Commute was quite fine. No cager incidents.

It was a good ride in at 68 F ( 20 C). I need to find an alternate way home. I was making great time, beating one record after another, but then the local college opened up and there are two major
traffic jams in the afternoon. It's a catch 22 situation, if I ride across the grass to pick up the main
road that takes care of one jam, but it doesn't buy me any time. Something to figure out on the
weekend.

Glad to hear that you're ok Amy. It was dark as usual this morning and pleasantly cool. I was halfway to work when I realized that my helmet wasn't on my bonk. I'll swing by during lunch to pick it up since I plan to ride around downtown after work. Nothing to report and that's how I like it.
Ernest

It's been an uneventful week of typical August weather -- hot and sunny - and I've bike commuted every day. Fortunately the humidity has been a little lower and we haven't had the daily afternoon thunderstorms this week. That was getting old, particularly after getting caught in a storm last Friday. My legs are getting tired from riding 150+ miles over the past five days, so I'm actually looking forward to driving tomorrow (doctor's appointment).

Chains are ever any other color? OK, mine are silver when I put them on. That lasts for about 10 minutes into my first ride.

Ah, the joys of commuting on gravel roads. I don't bother cleaning my chains much anymore, because they just get dirty again within minutes.

OT, nice ride today. Schools in michigan can't start until after Labor Day by law, but I'm shifting my schedule this week, getting up at 5AM. I **LOVE** riding in the dark, especially now that I have a fantastic new headlight. Plus, very little traffic and NO school traffic (at 5:30, even after Labor Day).

Amazing ride this morning.
Chatted with another commuter going my way, also riding fixed, this never happens.
Felt something hit the side of my head while riding followed by a squirmy feeling. Turns out, I had run into a bee and it was hanging out inside the vent in my helmet. I stopped and shook the little stowaway out and continued on my way.

It's events like these that make bike commuting so exciting.
:)

My chain is silver when I clean it. Doesn't take long to blacken though. I want a Trek Soho commuter, I think. No chain! I'm waiting for long-term reports from people here. :)

Anyway, I got a taste of fall this morning. Airport temperature was in the high 40s. My house (near Lake Champlain) had 54. I saw 50 on my bike computer during my ride. Very nice to arrive not feeling like I was going to melt. Also sunny, and no wind. Passed a couple of cyclists. Saw a kitty. Said hi to some MUP regulars. All in all, an ideal ride.

Wish I hadn't stayed up until 11 drinking Southern Tier Unearthly and Harpoon's Leviathan IPA though. :o

:beer:

Finally feel good enough to take the long route again...no 60 mph highway anymore...I am soooooo happy! I never realize how much I hate riding that road until I quit.

Very nice ride. suppose to cool off a lot next week.

I was five minutes late getting out the door this morning, when I got irritated with the rear brake rubbing, which is a problem I’ve been fretting about for weeks now. I really need to do something about it. I spent another 5 minutes looking at it to see if there was any quick way to adjust it and fix it, but I’ll be damned if I know what to do. They are cantilever brakes. I’ve never seen cantilever brakes of this style so I have no idea how they adjust (only had the bike for two months now). I guess I’m going to have to clean the bike and take it to the bike shop. So I gave up on it, deciding it wasn’t rubbing THAT badly, and took off ten minutes late.

As I approached the stop sign at the end of my residential street, an SUV pulled up behind me just as I was breaking to stop at the stop sign. I needed to turn left on the two lane cross road, and there was a steady stream of cars coming from the right, as the school busing budget cuts are forcing all the parents to drive their kids to distant bus stops. The SUV revealed him/her self to be a complete a-hole, as they had to pass me just 30 feet from the stop sign and then slam on their breaks to stop in front of me. Just as they stop and are impatiently waiting for the steady stream of cars from the right to clear, a fire engine comes screaming down the road from our left, lights flashing blindingly in the darkness. This causes the steady stream approaching from the right to come to a halt to let the fire engine pass. This also makes our impatient SUV driver even more impatient. “OMG I had to pass a F-ing BICYCLE, and now I’ve had to sit at this stop sign for over 20 SECONDS!!!” The fire engine passes, and the freight train of cars from the right begins passing by again, but now they are bumper to bumper. Now the SUV driver is REALLY frustrated. “OMG, NOW I have to wait ANOTHER SIXTY SECONDS!!! What is my world coming too?? I’m going to grow old and die waiting at this stop sign!!!!”

The fire must have been a bad one, because just as the traffic coming from the right started flowing again, along comes a second fire truck from our left, lights flashing and sirens screaming. Now the SUV driver goes into a complete panic, “OMG, ANOTHER FIRE TRUCK, HOLY SH-T! I’m GOING TO BE SITTING AT THIS F-ING STOP SIGN FOR TWO MINUTES BY THE TIME THIS ALL OVER!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” How do I know that was going through this idiot’s mind? Because, as that second fire truck was screaming down the road towards us from the left, and the traffic from the right was now slowing for it, the SUV driver decides he can’t possibly wait ANOTHER 30 seconds, so he goes for it, just as the car approaching from our left comes to a complete stop for the emergency vehicle like every good driver should. This blocks the SUV completely, and now the idiot is parked across the fire trucks lane, completely blocking the road. I shake my head and back my bike up, to give the fire truck some room to swerve into the side street I'm on and get around the blooming idiot in the SUV. Now the fire truck has come to a complete stop and is laying on it’s huge truck horn. The SUV driver is laying on HIS horn too, but it’s completely drowned out by the huge fire truck blasts. The good driver who came to stop is blinded by the flashing lights (it's 6:40 AM and still dark), and has no idea why this fire truck has stopped. It takes about ten seconds of loud horn blasting from all directions before the poor guy looks around to clear up this mysterious behavior from the fire truck, and sees there is an idiot in an SUV parked on his rear bumper and lying across the fire truck’s path. The good driver finally rolls forward tentatively, obviously upset that he’s being force to drive his car right past an emergency vehicle. The SUV finally pulls out of his way, and the fire truck guns his engine and proceeds onward.

Well, the fire must have been a bad one, because as I’m still waiting at the stop sign for the cars now all backed up approaching from the right, a THIRD fire truck comes screaming and flashing down from the left (this time a ladder truck, not a good sign).

By this time, a car has pulled up behind me at the stop sign and reminds me that not all cagers are idiots. This guy patiently waits behind me, without trying to swerve to the left enough to get beside me or anything. We let the third fire truck go by, then we patiently wait another 30 to 40 seconds for the traffic approaching from the right to clear enough that I’m comfortable pulling out. Once I pull out, that car behind me pulls up to the stop sign and STOPS, and WAITS to make sure he’s got a clear shot, then he pulls out. Then the cars that pass me pull to the left and give me my 3 feet of space as required by law, and remind me that not every cager is a complete idiot.

The person driving that SUV probably has high blood pressure and walks around stressed out all the time, wondering why the world is such a frustrating place, all the while speeding towards a heart attack or a stroke which, when it comes, will leave them debilitated and wondering why all this bad sh-t happens to them.

@Diesel Amy: Glad you're OK. Hope everything gets taken care of!!!

As for my commutes - you know that feeling of exhileration you get when you finally get to ride your bike again after a couple weeks of forced non-riding (attending a funeral out of state + some mechanicals, too)? Well, I'm getting it the last couple days. Great to be back riding. Amazing how just a couple weeks away can make such a big difference; I'm slower and a little more tired after my commute than before, but I know that will pass. For now, I'm glad just to be riding again and am looking forward to the cooler weather in the next few days!!! :-)

finally cooler and less humid today in central CT and more betterer for riding in jeans to work. Nice day, nice ride.

pharasz - wow, good story! Not that a fire is good, but you know what I mean.

It was fairly cool and pleasant this morning fir the first time in a while. By cool I mean low 70's and humidity under 70% (I think). I've been off the bike for the last three days, so I spent most of the time in lower gears than normal. Oh well, I'm sure tomorrow will be easier on me.

Er, hey, that used to be my avatar. :thumb:

Eagerly awaiting The Incident!

not to hot, cloudy. looks like i'll get wet on the way home

Nice ride in. Cool, breezy, dark-ish. came across a couple of regulars on my route and exchanged pleasantries. I rode a couple of miles with a guy who works in a building on my route, about a mile from my office. Turns out he's the Project Manager for the local transit authority, and he's building the new transit corridor that runs right past my office (and includes bike lanes that do not currently exist). I had attended one of the public workshops and made some comments on the project.

Small world.
The dude was riding a 1981 univega fixie conversion...... 65 cm !!!!! Tall guy.

Great ride in, all in all.

Nice ride. Coming home last night w/ 8 yr old, passed under one of those chinook helicopters hovering over a neighborhood.

wet, wet, wet. But awesome.

Nice ride home, at 10 am. those 4 hour days are killing me. really I had to ride home and get my Jeep.

I didn't have to work until noon, so I ended up finally getting out of bed at 10:15 and was on the road by 11. I has happy to see that it was only 68º. The humidity is really for the birds- a couple of times it kept me from riding. The lure of my car's AC was just too much. I took a digger on the way home tonight. I was going to pull over and fix my light ( it was wobbly) but I misjudged and hit a small curb ( a curbette?) No harm done, just a skinned upper elbow.

Crazy thunderstorms on the way home, at least for the first half of the ride. A couple of lightning strikes that made me jump a little, hard winds, driving rain.

SO NICE after the crazy heat and drought of this summer.

The second half of the ride was just pleasant, warm, hard rain.

I have full-time fenders on my commuter. After 3 months of continuous drought, I sometimes feel silly. Today? VINDICATED!

A bit brisk today. Mid 40s F. Dry and clear, however. I felt tired. Stuck the bike in a gear that let me do a nice sort of mid-range cadence at 15MPH and put myself on auto pilot. :) Didn't reel anybody in. Didn't get reeled in. The cooler weather seems to have chased most of the recreational cyclists back to their couches, I guess.

Nice brisk morning, it feels good to not arrive at work a sweaty mess.
I pushed myself a little bit on the flatter areas, just trying to keep a faster pace. Added an extra climb into the route as well.

Time to put the fenders back on. Rained yesterday on commute home and again this am on the ride in. now I'm talking torrential (can't see the road through glasses) rains. Has not rained like this all summer. Flash flood on the roads rain and yes I was soaked through and through. well almost. rain jackets and pannier pack covers are your friend. ok someone can turn off the spigot now. thanks! :rolleyes:

just checked weather report: Alert! 2-4 inches rain fell since 4 am this morning. .... Flash Flood alert. hmm.... yep coulda told'em that. definitely raining.

warm. ~30 mile circle route around the area, last big commute day of the summer, back to 14 mile round trip next week.

Ride to work was nice, the only bad part was crossing the street to my work building. There is construction taking place on the street in front of my work. They are turning a six lane street into an eight lane street. I wish they were putting in a bike lane/expand the sidewalk, since there are a lot of bicyclists and pedestrians that take the sidewalks, not another lane for more cars.

I was up until 2AM playing World of Warcraft with my wife and son (and a large group of friends), so it was a slow wake up today. It took a few miles for me to wake up, but I was happy to be on the bike. I allowed myself 45 more minutes in bed, and the traffic was horrendous compared to the normally quiet streets.
I'm glad it is a Friday!!!!!!!!

Noisy! Seems every tree had a cicada at full volume, every third house was having their yard mowed and the pattern at Dulles had the planes coming over head too.

It was nice and cool, though damp.

But, I was on a bike so all is GOOD!:thumb:

MM

Grrrrr........

I have to commute vicariously though y'all since last Tuesday when I wrenched my back. I went to stand up on the pedals after the light turned green and POP something pulled/popped/slipped. The doctor says muscle strain. It can't bet better fast enough.

Ouch.
Speedy heals!