Moderately?! I rode in to downtown from North Van at 6:45 (admittedly it's always rainier there) and today was definitely one of my top five wettest commutes.

I rode through one puddle that was deep enough to fully submerge my feet on the downstrokes.

I still wore shorts, actually, and I wasn't the only one.

Looks like I'm going to test out my new fenders on the way home today... blech. Oh well, can't always have sunshine and roses.

I was about to tell you how it was just a shower, but La Bicicletta just twittered it's coming down hard and tonights ride is cancelled. I still have to come down Burnaby Mountain to get home! Hope my brakes work....

I almost expected to see some other Vancouverites complaining on here, and sure enough they're here. At least you weren't me this morning: I have a brand new rim sitting at home, laced up and ready to go, but I figured I'd get one more day of wet weather abuse out of my concave rim with about 10K km's of bad weather commuting on it. Sure enough, rim sidewall gave out today, putting a hole in my tire, and leaving me stranded on the first really wet day in a couple months. I made the call of shame to get a coworker to pick me up. Now, instead of just needing to replace a rim, I need a rim, a tire, and I owe somebody favour! I think I outgrew my fascination with milking every last day of functionality out of old parts today.

What foul luck! You're entitled to complain, I'm not. Actually I really enjoyed the change.

Ha, thanks. I was enjoying the climatic adversity too until the big bang.

...was when I got home, and my little girl came toddling to the back door yelling, "HI! HI! HI! DADDY! HI! DADDY! HI! HI!"

Of course, she wasn't interested in me as much as my "toys":

stew - That little girl looks like she has the makings of a great cyclist.

Today was actually a lot nicer than the past few days... hoping we get some better weather as I usually don't wear pants until the end of October.

Sorry to hear about the crappy weather up North. I spend the winter months dreaming of wearing shorts and Ts again, and when it comes, it goes all too quickly, and soon we are dressed up to do battle with winter.

Today was another nice ride in, but the afternoon shadows are starting to reflect the lowering sun.

You got to love them at this age.

This morning the commute was great! Weather was about 65f when I left the house and calm. I haven't been able to commute as much as I would like since I've had one or both of my co-workers out of the office over the last week. One of us needs to be here, with a car, in case we need to run to the datacenter. It's about 20 miles (one way) from the office.

The ride this morning really seems to have helped clear my ongoing crummy mood. Hopefully that trend will continue on the commute home tonight.

I had to go out of town for a couple days but didn't want to miss my commute -- so I rode to work on Monday, left my bike in the office overnight, and rode home yesterday. Still got in two commutes, although my mileage was like one. I'm back on my touring bike for now after a fun couple of months commuting on my Merckx Corsa. It's getting dark enough in the mornings where I want my best lights, which are mounted on my tourer. I'm debating swapping them over to the Merckx, so I can keep riding it until the weather gets cold and I have to start carrying more gear.

22C/72F for me this morning down here in beautiful tropical Vermont. Humid, too. Yuck. Yesterday after I got home (~4:30PM) it was over 90F/32C. At 8:30PM it was still 88F/31C. Brutal.

Yet, outside our bedroom window, a young maple is changing colors. The trees know what's coming!

Terrible.

I drove.

Yuck.

Sorry to hear it... but things happen.

I got "wolf whistled" yesterday by the opposite sex for the first time... That was funny. Missed the rain 2 days in a row, no complaints here!

we had rain here in chicago this morning, and the forecast calls for more rain all day going into this evening. so i took the train to work. booooooooooooooooooooooooo!

it was the first time in over a month that i haven't biked to work.

i miss my bike already. though to make up for it, i brought along David Herlihy's "Bicycle: the history" for reading material on the train. if i can't ride a bike, i'm at least gonna read about them, dammit!

This morning's temp was a more respectable 7C/45F. Apparently, today is the first day of school in Edmonton, but I rode through the school zones before any of the holy terrors (and their children) showed up.

Another slow ride in good ole knee wont stop hurting, ran into a drizzle half way to work. But otherwise it was a nice morning prob. gonna be a humid day but not bad about 55f

A tough day at work left me pretty zapped yesterday, so I took the ride home at a more relaxed pace than usual. Still good stress relief and nice to be out. Oddly, I think that the same guy that was behind me on the way to work yesterday morning ended up following me on the MUP again in the evening.

The heat is back now, though it looks like it should be cooler again starting this weekend. Not looking forward to today's forecast 96F/36C afternoon temps. Glad fall is almost here. Call me sick, but I think my favorite month to ride is November. Those 40F mornings are something special. Had a nice ride in this AM, too.

All the commutes in this week so far have been preceded by me watching the preceding day's Vuelta a Espana action on the DVR, which has made for some cycle-tastic mornings... an hour of the Vuelta (with some fast forwarding) and a thrity minute bike commute. Very nice way to spend the morning before getting to work...

57F, partly sunny, damp as all get-out (definitely time to put the fenders back on)

Yesterday's atrociousness has passed off leaving blue sky, damp roads and wispy clouds behind it. Very pleasant ride this morning, once I broke the shackles of my hangover.

So its 20 km door-to-door and usually takes me 51 mins. 29 seconds which is an average of 23.3 km/h (the long uphill from Kent Ave. to Kind Edward Ave in Vancouver is a killer). Last night after I put my daughter to sleep, I switched my bicycle gear from 66 gear inches to 62 gear inches (yes, its a singlespeed freewheeling bike). This lowers the gear and makes it slightly easier to climb uphill although speed on the flats is reduced. This has the effect of increasing my cadence.

I woke up early this morning before the alarm rang and had 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 2 pears with a cup of coffee for breakfast before heading out. The higher cadence meant my legs felt "light" most of the time. Climbing inclines, I did not feel as if I was going as fast as before because I did not feel as much resistance.

Contrary to my expectations with a lower gear, it took me 49 minutes 15 seconds door-to-door this morning which amounts to a reduction of 133 seconds (2 minutes 13 seconds) or an improvement of 4.3%. This is a fairly notable gain.

For my commute with includes a fairly long portion uphill, I am 4.3% faster spinning a lower gear of 62 inches and averaged 24.4 km/h (roughly 1.1 km/h faster average). I don't know how much of this to attribute to the fairing. A fairing generally helps one of several ways:

- maintain a given speed with less effort
- achieve a higher speed with the same effort
- increase rider comfort

Since I don't have multiple gears, I am unable to go faster on the flats to raise my average speed on the flats than what I can spin with 62. The gains must be coming from the uphills portions of the ride. I also note that 62 gear inches allows me to accelerate more rapidly from traffic lights and reach my cruising cadence sooner. 100 rpm equals 18.4 mph (29.6 km/h).

So there you have it. Lowering a gear and spinning yields a faster time than mashing - even with a fairing. Its also less stress for your connective tissues. Of course, one individual's experience does not a principle make. Your mileage may vary.

To top it off, when I got downtown my local cycling coalition was out with coffee and advocacy surveys. So I stopped and did my part.

Ride into Arlington, VA was great this morning. I did see Lance wannabe adjusting his bike in the middle of the Custis trail, which was dumb of him. Oh well, whatever. I am not looking forward to the 95+ degree weather going home, though...

Rode the fixed gear to work today. I need to do some steady-state intervals on the way home tonight and I like the fact that the FG forces me to spin out of my comfort zone.