cooler in the mornings now. Gotta get the lights back on due to my early start. We barely had summer and now fall seems to be really close.

I THOUGHT I'D THROW THIS IN


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/...ee72d64c_b.jpg

TODAY WAS HOT! 84F, with High Humidty.

I normally drive in Monday morning, go pick up my bike at lunch, and ride home in the evening. However, due to lunch with the boss, that didn't work out today. So I drove home at 5:00, then drove my bike back up to work just so I could ride home again. I don't know if that counts as a commute, but it was nice. :)

I'm still sore from the Dairyland Dare and my commute today unveiled pains I wasn't aware of beforehand. Now I'm home though and feel better. I think another gentle recover ride is due tomorrow as I have the day off. Or maybe an easy day at the gym to loosen everything up.

Another nice ride in, 60 F ( 15 C). I saw 3 doe and 2 fawns in the dark. I probably would have ridden by without knowing they were there, but one of the fawns took off parralell to me, but pulled back when
it was clear no one else was following.

Dark as always. Great ride in! I rode the Dawes SST, I put on steeltrap platform pedals for the commute to work. I flew down Jefferson Blvd! If I still feel up to it after work, I'll ride through downtown and up to the North part of town.
Ernest

Warm and humid. Not too pleasant for a while after I got to work. Otherwise, a reasonably quick ride. Passed some cyclists. Saw a several more going the other way. People seem to come out earlier when it's hot.

Yesterday I soaked my jersey in water before leaving for home. I saw 91 on the cyclocomputer. :eek: 91 here is the southern equivalent of 10F. :D

Still a newbie at this -- commute #14. Started out with drizzle/rain and 70 degrees. Never made the conscious choice to start in the rain so circled around the block while making up my mind.... go or no go? I went. Realized after 10 miles that my work shoes were gonna be wet all day... oh well.

Cruising along this morning, enjoying the scenery, when I look down and a very large wasp is munching on my ankle. Andrenalin jolt! :eek:

Hot

I put my little fan under my desk to dry my sweaty clothes quicker.
It should be nice and humid for the ride home too.
It's healthy to perspire.

Chilly. 50 degrees (10C) at the house, a bit warmer in the sunny valley. It is getting noticeably darker.... I did not feel the sun on my back uintil the last couple of miles of the commute. The Wasatch Mountains cast a massive shadow across the valley, and the sun line is barely at downtown by 7:30 AM.

It looks like it will be warm again by friday, high near 100 (37-38C) with a return to the high 80's next week. I think the steady summer heat is beginning to waver as fall approaches.

wee bit annoying than usual. 1st ride of the work week...

- My seat stem came lose while descending! It's a lousy feeling when descending at >45km/h when the seat wobbles, then lowers itself to the seat tube. Had to stop. Obviously didn't tighten the screw enough. One of the casualty as the seat stem came crashing down the tube, it ripped the rear reflector off onto oncoming traffic. :(

1. Usual MUP was peppered with casual joggers, strollers, confused riders (both ways)... nearly got into an accident because cyclist in front of me veered towards.
2. Pedestrians and iPods! Grr... I think my thumb has developed a small blister by hitting the bell continously.
3. Road work that left a 3'X3' hole right on the entrance to MUP (from route). It's OK since it was marked by cones. But I was abit daring and tried to ride on a sliver of path instead of getting down. Obviously not my best day, hit one of the cones and my bike when nuts. Nearly became part of the local landscape.
4. And lastly, in my haste, I didn't adjust the seat height properly. I think it was a bit low. legs got tired much faster.... to the point at the last 100m or so towards my office, an older LADY over took me on a slight incline in a cruiser bike! :notamused:
5. The one good highlight was that I discovered an alternate path that I think dropped a few minutes off the commute. But alas, thanks to the above... I think I gained more than I loss in commuting times.

Here's to a better commute home.... :rolleyes:

Nice ride, 8 yr old navigated the construction site w/ ease.

Giving blood 2:30ish, expecting no meaningful ill effects for 12 mile ride home a couple hrs later.

The weather guy predicted rain this AM. Thought about not riding but I have not rode since last thursday. So anyway, I take off there was a break in the clouds directly overhead, but I could smell rain. I thought I would go a mile or two and watch for lighting. At the house the roads were dry but were wet in the first mile. No lighting so I kept riding. For most of my 13 mile ride the roads were so wet I got wet from the tire spray, but as far as I know I was not hit by a single raindrop from above. Very, very pleasant ride and everything smelled like it had just rained, caused it had.

This morning was tiring! I commuted on my new home brew style xtracycle. I left 20 minutes early and still got to work @ the same time, only more tired. The extra weight and the MTB gearing really slow down my ride. Oh well, it was worth it to see the looks its getting sitting outside locked up. :)

Got out the door 1 1/2hr late! My alarm clock wasn't being cooperative for some reason. Was only an hour late getting in though. Being PO'd shaved 10 minutes off of my usual time.....

eta- passed a guy on an x-mart MTB that had a gasoline motor on it (even gave him a friendly wave/nod). I was traveling at about 22-23 mph (see above about being PO'd) and happy to pass him because of the stink of the exhaust (and he was weaving in the bike lane).

He tried to get on right behind me (can you believe it?) but I continued pulling away. About a mile later I hear him increase the throttle and he finally passed me just so he could cut across three lanes to get in a LH turn lane.......

Near the top of a climb this morning, I turn a corner and come upon this:

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3...ag0030q.th.jpg

This one was a bull and there were two cows with him. They must have gotten loose from a nearby ranch.

Got stung by a bee, on the jaw bone just under my left ear lobe. Had to use my Epi-Pen. No anaphlaxis or other effects, but now my face and right thigh are sore. If I can avoid being stung on the way home tonight, I should be okay.

do you have another epi-pen for the ride home?

I have one at home. I think I should be okay. I'll be riding directly home and the chances of getting stung on city streets is pretty low (this morning's sting was along the river path where there are a lot more plants and bugs).

It's only 32C/89.6F, but the humidity is up there in the 80%+ range. Wasn't pushing it today, but that didn't keep the sweating under control. Just too hot, frankly not fun. Even started feeling a bit lightheaded.

ever have one of those days.........
 

that feels good but isn't?
I work for a comunity outreach organization, our main client base is what most would call bums. As such we have to be based in downtown. My daily ride takes me thru an area that makes most people uncomfortable at best. City council is trying to change this thru renewal projects, converting warehouses into desirable apts etc. there are 4 streets that i have to cross downtown that are alternating direction one way streets the best way I have found to scoot thru is on the covered alleys between streets. Usually there is little to no pedestrian traffic when i ride in. This morning was one of those mornings where everything felt PERFECT I am hitting a good (for me) average speed, I feel great no hassels from anything. Where i go between the center 2 of these 4 streets there is a small round table right in the middle of the walk. Both market and main are being restored to their original brick pavers so they are closed in those blocks. I.E. no cars, the down side is there as a 6 inch drop to the street fron the handicap ramps. When i went past this table there was one of our regulars and a well dressed man sitting and talking about of all things the price of a bag of pot. the better dressed man got up and came toward me in a a rather threating manner, my response was to stand on the pedals and get past fast as i could. when i reached the end of the covered walk way i was going way to fast to do anything but jump the drop to the street. Imagine my surprise at landing in front of a police cruiser on a closed street. My reaction probably looked comical to the officer because he did not chase me or call out. However I leaned into the car barely cleared it and wobbled off down the block LOL. about 2 hours later he came to talk to me at work about what i had witnessed in the alley. turns out the man was arrested by him with some quantity of drugs either on his person or in a car?? Unclear there. Mainly he was advising me to alter my route for awhile. I believe it is time to add some distance to the commute myself. this has to be the wierdest commute ever! Even beats the encounter with the amourous couple.

My Vega headlight seemed loose and wobbly, so I went to tighten it with a pair of pliers and snap! the black screwhead cracked, so I jerry-rigged it with a shoelace. It's a quick fix that survived tonight's ride home. Nice summer night, not a lot of traffic:)

On the ride home tonight I pulled up behind a car with Colorado plates at a stop light. The car was sitting squarely in the center of the lane with its right turn signal on. There were plenty of chances to go right on red, but the car sat there until the light turned green. The light is one that won't change unless the sensor is tripped. I think the driver saw me coming up behind and sat on the sensor to turn the light for me. Thanks, whoever you are!

A very nice morning, still wet from the thunderstorms in the area and the rain. Temp is still wonderful 70 F ( 21 C). However another sign of the approaching darkness, street lights along the way that go off in the later dark hours, are still on as of this morning.

I dont get to ride today, have to go to the dentist and have a tooth pulled. Dam I hate dentist.

:eek: Sounds exciting.

No drug dealing or police encounters for me. But OMG is it humid. 90%, and 70 degrees. I'll try to remember this when I'm riding in January and it's below zero.

I awoke feeling like a zombie. About 2 miles into my commute, a guy on a road bike pulled onto the MUP ahead of me and was doing 15MPH so I stayed behind him. About a mile later I spotted something red reeling us in, but resisted the urge to bolt. :p Nice guy on a Specialized. He slowed up and said hi. We discussed the humidity, then he took off ahead of us.

So the guy I was following tries to chase the fast roadie. I stopped at a stop sign so they gained ground on me, but we all wound up about 150 yards apart, pedalling along at 20MPH. I just had no energy at all to begin with, so now I'm a bit wrecked. :rolleyes:

Cool but not cold. Beat a pending storm by about 10 minutes.

Somewhere some redneck in a green Dodge is bragging about how he kicked some cyclists' ass going uphill...

It's amazing how one morning the roads are fine and the next they are chewed up into dirt. However, I am looking forward to road construction being completed and having some nice smooth surfaces to ride on in the fall.
I took the little pads out of my helmet last night and gave them a good rinsing, so no smelly helmet on the ride in today, YAY!