making

I have places I can stop. One is a college I teach at, another a bar (that lets me bring my bicycle inside) and two resturants, oh and a library and the Y. No more than a couple of miles between them anyway. And I have teenage driving sons that I can have come get me (at the bar after a couple of beers), or if it is storming too bad. I think I have had to get a ride home once when there was driving rain and high winds and tornado watchs. But I doubt the wearther man predicted those either. But be careful, the most dangerous thing I think about riding in the rain is the cars seeing you.

Surrealdeal

Rule #2 of commuting. If you ride hard and for any respectable distance you're going to get wet anyway. Who freaking cares if it's raining.

EKW in DC

Blissful tailwind this morning. So even though my first week of full time job plus three grad school courses has me pretty well wiped out (physically and mentally), I managed 16 mph to work. 7.5 miles in just over 25 minutes. Managed to hit the traffic lights I encounter about as perfectly as can be expected too. :-D

Raleigh GP 08

Bad run of flatting on commutes continues. This time I made it all the way into work before the slow leak reached a flat stage. Took the tire and (front) wheel over to PB at lunchtime to see if there was something I was missing, other than a defective batch of Forte tubes (third one in my last three commutes). The mechanic couldn't find anything in the wheel or tire that could be causing the slow leak to happen (pin size hole again), chalked it up to another defective tube (ugh!!!). Replaced it free of charge with a new conti tube, so we'll see if that works out better. Now I just have to deal with the rain on the way home, but (knock on wood) hopefully no flats.

Mithrandir

At the moment I've only got one pair of shoes, so if they get soaked I've got to wear them all day long. I suppose I should invest in a second pair to wear at work. But yeah usually I don't mind too much if I get soaked. Just adverse to it when commuting at the moment.

himespau 

That's the nice thing about going clipless. I'm forced to keep a pair of shoes at work (or carry them every day).

making

I must have had a big time tail wind tonight. I cut about 10 minutes off my average ride time and maybe 6 minutes off my best. I remember thinking in a couple of places I am flying, but man, nice fast ride.

GrantH

I didn't "commute" per se, but I did ride 5 miles on my new Escape 2.

The story goes...

We headed out from the head of the Long Leaf Trace here in town to my buddies house. 12 blocks once we got to the edge of campus. We took our time through campus, wonderful scenery the first week of school . Anyways, its 2.5 miles the route we took to the house and 2.5 miles back. Everything went awesome on the way to my buddies. We took the road 80% of the time on neighborhood roads but crossed at crosswalks on the main intersections.

On the way back through campus I took the road, my buddy still feels best on the wide sidewalks that do actually have bike sharrow type deals. Either way, we cross a crosswalk cleanly and continue on maybe another 50 feet where a firetruck in the center turn lane turns ACROSS our lane and almost hits my buddy on the sidewalk and I had to go around the back of the truck in the center turn lane.

We have a call into the fire department and they acted completely appauled that one of their trucks would do that. Should be an interesting phone call.

Boothe85

This morning was awesome until mid ride. The Ride home was beautiful (Pic coming soon).

This Morning: Rain from Hurricane Irene descended upon South Florida. I got caught in the vicious down pour, but rode on through it (Entirely soaked). It was actually a very peaceful ride UNTIL I heard an awkward "Pang" sound. Glanced down at rear tire since it had just broken 2 spokes 2 days ago. Well in the meantime, a nasty empty bus bench that is angled against me over half the sidewalk decided to play tag. Needless to say, My Bell Cyclometer mount broke, both Bell Lights went airborne from the bike, I nailed my shin on the bench putting a nice Crevice in my leg where there should be leg. Ended up going over the bars, landed on the sidewalk. Slight road rash on elbow, leg in the same boat except for the 1/2" puncture/gash. Luckily a walmart was right there so i hobbled over and bought some first aid supplies. Finally made it to work.

Afternoon ride: WOW! Something about Post Hurricane weather is beautiful. The breeze was nice and cool, partly cloudy with the sun setting. It was the best ride I've had yet (aside from the leg injury).

Sixty Fiver

Got into a little Cat6 racing action today on the way south... some kid on a road bike blew past me as a light turned green and then we raced across the city and man was this guy strong as I had some trouble keeping up and was nearly spinning out the gearing on my bike.

He knew I was behind him and maintaining a safe stance and he was pointing out debris and potholes which did not bother me as much since I was on my XC bike... when we hit the bridge we had to slow down a little but when the traffic cleared this guy left me like I was parked and we were still moving at a pretty brisk pace.

Could not figure out what was wrong with me as I usually have a little more jam and realize the meds slow me down a little but dang... I rarely get dropped like that and felt like I was working way too hard.

When I got to the shop I thought the ride was a little too plush and when I checked the tyres found that they were at 35psi... forgot that the last time I took the bike out I went off roading and dropped the pressure down for that although they still feel firm at these lower pressures... regular road pressure for these is 75psi at which point the bike feels more like a road bike and rolls out just a little faster with far less effort.

Weather was beautiful today and tonight and the riding was fun... was nice to ramp things up a little and nobody passed me on the way home.

dcb23

Humid ride in but overall nice. Was passed by another bike while heading up Pennsylvania avenue, a pleasant surprise. Missed the rains coming home from work last night.

tarwheel 

I may regret it, but I decided to squeeze in one last commute today to bring my monthly mileage over 600. Hurricane Irene is bearing down on NC, but heavy rain and high winds are not expected until tonight. Based on my experience with past hurricanes, I might not be able to ride for a few days or even as long as a week, so I went ahead and rode to work this morning. Weather was warm, dry and calm but cloudy and extremely humid. If the weather starts deteriorating, I may have to head home at lunch and return in my truck.

Schools started back this week, so traffic is much heavier and kids are standing on the street corners waiting for buses. I'm getting a lot of funny looks from young kids who apparently didn't see me commuting last spring. It has also gotten noticeably darker in the mornings, and I'm now running my full light system in mornings -- headlights on my handlebars and helmet plus to tail-lights.

vtjim

Duck & cover, you coastal commuters! We're supposed to get rain and a good blow in Vermont, but Sunday. I'll probably catch the tail end of it for my morning commute on Monday. Current forecast is 35MPH winds but they're always stronger coming off Lake Champlain, which is next to the MUP.

My ride in today was good. Light tailwind. About 60F/15C, and some sun. Herds of squirrels coming out lately. A sign of summer's end, alas.

Supernose

Good ride in this morning, especially after my break from it yesterday. Had to book it though, since I left about 20 minutes later than normal. Got into Downtown and this guy on another commuter passes me up. Decided to play a bit and tried to at least keep up, I couldn't handle it haha. Probably didn't help that the guy looked like he weighed about as much as one of my legs, and has probably been riding for quite some time. I didn't expect anything else, but man it was fun to try ;-)

On a side note, I think I'm gonna pass my neighborhood on the way home and finish out my first 100 miles since I started riding. It's not much, but it's definitely sort of milestone for me. At the rate of 100 miles per week, won't take me long to hit 1000, and holy crap is that a bigger number than it thought I'd ever hit.

Surrealdeal

Overslept, ran late. Very sluggish.

scottsmith

Happy Friday, all!

Great ride again this morning. Nice, if a little chilly out at first.

I was aiming to trim my time to below 60 minutes but could only manage 61 minutes today. Still close to my fastest time of 60 minutes over my 28km ride. Last year I only had three or four commutes under 70 minutes, but I've been faster this summer thanks to now having a road bike (vs my MTB with slicks) and more time spent riding this year.

Saw the Friday morning group ride out of Orillia on my road again today, and maybe a few more cyclists than average over the route (mostly once I was in Barrie, which is normal).

Cheers!

groovestew

8C, sunny, calm.

I wish I could have some Cat 6 races. Just not in the right place at the right time anymore. The other day, I tried to will a roadie to turn the same direction I was going so I could race him uphill, but he went a different direction. These days, I just race cars downtown between traffic lights.

Raleigh GP 08

Ride home yesterday was uneventful, meaning no flats, which was great! Ride in this morning was very foggy, and a bit humid as well. We are still a day away from any of the hurricane effects, so ride home today should be sunny and dry.

making

A very clear starry morning. Cool, nice ride. Probably one of the 2-4 days a year I love Indiana weather.

Sixty Fiver

You know where I live...

After we get your Italian girl tuned up we should take that old British chap out for a spin... the TdP is happening on September 11th so there is an opportunity for folks to get out and do a little hammering too.

Think I will take the Moulden as the bike will fit the pace of the ride and has such a great ride.

zacster

I rode in today and it was uneventful, but humid. Looking out my window now it looks like rain but there's nothing on the radar. I may have to ride in on Monday too as the subway may not be running. If this hurricane pans out my office will be closed but I'm working on an international project that goes live on Monday so I'll probably go in anyway.

groovestew

It's a little out of the way...though I've been tempted a couple of times to stray from my commute to chase down someone who looks fast.

Any chance I could borrow a fixie from you that day?

Sixty Fiver

For sure... you might really like the '55 Lenton for it's excellent touring manners and fit... and the bike does fly.

If you did that I might be tempted to take he '54 Raleigh instead to keep you company.



Have thought this tour might need a little vintage flavour.

CptjohnC

The theme for today's ride was wet. No rain falling, but lots of puddles from yesterday's on and off showers. But more important, the air itself almost felt as though it was made of water. Other than that, though, a fine ride. I considered wimping out, with the impending hurricane, but decided that it wasn't supposed to hit until tomorrow. Hopefully I won't regret that going home tonight. I will have ridden almost 120 miles of pure commuting this week, which is a new high for me. Sure, that's only 3 days, but that was all the days I went in to the office this week (one day off to take my eldest back to college, and one work from home day).

Next week it is back to my multi-modal commute, as the school year begins. I think I'm actually glad for the 'rest' though; my knees seem to be feeling the strain of 8-10 weeks of over 100 miles each week. I also do my first century next weekend.

Oh, and I replaced my clicking pedals with another pair. Definitely an improvement, but still some clicking. Of course, they are used pedals, too, so it could be they're worn as well. Or it could be something else entirely... Anyone have a sense of whether it is worth rebuilding a pair of Shimano PD-505s?

vtjim

TGIF! Amusing ride home. One block from work, stopped at a red light. I'm left of a van that's making a right turn. Woman roadie stops on my right, with her front wheel between the van and my back wheel. Pedestrian crossing light engages. Woman says, "I'd go." I sort of look at her sideways and said something about waiting for the green light. (Busy intersection, lots of turning cars, peds, etc.)

So she squeezes between me and the van, and goes through the red light. Light changes green a couple seconds after she runs it. Well. Turns out she's going the same way as me onto the MUP. I just followed her for 3 miles until she turned off. She ignored stop signs, which was okay because I got to reel her back in 3 or 4 times afterward. She added more data supporting my theory that the slower the rider, the more red lights and stop signs get blown by said rider.