OK, I'm in, showered & dressed. Ready for coffee. Had my short protein recovery drink. 50 minutes for 13 miles including lots of stopping for traffic lights. The cagers on this route seem courteous, including the trash truck drivers. bonus. the new shower is great, except that's where I got the feeling back in my toes, ouch! no need to hang my towel because I had to use it as a floor mat too, so everything is buttoned up in my rack bag for the trip home. the wet stuff is in a plastic bag, and the whole bag is in the boiler room. only my outer wear helmet & lights are at my desk - soon to be stowed. left the bike out back where everyone (8) parks. should be safe enough. new cables and housings make the operation of my old steel so much better that I am not swearing at it. there is no doubt in my mind that this bike is the one to use for commuting, not the modified MTB, not the tweaked hybrid, they are both fine, but this is the machine for this particular task. no boss yet, WooHoo! :thumb:

52*F this morning, but after yesterday's best times in and back for the year, was a little slower this morning due to a 15 MPH wind with gust to 30.

Commuted today for the first time since the fall. I don't consider myself a bicylce commuter but I have to say the ride was fun. I am hopeful to do more of it when the kids get out of school for the summer and I no longer need to get them off to school.

More signs of spring: more bike commuters.

It's really not fair when you have to pedal hard to go down a hill.

Gnarly headwind. 40F. Not too bad, but I could have done without the wind.

I'm hearing redwing blackbirds now. A sure sign of spring.

my bike rode a 50 yr old to work today

You are a madman. Just putting that out there. I'll absolutely give respect where it's due, but you're a madman just the same.

Yay spring! You're coming up on roadwork season, one of the 4 New England seasons: before winter, winter, after winter, roadwork season.

My ride in was great today, but I did break down and take BART (train) for a portion of it. I rode around a lot last night and don't want to beat myself into the ground too quickly.

am commute interrupted by eye exam, so final leg completed w/ dilated pupils and blurry vision. Otherwise fine! No rain which was kind of a shocker.

Have ridden in a few times, first since December. Morning ride in is brisk, still around freezing so lots of layers. Ride home in long sleeve jersey and shorts, all the opther stuff jammed into the backpack. Still - it's good to be on the road again.

I had a new experience yesterday. I was stopped at a red light and taking the lane on a major road (55 mph speed limit) when I noticed something moving slowly alongside me on my right (I was in the right lane). I looked over and it was one of NC's huge yellow DOT maintenance trucks with 4 or 5 guys in the cab. The driver had his window open. As I looked over at him he said, "It's safer not to be in the middle of the road." I was surprised, but I managed to get out, "Yes it is, because there's a merge lane to the right..." but at that point the light changed and we both moved off.

I've posted my situation to another thread here on Commuting to ask folks their opinion about where they'd ride on this road.

Daymn, I’m a lucky guy. I commute up through the Santa Cruz Mountains to work and this morning the temps were in the 50’s and it might hit 70 for my ride home. Blue skies, dry roads, and courteous commuters today; not always the case on those narrow two lane roads with no bike lanes or shoulders!

It was a crying shame that after the 12 mile climb up to work I had to stop and go into my office and……… Are you ready for this horror? I had to actually work, yikes!!!. A long ride home might just be in order for tonight.

Santa Cruz mountains! Don't rub it in!

But hey, I'm grateful I don't live in Northern Alberta where the thaw and resulting mud take months. Our thaw took two days. And we have several thaws over the winter.

The good mayor had lines painted for the one way streets out of his fine city for me too. There is a very tricky street that is east bound accross center of Indy that has a bunch of right turn only lanes and lanes that may turn right or not. Pretty much look the same except the signs so you really had to pay attention and even though I was usually going the same speed as the cars they try to push me out of the lane sometimes thinking I should be over in the rtol. This year who ever the mayor had paint the lines did it exactly how I have ridden it over the last couple of years. He must be a pretty smart feller.

As for the ride home. It was a bit faster than end of last year, all those spinner classes paid off. It was warm when I left work and I had a pretty good sweat going till almost exactly the 10 mile mark. Suddenly something hit me in the right lens of my glasses, it was a huge, ice cold raindrop. The wind started blowing and it started pouring ice cold rain. My commute is 13.8 miles so I got to cool off pretty good by the time I got home. Goodness I missed this.

Not try'n to rub it in. It is just that I spent the first 20 yrs of my life in a Los Angeles suburb; I never ever let myself forget how lucky I am to live where I do now :love:

I am currently changing the tires on my bianchi.... gearing up for tonights commute... i work 11-7

it's beautiful out right now, slight rain forecasted in the morning... first time commuting in 4 months... gunna allow myself 3 hours for a 30 mile ride... ill let you guys know how it goes...

The last few weeks breaking in my new Allant, purchased from a great LBS downtown (we just bought a new Trek for my 6 year-old daughter there yesterday as well), have been great, The temps haven been in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, and I've been comfortable in dress pants and a fleece. Got buzzed for the first time today, though, on the bridge of all places, and received some encouraging words about where I could ride my bike from the passenger in the truck, which was the only other vehicle on the bridge, which has two lanes going each way. Otherwise, it's been so beautiful I'm looking for extra places to ride and lengthening my routes.

Beautiful weather all the way from Oakland into Berkeley, lots of traffic, and somehow that made it even better. I had two people ask me what kind of bike I have at a stop light, took several left turns on 4-lane roads with cagers stopping for me, and even got a wave from a very pretty girl with dreadlocks. I took the long way home, hoping there would be more bike lanes on Telegraph but was very surprised to find only one that went for about 4 blocks. Quite unfortunate, really.

The only mishap was a Prius who cut me off (this was while there was a bike lane, and I was in said bike lane) and slammed her brakes right in front of me, forcing me to swerve back out into traffic. Apparently that's how she parallel parks. I suppose that counts as two mishaps, because she almost hit me while cutting me off, and almost forced me to hit her when she stopped so abruptly (her tires even chirped, it was that sudden).

There should be a law against cars stopping in the bike lane while there's a bicyclist in ... wait... there is. Should I have taken her license plate number?

Very nice commute today. Hazy and cool on the way in, sunny and a bit warmer on the return. After a few days of rain the weather here in Atlanta has been nice for riding.

Almost Got Clipped Today ... !!!
 

I almost got clipped today! Was riding in the right lane (no shoulder). Several cars honked their horns, or yelled at me, then passed me. But this one truck was following me for at least two or three blocks, and very close. As I approached the intersection where I needed to turn right, the truck (large truck carrying some kind of gas!) passed me quickly, then cut in front of me, almost hitting me!

I pedaled hard to follow the driver into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Got the license number and truck number, and description of the driver. Went into Wal-Mart and told them what happened, asked for help, they told me they can't do anything! I asked for the manager, and talked to several other employees. They told me to call the police. I finally got a manager, ant they told me they can't do anything!

So, I quickly picked up a few items that I came for, and while standing in line, one of the gals gave me the number to Amerigas. I immediately called the company and reported what happened. They had me speak with the supervisor, who seemed sincerely concerned. She put me on hold, and came back to tell me that the driver said he hadn't seen a bicycle!

I know the guy is not being honest. There's no way that he could not have seen me! He was following me for at least two or three blocks!!! And I was only riding about 15mph. I gave my story, and somehow managed to stay calm. I also told the supervisor that I have a legal right to ride my bicycle in the right lane.

She told me to e-mail her my story. So I typed up my story, and also sent her a copy of the bicycle laws, and several links to the story of the German man who was recenlty killed by a truck driver. Stephen had been riding his bicycle around the world. He was also a truck driver .... Very sad.

The supervisor replied to my e-mail and thanked me for sharing my story. She said that she will share my story and bicycle laws with her employees in their morning safety meeting!

Oh yes, I had on my very bright orange with yellow stripes construction vest! I know that they truck driver saw me! I get commments about how bright my vest is. And I have lots of reflectors ....

:lol: I'll take that as a compliment!

Today was a nice ride in- did the streets ride in because I was running late but now is the time to do the bike path. Not many people on it yet and the snow and ice have melted. Did the bike path home and it was nice. almost pulled over and stopped and watched the river flow from a bench along the shore but just kept rolling along-it was still a bit on the cool side and I was dressed perfectly for riding but a little under dressed for sitting and pondering and I had miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.;)

This is what I rode yesterday, my first cruiser commute of the year. My legs were spoiled during the winter riding a bike with gears... suddenly a single speed is hard to push up a hill. It will come back though.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3462/...ca4845b317.jpg

Today I saw another bike at the bike rack for the first time all year (not counting that crappy old MTB still sitting there at the rack since last year). I guess I am no longer the only commuter here now that it's warming up a little.

Lately, I have been dropping off my one year old daughter at daycare, coming home, grab the bike and then riding on to work, then vice versa.
I was feeling soo good about my commute today, when I got home, I ditched the rack bag, put on the kid seat and rode the bike to daycare. When I got home, even my daughter had a huge smile. So we did some more laps around the block. 4 hours later and I'm still stoked. Rebirth of commuter.

My commute today was pretty nice early start. No wind, a few peds and other cyclists on the track. I was sprinting in and out of the gates and almost clipped myself on a gate as I was out of the saddle starting to sprint. Got to work and was full of energy and adrenalin. Looking foward to tonights training ride.

Three words: dee-light-full. 54F/12C and I beat the showers in. Short pants, short gloves--I like it.

But what are all these little crazily-bright colored things starting to appear?....