Nice day so far, double digit early morning temperatures of 10 degrees C. Cleaned the chain, cassette and derailer last night and must have got something on the rear brakes because the first time I used them this morning the squeal was so loud I thought I heard glass breaking. Cleaned the wheel and brake pads when I got into work but the squeal is still there. Please excuse me, I am on my way over to Bicycle Mechanics.

I was absolutely soaked on the ride home last night. I had a rain jacket, so the upper body was soaked with sweat and the lower body was soaked with rain. The rain certainly didn't come as a surprise since no fewer than 15 coworkers alerted me to the rain. Just how are you suppposed to gracefully respond to that anyway?

Almost crashed twice on painted lines this morning.

Steady rain the whole 6.5 miles. Temps in the low 50s. No wind, so it wasn't bad. Saw 2 runners on the MUP, but no one else.

Rain can sometimes create a zen-like commute for me.

I love riding in the rain, when I'm prepared for it. And I was this morning. Great riding, although my glasses needed a defogger.

drizzle->rain, rather than rain->pour. Still wet.

My wife had an early meeting so I skipped my training ride in order to ride the kids in to preschool. Maybe it's because it's Bike to Work Month, maybe it's because my kids are so darn cute, but we got tons of clearance from drivers. And smiles and waves.

Nice way to start the day.

Endless sunshine this morning. It was around 85º for my commute to work. Getting moving was a bit slow, as I missed breakfast and was generally bleary-eyed, but once I got going I was able to hold a relaxed 18-20-ish pace the entire way.

It's gonna be about 102º for my commute home. Joy. The pool is gonna see quality time from now on.

Hitting cars
 

I've always considered kicking, them but I like the idea of just hitting them with your hand. What do you guys here do with the people approaching you on a narrow road doing fifty and make you dump it into the grass, mud and bumps to not get hit? It happened 3 times this week!!! Otherwise my commute is a dream.

before i left the office yesterday I noticed another broken spoke on my back wheel. T aped it up and checked TRUEness. It was fine. I made it home and the wheel did fall a little out-of-true during the ride. The LBS who did the last spoke said I might need a different wheel and tried to blame me for not checking my spokes regularly. I'm sorry but i rode, no lived, on my schwinn 10-speed as a kid for YEARS - never checked my spokes and never broke one. OOOhhh so happy I have new technology and new materials -they're SSSOOOooo much better. FAIL!

Stopped by the shop and they didn't even get to it! AGH! It was 425 last time and promises to be the same this time - he MIGHT get to it Monday. MONDAY! AGH!

Gonna ride my steel Schwinn tomorrow. Steel wheels and I guess steel spokes. Gonna put put my new saddle on it and freakin' FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No rain today. Overcast and temperate in the morning hazy and hot in the afternoon (94 deg). I rode with a pretty good load on my rear rack and was amazed by how much of an affect it had on the handling of my old Bianchi. I stretched my ride home by about 5 miles because I was enjoying myself so much- hydration was an afterthought- must fix that...
...and the seat.

brutal headwind coming home. Sunny though!

Got the mid-day call to rescue sick 7 yr old from school. By the time I got there (through the headwind) my wife had retrieved him.

An accident on a popular road led to a blockage due to a tow truck loading one of the car. I was able to wind my way through and ride on a car-free lane for a mile before the blockage was cleared. It was very sweet to ride past the long line of blocked traffic. I love my bikes. I absolutely dread the days when I have to climb in my car.

Foolish rider + newly-rebuilt and tuned old Schwinn + 20-some mph + angled railroad tracks on Niagra = a lesson learned, lots of blood and gravel to pick out of oneself, some nice bruises, but, amazingly and thank God, no broken bones. I couldn't help it. It was the best ride ever up to that point. I was averaging 20mph into the wind. I'd passed an SUV whose driver gave me an impressed look. I'd almost bit it on some dirt on a turn, but recovered nicely. All this made me sure I could handle the tracks, not wanting to hurt my new record average speed for a ten mile ride. I was wrong. I ended up about five minutes from my bike. If I hadn't been unsure how bad I was hurt and embarassed as the dear old lady who watched me wipe out shouted in Spanish and hurried toward me to dotingly make sure I was all right, I would have measured it. I can't believe I didn't break anything or slide into glass (it's a mess in that area normally). I walked the bike to the Y, showered, tried to bandage my wounds, lifted a little, got my bike in riding shape, and then rode the half-mile to my LBS where they kindly helped me adjust some stuff and make sure it was safe to ride home. The older mechanic asked, "Angled tracks?" when I told him I'd been down the road and told me to clean up more because the scrapes still looked pretty nasty. All in all, it was still an amazing ride. To celebrate my brief moment of glory, I pushed hard on the last three miles home (though I couldn't quite hit twenty again, since my knee had somehow grown a softball). A little while later, I got called down to the hospital to visit a sick member. As I walked in, this man who had just had a heart attack insisted on knowing what in the world had happened to me :)

Wet (my rear fender broke-user error) and long.

It feels great to be riding everywhere again.

Always cross RR tracks at a right angle. That's one of the first rules you need to know when you start road riding.

I had a nice commute this morning, the first day this week when showers weren't threatening or already happening when I left for work. It was a little chillier than previous mornings (low 60s) but still warm enough for shorts and a short-sleeve jersey with no arm or leg warmers. The strong SW wind we have had all week finally died down, and that made my morning commute much easier as the route is predominantly south. I almost rode my single-speed, but was too lazy to switch my lights and other gear from the touring bike.

Bike to Work Week in my area is next week, and the "festivities" start this afternoon with free food and bike parade downtown. However, I'm heading out of town for Mother's Day weekend so will have to pass. They are having free breakfast for bike commuters one morning next week, so I might add another 10 miles to my commute that day just for the fun of it.

Had to take my backup ride due to LBS working on spoke-&-true for back wheel of regular ride. It always takes some adjustment switching back and forth. I had the "fit" just right on my regular ride and now I want to tweak the heck out of my backup bike.

I miss that third ring up front and will really miss it on the hills going home, but I'm a troopah!

I did enjoy the new saddle on this old steel road bike - so I might get another. Swapping seats is just an additional nuisance I'd like to avoid.

Warm and humid again. Not as bad as yesterday though. I also had a very strong tailwind (Intellicast said 20 mph but it felt much stronger than that) which will probably still be there when I go home.

AAACK garg hack BLEEECH ate a bug.

Pleasant, mid 50'sF. I remember having a lot of anxiety about commuting when I started. I've crossed a bridge (actually the same bridge MANY times now), and I just enjoy the ride for what it is. I feel great.

cool and brisk with a pretty stiff headwind.

Nice, pleasant. Saw another commuter in the distance, never closed. One commuter going the other way.

temp's are climbing. 82 deg yesterday. 68 this morning at 5:30. I will get used to it but whew it's steamy. even my gloves are soaked. speaking of which... anyone have a solution for gooey hands on a ride? washed the gloves but my hands/fingers are still sweating and sticking. yuck.

I took a BIG tumble this morning. I was on the Kelly Drive path and there's a big regatta going on. Lots of people, support vehicles, boats, TV crews etc. There was a metal speed bump (the kind that protects big heavy TV cables from being run over) and I decided to go around it instead of over it (I was traveling around 14 mph). Bad move. My wheels slipped on the cables (they were wet) and the bike went out from under me. I slammed into the ground (at least I know now that the SPD pedals actually do release quite well upon impact) and tumbled. In mid-tumble I did some sort of a flip and landed on my feet, Jackie Chan-style. It must've been quite a scene. My only injury is a badly scraped elbow. The chain fell off my bike, but after resetting it and running through the gears, checking brakes, wheel true, etc. I saw that the bike was absolutely fine. The panniers absorbed the impact, protecting the bike. One of the panniers is an Arkel Commuter, which is designed to hold laptops. The laptop is also fine (obviously, since I'm typing on it right now). Anyway, nice way to start the morning...

Sam :)

Ouch Sam! Still, any landing you can walk away from...

~42F and sunny here.

Ugh. No commute for me. I'm sick. :( Feels flu-ish but no fever.

So I stayed home. Posting from my iPhone. I hope it works. :p

Hey is anyone else having bad delays accessing this particular thread?

Meh. I did that for the first time last week. I'm used to them by now. :p

Perfect weather this morning, and promises to be nice later. Actually passed by another commuter on Farefield Rd. A rare event, not that I was passed, but that there was another commuter. Lot of fair weather riders going for a ride in the afternoon now. Wish they would get the hang of the left/right side of the road thing.

Just rolled over 1000 mi for the year yesterday.

sunny and warm this morning
i stopped to get some breakfast on the way to work too which is always nice, salt bagel with veggie tofu cream cheese

Went on the Airport Ride last night so I was pretty well knackered this morning. Weather is just about perfect except for the north wind.