Excellent ride into work today, 19 miles in 65 mins.

Had one issue though when the tail light fell off the saddle bag loop it was fixed to and bounced along the ground. The road wasn't busy so stopped straight away and went to retrieve it just as a car came along and rode over it. I am sure it was deliberate as it was near the gutter :mad: Looks like the wheels must have just clipped the light and pulled it apart as I was able to put it back together again without any problem and it still works. The only thing wrong with it now is that the reflecting mirror is about 3/4 the length of the light.

A cool morning - My helmet and shoes were still a little damp from yesterday's rains.

An orange Hunter's moon hung over the trees, lighting my way for most of the ride.

Here's a pic from last night's ride home:

http://www.gravelbike.com/wp-content...10-10-2011.jpg

All in all, it was a pretty good ride.

Worked Saturday. Ride in was great. Cool weather, sunrise over the Potomac, the whole 9 yards. The ride home sucked, though. Too many people on the MUP (MVT). Got off it at first opportunity... wanted to be able to go more than 10 mph.

Had an OK ride in this AM. Stopped by the ATM on the way, so got an extra half mile or so in which was nice since it was a nice morning. First two cyclists I saw after the bank were smoking while riding. First guy had a fat stogie. Got a lungful of cigar smoke when he took a big puff right before I passed. Two minutes later passed a guy smoking a cigarette. Luckily I had enough warning of his smoke to hold my breath until I'd passed.

Kind of a slow ride after that, mostly b/c every time I came up on a ped, jogger, or slower bike, there was someone coming the other way so I had to wait to pass. The whole slowing down then speeding up then slowing down again cycle got kind of annoying. I wasn't out for a TT ride, so no big deal just not as fun as usual.

1C this morning, my eyes watered for the first few minutes as they often do at these temps. I took the last 3 days off riding, which was my longest break since August. I'm always a bit stiff coming off a break.

The battery on my tail light died during the ride in. This set of batteries didn't last long. I'll have to start using my radbot instead of the dangerzone as the radbot gives me plenty of warning before the battery dies.

Soma is in the shop for a major, much needed tune-up/overhaul. So I am on "alterna-bike," my street converted hard tail Gary Fisher. Which is a different ride - slower, a little more cushy, and I can't wait till I have my Soma back.

The weather is windy, rainy and flooding is happening on the bike route again. One suggested bike "detour" is flooded (lucky one can go around it by ignoring the detour) and a good section of brand new bike lane is completely flooded, worse than it was before the road resurfacing. I've got some work to do contacting SDOT again.

The wind at my back in the mornings has been great, but the ride home is a slog - feels like uphill the entire way. At least it's still warm, in the 50s, which I will take! Not looking to those cold 40 degree rainy mornings and dark afternoon commutes.

Ride in was good this morning, first time with booties & long pants (as it was in the mid 40s this morning.) 6 miles in 25 minutes and the commute is getting easier and easier.

wonderful ride.

Beautiful fall day here but the ride home was horrific... it was like there was a ninja convention as large groups of runner were on the bridge (which I need to cross) and not one had any reflective gear or lights and then nearly every cyclist coming my way was also without lights.

Might be time to stage an evening event on the bridge and hand out some free lights... thinking that people are not quite used to the shorter days.

I was very happy to see that the very uneven defunct railroad tracks on my commute are being removed!

Highlights from Monday's ride home:

Brakes don't fail me now!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/householdodors?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/s-u2O-Y4Jhk[/ame]

At least they used their blinker...

Today was great. Leaving as early as I do I do not see many cars. Today I had to deal with zero on the 4 plus miles in. Still a little humid here in FLA, but I like the lower 70s as opposed to lower 80s of Summer.

Big tailwind pushed me along this morning. Blustery and very moist air but a nice ride with temps abopve 60. Legs are still sore from running Chicago on Sunday but had a nice commute yesterday as well.

Still can't believe I waited so long to get a new bike, the ride is so much more enjoyable now.

Another warm fall morning at 63 F (17C). It was blowing and a light rain, so it was pleasant in some respects. I love warm mornings and will take what I can get.

Awesome. Overcast but dry. No wind. Temperature about 46F/7C. I wound up behind a produce truck heing held to 20MPH by a city front-loader. It's fun just hanging with traffic. The driver behind me had the common sense to treat me like a motorcycle and stay at a safe following distance. Eventually the produce truck turned right so I lost some draft, but I stayed with the front-loader until it, too, turned off. This was at the bottom of a climb anyway, so I slowed up. One of my faster commutes. :P

:rolleyes: "QUICK! Pass the bike so we can stop first!

Heard the rumble of thunder on the way out of the garage...there was some wet pavement and a few flashes of lightening but no rain and about 55 degrees. They keep saying the end of summer like temps is near but I keep ignoring them and riding. Ride ON!

Another sixty degree morning.

I feel 1,000% safer/more visible with bikeglow.

Cateye opticube, white front blinker, rear red blinker and, rear fork blinker combined never caught the attention of motorists and pedestrians nearly as much.

The way the whole frame is pulsing when it catches peoples peripheral vision makes them really take notice, a great feeling.

I only lost a couple of minutes waiting for the bridge to open this morning.

I do wish there was a way to avoid fifth avenue for the mile I have to ride on it. I think this is one of the most dangerous parts of my morning ride.

Great commute this morning despite the flat. 50F and dawn/partly cloudy with light to no winds from the NNE @ 1-4mph.

About mile 6, I picked up something on my tire that was flapping. It was a piece of paper that I thought was just stuck because of something sticky. I kept trying to pull it off and about mile 9 is where my right tire went flat. Come to find out that the paper was stuck on my tire by a staple. I guess messing around with it is what caused the tire to flat. Was a very quick change. Took me longer to pump the new tube back up to pressure.

A few minutes later after I set off back on the road, my friend driving his car pulled up next to me and told me to meet him at his house. I had asked him last night if I could borrow a cassette removal tool and chain whip. I don't actually have class till 10:10, so I had plenty of time. I dropped by his house to pick up the tools, then finished the rest of the commute.

Beautiful foggy morning. It was 6C, because of a tailwind I ended up being over dressed and thoroughly sweaty upon arriving at the university. The ground was wet from some rain last night and the leaves in a heavily treed section of my ride are turning into a slippery paste.

The sun should be back tomorrow, but the daytime highs are getting down to just over 10C.

By the time I get home today I'll be at 6000km of riding for the year, 2200km from commuting. 9 more days until I exceed last year's number of commutes.

Great ride home last night with a nice tailwind aiding my trip.

Cloudy this morning with some puddles and wet spots around, but not raining on the way in. Forecast for heavier rains today appears to have been downgraded now to lighter rain. No smokers and fewer slowdowns on the way in this AM, although the headwinds at time were discouraging. Would be a bad day to be touring and headed north or northeast all day long.

Going to a planning meeting after work for a grad school assignment. That's actually going to add an extra 8 miles or so to my riding for the day, so I'm excited about that. :)

Great ride home last night with a nice tailwind aiding my trip.

Cloudy this morning with some puddles and wet spots around, but not raining on the way in. Forecast for heavier rains today appears to have been downgraded now to lighter rain. No smokers and fewer slowdowns on the way in this AM, although the headwinds at time were discouraging. Would be a bad day to be touring and headed north or northeast all day long.

Going to a planning meeting after work for a grad school assignment. That's actually going to add an extra 8 miles or so to my riding for the day, so I'm excited about that. :)

Both ways now chilly and distinctly crepuscular. Soon it will be lights during the whole trip. Exactly 35 minutes for the 16 KM trip, in both directions. My pacing is improving. On the road bike, I am now less gung-ho than when I'd just got it, focusing instead on riding at a steady pace, braking less and handling the steering more effectively. I'm also improving my awareness of the terrain, and this has already had some beneficial effects during the last running event I took part in last Sunday.

So far, I like riding in the cold as long as it's not raining. Other than that, no interesting observations, just a very pleasant ride allowing me to transfer smoothly into and out of the work situation.

I rode through 3-4 swarms of gnats, got flagged down for a hello from one the customers from the new local co-op, got stuck in traffic behind a car being impounded (the driver was arrested).

The weather was warm with a slight mugginess, the sky was gray.

All in all a good ride with something different going on to keep it interesting.

I had to google that word.

The rain this afternoon was only just enough to sit on top of the oil on the streets. It was like the, "fresh rain effect" everywhere i rode. When road conditions are like this, I basically ride thinking "no brakes" the whole time, in the interest of safety.

Had pretty strong headwinds (gusting up to 20mph maybe) on the 59th street bridge, which were stronger for the first few avenues in long island city.

Part of my ride home runs for maybe a quarter mile on one of the busiest avenues in Astoria.

A woman driving a silver sedan, just slowly pulled out into two lanes of traffic from a side street.

She seemed to have looked both ways twice, but regardless of what she saw she just kept creeping forward.

I'm thinking she must have been borderline legally blind, or possibly had a mental infirmity of some kind.

I don't think she saw me until I skidded up to her left corner panel, at which time she stopped, and looked completely surprised I was there.

She looked right at me, twice. YES I have a flashing LED beamer on the front (bikeglow was on too, as the cloudy skies made it dark enough).

How do these people get licenses, or not die choking on a hard crust of bread? :\

Tomorrow will be my last commute of the week, as I will be taking a train to see my girlfriend after work Friday.

I'm ok with riding 4 out of 5 days in a week, but anything less and I'm unhappy.