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 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. 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!"

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. 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. Not gonna let a couple of dips get me down at all.

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?

Nice cool, cloudy morning in NC. I drove yesterday because the forecasters were calling for heavy showers during the day. I checked the radar and I probably could have made it to work OK, but it would have been a very wet ride home. My legs were still very tired from a long hard ride on Sunday, so I drove and ran some errands in my truck. Today it is still cloudy with a chance of rain, but I biked because it looks like the weather will clear off by this afternoon. My legs felt great after a day of rest. Weather looks great the rest of the week. We've had nearly 8" of rain so far in September and the month is only half over, but I've still managed to bike commute every work day except two.

Clear sky. Mid 40sF. This time I wore a long-sleeve jersey and gloves, but my hands got too hot. A headwind developed as I was riding, but nothing too bad. Tried to take a picture but the cell phone didn't let me, quality-wise. I should commute with the D-60.

Reeled in a guy who passed me while I was messing with the phone. He seemed like he was going fast but he blew up, I think. I caught him going up a hill. Maybe he was trying to catch ME before I stopped.

Cooler and damper than I was prepared for...There were even sprinkles of rain!

It appears that I need to get some long-sleeved shirts and perhaps a rain-jacket.

The highlight of the commute today was the song I had going through my head (I'll Be There by Erasure). I was actually singing as I was riding in. Good thing I come in at the crack of dawn, so the amount of people who think I'm nuts now is still very small.

As always...cold. Beautiful sky. Beautiful morning. But the stoplight mojo was actually working with me today!

It was overcast this morning, forecast said 40% chance of rain. The rain sprinkled on me as I rode to work, but I made it before any major showers arrived in full. I locked my bike up and put a poncho over it, which should hopefully help keep it mostly dry. I hope the sun is out by the time I drive home so that I won't have to drive through puddles and wet streets, but maybe that is a learning experience I will need to go through at some point or another anyway.

Edit: I ordered a rack and trunk bag today. I was definitely getting tired of carrying everything in a backpack. I ordered a small bag, but if it's not big enough I plan to exchange it. This is only my 3rd cycle commute to work.

it was a little nippy this morning so i wore a sweater and some long socks but no gloves so my hands were a little cold when i got to work...it was hard to figure out what to wear this morning but i was comfortable and this afternoon it should be around 70 or so for the ride home

cleaned the drivetrain last night and adjusted my saddle height just a bit and it felt good and efficient

I had a good ride in today. Today was commute number three for me. Ride one was a little scary because of the traffic, ride two was better but still a little scary. Today was comfortable. I did experience my first honking motorist today, but she looked stressed out about other things, not just me. Besides, I was completely out of her way, she just freaked out because she saw a bicycle rider in the street as opposed to on the sidewalk (where they are predominantly located in that particular part of town).

It was a little cool when I started my ride, upper 50's, but nothing that required gloves or anything. I warmed up at about the one mile mark and remained comfortable the rest of the way home. I'm looking forward to trek number 4 tomorrow then its back to the car on Friday because of some business related driving that I have to do.

As always it's beautiful here in sunny florida - nice ride today - nothing nutsy to report - yay!!!
If you haven't seen it yet click over to YouTube and check out "After the Fall" by The Longshoreman. Marshall has made an incredible video about cycling lifestyle in a very very cold place - makes me appreciate "Sunny Florida"

Strong wind this morning, i could hear it howling when i woke up. Heading s on the first leg of my journey was a full on, tuck low headwind. I averaged 25kph into it... Then i turned the corner, ahhh tailwind. 40kph average with less effort.

Lovely morning. It was cooler at my house on the top of the hills. Had to strip clothing off as the ride progressed. My new knee warmers are spiffy.
The one downside was a nasty verbal exchange I had with a lady motorist who cut me off. Being that I needed a restroom my temper had a non existant fuse. None of the words used are fit for forum posting.

Not a bad ride in. No collisions, no near-misses, no nuttin'.