A little bit of a head wind, and I was out til 1am for a concert, so my 6:45am commute for 19 miles was not the easiest. I just closed my mind and pedaled.

15 miles, clear skies, 57 deg at 6:00 AM start, but otherwise perfect. Looking forward to ride home through the hills of West Orange, NJ.

to me... that IS perfect.

It was uneventful - but I must say I'm loving the cooler mornings and less humidity.

I was dead dog ass tired this morning, took a really casual ride into work this morning. Rode on the flats of my road bars the whole way, didn't have the energy to exert myself at all. For about a block I hear this awful squeaking racket coming up behind me, getting progressively louder. As he passes me, it's this brutally rusted out mountain bike with huge knobbies and some guy pedalling like a madman and not making great speed while doing it. As he passes me, he throws back a defiant look and then pedals off even harder. Apparently you're not allowed to ride a "fast" bike without being in an informal race with everyone on the road... I guess I lost?

That said, it was a pleasant, gentle commute the entire way in. Didn't push hard just went with the flow

great ride in, the sun was bright and it was a little cool and windy
my legs felt a bit tired on the last mile or so of my ride, i may have been pushing it a bit too much in the beginning

*cleaned the chain really well last night and tried out some chainj lube...the ride in was so quiet

I was tired this morning, too. Don't know why. I haven't ridden since Sunday, and I got a good night's sleep, so it's strange. Really taxed my legs and the air felt really thin.

Maybe I'm just tired with the route...I should probably stop doing it on the weekends, but I'm obsessed with timing myself

The legs were feeling not too bad this morning, so I was already pushing a little more than usual and goofing off with the big gears when girl on a road bike cut in front of us at a MUP bottleneck. (Jogger in stupid place, bikes both ways had to brake.)

She was fit-looking but not a very strong rider, going fast enough to be too much trouble to pass, so I stayed behind her for a while. She was working to stay ahead, but she wasn't moving over so I could pass easily, either, so everybody won. She got to stay ahead of somebody, I got pleasant scenery.

About half a mile from our turnoff, I blew by her, towing a trailer with two children in it.

And of course, that's when a roadie behind us caught up and wanted to chat about the trailer. Which I actually would have liked to do, but we were at our exit and late for preschool. (So if that was one of you guys--catch me before 30th Street and we'll gab!)

Well, My commute home the last two days was rather nice, rode 30 miles day before yesterday, which included a stop off at a cyclocross course and rode through it with the road tires on. Then a 23 mile ride home yesterday.
I have been trying to ride home from work as much as possible. Is it considered commuting if I tare down the bike put it in the trunk-car pool to work in the morning and then ride home? or do you folks that ride to and fro just consider that a ride. I'm using a cross bike turned road.. standard compact crank 50-34 and road tire's, 700*23. No racks etc... just a tail bag, and an edge 7o5 for directions, keeping track of stat's and a riding partner.
I thought about riding the 20+ miles to work in the mornings and gave up based on the following excuses. not really a bike friendly route in the mornings, no where to clean up once I get to work..

Only if you wear a hair shirt.

Cool ride this morning. Nice jam up just south of 57th meant I had Lex all to my own. Got to work and had the following conversation with one of the security guards:

Guard: The building management doesn't want cyclists locking up to poles (street signs) in front of the building.
Me: <smiling> OK, so can I bring my bike up to my office?
Guard: No.
Me: <smiling> Is there someplace inside the building I can leave my bike?
Guard: <smiling> No.
Me: <smiling> Is there a bike rack available anywhere?
Guard: No.
Me: <laughing> Oh well, I have no choice but to lock up here (to a street sign).
Guard: <laughing> Tishman said they're going green, but even their employees that ride to work don't have anyplace to lock their bikes. If they leave it in the garage, they get moved all over the place.
Me: Well, this is how I get to work. Maybe they should put in some bike racks somewhere.
Guard: They should.

Ironically, Tishman Speyer is a member of the US Green Building Council, the organization that developed LEED standards for "green" buildings. IIRC, one of those standards is providing covered bike racks.

Cooler this morning. Felt nice! Slightly tired but happy legs.
The GF and I took off for Chatfield yesterday. She did really well! It was the longest ride she has been on. I think we did right about 35 miles? I rode up the dam when we got there and came back down doing 33mph! I know speed doesn't matter but it was fun since I was on the fixed gear bike. I let her set the pace and we averaged a shade under 17mph for the ride.

So short story long, thats why my legs are sore but happy! And no skunks this morning!

ps~ gonna make some homebrew headlights. There are some serious 'Landing the Mothership' bright headlights out these days and they washe out contrast pretty badley for me. Fight fire with fire..?

It was 55 degrees this morning, for the first 4 miles I had the road almost to myself, very little wind and the last 4 went well too...it was commute nirvana.

Traffic volume was way up today, but other than that it was a fine ride in.

Bright yellow (amber) eyeglasses help me with contrast. I drive with them all the time in rain/fog/night.

I especially like them at night because they lengthen light frequencies. You notice those blue headlights? They kill your night vision because it takes your pupils longer to recover from their harsher short frequency than it does to recover from "redder" light spectrum, like regular white or amber lights.

All this while keeping contrast and visibility high.

Good luck finding a pair, though. They're very uncommon, and the cheapest I see are over $100 at bike shops. I scored my knock-offs at a flea market for $10, but they do the trick. If you don't mind looking like a dork, go to a gun shop and get the yellow safety glasses. Same effect.

lol... the visual in my brain, pretty funny. Did you give him a nonchalant shrug?

I ride a rode bike and I'm always in a race Though at 22mph, I have only been passed twice... I need to find better people to race

The weather is rapidly cooling which - right now - is nice, but will be annoying soon.

My rear wheel/cones/cogs/axle/who knows is shot. $70 to replace the whole thing. On a bike probably worth $150 or less.

Nah. Years ago I practiced in front of a mirror how to raise one eyebrow quizzically just for situations like this. It's my trump card, I've got the expression so perfected I can say "uh... sure dude, whatever" without a word

You can commuter race me on Danforth, I'm on the orange MASI speciale fixed gear either riding around slowly with one eyebrow raised as mountain bikers race past, or riding past you at a sizzling 23 mph, haha

I'd love to... Except you're outside the core city area
I can maintain 25mph over a mile or so if you push me hard... Maybe even more.

I had a similar experience last year, only the bikes were reversed. I had fat-arsed knobby off-road tires on pavement, heading for trails outside the city. Still making 15 or so MPH, and I'm watching this guy on a beat-to-snot road bike slowly catching me. Then I heard his chain skipping like crazy, and squeaking. He "beat" me, mainly since I wasn't pushing at all, then ran a red light, dismounted, and stood there as I passed him again. I almost said something like, "Try it again. I dare ya." But I'm not mean-spirited.

Cool and breezy. Good legs and a tailwind made for an early arrival. Love it.

Was passed by another roadie cruising in the low 20s. Decided to see if I could hang with him on my SS and was able to pace the guy. More likely than not this guy was not even trying.
After loosing almost 8 lbs my speed seems to have picked up a tad. Good cool morning commute.

If you want a decent pair of the Bright yellow (amber) eyeglasses try Lowes ( or what ever hardware store near you), look in the safety glasses department.
I just picked up a pair with OSHA approved lenses and they are exactly in the style I saw at my LBS but for $50 less ( they were $9.95) and I love the high contrast effect.

I ran my usual red light on Naples street today, and I didn't notice the police car stopped on the other side until I was half way through. I muttered an "oh ****" and sprinted down the street :-D

I didn't get pulled over though; cops around here probably have more important things to do than pull over a red light runner on a bike.

I'm relatively new (2 months) to the "commute by bike" way of life so the cooler temps take some getting use to. 10 minutes into the ride though, it was glorious!