Walked out of my apartment at 5:50 this morning; pumped up my tires on the bike using my car and electric tire pump (see, cars are good for something ); hit the road at 6:00, my first commute from the apartment rather than a drive/bike combo and with my brand new bucket panniers. Weather was already warm, 82 degrees with 79% humidity (felt like 89), at 6:00am!!! Rode the new extended route without incident, than on C.T. Switzer, the light bracket of my rack broke off and dropped my tail light, again! Recovered light and continued. (I should get the reflective sheets for my bucket panniers this week.) I crossed the railroad tracks at Cowan and saw a train coming from the west (beat one train).

I was at the corner of 13th St. and 30th Ave., two left turn lanes; I'm in the right left turn lane, right over the left-side induction wire when a blue pick-up truck pulls up in the left left turn lane. 30th Ave. is a four lane road, so when the light turns green, we both go, the pick-up moves into the right lane (the same lane I'm taking), goes down one block, and pulls into the Exxon station to get gas. I just had to laugh.

I was on 11th St., getting ready to turn onto 38th Ave. then W. Railroad St. when I heard another train (west bound, this time), crossed the tracks before the lights and gates were activated; second train beat. Had a bright yellow Monte Carlo SS pass fairly close to me, but very slowly. Odd, but okay. In all, took me 70 minutes to ride 16 miles, averaging 13.7 MPH (counting stops). Oh, and the bucket panniers rocked. I'll post more about those later.

It was a gorgeous morning at the outset. Typicaly Alberta weather with patches of rain here and there. I started off riding in the sun, then roade into a patch of drizzle which was not even enough to show on the road. Then i rode into some pretty good rain which wasn't a big deal. Not until a car passed me and hit a puddle just right to soak me. It wasn't long before i rode out of the rain and back into the sun though, i was mostly dry by the time i arrived at work.

Good ride in today. 50% humidity, so i was pretty wet when i got to work. Luckily i have my own office to cool down in...

I have no work today and couldn't face the preschool grind, so no commute. We're playing hooky and going to the playground.

Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head...

Oi! Running very late this morning. Traffic wasn't bad, as many folks are away on holiday this week.

Was going to work at home then watch my son's swim class from the balcony before heading in, but sh*t happened and I had to rushrushrush into the office. My wife is driving today so I might still be able to bike over to her place and grab the car to get back for the swim class. Recent speed record anyway!

50%? I checked this morning before leaving the house; we were at 79% humidity! Forecast calls for 99 or 100 this afternoon.

Uneventful ride.

nice ride in this morning - uneventful. will be a sticky ride home - i walked somewhere downtown for lunch today and got drenched just from that!

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup;
And looking up, I noticed I was late.

I was running a little late this morning too, but I was at the office until 10:30 last night so everybody cut me a little slack.

I rode very easily since I was tired and the air was fairly muggy and I didn't want to arrive sweaty.

Typical morning ride. Mid 80's and dark. No wind.

Ride home was awesome! 95 degrees, but cloud coverage the whole way. A little humidity in the air, with a 50% chance of thunderstorms.
I even took a 2 mile detour to put some air in my tires. I wanted to keep riding!

Beautiful weather for the ride home.

Sun is setting much earlier these days. Glad i got my headlight and taillight delivered today. Will get to try it out on Thursday's ride home.

Partly cloudy, 80ish, light wind, very nice. Legs seemed little heavy after doing the MS175 "Pedal the Plains" this weekend. They came around though. Ran over a dead, rotting gopher. SweeeeT!

My speed has improved to the point that even taking it easy, riding is faster than taking the bus. I am very happy about this, but I know I'll be annoyed on the rare occasion that I can't ride.

I took a slightly different way home after meeting my sister for dinner. Lots of construction on the road I chose and more wind than I've dealt with in months. Still, it was an interesting ride. Stopped at the store on the way home and crammed more stuff than I thought possible in to my panniers. I had to strap my box of oatmeal to the rear rack.

I thought I was doing well to ride 6 miles to work until another new workers rode in from 11 miles away.

Another sweaty ride. I met and chatted with a fellow commuter for ~5 minutes- A real rarity for me to even see another Bike commuter at 6:15, much less be able to chat him up for a while. Wouldn't you know it, his commute is longer, he leaves earlier in the AM and appears to be a few years older than me too....a little commuter's humility for me this AM :-) While we were chatting, we passed 2 other commuters heading the opposite way. Maybe only the 2nd or 3rd time in 10 years that I've seen 3 other commuters in the AM. Impressive too given the hot, humid weather

absolutely beautiful weather this morning - a tad bit hot and was sweaty, but I always am no matter the temp. about 73F. uneventful ride. right now, leaving at 6am is perfect as the sun is preparing to rise and the sky is so beautiful.

Felt pretty good this morning. Got to work fast. But much sweatier too.

It's become such a routine that I rarely take in the surroundings anymore. Maybe I need to shake up my route some.

Got to ride home with both of my folding baskets full of stuff. My bag od work junk and scrubs on one side, and bananas in the other. I nice co-worker also gave me a case of canning jars so those were strapped across the top. Uneventful and calming otherwise...just the kind of ride home I like.

Moist. The cycling gods took pity on me and held up the rain for my commute. It was raining before I left, and after I arrived. I saw a total of 4 people on 5 miles of MUP. All on foot.

I wore my rain jacket, and I think I was wetter inside it than outside.

Two back-to-back fast rides. When I rode home last night, I knew I was going to the bar. Happy hour is great motivation.

This morning, I was running late. I dropped the hammer. I am very glad that I had my deodorant and body spray and all that nice stuff with me...now, I just need to sneak off to the ladies' room and actually use them.

Very humid this morning. 85%. Tonight should be better with a drop in humidity to about 45.

Monday was great. Darla is back in action and we rode in together. We split about the half-way point to head to our respective jobs. On the ride home I just swing by and pick her up at her office, since we have no time constraints. Stopped by Brazenhead for a pint on the patio.

ride in was fast this morning for some reason, i think my legs are finally recharged after running a 10k over the weekend...i still have a bit of a cold but i think it's on it's way out, i guess that's what biking in the rain will do to you and there sure has been plenty of it here

The ride home last night was killer (and not necessarily in a good way). Headwind (or at least it seemed that way ) the whole way; heavier than normal traffic on W. Railroad St.; longer distance (16 miles versus 10.5); heavier/sluggish bike due to the new bucket panniers (which held up great during the ride, BTW ). Had a very satisfying dinner with the wife and a game of Quiddler afterwards, but too tired for more, well, more. This morning my legs are reminding me of the torture they went through.

the ride in today...... I knew I shouldn't, I need to recover, I could feel it yesterday. My legs are still tired from the huge ride on Sunday. But with my first real road bike, I was just so excited! Screw it, I rode in.

Unfortunately, I forgot my water as I was running late..... so half way through, I was very tired and now super dehydrated.

not good.... bonked-out-ish until I made it to a convenience store where I got & devoured a gatorade (something I never drink).

Then, I finished my ride.

Funny thing is..... for a bad ride on the kona, I did just as good as a slightly less than normal day on the single speed! When my legs worked, it was great, hit in the 20s no problem, but man, when I was tired, I was dragging.

Still need to ride home tonight, I don't usually "carb up", but I think today I might.

Tomorrow, I will rest.

Perfect ride home last night. Another commuter from my bldg. caught me on the way out and we rode together. Normally he's much faster than I am, but yesterday was his recovery day. Excellent timing, as I was beat from Ultimate frisbee the previous 2 days and a kid who kept me up all night.

However, this morning the idiots were out in numbers.

First I had a lady in a BMW convertible yell, "Get out of the middle of the road!" as she passed me. OK, that's dumb...but we were approaching a long line of stopped cars at a red light. That's even dumber. We stopped with me behind her and I said, "Did you just yell at me?"

"Yeah. Why are you in the middle of the road?"

"Because this lane has a hard curb and a gutter pan; there isn't enough room in this lane for a wide vehicle to pass me legally--let alone safely--so I take the entire lane. That way they don't think it might be safe to try to pass me in THIS lane and will use the left lane. Make sense?"

She said yes, but I could tell she was either angry or didn't agree. Oh well.

Then I was on the driveway for my bldg, a 20-mph narrow road that is a long steep downhill with a sharp curve and a speed bump at the bottom. A driver (presumably a coworker from my company) driving a HUGE pickup decided he HAD to pass me near the bottom of the hill, even though I was already doing ~25 and accelerating. Since there's a curve at the end both he and I swung wide, and he was now driving entirely in the opposite lane. He accelerated again....only to have to slow for the speed bump (though with a truck that high he could have taken it at speed!) while I took the speed bump at speed. I guess this was the last straw, as he started honking at me. I turned right into my parking lot; he continued straight towards another lot. Again, oh well!