Woke up 2 hrs earlier than I wanted. But felt great. However, my chain fell off 5 min. into my ride and while slowing down and try and see what was going on, I fell over thanks to the clipless. Made me laugh because it's my first dump. Fixed the chain and had a great 10 min. stretch until I got to the rail road crossing and there was a train just crawling. Sat there for 10 min. until the damn thing stopped. Took a detour and the rest of the ride was great. I still beat my average time even with the issues so I'm excited about that. To celebrate, I'm going to snail home.

Oh.. and I bought a sleeveless wicking shirt at Walmart last night.. it's too small. It made me feel buff even though I'm damn skinny kicking in at 125 lbs. But it did make me pretty self conscious the whole ride.

First ride with the new chain. A 6-7-8 chain on a 5 gear cog. Also, I think the links are shorter than the old links. If I apply too much pressure, it skips and I think it was falling between gears... but at least there was no rubbing. I think it felt faster and changing was smoother.

This guy on a fixed gear passed me by running a red, so I altered my route in order to follow him up and pass him. Which led me to taking a new route. Rather than taking my usual 2 lane road down (1 in each dir), I took Avenue/University which got 3 or 4 lanes in each direction. Less stopping, faster commute. I ended up going to the far left lane to get around the slower traffic. I'm now confident enough to ride in busy traffic and not having to stop every other block is amazing!

First post here; been a lurker since I started bike commuting a month ago.

Had a flat last night and a repeat offender this morning. The spare tube I had this morning had a broken valve stem, too. Suck. Guess I'll get my friend to take me to the bike shop at lunch for some more tubes.

Cool and crisp. It's supposed to be a hot one on the way home today...

^bummer. I got three on my mtn bike riding chair lifts last weekend.

Good ride this morning, felt a bit slow though... need some inspiration or something.

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your flat, flats suck i know i've had more than my share. There's allot of threads about all things relating to flats if you need any more info on fixing them (sounds like there's something in your tire).

My morning commute was pretty uneventful except that i rode through 2 big temperature "drops". It was like riding into a pocket of cold air, i'm going to guess 3C colder and sudden too. In the winter i'm kinda used to the temperature gradually dropping as much as 10C on my route but these pockets were very suddenly cold and then suddenly warm(er) again.

Classic "must pass the bicycle" syndrome. It's bizarre, isn't it?

My parking garage just happens to be at the finish line for the Tour of California (stage 2 last year, stage 1 next Feb). So it's natural that I just have to ramp it up in the last 200m, pretending to lead out Mark Cavendish.

Heh. 41-year old desk jockey still playing. Just like when I was a 12-year old, pitching to a wall and pretending to strike out George Brett.

Strange commute in this morning. I felt really slow. Legs felt like sandbags. Sometimes that feeliing goes away after the 1st mile, but today it never did.

Then I get to work and discover thet my average speed was almost 2 MPH faster than usual, and I got to work 10 minutes early (made some trafic lights I don't usually make).

Felt slow, went fast? <shrug>

Feel slow = feel tired = worked hard = pedaled faster = rode faster?

I wish vegas was more "biker" friendly.....i just looked at the San Diego Craigslist, and there are a TON of nicer used bikes. Vegas has NONE!

Thanks for the warm welcome. I think you might be right about the repeat puncture. It was my first tire change and I didn't think to shake out the tire before putting a new tube in. Naive mistake. Live and learn.

My friend couldn't take me to the bike shop at lunch today. Luckily, I had a patch kit in my seat bag so I repaired the repeat-punctured tube.

The valve wasn't broken on the replacement tube like I thought. I just got a little overzealous with the hand pump.

It's a little tough to see, but the rubber separated where the stem connects.

I've had days like that.... confusing isn't it? Before I got a bike computer, it was weird to get to work wiped out from feeling like my blood is made of lead that day, head down to the gym to shower, and see I made incredible time!

huh?

I guess I was felt that way because I was pushing harder than I realized?

I had that problem on an old wheel; it was caused in part by a slightly sharp edge on the inside of the valve hole in the rim. I replaced the rim tape, and made sure the tape covered the hole really well (I didn't use the hole already in the tape, I just covered the hole with tape and then bodged a hole through it, meaning the excess tape kind of covered the edge of the hole as I pushed the valve through.)

Just a thought.

Typical day. High 80s in the AM, and 103 in the afternoon. One of the best parts of my day!

Dark this morning. I used to ride to work with the sunrise, and now it's just dark lol.

I was released for a half day today at noon, but had to stay 4 extra hours to pick up the slack of a coworker. The ride home I made great time though getting the stress out.

Holy cow it's hot, though.

You know, I really enjoy commuting but, since it got hot it seems people have gotten real dumb. this evening a lady started around me, gave me plenty of room then just as she got almost past me she decided to turn right, er right in front of me. i got stopped and would have missed her anyway, but then she realized, I guess that I was still there, remember she had got over and gave me plenty of room, I guess she forgot why she was way over on the road, anyway seconds later she is right hooking me realized it, then dam near hit the cars getting ready to pull out on the street we were passing her on. She slid to a stop on the YMCA grass, drove back on the road and pulled into the parking lot. She was an old lady so I did not stop and explain things to her. How do these dummies live so long. Sorry about the rant, now I feel better.

O before that a couple of guys down town, suit types, while I was sitting at a light, were asking about biking and how far a reasonable commute, bikes to get and stuff. They might be on here, I told them you guys were pretty smart. And the Morning ride was great.

That is the best feeling in the world. I love it when I pull out of my road onto the main road through town, with a car next to me, and by the time I get to work that same car is driving by as I'm locking up.

Ride home was rough... Summer Ohio wind in my face the whole damn way. So glad to rest up tomorrow.

Torrential downpours! I think I swam home.
I love the change. Much better than the constant hot and hot with wind.
For some reason I took my PI wind vest and I used it to help me stay visible in the rain. Bright green is cool.

You know, now that I think about it, the other tube looked like it was giving way a little bit in the same spot. I'll go with your suggestion next time I have to take the tire off. Hopefully that will be later, rather than sooner.

I swear, I've been learning so much about repairs, maintenance, and tune-ups since I started commuting by bike. Putting miles on a bike necessitates it. Thank goodness for Sheldon and other helpful people like yourself.

Hell, a bike only has so many moving parts. How anything with a combustion engine can work so long amazes me.

First commuter post here after lurking for weeks.

Morning ride was less crowded than Monday. The overnight rain must clear the streets. Still, saw a couple of familiar faces dodging the traffic on Clinton Street, making their way to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Reade Street was blocked by a flatbed truck delivering a bulldozer to a new building site. Chambers full of traffic. But the West Side highway's bike trail was pretty empty for a summer morning.

Rode up to 24th Street and crossed over to 7th Avenue without a glitch.

Legs were tired all day. Knees aching. Never felt that before. Must be getting used to this.

Ride home was hotter. Strong wind blowing from the West. Again, West Side highway was pretty empty but the Brooklyn Bridge was packed with peds. Didn't see too many crossing the bicycle line to take pictures and finally saw that Fourth Water Fall (had been wondering where it was - it's just under the Brooklyn Esplanade).

Followed a guy on a Fixie the rest of the way. Made it home in 45 minutes without rushing. Probably my personal record at this point.

One of the two zipties holding the detector part of my speedometer snapped somehow. I heard something after a block and found the issue. I went by Urbane and asked 'em for a spare ziptie.
Slow ride home. I kept thinking I was hearing noises from the bike so I didn't push it.

Hot as heck today here in the Triangle. Ride home was rough. Felt like the infamous summer of 2007.

I drove to work today on account of the rainy weather. I had some errands to run, anyway. Driving home, the cars ahead were slowing down to avoid a ninja cyclist. I sort of yelled out the door, "You're too slow, dude!"