I (finally) left for work on time, so I was able to take it easy and enjoy the ride. Again, the sky was beautiful. Again, it was cold outside. Like always, it was quiet. I love my morning ride.

Ride in was pretty great today. The moon wasn't as full and there were many clouds obscuring the stars.

I broke out of my rut. I hadn't rode to work in over a week. I had a hard time getting on my bike this morning, but now that I'm at work, I feel great.

The weather was cool, and there was light fog. I need to buy a pair of gloves.

Many traffic lights are still out due to Sunday's storm. Traffic was light. A pretty good ride.

had a good time this morning, someone honked at me though and i am not sure why...i wanted to catch up with him and just ask him why he honked, just another grouchy driver i guess

i have been taking the route with the hill more lately and i am glad, it feels good to climb a steep hill before rolling into work
the temp was just right too

My second ever bike commute. It went well. I like riding early morning because there is not as much traffic out. Later in the day when I ride home I find it more stressful because of the increased number of cars on the road.

A new experience for me also. I had to take the left lane to go around parked 18 wheeler, which give me a bit of anxiety since I usually stick as close to the right side of the road as possible. Hopefully after a few months all of this will be old hat, and the stress of dealing with traffic will be gone.

I don't know how long your route is but one thing that may help is to plan out your route so that you reach the heavy traffic sections during off times. For instance, I ride through a school zone, I know that starting at 8 AM the school buses will be arriving for 8:30 classes. What I definitely want to do is get past that section before 8:15 (the heart of the arrivals). There are a number if intersections that are busy. If I arrive before or after the heart of the local rush hour the intersection is safer.

Of course it's not easy and you have to figure out where to make trade offs. As a general rule the earlier I get up the better as I can arrive at work before the rush hour (and school) begins. This also means I can leave early. Sometimes I do the reverse, I leave later for both start and end of my commutes. I have lights to take care of darkness so I don't worry about that as much.

Back from a 3-day weekend in Portland, Maine. Lots of cyclists out and about. Seems like more of a bike-friendly place than Burlington, VT, but then it's a much larger city. I really like it there.

50F on the bike computer this morning. Shorts and short sleeves for me, still. I passed a young woman wearing a coat, long leggings, and gloves. :D Being hot-blooded is good. My hands did feel a bit chilly for a while, admittedly.

i am glad you had a good time here in portland
did you happen to check out the picnic portland event? i spotted the conference bike there, that thing is so cool

Left late (which is happening allot lately) and was riding in rush-hour traffic. Just a constant stream of cars passing me. The weather was great this morning, around 8C when i left so i just wore long pants and a t-shirt.

Made record time coming in this AM... 22 minutes. Managed to be stopped at only one traffic light the whole way (was a bit more aggressive than normal at some others) but I was just kinda feeling the ride. Also my times dropped significantly when I ditched the Trek 7300FX for the Aurora. Loving the Aurora right now... seems to handle what I'm throwing at it... commutes, grocery runs etc, with speed, agility and comfort. Finally, I like the gearing/ positioning on the Aurora better than the 7300FX. I'm much more comfortable at a higher cadence at higher gearing, meaning I'm faster!
Loving the cool mornings.

Getting colder in my area, especially this morning with heavy fog at 5°C/41°F. Capri bike pants, tank, tee and long sleeve shirt and ear warmers. Definitely need to look at full-fingered gloves for the AM. Cold mornings and warm afternoons lately - today's high is 17°C/63°F. Getting pretty good at snot rockets! :)

Chilly Days in Michigan
 

Began commuting ~30 miles each way to work on partial rail-trails and sidewalks this summer.
Starting to cut my time down to ~2 hours now (including stops @ intersections).
And its getting mightly chilly here during these Michigan mornings (~40-50 F).

Aside from people always seeming to block the sidewalks closer into the city, the ride is peaceful and I always arrive at work less stressed than those who drove!

Funny, I work in the automotive industry and highly promote cycle commuting to those I work with....

Enjoy =)

The temps have felt similar here as well in the morning, and I'm still getting used to it. Crawl out of bed, nice and warm into the cool room (note to self: time to fire up the boiler and vent the pipes if necessary to catch problems before its cold) and then hop on the bike, freezing for the first few blocks. After that, the hoodie or track jacket is a bit much and I either pull the sleeves up or take it off and throw it in my backpack. I'll have to pick up some long sleeved shirts, might just be the balance I need. Also, I agree with the assessment about full fingered gloves for the morning. This summer I learned how awesome fingerless gloves are, but now I kind of want my fingers to not be frozen.

Bad ride in. Great temperature, no wind, traffic was fine - BAM! My wife rode right into the back of a parked SUV. We were heading straight east into the rising sun, and she wanted to "catch up" to me [I was all of 10' ahead of her]. She put her head down :wtf: and drilled straight into the back left corner of a Jeep Commander at about 20 km/h. She's okay, just a swollen knee and a few scrapes. The front wheel is taco'd, and the brifter is done.

aw pinkrobe--that sucks! Tells you to never tuck a ride. I almost collided with another biker because I was doing that. Its just not worth it...

Nice. I demonstrated conclusively that stopping on a sensor 2-3 car lengths behind the stop sign will trigger the traffic light very quickly. Nice to finally resolve that (4 yrs later...)

We didn't. We spent our time walking around and visiting places. Bars and restaurants mostly. :p Novare Res was awesome. Requisite lobster(s) at J's, pints at Gritty's, etc. Saturday was so nice, we used Google to figure out we had walked nearly 7 miles.

Every time we visit (~annually) we keep threatening to move there, but we hear Mainers have the same saying as Vermonters: "Welcome to Maine/Vermont, now go home!" :D

my fiance' is from VT and she has lived in Maine for 8 years or so...Novare Res is pretty great, it's hard to beat the huge selection of beers and the patio

Portland is a lot of fun

Had a nasty one today.....shouldn't have bragged about the great one yesterday. :( Murphy heard me.

On one of the campus backroads coming in from the Satellite lot (I drove to the campus this morning and decided to ride around to my classes instead of riding from the house). I had a couple of teenagers in a red and white S-10, I think it was, nail me in the back with a ball bat on the way by. Very happy the Messenger bag took the hit instead of me. I did crash, no real injuries, though, just a little bit of road rash on the elbows and knee. I saw the kid waving the bat out the window on my way down.

No plate number, but the police took the report and were honest enough to admit that it's not likely they can do much, unless the kids are caught red handed or I had been able to get the plate.

No bike damage either. :D There is that at least.......

PS, if anyone sees something like that pop up on you tube, definitely let me know......

Damn, Tom, that sucks. I feel guilty I had an awesome ride home.

About a mile from work, I saw someone had put some junk out by the curb - along with a rim and two 26" x 1.75" tires. Of course, I grabbed the tires and dropped them in my cube; I'll bring them home one day when I'm not riding.

The ride home (15 miles) was fantastic, with a splash of awesome and hint of lime. Things I learned on the ride home today:

1. Mostly cloudy and 74 deg = perfect riding conditions. Barely broke a sweat.
2. Know where the LBS's are in the towns you ride through. I found Brookdale Cycle on Broad Street in Bloomfield, NJ. Bought a new headlight and bar ends. Nice shop.
3. When riding through "sketchy" parts of town, it's OK to treat a red light like a stop sign. Isn't it?
4. Commuting back pack free with rack trunk is WAY better than riding with a back pack. Panniers are next on the list of essential things to buy.

My average speed went up to 13.3 mph. Ride time down to 1:15 (from 1:45). Woo-Hoo!

yea I had a good ride home too. But keep in mind, AH's are AH's all the time. They have probably got in trouble for stupid **** before and will again. Watch for them, bet you see them again. Ride tommorw and have a good day. dont let them get you down.

Meh, things happen. ;) I have a scabbed elbow and knees. At least I didn't screw up the shoulder again, or hit my brand new helmet on the road. :p Not gonna let a couple of dips get me down at all.

Was yelled at for the first time today!
 

I commute in a rural about 4 miles. From my house to the job i go through 3 lighted intersections and about 6 stop signs, I rarely stop but am extremely cautious and always yield. I ride a fixie that is geared pretty high. A guy sped past me in a little car and yelled something about me not stopping at the stop sign.

A bout 2 miles after that I got a flat! Karma!!! Yuck!

I know going through stop signs with out stopping is illegal. I guess I'm just a bad apple. :(

Dark and cold ride today. Time to put on more clothes. Sympathies to the dude above that got clocked. Keep watching for that car... criminals are stupid and they will be on that road again. You may get a plate someday.

Today's haiku:

How far have I rode?
I forgot my computer!
Will I get to work?