Commuted with panniers for the first time. My heels kept hitting them and causing me annoyance. A few times, (one of) the panniers kept coming unhooked off the rack, so I velcro'd it to the rack with the velcro straps next to the hooks for the rack.

First weekday commute.

I had ridden to work on occasion over the last few years but seriously it was only a couple of times on a weekend. I own a road bike but the roads here have no shoulder and are highway speeds and I have been thrown from my bike before.

I just purchased a used Trek 820 and it seemed in great shape, I outfitted it with a trailer I built over the weekend and a few other odds and ends. Why a trailer? I don't like backpacks and sometimes my wife calls with a last minute grocery list while I am at work.

The commute is about 5 miles up hill so it took me 35 minutes. Only issue was I missed one of my planned turns and ended up on the busy highway for about 1/4 mile. I also forgot to mention that this summer they put in a new road that makes my commute easier so that must have been God talking to me to get my butt on the seat and commute by bike. Overall good day.

A very nice ride home. Got my first look at the new bike lanes through Foutain Square. It appears both bicycle directions will be on one side, I might love it or hate it, but I aint sure yet. I think it will be much better and safer, but maybe slower.

If had an 86 cut off I could never leave my home!

The average minimum high for Aug (so far) is 87.3F

Last week the lows have been:
Aug 24 90
Aug 25 92
Aug 26 93
Aug 27 90
Aug 28 89

Monday's low could drop as low as 88 degrees, which would be the first time since mid-July that temperatures have reached below 89 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

That is just the lows. Friday's ride home was 117F. I can't remember when it was below 110.

I drove today because I had a doctor appt. Lucky for me. We had severe thunderstorms right about the time and place I would be on my afternoon bike commute with high winds, large hail and torrential rain. Another line of storms is about to hit now. We will probably get more rain and higher winds from this than we did the hurricane.

My ride in this morning was really quite pleasant. This morning's temp was 79. This afternoon was a different story. It was supposed to hit a high of 95, but we had the typical summertime afternoon thunderstorms roll in so the temperature did not get near that high. On the other hand, I did get a little wet! LOL
I'm hoping to have my first 100 mile week this week. My wife and I rode 20 on Sunday and each day will be 16 round trip. If I can make it every day this week, I'll hit the mark! Can't wait :-)

My commute in 3.8 miles one way on mostly flat roads. I do have to share the road with cars which can be a little scary at times because its only one lane so cars will buzz by me but I've never had an incident. It's also great because I work at a bike shop so I never have to worry about locking it up, I can just roll it right in and set it next to the other bikes and even work on it if I want to once I'm off.

114 in Vegas. I took the Mazda.

Consider yourself stroked. I can't go into work soaked in sweat. That's the ONLY thing that stopped me.

Great ride today, mostly. 20mph headwind hurt on the way home,

Karma amuses me sometimes. Got horned (illegal where I was) and passed illegally, while doing the speed limit (yay downhill), in front of a cop, in a school zone. Cop got him, obviously. I don't envy him the ticket!

A cool ride in at 58F (14C). Yeseterday, going home, I felt strong, and in the middle ages, it is a gift, so I rode hard. When I got to one of my usual problem roads, a car trying to get a pole position in the left lane was not paying attention and pulled up, before touching me. For some reason someone in another car in the left lane yelled for me to get up on the sidewalk. I usually ignore stupid remarks, as it difficult to answer stupidity, but this time I belted out the strongest profanity possible. With one nitwit bearing down on me and the other nitwit yelling out the window, I just lost it.

I wore my light jacked this morning. Probably did not really need it. Suppose to be back up in the mid 90's by Thursday. Oh well, August is almost over. Seen a coon in a flipped over trash can.

Definitely felt the cool this morning. Yesterday was one of those days where I haul a ton of food into the office, was loaded down in both baskets.

Plenty of debris from Irene littering the bike lanes.

Beautiful morning after an evening of severe thunderstorms. Skies were clearing when I got up and the roads were mostly dry but littered with leaves and small branches. The weather forecast looks great for the rest of the work week with morning lows in the 60s and afternoon highs in the 80s. I now officially need my front headlight in the morning to see, at least for the first 10 minutes or so of my commute.

I've got a new commuter bike getting built up by my mechanic. Picked up a sweet used Waterford RST-22 last week, and I'm swapping parts from my touring bike for the build. This will give me a second "fast" commuter bike along with my Salsa Casseroll, except I might leave the fenders off the Waterford to make it a little lighter. Only problem with the Waterford is that I'll be afraid to leave it locked up at a rack.

114 yesterday. More of the same today.

57F/14C with an annoying headwind, but the air is nice and it's sunny. I let a roadie pace me most of the way in so it was a pretty fast ride even with the wind.

The city had cleared the trees from the MUP before my ride home yesterday. I wonder why they can rush out to clear trees, but can't plow snow in the winter.

I flew home last night, got a new personal best average (moving) speed of 17.4 mph. My average vs. elapsed time was 15.04.

So far since April of this year I have been on my bike & moving for a total of 169:33:01... Total elapsed time 188:31:42. This includes non-commute rides where I stopped for breaks, etc.

On the way home yesterday as I was crossing one of the busier highways I looked down and noticed a dollar bill blowing towards the fog line....next I see a fiver and then another so I stop along the side of the road and gather up the loot....I'm thinking: FINALLY! Biking to work is really paying off!!! I take a couple extra looks for more $$ and I'm just about to start off again when a guy on a scooter goes by me and stops...He's looking for something so I ask him what he's looking for...He says his cigs and money came out of his pocket and he was looking for them...I sez I got your money right here and hand if over but couldn't help him with the cigs. That gave me good mind fodder for the rest of my commute home...Easy come easy go...I sure hope that was really his money and I didn't get conned out of $11.

Yet another beautiful summer morning, 12C, sunny, mostly calm. Not that I'm complaining - days like this are few and precious in these parts. It's a little distressing to see a few yellow leaves on the ground already; I guess fall is just around the corner.

Another beautiful morning; with cool temps (but some real humidity, so I was still sweating buckets when I got to work). Tons of bikes out this morning, which made for some interesting riding (and a few impromptu moments of searching for a little extra speed). I was pleased to see that the Towpath had not washed away in Irene, but they're working under the bridge again, so there's the stupid detour.

Tomorrow and Thursday I'm working in Baltimore, so next riding day will be Friday. Seems a shame to waste this awesome weather, but I really don't have time to ride 4 -5 hours each way ;-)

Every time I ride that detour, I feel like I'm either going to wipe out or run into someone. Yet I refuse to get off and walk it, which is probably what I'm supposed to do.

I had a bowl of chili for lunch. Oh the misery.

I eat chili for lunch many days of the week(It's cheap, comes in giant batches, and is reasonably healthy if you make it lean) with no problem.

The days I go to the burger joint with the guys from work and get the Fire Burger, though. Those are the rough days.

In regards to the commute: Still too damn hot. The huge wildfire a few miles over made it kinda smoky, and winds were insane and unpredictable.

Much better commute for the second day. I didn't miss any turns and I was all alone for 60% of the ride. Ride home was good and felt like I made good time and was able to keep it in a higher gear. Tomorrow will be a real test as I am going to add another 20 miles for an appointment. If it goes well then I will bike to my appointments more often.

Another cool morning at 59 F (15C). Yep, I know it just gets cooler from here. There is still a street without power along my ride. It is difficult to understand how an area this crowded can have a street without power.