Rode home in the dark yesterday and was amazed at how many cyclists were out in NYC. There routes were more crowded than during the daylight hours. The Manhattan Bridge was a steady stream of cyclists in both directions, 2nd Ave was actually too crowded to ride fast in the bike lane, the Brooklyn side had cyclists everywhere. It isn't always like this even during the day. One big factor I'm sure was the beautiful weather after all the rain we've had this summer. High 60s and sunny, warmer through the weekend predicted, up to 85 on Sunday! (I have tickets to the Giants game too).

I rode to work all five days again this week. I rode in shorts all week, but temperatures were down in the 50′s on Monday and Tuesday morning, and I added long sleeves. By the end of the week it was plenty warm again, though. The wind really got up on Thursday and Friday. It was a headwind gusting to 25 mph for my ride home Friday.

I would have been slower Friday already. The 559 x 28 Conti Gatorskin tires I’ve been running had over 4,000 miles on them, and were in need of replacement, so I did that Thursday evening. I hadn’t been able to find a good deal on the Gatorskins this time, and couldn’t bring myself to pay over $40 a tire. I had also been thinking about going to a bit wider tire for the winter. So I bought a pair of 559 x 32 Metro K tires from Performance for $12.99 each, and put them on Thursday evening.

They’re cheap tires, but have Kevlar for flat protection, so I figured I’d give them a go. They’re lower pressure tires than the Gatorskins and wider, so I knew they’d be slower, but I didn’t realize how much slower. It’s a really noticeable difference. But, the way the fronts start blowing in this time of year, I’m slower anyway, so a slower tire won’t make as much difference. And a wider tire will be nice in the winter, so I’m going to give them a try for a little while at least. There may be some big changes in my commuter setup soon anyway. More on that later.

2011 days ridden to work: 172
2011 commuting mileage: 4202.8

I drove to school yesterday in lieu of biking and was almost wrecked by some idiot kid on my way back home. He decided to make a left turn into a driveway from the right most lane on a 4-lane one way, all while talking on his cell and hauling a 20' trailer behind his behemoth pickup, which really sucked for me as I was driving aft of him in the left most lane, doing about 40. I locked up all 4 wheels skidding to a stop a few feet from from t-boning the trailer, then followed the kid into the parking lot to rip him a new one. He sat there and took it, muttering the occasional "I'm sorry." "Sorry you almost killed me? Sorry ain't gonna clean my shorts, you dumb <very long bleep>!"

After turning the air inside the kid's truck blue for five minutes or so, I peeled out and hit the road again, still so angry and adrenaline filled that I was shaking. It took about 15 minutes to calm down, bring the car back under the speed limit, and stop driving like Sweet Tooth in Twisted Metal. Afterwards I wondered why, after having had my right of way so egregiously violated and my well-being utterly ignored, I went out and did the same thing to everyone else until I could calm down. Seriously, I cut off several people badly and drove angrily and aggressively until my blood pressure dropped to where I was no longer seeing red and could recognize what I was doing. My lady told me later that I was displacing my rage.

Afterwards I thought: the same thing (almost getting badly hurt/killed by someone else's stupidity/obliviousness) has happened repeatedly in the course of biking, sometimes multiple times a day, and I've never felt as terrible about it as I did just then. I think it's because when I'm on the bike and someone almost kills me, I can ride off the adrenaline. The bike is something that I can literally pour my energy into, and as such can be a sponge to soak up my fear and my rage, until I'm depleted and all that comes of it is that I get where ever I was going a bit faster. But in the car all I can do is stew in it, soak in it, where it transforms me into some frothing beast, a madman trapped in a box and barking at the injustices of all creation.

I've always thought that biking in traffic had the effect of degrading my faith in all humanity to its lowest level; but in truth it's being in traffic that does that, whether on bike, in car, or on foot. By traveling by bike I am able to retain my own humanity, in the face of of the inhumanity of automotive traffic, and I'll happily trade that for A/C or heated seats any day of the week.

I biked to work today, and it was great. Mid-30's in the morning, dark on the way in, flights of ducks in the sky on the way out, and sun-lit termination dust halfway down the the mountains; winter's coming and I couldn't be happier.

I skipped the ride for the last two days on account of being tired. Having caught up on sleep today, I rode in to work. Sunday roads are fantastic. The weather was delightful. And I'm energized for work. It was good to ride.

Not really a commute, but I did my running around town by bike(as usual). Seems like everyone from all of my city's colleges left for the long weekend. The roads were dead empty!

*Albany, NY has a permanent population of about 95k. In addition to these people there is a large state university, two smaller private colleges, a law school, and a pharmacy school. I theorize that these, in addition to the state workers at the capitol swell the city to about 200k+ during the average weekday during the school year. All this in a city of 22.4 square miles. Despite the "Smalbany" nickname, it does get pretty crowded sometimes!

Misty wet and fairly warm (about 50 in the morning, about 60 in the afternoon). I'm glad I wore my contact lenses. No hat bill or helmet visor keeps that mist stuff off of my glasses. It was too warm for rain gear so I just got wet, had dry clothes in my paniers.

I may as well get used to this again, as we're starting our other season.

beautiful....almost too good. I've been trying to take advantage of this great weather as much as I can. I actually had the day off work so instead I took one of my dogs out for a ride. He's a pit bull so it's a bit like strapping an engine onto your bike. If I wasn't riding fixed I wouldn't have to pedal at all!

Dreadful. Cold, wet, wind force 5 blowing a thick, cold spray in my face. 52 minutes, when I can do the route in 35 in normal conditions if I ride my road bike. However, visibility was bad enough for it to be unsafe for me to ride the road bike, so I used the heavier, less aerodynamic Koga Miyata touring bike. I was out of breath before I was properly out of town. Non-breathable rain gear completed the picture of unrelenting misery.

I'll have that wind in my back on the way home, though, so it's all good.

Managed to leave home this morning with a light drizzle, and am currently at work with a thunderstorm outside. It's a 6km commute, but the roads are already flooded and all public transport here in Athens is on strike today. Looks like I'll be working overtime today! lol

Update: Rained stopped just enough for me to start off from work... 5 minutes later it started pouring again, worse than before and stopped on the exact moment I put the key in the front door of my home. The gods of rain weren't happy with me today! lol

53F/12C, no wind. Lighter-than-normal traffic on account of Columbus Day. Pleasant.

After a couple of weeks of perfect weather, the rains are supposed to roll into NC this week. That's OK because we need the rain and I just reseeded my lawn and I'm tired of moving the sprinkler. My legs are also pretty tired and could use a break after riding 14 out of the last 15 days. I'll probably drive tomorrow because it's election day here and I need to vote, plus it's supposed to rain all day.

A cool sixty degrees this morning.

I got caught at the wards island bridge again, waiting for the guy who unlocks the gates.

After october the wards island bridge will be closed for approx nine months so I'm trying to take advantage while I can.

My current route brings me past new york presbyterian hospital. A male nurse in an suv obviously didn't see me and slow rolled into my side as he was edging up to make a right.

I knew he hadn't seen me so I went slow as I approached his right corner panel. He decided to roll up just as I came across his front so I basically stopped and leaned my left forearm across his hood at which point he finally acknowledged me.

I have high intensity led on the front, red rear blinker, and bike glow. This guy was fifty plus percent asleep....

Pleasant, right around 60. Dark the whole way, got to watch a nice moonset. I don't like riding in the dark as much - Obviously I cannot enjoy the scenery as much because it is dark (duh) but also It requires a lot more attention than daylight riding (double duh). Plus my average speed has plummeted accordingly. Just a different kind of ride I guess, still way better than driving. So I'm not complaining really, just thinking out loud.

Temp was 35-37f, virtually no wind. A little less traffic than usual. Swapped out the treaded tires for slicks over the weekend, and the bike rode noticeably better (faster).

Upper 40’s lower 50’s this morning. Rode past the school bus depot as usual; none running today. It's fully dark for the first half of my ride in nowadays. Got caught by a freight train and had to wait 5 minutes or so for it to pass. I was first in line and noticed there was a long line of cars behind me. Since this is a road where I always take the lane for safety, I decided to cross the tracks and wait on the shoulder for a moment once the train passed to allow the line of cars to go first, making it easier and more pleasant for everyone.

It's still amazingly mild here, nice autumn weather mid-60's. Still plenty of light in the mornings. Probably we'll have rain this evening but no big deal since it will still be warm, and likely light rain.

The ride home was a nice 75 degrees, but the spike in temp from the morning really made me feel the difference in just how much more I sweat in warmer conditions.

my pace was on the high side for me, 13.5mph from midtown manhattan to queens.

the truth is, the only way i will ever really improve my time/speeds is if i drop the rest of my extra poundage and super pwn the bridges. I want to fly up bridges the way some of you do. :)

regarding the changing season, i realize this is not "good advocacy" to think this way but, i'm looking forward to when the temperatures dropping scare everyone else back into their cages, and it's just me, the joe girardi looking guy, and the small jogging mexican on the bridge, in the cold black morning, with the wind biting at my gear, and dirty slush under my tires.

the self righteous jerk in me makes me want to say this to the fair weather riders when i pull up next to them in April-November, "where were you in january?".

On vacation so no commute. But took the family on a ride to the diner for lunch on a beautiful day. Awesome.

Posting for yesterday:

I knew I was sluggish but my average speed calculated out to just shy of 9 mi/h (about 14 km/h). I rode a little out of the way to return a reusable grocery bag to my mom, forgetting that I'd left it at home (but it turns out I needed the extra calorie burn with the slow speed I was going).

A very nice ride in at 60 f (16 c). I don't know for how much longer we will get warm mornings, but they are a treat.

Have the day off today but while I was walking the new dog (1st dog for the family, 2 days with us so far) at 6am under a cloudless, 1-day-past-full moon morning thinking what a beautiful morning it would be to ride in to work. The forecast is similar tomorrow so I expect to be able to ride in under similar conditions.

Have a great ride today people!

Beautiful morning, mid 50's, nice. About the 6 or 7th mile in an dark area of my ride with no traffic, in a well marked bike lane, in a newly paved very smooth area, I was moving pretty good and I was thinking about the Hilly this weekend and a few other fun weekend things coming up when I noted something accross the bike lane come into my headlight light. It was a pipe, about the size of a heavy galvanized fencepost, accross the entire bike lane. Had I been paying attention I could have eaisly avoided it. but I tried to bunny hop it, and really I made it. My back tire hit it and that knocked off my pannier with all my students homework in it. But nothing was damaged as far as I can tell. I need to pay attention.

Nice ride in, about sixty degrees.

This time when stuck at the wards island bridge, I was not alone.

A young guy on a bmx was already waiting, and after about five minutes as the gate keeper showed up another cyclist pulled up too.

I will be sad when this route closes until next summer.

:(

Excellent commute this morning at 53F with some patchy fog and light to no winds from the NE @ 3mph. Made good time and felt great on this ride in.

2nd day i have ever commuted. Mine is 3.75ml 61f. A little bit cooler would have been better. Takes me 20min right now to get to work on my bike. It takes 15min in my truck.