Hey.. I got robbed. All I got was the t-shirt! :lol:

Started with a little rain, but the sun came out. Had to split commute with the bus this morning after losing sleep watching th hockey game. Nice job Hurricanes; unfortunately for you I am a Penguins fan. :thumb: Anyway, thanks to Allison and gotriangle.org for arranging the free breakfast and swag to boot!! Nice talking with some local riders, though I don't think any of us ever said or asked names. Oh well, just remember to wave back while on the road. BTW: I was the big guy with the silly markings in his skin.

Welcome
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...21/BTWW1-1.jpg
Bikes
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...y321/btww2.jpg
Swag ... cha-ching!!!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...y321/btww3.jpg

I think I lost my crank brothers multi tool today... got to shut the seat pack after I use it in the future.

Nice commute in this morning. A little humid, but today is Bike to Work Day in Austin. Here are a few pictures.

I'm the geek in the hunter orange vest.

Dude. Beautiful morning. 51F & tailwind. Cool, clear, sunny, kids & wife saw me off. Really, mornings like today are the golden standard for bike commuting. I was running behind, took it easy, saw a light fog over the city as I came in and it was lit up by the sunrise. Sometimes I take for granted how beautiful downtown Pittsburgh can be. Decided to stop by Market Square to get some free eats. Decent amount of cyclists. Didn't see anyone going my way on the way in, probably because I was so behind, but saw the same dude I usually see coming the opposite direction. Look forward to the ride home if it's as beautiful as this morning, I actually had to wear shades.

"i had a massage last night so my muscles felt rejuvenated"

+1 on the massage. I also recommend warm baths. They're not just for women you know. Sometimes, if I'm sore, after my shower, I'll make a hot/warm bath and soak my legs with epsom salt for at least 20 minutes. After a long ride a bath is quite amazing. Great to help prevent or treat saddles sores too! :thumb:

Rode to a bike-to-work rally point at a local mall. It was a good turn out, we were given some goodies, t-shirts, water bottle and other stuff, of which we have so much. The temp was great
70 F ( 21 C), and no wind. It was cloudy and overcast, but with these temps, who cares. It is
supposed to rain later, which is fine. I took a very long route to work with a group of people
going to a similar area. The group chose paths and trails, which are ok, but they use up allot
of time. I will be going back on the roads, competing with friday afternoon traffic rushing to
get home.

Hey that's at Freewheeling! You must have been there early, there were lots of people when I was there.

Great morning for a ride! I decided to take full advantage of Bike to Work day since I have never lived anywhere where biking to work is celebrated before. I made 4 breakfast stops and had fun chatting, eating, and taking pictures at each one, probably won't even eat lunch today after 4 breakfasts! I don't have a cord for my camera here, so I'll have to post the pics next week. Hope everyone else's Bike to work day is as much fun as mine!

Yeah, I got there at like 7:10. There were three cyclists there (inlcuding myself); one of them was a city councilmember, but I can't remember which one. Those tacos they had there were AWESOME!

Was 2 hours late riding in cause bike to work day. Stopped down town on the circle, talked to people then finally went to work. Got there I got sent on a mission I needed my pickup for. So I hopped back on my bike and rode 14 miles back home, 2 minutes off my fastest time of the year. I was not really pushing it. Maybe it was the traffic.

ah yes, the epsom salt
i was just reading about epsom baths the other day...good to know
i like cold showers after an intense ride, feels amazing
actually, i have been ending all my morning showers with ice cold water for about 5 minutes or so

40F and sunny. Bike-to-work-day + 1st sunshine in ages = lots of bike traffic today, pretty cool.

the ride home last night was a little cold. i had the gear to protect me so it was not too bad. can't wait to ride in today!

Yesterday was a rain ride, but it was a warm rain so I enjoyed it muchly. The ride home was unremarkable. The ride in this morning was also fairly unremarkable, except that it was preceded by a good chain lube session to quiet the machine after yesterday's slog. Hopefully tonight's ride home will involve a stop at the LBS to pick up the new back wheel for my road bike so I can go have some fun tonight.

Great weather this morning.

I hit my 50th commuting mile this morning. woot.

Pleasant ride in, 59F and hardly any breeze. As expected, rain has hit the area and will likely remain for trip home. In anticipation I wore my lawn-mowing shoes and old orthotics, and a windbreaker instead of a long sleeved T. Hat with brim ready to keep rain from face. Life is good.

Dude! I should have introduced myself. I was the guy in the hi-viz long sleeve jersey. We were standing and facing each other most of the time I was there.

In addition to the free food and the good company, the BtWW breakfast also gave me a great idea. One of the guys there had a waist pack that was ideal for my commute. The model he had isn't made anymore, but the same company makes a similar model now:

http://www.ospreypacks.com/detail.ph...ab=description

I currently ride wearing a full backpack, but I'm not crazy about the reduced visibility (it covers my hi-viz jerseys) and I'm not looking forward to having a backpack when the temps here get to the upper 90s. Since all I carry on a typical day is my lunch (an Ensure, a banana, a yogurt, and maybe another snack) and my cell, wallet, and keys, I think a pack like this would work well for me.

Rained every day this week. I don't mind it really. Kind of peaceful in the rain. Very few commuters and nobody walking on the bike paths.

Next month is bike to work month here in Switzerland. Companies form teams of 4 people and the goal is to commute by bike as often as you can. There are prizes at the end. It'll be fun. The last time I drove to work was some snowy day in January.

Awesome day for BTW, and I convinced my wife to ride with me. She had about 3 miles farther to go, into DC. Just called her to rendevous and bike home later, and she said she's going to do this again. WIN!

Today good, Yesterday bad. Two flats. Front tire on the way in and rear tire on the ride home. Bought new tires today. Continental ultra gatorskins in case anyone has any comments on them.

No ride today. I had to run some errands before work and wimped out.

It was a spectacular ride in today
Today, I took the longer commute in. Normally I have about a 12 mile ride with a lot of it climbing up into the mountains to get to work. Today I took a different route; it is about 18 miles and starts with about 10 miles of very steep narrow climbing.
After that the route rewards you with a wickedly fast, steep, technical down hill that has close to 100 changes of direction in about 4 ½ miles. Here is a shot looking down at the beginning of the down hill part, it is not very steep at this point.
http://rad.smugmug.com/photos/56367170_MnYi4-L.jpg
That is followed by a few more miles of rolling hills then I’m at my office.

wet, but it was nice to ride in a spring rain.

I rode an extra 4 miles to be with the BTW group, but there were only about 10 people. Kinda dissapointing, given that they say there were 4000 total in town. Nice morning, but just before I started home a storm came in with 40mph winds, heavy rain, etc. I hid out in a bus shelter until it passed and rode home in the sun on wet roads. Pretty good day altogether.

beautiful picture Con! Looks like a nice ride.

My commute today was an evening commute- I didn't have to be in until 6:30pm. So I did a 41 mile loop on my road bike before I had to head downtown. It was a gorgeous day and I rode pretty hard doing the 40 miles in 2:05 and given the number of stop signs and lights on the route that's a good run for me.

As I waited at one light about 8 miles from the end of the ride another rider pulled up behind me and we rode the next 4 miles at a good pace. I'd pulled away from the light pretty quickly and it's a slow climb out of there and as I crested I noticed him on my wheel- not something I normally appreciate but we'd exchanged hello's at the light and he was riding smooth and well so I was less annoyed than I might otherwise have been. He came around me on the descent and I asked if I could sit in and off we went.

Turned it he was a real good rider and it was a pleasure to power along with him. We split off and I finished up, took a shower, changed into street clothes, jumped on the commuter and headed downtown.

It was on the MUP that I had an almost opposite experience. About 1/2 way in I noticed a rider hammering along in too high a gear, weaving in and out of the walkers and joggers and ringing his bell like a maniac who just stole an ice cream truck. Unfortunately, he was going just a mile or two slower than I was so I was slowly gaining on him and since I was running a bit late I couldn't really afford to hold back and so it meant I would have to pass him. I knew it would be ugly.:rolleyes:

Just before I caught up to him he had just startled yet another pedestrian cutting way too close. Part of me wanted to get by him because he was such an embarrassment with that stupid bell. I use a bell but far more judiciously. As I approached I gave a light ding to my bell and went round him. There was a short quick rise after I passed and that allowed me to leave him a bit more in my dust but sure enough, as I suspected, I could hear him pounding away to catch up.

I rode as smoothly as possible. Nice straight line. Politely moving around joggers etc. but I could hear him like a bull in a china shop behind me. As I approached one of the few intersections on the MUP (at the Harvard Bridge) I slowed a bit for some pedestrians and in order to negotiate my cross when suddenly I realize he has jumped the curb and is scrambling up the road against traffic in order to cut me off as I'm crossing the road. Given we're both aiming for the same curb cut I found this particularly discourteous and gave him a look that let him know I would be going through first. This seemed to have snapped him to a bit but just to insure I wouldn't have to deal with him. I pushed just a bit harder to the next intersection. He seemed to have turned off somewhere or dropped dead or something but what pain in the butt!:notamused:

The ride home in the dark was lovely and I was on my own.:)

Good bike to work day in NOVA. Great weather, free t-shirts.

Nice wet ride home in steady light rain. A hot shower felt good afterward.

passed a gorgeous bike-girl on the way home going the other way... hope she's a commuter! :D rest of the ride had that James Blunt hit spinning through my head ;)

Bit of a cool start to the week (Bike to Work week 19 for this year, I think): 50/10 with some light winds out of the north. I think that's below average for the time of year--tomorrow's low is supposed to be close to a record.

I really like riding when it's like this, and I think this is my favorite time of year to commute. In the autumn I always seem to be thinking ahead to winter tights, glove liners, and balaclavas...