Have you ever had to pedal down hill because the head wind was so strong?
Have you ever left your bike in the small chainring all the way to work for the same reason?
Have you ever worn your winter gear at the end of April because it was only 1 degree in the AM?
Have you ever bought a cup of coffee just to warm your hands?
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in California?

50F on the way in. The combination of the fast riding and exploring yesterday plus my allergies resulted in a slow ride.
Towards the end of my ride I was buzzed by a prius part way in the bike lane. Instantaneously pissed me off and I went into full on sprint mode going anaerobic in a couple seconds. Fortunately the light turned green and the prius took off just before I got there.

What are you trying to say, Duckbill?

The good: 60F
The bad: 25mph headwind
Even better for tonight: Should be a very fast ride home!

This was what my morning was like. It was -7C with a brutal headwind, one of the worst I've faced.

As a matter of fact, yes, and guess where it was. Canada! And the method for stopping? Stop pedaling! Who needs brakes?

This was on the St Lawrence River, on a one-month tour from Campbellton to Montreal. We were 15 years old, and we learned to draft very well, out of necessity. I ended up pulling in the front position most of the time, being the strongest. My colleagues asked me if I wanted to move back, and my way of saying no thanks was to pull ahead and let them get slapped in the face (and leg muscles) with the headwind.

Good ride in today, much better than the killer headwind going home last night. Still felt it today in my legs.

Musta ruffled the feathers of a fellow commuter, but oh, well. Waiting stopped at a cross, and he bolts in front of me then proceeds to poke along. I hung behind him for a sec, not wheelsucking but off to his left. He then hangs a left in front of me through a parking lot and races through.. and comes back in in the same distance in front of me poking along again. I had slowed down for him the first time out of courtesy, after that exibition I just dropped him.

-R

39F. Headwind, sucked. Saw another cyclist blinking in the distance, couldn't catch them. Allergies/cold slowing me down. Ugh.

Phew, exhausted. This is my first commute since the office moved locations. What was previously 6 miles has turned into 28. I'm not sure this old steel mtn bike is going to cut it, it may be time for something a little more efficient. On the plus side, I'm sure I'll be in better shape six months from now.

35F, brisk baby.

Brutal headwind last night, which was also a pull-the-trailer-of-preschooler-up-the-hill night. Nice and sunny though!

Started off late and slow, legs were heavy. By the time I got to the MUP I had caught 3 other riders, passing one and pacing with two others. I was in the middle, 2 or 3 bike lengths back from one who looked like a very strong rider, the guy behind me on the hybrid overlapped my rr. wheel at times. No problem, we all knew the others were there and were spinning along at (probably 18 mph). By the time we got to the rugby fields my legs felt loose and I decided to pull out and drop the hammer. I got up to about 26 mph to pull away, then permanently dropped them at the 14th Street bridge. I then hit 28 mph in a sprint on 15th street, starting from Independance to the second light, slowing and jumping on to the sidewalk, narrowly making my turn to the adjoining sidewalk. Legs continued to feel spongy for a while but I've got the spring back now. Alot of fun this morning, should be a nice ride home.

I had something similar yesterday.

I noticed that my pedal stroke seemed a heck of a lot stronger when I kept my foot down on my foot bed. For some odd reason I had started letting it come up on the up stroke basically hitting the top of my shoe and pulling on that.
Anyhow, I was playing around with this on my fixed gear while riding home and increasing my speed from 15 mph to 25 mph somewhat randomly when I noticed a rider behind me. I figured I could drop him and 8 miles later he was still behind me so I shrugged and let him come along for the ride. It turns out at a light when we talked that he was lost and following me since I seemed to know where I was going. The poor guy looked exhausted.
Anyhow, I gave him a few instructions on how to navigate a detour and where to go. Unfortunately, he dropped back afterward. It was nice having company.

Fine day today, cool and light winds.

Passed another commuter this morning. First one this year.

I drove the car today-- parent teacher conferences meant a half day for me and a return tonight, so I skipped the ride.

A crazy road raging acura high way racer jerk darn near killed me. Didn't seem to like me passing a gravel filled dripping truck that was dropping pebbles and water all over my windshield. He came up from a quarter mile back, started flashing his lights right on my bumper. I tapped my brakes-- not enough to slow...

dude pulled around me on the right full throttle, swerved in front of me and smashed on the brakes. My quarter million mile 89 volovo wagon darn near flipped as I swerved into the middle lane to avoid him. He ran it up to 90 or so and swerved through the dense traffic ahead. Crazy.

Three months of commuting, and of course the most dangerous situation was while I was in my very own tank of a volvo!

The crazies are so much easier to avoid on a bike.

Cool south wind today as the high pressure system that sat over the west coast all week has broken down.

Had my good legs on today. It was awesome. I'm really hoping to get the opportunity to go on this evening's group ride.

a wonderful coating of ice everywhere kept me off the bike today. I knew that the 20C temperatures we had the other day were just a tease.

Amen. Now try a motorcycle. It has a "teleport me now" twisty grip on the right hand side.

First Header!

I've been commuting a couple of weeks now to school and today was glorious, I've been getting stronger coming up hills, so I was standing up, heading up a hill on a bike path, watching traffick coming nearby and thinking "haha watch me now B******!" and then wham! i lost my footing and tumbled right over the handlebars

luckily due to some suggestions i read in this forum, i had bought a pair of gloves a couple of days ago, definitely saved some skin

the ironic part is that i go to medical school and today i was coming back from an exam on how to evaluate someone who has just fallen on an outstretched hand! i checked myself out and i'm okay

scraped my grips and messed up a brake though, no big problems with the bike however

The ride home was warm and uneventful. Moderate traffic. I rode pass the house and went by the park.
Ernest

nice ride in, temps in the 60's.

The ride home, in a few minutes, it looks to be in the 70's

It was really windy. I'll take the wind over 4 straight days of rain any day...

What a wonderful ride home. 23 miles in 1:18 min.
Had an erratic tailwind. Also, my new pedaling technique enabled me to push my fixed gear on the flats with a sidewind to 29.2 mph. I was having issues maintaining that high of a cadence and had to back off before hitting my goal of 30 mph. Woo hoo!

did the double commute today. rode in this morning with a great tailwind. Rode home into a fierce headwind. Then come back this evening with another great tailwind. Rode home into a little bit more of a modest headwind.

Nice week of riding for me! A bit cooler than the norm this morning at 39F/4-ishC but the wind had died down some. A good deal of rain in the earlier part of it gave way to sunnier, windier days at the end (rode home with a glorious tailwind yesterday--gave me delusions of grandeur ).

Started taking a new way in this week--adds a couple of miles and takes me through a portion of the Maryland campus. A much more interesting ride, and there is actually less traffic. Unless conditions are wicked enough that I want the quickest, most direct route possible, this is now my preferred choice. Hard to believe it's taken me two years to get around to trying it...

A little cooler today. As the sun came up I saw low fog hanging over some of the fields. Beautiful.