Thursday 4/9 was a beautiful finale to my Car-Free Lent. After beginning to bike commute in the cold and snow on Feb 28th, it was nice to have the last day be the first warm and sunny spring day. It had been snowing right up to the day before, so having the last day clear and warm was especially sweet.

My very first ride in was ushered in with an exquisite wintry sunrise, and it closed with such a beautiful day.

The cool thing is that I enjoyed it so much that I plan on keeping it up from here on out!

I gave up beer and wine, too.... but I'm not as likely to stick with that!

Wet streets but no rain. I normally would have ridden the fendered FG, but I switched tires and the cassette on the race bike for Copperopolis tomorrow. I wanted to ride it to work and make sure everything was okay.

I have an ~8 mile ride back from Church choir practice and rode home around 9:30 under that same moonlight. The ride takes me for two miles along the beach near home and I'm lucky that I did not hit the guardrail while gazing at the moon. Beautiful.

Easy ride today, 40 F ( 4 C) and no wind. Rode in shorts, because it feels good to be in shorts. My legs chilled, but passing traffic provided more than enough heat. Expecting to ride home in rain, but it
is Friday, so no problem.

A most unusual obstacle barred my way across the Hawthorne Bridge today: a "nordic rollerblader" riding the centerline between the pedestrian and cyclist paths while extending his poles to the outer edge of each lane! Like an *******, I rang my bell and squeezed through as soon as the first opening appeared. He shot me an exasperated look -- I bet that about ten cyclists prior to me did the exact same thing! Maybe next time, he'll save his poles for, you know, actual skiing and stick to regular rollerblading.

Blessed be the LBS that for free repairs what I stopped to fix, and woe to the commuter who fixes things he does not know how to repair Lessons learned, I suppose.

Holy $(@*.

I decided to take the long way home. Got more than I bargained for. Somehow I managed to miss a crucial turn, and wound up riding through muck and mud, portaging over logs, walking through shallow streams, and hauling the Trek over two fences before I got to the bike path I was aiming for near the Ethan Allen Homestead.

I've done this ride quite a few times so I don't know how I fouled up. Guess it was too early in the season and nothing looked familiar.

The worst thing was, I think some other guy on an MTB was following me, thinking I knew where the frick I was going. I think he bugged out after a while, but not me. I soldiered on. (I say that like it's a good thing.)

All in all it wasn't bad, but I came home with mud all over my legs, my bike, and in need of a shower. Here's my iPhone track. If you look at the top center part, you can make out the trail I was supposed to be on.

nice warm day today. bike path was starting to get crowded with pedestrians, slow wobbly bikers, joggers and dog walkers time to move back to the road during the good daylight hours.

got home in time to do a nice 40 mile loop on the road bike.

Had a nice "commute" to and from a 10-mile run this morning. I can't run much any more (arthritis in the hips), so I walked most of it. It feels great not driving to and from.

Nice mid-30sF ride in this morning (say +1 or 2C). Left a little early so very light traffic to go with very light winds. Got in early enough to sneak in through the back door when the guard came out to go to the rear (service) street entrance--gave me a 15 minute jump on getting a shower and saved me from having to drag my stuff around the building.

Was off the bike for both days this weekend--I guess the pollen is getting to me some as I felt like crap the whole time. Not really sick, but not feeling great, either. The ride was fine this morning, though, and since I didn't do my usual Saturday supply run I was dragging along clothes and stuff for the week this morning.

Now that I'm here at work, though, I feel like throwing up. But unfortunately, I think it's because of the work...

Frigid morning. Used a balaclava. Wish those things actually let you breath, had to slide it down so the mouthpiece was over my chin instead of my mouth. Wish the shower here was warmer - what a whiner, huh? A shower and I'm not happy, LOL. New steerer tube extender is nice. Going for a full week even though it's early in the season. I saw 5 days of sunshine on the weather forecast and now I'm determined to make it work. Had a few traffic surprises and hopefully didn't piss anyone off.

High 20sF, tailwind, sunny. I cleaned up my bike yesterday after getting mud everywhere on Friday's ride home. I saw a great blue heron perched on a log, and some other large white bird (maybe an egret) hunched over like a gargoyle, staring at the water.

Exchanged hellos with bmike as we passed each other on the MUP.

Cold! What happened to the warm weather?

The spring road crews must be out. I've been noticing potholes and chewed-up pavement getting patched.

Just another cold spring day, and the ride was fine at 28 F ( -2 C). Traffic was bit heavier, but no incidents.

20*F, but no wind, but the buzzers were out in force.

Rode the Flying Pigeon today. Slow but quiet ride in to work. This folder bike is soo quiet that I snuck past a cat. Nothing to report, which is good.
Ernest

This morning i wore, drum roll please........... sun glasses! At 6:45am

Rode through dense fog for a mile or so on my ride in. Very very rare around here and I was thrilled. Reminded me of my hometown in SE WA state.
Nice ride around freezing with left over humidity and puddles from the rain yesterday.

Decent weather! But had to ride the offroader this morning, commuter needs back brake pads badly. Winters are hard on the bike - Need new pads, bottom bracket and rear hub wrenched on --- same as last Spring.

Cold and dreary, out. Didn't see anyone, and the roads seemed pretty clear. Enjoyable, though. I saw the sun coming up through a layer of cirrus clouds in my rear view mirror.

40F and wet wet wet, same as week before last (vacation last week woohoo). The rain did stop just before sunrise however, and the clouds budged, so it was actually sunny.

This is only my 2nd week of commuting, today I left earlier so the first part of the commute was in the dark. Headlight did a decent job, no problem riding in the dark. All was going well, I felt good, making good time, shaving a few minutes off last weeks times, then I got a flat. Luckily I had a spare tube, CO2 pump and tools so I was right back on the road.

All in all a great commute with a couple new variables thrown in for kicks.

it was breezy today
i saw a few other commuters too!
i got a little knog light and some socks delivered to me today

it's a good day

Had a bit of fun at the expense of a motorist today. An older guy in an 80-something MB turbodiesel. A real granddad car.

He cut me off at 24th and Capitol and was gunning it west on Capitol. I gave him the palms up "WTF?" gesture. He then jogged over to L Street, which is my route to work. I ride this street every day and know the timing of the lights so I knew that even if he jammed it up to 40 or so, he'd still get stuck at the lights. I caught up to him at 21st Street and yelled "Hey! Are you late for work?"

He said something through the closed window, the light changed and he gunned it. I think he would have spun the wheels if he could have. But he couldn't.

I caught up with him at 19th Street and yelled "You're an excellent driver!" I think I was making him mad now. He gunned it again and shot off in a cloud of gray diesel smoke.

I caught up to him again at 15th and yelled "You're the Man, Dale Jr.!" and then started yelling to no one in particular "Everybody out of his way! He's late for work!"

He just stared straight ahead but I could tell he was pissed. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch him at 12th Street and he got away.

Good times!

OMG! This is SOOoooo FUNNY!

Classic.