A nice warm morning at 58F (14C). The rain gave me a break this morning, as it was not raining. That last couple of days have been drying out stuff whereever I go. Thre is scattered stuff in the area, and temps are due to fall, so I will adust when the time leave comes.

Frozenfork - while trying to play the video I got this error: "This video contains content WMG and SME, one or more of whom have blocked it in
your country on copyright grounds."

So now corporations can block informatioin also that they don't like for one reason or another.

Must fix my squeaky front brakes--getting embarrasing! I did check out some clips online so I'll give it a shot today.

Warm, 60 degrees plus I think.

My deepest one yesterday was also the longest and I never even saw it, headlight glare or something.

Deeper than this guy had at first but less flow:

I rode my shortest route today, just to the nearest metro station. Warm and wet. I hope the weather is better next week!

Does it count as commuting if I ride my bike to thanksgiving dinner tomorrow?

A balmy March morning in the Twin Cities today! The snow is gone so the hybrid with studded tires got parked for the season and I took my touring bike--much quieter, more comfortable, and faster. July is just around the corner!

Oh wait....why weren't there any birds singing?

A really nice morning, around freezing with a bit of a tailwind. I was slow getting going this morning and decided to cook breakfast, so I was an hour later getting on the road than I have been lately. There were many more cars. I took the MUP for about half the trip. Avoiding it all summer, I forgot how nice it is to ride in the dark when there aren't any dog walkers. The side streets had a lot of loose snow. On one of them I couldn't go very fast and was easily passed by a rider on the MUP section that runs parallel to that street. The park close to the university which is usually deserted had a lot of cars going through it this morning. People use it as a shortcut, but its a bit narrow for comfort when the type of person who feels the need to take a shortcut comes flying up behind you.

One annoyance on the roads that do get plowed, are the people that push their snow out onto the street. There is a guy down the street from our place that does it all the time. The plow will come by and as soon as its gone he's shoving the snow back onto the street. I often have to ride on the wrong side of the street to get around the mess he makes.

With the warm weather this week I decided to install some full fenders on the mountain bike. If it wasn't for the expected headwind this afternoon, I'd be able to ride home in shorts today.

OK never mind, the downpour was actually in abeyance for my commute this morning. Nice and 45F and the lakes were clearly visible.

Great ride this morning. Beautiful sunny day, nice and cool, very little vehicular traffic - the only bad part was having to go inside and get to work.

Day off work, yay!! I'm going out for a long ride to relax and clear my head. It's been weeks since I've done that. Enjoy your Thanksgiving everyone!

Probably frozen put music on his video that is owned by Warner Music Group/Sony Music Entertainment. Youtube's cracking down on that now, under pressure from said media giants; you can contact WMG/SME for licensing rights, but I imagine it'll cost you. It's a brilliant marketing strategy, if you ask me; accessing user created content from around the world has exposed me to loads of music that I probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise, which sometimes lead to purchasing said music, and now that will no longer happen for any artist under WMG/SME. Draconian copyright enforcement is a great way for media companies to decrease free public exposure to their product, in exchange for whatever piddling amount of money they seem to think is lost to people using Youtube as a music player. Why I think I might go buy some WMG stock right now, with such obvious geniuses running the outfit.

There's a municipal ordinance against that in Anchorage, but it's only enforced in the case of parking lot owners. I don't mind people pushing snow into the street before the plows come, because the plows will then remove it; but after plowing it's downright selfish to clear that one little spot of asphalt that only you use (your driveway) onto the roadway that we all use, and have all already paid to have cleared. If you don't have a yard to throw it into, then you need to either get on the stick and clear your driveway before the plows come or pay for a snow removal service.

Anyway, 7ºF and sunny out right now. No classes and no commuting for me, but looks nice out so I might ride into downtown and fill a couple of growlers at Glacier Brewhouse. Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Nice commute home, this was the finish of the commute yesterday when I left my bike at work, and the wife picked me up.

Felt good to ride, dam good.

33 degrees in the morning, the usual niiiiiiiiiice ride in - but then there was an irritating headwind, about 300 mph, maybe 400, on the way home. The ride that usually takes 30 minutes took 36 hours. Or at least that's what it felt like.

It was a short commute week this week. I rode to work all three days. I rode home in a light rain on Monday, but the heavy stuff didn't show up until after I was home. It was 39 degrees with fog this morning, but warmed to a sunny 68 degrees with no wind this afternoon, a beautiful afternoon for a ride home.

2011 days ridden to work: 199
2011 commuting mileage: 4864.6

11C on the way in this evening. With many people home for Turkey Day, traffic was light. Nice ride.

Warmer, wetter, slushier... more funner.

I couldn’t play this video on this page but I could on youtube? The music is 3 songs from Black Sabbath which I paid for so I don’t think that WMG or SME have a leg to stand on. I paid for them, I put them on a video of me riding a push bike = big deal. It’s not a music video, it’s not for profit and I’ll laugh if more than 10 people watch it :-)





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My ride today - didn’t. Woke up and got some loving instead so I had to drive. Whilst it only takes me a couple of minutes extra to ride the getting ready & cool down takes a bit longer

Another warm morning, another late start, I need to get to sleep a bit earlier. I rode the MUP a bit further than I did yesterday to see what the conditions were like further up the trail, mostly bumpy. The loose snow on one side street is getting tough to ride through. There is loose snow on top of a polished icy layer beneath.

The full fenders helped keep a lot of the road water off me yesterday. My front wheel had a bit of side to side play in it, so I adjusted the bearing cones yesterday. I also trued the wheel a bit, but some of the nipples are starting to strip.

The weather forecast seems to change several times a day. The temperatures have been revised downwards, but still very mild for this time of year. The previously forecast temperature of 10C for Sunday would have been nice.

And I passed 7,000km for the year. At the rate I'm going I should have over 1000 miles on each of my 3 bikes for the year. The road and touring bikes are already there, and the mountain bike is about 400km short.

Exactly how tall would you like your mountain bike to be?!?

Last night I had a migraine most of the night at work. I wasn't really feeling it on the way home.

Apparently I felt much better this evening after some rest: I just posted my fastest commute, so far. Average moving speed 13.5 mph, 42.5 minutes door-to-door, 41 minutes moving.

Upper 30s in the mornings, 50s coming home, windy. Didn't have to be in so early today and I was glad for the daylight, because idiots had smashed several beer bottles on the MUP. Spent some time sweeping the debris away.

Day after ride in...quiet for the most part. Was pretty chilly for short riding pants...37 degrees or so.

Based on the weather report I saw when I woke up I dressed lightly. But after hearing the wind howling in the garage I decided to add another layer and wear my respirator, but skip the goggles. -3C with a 30 gusting to 40km/h headwind, I ended up being dressed just about perfectly. I meant to put my shoe covers over my boots but forgot. My feet got cool but not cold.

About 300 feet from the house I had a truck roll through a stop sign almost hitting me. 99% of the people from that subdivision run that stop sign unless there is traffic they have to yield to. It really sucks walking by there at night.

My new favourite pair of socks. I've been wearing them all week and love them. They are soft, warm and do a pretty good job keeping my feet feeling dry. MEC only carries the old version, which I think is equivalent to the Woolie Boolie 2 with 4" ankle (a bit short for using in boots). I'm going to order some of the 6" ankle and All Mountain versions from the US.

"How was the commute today"

On my way into work yesterday afternoon and evening (I work night shift and will be finishing the other half of my commute in a little over an hour):

Rode into work early to meet a friend ferrying in my pies for the potluck because my tourer with the racks I usually use to bring in pies to potlucks (my specialty) is in the stand right now.

When I woke up it was a little windy but not raining. By the time I rolled in it was raining steadily and there was a strong headwind. Because I was sick on my days off I only had time when I was feeling better to get my front fender mounted on my new commuter. Totally drenched from my rear end down to my shoes. Found out later when checking the weather that my headwinds were 23MPH with gusts to 45. Explains why I was barely chugging along at the point I am normally going about 35!

After stowing my pies at work for later in the evening I rode on to West Seattle for a turkeyday celebration with friends. Wished I had taken a picture of the "Detour" sign with a bike symbol on it pointing from the sidewalk to a puddle a good twelve feet across on Alaskan Way! I laughed and thought it should have a symbol for snorkeling as well! Had to take it easy and leave early to go into work. At least I now had that wicked wind behind me for pretty much the entire ride.

On the third and final leg of my ride in what I dreaded when I packed for work happened, I got a flat. Normally no biggee, I habitually carry a spare, but just as I rolled into my driveway on at the end of my last workweek I rolled over a broken bottle someone had tossed there. When I packed for work yesterday I realize not only had I not patched it yet, but I had somehow misplaced my Presta to Schrader adapter. Since it was time to go I figured I'd just gamble this once.

While I am fixing the inevitable flat that happened a creepy guy starts hanging around half a block away in the middle of the industrial area in the dark. He finally stops hovering after a while and moseys past me. I was thankful I'm 6'2" and big, I think it put him off. Worse than no spare tube though, when I went to patch the puntured one I realized I had taken my tire levers out of my tool roll and not replaced them! I went OLD school and used my 8mm box end wrench to change the tube but was worried about a pinch flat getting it back on!

Finally I realized I am REALLY glad I live north of my work. Climbing First/Capitol Hill from the South totally sucked. Maybe it was all the Thanksgiving indulgence but I actually ended up portaging my bike up the stairs from 4th up to Yesler. :/

With the extra trip out to West Seattle and back to First Hill, my mileage in to work went from 7 up to 19, which normally I'd appreciate but it is going to be a long tough week with a meeting and a training eating up almost all of the time I should be sleeping two of the days.

If commuting on your bike is that miserable for you, maybe you should start using a car? Hopefully this particular day was the exception rather than the rule!

-Headwind
-Puncture, no tube or tools
-rain
-steep climb
-scary homeless person

Yeah, if this is normal I'd go the car route . . .

Not normal, just a tough day. Nobody every said commuting was going to be easy! I'll still take it over the bus any day of the week. A car isn't an option at my pay grade.

As far as the list goes, like I said, it is extremely rare for me not to carry a spare tube (or two) or my tools. I had been sick on my days off and had my tool roll out doing some repairs, maintenance and upgrades, but got interrupted by feeling crummy. The kitchen table is still covered with parts and tools, I somehow missed my levers when I gathered up what usually goes in the tool roll.

Perhaps amusingly I forgot to mention leaving my friends Thanksgiving celebration in clothes warm from the dryer only to make it less than a mile and have a passing car go through a large puddle and half drench me for the rest of the commute.

Bonus? Got another flat on the way home from work in the morning and had to make due with the box-end wrench as a tire lever and patching the tire in the cold on the street at 8AM. Much easier than with the added difficulty of the dark and wet the night before though!

Still my motto is: "Ride! Ride every day! Always ride!" Not true on my days off, but when my girlfriend looks out the window as I'm getting ready for work and wind-driven rain is dashing against it, this is always my response. There is an upper limit to how much of a headwind I'll take on, but yesterday wasn't it.