Was super windy this morning, shame it was a headwind. Very stiff. Also, started raining a few miles before I made it to work. Made the ride interesting, but made getting coffee a bit tougher.

I've ridden in the rain before, but this is the first time I left for work when it was already raining. I welcomed it. I enjoyed it. My bike is not in my office yet. It's in an uncarpeted part of the building dripping.

I still need fenders though...

This is the first time riding in the rain with my clipless pedals. It was nice to not slip off of the pedals. However, when stopping, I had to be very careful, as the cleat slides against wet road with oil slick very easily. It would be less of a problem on an upright bike, but a recumbent makes you put your leg at a weird angle to lean.

it has been a stellar week for commuting...this morning i decided to take the route with the hill and i am glad i did, it felt good to challenge myself
hoping to get out this weekend and rack up some miles

30 mph cross wind was a pain. And what is it with these back to school drivers, I got buzzed at least a dozen times (I wanted so bad to catch a least one of them at a light but no luck) and they have changed the timing on all the traffic lights (must be for the school traffic), it took me 10 minutes longer.

64º and bracing...I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

I whimped out today. Drove in. It si so nice and cool now I really really regret it. Might sneak out early, go home and ride. I have 120 miles since my last spoke busted. Going for a record.

I drove.

I'm weaksauce.

Drove because work is piling up and I don't know how late I'm gonna be here tonight.

Still chilly in the morning. Here's hoping it warms up next week...

Bad luck with tires lately. Sliced an armadillo sidewall yesterday.

I'm used to the flats, but these sidewall cuts are getting expensive - I just changed out a Marathon Supreme that was sliced and now this one. Luckily (?) the Armadillo was about ready for retirement anyway.

Yeah cold, made a quick bandana out of an old tee shirt this morning to put under the helmet. It was kinda nice cuz i could rip it out while moving once i got all warmed up.
Weather conditions seem to be ideal everyday, either tailwind or no wind, i haven't gone under 30kph for an average for weeks now. I'd better memorize this posting number so i can go back and read it after i've been fighting headwinds for days on end.

Nice ride in. Brisker than I was expecting but supposed to warm up.

Perfect weather, a little cloudy and cool, just right for an unzipped jacket flapping dramatically (so I like to think) in the breeze.

Drivers were uniformly nice, giving me plenty of room. Guy in a light blue restored convertible Thunderbird next lane over. I gave him a thumbs-up and a smile and he smiled back.

Days like this are why I put up with days like yesterday (four times, people came within inches of me so they could illegally pass other cars on the right).

yesterday, I made one of the biggest mistakes a commuter can make; I didn't bring my front bike light. Everything was going fine until about midway into the commute; I was going about 30mph down a dark street and a car almost turned into me. If I didn't swerve out of the way, I could have been a hood ornament.

This morning however, in bright summer daylight, someone pulled a similar maneuver on me. Maybe I should just replace everything in my wardrobe with fluorescent green safety gear.

This has been one of the worst weeks for me.
Monday - dump'd my bike on the ride home cause i came across PEpe Le Pue .. I went only way he followed until i was almost on top o him .. He lifted his tail and i stomp'd on my brakes and the next thing i know i was i was looking at the night sky in the middle of the street.

Thursday - Riding in i usualy ride across some coble stone roads .. well at this one stop sign there a coble stone strip and i while slowing down my front wheel dropped between 2 and my bike basically flipped over .. or to the point in which my leg was caught between the frame and the handle bars.

Today - Road against 10 -15 mile an hr winds with gusts to 30 .. added about 10 minutes or so to my ride in and that was a shortend route..

It's gonna be a warm ride home today at 107F. 110 tomorrow forecast.

I have a cool job. I'm sitting at my desk, with my recumbent behind me, and drinking a beer. I'm only going to drink one, because I'm not sure what my ride home would be like if I had more.

How was the commute today? Great until the end. Got to a traffic light about 2 blocks from home, and came to a stop since it was red. There were parked cars along the side of the street. The woman in the car behind me started laying into the horn (she wanted to turn right, but couldn't because I was in front of her, and parked cars covered the shoulder). There was also a lovely 'no turn on red' sign posted next to the light. She blasted me a good three times with the horn. I'm not sure what she wanted me to do. Was I supposed to run the light on red so that she could illegally turn right on red? This is also the main intersection in town. There is always a steady stream of traffic in both directions, so even if I wanted to run the light, there wouldn't be an opportunity. Or maybe she just wanted me to move all the way to the right so that she could come up on my left and not have to be behind me... thus giving her the opportunity to turn right in front of me and cut me off.

They complain if you don't follow traffic laws, they complain if you do.

I now feel better having vented. Thank you.

Tropical Storm Hannah is passing through today. My wife asked me no less than five times if she wanted her to drive me to work today.

I'm in the office until 10pm tonight so the ride home could be interesting.

Yea JeffS we don't want to see you doing your wicked witch of the west imitation.

We had 30 mph thanks to some left over form Gustauv and that was fun with the freaking back pack on, because I haven't gotten my panniers yet, good thing it was a cross wind towards the curb side.

After 6 on Friday and I'm still at work. This week has absolutely sucked. The only good thing is that the streets should be fairly quiet when I'm finally able to leave.

<sigh>

On the way home today I became a target for the first time. Two teenagers threw a wooden plank at me. They missed. I assume they wanted to get it in my front wheel. Of course, on my LWB recumbent I would have just fallen over instead of flipping over the bars, but still...

Today was the final commute with my boys down to preschool in Chelsea. I love doing it with them, and we always talk about the tugboats and big ships, count the little boats at 79th Street, and stop to watch the helicopters. But 3 hours of commuting is too much. They start a much closer preschool on Monday.

I'm really going to miss this, but I'm also going to like reclaiming an hour a day. We'll still commute with the trailer, but the round trip will be something like 5 miles, not 20. And I suspect I'll be lonely on my solo trip down to the office afterward.

Finally got a great picture of boys, bike, and city today before heading home:

Really nice! The sun was out and it was not too hot. I rode with a buddy and co-worker. Since he isn't too used to bicycling, we went to Katy Trail. I usually ride up there from Oak Cliff but for his sake we put the bikes on my rack and drove in. I was on my old Shwinn LeTour road bike and he had a K2. I don't really think he's out of shape but he found it hard to keep up with me. We went up and down the trail about 3 times then left for breakfast. He said he was kinda tired when we parted company but I still feel like riding!
Ernest

It's Saturday, my weekend to work and my first commute in, oh, two weeks. Shorter route thanks to the move and heavier load thanks to my two Kryptonite locks. Made good time, though (averaged 13MPH); probably has something to do with all the carrying boxes and furniture up a flight a stairs some twenty-odd times. ;)