First flat in a long time today. A piece of glass the size and shape of an arrowhead went straight through the middle of the tread. I don't think any tire could have prevented this one. I am perplexed at how it could have happened. The sliver was almost 2 inches long and about 3/4" wide at the base, and the glass was pretty thick. The only thing I can imagine was that the chunk was somehow sitting point up in a crack in the pavement or something.

About 8C, sunny, breezy.

Rear tire? If so, the front probably kicked it up. I'd bet there are more rear flats than front flats.

Late report for me today. Got in to a "firefight" 5 minutes after I got to work, and things have just now settled down. :rolleyes:

Nice commute. Light headwind, overcast. Temps in the 60sF/~18C. There are a lot of hard-core roadies out and about but I only saw them going the other way. There's an Olympic Triathlon here on Saturday.
http://www.racevermont.com/the-burli...mpic-distance/

It is sad. I don't even pay attention to them anymore though. e.g., I didn't know today was code orange.

A few weeks ago I did day one (76 miles) of a s36o trip on the C&O and W&OD in 100+ temps with code red air quality. I think if you're healthy it's gotta be just as bad to sit at home doing no exercise as it is to just go riding in it. Besides I smoked for ten years before I finally quit the habit a few years ago. I know the did more damage to my lungs than any code red air quality day ever will.

+1 :thumb:

Nice commute this morning. Less eventful than yesterday when a dog (not even on a long leash) almost took out the rider in front of me on the MUP. In fairness to the dog owner he had the dog pretty close and I don't think the cyclist in front of me who was doing the passing even called out on your left or rang a bell. They didn't when passing me either. Anyway accident averted, but for a split second it looked like it would get ugly.

Today's my Friday. Off tomorrow. But I just got my Velo Orange Grande Cru seatpost UPS, so I have a project for lunchtime and should finally have a truly comfortable saddle position again this evening!!!

Ran a bit late this morning and put the hammer down on the way in, shaved 8 minutes off my time but got in a sweaty mess.

I did see what looked to be an abandoned puppy on the way, going to investigate this afternoon. See if I can convince the little dude to take a ride in my messenger bag to the humane society a couple miles south.

I often get a "Thank-you!" from pedestrians, with or without dogs, when I ring my bell before passing them. Two "Thank-you!"'s in the last two days, in fact. Ring those bells, everyone!

The commute today was fine. Not too hot on the way to work but, unfortunately, the sky was kind of cloudy so I couldn't get another beautiful sunrise pic. Also, the way home was HOT! The clouds had burned off by this afternoon. The sun was shining and the wind was in my face most of the way home. Also, there wasn't a single submerged van on my way home (see my entry two days ago). LOL Actually, the two guys that were in the van that ended up in the river were fine. A crane came and lifted the car out of the river. It was on the news. Can't wait for my next commute!!!

http://pedalmybike.com/userTrackies/myTrackie3988.jpg

I've only bummed a ride home from work once in the last two weeks.

Yesterday I pushed myself getting to and from work. Today I felt super-sluggish (and the heat didn't help) but I made it to work.

Next week, if I can pull it off, I'll ride 7 days in a row. That's just shy of 30 km per day round-trip.

Here's the summary: 333 of 1000 km for the year. 1996 of 2500 lifetime km before I get my celebratory tattoo. I've dropped 14 lbs since I got my suspension seat post in mid-July. What a difference a little suspension makes.

108 degrees @ 8% humidity with a 21 mph headwind on the way home. I wasn't looking forward to the ride but it turned out to be just great after all.
I'm a new commuter 3 months ago. I haven't ridden in less than 100 degrees yet I don't think. I count the days. But it hasn't been bad at all, I'm really looking forward the those blisful autumn days.

very moist air this morning coming in, but otherwise uneventful.

71F/22C and s-t-i-c-k-y.

Of course, trying to chase triathlon roadies doesn't help. :p The MUP was lousy with traffic. Roadies, runners, even a couple of swimmers. :D I wound up behind a fully-kitted roadie woman. Clearly a tri-girl. We were cruisin' around 18MPH for a mile or so, then we split up. I'll be taking roads home this afternoon. The tri is tomorrow, and there are practice swims and bike check-ins this afternoon.

Nobody caught me though. :thumb:

TGIF!

It's 84 at 4AM. I'm taking the car.

A bit chilly 49f, still on the 3spd and enjoying the ride going a bit slower.

Great Commute this morning...nice and cool with no wind. There seems to be less traffic on Fridays. Turned 3000 miles about 4 miles into my ride.

Did my first commute today. Definitely an experience. Nothing major, feeling out my route. Pretty cool out at 5:30 in the morning, minimal wind, and it was a lot of downhill.

I do have to say, though this is our first time together, I think I'm in love ;). Gonna have to do this more often!

Though I'm not looking forward to all those UPHILLS on the way home lol!

A little foggy on the way in this morning, at least in the early part of the ride. Took the hybrid today instead of the road bike, it has fenders for the predicted rain later today. A little slower ride, but more comfortable on the bumps. Also giving the road bike a break as I have been having flat issues on the last two commutes with that bike. It has new tires with no apparent punctures, and the tubes leaked in the same spot each time, but not on the side wall where you would expect a pinch flat to occur. Small pin-size hole on the seam in the tube opposite the stem. They are Performance Forte tubes, which have been good to me in the past. I'm chalking it up to a bad batch of tubes this time around and will replace them with some Conti's or Michellin's.

8C, sunny, no wind. This whole week, there's been little to no wind in the morning, and stiff headwinds in the afternoons.Added an extra 1/2 mile to stop in at my brother's place to feed his cats. Took a different route that might just be another feasible variation to my regular routes.

Yesterday on a MUT I rounded a corner and almost took out two Starbucks-carrying yuppies who had no clue that I was coming. That's pretty much the same thing, right?

Pretty much, except wild turkeys can get uppity if you bother them. (Don't ask me how I know this, but you wouldn't think a turkey would be aggressive, would you?) :P

As trail users go, I would have to give the intellectual advantage to the turkeys.

I was riding in a storm with some lightning strikes that were starting to get close at the time. Between their apparent bewilderment and the speed I was going at there really wasn't much time for them to do anything but get out of my way.

I HAVE had some run-ins with Canadian geese. The only thing to do is hiss back at them. They are like bees, they can smell fear.

wow looked like I was riding into the apocalypse on the ride home. The rains held and the it all opened up as I was unpacking in my apt.

I rode to work all five days this week. It was well over 100 degrees every afternoon (107 today). I'm definitely ready for a break in the heat.

I enjoy tracking my mileage, but managed to forget a couple of milestones that I reached this summer. I mentioned in my March Guest Blog at the Lungevity Foundation site that, sometime this summer, I expected to reach 24,900 miles (the circumference of the earth) ridden since my lung cancer diagnosis. I then forgot to watch for it, but I now have 26,570 miles since the beginning of 2008, so I have indeed ridden around the world since being diagnosed with lung cancer.

I also didn't notice it when I passed the 10,000 mile mark on the Stratus XP, my commuting bike. I now have 12,057 miles on it. That's still less than I have on my long distance bike, but it's gaining fast.

The ride home was a race to beat a fast approaching storm that looked potentially fearsome on doppler. A mile from home I felt the sudden rush of cold swirling winds that dropped the temperature immediately 10-15 degrees and raised the dust and leaves. Beat the rain and got a thrilling ride home. Bicycle commuting rocks!