Did the road bike/backpack combination today because the wind forecast is 10-15 mph with gusts up to 30. The touring bike/panniers rig catches a lot of wind, so the road bike should be less of a struggle. Pleasant ride. Humidity is creeping up, though still much lower than typical. No issues with bike, body or traffic - No cars to drop this AM

Dry but the pavement was damp in places from rain last night. Low 60sF. I didn't feel like I had a lot of energy but I passed a couple of cyclists. Saw a couple more going the other way. A roadie pulled out in front of me (not hazardously) about 100 yards from my office. We exchanged nods.

Good ride in this morning....had an attractive blonde in a convertible slow down and check me out. She had a great smile.....I tried to catch up to get another glimpse, but alas, the hill was just too big and I had had too little caffeine for that early.

Happy July!
The ride this morning was misty but not like yesterday, my shoes didn't get as wet today. I had a clicking sound coming from my crank area/pedals before but I fixed it last night by greasing all of the chainring bolts and then tightening them down per Sheldon Brown's method, the click is gone!

It's going to be a glorious day when the sun returns. :thumb:

Cool and misty. Wonder why I get a slight squeak from the cranks when it's a little wet?

Hope rain holds off this afternoon - but getting wet on the way home is no big deal.

Cool today, Cool all week actually. Surprise rain on me this morning but still not a bad ride in.

Traffic was bad ;-)

2nd day of bike/bus commuting
 

Don't think I'll be riding the whole way home again tonight. I was drenched from head to toe in sweat last night. The trip to work is enjoyable. 1 mile to the bus stop, read a book for the rest of the 7 mile trip, then a quick 4 block ride to work downtown.

35 min for leg w/ soon-to-be 8 yr old (vs 32 yesterday, 48 twice last week, ~17 w/ trail-a-bike 3 times). 70 min door-to-door. My brakes picked up a heinous squeal between last night and this morning; the rear wheel I adjusted last night, but don't know why the front went off. Will spend lunch time working on my toeing in/out

Peaceful. 60Fs. New rig, just a pleasure to ride.

65*F and the weather forecast...gee what a surprise...RAIN AGAIN! I just don't care any more.

I've been so soaked over the last 2 weeks. I just keep rotating gear every 3 days so it drys out.

First day wearing one of my new wicking tees from Lands End. Pretty cool morning, so it was hard to tell how much of a difference it made, but it was noticable. I suppose I'll get a better sense this afternoon when I ride home, temps to be in the 80s. Comfortably cool for DC in mid-summer, though, so I can't compain.

One of these months, I'll manage to get a cheap rack and panniers to keep the backpack off my back. Probably just in time for cooler weather when it won't matter so much. No, that's being overly optimistic. I'm thinking Christmas... :-/

Wicking tees are ideal for summer months, I always wear them when I ride to work. Wicking underwear are also great.

Uneventful on the ride home. All the drivers were giving me plenty of room and I made very good time.

I was on my way to work by 6:25 this morning. It appears no one was scheduled to set up the seafood case, so instead of working 10-6, I worked 7-6. The commute in was fine- very little traffic. I saw a white Hummer pull out of a street ahead of me and it went straight to the gas station, lol. Around 3 a thunderstorm rolled in. Day became night:O It had tapered off by quitting time, however. I suited up to ride home, walked out on the sales floor wearing my helmet, rain jacket, and cleats- a coworker said to me, "You put your helmet on and you're not even outside yet? People are going to think you ride on the short bus!" I just had to laugh- it's those endorphins, I tell you!

Tough ride home yesterday - stiff headwind, something jammed in right cleat made it difficult to unclip, So I almost fell over at a stoplight. Rear rim was rubbing on brake hard - it's a newly built rim and seems as if some of the spokes loosen up as I ride - very annoying! To top it off, front tire developed a bulge in it, so the last several miles was thumpty, thumpty, thumping me home. When I got home I couldn't find what was wrong with the cleat. The casing inside the front tire had some torn threads right where the bulge was, so I replaced front tire. Marked the offending spokes on rear rim with a dot of paint, then tightened them up until rim was more or less true. Need to take rim in to LBS to complain about the loosening spokes.
Thankfully the ride in this AM was much more pleasant.

Good ride in this morning. Nice and cool. Very little traffic. Perfect!

3 days in a row now I've come up behind roadies and when they notice a big heavy MTB Clydesdale behind them, they seem to want to try to go faster. This morning I had a nice easy ride between 16 and 20MPH, depending on whether the guy in front tried to sprint. :p

It's a bit humid. Mid 60sF. Very light headwind. A very cute young woman riding the other way on an MTB smiled at me. She was all decked out. Lycra, clipless, etc. Riding on the dirt track next to the MUP, too. Actually there were two other cuties running, too. Summer FTW! ;)

RAIN...STILL!! I've just resolved myself to the fact I getting soaked. And drivers sure get dumber in the rain, have seen more blown off red lights, having to riding a lot more cautious.

But rain water just freshens the face and bus fumes make such a excellent exfoliant ;)

Caught up with a commuter at a stoplight on the ride in today. Got to chat with another commuter! Only the second time in 3 years that that has happened. While riding I imagined what it would be like if the bike lane was filled with commuters. Better health for lots, less pollution, less fuel use. Big upside.

The 5 am traffic was about like the 6 am traffic usually, very heavy for the time of day. Pretty windy this morning too, did not get to listen to the birds and stuff as much. One bird did land about 10 foot in front of me while I was going about 20 mph. It was dark still and it landed right in my light, but flew off before I hit it. Kinda woke me up.

The train ahead of my usual train (an express to Newark) broke down, so I was suddenly on a local train. Knowing I would miss my connection in Newark, I got off in Elizabeth and rode to work from there.

This is the fastest way for me to get to work, but there are two reasons I don't normally do this. (1) Most trains don't stop in Elizabeth, and (2) the traffic on Morris Avenue during rush hour is scary.

However, this will undoubtedly happen again at some point. l'll keep this route in my handlebar bag, even though it's twice as long.

Same old same ol'.

Getting hot & humid in the mornings.

Another bike/bus morning
 

Rode the bike/bus route home last night, much better than riding all the way. This will probably be my last week of commuting without a car for a while. I might do it once a week or so. I think if I ever do it again, I'll get a cheap rear rack and bag setup instead of carrying around a backpack.

Commuted by car this morning, it was just too wet out. I may need to install the full fenders on the steamroller soon, I guess I need to use P-clips since the frame doesn't have eyelets. Does anyone have any experience with P-clips?

Another great morning ride from the cool, breezy base of the mountains to the still, warm valley floor. It still amazes me - I love it! Left the house at the usual 6:30 AM departure time and was parking the bike at 7:10. Had to vary my route a bit due to road construction on my ususal route.
I saw numerous female joggers out this morning - Summetime FTW, indeed.

Nice ride. It's warming up enough that my 0-body fat almost 8 yr old isn't wearing a sweatshirt for his 4 mile ride to camp anymore.

Bailed on the morning training ride to catch some zzzz's.

I left work early and had a real nice ride home. It was cool and the ride was going faster than usual. Within a mile of my home I cut through three parking lots to avoid some very busy highway. Well today I just had this feeling when i hit the first parking lot. I was watching for anything moving and uneventfully made it through the first lot. As I was going through the second lot an SUV came flying into the parking lot from the highway and tried to cut around me as I was passing the enterance way. I stopped very quickly and missed her. I waited for her to pass then, as she was going by, I was standing on my left SPD and had just snapped in my right, just started to move a second car came in. He was looking at the SUV, he seen me stopped and just drove right in the way. I was standing on my left pedal, could not let go of my brakes, and my right foot snapped in just as I seen the guy. This bike is brand new so I am still struggling snapping out sometimes and this time I almost got my foot out, but not quiet. The second car was right in front of me, had no idea what was going on as I fell over. I made a conscience decision to fall to the left so I did not screw up my derailer. I was pretty po'd at somebody. I got up and tried not to look aroound to see if anyone was looking.

The second guy pulled into a parking spot and parked about 10 yards away. I wanted to yell at someone but as I rode over to the guy. He is a 5 foot something short bald guy who seemd to have a hard time walking. he came to the back of the car and before I could yell at him he asked me if he caused me to fall over if I was all right. He thought he might of hit me.

Damn, I hate really nice people. I explained to him we snap in and it takes a few seconds to snap out again. I feel over because I could not snap out. He still looked very concerned he might have hurt me or my bike. I told him i just did not expect him and I could not snap out in time but I was fine.

He shook my hand and said he was glad I was alright. And for me to be careful.

I think all I did was scratch my brifter a little and my left knee about the same. I rode home without further incident.

The big thing was I just knew something was going to happen. Kinda weird.

Hooboy was it hot riding home.... 100+. And it'll only be getting hotter. It's not affecting too badly though.