Chilly and damp today, but the roads are starting to dry. Sunny and cool weather is forecast next week. After the last two days of rain my bike is filthy and in need of a cleaning this weekend.

Tonight I'm going to mount the studded tires on the mtb and do the stud setting ride saturday morning. Maybe that will ward off the snow for a while. I should also check if the smith snow helmet I ordered has arrived.

Where is here if you don't mind sharing? You can update your avatar - I think that's what you call it.

Two blocks from my house, just as I got up to speed, about 20mph on a nice flat section of my commute, a car load of teenage girls going to the high school pulls out from a side street directly in my path. As I swerved around the back of the Jetta, the driver looked at me horrified with that dumbfounded look of "where did you come from" on her face. It was so funny I could not even get mad at her.

The remainder of my 12 mile commute climbing up into the Santa Cruz Mountains was absolutely stunningly beautiful, just warm enough with gorgeous blue skies. The car commuters, after the second block, behaved themselves on the narrow twisty two lane roads with no bike lanes that my commute consists of after the first mile and a half.

When the mountain climb ended and I hit the end of the little town I work in both the lengthily and annoying heavily congested traffic signal intersections leading to another high school were green in my left turn direction!

I love it when the weather is nice, people are polite and traffic signals love me.

Is it 5pm yet, I can’t wait for the run down the mountain home.

Nice weather except for the mean headwind. Nice ride, anyway. I'm feeling pumped up for the overtime shift I'm about to have to start...

I do, indeed. I was trying to indicate to her to wait. She didn't get it. Oh, well; it turned out well anyway.

Wet. Wet. Wet. Did I say how WET it was out? Well, it was really wet. Moving to NYC for 3 months. Don't know whether to bring my folder or my usual commuter. Decisions. Decisions. It was raining really hard on my commute today. I have water on the brain.

I rode to work 4 of 5 work days this week. The storms came rolling in Wednesday morning just about the time I needed to leave on my bike for work, so for the first work day since August, I drove rather than rode to work. I’m headed to Oklahoma this weekend to visit family and friends, so the 98 miles from commuting will be all the riding I do this week.

Other than Wednesday morning’s storms, the weather was really nice this week. This morning, it was 51 degrees, and I rode to work in long sleeves and leg warmers. It’s still plenty warm in the afternoons, though.

2011 days ridden to work: 176
2011 commuting mileage: 4300.8

Ah, didn't realize I hadn't filled in my location - 'here' is Lexington, KY.

Commute home was sort of rough. I had a serious headwind most of the way, which was another first for me. We usually don't have crazy wind like that.

Extra ride along the commuter route with the wife. I'm recording it here for future reference, because I may need that later. The ride from Hoogezand to Groningen was pleasant, with a cool tail wind, under cloudless skies. Rona got a bit cold in her bad leg, but we made good time until we got into traffic in Groningen, when the endless braking and restarting slowed us down quite a bit. Worse, it was very hard on Rona's knee on her good leg; she'd hurt it a couple of days ago and any pedal mashing made the pain come back.

The ride back turned into a death march as a result. The weather was now much warmer, but we were going upwind and Rona had to gear down, down, down to stop her knee from hurting. By the time we arrived, she was miserable. I wasn't going too fast myself because I was loaded up with goodies from the Asian supermarket we stopped at. Good food will help Rona out a lot.

But we gotta strengthen that knee of hers. She's got so much fitter this past year and wants to ride, but that knee threatens to ruin things.

Yesterday I got yelled at for the first time... at first I was worried but then I saw the lady giving me a thumbs up . Nice people really make early morning commutes better!

Thanks. I find that these reports are better than the weather forecast!

Nice dark morning and still warm at 60F (16C). Did allot of walking this weekend, so my legs were strong this morning. A mild breeze slowed me down, but not by much.

Great sunny day today - 17C in the morning, 23 in the afternoon. Bit of a tailwind this afternoon, so I averaged nearly 27km/h (rolling) on the way home. Lubed the chain, adjusted the brakes, and inflated the tires to max pressure yesterday, and the bike felt much better today than it did on Friday.

Tough ride this morning, more than the usual Monday stuff. Temps were mild but felt much cooler due to a wicked headwind. Coupled with my tired legs from riding 90 miles over the weekend, I had my slowest commute in many months. With the wind, it was like riding uphill the whole way.

Zippy today. 44F/6C. Made it in about 7 minutes thanks to a tailwind and hitting the lights (all 3 of them) green.

Returning to my commute after 10 days vacation. It is no longer 100 degrees but the temps are still 10 degrees higher than average which has been the case for 3 months now.
I did get in a couple 25 mile rides after my motorcycle trip and yesterday I spent some time at REI getting set up for cooler temperature commutes if cooler temps ever arrive. Tonight I plan on taking the long way home and doing a section of the River Mountain Trail. It should be about 90 when I get off tonight.

Nice ride in, cool under sixty degrees.

Some light rain when I started out about six fifteen, this died off about a mile into my ride.

Roads were wet from the night before.

As I was about to cross park avenue I saw the light changing and decided to try to make it through. Soon I realized I wasn't going to make it. I locked my brakes and did about a three hundred degree right side skid that put me just on the corner, clear of traffic. The livery car driver in the nearest lane must have seen it all happen and said, "good job, nicely done" (no sarcasm). I laughed (mostly because I was happy not to be sprawled out on the hood of his car) and finished my ride with no further incidents.

Good commute this morning at 49F and dawn/sunny with winds from the WSW @ 5-7mph. I put on a brand new fairing this weekend and it was giving me some minor issues on the ride. I had to stop once to tighten up the clamps and after I got to campus, I had to re-adjust it. I didn't really notice a speed difference compared to my older one but that might be because I was having headwinds. It did keep me warmer than the other one though.

Nice ride this morning, 43F and slightly breezy @ 12mph. I just picked up a Cutter windbreaker and it kept me warm and toasty up top! I love Monday morning rides :-)

Good ride in today. Around 50deg, no serious wind. Took a different route in that takes me more through neighborhood streets, and I think I like it better than the curvy/shoulder-less/high speed limit road I've been using.

A balmy 20C/68F, no wind, and no traffic! I'm working from home today, so I "commuted" to work on my stationary bike in my basement. I know it doesn't really count, but it's somewhat significant for me, as it's the first time since my collision and wrist surgery a month ago that I've ridden anything resembling a bicycle. I'm still not physically ready for a real bike, but it was nice to pedal something. I can sure tell I haven't exercised much in the last month!

About 45f when I left he house a little after 6:30AM. Very light drizzle off and on for most of the 11 miles. Pinch-flatted on some railroad tracks about 1/2 mile from work. Figured it was faster to walk than change the tube, so I hoofed it the rest of the way.

The city has improved my route to the point that I only have two stop lights in the 10 miles. A right turn from a street with no traffic, then a left a half a mile later. Timing it right I can beat traffic to the light and merge to the left turn lane with no traffic whatsoever on the formerly scariest, most dangerous section I ride! Thank you Alpharetta Georgia.

-4C this morning, first below freezing commute of the fall. I wore the rain covers for my shoes which kept my feet warm. I think they did a better job than the thermal covers I used last fall, and were a heck of a lot easier to put on / take off. There was an icy spot near a water main break, but for the most part the roads have dried of last week's rain.

I rode my mountain bike to the university yesterday to drop off some clothes, and felt very stiff. Fortunately today there was none of that, so the ride was quick and enjoyable.

Nice to hear you're starting the process to get back out there.

Nothing much to report except my rear blinkie fell off and broke I spent 15 mins looking for it and came up with only the reflector part. Too much debris and autumn leaves around. Serves me right for clipping it on so lightly, but it was just a blinkie I got for free at one of the bike to work day booths.

Also, I noticed my stock brake pads are almost gone and my rear brake barely does anything. Time for some Kool-stops!



Nice!

When I broke my arm in August I mounted my bike on a (purpose-bought) trainer about 2 weeks after my crash (after consulting my doctor), and did quite a few miles on it without really needing to use my broken arm at all. It was a good way to stay in shape.