Jerk! We climbed a short hill and I hung with him. He had pretty meaty legs, but so do I. He checked his mirror, signaled a left turn, and we split up.

Sometimes I think I need a bike that doesn't weigh 35 pounds.

The town is repaving a section of road that has needed it for the last several years. On the way to work, they were grinding off the old asphalt and had cones set up to designate "lanes." I took the lane where normally I wouldn't have and kept up with traffic, so all was cool. Love the sound of gravel and small stones that my tires pick up zing through the fenders before getting kicked out in front of me. On the way home the removal of the old surface had been completed, but the new roadway has not yet been laid down, so all the cars were kicking up dust something fierce. Seemed like riding though a brown fog... pretty nasty. Despite riding with my mouth closed, I still got grit in my teeth and dust in my eyes. None the less, the sunset was enjoyable, some great colors this evening.