Rode the Flying Pigeon folder today. The morning ride was dark and quiet as usual. I guage how well my ride is by counting how many dogs notice me and start to bark. My front brake was dragging enough to squeal once in awhile. Almost every dog woke up to bark at me. Nothing else to report.
Ernest

Chilly and wet: 45F/7C and showers. I went with knickers and sleeveless T under my rain jacket opting to just let my feet get wet. They did. :D

After feeling a bit subpar the past few days, though, I was in fine fettle this AM. Some days I feel as though I am bowing in subjugation before the road--others I feel like it's mine. This morning I OWNED the road (aside from a few motorists bent on convincing me otherwise). Needless to say, I had a good ride...

Ride home last night was chilly 'cause I was dressed light. Goodmans' Hill Road does not own me, I own it! :D

Ride in today had to tweak my front derailer alignment - my adjustment when I got home last night was too much. Raised my drops a dad bit too last night and I think I got that right now. You know drops really don't have to be down at your ankles ...! :-)

Left the flag at home 'cause I want to look less dorky - hope I don't regret it. It always bought me more space and this morning someone came closer than I would have liked. Others of course continue to cross the double yellow line with ALL FOUR WHEELS and gun it. Such idiots. Last night one person got pulled over by a cop right after he did that. The cop waved to me as I passed them. I love cops! Thank you Sudbury and Maynard POLICE!! :D

Somehow the shower Gods heard me and the morning shower was at least 5 degrees warmer .... Yesss ...:thumb:

Wore my courier bag to carry my taxes - need to go at lunch.

30F. No wind. Sunny. Fun ride. At one point I was in a train of 6 cyclists. Very unusual. A semi-quick dude on an MTB in the lead, a couple of high school aged girls, an older guy on a hybrid who I was behind last week, and he makes a nice pace bike at 15MPH, and then we all got reeled in by a roadie pedalling at high cadance and in a hurry.

The roadie passed everyone, then the old guy and I passed the girls. The lead MTB guy left the MUP. The roadie dropped his water bottle and made a mess, but picked it up and carried on before we caught up.

I was fighting the urge to pass the old guy and hang with the roadie. I'm like a dog with squirrels. :o

Wet and cold. I wore shorts nonetheless, hoping that they'll dry out more quickly than my long pants (I currently have them hangin under the desk). Since the roads were so wet and I was riding slower than normal (to cut down on tire spray), my legs never really warmed up, they had that cold, burning sensation the entire ride. Even though I was completely soaked in the first 5 minutes, once I changed and warmed up, I am still happier to ride than take Metro. Hopefully Spring will return soon.

Funny story but now, me, I'd be hanging with the H.S. girls. I'm like that French skunk going after the B&W Kitty.

First commute - fantastic! I've been driving 5 miles to work for 12 months and it usually takes me 20 - 30 minutes depending on traffic. The City council has recently been spending money upgrading what it calls "core paths" which connect one suburb with the other. This means what used to be a 2 mile long muddy sheep track is now a 6 foot wide path surfaced with granite dust. That was all the encouragement I needed. Having resurrected my 97 Rockhopper and fitting smooth tyres and despite the persistent rain, today was the day. 25 minutes door to door. I really cant believe I didnt do it sooner.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/aberdeen/1161140450

Rode in the rain this morning. Not a big deal, but ended up getting a flat :mad: Had that fixed, but the wheel was really dirty. Looking forward to the return ride home :D

Forecast was for rain, this morning. BS. Rolled in, a bit warmer, uneventful, didn't see any other commuters, just a couple of joggers. Logged on and saw this.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09104/962719-100.stm

I passed right next to that area this morning. Creepy.

First morning commute above freezing today in Mpls - 36 degrees! And the street sweepers have been out on some of my streets, and that's a good thing. Uneventful 5.9 mile ride otherwise. Should break 60 degrees for the ride home!

Today was difficult ride. 40F and sunny but I had no energy. I took a very light breakfast and that was my very first mistake. Starting to ask myself why I am torturing myself in biking every morning but then a work college I haven't seen in 3 weeks told me I look like I lost some weight. This is the little motivation i needed for tomorrow's ride.

2 flat tires, one tube. Good thing the one on the front was a slow leak. Could make it about 4 miles till it needed air. May rethink my commuting supplies.

My rear tire wasn't acting right, so I had to take the train. I'm going to be worried about it all day now.

Does going to the Post Office to file my TAX extension count as commuting? :-) I had to cross Route 9 w/o traffic lights and then ride along it for a little while on my way back Route 30 was no picnic either.

So the lady at the desk starts in with: "So what's the law, if there are a certain # of lanes then bikes aren't allowed ...?" Yeesh, I kept it civil (every pun intended) and we talked about how to drive around bikes and not be scared of us. I was as polite as possible - setting an impression don't you know. Plus I seem to be THE ONLY person on a bicycle in Natick.

Should have seen the looks I got from the lady behind the big steel door. people I do not look dangerous. I'm in such traditional garb - day glo jacket red helmet (in hand) bike gloves, fun bike shorts, black socks and MTB shoes. I had my messenger bag so I totally looked the part. Even my kids would not have given me a hard time.

Ever see those reality shows where a hot babe dresses like a fatty and they video tape everyone's reaction? Someone should do that with a cyclists outfit. I swear it's like we're not regular people or something! Weird.

Kudos to the Natick POLICE for stopping traffic to let me cross. THANK GUYS! :thumb:

drummingpariah - what was your tire doing?

38F and grey. Drier than yesterday but less sunny. Patches of downpour going home last night! My 7 yr old just matter of factly dried his seat off last night and hopped on to go home, previously he's been wailing if I ever let him see evidence that his seat has ever not been perfectly dry.

I pulled up next to another bike commuter this morning - the first other one I've seen since moving. I said to her, "I don't see many cyclists this early." The light turned, and she mumbled "Gotta get to work."

Bicycle commuters sure are an unfriendly bunch...

no, just a typical woman avoiding a typical man

Beautiful out there this morning. Got a late start but it was wonderful. Light 7 mph tailwind and a sunny 58. I was enjoying it so much I locked up my brakes twice. Once a car was pulling out in front of me from the left (but to their credit, they came to a complete stop well in time). I should have been watching. The second time was all my fault. I'm drilling it up a hill, head down. Almost didn't see the garbage truck in front of me until too late.
Ahhh, it was a good ride.

It's the Formula single-speed freewheel hub, actually. It's "springy" for lack of a better word. It seemed like it was pedaling forward fine (I only went to the end of my driveway), but pedaling backwards "springs" and bounces back into forward motion. Didn't seem like a good idea to keep riding until I could take a proper look at it, I'm hoping it's something simple though. Any ideas?

a fine commute in this morning but a totally weird ride home.

In my years of riding along the Charles River I've spotted two bodies in the river, pulled a guy out who'd jumped from a railroad bridge (attempted suicide) and broken his leg and found a woman lying unconscious across the path still clipped into the pedals on her brand new bike.

Tonight, it was late- 10pm or so, and as I come around a corner and am about to cross a road that intersects with a bridge I see a disheveled man in a white shirt, torn open, bloody and looking like he's about to jump. I stop and get him talking, he's drunk and crying and incoherent. Then he wanders into the road and stands there looking like he's about to get hit. I finally get him out of the road and talking to me. I lure him away from the bridge by promising to help him look for the cell phone, keys and wallet, which he says he has tossed away in a nearby parking lot. What I really wanted to do was call the cops but I didn't want him to freak if I did and jump in the river.

We go together to get his phone and we find it in pieces but on the way I get him to give me a number to call to get someone to come pick him up. I call it and no one answers but then he tells me it was his girlfriend's # and she has a restraining order out on him!

That did it. I got him looking around the building for his phone and I took off like a shot and called the cops. But, whew, it was creepy and scary. Hopefully, the upside of this is that I might have kept someone from doing themselves in but I hope this guy hadn't just done something horrible. This creeped me out.:(

Weather was great. Had a funny incident when I picked my daughter up from daycare. As I was getting my daughter's helmet on her, a little boy leaving asked "You going to ride that bike?" Upon responding yes, the kid looked at his dad, pointed at me, and said "Why can't..." The kid's dad, shut the door and glared at me.

Great ride in. Quiet and dark as usual. I rode my Columbia Tourist today. Stopped at the donut shop for my sausage rolls.
Ernest

A light, but steady rain, then harder as I got into my ride. I had to take my riding glasses off to see in the dark. The temp was 40 F ( 4 C) so that was not bad. Everything got wet, but nothing got cold. The bottom of my paniers are getting wet and transferring the wetness to my clothes. I'll have to find a water repellent spray of some sort. Hopefully, one that does not emit toxins everywhere.

gorgeous warm (50F!) sunny ride home last night. Current bike parking is on the back deck, noticed a rear wheel flat while glancing out the window. Slow leak apparently.