This morning was a good one. Sunny and low 60s F.

Motorists were polite. Stopped and picked up some groceries including goodies for the kids. That always assures me a warm welcome.

I lost my game of "Dodge the Showers." No, I didn't get wet. I let a little lightning this morning scare me off the bike. It looked like rain was approaching on the radar, so I checked outside and there was a single flash of lightning, so I didn't ride. By the time I left the house in the car, it still hadn't starting raining yet and the intense shower areas on the radar had weakened to simple rain. In short- I should have ridden. I was kicking myself mentally the whole drive into work.

Very nice, as usual. No incidents this morning.

Back to work today after being on vacation for 2 weeks.
I am a married man now!
I spent some time with the Mrs in VT and I got to do some riding on the long open roads along Lake Champlain, it was beautiful. It's good to be back.

75F, but I'm driving today to take the 2 kids in opposite directions and so my wife doesn't push heat exhaustion to heat stroke biking our 4 yr old back up the hill at the end of the day today.

HH&H plus a t-storm forecasted for this afternoon. Yay. No point in trying to not get wet so I packed shorts and rode in sandals. I was the vision of a horrific fashion disaster the likes of which tv makeover shows get made.

At about 5km into my commute I realized I had forgotten my keys. I was planning on putting on some extra k this morning so I figgured what the heck, I'll just put on a few more extra k and arrive later and let someone else unlock the doors. I ended up putting about 30km extra and arriving about 20minutes late. Someone had opened the shop and the bay door was even rolled up so I rolled right in.

I will be posting my usual recap of July's daily commute on the 31st but yesterday, (Tuesday), I took the day off work and drove the 100 plus kilometers to ZM Cycle in Toronto. The dealer, (Ziggy), had an aging Marinoni VR2 with Chorus group in my size so I brought along my gear and pedals to try it out. I rode in the quiet neighborhood of Dufferin and Eglinton area and I am truly jealous of how bicycle friendly the streets are. There was a little garbage pilled here and there because of the City workers strike but overall the bike lanes were clear and well marked. The many one-way streets allowed lots of room for traffic, parked cars and of coarse bicycle travel when there was no marked bicycle lanes. The drivers seemed very used to cyclists and gave me lots of room. My commute in the Kitchener-Waterloo area really shows how unfriendly it is in comparison to my brief Toronto exposure yesterday. I wonder if the area I was in was an exception or if the City of Toronto on whole has become this bike friendly?
BTW I was offered a deal on the bike that could not be refused. Then there were three.

doohickie.....yes, I've had that very experience. I suppose we all have.

I've learned my lesson, though. I rarely let weather scare me off. That'll cut my riding in half, or more.

Ride home was great...and hot. There was alittle more traffic than usual but it wasn't bad. I rode around the park before going home to make it an even 5 miles.
Ernest

Saw a road bike woman who went down in light rain at the bottom of a MUP hill where it turns fairly abruptly (where the Custis trail goes under 66, close to where it meets the WO&D). I see skinny-tired riders have problems with that place sometimes. She didn't unclip before she went down, which almost certainly contributed to the amount of road/bike rash on her pinned leg. But she was OK.

Nice ride this morning with a tail wind that gave me a nice 21mph ride in to work...Coming home was different..About 30 minutes be I left is started raining very hard so on with the DRI Duks..Cateye Velo5 crapped out on the way home..

Same place I went down a month or so ago. Tires catch that painted line and down you go..

There was a spot that our club rides regularly pass that was slick even in dry pavement. One guy even spray-painted a warning on the pavement. Someone else told the city and they went by and carved some grooves into that road at that corner. I thought that was pretty cool.

tonight; half Moon with just enough small clouds to make it even prettier. temp low 70s F. Polite, though fairly numerous autos. A good ride.

There is, however, a German Shepherd in the neighborhood who's always had it in for me. This isn't the first time he's tried to attack. But tonight I saw him when he was 30-40 feet or so away. He was coming at me in that head low, building up speed type of way. With just a bit of effort, I can develop a pretty good low baritone voice. I used that tonight and barked out a good, sharp "No!". It worked perfectly. He veered off with his tail between his legs. Maybe I'm imagining the "tail" part, but he definitely went from aggression to retreat.

A simple no, in the right tone of voice is something I might never have thought of by myself. It was a tip that I picked up here at Bike Forums. So thanks to BF and whoever posted that. It worked.

Dark as usual. There was lightning flashes overhead as I stepped out of the house. I raced to work taking the most direct route in order to beat the rain.
Darn! My route was blocked with road construction and large construction vehicles parked all over the place. I had to take the next street over. I got in with seconds to spare, big fat raindrops were already plopping all around me.
Ernest

I thought I was going to get rained on, but it had just stopped before I left. High 60sF and very high humidity. A little headwind.

I was in a downpour for the last few blocks yesterday evening. My gloves have been sitting out to dry, and were still soaking wet this morning.

Lightning and thunder this AM. No commute for me today.

Almost cold this morning.

This morning I had my first flat while bike commuting since I started in April 2007. That's not so bad considering that I've commuted close to 8,000 miles during that period. It took me about 12 minutes to fix the flat, and I was very careful to search the tire tread and removed several pieces of glass that probably cause the flat. It was a slow leak and I noticed it because my rear tire started feeling squishy.

I've had other flats during the past two years, but in the other cases my tires went flat overnight while my bike was sitting in the garage. I haven't had to fix a flat on the road until today. For some reason, I have noticed a lot of broken glass on local roads lately, I guess from slobs drinking more in summer and throwing their bottles out the window.

Lots of rain overnight but the streets were fairly dry this morning. Lots of debris on some streets and near the creeks. Only 50 degrees when I started out so had on my wool socks and long sleeve shirt under my jersey. Had to take that off after 10 miles. Had to break out the rear light for the first time since May <sigh>
Saw 4 other cyclists and one runner. Oh and I was doing 35 in the lane going down a hill where the speed limit is 35. No one else around until this minivan decides she has to go around me doing 45 or 50 about 2 blocks before my left turn. Whatever. Otherwise, very nice, thanks for asking

The ride home yesterday was warm and I was riding into a headwind all the way home so I got extra sweaty. I almost drove this morning, but hardly anything was falling from the sky so I went for it only to get caught in a shower about halfway through my route, it felt good though.
I listened to Jurassic 5 on the ride, it was fun.

Came in about an hour late today, nice ride. Too much daylight that late though, I like riding in in the dark.

The ride home yesterday was stepped up a notch from my usual steady pace. I passed a guy on an older bianchi road bike with a rack/pannier, gave a friendly 'hey' and a wave as I passed. He rolled up at the next light and we chatted a bit, mainly about timed lights and such. He mentioned that one of the notoriously long lights was actually timed (I always thought it was traffic-actuated - I'll have to look this afternoon) and could be beat if you hammered the 1/4 mile or so from the light we were sitting at. so, when the light changed, he started jamming and I followed suit, knowing that I needed to be careful not to blow up before the 700' climb home (and the 2 remaining rides in this week). Anyway, it's been a long time since I've hammered like that, and it felt good to push my quads a bit now that I've been back on the bike a few months.

We made the light.

Nice and cool this morning. Great ride in.

d'oh...rode the 10 miles in, forgot my lock, security wouldn't let me bring it in, rode all the way back home and got the car. Well at least it was a decent 20 mile workout.

I wasn't feeling too energetic today, not feeling well. So I had a nice relaxing pace into work, still faster than anyone not on a road race bike, in fact I didn't come across anyone faster than me today, maybe they were already at the office).

But it was one of the best rides I had.

Not only had I not been on the bike since last Friday (6 days ago) which obviously contributed, but since I wasn't in a hurry, I had time to enjoy things, look around, and wonder if it was about the bike, or about the ride. :thumb:

down to 65F this am but I have to say the biggest difference came from sleeping in the cellar rather than in the upstairs furnace I mean bedroom.

I feel a lot better right now, riding in today after taking yesterday off after 3 long hot days previously.

well gee I thought I'd report on my rainy day commute but everyone beat me to it. :p

5:30 am I opened garage door to head out... whoosh the clouds opened and dumped torrential rain on the road. I thought.. let's wait 5 minutes. I was planning on getting a head start today but nope not gonna happen. Waited for the worst of the jungle rain to subside and headed out. splish splash I was taking a bath. rainy rides can be fun. first rainy day trip on my new 700c/28's UltraGatorskin tires. Was very cautious as they are slick compared to my old 35's. No problem to report but looks like folks out on BF had a few problems with slippery roads.

One RxR track on route. Driver races around me as I was approaching the rails and slams on the brakes. lord am I lucky not to have rear ended them. Those tracks are bumpity bumpity and slick to boot. Grrrr....

Made it to work safe and sound if not soaked like a wet puppy but hey I volunteered for this.... :thumb:

Now my clothes are drying under my desk but will be soggy for the commute home this after noon. Oh joy 10+ miles in wet bibs and shoes. :cry:

From Wet'Lanta your early commuter at work.

It was about 102 degrees when I left the office yesterday and after riding about 2 miles I decided it would be much, much wiser to take the water taxi and cut out a couple miles of riding in blinding sun and up two hills. It felt like Arizona out there. At least the remaining two hills I had to climb were in the shade for the most part but I don't ever think I've ever sweated like that before. It was pretty bad. And muggy. And today if it hits 100 I'll do the same thing. Saw many cyclists using the ferry to cut out that portion of the commute too.