No hail at my place, but it had to have been a 70-80 mph wind when the storm hit.

At least there was enough rain with it that we didn't get the giant dust cloud that Lubbock had.

Wow. Must have just missed you. We got pounded pretty good at my place, maybe 5-10 minutes of full blown hail.

The hot phoenix summer is finally behind us, or close to it, and I am back to commuting (I know, I'm a wimp during the summer). It was a cool 70 degrees during my 6 am ride in, is projected to be 97 degrees for the ride home. Only in Phoenix do we say it is cooling down at 97 degrees. But I will take it over 114! First ride on the new brooks saddle too. It will take some breaking in, but is already an improvement over the stock gel saddle






http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt...r6E/weight.png

On my way home, this morning, I stopped to pay the tuition at my daughter's daycare. As I pulled in, my rear disc brake started making an awful noise. I rode the remaining mile home with a noisy brake.

I rode the bus back in today.

25-35mph constant headwinds on the way home today and yesterday.

They're like hills, but without the rewarding part at the end!

66F and mostly cloudy with winds from the SSW @ 6-9mph.

Nearly got sideswiped on the commute home this afternoon by some lady in a red car. It was one of the closest calls I've had in a long time. She pulled out of a parking lot on the other side of road after I passed by. As she started to pass me, I watched in my mirror that she crossed the white line into the shoulder where I was riding. She came probably less than a foot from my left front tire. At the same time to avoid getting hit, I swerved to the right as I had plenty of room to move and laid on my horn. I think the horn woke her up because she moved back left more into her lane after I used it. After she passed, she went back over the white line. Not so sure what was going through her head.

Besides that close call, it was actually an excellent commute home.

I'm glad you got out of that ok, close calls from drivers not paying attention like that get my blood boiling.

My ride was nice, 7.5 miles down some busy rural roads (4 lanes running on the border of the city). Had a heck of a crosswind and it was the first time I'd felt my bike get pushed that hard. A little nerve racking but fun.

A very nice day indeed and I even mapped out an alternate loong route to meander back home on, but then I realized I left the map in my office cube :( So I had to be content with exploring til I got (semi) lost.

Only traffic misdemeanour was a lady who paused and looked my way to cross the street, started walking, then looked the other way only and kept crossing, really slowly. I don't know if she didn't see me or just didn't realize bikes can easily do 25mph. I didn't say anything to her and just braked and went behind her but she was basically crossing in front of me with her back towards me, really slowly.

Finally admitted to myself that I wouldn't be racing 'cross this year, despite having built a bike specifically to race this fall; seven day work/school weeks suck. So I threw some fenders on the 'cross bike to get some commuter miles out of it (although it has been doing about half of the commutes this semester already, just on dry days only).

T'was a chore to fit fenders around 40mm tires, but I got it to work and rode happily and speedily through the wet yesterday. Unfortunately there is so little clearance between the tires and the fenders (like micrometers, seriously) that just leaning against the bike rack knocked fender far enough out of whack to squeak squeak squeak all the way home. :notamused:

Spent half an hour last night convincing the fender and tire to play nice, and rode in silent this morning through some gorgeous sunshine. But after class it was the same as yesterday, squeak squeak squeak all the way home. I almost want the ice to get here faster (there's been some on the bridges in the morning, but not enough for studs) just so that I can switch to my winter tires (38c Nokian Hakkas), which provide more clearance than the summer tires (38c Marathons).

Bike noise sucks. Anyone want to trade some 38c Marathons for 35c's?

A very rainy morning, but warm at 62 F (17C). It just keeps coming down with no breaks, but the warmth makes it pleasant.

That warm air surprised me, I expected my hands to freeze.

I really need to get my rain outfit sorted out, I'm weraing big bulky boots that just don't cut it.

My place of employment is moving on Friday, so I have to clear all of my personal items out of my office by Thursday afternoon. That means I have to drive at least one day, so I chose today since it's cloudy and sprinkling with the threat of thunderstorms and showers all day. Tomorrow is supposed to be much colder but sunny and dry. I'll take cold and dry over warm and wet any time when it comes to riding.

Fairly wet this morning but, I was able to time my departure in such a way that I avoided the worst of it. I still got wet but, not soaked. Also, after a week with my new Nite Rider Minewt Wireless 250, I have to say that I am very happy with it's performance: easy to mount, easy to adjust, super-bright, clean white light-even on the lowest setting and, well built. It has exceeded my expectations and gives me much more confidence when riding at 20 mph+ on the darker parts of the trail. Also, legs felt nice and loose this morning, strong too. Monday and Tuesday were a little tough after having ridden a century last weekend. Looks like rain all day then clearing and nice into next week.

Kinda quiet this morning. 46F/8C, overcast, no wind.

Yesterday I think a hipster on a fixie was tailing me. :D He wasn't quite keeping up when I was at cruise speed but he'd reel me in every time I slowed down for traffic or signs/lights.

Wet, mild sixty with rain.

First real test of the rain cover I bought for my backpack, worked well.

Held back a few extra minutes trying to time the opening of the gateso I wouldn't have to wait. Gates were open when I arrived.

Only saw a few other cyclists, wet and cold keeps them in a cage (fine by me).

Rolling down fifth avenue I was coming up to one of the many manhole covers and noticed the water pooled in it was gray with some steam rising. Rather than make a quick course correction I passed over it. When the water splashed my thin cross trainers it was hot! Any hotter and it would likely have scolded my foot. I'm going to have to add that to my long list of things to be wary of when riding in manhattan.

The weather said there was a 100% chance of rain between 6-8AM today, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was more of an ambitious drizzle than real rain on the way in. Streets are still pretty wet from yesterday's torrential downpour though. It's only the second time I've put my rain gear to its proper use, so I'm still pretty amazed at how dry I was when I got to work - my shoes were damp but that's about it. I'm hoping the ride home goes as well.

Wet. Needed the booties, the poncho AND the rain pants.

Ohio commuters might think about taking the bus today: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/19/us/ohi...ose/index.html

Sweet rainy commute this morning. ;)

However, I got a lot of criticism from the peanut gallery for riding in the rain. WTF!!!

First my wife, "you going to get on that bicycle in the rain?" My answer, "it is fun, and I am okay"..

At work, "you didn't ride that bicycle in the rain did you? You crazy"

Now, I understand that all the criticism I am getting is coming from people that CARE about me. However, I try to relate to them the best way I can, that I AM HAVING FUN! At 71 years old, riding in the rain on the bicycle gives me almost as much thrill as when I skydive, or roadrace motorcycles. Believe me it is a thrill and I do get a rush!! The only thing I was upset about this morning, because it was raining kind of hard, so I took my super-beater bike. I was mad that I didn't take the plain beater (Schwinn Prelude), which has a better ride. Be that as it may, the Raleigh Gran Prix has a good ride, I am just greedy, I want it all... ;)

I had on rain gear too ;) and when I got to work, I change into my work clothes.

:beer:

40 degrees but dry, and dark, and a tailwind. The latter, of course, won't be on the way home. :-) We've been having strong northerly winds now since Friday. I'm a bit tired of the noise of it.

It was 31f when I left the house at 6:40AM. I was a bit under-dressed, and my toes and fingers are still tingly 2 hours later. Time to break out the winter MTB shoes and warmer gloves for mornings like this.

Interesting morning. Kind of a mixed bag; tried a different pair of shoes, which didn't work out. I use toe clips, and an old pair of running shoes to ride in (hey, it works for me). The pair I used today had longer laces which promptly got tangled up in my right pedal; so I stopped and cut the lace shorter, and retied it; then discovered that the sole was separating from the shoe at the toe, which made it difficult to slip into the toe clips. Since I was still less than a mile from home, I went back and changed shoes. Meanwhile, witnessed a minor collision: car rear-ended another car at a stop light, not much damage but they pulled off to the side to work things out while I glided by. For some reason I got an inordinate amount of satisfaction out of that.

The morning was nice and cool, about 50, so it felt really good riding. And last night on the way home there was the most stunning girl, wearing shorts and a bikini top, that pulled up behind me while I was stopped at a crossing; I said hello and let her go ahead of me - just being friendly ;-).

I put a commute video together. I shot the footage with my cheap cell phone, held in my hand. I filled up the memory on a trip last month, then filmed the rest of it yesterday. What a difference... cloudy, but very dry (everything is brown in the first half), then sunny, cooler, and green with the recent rains.

+1C with a 30km/h headwind, I've had a cold the past few days so I'm glad I wore 3 layers instead of two today. I decided to not work to hard and took a relaxing ride along the MUP instead of my usual street route.

Its been my observation that the only people that can hear bicycle bells are children and dogs. While riding home Sunday I rang my bell twice while approaching a group in the park. A little kid was trying to pull his mother off the path as she ignored him while talking on a phone. That alone made it worth having to pass them on the grass.

Played hookie yesterday to spend my wife's birthday @ home w/ her, so no commuting.

Rode in this morning into a stiff headwind, at times a crosswind. Winds out of the northeast at 20-25 mph. I didn't feel compelled to curse the wind today as I might have, but it certaqinlytdid slow me down.

Found out today a fellow regular bike commuter at work is leaving the org. for a new job. She'll be missed. And there will be one less bike in the parking area dogwnstairs... :-(