Drove today - doctor appt this afternoon at the Remote & Inaccessible Office (Oh boy! Mammogram!! :p).
So I took the opportunity to switch out some of my work clothes, refresh my snack stash and all that good stuff.

My legs are a bit tired. Just hit 200 miles for the week without any recovery days. Just one more day and I will have knocked two goals out of the way.
1) Entire week in and back for 280 miles for my commutes
2) 1000 miles for a month. It should end up being closer to 1100 by the time I am finished.

I refuse to look at my bikes this weekend. :p

Nice commute this morning on my single speed. Trying to determine what is making an annoying noise. I think it is either the saddle or seatpost since it only occurs when I am sitting.

It was 78F and sunny when I left the house - perfect weather for a ride home in the evening, but a bit ominous at 6:30 a.m.! Nice ride this morning, but I swear all the neighborhoods and municipalities I pass through conspired and decided to overwater all the medians and grass common areas, making a lot of the roads really wet. Haven't had that much spray on me since I last rode in a thunder storm...

My "commute" yesterday was a ride to the dr.'s office for a checkup/exam. It was twice the distance of my commutes to work and it felt good to get the extra miles. Much of the ride was bike lane/MUP while my normal commute is a route that most non-commuting folks would consider crazy.

For the 3rd time in 3 weeks, I woke the morning after a "long" (relative) ride to find my rear tire flat. I think there's probably something on the rim. I'm going to take the whole thing apart tonight at home and see what's up.

Slightly OT, but kinda bike-related. Driving to Ultimate practice last night I saw a lady driving a scooter the wrong way, on a sidewalk, cell phone in left hand held to her right ear, no helmet...with a very young child sitting on the floorboard at her feet. WTF? Maybe I'm a safety-geek, but that just seems all kinds of dangerous. And to have a kid with you???

So i re-stocked my patch kit this morning and what do you know... i had an opportunity to make use of it. Man i'm done with flats, done. I'm going to go to mec tonight 'n git me some gatorskins.

I have been bragging all week about how nice it has been here in centeral Indiana. Well I paid for it today. I left work early so I could beat the storm home. The first 5 miles I stopped at every street light I came to. There was a very stiff headwind, then for a few miles the lights were out, I am not sure why it had not stormed yet, but all the traffic lights were out. then teh headwind increased and I really had to work to make any time at all. But the really really good part was, I rolled up my driveway, my son opened the garage door so I rolled on in and parked my bike. While taking off my gloves and helment the lighting started, then the rain then the hail, had I been 5 min slower I would really be complaining right now. So I guess all in all it was another beautiful day in Indianapolis.

the commute in was GREAT...I cut a whole 10 minutes off my time coming in.

I even got to ride for a while with a fellow biker...I thought I had passed him and lost him, but at a stop light, he popped right back up...we chitchatted every now and then...he rode a good length of the commute in...so it was nice to have someone to ride along with.

so...yeah...it was nice...had my new chain and everything.

Hello to all the new people! Great to hear from you all!

Rode back last night late, about 10pm. Almost no traffic, I flew home. Makes you realise just how much the cars hold us up!

Lovely ride in this morning too. Cold and crisp, but a glorious blue sky and bright sunshine. I love riding!

I woke up at 3:10am and didn't like what I was hearing. I immediately turned on the weather radar via computer and checked things out. I was worried for my son's safety cause I knew he'd be in the middle of it. I got lucky in that the storm was passing thru as I was getting ready for work. When I left I had my rain gear on but took the jacket off because the rain had stopped. I saw lightning in the distance but it didn't worry me. The aftn ride was hot and steamy. You could feel the humidity in the air. But all in all a pleasant ride home. I'm hoping I luck out tom'rw morning.
...Oh yeah. I hit 3000 miles for the year today.
_________________

nice 22.0 mile total, light wind and traffic. no other commuters (or bicyclists) seen on commute.

did a club ride in evening, we saw other riders and banana peals on the road.

my hillacious 9.4 mile ride home was long, agonizing, and lovely...I'm glad I decided against bringing the El Camino home one day early.

not a record time, but I made it home quicker than I thought I would...and using lower gears too!

ok, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find a not so lighted corner, roll up in to a ball, and wish for the Mountain Dew fairy to take me to a place where the Mountain Dew flows like wine...oh, and beautiful women too...always.

Newbee learns his lesson
 

Tuesday, my wife and I made a special trip to the LBS to buy a good bike for me to commute to work in. My old bike was a lovely rusted x-mart speceimen. So, Wednesday morning I set off on my 4.5 mile journey to work. My ride to and from work went very well and I arrived safely at both destinations.

Thursday I got to work fine but wanted to try a different route on the way home. This new route would avoid 4 two way stop signs which were not in my favor. I made it through the detour fine but ran into an obstacle crossing the main street through my little town. The alternate route was on had some sort of pavilion set up on it. I could have cut through the empty tent but decided to be civil and take some back streets. This dropped me off on a street without a stop light where I needed to cross the state highway. I waited and waited. As soon as a line of 30 cars would pass in one direction, another thirty would pass in the other. This happened three times and I saw my tiny opening. My left foot was ready to go so I took off. I put my right foot on the pedal and attempted to accelerate across the street. SNAP. My foot contacted the outside edge of the pedal and slipped off. Meanwhile, cars are still coming in both directions so I quickly readjusted and got across the street. Once back on side streets I took stock. When I put my right foot on the pedal I missed the main sections that are designed to support weight and, instead, put my full force on a thin piece of plastic on the outside edge. That plastic broke. But the pedal still operated it just had a slightly loose feel to it. I pedaled home without further incident.

At home I attempted to replace the pedals with old ones from my xmart bike. But I did not have the appropriate tools and the replacement pedals were not in good shape. So I forgoed the repair and figured I would be fine for one more commute. I then had all weekend to get the bike repaired.

So Friday comes and I get to work just fine. I brag about how I have already broken my bike after two days of ownership. (I got the 5 year extended warranty. I am definitely going to be getting my moneys worth out of this one.) So I go to pedal home. The toughest part of my route is the first quarter mile. This is the busiest street with the most traffic and rail road tracks that cross the street at a 30 degree angle. I got across the tracks fine and was pedaling hard toward a left turn ahead. I got to the turn and realized that I was going too fast. I gently apply the rear brakes and the back wheel locks up and begins to skid out. I recovered but I was still going too fast and the curb was fast approaching. As I hit the curb I distinclty remember thinking "I need bike gloves." The next thing I knew I was in the grass. (By the way, I found out the reason bicycle helmets stick so far out the side of your head is to protect your ear. Who knew??) I got up took stock of myself and my bike and set out again. I was fine. Just a little dirt on my shirt and some grass in my helmet. My wrist didnt hurt too much and my knees felt fine. My front brakes were now out of alignment and there is a slight rattle in the steering column that there wasn't before. There were also a couple of scrapes on the bike, one on the right pedal arm and one on the rear derailleur.

When I got home my right knee was a little tender from a scrape. Otherwise I was fine. I havent lost hope yet. I took the bike in for repair at the LBS. They gave me all metal pedals and realligned my front wheel. Monday I was back at it but it was a more leasierly ride. No need to break any land speed records.

Rain and hail during the night made for a wet sloppy (near construction/building sites) ride in. Mudded up the bike, shoes, socks, ankles and shins. Really need to get some tight fitting fenders, soon. Sunshine by noon dried the streets to 95% for the 5 o'clock ride home. Got a chance to use Bike Wash ® for the first time, works as advertised.

My commute today was fair. Really hot! Humidity was killer and I had a car full of asian people yell at me as they drove by... nothing against asian people. Had a two hour break at work so I rode to the salvation army hunting for a vintage road bike and that tacked on an extra 10 miles for me today!

The ride today was awesome...

I was riding the new longbike and found it to be uber smooth, it got faster when I put on the slicks at the shop, and the only issue was the folks who stopped me to ask questions about the bike.

~72F/22C and muggy at 5:00AM--doesn't bode well for this afternoon.

Riding the tank all week (last time probably) has been a workout, and I made a leisurely ride in. A little bunny rabbit was hopping along beside me for a few seconds at one point, but I dialed it up and dropped 'im like a bad habit. Fuzzy little f*ck.

:D

After going through a rough beginning this week because of safety issues (harrasement). I decieded to ditch the intial drive to the Park and Ride and start out directly from my house this morning. I took rural routes into downtown Houston to avoid the bad neighborhoods that I was going through before.

I packed superlight, only clothes & water, no panniers. It made a significant difference, my bike felt light and I made the 21 miles in 1:25 minutes. It's hard to imagine that only three weeks ago I told myself no way in hell I was going to be able do a 42 mile roundtrip. I'm glad I was wrong.

:thumb:

One of my faster rides this morning, even with a light headwind. Guess I just had lots of energy. Upper 60s and humid. Passed two riders going my way, and saw a couple riders going the other way. Also saw a squirrel practicing Squirrel Dance Moves for YouTube I guess. It launched off a tree trunk and did a flip in mid-air. :o Very cute.

Edit: Last night I realized, at $4/gallon, I'm saving about $15 a week by riding. Sweet.

:roflmao2:

As for my commute, it was gorgeous. I went fast, I saw a bunch of cute little birdies, the weather was perfect, and the ride managed to both mellow me out and wake me up for work. If only all commutes could be this easy...

Ride in really late for me (left a bit before 7:00AM), 69 and a bit humid, not bad though. Coming through downtown Hartford, the Central Connecticut Cycling Alliance was setup for the "last Friday of the month" Bike to Work breakfast. I'm usually way too early for them, so I stopped and registered. They had a line for "How can we improve Bike to Work?" I said "Setup at 5:30 :)".

nice ride yesterday afternoon (although very humid and hot!) and last night the ride was great too. However, my left knee started hurting pretty good about 10 minutes into the ride. Not sure what is going on. I know I need new cleat on my shoes and also new clipless pedals (I have the Forte Campus) - been thinking about getting something with more float - so maybe that is the issue. Pain seems to be at the front and was exacerbated when I was pushing it up the hill and didn't drop low enough in the gearing to account for it - so I did a lot of 'spinning' last night.

Given that, I took the day off - it still hurts just sitting at my desk.

well, its Friday, and I get to drive the El Camino home...thats AFTER I ride my happy ace in on my bike...mid sixties, wonderfully cloudy, and I can't wait to get on the road!

This morning's commute really kicked me in the hammock. I was 10% slower than normal (3 1/2 minutes), my legs felt dead, and it was warm and humid. In speaking with my buddy who bikes into the same office as me, I think my carb intake was way down this week, and I have what he calls 'dead battery syndrome' :)

Overall, a bad commute is still a good commute. After a month or so of riding, I am really starting to feel more attached to my bike than my car, and the only time I have driven all week was when I biked to the Toyota dealer to pick up my wife's Sienna amidst a thunder and lightning show w/ big @ss hailstones. That was fun!

On another sidenote, I realized (though I always knew in the back of my mind) that I bike right by the VW dealership where I used to have my Touareg serviced. I got rid of it last year because of maintenance issues and more importantly, fuel costs-it was a pig! Kinda gives a good feeling to know that I am not paying that stealer any more money, and I am not dumping cash into the tank of a 15 mpg SUV that required High Grade gas. My biking to work saves the wife and I $40 per week, since she can drive my car to work, as it gets over 30mpg, so we only use the van on weekends.

What with 83% humidity this morning and a predicted feel-like 100F this afternoon I decided to take the subway...

Loose spokes/spoke rub maybe?

Nice morning. Went about five miles out of my way to pickup some stuff from the bakery for my office. Woman there seemed shocked that I didn't require a plastic bag for my items. Guess all the burbanites in N.Raleigh can't carry a loaf of bread 15 feet to their car without one.