Rico_SPD

Well, I did it. I finally rode to work. 7 miles in a tad over 35 minutes. I didn't see a single bike until I got close to downtown. All the cars were courteous (no honks, yells, etc.) and drove around me when they could. Great weather for the ride, just under 70°F. Only supposed to get up to about 78 this afternoon.

I feel more awake than I ever have coming in to work!

Allycat24

Beautiful morning. Very light traffic on the MUP today, probably because of the holiday week. My knee was really sore -- it acts up sometimes but usually doesn't hurt while I'm riding, which it did today. Hopefully some Advil will take the edge off. Otherwise, just a fantastic day. It is rare to have such low humidity in July.

jterribili

haven't posted this week at all!...so busy...

Monday and Tues were good commutes. On Monday I did an extra 10 miles taking a midday trip to the DOT facility next to the fairgrounds - nice riding in the 9am hour when most all traffic has arrived at their destination - Hillsborough St. was quiet!

Yesterday on the way home, I came across a couple of guys with their bikes inspecting one of them on the side of Raleigh Blvd. I stopped and asked if they needed anything. One guys had lost the nut holding on one of his cranks (very cheap and old bike). Needless to say he could not use his bike. Not only that, but they were going to Sanford which was about 50 miles away! So I told them to ride with me on the side walk (I always ride on the road with traffic, but these guys couldn't) and I would try and fix their bike at my house. Took a long time because we mostly had to walk the bikes. I didn’t have a nut that would fit so we used some duct tape to attach the crank. I gave them the rest of the roll of tape, fixed the other guys seat (he had a really beat up old Schwinn that would have been nice to fix up!), pumped up their tires, printed them out specific directions to Sanford and gave them $5 so they could go to Harbor Freight tools and get a nut - I also gave them my socket wrench and appropriate socket to tighten. Hopefully they made it there! I would have given them a ride, but we only have one car and my wife needed it.

Funny thing was, they were going north on Raleigh Blvd. and Sanford is SW of Raleigh - they would have never made it anyway had I not run into them!

Of course while I was walking my bike with them on the way to my house, we had 3 bike commuters, one of them on a recumbent pass us - I ALMOST NEVER see that many bike commuters on my way home - really uncanny. Must have been a funny sight with me all 'Freded out' (safety vest, blinkies, ankle bands, etc.) walking my perfectly functional bike with a couple of guys with no helmets, barely working brakes and bike with parts falling off as we went!

amit_shah25 

Perfect temperature. Nice morning. Rode a bit slow with my wife. Enjoyed the ride.

O and we have this huge hill on our way that we used to walk our bikes on because it was too steep. Both of us kept getting stronger as we are commuting more. I am faster then my wife, and I reach uphill and wait for her. Today I went up the hill, turned around, went down and climbed that hill twice and then both of us continued. Felt great. The hill that I was barely able to walk my bike on, I climbed twice just for heck of it

77midget

another successful commute, though today I was dog tired. Had to stop a couple times for cars jumping out of spots, and a signal-less right turner, and the rotary was jammed up so much that I needed to take the lane just to be safe. Not a real issue, since I only go around 90 degrees.

Forgot to cinch the netting on my bag around my milk-filled thermos, and threw it when I hopped a curb! it survived, thankfully.

This morning, one of the only things that got me on the bike was the fact that I didn't want to miss the daily post(s) in the 'how was your commute' thread.

rlrct

67 degrees and FOGGY - visibility was 200-300 feet. Car's taillights just disappeared. I did notice some cars turning on their lights after passing me and seeing my 2 blinkies.

Pig_Chaser

Gorgeous ride in. Very possibly the perfect ride except for a slight headwind at 11kph. Saw lots of birds for some reason this morning. Startled two ptarmigans (i think) in the ditch, saw some kind've hawk (pretty usual occurance) and a really really yellow bird.

monkistan

Beautiful morning here in Boston. Except a little too much road construction on my route. Had to walk my bike out of my block b/c they've closed everything up for paving (including the sidewalk). ugh. But I saw the family of Canadian geese again on my ride. All in all a good morning commute!

Itsjustb

First day on the bike this week. My lovely daughter brought home a stomach virus from day care--how nice of her!--Friday and I got it Saturday. Although the ride today was fine, I think I came back too early. I feel like garbage, my arms tingle just from holding them above the keyboard to type, and I think I'm still dehydrated.

Replaced the rear tire on my commuter Saturday night--before I got sick--and the ride today felt/sounded weird. Although this tire is a slick like the tire being replaced, it's got a little more tread than my old one so more noise/vibration.

And finally, I arrived at my bldg today to learn there's been no hot water all week. I know, many of you don't have showers at all so I shouldn't complain. But I will anyway--when you're as skinny as I am and you've been sick for 4 days, you really don't need to be drenched in nice cold water.

AmberRae

Nice ride in, fairly cool, low traffic.

However for some reason i'm not looking forward to the journy home...
i have a feeling...

Flamadiddle

Hah, I got yelled at by a passing motorist for the first time this morning. On the one busy street of my commute where I have to take the lane (there simply isn't enough room for a car and bike at the same time), some moron in the passenger's seat of a bright red truck clapped his hands and yelled, "C'mon, get a move on, boy!" as it passed me on the left. I actually heard him making a ruckus when they were behind me in the line of cars I was probably creating, since people like to go fast on this road in the morning (even though there's a 25 mph speed limit). He may have just been playing rather than truly angry, but somehow I don't think so. I didn't even acknowledge him and simply kept riding. Never ceases to amaze me how many A$%holes there are on the road...

frymaster

i've been riding the fixie exclusively since about november. today was the first day on the geared road bike since then. three observations:

1. hand brakes aren't just for emergencies. if you have a freewheel you need to hit the hand brakes every time you want to slow down. re-learning this is a scary experience.

2. gears are designed to make you go faster. crank that cadence up to 120, then drop a couple of teeth off the rear cog and spin up again. repeat until exhausted or at work. i normally pass cars on the commute, but today i was blowing past them.

3. all that "souplesse" stuff you thought was just roadie hokum? it's real. on one straightaway i put myself into the pedal-like-it's-the-fixie mindset -- put the weight on the seat and round out the stroke -- and the performance gain was really noticable! maybe roadies do know something about bikes after all.

so, fun commute and fast... but i know in my gut that it'll only be a week or two before i start yearning for that "natural" fixed gear feeling.

caloso

Frymaster: That perfectly sums up the training effect I get from spending the winter on the FG. I noticed your #3 on an early season training race. When the pace ramped up, everybody stood but I was able to stay in the saddle, spin it up, drop a cog, and boom--smooth acceleration! And your #1: you slow your legs and Crap! I'm still going! Oh yeah, I need to squeeze these lever thingies...

As for my ride, it was just lovely. The air is clear for now at least and the temperatures have been perfect (65F) in the mornings. Just perfect.

dcraven

Hello:
I have resumed commuting this year by Bicycle after several years of very sporadic commuting. This morning was beautiful in Chicago and the "bad" cars seem to have taken the day off.

That's good because on Monday a van went out of its way to run me off the road and onto the sidewalk shouting at me that I didn't belong on the road. (I got to an intersection with a four way stop a little before him. I stopped (which I do when a car is also at or near the intersection and then started because I was there first. He not only started right after I did, he stepped on the accelerator pedal, aimed at me and then, when I veered he turned to follow angling me into the curb...) Sigh. Chicago's a pretty nasty place to bicycle...

pinkrobe

Ow. I was on an annual Canada Day ride up Highwood pass yesterday, and after two weeks of only commuting, it kind of kicked my ass. Today, there wasn't a whole lot of "go" in the legs. I've been carbo-loading with doughnuts and Coke all morning, so I should be fine tomorrow.

Bulldozer

Nice and quiet morning today. Mid-60's again. I didn't see too many people today. Must be the holiday.

knatchwa

That is a great story thanks for sharing it is nice to know each has the others back. And to add to the pleasure of seeing so many commuters, sounds like a truly productive day.

knatchwa

Well interpretively speaking it can only get better from here If the ride didn't wake you up I am sure the cold water would of

bkrownd

On the way home last night I nearly had a 23 MPH head-on with another bike. Long after sunset this noob was riding shoulder on the wrong side of the street with black clothing and no lights of any kind. With the rain and oncoming headlights I only noticed something was there as I passed him/her. Fortunately there were no cars behind me so at the time I was in the middle of the lane, instead of on the shoulder.

Sonoma76

Saved a small furry white dog from being squished this morning on the way to work. The little yapper ran right out in traffic, then past me on my bike, then back down the sidewalk, back in traffic again, back to the sidewalk etc.

She finally came when I whistled really hard and held out my hand as if I had a treat.

I called the owner who thanked me profusely and gave me $20.

making

Very windy and another flat. Two days in a row.

clg

Got into work really quickly, thought there was a tail wind but on second thought I think there wasn't any wind at all. I got to my department and parked my bike, a few minutes later I heard an explosion that sounded like a firecracker. I new right away what it was, my tire blew. I must have over inflated it and the difference in the temp in my area was too much. It was so loud people from other departments poked their noses in to see what happened. I replaced the tube and rode home on an under inflated tire; anyone else find it hard to get fully inflated with a hand pump? Otherwise it was a great day.

making

last night my flat happend in my garage after I got home. i had 100's miles on that tube so I thought it was just a lucky break i was home. did not even complain. today on the way home, with about 21 miles on the new tube I heard a funny noise, sure enough the tire blew. There was a park bench about 10 yards away so i comfortably sat and changed my tire. I could barely get 50 lbs in my tire and usually put in about 120. Thought it was just me that could not pump up my tire with a hand pump. Anyway I had my wife come and get me instead of taking a chance on messing up my rim.

clg

[QUOTE=I could barely get 50 lbs in my tire and usually put in about 120. Thought it was just me that could not pump up my tire with a hand pump. Anyway I had my wife come and get me instead of taking a chance on messing up my rim.[/QUOTE]

I don't know what pump u use but the one I'm using sucks and next time I order something I need I'll also get a better pump. A guy at work thinks I should get a CO2 pump but years ago I didn't have so much trouble pumping up a tire to pressure; 95 psi with this one or even more for my road bike. I don't know how much I put in the tire but I wasn't concerned about the rim, it was enough. It's so much better to have the tube explode when you have reached your destination rather then while your on your way.

making

I think mine is a serfas, whatever it is was not cheap. Think I will find a better one though.