...Our field report from the "Windy City."

I rode in 23 miles and already giving way to the comfort of my work chair... but the commute was excellent until I got into town when I hit a rash of dumb f**k drivers. It was bizarre. A whole series of them.

On the way home, I'm tucking and fighting the wind, and some teenage boys on a golf cart come tearing up from a side street, and screech to a stop right before they plow into me. I called out "Look out, man." The kids are laughing and one says "beep beep!" so I give them a couple taps from the Airzound... their eyes got huge and one of them says "awesome!!"

That was fun.

Damn that's bad... I'd say more than just a mere puncture.

So I drop by the LBS (a sister to the one I work at on Sats for fun) during lunch time and they didn't have any decent replacement 20" tires in stock (this is my folder that I commuted on today) so I call my wife and ask her to pick me up this evening after work. Wouldn't you know it, although my bike(s) is my main mode of transportation year round I got heckled by passersby (including my coworkers) for loading my bike into the trunk of my car. Most of the comments had to do with not being able to hack the commute during Bike Week/Month.

On the way home I swung by the aforementioned shop where I work and found a couple of sweet soft-cased CST BMX Freestyle tires with a tread pattern similar to my favorite motorcycle touring tire of all time... Metzeler ME33A Lazers. I got home and mounted these little beauties... I'm ready to do some peg grinds and get some air in the bowls at the skate/bike park on my way to work tomorrow.


(BTW Funky... I find it freaky but I'm a Ubuntu guy as well... I also record with my grand daughter as you seem to do with your daughter.)

Last couple of days have been poor commuting weather.
Today got soaked in heavy rain, good thing it wasn't too
cold. Trying to dry my clothes in the bathroom handdryer:

DRYING MY SHORTS by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Even the ducks are "Meh, let's just take a nap":

DUCKS DOZING BY THE DOCK by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Nice ride home cloudy and no headwind! About 65*, made great time even with still walking my bike up about half of the damn hill. I can't seem to crack that hill. Saw the most cyclists I have ever seen today!

Maybe when it's time to change your cassette/freewheel you can get a bigger one.
What size are you running now?

45F and rainy. Very enjoyable.

I'm still wet

I superglued the cut, and now that I'm using Tuffy liners, I can get a few more thousand miles out of 'em.


Cool! I need to post up more vids now that I've got my laptop and a nice USB mixer. We'll have to start a "home recording" thread in foo.

Wow, I sound like a total noob but I think this is the right measurement: Shimano 7-speed, 13/34T

One of the problems is that there is a stop sign about halfway up and it is too busy of an intersection to do a "rolling stop". I lose any momentum I have when I stop. Even in the lowest gears, I just spin and feel like I am just not moving. I get frustrated and give up.

Keep trying, they say the only way to get better at hills is to climb hills
If you don't like spinning like a madman with the lower gears, you can try
the higher gears and standing up. But this may tire you or your knees faster.

Got my new bike (Raleigh Capri 2.0) today, and it also finally stopped raining so I actually got to ride in. Reading some of your accounts, I'm very glad I am commuting at 10-11PM, particularly since I've been taking roads without bike lanes. It's no problem when you only see another car every couple of minutes, and there's plenty of room for them to pass. Also saw lots of rabbits.

A pleasant ride in at 62 F ( 17 C). Everything is about rain, and there is more to come. Of course it is intermixed with sunshine, but the rains have been torrential all week.

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day here, with highs near 80 F. My bike was loaded down with food because we are having a potluck lunch at work today. Nobody told me until late yesterday afternoon and requested that I bring pecan pie. So I cooked up a bunch of pecan tarts and was able to fit a dozen of them in my seatbag without crushing them, but that didn't leave much room for much else. Since I don't have to bring lunch today, it didn't matter tho.

43f Little to no wind and dry, two more work days and I'm on vacation and Oregon coast bound

~60F / 15C this morning, and a steady rain. Reeled in another commuter. We came up behind two peds with umbrellas. He said something. They split to both edges of the MUP to let him through, then conveniently start "closing the door" on me. I yelled at them and they re-split.

No, you're not the only people on the path, and just because it's raining doesn't mean there aren't bicyclists out and about. Usually peds on my MUP are pretty smart. Not these two.

Later on, the other rider and I discussed the weather at a red light.

Commute was rainy. But not cold -- mid-high 50s. Tried out a new route: as part of Bike to Work week, I am shop's designated commuter and was volunteered to lead a commute from Dover NH to Portsmouth NH. Weather is not the best, but it was not pouring rain, more like intermittent showers and a steady, penetrating mist. Miserable to the caged masses... but amazing if you're dressed right and on a bike.

I love the Spring colors right now, especially when it's raining. There's this certain quality to the green of new leaves on trees and undergrowth that is positively glowing. Vertical, dark wet tree trunks make for amazing contrast, so looking into the woods, any woods, is a thing of sublime beauty. Peering through them a bit more and seeing cars stopped on the highway, while I tool down a pretty country road only adds to the experience. Yes, I was oozing smugness today... which is probably why an RV pulled out on me at a stop when I had the right of way.

We're offering 15% off accessories at the shop, 10% off bikes for anyone who makes the 12 mi commute. Advertised and marketed me as a mechanic on hand for repairs during the ride. Free breakfast at a local hot spot for those who commute. And yet no one showed for this AM's commute. *le sigh* Oh, well, there's still the ride home and tomorrow to entice people to commute...

I go NNE on the way home and can attest that the prevailing winds have been coming from that direction here in the Twin Cities all week. Yesterday afternoon wasn't as bad as Monday but was still noticeable.

Yesterday afternoon I was sure I had the rain pants in my trunk bag for the rain ride home. Nope, I bet my levis weighed 10lbs by the time I got home, and my stemCAPtain watch started shipping water (turned it upside down overnight and it is still ticking) So this morning I get the rain pants on, levis in the trunk bag and by the time I head out the door it stopped raining. Rode to work and no rain. Started up again 5 minutes after I got to work.

someone is screwing with me, and I think it is the same person who controls the wind machine.

Warm and wet this morning. We've had some intense storms the past couple days on Long Island so I refrained from riding, but this AM, the temp was in the mid 60s and the humidity was near 80%, so I got back on the bike for my morning commute. I am definitely getting stronger and even played with the large chainring this AM.
Was glad to have fenders as the roads were still wet. After the storms of the past couple days, the street sweepers were out along my route, hopefully picking up the last of the sand, salt and grit from the winter as well as the accumulated sediment from the storms. Nonetheless, still accumulated a good deal of grit on my legs and feet as I rode. Hopefully I can avoid any major storms on the ride home.

10C, cloudy, a slight breeze. Thursdays are my slow days, so I took it easy and detoured around a construction zone instead of sprinting through it. Even climbed the hill in a lower gear. Still faster than the guy bobbing and huffing his way up on a mountain bike. Reminded me of me a couple years ago.

Took the car today since I have a late meeting at work this evening. I did an experiment this morning to compare the time it takes riding my bike vs. my car. I followed my same route that I take on bike, as much as possible, and my bike commute to work is only about 7 minutes longer than by car. Not too bad considering I get about 60 minutes of exercise (30 minutes each way) when I ride!

Looking forward to being back in the saddle tomorrow.

Really nice. 40F sunny and bone dry (that won't last)

so many ppl out today. SOOOOO many
everyone seemed so happy too.