Decided to leave bike at work yesterday evening since I worked at extra 3.5 hours and the bike shop was closed. I'll hoof it on over this evening instead. Carpooled home last night and bused in this morning. Not looking forward to partial bus ride home tonight. It's gorgeous out, 62 when I left house and was actually a nice walk to/from bus stops.

Yesterday, post-earthquake, I rode home through Brooklyn in a daze. I kept thinking about what would happen if we got another earthquake exactly as swerved around a pothole or something (you know, more worried about being thrown off my bike than buildings collapsing on top of me.) I put air in my front tire yesterday night on my way to my food coop shift, so it was so much easier to accelerate uphill on this morning's commute than it was yesterday! It was also sunny and perfectly temperate, and I made pleasant red-light conversation with another cyclist. Also, I started carrying my giant, heavy U-Lock on my back rack, strapped down with a bungie net, and it feels so good to literally get that off my back (as I had been carrying it around in my backpack). I only started commuting (3.5 miles each way) at the beginning of the summer and my legs feel so much stronger and the ride is so much easier. I was so out of shape!

The weather is AWESOME! Sort of sorry I had yesterday off, because it meant I missed cycling in the post apocalyptic scene that was DC after the Earthquake ;-)

My used clipless pedals are clicking something fierce, so I think it is time to replace them. :-(

111*F on the way home. That's my new high but it hasn't been below 3 digits since I started this commute thing. I wonder how I'll like commuting when another bicycle shows up on my route.......sometime in late October......I expect.

I rode to work Monday, yesterday, and today. It was some seriously hot afternoons again (107 today). I was on tired legs Monday and yesterday from my 200K on Sunday.

It's a short commute week for me this week. I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off the bike, resting for the Hotter 'N Hell Hundred on Saturday.

Uneventful both ways. I surprised myself with my time to get home (right on my average 55 minutes) because I felt super sluggish with the grocery load I was carrying. The weather mid-day when I walked to the grocery store from work was quite toasty. It had cooled by my commute home.

Tomorrow is a rest day due to where work will require me to be but hopefully I can make it to the volunteer orientation session for the bicycle co-op opening in the town next door (2ish miles away).

Apparently I jinxed myself with that remark. This afternoon, It Finally Happened.

I finally had a real, bonafide, honest to goodness, "oh crap, I forgot to unclip!" fall.

I had just pulled out of the underground parkade where I keep my bike, and had paused at the top of the ramp to check for traffic before making a left turn onto the street. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that my water bottle wasn't in its cage. That's not actually unusual, since I often stuff my bottle in a pocket on my backpack and forget to transfer it to my bike. But this time, I started to wonder if I had in fact left my bottle back in the office. That would have sucked, because it was a warm day, and I would surely need a few squirts. My brain was so preoccupied with the whereabouts of my bottle, that it no longer had the capacity to process even simple commands. You know, like, "UNCLIP, YOU DUMB B*ST*RD!" And over I went.

Naturally, there were many witnesses, including a concerned looking pedestrian (he was probably stifling a laugh) who stopped to ask if I was okay. Yup, nothing injured but my pride.

At first I resent it in Spring when the handful of us all-weather riders get joined by the seasonal ones. Despite the endless rain I like having the road to myself. But then I am bemused by some of them, and some are friendly, so other than when ocassionally they block an intersection I want to blow through, I am generally happy to check out their rides, and sometimes the ladies on them!

First day back in YEG and was greeted with gorgeous weather and had a really nice trip down to the co-op... rode in on 6 speeds and came back with 18 and then spent some time tonight on a 30 km shake down ride.

So far there are no ladies on my route. So far there are no bicycles at all. Nor strollers or kids with basketballs or skateboards. No joggers, speed walkers or casual walkers. I have the entire commute to myself about 95% of the time. This just flips me out. Even at these temps you'd think there would be a dozen somethings in 14 miles but there isn't.
I mounted a camera on my bike yesterday. I'm going to record this commute. I don't run red lights on the road but stop signs on the MUP are useless because you never hear a footstep or a wheel turning. It is so strange. And if it were too hot to ride I wouldn't ride either so I don't hold anything against fair weather riders; my evening commute is 100% downhill. I guess I'm just lucky. I LOVE my commutes.

Nice ride in, a bit of wind left over from the storm front last night.

A bit muggy this morning, but a good temp at 73f (23C). Storms later today and tonight expected, so hopefully, I get out before they come, then do the old stop and go in-between storms on the way home.

Still. Haven't. Caught. My. Breath. Wind. O...MG. 30MPH off Lake Champlain, right in my face. I still managed 14-16 most of the way but a couple of gusts knocked me down to 11-12. Looks like a tailwind for the ride home so I've got that going for me.

windy and warm ride in.

Big change in our weather coming after a couple weeks of moderate temps and lower humidity. Hurricane Irene is already affecting the weather in NC, with the wind circulation carrying moist humid air off the ocean. I dressed for the 60s/low humidity we've been having lately and was all sweaty when I got to work. Latest forecast track shows that we are likely to take a pretty good hit from the storm by Saturday morning, but a lot could change between now and then.

86 this morning with 20% humidity and a 3 mph tailwind. That would my warmest start. Not anxious to peddle uphill for the entire length at 86 degrees but I have a new camera mounted and I want to give it a go. 110-112 on the way home but again, it's downhill and a breeze behind me.

Another nice day, sunny, no wind. Mundelein traffic heavy. But I made reasonably good time ~ 55 min. There constructing a bike tunnel under Gilmer road connecting newly acquired forest preserve. Unfortunately it looks like the road way over the tunnel is collapsing as they dig under it. They keep filling the sinking spots with asphalt, but it's not looking good.

Ordered a new LED light for fall/winter commute. 6 watt 330 lmn. Replaces older 3 watt.

Windy, rainy 72 degrees but a smile on my face as the fenders kept the puddles in check. Bring on Irene! Well, let's hope not.

55F, blinding sun (low angle, later sunrise)

Drove yesterday, bought a Vittoria Randoneur cross (700x28) to replace a crappy old tire. Last night I moved the old tire & tube to the back, put the new tire and tube on the front. Ye gads, I hope this tire is as good as people say it is, because mounting it was like giving birth. A real PITA to get on the rim at all, and took repeated attempts to get to seat properly. Finally got it all back together and went to bed for the night.

Anyway.

This morning the new tire is all good but apparently I managed to snake bite the old tube on the back, so I have a flat without having moved an inch. Not all bad I guess, fixing a flat in your kitchen sure beats getting chewed up by skeeters out on the MUP somewhere. It made for a late start though.

Anyway.

I discovered on about a 3 mile stretch of my route that they spread out about a 1/2" thick layer of gravel on the road surface, with thicker spots here and there. Did Vittoria save the day here? While I doubt that I would have wiped out in any event, I did feel a little more secure with a beefier tire up front.

Anyway.

It's a beautiful day here in MN today, clear blue skies and everything is nice and green. Knowing that summer is almost over makes every day even more special as we get closer and closer to fall.

These were the thoughts going through my mind when I over took a little boy and (I assume) his grandfather, each on bikes at a road crossing. They both smiled and said hello, I noted that the little boy looked to be about 8 (about the same age as my son) and the grandfather looked around 80... I wouldn't have guessed that he could ride a bike if I hadn't seen him riding one with my own two eyes.

As I pedaled off that turned my thoughts to how short life is and how valuable each little moment is, especially to kids. What a great day to be out for a ride with your grandpa, who knows what tomorrow will bring or how many perfect days like this any of us will have.

Right about that time I rounded a corner and came face to face with a family of turkeys.

I fumbled for my phone out of my bag to snap a photo, but only managed to get this loch ness monster-like shot of the last of them scampering off the MUP:



That was something that only I got to see today, my special moment that won't come again. There may be others like it, but this one was unique.

Anyway.

I don't have a good fix yet on how I feel about the new tire in terms of roll resistance, etc. My sense was that I was going slower than normal but the clock does not bear this out - I made my 20.5 mile commute in 1:17 moving time (1:22 total elapsed) which is pretty typical for me.

Enjoy your day, wherever you are.

It's fully dark now for most of my morning commute. Muggy this morning, by Oregon standards.

On the gravel portion I chased a skunk for a couple of hundred feet. That was stressful. He seemed content to jog along tail fully upright which persuaded me to keep my distance. Maybe he thought I was lighting up the road for him. I kept following him and finally he trotted off the road to the left, I hung hard to the right and went by. I bet they wouldn't let me on the bus if a skunk sprayed me.

Checked weather last night around 10pm, said "severe thunderstorm watch" until noon today. So I cancelled my morning commute and didn't set my alarm for 5:30 (bike commute alarm; regular alarm is 6:30)

Ridiculously loud thunderstorms rolled in and woke me up from the hours between 1am and 4am. Checked weather at 4am again on my zune and it said it was still going to thunder until 10am, went back to sleep. Woke up at 6am, checked weather *again*, and suddenly it said 10% chance of rain, no thunder, from 6am to 9am, then 70% rain from 9am to 3pm, then 10% chance of rain from 3pm onward. Excitedly leapt out of bed and got ready for the commute and took off as fast as I could at 7am. Figure I'd make it into work at around 8:30 and avoid the rain.

Rain clouds behind me, beautiful clear blue skies in front of me for the first 12 miles. Suddenly it gets real dark up ahead. Rain cloud dark. Never commuted in the rain before, but it was far too late to turn back, so I had no choice but to go full speed ahead into a rain storm. Bad 15-20mph headwind for the entire trip so far... and it only gets worse as I sped into the storm. A rainbow spread out before me, ending on both sides of the road ahead, so it looked like I was riding under a rainbow. The rain started coming down, but it wasn't as bad as the clouds appeared to be. Just a few sprinkles here and there, and it stopped completely after 2 miles.

Was surprised at how much grime got collected on my lower legs when I was changing into my work clothes. Thinking of investing in a front fender to prevent that from happening again. Weather says 10-25% chance of rain during my commute home. We'll see.

Glad I commuted today; now I can say I made my first 2-commute week. Only problem now is that if I can't keep up 2 commutes per week I'll be disappointed in myself, heh. For some odd reason, I felt like I was more visible in the rain. It seemed like more cars pulled over into the left lane to let me have the right lane (4 lane road) than usual. I'm wondering if my rear blinkie just seems brighter when it's overcast?

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/109258867

Rule #1 of commuting. Dont watch or listen to a weather guy.

Indeed. I've been trying to do 2 commutes per week for the last 3 weeks, and always cancelled one of them due to the weather report. Inevitably, I drive to work, realise it's not frigging raining like he said it would, and get angry that I wimped out.

Did 7 miles today nonstop. In 109F and high humidity. It was made of pain and fail. Also had my first asthma attack in 4 or 5 years. Not a great day. If I have another one, I'll need to get an inhaler again...