Very nice commute this morning. Traffic on Memorial Drive (the main arterial I take in) has been heavy for about a quarter mile stretch lately for some reason unknown to me, but it only adds an extra traffic light cycle to my trip. Cooler weather makes the ride more pleasant. The weather report said partly cloudy, but it was clear and sunny with moderate temperature the entire distance.

What part of Mem. Drive?

My wife accompanied me for a few miles this a.m., which was nice. I had to take off and make up some time, though, and I was a little worried about the headwind killing my pace.

Luckily I either made the green or very nearly made the green at the 4 critical stop lights along my way -- the ones that can take several minutes to cycle through. (The other 50 or so are just nuisances.) This got me back on the pace.

Escaped a collision twice within seconds of each other. I was approaching an intersection with a number of cars coming from the other direction and waiting in the middle to make a left hand turn (right hand turn for UK, etc.). I made eye contact with the first driver but she pulled right out in front of me. I sat up and raised my hands to say "Hey, what's the deal?!?" when the driver right behind her pulls directly into my path.

That one was scarier. She slammed on the brakes. I slammed on the brakes. We both skidded toward impact but stopped short with her bumper about 6 inches from my knee.

I was furious and scared and the adrenalin was gushing so I started screaming at her: "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! I'M GOING STRAIGHT! I HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. YOU YIELD TO ME!"

The driver was a middle aged woman, obviously going to work. I didn't notice a cell phone or a Starbucks cup or a crying kid in the back. I think she just didn't see me. Either she wasn't looking, or maybe she saw me and it didn't occur to her that the law requires her to yield. I think I probably scared her with all my yelling. Poor dear.

Otherwise, the ride to work was uneventful. A successful commute then, right?

Windy up here in Maine also....but still managed 17mph average. Day off tomorrow as I have a board meeting out of town and not enough time to bike there (90 miles) and it starts at 8am. :)

Good commute home last night. A little breeze and some heavy traffic at times, but nothing to serious.

The ride in this morning was cool. Mid 40's. Nothing exciting happened this morning. Pretty routine ride in.

A character building morning ride to work today, It rained hard all 18.5 miles the traffic was much heavier than normal and driver patient level was way down. I was cut off three times at intersections and a trailer truck squeezed me onto the grass. My glasses were fogged and wet which made seeing the road tough. Once I got here I thought to myself, this is one of those rides that gives you the adventure you never get in a car. I do have some equipment new for all that are interested. I purchased a Topeak super trunk bag DX 5 years ago, over the past three months the seams have started to come apart because the thread is rotting. II called Todson engineering, the distributer for the bag and told them about this, They sent me a new bag and told me to send them the old one at no cost, I'll say that is a great warrenty, this is a similar experiance as my niterider experiance, They are both reputable companies that stand behind what they sell and have been there to help keep me on the road. I highly recmmend their products, they work well and very user friendly and you can't beat the warrenty and support.

Not a bad ride today, but.....

I swear that my healthy bike is coming out in sympathy with the bike that suffered the crash a couple of weeks ago. There are definite bottom bracket type clunking sounds when I pedal hard.

It never rains, only pours!

Have a good weekend folks,

Ed

Late last night, coming home in medium rain I wiped out at an intersection after locking my wheels (saw car lights very close, that turned out to be a reflection). An evenful week, I have to say (see my thread "Live and learn"). Could not commute by bike today, because I have to do some truing with the rear wheel. Spent a good half an hour this morning searching for my bus card... could not find it, had to pay the fare in cash. What next, I wonder?

--J

Does it still count as a commute home, if you start to be a bike courier? My boss is out-of-state to visit his mother for the high holidays. One of his nephews didn't know this and sent flowers for their home for the holidays. I wound up bungeeing the flowers onto the top of my rack trunk (box was 3 feet long) and taking them to boss's son. But I didn't get there until after dark, so my first mission as a bike delivery person I failed to deliver on time. I guess I'll just have to be a plain old commuter. No rain here. Not much sun, but no rain.

Good commute both ways. Once again sunny with moderate temperatures. Not quite as much traffic either way. There's an expressway exit ramp merging into MLK where I have to merge to the right past exiting autos to make my turn. For the first time in my memory no traffic was entering MLK from the expressway, so I was able to just drop into position. I'm thankful for the small gifts the roads give me... :-)

This morning I flatted about 5-6 miles into the ride. It was a seam puncture which, in my experience, is a nasty thing to repair. Sure enough, it immediately seemed to lose air.

I then did what any self-respecting hard-core commuter would do: I called for my ever-ready SAG wagon ... my ever-patient wife, without whom, I'd never be able to bike-commute as I do.

Anyway, I noticed the tire didn't go flat all the way which, in my experience, indicates that somehow, magically, the patch will in fact hold. Once I got to the office, I pumped it up and it help all day.

My ride home was via the long, hilly, HILLY route ... but no flats!! I did, however, pull a good-sized thorn out of my front tire at a stop light. Luckily, no flat.

Short handed at work, so I got to work today too. The ride this morning was good. I actually fell in behind a couple of week-end roadies heading down Rt 27 and they turned at MooseHill as well. I stuck with the leader to the top of the hill, where he had to go back to hook up with his buddy again. Then I passed 2 more coming up the hill from the other side. It is so nice to see other cyclists out, this year I'm not seeing as many as last year. Maybe it's just that it has been a rather dreary summer. Maybe I'll see more now that we are into the wonderful fall weather.

Once again I was able to do little commuting during the regualar work week, but have been able to ony my weekend working. Today was a stunning fall day, 80degrees, and just a bit of wind. The trail was not as packed as I would have thought, maybe people are just giving up. It was hard to stop riding and go to work.

On the way home it was not quite dark, but dark enough for all the lights. The trail was swarming with gnats to an insane degree. I had to ride head down, and with them bouncing off my helmet, it sounded like a fierce hail storm (but very very light hail) :) The trail was mostly empty of humans, which is a very positive feature of night riding, but at one point I passed 6 riders all without lights. One even had no reflectors on his bike.

I still can't reckon why cyclists waste so many perfectly good cycling days!

I commuted 4 days out of the 5 last week. First time I did 4 days of commuting. Friday it was raining, tried the Burley rain jacket, damned if the thing didn't actually work.

Well the death march of continuous work slogs on. At least today'll be short. Anyhoo regarding the ride in, the weather is totally insane, 80+ degrees and it's almost Oct! Indian Summer indeed. Anyway I knew the trail would be a trial ;) so I skipped it entirely and took the road that winds it way near by. The trail is the only flat route, so I knew I was in for some hills, and I wanted those hills. A short hard workout on the way in was what I was after, and got it I did. There are a couple of dangerous spots on this route, where the should disappears on a blind corner, but all went well today. Had to jump into the road off the shoulder when I suddenly encountered a mattress and some sort of metal frame!

Anyway a good ride in, now I'm gonna close a few bugs so I can catch a bit o twilight.

The rain from yesterday has not totally dried up yet, my ride was under clear skys and the air was cool, the sides of the road was full of junk from water run off, the niterider shined brightly and allowed me to see my way even with oncomming traffic.

Ccccooooold. It's hard for me to believe that a couple months from now 50-degrees will seem warm. This morning it seemed darn chilly.

Great commuting weather. Around 50F and clear. Rode my hybrid in today, though, and I'm really not accustomed to upright, so the trip was a little slow and disorienting. Yesterday I took a solo ride out to Panola Mtn (33 miles round trip). Nice cool weather trip, but I damage a tire on the way back in, and was too tired and lazy to repair it. Hence the trusty Jamis hybrid.

One of these days I'm going to start one of these endless discussions on the traits of a proper bike for commuting, but for me road bikes win hands down. Comparing my twenty year old Bianchi to my Jamis hybrid, every advantage for commuting of the hybrid has more to do with their age difference than type of bike, with the exception of the Jamis' wider default tires (and even that is a mixed blessing. Riding by the concrete plant the wide tires are good, riding up Memorial Drive I'd rather have the narrow tires).

well mother nature flipped her switch over the weekend and it seems as if fall is beginning - I'd venture it was in the 50s today - I stuck to shorts and a jersey and was surprised at how wrapped up the other bikers I met were, although it will probably only be a matter of days before I'm in tights and layers

done a little upgrading to get ready for winter - my toe cage pedals finally gave up the ghost so I bought a set of SPDs and some shoes - then I was so worried about getting my nice new (and expensive) shoes dirty or wet so I sprung for a pair of neoprene booties to put over them in bad weather - I really like the new pedal system - it makes a big difference

I'd second those remarks, Brennser -- lots of wrapped up people out there. They must have been rather overheated by the time they arrived. I rode in with my jacket off and was perfectly comfortable, but suspect that my shirtsleeves days are numbered. For the time being, I find these temperatures ideal.

Paul

I love my SPD's too. Took me about a week to get the adjustments proper and learn to use them comfortably, but once I did, they're great.

My commute to the university is 60 miles round trip. I have real concerns with locking the Aro Svelte up in the bicycle racks at school, but I do, and try to check on it between classes. No one has bothered it yet. Since retiring and relocating to Illinois, I don't commute very often. Yesterday was a light wind and cold going in, I made relatively good time. Coming home the temp was comfortable and the tailwind was huge!!

Great ride all told! :D

Foggy this morning, didn't have to use front light, but felt safer with rear light for those cars...