clg

Forecast today was for thunder showers and boy did it rain.... about two hours after I got to work. Stopped raining later and I rode home on dry roads. I have been living a charmed life re the rain; if the forecast is for rain and it's not a torrent I ride.
I don't see very many commuters on bikes here but with gas as high as it is I'm getting lots of inquiries. Someone commented how well they feel when they get to work after their ride; ditto to that.

trombone

Good to hear from all the new commuters!

Fun commutes today; nothing special just nice rides.

Odd thing though. Shortly after arriving at work, I got a terrible cold. Streaming nose etc. Then around lunchtime I started to feel a bit lousy, achy, and a bit 'spaced out'. Through the afternoon I started feeling a bit better and my nose dried up, and then by the time I left I felt fine again. Very weird - kind of a 6 hour bug!

theWolf

Am I a sicko for enjoying the burning sensation of ICY HOT? It feels damn good. Yesterday morning I felt a slight pull in the right quad so I've been combating it with ICY HOT; it seems to be working. I did see 3 lighting strikes in the distance but overall it was a great ride with no rain.

I got passed up by another rider in the early morning in the trail. The dude was fast but I couldn't tell if he was a commuter or not. As soon as he past me I tried my best to keep up with him, he opened a wide gap but I kept him in viewing distance until he exited off the path. It got me to work quicker trying to pace him

vtjim

Rode home yesterday with one of my co-workers. She commutes by bicycle every once in a while. I'm trying to encourage her to ride more. We got rained on but it was just a brief summer shower.

This morning it was a little bit foggy. Temperature around 60F. I reeled in a couple of guys on hybrids early in my ride, they stopped shortly after that to check out Lake Champlain, which was enveloped in fog. Eerie. Later, I caught up to another guy. I think it was the same guy I almost caught yesterday before I left the MUP. Also saw a 2 or 3 cyclists going the other way.

Sadly, one of the bolts holding my right brake lever sheared off in my driveway. Guess I'll have to try to extract it and get a new bolt. No idea how that could have happened. I tightened the other bolt so the lever is secure, more or less.

neilfein

No bike today, I have to get my touring bike in for a tuneup after work and my wife will be picking me up. (It'd be tight to fit a full-frame bike and the folder in the car.)

I've seen other folders on my connute, but this is the first time I've seen another Dahon Curve. And it was the same exact on as mine - a Red D3. Coolness.

wlevey

My second day doing the full ride to work (21 miles with some real hills). I have rident to the light rail (train) before which was a relatively flat 16 mile ride (about the same as my usual daily ride).

Wow! How exhilerating to ride all the way to work!

My only gripe is with city riding. The roads sure could use some improvment. I will have to look into different tires for my commuter bike. Right now I am using Cont 4season tires (700x23) and I am thinking I probably would find 700x25 a better ride for the city part of my commute. Only thing is, most of my ride is on country roads and the 700x23 probably is better for that.

I am going to try to ride in two or three days a week (yea, gas IS expensive!!!)

Bill

jpdesjar

woke up to the sun this morning so the ride in was bright but not too warm, they are saying there is a chance of thunder showers this afternoon but we shall see...i took the day off from work yesterday but i managed to still ride and go for a run also, spent some time stretching and lifting weights too...it was a pampering day

starla

Have not commuted since last Thursday, so I haven't felt much like a cyclist. But back on two wheels today, and feeling really good. Although my road rash, cuts and bruising have been healing nicely (thank you Tegaderm!) I've been having residual effects from the concussion I suffered in my accident on Friday the 13th. I've been woozy, dazey, irritable and clumsy (my motor skills took a hit), and I am unusually tired this morning. I've been really careful on the road, but I can't stay off the bike.

I put in some serious extra time at work since last Thursday (working pretty much through the weekend), so I am going to try and get caught up on my sleep tonight.

Here's to everyone having a wonderful commute today!

sdastroguy

Today was my second commute. Cloudy and cool - around 60 when I left home.

I re-learned a valuable lesson this morning - don't mess with the bike the night before and not test ride it first before taking it in to work. I had installed an adjustable stem for the handlebars and now the whole front fork vibrates every time I hit a bump. I know I had that thing tight so I'll have to check it out before I leave tonight. I'm SO glad I tossed a couple of tools in the bag last night.

zpl

Rear flat again on the ride in. I'm flatting about once per month, and it's getting old. Debating whether to try Conti Gatorskins or just give in and run Armadillos (currently riding on Krylion Carbons).

ISaacG

63F. Clear sky.

Nice cool ride. Made decent time. I haven't really biked it in a week or so due to all the rain in this zone.

Crossing College at St George (Toronto), there must have been 20-25 bikers waiting at that light!

My rear wheel is squeaking again. I tried tightening the spokes and I thought it helped somewhat, but it was loud and squeaky. The university bike club has a tensionometer and it says what the optimal tension range for the spokes is supposed to be. Except my spokes are all over the place! Some are high and some are pretty low. I don't want to mess with it too much because I want to keep the wheel true... I might just wait for a spoke to give out.

77midget

Back on the bike today after not riding since last Tuesday, since I was on a golf trip with my father in law. Yesterday, needed to drop wife's car in for service, so she took my car to work and dropped me off, which was good, since we had bad thunder storms all day, and the commute home would have been through lightning. This morning was humid, but nice, and once I pedaled up a good breeze, all was right with the world. I think that this morning's commute put me over the 300 mile mark total for work commuting!! (just started a few weeks ago), so I am very happy with that. My goal of 1000 miles by the end of July is still in sight!

GreenAnvil

Grrrrrrr!!!!!!!! I'm getting tired of people wearing iPods (both bike riders and joggers/runners). If only they had the sense to stick to the far right, but nooooooooo, they take the middle of the path. You yell at them, ring your bell (my kids do), heck, you can even throw stones at them and they won't budge... Then there are the suicidal ones who when you yell them "on your right/left" they step out to the side you call... Some are so absorbed on the music they don't even know you've passed them!!!

One of these days I'm going to ram one at 20+mph and see if that sends a message...

>

girljen

The ride home yesterday was uphill into a headwind. Not the most fun commute. But I got home, and the weather was nice, so whatever.

This morning, I slid in right at the buzzer. I spent too long getting coffee.

pinkrobe

Raining cats and dogs this morning! I had to break out the gore-tex and everything. I ran flashers front and rear, since the clouds did an excellent job of blotting out the sun. It's supposed to clear up a bit, then maybe some thundershowers, so the ride home should be fine.

gronk40

Riders with ipods are the reverse bike ninjas.

"I don't want you to know where I am" vs "I don't want to know where you are".

My favorite are the all-black bike ninjas WITH Ipods. "I am alone in my own world ... its very nice"

B

HardyWeinberg

warmer than yesterday but not warm but kinda too warm for my jacket after all.

ctoddrun

I make it a habit to never talk about flats that aren't happening (just inviting trouble, ya know?) but I will say that I've been happy with the Bontrager Race Lite hard case (maybe not the exact name?) I've been running - 700x28, pretty bumpy at 110 psi, but not as bad as the Armadillos i used to run on my rigid MTB when I first started commuting...

dngspot

The ride to work was a bit humid but the temp could not be better a 68, degrees. My twelve mile ride home will be different though, it is expected to go up to 90 deg. with 58% humidity. It will still be great in my mind it is great to get back to commuting and watching the gas prices with nothing to fill up. This sounds a bit dismal at first but I really do mean it is great and feels awesome too.

SDBluefish

Beautiful morning - a perfect 70 degrees and clearing to sun as I left the house. Saw two snowy egrets by the creek.

Overtaking a guy on the MUP, I noticed something funny about his cadence. When I got close enough I saw he was riding his MTB wearing a prosthetic foot - a blue metal & carbon deal, very high tech looking. I was kind of curious about it, but the guy didn't seem to want to chat, so I said good morning and left it at that.

Itsjustb

Greetings salutations to all you new commuters (commutants? ). Despite what your friends and relatives may say, it's not a cult...but please, help yourself to some kool-aid while you're here.

The ride today was good. I rode home yesterday with a coworker. His usual average speed is 19 mph; my average speed is 16.2 mph. Add the fact that we're two competitive males riding bikes and I probably don't need to tell you how sore my legs were this morning.

caloso

Terrible air quality again today from the fires in Solano and Napa Counties. The prevailing wind is from the ocean and it just traps all the smoke in the valley.

Nothing particularly interesting except for the woman on the cruiser who seemed intent on riding in the gutter rather than the asphalt part of the bike lane. I thought about saying something but wasn't sure how to approach her. I thought about saying "Hi, I hope you don't mind some unsolicited advice, but you don't want to ride in the gutter because that's where all the glass and nails collect." But then maybe she would have been freaked out by my riding up alongside her (she was a bit wobbly).

I decided not to say anything other than "Good morning!" as I went around her.

tomg

ride home yesterday was going pretty good after leaving commuter bike at work since last ride in 6/16/8.
i remembered helmet, gloves, etc but forgot tire patch kit/tire irons, tubes. i left work confident (hoping)to be flat-free, had the wind on my back, stopped and picked up new rx bicycle glasses. Until one mile short of home (i have a 10 to 11 mile commute each way), the rear tire blew out, culpret was a hooked aluminum 8-penny nail, kevlar bead did not stand a chance. i walked the bike with rear panniers on my back, frustrated and called off work today to recoup (and take care of other business). after this note, am going out to repain tubes and attach new 700 x 28 kv rear tire. thanks for asking :-) !

Pig_Chaser

So i'm riding in late after a bank appointment. I see a cyclist walking thier bike in the opposite direction.
"Hey, need any Help?" I call out
"Help, WTF?!" came the reply
"Why aren't you riding, is there something i can help you with?"
"I'm not riding on a f#'ing freeway!"
"Okay... have a nice day"
I couldn't help chuckling to myself, he was the typical crochety old man (late 40's i'd guess). Oh and I have no idea what freeway he was talking about, the road was a city road 60kph (35mph). At least he had a bike.

bitsurf

It's past the longest day of the year and summer is making its tentative appearance in Vancouver, BC. Here's some pics of my pretty 20km commute.

https://picasaweb.google.com/phillip.ngan/BikeCommute