Rode in to work early today. I have a one of 'those' jobs. Can't call in unless dead, work holidays and when non-essential personel get sent home or have a snow day, here I am.

With all that said, not too shabby a ride in! One get off due to a 3' drift that blended in and walked two short sections. Took about 2 hours and 20 minutes for ten miles and a grocery store stop since I'll likely be snowed in at work till Saturday.

really nice ride in this morning. nice ride home tonight.

but I'm kind of tired- long hours this week. I was going to try to get a few extra miles in by doing a loop out to Concord/Weston but it was lightly raining- just enough to make me wuss out.

Gorgeous, mid 50sF coming home. Totally should not have worn full-fingered gloves.

I had a wonderful ride home. The last couple of weeks have been pretty miserable for me. I rode out to a store about 20 miles away, all into the wind. A couple of days later I went to rugby practice. My legs were dead. The last couple of weeks, my legs were tired and any kind of exertion just made my legs sore.

Finally, today I was able to ride home pain free. My legs felt great. I didn't ride much faster than I usually did, but my legs never tired. I was having a wonderful ride.

Last night riding home in the cold (5C, approx 40F) rain I hear ssshh...ssshh...ssshh with every wheel revolution. Yep, its air escaping from a hole in the tire, making noise each time it hits the wet road. I ride a hundred feet and then it's too flat, so I walk for a few blocks until I pass a store that's empty and for lease, and has a covered alcove at the doorway.

I can't get the whole bike in the alcove out of the rain so I take off the wheel, pry the tire and pull out a section of tube. I spot the hole right away. I check the outside of the tire and pull out a 1/4 carat gem of glass. Damn wet rubber - too easy to penetrate.

I don't have a spare tube but I have a very old patchkit with glueless patches. I rummage around in the trunk bag and find some old glue too. I buff the tube and peel a glueless patch and stick it on. Absolutely no adhesion! Too old, or too cold? I don't know. I glue it and it still doesn't stick. I roll it like a dube, vigourously for a few minutes hoping the heat and pressure will bond the rubber. The corner won't stay down, but the middle seems to be stuck. I doubt it will hold but I stuff it in, pump it up, mount the wheel, and ride in the direction of Curbside Bikes, since I'm not sure Bikes on Wheels is open late. Amazingly, it holds. I buy a tube and some new patches with filthy hands, and scoot around to the alley where they have air and top it up a bit more. I'm not expecting to make it home, but I do. I figure it will probably be flat in the am, but I'm cold and tired, so I set the alarm a few minutes early so I can replace the tube before work.

I come out in the morning and check the tire. Hard as a rock. Was last night a dream? Nope - there's the new tube and patchkit from Curbside sitting right there in the trunk bag.

now that's a good commuting story!:thumb:

Yeah, that is.

This morning was a little surreal, with cool, misty fog everywhere, temps in the low 50s, what little wind there was, was at my back. It was a zen-like ride.

Then I had to ride home. It was warm but I didn't bring shorts. I wore my long bike tights and a long sleeve bike jersey, which were far too warm for 70 degree temps. Nice enough for the first part of my trip, then turned into the wind. Damn you, wind.

When I don't have to deal with automobiles or lightning I love commuting in the rain. It's sort of interactive weather, like I'm part of nature, and keeps things cool. :)

46F/7-8C and foggy as all get out. Kinda fun, though. I never noticed how much I "rock" the front wheel back and forth as I ride--not radically, of course, but more than I would have thought. Pretty easy to see in the fog. I guess I need to tighten up my riding motion a little.

Or not. :D

It was a pleasant ride in the fog this morning 40 F ( 4 C). Although, by the end of the week my legs don't always seem to want to hurry. It is supposed to get up to 64 (18 C) today, so all the cool weather gear will be riding on the back of the bike on the way home.

I got soaked!!! riding home last night but it was great!

This morning 34*F, no wind and actually saw 4 other commuters (based on gear and baggage), which I hardly ever see. And there were actually 2 new bikes in the rack when I got to work and I'm usually the first one there...things are looking up.

My new full fenders are definitely earning their keep this month, the rainiest we have had in a while in NC. Today was the kind of day I would have driven in the past, but I had one of my best rides in a while thanks to the warm temps and lack of wind. I rained off and on all day yesterday and much heavier over night, but it had quit by this morning. The roads were still very wet, but the fenders kept me clean and dry. We'll see if my luck holds out this afternoon. The morning forecast calls for an 80% chance of showers this afternoon, which I failed to notice before leaving for work. Last night, they were forecasting about 20% chance of showers. Funny how they change the forecasts like that when you aren't paying attention.

I had my first road hazard flat in probably 2 years this morning. The gravel road I ride 4 miles on every day had a couple of 100 foot stretches where the frost was breaking, so it was very swampy there. So the county came along and dumped a load of this horrible 3-5cm crushed rock down. It's huge, it's sharp-edged, and it's unavoidable. This was the 3rd time riding over it, and it finally got me; I went flat in a couple of seconds after clearing that minefield.

So I got to practice changing tires in the dark. And realized that I haven't used the Topeak pump since 3 or so years ago when I was using Presta valves, and had to pick the little rubber gasket out with my fingernails to flip it to Schrader. All told, about 12 minutes, due to the 3 minutes it took to get that pump switched over, and having to dig for the tire levers since I haven't changed a flat in so long.

27f this morning, and end of March, whats up with that? Nice tail wind but not looking forward to return trip. Dug out the winter coat again, even though I know I'll be way to warm later.

I'll be taking some scouts for a 10 miler Sunday afternoon. Forecast is 35f, with rain and snow showers, we're going to have some fun :D

nice ride this morning, it was about 40º and there was a slight drizzle...i was glad to ride in the wetness so my bike could get a cleaning
i also stopped at my favorite bagel place on the way in for a bialy with tofu cream cheese

At -4C it may well be the warmest morning of the year. I narrowly missed the huge snow fall which is blanketing the ground as i write. A guy pulled up beside me in a truck and unrolled his window and yelled "nice lights buddy, i wish everyone had a set like that".

Awesome commute today. ~51 F and sunny. It should really warm up today :D

Road in my "walkable" shoes today for the first time. SIDI MTB shoes with some MTB Shimano pedals. I should have made the switch much earlier. This set up is much more commuter friendly. Previous setup was ultegra pedals with SIDI road shoes. No gripe about the pedals while on bike, but I did wobble around like a duck when walking about.

A warm 42F (vs a cold 42F the other morning). Single layer gloves and socks today. Hopefully warm later. Apparently I lost one of my fingerless gloves, darn it.

Everybody biked today, wife trailered 4 YO downill to daycare, I rode w/ 7 yr old to his school. Usual pm pattern is I trailer 4YO back uphill to the 7 YOs school at the end of the day.

What's up with this week? It's like the WEEK O' FLATS on this thread! I think it's all the winter built up crap on the roads-- sand, glass, etc from all the snowy days this year.

My flat was yesterday morning and it had me had me walking back home-- 2.5 miles! (The bus back home was just pulling away from the nearest stop when I dimounted.)

The walk was due to me pulling the crescent wrench out of my bag the night before when I was riding my QR equipped road bike. Didn't put it back. :(

Oh well, I was only half an hour late to work.

But I was too tired after getting the kids down last night to go out and fix the flat at 8:30, so I drove again. It's a shame-- what a beautiful day!

Changed the bars and tape on my FG commuter last night. Didn't really need it, just bored I guess. Easy ride in. I hope I get a chance to take a little bit of a detour on the way home.

Got soaked on my way to the Dr's last night. I changed in their bathroom and met mom and son for his 1 year check up (everything was great). I threw the bike on the car for the ride home and parked it under the cover in the back yard, covered in grime. Bike was still dirty and wet this morning due to moisture in the air, gross (can't wait to finish basement and store bike there again). Looks like low 60's today, should be a much nicer ride home.

She was good today!

Same commute as yesterday, without the MUP detour. Who’d a thuk it? A couple blocks from home, the same side street as yesterday, the same white Dodge mini van with the same woman driving. She approaches her stop, none for me, as I approach, just like yesterday. I’m ready to swerve again, this time she stops back behind the crosswalk and waits for me to pass!!!! I gave her a nice nod and wave; like I do every car driver that actually waits like they are supposed to as I pass.



The rest of the climb to work was beautiful and done at a relaxed pace.

first day back in NY
 

Chilly this morning, but warmed up nicely in the afternoon. Seems to be a little less traffic these days, both this morning and this afternoon.... probably the economy.

did the double commute today. Rode in this morning. Rode home in the early afternoon. Rode back into another location in the late afternoon rode home in the early evening. Then rode the bike to the grocery store. Added up to about 35-40 miles. ( I took the shorter routes in and back).

Nice day.