we had the first properly chilly morning so far this year, upper 40s when i left. the 20mph cross wind made it feel that much colder.

there were A LOT fewer cyclists out on the lakefront path today. we're now officially in weed-out season; the soft people have already given up.

Wellp, road bike commuting season is definitely over, and it's slow bikes commutes from now until late February. I don't mind the cold weather, and I wouldn't even mind the dark that much - I've commuted in poor visibility before as a teenager. But the car drivers (and motorcyclists and even moped riders on the bike path) blinding me with their brights and causing me to nearly run off the path and either into a deep ditch or into traffic... they're making me die a thousand deaths during the evening commute. I can just about cope when I'm going slowly but I don't want to hurtle blindly to my death at 35 KPH. So it's time to keep the road bike in the garage except on weekends, and commute exclusively with the Koga again. Bleh.

Morning commute was still pleasant, though this is partly because I'm leaving for work a little later this week. Kids are on Fall break, so I don't have to get up at Evil O'Clock to make sure they're out of the house before me.

Nice weather. The ride finished waking me up. It sure doesn't feel like mid-October.

Awesome ride home this afternoon at 62F and partly cloudy with winds from the WSW @ 14-17mph gusting to 23mph. Luckly the winds were tailwinds, so I was getting a nice boost and had the fastest commute home this semester. I met my friend right outside my campus who was out getting some miles of his own in. We rode my commute route together for about 5 miles till we got to an intersection, and then we parted ways. When I got into the town neighboring mine, there was one part when the wind was swirling "helicopers" and leaves all around me. That was definitely a very cool sight to see.

Perfect ride home, actually last few days have been very pleasant.

Cooler this AM. Cold and blowing rain this afternoon. Got wet because I took off my fenders. I skate so many times a year that I have the other Karmic side hitting me. The weight of a Jandd front rack, fenders, heavy 32mm tires, and heavy touring frame, drag of the dynamo, etc. got to me. I lightened it for the MS150 in September and just left it. I bought a Bontrager wheel and light 23mm tire as well. I love it so much this way I'm thinking a road bike to be fun for club rides and long supported rides. Maybe even go to the dark side for a CF frame. Have I been turned into a weeny by a 42 Lb tourer bike? Who knows.

stopped at about mile one to see a couple friends who happened to be passing through Rockefeller Center around the same time I usually get out of work.

when i left it was just late enough to justify turning on the light show.

i felt very strong for most of the ride, had some good energy going.

taking 48th street rather than my usual cross street, reminded me why I don't take 48th street.

massive potholes leading up to park avenue, i bashed a big one next to a roadie navigating the pitted blacktop, who then proceeded to turn left into the oncoming rush hour traffic on park avenue. :\

for the third time in 2 days i was complimented on the stereo that hangs from my backpack.

as i came around a bend that leads to the path up the 59th street bridge, a cyclist waiting at the foot of the bridge said, "nice stereo".



it sits rather conveniently to one side of the pack. basically in the wash created by my shoulder and bicep and it never turns in the wind. the droid X inside probably provides a good anchor of sorts. (i apparently prefer it on my right side for whatever reason.)

some people obviously got a kick out of it on the central park loop when i did my 26 miles on sunday as well.

It cooled off a bit, but still nice weather at 52 F (11 C). I came out my back door as always around 5:10 this morning and I surprised by two policemen. There is stream back there that runs the length of the houses, and is bordered by a small patch of thick woods. Not a smart place to run if one is trying to get away. As I turned out of my street, there were two more police cars a block up the road with someone being detained. I made a left at the light, and police cars were tearing down the road, so I stopped at the red light. I guess neighbors will know what happened.

Crisp upper forties, little to no wind.

I got held up wards island for about ten minutes waiting for the gate keeper.

As I rolled down fifth avenue in midtown there was a hypnotic orange glow from the sunrise bouncing off the clouds.

Very surreal, very cool.

In about a year of bike commuting I had never seen this effect before....

Another warm day in Cackalacky before the next cold front rolls through tomorrow. Yesterday we set a record high for the date (85 F) and the wind was really blowing out of the SW, which made for a tough morning commute but much easier in the afternoon. It's supposed to be just about as warm today but afternoon clouds might keep the peak temp down. I overdressed this morning and was pretty sweaty when I got to work. It's hard figuring out what clothes to wear in the fall and spring when the weather varies so much from day to day and morning to afternoon.

I wrecked yesterday.

I wrecked on my commute home. I ran in to and cleaved off one of the two guard arms at the security gate as I was leaving the work property. I was checking the flag for wind direction and blinded by the sun at the same time. The guard arm that is normally up was down and I plowed right through it at 12/15 mph. My aluminum bike is just fine but I have minor injuries from my forehead to my toes on my right side. One not so minor injury; I'm afraid I temporarily dislocated my right shoulder and will be visiting the doctor today.
I want everybody to know that if I hadn't been wearing a helmet I would be jello or worse, dead today. My head struck the concrete with such force and violence witnesses said my head bounce a foot off the concrete and I was quite aware that was true when it happened. My helmet is broken in many places and is destroyed.

Wear your helmets!!!

Glad you're mostly ok.

Amen on the helmet sentiment.

Sounds bad. As long as the bike is okay...
(get well soon!)

Nice morning ride for me. 46F/8C, light tailwind. Kid crossing in a crosswalk as I approached a stop sign. He was eyeballing me warily in case I was going to blow the sign. Of course, I stopped.

Hard to get out the door today. The combo of the colder weather & the later sunrises is combining to make it harder to commute. I felt fine once I was out & into the ride, but it was a rough start.

Excellent commute at 47F and dawn/overcast with light winds from the SW @ 2mph. Actually saw and passed another bike commuter on State St in Springfield. For me, seeing another cycle commuter on my commute is very rare. I saw him have some idiot in an suv turn right pretty much cutting him off before I caught up. As I passed, we acknowledged each other. I think he was surprised as I was to see another cyclist this early in the morning and with the weather being as cool as it was.

Unflagging headwind

Impeding my ride to work

Tailwind, blow me home!

About 44 degrees at my house so I wore a long sleeved athletic t shirt and full finger gloves with my shorts. It was beautiful with the moon and stars out, and as I climbed up the ridge the cold air started mixing with the good smelling warm inversion air and it was much warmer on top of the ridge.

It's supposed to be 70 this afternoon and I hope to get off work in time to extend the ride home to 23 miles or so out on the rural backroads.

Tomorrow I have to take a day off riding to go pick up my new bike. Irony isn't always funny. Oh well, I can go running instead. I have a race at the end of the month.

it was in the low 40s here in chicago this morning too. i busted out the full finger gloves for the first time this fall as well. i was glad i had them, as i was getting numb fingers on yesterday morning's ride.

and like you, i'm still rocking the shorts too. i try to stay in shorts until we get down to the mid 30s.

Yesterday's ride home was into a 40km/h headwind. I've had moderate to strong headwinds for the past two weeks, which makes the trip home quite slow.

This morning was warmer at +4C. I detoured out toward some road construction to check on the progress. They finally finished paving the stretch that goes out to the highway, though its getting a bit late in the year to take advantage of it. They certainly took forever working on it, I would have expected them to have finished it a month ago.

It was almost 90 degrees as I rode home against a 25 mph south wind yesterday afternoon. This morning, it was 52 degrees as I rode to work against a north wind gusting to 30 mph. It took me over an hour to pedal the 12 miles to work, and my 10.8 mph average for the ride is my slowest ever in the two years I've been commuting by bike. I'm looking forward to a good tailwind on the ride home this afternoon.

As I was reading your post I was thinking, "This guy must live in Texas". I had a hell of a time this morning.

Yup.

Nice ride this morning, but first time in fall weather gear. As I waited for a light, a driver called out "do you have a death wish"? Didn't know how to respond. I've always thought of myself as pretty conservative.

Did you get the hail last night, Bud?

It should be a great ride home.

Cold!
Icicles in the beard!

Commuted by train today. It turns out that this actually helps me be focused, which I needed today. But it's not as much fun; in fact compared to bikig it, it's a dreary experience.