Cold and sunny this morning!

Last night was a pain. Fair headwind all the way, and it got dark during the course of the ride. This makes the bike path section of the ride unpleasent because of the constant dazzle from the lights of cars coming from the other direction - especially when they are running full beam. The path only runs on one side of the main road (separated from it by a grass verge), so this experience is akin to running against the flow of traffic. If that wasn't enough, two inconsiderate cyclists almost forced me off - I had to slow almost to a stop to avoid a crash - because they insisted on riding side by side.

I'm beginning to see Chris L's point about bike paths...:crash:

Cheers,

Ed

Wet, very wet, there was a lot of leaves on the road and really deep puddles, many branches have fallen into the side lane also. It was like riding on an obstacle course, It's still raining hard here but it's forcasted to stop mid morning so the ride home should be dry. I got my new Lake MXZ-300 winter shoes yesterday, they are supposed to be the warmest available, I applied the first coat of waterproofing wax last night. They seem to be very well made and look like they are going to be warm. I'll post my experiences.

"Wet, very wet, there was a lot of leaves on the road and really deep puddles, many branches have fallen into the side lane also. It was like riding on an obstacle course, It's still raining hard here but it's forcasted to stop mid morning so the ride home should be dry."

Wow! It is supposed to slow down up here in Maine over the next two hours, but I think I will drive to work. The winds are spiking over 40 mph and the rain is blowing sideways. It is one of those days when I do not mind riding, but am too worried about the cars not seeing me due to poor visibility.

It will be a good excuse to run some extra errands.

The ride home last night was a tough one! We had rain all day and luckily it stopped about one hour before I left.

Then the wind came. Gust upto 25 mph. What a rough ride home, I got blown all over the place. Luckily I was going in a somewhat south - north direction and the wind was going in a west - east direction. Not much headwind, but I got blown sideways like there is no tomorrow. I was pretty tired last night.

Cool ride in this morning and much calmer winds. Phew!

Took a few commuting down days after a challenging ride on Sunday. Felt refreshed this a.m. It was a strange ride though. Pretty dangerous, actually.

First, there was a situation that I caused where I got trapped by a traffic light situation I misread. My bad. I apologized to the surprised drivers. Not particularly dangerous, just stupid.

Then there was the total idiot who cut off two cars and me in a mad rush to ... well, I'm not sure what the fool had in mind.

This was followed later by a classic right-hook. I saw it coming of course, but it was pretty close.

In between it seemed I had more than the normal idiots blocking the bike lanes. I also hit a preponderance of traffic lights.

Fully overcast and cold today, ~42degrees according to my bike computer (which is fairly accurate when it is not in direct sunlight) I was wearing my leg warmers, shorts, a heavy sweatshirt and my rain jacket and was still pretty cold. I need full finger gloves, a different cap (my current one doesn't cover the ears well enough) and I may need to move to some sort of full pants type thing. It started drizzling pretty quick into the ride and was getting heavier (though not yet a real rain) by the end. Raining pretty steady now and supposed to last through the day and evening. I saw four other riders out today, which was good to see.

Warm enough this morning (60F/16C) but pouring rain and gusty wind. So today's choice: warm wet or cold wet? For the morning I went with warm wet, and added the rain pants and seal skinz. This evening it wasn't raining as hard, and had stayed about the same temp so I put the rainpants into the rack trunk. Wind was worse going home and the road was covered in deep windrows of pine needles and branches, but at least the street flooding was gone. It was fun.

As stated earlier, I chose to drive to work this morning due to the driving winds and heavy rain. Although the storm did not clear out completely, it stopped raining by mid-day. I felt guilty when I got home from work, so went out for a quick loop out by the ocean. A couple of shots from this route follow. The surf was wild and no matter what the weather, I sure wished my daily commute followed this route.

And now the pictures
 

Here ya go:

Fantastic pictures. I love the Maine coast.

Great pictures, that sure is an interesting looking vehicle you have there. I may really need one of those.

Tchazzard, great pics and awseome looking ride! What kind of reaction are you getting from drivers being in that? How well can you see around you in it?

My commute home last night was uneventful. Pretty much a regular old ride.

The ride in this morning was chilly. For some reason I had a hard time riding. I felt sluggish and slow. One more day then I will rest!

Fantastic stuff Tchazzard, thanks for the picure links - Now I have to go and find out some more about HPV designs.

I had a frosty but bright and sunny ride in today, very enjoyable.

Cheers,

Ed

Nice ride you got yourself tchazzard! Great commute yesterday! Off today with little boy, may ride some if he's up to it. He is just getting over the flu. We'll see.

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted but I'm having a great year commuting, my mileage is way up. We've been having some cool mornings (33F/0C this morning) but in the 50's (10's C) in the afternoons. We aren't getting the rain that you are in the east, it's been pretty dry. My commute might be getting longer soon, I might be moving to our south Minneapolis office. I'll go from 8 miles one way to around 15-16 miles one way. My only concern is keeping my feet warm in the winter months. Happy riding to all, you're my inspiration.
--Mark T

nice ride in - cold but not as windy as yesterday - in a few days I think it will be time for long fingered gloves

aside from the falling temps the weather has been unbelievably good lately - wonderful sunny autumn days

Hi,
just finished my 4th week of commuting to work 4 days out of 5. I take Fridays off in the hope that thef weather will allow a long ride on Sat.

"Tchazzard, great pics and awseome looking ride! What kind of reaction are you getting from drivers being in that? How well can you see around you in it?"

I get nothing but smiles, waves and friendly beeps. People love this thing. You can see very well. I have a rear view mirror and may add a second. My only other add on has been some extra LEDs for increasing my awareness at night and hope to pick up a portable motion detector for times when I park at the store.

Light rain this morning. I decided to try out my spanky new Swiss-imported jacket I bought for Tasmania later this year (57 days to go!). After about 3km or so things got really hot! This is a good sign.

Cold and rainy this morning in Spokane. They painted a new bike lane on my street this week, however it's still not ideal for biking. Hence, today I found a new route to bike to work, with much less traffic, and it increased my morning route from 5 miles to 7 miles. The longer commute will be more worthwhile.

Beautiful, clear, still, 38 degree morning, I took a side trip through the country side this morning, total trip milage 27.4, I could have just kept on going, what a great day to ride a bike. I rode along in the dark, there were no cars on the road, I could hear dogs barking in the distance and saw a few small critters running about the side of the road. If every morning were like this morning things would be great, I guess it's just the calm before the storm here in new england, My studs are clean a ready to go on at the first freezing rain.

Another windy ride on the way home yesterday. Not to bad but it made it tough at times.

Got caught in some light rain this morning. Besides that it was pretty good ride.

Crisp clear 38f. Need a brighter light because I can hear the deer crossing the road in front of me, just can't see them.

On at least 5 occasions including this morning, this guy in an old pickup makes a point of driving real close. Sometimes he comes over the white line demarking the shoulder. I am well lit from behind with a large 5 led blinking cateye and a reflective vest. Thing is, I know where this guy lives, and I may have a talk with him tonight.

Frost on the pumkin...
 

It was a little chipper out there this morning (33F/1C) but I had a great ride in. Of course it's dark when I leave but I saw a beautiful sunrise just before I got to work. The air is so fresh and clean this time of year.

Strange ride home the other day. For some reason, the DOT put up two guardrails over the trail that I take home. I follow some buried water and sewar lines to get home and it has a bunch of street crossings. The path is wide enough for a car to go through and alot of dog walkers, dirtbikes use the trail as well as I do to commute. Technically, we're tresspassing, but nobody bothers us as far as I know. Anyway, one day after biking to work from a week off on vacation, I noticed a guardrail across the path where it crosses a road. It was buried in huge cinderblocks, large enough to make it impossible to remove except via a forklift or small crane. It was there for at least 4 days and I do not know if it was there when I was on vacation but yesterday afternoon, I noticed it was gone!!! Picked up and removed! Weird. I also noticed a tree that I noticed on thursday morning was gone by thursday evening commute home, now that is trail maintenance!!!!

The trail maintenance by the state water guys (I assume) is loads better than if this was an official railtrail or bike path. That's the sad truth in a way but I would still prefer it to be official as it's a great path to the local train station for people who commute to NYC.

Jay

Terrible ride home last night - partly my fault - The rechargeable batteries in my headlamp ran out of juice on the (unlit) separated bike path that runs against the direction of busy traffic (great design guys). Loss of this combined with glare from traffic on the road made it impossible to see where I was going. Had to slow down to a snail's pace to avoid riding straight off the path. Scary. Even with a bright working lamp, it is very hard to see against the headlamps of 20 or so cars. I must write to the council instead of boring the good people of the forum with this...

Ride this morning was chilly, but pleasent,

Have a good weekend,

Ed

Took a shorter route this a.m. (13 miles). I've been running and swimming and needed a break.

Mr Idiot was out again today. The idiot that rides in the left lane -- blind curve, too -- of monstrously busy and fast Lafayette. This guy's going to get creamed. I don't blame motorists if they're pissed off at this guy.

He ran the red going left as I was going straight on the green so I didn't have a chance to tell him what an idiot he is. I will next time I see him.

Great ride home last night. Brought the "A" bike to work just so I could take a long detour home. I left the Capitol, crossed over the Tower Bridge into W. Sac., and headed south along Jefferson Blvd. Heavy commute traffic to the new housing developments on that side of the river but they've recently repaved Jefferson so the road was smooth and the motorists were courteous.

A few miles south of town, I turned on to S. River Road. A bit of a headwind but my legs were pretty fresh and I was able to maintain a nice pace. Again, motorists were suprisingly courteous. I think they're used to slower moving vehicles like farm equipment.

Crossed back over the river at the Freeport drawbridge and headed north and back into town with the wind at my back and raced the setting sun. What a tremendous way to start the evening.

Strange thing happened today on the way back -- I picked up a nail.

OK, not so strange ... yet.

The nail, as best as I can determine, became lodged in my rear tire and, with the tire revolving, stuck in the middle of my fender bracket located immediately under my seat. My fenders are not on now, so there was nothing preventing the head of the nail from becoming stuck in the two prongs facing rearward.

The nail was thus facing backwards ... and dug a groove in the middle of my rear tire. I smelled rubber burning and my rear brake didn't work (the nail interfered with my brake). All this, while navigating a tricky part of my commute with cars whizzing by.

It was unlike any other nail-flat scenario I've ever encountered. Very strange.

Funny thing was I removed the nail from its home in the fender bracket ... and there was no flat !!! The tire was fine.

However, two seconds afterward, I heard the -- whish, whish, whish -- of a seriously flat tire. Turns out the nail did puncture the tire while making its round trip to the fender bracket.

I had something similar happen with a nail in a tyre on a commute about four years ago. The difference was that I didn't hear the whish, whish, whish for another 8,000km after that moment. I still haven't figured that one out.