I got my new bike today! I didn't get to ride it too terribly much though, only about 2 miles. But tomorrow I plan on going on a good 20 mile ride since I am off work. Gotta break it in right?

A bit nipply this morning, wore long tights and two cotton t-shirts. Looked silly, but I’m quite accustomed to that. The 10mph+ headwind really sucked… helped to keep me warm, though! Beautiful on the way home, just shorts and a t-shirt and a 13mph tailwind for all but one segment of the ride… set a new personal best, too bad I can’t really take credit for it.

This was one of those days that reminds me why I do this. Super quiet and peaceful on the way in, I saw a gang of raccoons pillage a trash can then waddle across the street with their booty. I said "cool!" out loud when I saw them... two jumped in to a storm drain, and one waited and stared me down.

The way home was interesting, nice sunset, interesting people watching since I decided to take Tennyson instead of Harlan. I stopped at Sunflower Market and picked up dinner... I'd never stop there if I had a car because it would be so inconvenient to get home through town. Bought some yummy produce, went home, changed shoes, and went for a run. I'm really happy that after an 8 mile bike ride I have the energy and motivation to run... after going through periods where I didn't really take care of myself, I'm suddenly hit by how big of an accomplishment today's ride and workout really is.

street ride in today. It was fine. Then a ride to my late night gig in the South End. Stopped at a bike shop for a new pump- lost mine in transit.

On the ride home I discovered my brakes were rubbing! I thought I felt slow. They still need adjusting.

nice ride home though.

huh?

2 hours to go 3 miles? I don't get it. I ride 10.5 miles each way and in the worst blizzard conditions it hasn't taken me anywhere near 2 hours each way.

I would think if you had to you could easily walk three miles in well under an hour.

Nice ride overall but it didn't start like one. I roll out of my neighborhood and see another bike commuter going my direction. He's moving fast but we say good morning to each other and I fall into pursuit mode to catch up. All of a sudden I hear an ugly scraping noise coming from my front tire. I pull over and see that my right front fender bracket had fallen off from where it attaches to the fender. Ugh. I end up removing the bracket and thank goodness the fender didn't scrape against the front tire. A very basic commuter lesson revisited: do those safety checks prior to hitting the road. :)

I hate to sound like a wuss but my legs are just too tired today.

who doesn't love the first commute with a new bike? I rode my new Giant FCR2... amazing the difference from my Giant Sedona MB... FCR2 felt light and solid, made me start looking for lance to start
drafting on.... :)

Any idea what happened? Car? Hopefully you didn't see any thing that bothered you.

It freaks me out when I see fatal crashes.

Got suited up and ready, only to find a flat tire. Didn't have the patience to deal with it (just changed out a flat before leaving work yesterday), took the car. :(

Right around 50F. Very pleasant. Passed 3 cyclists. Saw some more going the other way.

There was a huge blue heron in the water. Biggest one I've ever seen. Looked like an ostrich. :D

Either my legs are getting stronger, or I must be having a 'good day', because it felt effortless.

Saw two fully equipped folks going the other way today, I don't think anyone bikes towards downtown, they all seem to be going the other way?

Not a bad ride, about 50 out.

They are paving the lot where the bike racks are today so I walked in with my bike to ask security where they wanted me to lock it up. Should have seen the guys eyes bulge when I came in with the bike, he was just about to say that isn't allowed in here....like I'm coming in with a something dangerous.

Raised the saddle a little bit more and immediately felt the difference. Up until I read the "raise your saddle" thread over the weekend, I thought I had mine high enough. I think I can go up a tad bit more and I will do so on my trip home this afternoon. I think raising the saddle helped me earn my best time yet. 11 miles - 53 minutes. I know that probably is slow for most of you, but it was 10 minutes faster than my previous best time. Actually, I did hit a lot of green lights today, so that helped.

Nice day! Got a bit of a late start because my wife and I had to hit the local green building supply store. Checking out Marmoleum and PaperStone for our kitchen renovation. Mmmm... PaperStone... *drool*

Editors note: buying a house is extremely likely to drive a normal, healthy adult completely nutso. See evidence above.

Anyway. Ride was fine; less traffic than I expected at 8-8:30. I wore too much clothing and had to strip down a little way from home.

Hit a new speed record last night. 69.19kph (downhill + tailwind + 130rpm).

Saw the other 50th street commuter this morning, hadn't seen them in awhile so that was good.

I had a blonde moment last night and thought if I charged the battery again, it would miraculously hold a charge. So once again I could not leave until it was light out. I made record time though. 6.1 miles in about 22 minutes, which on my MTB is pretty damned good.

Time to order a new light. Can't ride in the mornings again until I get it. :(

The UN GA has traffic snarled. Had to go a few blocks out of my way to get a downtown street that wasn't totally backed up and it was still slow going. Why can't all these delegates take the bus to the UN like everyone else? It's not like anyone knows who they are.

Had a huge tail wind going home last night, and a huge tail wind coming in this morning! WooHoo!

First commute today, it was nice. Great weather, traffic was minimal. The last 2 miles of the route in takes me down our greenway system. Looking forward to doing it again tomorrow

Two riders came flying by us just as we got onto Prospect today. I gave my wife the signal to pursue, but it was no fun. One of them was on a skinny-tire mtn bike and the other was on a Colnago CX with knobbies. No blinkies and minimal reflective gear, of course. 5 pedal strokes was all it took to catch them. I coasted to keep from rubbing tires, and got a couple of funny looks due to my obnoxiously loud freewheel. They blew the 4-way stop, then slowed a little for the turn onto 8 St. We coasted down the hill and I somehow passed one of them. At the bottom, they wiggled their way up to the front of the line of cars. My wife saw this and said "Scofflaws!". I got a good chuckle out of that one.

The temperature was -2C this morning, which meant I could wear the classic mittens and shorts combo...

Crazy weather in NC this week (and last). A northeaster is sitting off the coast, and cool NE winds have been blowing here for the past week. Yesterday there were 20 mph sustained winds and gusts up to 30 mph, and it's supposed to be even windier today. That made for an easy ride to work this morning as my morning commute is generally heading south. Too bad I got caught by every red light along the way, or I would have made great time.

Congrats on your first commute. I just did my first last week and have been loving the experience.

It was a blast. i learned a little bit. I need a better bag. I only have a my road bike, so no plans to add a bunch of bags. I'm still having to drive two days a week. Thats when I bring all my clothing and toiletries to clean up with.

Almost hit a deer this morning. I came within a foot of the thing. I got very lucky.