While cycling in to work this morning I seen a small bird sitting in the middle of the street. I knew he was in trouble because he didn't attempt to move at all, even while I talked to him as I passed. He was directly in the path of an oncoming car, so I pointed to him in hopes it would make the driver avoid running him over. It worked.

Then I immediately turned around, set my bike down and walked over and cupped his little body up in my hands. Initially he offered no resistance, but as I walked to the side of the road he started to walk out of my hands, and then flew into a nearby tree. Yeah!

Crappy air quality and hot, hot, hot.

it was a warm one today, i kept my pace easy for the 1st half because i had a dentist appointment which is really convenient because it is right on route to my building, once i arrived the office was nice and cool so it only took a few minutes to cool down

i arrived at work with a happy clean mouth and took a nice cold shower, i think i am going to purchase a small desk fan tonight to assist with cooling in the morning

I am looking for longer routes to work and I tried a new one this morning. I found it on good 'ol bikely.com which is a pretty good site I guess but not necessarily for those who run road bikes. Anyway about five miles in I come to the route that is supposed to take me through the wissahickon. Now The Wissahickon is a huge park in Philadelphia without very many ways to get through it. This is when I notice that this route is unlike most paved routes in that it is unpaved. Gravel actually.
So I figure what the heck I can do this. Cyclocrosses go through worse. So there I am skidding along on my aluminum road bike with mountain bikers and joggers looking at my like, "whats up with this wackjob?" Anyway about five miles later after skidding around curves and burning up my front brake I emerged onto actual pavement. I just wanted to post a commute in which the insanity was entirely the responsibility of the rider not insane drivers.

Ooooh... Nil Recurring.


My ride home is going to be uncomfortably warm and humid. Ick.

spoke broke, back wheel in shop till thursday. Drat. Might borrow my kids bike, but it has no rack.

Bikely.com does have different tags for the routes (though whether people use 'em or not is another thing). Look for Onroad and/or Smooth

Sucked. Rode the bus, haven't touched the rig since last Thursday when I caught something and it went into my lungs. Damn I want to get better quickly and ride.

It was hard. I was on my old bike b/c last night I stupidly wrecked my handlebars of my new build. (I have to get new bars today, which is basically a stupid tax, for me being stupid. I was changing to a new, smaller stem, and i was taking the bars off the old stem, and they were stuck. I tried to force them off. Ooops. I know it's a dumb thing to do. Sometimes your brain just doesn't work. )

I'd forgotten how small my old bike was (the reason for the new bike). It was the first bike I bought when I thought I might bike around town a bit. So much harder to ride a bike you're too big for.

I was happy though, I was able to adjust the front brakes on my ride. Overall, not a great ride, not a bad one. Now I just need to remember not to force metal against metal. (and to lube everything)

Beautiful today, sunny and in the 60s on the ride in. Followed two other riders off the ferry to the bottom of Western Ave, and then they promptly ran the 3-way stop cutting off a truck that had the right of way to their right. I stopped. Truck went, and about 1/2 block later truck started to execute a U-turn (?) with nary a turn signal or reverse lights (the reverse "beep" sound was on but no lights). He saw me and let me go around the rear of him before he did anything else - cool - and then on my rear wheel in my right vision I see another cyclist trying to pass me on my right, as I'm coming up the bike lane! Hellllloooooo I don't think so. Even though it's a hill, I shifted up and lost him in the dust somewhere back there...

let us know what happens

This route was tagged as on-road which is why it frustrated me so much.

I got ninja drafted today... I was about 15 miles into my commute home on one of the rural roads I use. I was on the shoulder and looked into my helmet rear view mirror and lo and behold a cyclist is coming up on me. I was going about 15 mph so I figured he wanted to pass me but he got directly behind me. A minute later and he still hadn't passed me. Even though I was tired I picked up the pace to 20 mph for about 2 miles. Then I looked back and he was gone... he must of turned off somewhere. I was used... I was ninja drafted.

Sir, anyone who had to draft someone going 15 mph is no ninja!

while I have been lucky with being harassed by dogs, today was the first day I was paced by a rooster...I guess he thought I was chasing him for dinner.... but when I passed him I got a appreciative "cluck"...

Just checked NOAA. I am so not looking forward to the ride home:

Sacramento, Sacramento Executive Airport
Last Update on 08 Jul 15:53 PDT

Smoke

107°F
(42°C)Humidity:14 %Wind Speed:NNW 12 MPH
Barometer:29.65 in (1004.10 mb)Dewpoint:48°F (9°C)Heat Index:104°F (40°C)Visibility:5.00 Miles

Hot and humid again. It was a tough slog but got home in normal time. There was an intermittent head wind for most of the way, but I managed to keep a decent pace nonetheless.

I saw Porcupine Tree in Houston last October. I died it was so good.


I had another beautiful ride this afternoon. It was slightly sprinkling and cloudy with a nice (albeit intermittent) cool breeze. Can't believe this is July in Texas.

Hot and sticky ride home with temps in the mid 90's, decent energy-a good ride. Saw a motorcycle cop parked on the trail near the Washington Sailing Marina, he may have been watching for speeding cyclist, luckily I was taking it easy, riding on the flats.

On a sad note, a 22 year old commuter was killed in DC today, looks like a trash truck right hooked her in the bike lane as she was on her way to work. Upsetting news to hear upon arriving home.

Left work a few minutes early to time-trial my 5-mile route to the bus station as nasty, nasty thunderheads formed in the west. Needless to say I lost. I've ridden in some heavy rain before, but I didn't think I could get that wet. To top it off, the bus was SRO and the driver had the AC cranked.

Beats driving though.

Unsatisfactory. Every traffic light was red. Every single one. As a consequence it took a long time to get warmed up, as it was a chilly morning. (12C!).

One funny thing though; Mrs Trombone had to go out early to run an errand, and was walking over Anzac bridge in the opposite direction to me as I rode by. Apparently she waved like mad at me, but I didn't see her. I was in the zone!

First close call in years.

Doing a left turn on my usual and last turn in my commute, when a car doing waaay over the 25 speed limit comes and not even slows down or yields or nothing.

Just barely missed me by inches.

In front of the police station.

It would have been really bad ... over 50 mph, and then she would have to explain to the cops why she creamed their buddy who works where they fix their motorcycles.

Didn't really work but I rode across town to the station for a class. So, I'm counting that as a commute.

Rode in, too tired to really think about the ride. After class I went out to lunch with my niece and brother in law, pulled my niece in her trailer. Super cute when my niece was yelling "whee! bike! bike! bike!" as I was working my way up a hill.

I took a new way home because I wanted to try a new coffee shop (didn't know it closes early during the summer.) There was more traffic than I'd like but it might be a fun ride earlier in the day or later at night. Didn't add much in the way of mileage, but there's a tricky hill.

Flat tire 2 days in a row. 2 out of 5, because at least I got there.

The commute home yesterday was sactisfory (espacally as I one the game I played),

today was worst, 15c , slight wind and sunny. Now yesterday was windy and gray, and it reallly is a big diffrence between that. I didn't do the step upphills on my way here today.

And of course there is even so many bikes at places that you have to stop. (This is also due to two way bikelanes beeing to small)

Hope the way home will be better (although Wensday is a detour, for a free dinner)