Night Riding Surprise
 

Saturday night while riding home after work I almost had a head on with a little rascal. I was riding on what passes for a bike lane and seemingly out of no where I see a small person on one of those electric carts holding what appeared to be a flashlight coming at me on a collision course. I just swerved at the last minute to avoid an accident. She/he must have just put the flashlight on before we would have collided or else I wouldn't have seen em. The most surprising thing in hindsight was the time; it was almost 2am.

Guaynabo to Hato Rey (financial dist.)- San Juan, Puerto Rico
 

It was right between civil twilight and sunrise. I waved goodbye to the gate guard. everything was very silent. My tires would crunch small gravel near the edge of the street. On a mile long downhill stretch, a bus driver did not honk or tried to overtake me...he just held his station. I waved him on, he went on his way, probably relieved for not having to deal with another ciclyst. I made his morning a little better, and probably mine, too.

The tiny "ferocious" dog that usually awaits near the San Francisco metro stop (Mile 2.4) was not there...it was still probably asleep. Nearby, people milled about, awaiting medical offices to open.

I switched to the middle chainring and concentrated instead on my cadence while avoiding grate after grate, on streets behind Centro Medico. I arrived at Luis Munoz Marin park (mile 4), and hopped on the desolate MUP. It requires going over a little wooden bridge that spans a nearly dry river. Below, a white heron ignored me as I crossed to the other side. Far away, a lone jogger in a red suit huffed in another trail. At the other end, I criss-crossed Urbanizacion Roosevelt, where there were more signs of early life. There were a few dogs leashing their masters.

O' Neill street, behind the US Courthouse, belonged in the moon -but signalled that my commute was soon coming to an end. (mile 6). Two turns later, near the Roosevelt Metro stop, I switched off all the lights, hopped off, and rode up to my concrete and glass cage on the twelfth floor, where I can actually look at where I start and end each one of my rides. I smiled as I closed my office door and Clark Kented myself into a respectable city official, ready to take on the day.

The ride home was rainy and headwindy, and later than I usually leave work. The rain was just a happy little sprinkle, though, and I got to see firsthand how awesome my new fenders really are.

Headwind on the way to work. We start a half hour later in the Winter and Fall and today was the first day. I dealt with a lot more traffic. It's crazy how one half hour can make so much of a difference. I went from starting at 6:30 to 7:00. Best part is I saw four other bikers! Only one of them was a Ninja who was incidentally riding directly at me going the wrong way! Good thing I was paying attention. I also noticed my crank starting to make a sound every few rotations. Still havn't figured out what the problem is.

The ride home was way to easy and short. I wanted to keep riding.

Started off pretty chilly and I busted another spoke(3rd since sept, getting new wheels soon) but on the positive side I picked up some new cork bar tape and put it on around lunch time and I love it.

Like a lot of others I got my first good and cold weather today. Being this will be my first winter commuting I am still sorting out cold weather gear.

Was 39f here this morning. Overall my gear selection has worked ok for being low end gear.

Compression base layer, Regular short sleeve tech pull over, Nashbar Siberia and Sugoi Venture as a wind breaker. Heavy weight cargo pants. Toasty warm while peddling. Had to keep the Sugoi unzipped halfway in fact. When I stopped for lights and intersections was a problem...without the airflow I started overheating and sweating. That gave me a chill when I took off but the base lay quickly got the moisture out and all was fine after moving a short distance. Maybe I should be an ass and run the lights to fix that...Just kidding. Part of the problem is my Nathen refelctive vest is a pain in the butt and pulls everythign too tight and keeps me from getting at jacket zipper. Going to go by Harbor Freight and get a looser vest this week.

Up top I got a Performance cap that covered my ears. Top of head was great. Lower face was cold but not bad. I have a Baklava I also picked up I may try tomorrow but I think it is going to fog my glasses if I pull it over my nose when it gets real cold. :(

My big fail was gloves. Picked up some Fox full finger un padded gloves but I think 40f is about the bottom end for them. Last week and the end of this week they would be perfect. Probably should have got the heavier gloves that I passed on These however will make really good liners for when it gets really cold around Jan.

Overall my ride in was nice and built my confedence in peddling through the winter. Ride home was outstanding. 65f with the base layer and shirt I wore was just right.

A touch warmer than yesterday morning: ~40F/5C. Same gear as yesterday--running knickers, SmartWool microweight under my Showers Pass jacket (the SP has been languishing all summer as it is just plain too warm over 55 or 60F--even with everything wide open)--with the major exception of full-finger gloves. Cool, clean morning air. Gotta love it.

And I STILL feel sorry for all the people stuck in cars--for whatever reasons they are stuck...

Great ride! Nice and quiet and still dark. Just alittle cool so I broke out the arm warmers. I rode around Jefferson Blvd looking at the shops and basically looking at my reflection in the shop windows. I'm on my new (old) Alpine Guadalupe commuter. Great bike with stocky steel frame. I didn't stop at my donut store, time to watch my diet again.
Ernest

This morning felt positively balmy (low 40s F) after yesterday's cold temps (mid 30s). I had a tough ride home yesterday afternoon because I started coming down with a bug during the day. My wife was sick on Sunday, and I apparently caught it from her. It was mainly stomach cramps but any kind of illness seems to sap my strength, so struggled riding home with all of the hills on my route. After taking a shower when I got home, I had soup for dinner and then crashed on the couch watching TV all night. This morning, I felt 95% better, so I rode to work as usual. I'm a strong believer in exercise as a cure or preventative for sickness. I rarely ever get colds or any other bugs, and when I do, they are usually gone within a day or two.

Pretty cold this morning. Only getting colder. Which is good news, it was mid 30's. Why good news? because I wasn't wearing a whole lot of gear, gloves, regular clothes, and a windbreaker and felt great.

Was riding in today and got a surprise. Early in my commute I was speeding up after moving through a stop light, and noticed a shadow of a biker, at first I was like, oh it's just multiple shadows of me. Then I looked behind me to check traffic before my right turn and saw another biker there. JEEBUS! Scared the daylight out of me.

He said, "Sorry, I'm right behind you there" I felt bad because I then turned onto another road, it might have looked like I was being mean and didn't want him behind me.

I guess that 99 out of a 100 times I see another cyclist on the same side of the road, I am passing them, so seeing one pop up behind me was startling.

It was hard to get on the bike this morning. There was a car in the driveway taunting me: "Psst. Jen. Drive me. You can stop for coffee! Nobody's using me today...and nobody will ever know." I spent all morning debating with myself and rationalizing and changing my mind...and ended up riding to work anyway!

Slightly overdressed. Had a nice, mellow ride in spite of that fact. Didn't see anything too remarkable. Didn't care.

I had a GREAT ride in today. The first one with my shoe covers. I do not know why a waited so long to buy some. My feet were nice and warm, almost too warm a stop lights. It is amazing how many people did not take high school physics. The Doppler effect makes anything they say to me sound like the parents on the Peanuts Cartoons.

Dean

i had an enjoyable ride in, nothing really to note just the usual practice of looking ahead when going through the school zones and i go through a few of them, makes the ride more challenging but people sure are in a hurry in the morning

Short partial commute today. My pannier fell off - with my laptop in it :eek: - Luckily no damage.

Traffic across the bridge was stop and go, which gave me time to rest.

I drank 2 beers last night and that made it so much harder to get up this morning. Incredible how much of an effect just 2 beers had. I did manage to get up and ride, and once I was on the bike everything was fine.

Temps in the mid-50s, no wind, and I've recovered from both my weekend ride of 46 miles and the fact that I rode my 3-speed yesterday. As a result, the commute was easy. :)

Nice cool fall morning. Just the right temp. Grey skys, looks like rain in the forcast for tomorrow.

I didn't ride in today :(

I've only been commuting for 3 weeks, and the weather forecast of wind gusts up to 25 MPH scared me out of it. Anyone have good tips for riding in that type of weather?

Got out of bed late and had a cool ride in.

I did see a snake on the MUP, but I'm not certain what kind. Fortunately, I was able to zip around him safely.

It was warmer then I expected, had the jacket and hoodie all unzipped half way in. Rained all last night, but nothing this morning, just had to watch for the piles of wet leaves.

Jen...I think you need a morning motivator, it always sounds like it's the morning ride you need a kick start. ;)

Wore a new jersey that was much less warm than I had planned. Made it a mile and decide to turn around a get a jacket!

Saw two yearling deer up close and personal on the way home yesterday. I thought one was gong to let me touch but it got spooked at the last second and darted away.

Nearly left hooked a wrong-way cyclist yesterday but saw him in time to avoid a collision (by becoming a wrong way cyclist myself to the next parking lot entrance!)

Too dang early... left the house before 5 a.m.

Other than that, it was a bit windy, yet not too cold. I'm on day 25 of the new school year and have commuted by bike on every day except one trip home I got a ride. (It was late and my light battery was dead.)

Depends on the direction the wind is going :thumb:

To be honest: HTFU.

;)

48 and foggy. The fog was really cool. I brought my camera today to shoot some photos of the Potomac River in the fog, but it was just lifting and not as spectacular as yesterday. Hope to try again tomorrow, if I don't wimp out. The dark mornings are not helping my motivation, plus my bad knee was sore today. It feels fine now, so perhaps it was just the lack of stretching this morning.

Didn't feel like it. Haven't done it for a week and a half. Coming down with something. Bike wasn't ready to go. Couldn't find half the stuff I need.

Got it ready to go, did it anyway. Got passed a lot. I'm old.