Last night i narrowly missed a gopher, i'm probably being lambasted right now on gopher forums. I also had my first "close call" last night. I was going along a through road and some jam burned a u-turn from an intersecting road. He came within a foot or so of hitting me. I yelled loudly at him and swerved... i think i scared the tar out of an old man walking a poodle. I shoulda been further into the lane.

This morning i did one of my best times yet... 20.31km in 39:43 avg speed of 30.7kph, normally i post those kinda times only with a significant tailwind, there was hardly any wind this morning.

Yesterday when I rolled my bike outside, it was immediately wet from condensation. I just took it really easy and had a nice ride to work. Today, it was about 8 degrees cooler when I left the house -- amazing how just a few degrees feels. I actually felt very cool for about 2 miles. I kinda like it in the low 90s, so maybe I'm crazy. A woman passing the guy in front of us had a blow-out. We were on the MUP so not sure what casued it -- maybe a stick or a thorn. Anyway, she kept riding on a flat as if it was no big deal -- I guess she didn't have any options.

Uneventful rides yesterday and today, but I chatted with another commuter last night. I was out walking The Kid around our neighborhood when a cyclist wearing hi-viz orange rode past me. I spotted a milk crate on his rack so I called out, "Are you a commuter?"

Turns out he works on the same road I do but our routes are different--if I went his route I'd be doubling back to get to my building. He's only been at it about 2 months, but he had his bike well-outfitted for commuting.

I missed my opportunity to ask if he'd like to bike-pool for the route we share. Maybe if I see him again I will.

I've been commuting on and off for two and a half years.

Today was the first day in a week that it didn't rain on me. I'll take 49 and cloudy over 49 and rain anyday! My commute is 7 miles one way.

40sF heavy mist, otherwise fine.

I DIY'd my own pannier with an old bag, an Arkel hook kit and some eyelets. Much cheaper than buying a new pannier. Not as cheap as zip tying a milk crate to your rack which was my other plan.

Last night's thunderstorm broke the heat and humidity so it'll only be 87F today. Felt much nicer riding to work today.

Foggy enough to break out the lights, but refreshingly cooler.

I wonder if that's what it is for me?

97 F yesterday when I left the office (actual temp), and I took a longer-than-usual route, but it didn't seem bad at all... except that my recovery took longer. I was more tired when I arrived, and it felt like I never really cooled down.

But I drank about 16 oz of Gatorade just before I left the office, and a good quart or more of water on the ride home (which wound up being about 8-9 miles instead of my usual 6). Once I became resigned to the fact that I was going to be drenched in sweat the whole way, not so bad.

But we've been spared the worst humidity; that helps a lot with comfort levels.

Was a little lazy last week but now I've kicked myself up the rear and commuted this morning in sunshine. It was wonderful, albeit a little cold but I've more than made up for it by sitting out in the sun on my breaks. I'm close to getting a sunburn. ;)

another good ride, it was a foggy ride and i left a little later than i usually do so there was more traffic to deal with but it was manageable
fog burned off and the sun is out in full force so the ride home should be bright and warm
must clean the chain tonight...i picked up a lot of crud from the road last week during the wet rides

Huge increase in commuters here lately. Passed 6 other cyclists on the way in. Used to be a special day if I saw even one other person on a bike.

I think that the cagers are getting to be a bit more tolerant towards cyclists too. Seems that since we are in greater numbers they are more aware of our presence. [Slightly more aware anyways :) ]

+1
seeing more people on bikes up here too...no honking from cars in a while

That's a thought - didn't realize they sold a hook kit. I'll check into it, as I do have a plethora of bags of one sort or another that are just taking up space in the closet. What style bag did you use?

Cool and 65, beautiful, low humidity, did it in 15 minutes today and hit 30 mph. What a great run.

Windy, windy, windy. I'm just getting sick of it.

Today was a bit faster than in recent weeks. Monday going home was a new "personal best" time (58 minutes, vs 1:03 to 1:05 usually) despite (becasue of?) 95 degree heat. I rode in fairly fast this AM, so I'm a bit amped about what I'll do on the trip home this evening.

Breezy and cool again this morning - lower 50's. I'm not used to the morning breeze, the afternoon wind is another beast altogether. The ride home yesterday had 15mph winds instead of the forecast of 25-30mph so I was thankful for that. The ride home today might be wet and cool - in the 60's.

Another beautiful day - even saw some sun this morning. Pulled a slightly illegal maneuver on the way in. No harm, no foul, no honking. But now I feel a little guilty. Superego much?

Daughter is graduating from 5th grade later this AM, so will catch a ride with my husband to the ceremony & back. (Note to self, bring hankies!) Have to be back here in the afternoon, alas - but it's shaping up to be another nice afternoon.

Had a great ride to work today. It was very nice out in regards to temp and humidity. Oh and very light wind as well. Hopefully the afternoon will be as nice!

The heat is making drivers delirious. That's the only explanation I can think of for them being all over the place. I couldn't ride in a straight line because of all the cars in my way. I pretty much zig zagged around cars back and forth over three lanes for half my commute.

Interesting ride yesterday. I was honked at for the first time yesterday, for apparently being in someone's "way" - after years and years of commuting! Usually it's just aggressive driving without the horn.

I was coming up to an area in which the road turns in a 90-degree blind corner to my left. It's a nice long slope downhill to that point, so I had some speed. Heard a vehicle behind me, checked my mirror and they were pretty far back. As I approached the corner, I heard the vehicle's engine rev and speed up. Yikes! So, in order to protect my turn (there's nowhere else to go) I moved instantly to the left, taking the whole lane into the corner - auto caught up to me and honked. Meanwhile, a car was coming from the other direction, so I basically foiled a head-on collision between two cars (or maybe I should have allowed it...?), so I still didn't let the car behind me pass until the oncoming car was clear and it was safe for me to move aside - meanwhile the car is honking away...after she passes I just yelled..."You don't know the rules do you?" and felt happy that I had maintained my space successfully.

Or you could've kept the car behind you for a half mile or so...

75F and warm. 35min, which I think is decent time. I felt good.

Didn't ride today. Had to carry my viola. Still thinking about how to carry musical instruments on the bike safely (both for me and, more importantly, for them!).

Yesterday though, I got carved up at a junction by a taxi. He went past me as we were pulling away from the lights, but there wasn't really room (there ws a car in the adjacent lane waiting to turn, so there was only a single lane width for the two of us). I'd ended up a bit closer to the kerb than usual because of a particularly wobbly trackstand that had drifted over that way - usually i sit in the centre of the lane at the lights to prevent that kind of thing.

Anyway, he roars past about 3 inches off my shoulder. Predictably, I catch up with him 8 seconds later when he's queuing at the next lights. I went up next to him, and in quite reasonable tones told him that he had just put my life in danger by doing such a stupid maneouver, and furthermore had got himself precisely nowhere for his efforts. I finished by asking him to consider his actions before putting more lives in danger in the future. He started going on about something about cyclists, but I rode away without botherig to listen. His passengers in the back of the taxi looked mighty uncomfortable during this exchange!

Commuted on one of my fixed gears today. It was just getting too easy with gears ;) Although my commute is short (9 miles roundtrip), it's hilly. Riding the fixed gear was quite fun and easily doable. Guess I had just been worrying too much about it. That particular bike has two brakes, as I intended to try a freewheel on the other side of the flip flop wheel.

My family and I biked to this morning's Bike To Work Breakfast at Pioneer Museum. It was a nice ride. Early on on our ride we were "joined" by about 50+ riders from one of the local technology plants along GoG. That is very encouraging and I hope more of them pick up the bike commuting bug.

However, you'd think that with gas prices approaching $4/gal today's activity would get more coverage on the local news..... Nah..... A quick clip on ch 13 was all. I even searched the local channel web sites and didn't find any videos, but I did find one on an upcoming Wii US Open (golf). Sad to say, but for most people gas will have to hit like $10/gal before they start considering the many benefits of bike commuting. It (bike commuting) still seems like a "geek" thing at best, and at worst, like something people without resources (can't buy a car) need to do because they can't do any "better" (reminds me of that car insurance commercial with a guy riding a little bike on the highway).