Slapped on some nitto noodles last night, 49cm. Wow, what a difference 2cm makes, the leverage for climbing was way better than my previous bar. Good ride in, upper 30s, dry, gray, but patches of sun out to the west, similar to yesterday.

28 degrees this morning with only a slight wind.

But 28 degrees and shorts make for an interesting commute. That is one cold breeze up the legs and into the man bits.... Tomorrow I may wear bike shorts underneath just to prevent that.

commute today was awful as it was by car!!!! only 2nd time this year and for the same reason. Have to drive to Placerville right after practice. No time to ride home and get car so must leave practice early anyway to drive there. Ahhhh, back on the bike tomorrow with a chance of snow :) Then Spring Break in San Fran, mostly by bike. Yes!!

Gorgeous weather (40s?) made for a pleasant ride in this morning, for the most part, but I seemed to have more problems merging into and crossing through traffic than usual (possibly heavier traffic?). There were three separate intersections that I usually cross without any problems, and in each case I was caught out of position because there was no point at which I could reasonably get into position.

At no point do I feel I compromised my safety, but I was pretty unhappy when I was stuck in the right lane, and had to cross an entrance ramp in front of the cars (I usually get over earlier so that I'm in the left lane and not interfering with their ramp). I'm going to pay closer attention tomorrow and see if there's something I can figure out that I did differently. In part, it had to do with how I hit lights, but that's something I can't relaly control.

Actually, for one part of the ride I just stayed on the road where I usually get off onto the sidewalk/MUP, and I think in some ways it was safer to be on the road, as I didn't have to worry as much about driveways, cross traffic or such. However, given that this road is a 35 MPH posted limit 2 lane, scenic byway which a) passes the local HS (and also is a main access to the headquarters of a large government agency), and b) they're arriving at the same time I go by, I'd rather not risk being in front of a bunch of impatient, inexperienced, hormone laden, young drivers if I can avoid it. At least on the path, I know where my risk points are, and can act accordingly.

Overall, though, I made good time, and look forward to a great ride home :)

what a nasty ride home.
1. cold
2. wet
3. thunder
4. hail

the thunder, lightning, and hail made me laugh tho..
frozen feet by the time i made it home

Flat on the way to train station. I have 20" tire that is a struggle to change even when in shop... (and dual drive setup). After 30 minutes, I finished and looked at clock. Already missed one train and very tight on next train. Pedal at what seems to be my Zone 5 (gasping for air through out) for 2.5-3 miles... only to see the train leaving platform 20 ft away from it !!!
Next train being a little over one hour later and I have to sit on it for another hour... I figured I am more productive riding back to home (14 miles back up with total 1400ft incline...) and working from home...
So... I commuted back to my home and worked from home for rest of day... I guess you could call that a commuting still?

Nice quiet ride in at 45 F ( 7 C). Yesterday afternoon was a nice ride home, and as the weather gets warmer, I am seeing a pickup in commuting cyclists in traffic. I guess the cost of gas must have moved some to get on their bikes. Either way, I enjoy the company, however so sparse.

37f nice ride in this morning.

Pleasant ride in today, temps in the mid 40's. Looking forward to the ride home when it will be near 70 degrees. Second commute this week, hope to increase to three per week by the time summer rolls around, schedule permitting. I can tell spring is starting to arrive as the locker room was jammed this morning with runners, bikers, etc. where I had the place to myself all winter. Wasn't happy to have to wait for a shower. :)

Very interesting ride this morning. I was late (by design, I worked late last night) and the difference between 7am and 9am is impressive. Almost no commuters, fewer runners, more strollers with unruly dogs on the MUP. The construction guys rebuilding the trail were there already also, so I had to stop and go around them. They also have the train track crossing torn up to put down new gravel, so had to carry the bike across about 10 feet away from the usual grade crossing to avoid the gravel pusher machine. Also saw a guy pouring a new sidewalk while smoking a big, fat, stinky cigar (at 9am).

Most interesting, by far, was seeing where a car had traversed the MUP and headed into the river--no sign of the car, which was still in there, but obvious tire tracks from the road, across the trail, and off over the edge......checked the news when I got to work, and apparently a cyclist jumped into the river and pulled one guy out, and a rower pulled the other guy out..... makes me think what I would do if I saw it happen, not sure I would jump in (particularly in commuting gear which seems like it would get heavy when in the river...)

It was 45 or so this morning. A bit chilly for a wuss like me. But I am leaving a couple hours early so I can take the long way home. The miles on the trainer at the Y has paid off, I feel in mid season form.

Almost decided to do the lazy thing and sleep in. I'm glad I didn't - I am always better after those morning endorphins kick in.
I am most assuredly NOT a morning person, but once I coerce myself out of bed, I quite enjoy getting an early start to the day.

I was awed by the halo of pre-dawn yellow sunlight backlighting the Wasatch Mountains and splashing yellow, orange and peach across the underside(s) of the approaching storm clouds.

It'll be a wet, cold ride home, so I packed the rain gear.

Thermometer said -5C, but it felt warmer than that. Nary a breath of wind. Nice ride, except for a very rough (frozen mud) section of trail.

Sucktastic... I hate driving.

How do these people do it ?

I was following a young lady who was riding her bicycle (at a good distance) and when she went to pull in to a restaurant lost control of her bike and went down pretty hard.

I pulled up and blocked the drive and set up the 4 way flashers so that no-one pulling in would run her over and made sure she was okay... it has been freezing every night and in the morning there are some nasty ice patches lurking and waiting and this is probably one of the toughest riding seasons to get through.

Very nice this morning. Mid 60's and overcast. Nice pic of Downtown Fort Worth from the trail.

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4992/img1870nju.jpg

Texas has grass ?

I have heard about this stuff.

:)

Ha, we have grass for about 6.4 days in the spring, before the first 100 degree day turns us back into a desert.

Ahhh Back on the bike again this morning what a joy. And of course winter is back. looked outside and saw dusting of snow on ground. Went out packed the bike and realized it was snowing pretty hard, went back in got rain pants, flannel ear flapped baseball hat and shoe covers. Threw those on pretty quick and had a lovely snowy ride it. I remember why the studs dont come off till June. And a balmy 27F on the way in, will probably be 65 and raining on the way home of course.

was she OK?

First Commute Today
 

After reading some of the threads on this site and getting ready I made my first commute today. I spent a couple weeks preparing. Did not want to ride my road bike in to work so I started looking for a MTB or Hybrid. I was lucky enough to find a barely used '96 Specialized Rockhopper on Craigslist that was quite reasonable. Tune-up, new Hybrid tires, lights and I am on my way.

It was about 40º and cloudy when I came in. What a great ride. I have not ridden in the dark since I was a kid, I really appreciated taking my time in selecting lights. It was no issue at all. The commute is about 17 miles one way through mostly rural areas. The route is all back roads and side streets. We have shower facilities at work and a very nice set up for locking up bikes. Makes me wonder why I never did this before.

I also posted this on the Introductions thread

35F, dry (vs the ankle deep running water and pounding hail going home last night)

Seemed to be doing okay and said she was going to go sit and have breakfast which is a good idea as she looked pretty rattled and probably had the wind knocked out of her. She landed pretty flat and at pretty low speed and kept her lower arm in and may have a bruised shoulder and knee.

She rides past my house on her commute every day (I live on a bike path) and will see how is when I see her next.

You can't miss her, she's at least 6 feet tall and speaks with a an eastern European / Slavic accent... I also live in a neighbourhood with a lot of Polish families so we are probably neighbours.

Switching to a sleep cycle alarm clock seems to have really helped me with those early morning commutes. It might be something to try. They monitor your motion while you sleep and wake you when you are in your lightest sleep phase.

A mostly uneventful ride this morning; slightly chilly starting out for fingerless gloves, but after a couple of miles, I was fine. Nearly bought the farm when I hopped off a curb; I must have lost control of the bars just slightly. A bit of a wobble, but no tank slapper, so I guess all good. Would have been mighty embarrassing, and pretty painful, I think.

Did my good deed for the day. A young woman was cycling on the sidewalk past my office, on what were essentially flat tires. I mentioned it to her, and she seemed surprised (how can you not FEEL that?). She moaned that she had no pump, so I rummaged in my 'cargo pannier' and we used mine to give her a pretty good injection in the rear. Unfortunately, her front tire wasn't taking air at all - - There was a slice in the tire, so I suspect it might have gone through to the tube. I did not have the time to help her learn to change a tire, and there's a bike shop a block and a half away (the DC BikeStation)... hopefully she gets it fixed.