I just couldn't seem to get the energy this morning, so it was a slower ride than normal in at 60 F
(15 C) and very dark. I slept good, so the lack of energy was a mystery. The ride out should be
interesting, although, the sun is always good for finding energy.

Same here. I'm comfortable to well-below freezing. It's all in how you dress. I hate heat though.

High 50s this morning and I was in shorts & short-sleeves. Perfectly comfortable. Reeled in a guy with an electric motor. I've seen this dude before. He pedals, but he only does 15MPH and there's this loud whining motor noise coming from the bike. If he ditched the motor, he could easily work up to 15MPH without the motor.

Said hi to a roadie/commuter at a red light. He jumped the green and started mashing up the hill. I waited for the green, reeled him him, and hung off his left quarter until I got to my office.

Commute #20

First commute after a week off. Was a little afraid I wouldn't be able to make it, but I did it. Got off to a very late start. Lots of cars, school kids, pedestrians. Got to remember to get out of bed earlier.

Overdressed. Tired of being cold, I wore a long-sleeve thick cotton shirt. Too warm.

Left a noticeable bicycle trail on the newly shampooed carpets at work. I'd been walking my bike in to my office. That may now have to stop. Don't understand why this happened this time, but not the other 19 times.

My GF seems to be worried about me commuting to work on a bicycle - I got three LED flashy lights from her for my B-day. "Mutant Guppies" they're called. I already had an LED headlight and tail light. So I attached one to my helmet in the back, one to my handlebars, and the third one went on my rack in the back. I rode in this morning lit up like a friggin CHRISTMAS tree.
But that didn’t stop the a-hole driving the Honda Accord past me this morning – dude whizzes by 12 inches off my elbow going probably 45 in a 35 zone, engine gunning. I lost it, shouted F--K YOU!!! at the top of my lungs as he sped off into the distance. But you know what? After he blew past me, I watched him pull right up to the bumper of the car in front of him, in the right lane, then he did an aggressive lane change into the left lane, cutting off a guy and barely squeezing in between two cars in the left lane. So, dude was just an a-hole – an accident waiting to happen. I’m sure those other drivers were just as PO'd as I was.
But what topped that off was the guy in the little red BMW Z3 hardtop. I’ve seen his car in the parking garage – it’s hard to miss. After you cross the last traffic light coming in it is a 25 MPH speed limit, and barely a tenth of a mile from that light to a stop sign. At that stop sign, you turn right, go about 50 feet, then turn right into our parking complex.
I was in the front of the line at that last red light. When it turned green I stood up and accelerated to about 18 or 19 MPH. Now, with less than a tenth of a mile, 25 MPH speed limit, two lanes going in, and I’m going at least 18 in the right lane, the cars are all swerving into the left lane, desperate to pass me so they can get to that stop sign five or ten seconds before I do. That’s OK, I’m used to that. They do it every morning. God help them if they should have to take an extra five or ten seconds to reach the stop sign.
But the guy in the Z3 was the WORST. Three cars had zoomed by me and swerved back into the right lane and were stopping at the stop sign. I had stopped pedaling because I wasn’t more than 30 or 40 feet from the back of that 3rd car stopped at the sign, and it was time to brake. But that little Z3 has to zoom past me, swerve hard to the right three feet in front of me, and slam on his brakes to keep from hitting the three cars now stacked up at the stop sign. I had to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting the rear end of the Z3. THAT little move was REALLY irritating. As I was locking up my bike and guys were walking out of the parking garage, I was giving them all the stink eye, wondering if they were the butthead driving the Z3. I must restrain myself and just let it go. I don’t want to sink to his level and become an a-hole delivering a lecture like a parent to some guy that has already proven he is an immature aggressive driver.

I'm drenched.

It started raining halfway through my commute and I didn't think I needed to dig the storm gear out of my bag. Boy howdy, was I ever wrong.

Damp is the worst feeling ever.

First ever bike commute to campus this morning. 7 miles, beautiful weather, Philly ghettos. I'm tired and my knees are angry. Feels awesome.

Yesterday's ride home started out cloudy and cool at 58 degrees F (about 14C), then the steady soaking rain began halfway home, just as I started the gradual grade for the last half of my ride. I relished the first real rain since May. Great ride home.
I dried the bike and oiled the chain and greased the SPD's to keep things good.

My shoes didn't fully dry last night, so I had the joy of putting my dry feet into cold, damp shoes this morning.

Dark and cool this morning, with light drizzle from time to time. Very nice. I left at my preferred 6:30 departure and rode in the dark with my (temporary) mediocre lighting setup - PB beamer front blinkie with a Black Diamond 1W headlamp. Definitely not up to snuff but it'll have to do until my newly ordered "Nova 900" (exactly the same model as the Magicshine) arrives to replace my ol niterider (RIP).
That new light can't get here soon enough.

On a side note, I ordered a bike for my <14-year old, 6'2, 230 pound> son this morning. Funds are tight so I ended up ordering a Windsor Stratford from BD. I wrench on my own bikes, so I will give it the full once-over and re-lube/re-pack/re-true as needed before getting it on the road. Great bang for the buck, IMO.

^^^^
Oh, and please don't flame me with "shoulda shopped craigslist" crap. I've been scanning CL and Ebay for 2 months now, and the BD option still offered the best value in my case.

nice and sunny. Surprise exemption from trailer duty, so rode fixed. My 8 yr old is getting into opening and closing the garage door and wheeling the bikes in and out, so he was bummed I rode fixed since I have to take that one of the wall, rather than just take the geared bike which stays on the floor ready for him to push out to the driveway.

Nice and cool this AM, first commute went great. Out early enough that there were not a ton of cars on the roads I was worried about. I opted to dash across two bridges as a shortcut to knock two miles off the commute. There was no traffic so it was a good choice. In heavier traffic I'd have hopped on the mup as a bypass.

Rode the road bike in and it was just fine. I may not even opt to try the MTB.

I have a messenger bag and this is my first ride using it. Too much shifting around back there, especially when standing. It got kinda annoying. I'll shorten the strap somehow and see if that helps.

I dropped my water bottle once. Never done that before now.

I could use another 10 min of cool off time, had to rush for coffee before classes started.
Looking forward to the ride home. Hotter and busier...

Beautifully cool at 0315 (below 80 and low humidity). For the first time ever I actually had a stray cat chasing me, and then popped a spoke 8 miles from work......

Took the bus into school this AM, and took the bus back. Gonna cycle into the 3 hour class tonight and cycle home (bus is inconvenient as heck after hours, kinda.) Weather should be fine, I'm anticipating a pleasant school commute, round trip approx 12 km.

Same ride everyday. Keep making the time shorter, the eight miles never changes.

Gorgeous day. Rode my hybrid to a temp job I've been doing for a week or so. 30 mile round trip. I'm about to start the "going home" leg.

I should have done a "dry run." I thought I knew the local roads well enough, but I wasted* 30 minutes this morning after taking a wrong turn. One town on the route doesn't have street signs at all its intersections, and I guessed wrong on one, causing me to have to backtrack.

I asked 3 motorists one with a GPS, if they knew where the turn I missed was. Nobody had a clue. Only the gorgeous blonde out exercise-walking knew, natch!

Kevin

That's the same distance I ride, except that I often stretch it out to more after work. You'll find after a week or two that 7 miles is nuthin'.

I finally dropped a roadie on the way home tonight.

Had a nice looking bike, full kit, helmet. Looked the part. He was spinning his but off. Even up hill dude was spinning and out of the saddle and I still dropped him going uphill with my bike in full dark commuting battle gear which gets it well over 30 lbs. I'm well over 30 lbs too, plus 200. Normally I can't drop a hot potato going up hill. Not that it was much of a hill.

Some of you probably thought I'd never actually commute...but I finally started yesterday. My commute is super short but if any of you have been over weight and out of shape, you know that even 1.5 miles can feel like a light workout.

Going to work is nice, it's cool in the morning and it's all a slight grade downhill. You can't tell when you're driving but you can feel it when riding. My ride takes me from East Hollywood down Hollywood Boulevard for most of the way. It takes me all of 7 or so minutes to get there. My students giggle when they see me ride by . Going home is a lot harder. It would be easy for most bike riders but I feel it. Any slight grade tends to kick my butt so going home is all a slight grade. I zig zag down side streets so I can break that little hill up.

Anyway, my legs are sore and I'm tired in general. BUT...that's normal when you've had summer break for 2.5 months and suddenly find yourself on the bike, managing 200 students and on your feet all day on very. hard. flooring.

You'll feel great in no time. Keep riding, Tamara, and those hills will get easier. As I said in my last post, I go 7 miles each way. Downhill on the way to work, uphill home... and usually into the wind too. But you get used to it and pedal through it and hate it and then you're home and you're glad you did it.

8 degrees C and slightly damp and had to stop near the horses to remove a layer.

Failed at an attempted scalping but still broke the 30 minute barrier.

Locking my bike into the rack at work panting and with the sweat dripping off me when a fat woman got out of a BMW saying
"Freezing, isnt it?"

"What, is your heater broken?"

Endorphin fueled retorts are good.

It was a warm 60 F ( 15 C) morning. It felt like perfect riding weather. I passed the usual infrequent runners in the dark, 2 are becoming more frequent, and the the same 2 dog walkers. For the other runner, I swing wide right coming off a bridge, because I never know when he is going to be at that corner, and there is little light on that side of the interchange. The company is always welcome.

Waves of lightening storms in area. Did not ride. bummer had to wake my wife for ride to shuttle bus stop. not pretty. more this afternoon and probably tomorrow. serious low pressure in Southeast will not move out of area. lots of rain/storms this week.

hope you had something to tie that spoke with?

I have begun carrying zipties for emergencies like that. though 8 miles is tough. last time I lost a spoke the wheel went out of true in about 2 miles. fortunately I had just arrived at bike shop by that time.

Wow. Foggy, rather damp morning but usually see about 20-30 riders on my 25 miles in. Saw a whopping TWO this morning. Maybe they know something I don't??

Cold and dark, at least for the first 10 or 15 minutes. Had to use my headlight. My first mile is downhill, and on most days I just coast down, hitting a peak speed of about 40 - 42 mph. Today I used the brakes so I didnt' outride my light!

Other than that, a normal, uneventful ride.

Down around 50F, and overcast this morning. I'm so sleepy. I wore long sleeves because usually sleepy = cold for me. I still made good time.

Yesterday, I had a blast from the past. My old motorcycle was parked near the road I was on. I stopped and took a picture. I kinda miss the old girl. She looks well-kept, but she did get dropped on one side. Minor scuff there. I should have repossessed the bike right then and there.

Here 'tis...