I am leaving anyway. They can stand around in my office till Monday if they want.

Fast! And late, not until noon. Cutting out the out-and-back w/ 7 yr old to his school (at his speed) adds 2 mph to my average (according to the computer). I still went to school w/ him in the am, but I was walking, to guide his 3 yr old sister on her bike.

Absolutely wonderful ride home. I wish it was the frist of the summer instead of the end of the summer.

Went for a good 10 mile fitness ride this morning...68 degrees and windy. To be exact a 15 mph headwind...like riding up a brick freakin wall. But none the less it was a good ride. The commute to work was okay...I was running late.

But worth it. I have an Arkel Commuter. Keeps my laptop safe and cozy.

I had my first commute from Sacramento to Davis and back today. It's about 15 miles each way, and took about an hour and a half. It was great, and except for some numb fingers and a chafed spot on my thigh (need new pants, apparently) I feel fine.

About 7 miles of the route is a bike path that goes along I-80 on a causeway across a nature preserve/flood-plain. It's kind of odd because there is only a concrete wall chain link separating the bike path from the freeway, but on the other side it's all marshy wilderness. We saw hundreds of bats teeming out from under the highway, flocks of Canada geese and white herons flying, lots of lizards and ground squireels, and a jack rabbit in the industrial area between the causeway and the main road from West Sacramento into Sacramento.

Yay for bike commuting! :love:

Well stated elTwitcho... "taking away their bubble of anonymity." As a cyclist, driver, pedestrian etc, I openly share the space with others around.

However, as a cyclist, I do want to make others around me accountable for their actions while traveling. Thanks for your good reminder & word!

Interesting commute this morning!

I saw bike ninjas. There were two of them. Neither had any reflective clothing. One had a very faint amber rear blinky, but that's it. They didn't seem to be commuting, since they didn't have panniers or backpacks. They were weaving all over the road, riding in circles, yelling back and forth to each other...maybe playing some sort of game? It's very strange to see cyclists on my street at 0530, let alone bike ninjas!

Then, I got buzzed by a car. I could have reached out and smacked the guy's passenger side window.

I got to see a gorgeous early morning sky, and quite possibly the tiniest crescent moon I've ever seen. It was warm for this time of year, and a very easy ride.

apree - congratulations!

girljen: it wasn't just you. I saw about five people by 5am on my ride in this morning. Had a dummy in a car ask me for a light (his cig) while riding in. Seemed to be alot of drunks still out and about this morning...
Almost nailed another racoon! He and I saw each other as I came around a bend while I was sniffing to see which direction the skunk was/is. I was amused by the sound of his nails on concrete as he skittered off the path. And thankfully, no luck on the skunk!

I have decided that I hate paper routes. These cars don't pay attention, they zigzag down residential streets, they drive too fast (until they get to a house that needs a paper, then they stop suddenly), and they don't see me. So they can go pound sand.

I was pretty stoked to get on the busy street today. No residences, no newspapers. Sweet!

I got a bug in my eye on the way home. There is not enough room in one eyeball for a gnat and a contact lens. Icky!

Beautiful day for riding...upper 60's and cloudy...

Beautiful stars out this morning. First day riding on a Marathon Plus tire. Not sure about it yet. Pain in the butt to get it on the rim. I hope to God I never get a flat with it because it will be really, really hard to change out on the road.

I saw another bike commuter! He pulled up next to me at the light (the one where I cross the six-lane state highway) and started talking. He told me that he almost got hit at that same intersection yesterday...he said his bike wouldn't trip the light, so he ran it.

It took a lot of self control not to say, "Well, there's your problem, silly!"

Instead, I just volunteered to hit the pedestrian button, wished him a good day, and watched him drop me like a bad habit. (I always lose when commute racing...I am slow and lazy)

Nice morning, the legs (for some unknown reason on a Monday) felt great, and knocked 5 minutes off my time.

Was tough trying to decide how to dress, it looked like rain and temp was about 57, couldn't decide if I was going to get cold and wet or it was just going to be muggy and uncomfortable.

Wheee!!!! :D

I think I'm finally back to normal now. No lingering pain or swelling from last April's hamstring tear!! Took long enough.

I am still working up to the 10 + miles each way, and got reminded this am why i want to bike commute. when i got my son fed and all ready to go went out to start the car and WOW! It wouldn't start. amazing. So no commute partial or not today by th time i round up a way to get D.J. to school it will be so late... what a morning uggh.

Great commute today. A truck stopped to let me cross the road, which is a first for me. I also felt faster and stronger, so perhaps my strategy of pedaling as hard as I can for the entire commute is starting to pay off. When I get off my bike I feel like I just did a quad workout at the gym, which to me is a great feeling.

A couple of weeks ago the street department patched some wheel buster holes on about a mile strecth of my commute. this weekend I rode part of my commute to look for a way around a dangerous stretch of road. Anyway they had taken a grinder and ground down about 3 inches of pavement where they had just patched the holes. No holes but it was terrible to ride on. Any speed at all and it would vibrate my waterbottle out of its cage. I had to go about walking speed. So now I have to find an alternate route for more than a mile and the dangerous stretch. But a very nice ride.

great commute, finally getting the hang of my new bike and speed is up as a result.. dropped about 5 minutes off my commute.. warm and muggy, but not that bad..

The ride in was pretty nice. Not too cool with the long-sleeved shirt.

Speaking of ninja commuters, I saw a guy at 6:45 a.m. this morning (nearly dark) riding a black mountain bike, with black shirt and pants, black backpack and no lights. He was riding on a very busy 4-lane road, the most dangerous part of my commute. Incredible. Are people really that stupid?

I ordered some new tires last week for my commuter -- Continental GP 4000s with reflective sidewalls. Hope they arrive before my current tires go kaput. Noticed over the weekend that some threads were starting to show on my rear tires. I've gotten a lot of use out of the tires (Michelin Axial Pros) but not really sure of the mileage -- probably at least 2,000 miles. I'm fortunate that the roads are pretty good on my route without a lot of debris, so I don't need bombproof tires like Gatorskins. My route is very hilly, so I would rather have tires that are light as well as durable.

It was a balmy 7C... a hot one compared to last week.

I am soooo tired today. I feel like crap. I think I have a cold or something. On the rride in, my wife decided to put the hammer down on this one guy, but she didn't have the juice to get more than 6 feet past him. I just drafted off them both. Turns out it didn't matter, since the guy was a scofflaw and blew through the next two stop signs, whereas we stopped. Traffic was fine, although it did get backed up in weird places.

nice ride in, temp was warmer than I expected (+7C). My back is still spasming, missed all of last week because of it. The ride helped as I do feel a little better today.