gave my touring bike its first commuter test. I dont have panniers yet, but the fat tires, 35mm, and upright position were encouraging me to ride slow and keep a smile on my face. The only negatives were the heat and front wheel tube blow out :eek:

http://www.pedalroom.com/p/raleigh-alyeska-3415_1.jpg

Warm rainy ride in at 63F (17C). The warm morings are holding up, and I am enjoying them. I could see lightening all around, but did not hear any thunder, so I kept going, although at a quicker pace.

Slow day today. This morning I rode with a broken rear derailleur cable, which limited me to just the front chainrings so I couldn't get optimal cadence. So my morning average was about 1.5km/h slower than usual.

I went to the Giant shop near my school after work to get the cable fixed (looked like a pretty complicated job putting it into the shifter, so I'm glad I didn't attempt it myself) but tonight's ride was slow again due to the dark, rainy conditions. I can deal with dark, and I can deal with rainy, but dark AND rainy means a much slower ride, especially in Shanghai's heavy rush hour bike traffic.

Wet! 51F, light rain. Roads were wet. First rainy ride for me in a very long time. Now my Soho is all dirty again. :rolleyes:

Saw a couple of other cyclists going the other way. One properly-geared and lit up. The other, uh, not so much.

60 degrees, calm wind, steady rain. AWESOME! I got stuck in the mud trying to access a new section of bike path :eek:....It's only a mile long but it eliminates 3 miles of fairly busy road riding. This could be it for the warm weather for us...the front that brought the rain will be bringing cooler temps too. Enjoy!

A balmy 58° and wet road conditions.

Decided not to just spin one of the more steep hills on my route and stood and pedaled, felt pretty good going up but as soon as I crested the hill my legs were fried.

Fairly uneventful traffic wise, nobody tried to kill me.

Locked my bike to the rack out front and tied a plastic bag to my seat.

30 minutes later I look down on sixth avenue to see many more umbrellas open than when I arrived.

I guess my timing was spot on this morning.

Missed two days of biking due to rain and errands that required my truck at work, but back in the saddle today. Roads were still wet from all the rain, probably contributing to the flat I got -- my first during a commute in more than a year. Picked up a big shard of glass, and it was fun fixing the flat in the dark with everything wet. Temperatures were very warm, about 70 F, and I would have made great time if it hadn't been for the flat.

Mid 50's but felt colder because it was still humid from last night's rains. The big bright moon helped me out in the open, and messed up my night vision when I would go into the trees. In one wooded stretch I almost ran over some idjit's little yap dog. I saw the idjit, called out an 'On your left' and was overtaking when at the last second I saw the little yap dog on the far left hand edge of the MUP. I never saw the leash that was extended the full width of the MUP but I know that it was there because the idjit gave a yank and the yap dog skittered across the slick leaves to his owner's feet.

The dog never let out a sound. Perhaps these type of violent course corrections are an everyday part of it's existence.

Also I noticed in at least two portions of my route there are skunks operating. So I got that going for me.

Wet but not raining, chilly but not cold. A very pleasant morning ride with courteous drivers.

I started just before 7am in near-total darkness and watched the sky lighten while I rode.

People at work think I'm crazy (I'm sure you all get this) but it's a far better thing for me to ride than not to ride.

Cheers,
Scott

Cool but very humid.

An interesting thing happened to me. I was passed by a motorist after I held out my hand attempting to indicate for her to hold on; I was taking the lane a little poorly and conditions were crowded at that part of the road. As she passed me, I yelled, "Hey! Hold on!" Lo and behold, she stopped. (At this point, I didn't know whether to go for my gun or if I was going to have a chance to educate. Turns out, the gun was far from necessary.)

Our conversation started out heated but we both became more civilized. I was able to educate her that the right turn lane is not a bicycle lane, that bicycles may and sometimes do take the lane, about the new Georgia 3-foot passing law, and I gave her my copy of Georgia Bike Sense. She taught me that my hold on hand signal isn't clearly distinguishable from a left turn. I was impressed that she gave me the time of day and I thanked her for stopping to talk to me.

Junky - The slow/stop signal is open hand pointing straight down, but you probably already know this.

Problem is, most motorists do not.

A month in to commuting by bike, had my first run-in with a true a-hole - oncoming truck made a left turn in front of me (no turn signal) and nearly hit me. Pretty sure he saw me because he started blaring his horn as he started the turn. I'm also pretty sure he was just being a jerk because there was a car not far behind me that he didn't really have room to turn in front of either. Most people here in Lex are generally pretty reasonable toward cyclists though.

Otherwise a great commute - I got to test out my rain gear for the first time! It started pouring about 3 miles from work, so I pulled over and whipped out my rain jacket. My top half stayed dry, and the new fenders kept all the grime off me and my bike. The only sucky part was having rain all on my glasses. They're prescription so I can't drive/ride without them but fortunately I have a pair of contacts at the office for the ride home. Can't wait until I get my eyeballs lasered next summer.

(From yesterday) Good, but slow commute home due to an improper adjustment and headwinds. After I made the adjustment towards the end of the ride, my speed picked up. 60F and mostly cloudy with winds from the E @ 5-7mph.

My rest day today so I drove the car in.

A front moved through yesterday, more than doubling the rain we've received since the end of August. Roads and trails were wet this morning as a result, including all the leaves that have been falling. I started out in the dark, and 23 miles later arrived at work before sunrise for the first of many more similar commutes. My trusty old steed hit 85,000 miles in downtown St. Paul.

Really wet and rainy today. I got soaked through my shoes and shorts. Powered through it and made it to work though - and hoping the rain lets up for my ride home :)

Wet roads and a bit of drizzle, but no rain. I'm glad I made the last second decision to wear my shoe covers, as my feet / ankles were covered in wet sand by the end of the ride. I don't mind riding in the wet, but I had the mess it makes of my bike. I need to put a new mudflap on my front fender, the old one got cut off by my studs last winter.

My laptop died yesterday at school, flashing lights indicated a CPU failure. I recalled getting an extended warranty for it, but couldn't remember when it expired. When I got home I found the receipt and I have 3 weeks until the warranty expires. So not entirely bad.

Nice looking Raleigh. I can't believe it will handle tires that large.

Chilly but mostly sunny both ways. I actually enjoy the chill - I can go a little faster without sweating.

When commuting by road bike, I don't see as many interesting things as I did this summer on the Koga Miyata. Of course, the change of the seasons doesn't help. There are few baby ducks/geese/swans to keep track of (except that a couple of Egyptian geese in the park at the end of my route home have a new litter that looks like it's about 4 weeks old. I hope those birdies make it through winter) and the group of fully grown storks that inhabited the fields near Groningen at around harvest time has packed up and left. I did see a flock of geese heading south today.

The group of 12-year-olds that used to ride together during my morning commute appears to have broken up into multiple smaller groups, depending on what time they need to be in school. The older, bearded man I always see coming my way at the end of the ride to work is still commuting by bike, so I'm not the only all-weather rider.

Handling of the road bike continues to improve. I can now take turns at 30 KPH without fearing for my life. I am, however, becoming unhappy about the handlebars. I cannot breathe when I'm in the drops and I find myself not using them much. Could be a bad fit, or any of a dozen other reasons.

Geese have been inconsiderately hogging the MUP for the past week. It was pretty windy today, I saw several of them just floating in the air as they came in for a vertical landing.

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/a.../IMG_1193b.jpg

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/a.../IMG_1195b.jpg

I was getting pretty tired on the way home today, more than even the headwind should have accounted for. I kept looking back to see if my tire was going flat or if the brakes were sticking.

Then while I was stopped taking pictures I realized the problem. My MEC shoe covers are fairly tall and tightly grip above the ankle. This kept my jogging pants pulled tight. So every time my legs went down the pant legs would stretch adding resistance. Its subtle but the added resistance really starts to wear on you.

perfect weather to commute to school(6 miles), road to work straight after my class was over which was 12 miles away and a nice climb up to UCSC.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V1RyfzN80v...0/DSCF4730.jpg
Easy on the eyes. Cool & overcast...light wind & rain, very pleasant.

After two days of rain, the weather finally started clearing overnight and the roads were starting to dry off. It was very windy though due to a cold front moving through the area, which fortunately made it much less humid than it's been. After my flat during yesterday's morning commute, I was down to my last spare tube so I spent an hour or so repairing tubes last night. I had a pile of about 15 of them. I had to trash 3 of them, 5 turned out to be OK, and I fixed the rest -- so I should have plenty of tubes to last me a while.

Got to work soaked to the bone, smiling because I love the ride AND because I've now ridden 2011 km in 2011.

Cheers,
Scott

Must be living right. Hit almost all the lights and only had to actually stop and unclip a couple of times. Shaved a solid 5 minutes off my normal commuting time. Great ride.

Realized it's almost long-sleeve weather here - pretty windy this morning too. Roads were a little wet from the rain yesterday and last night, but otherwise the commute was uneventful. There's an elementary school about half a mile from my house, so I was a little creeped out when I headed out and there were ZERO people out in my subdivision. Turns out there was no school today, fall break or something.