And the ride home you ask? Well...
I went over the handlebars, the rear wheel smacks the curb and it becomes tacoed enough to drag the brakes AND bang the derailer against the spokes. Knocked the brake lever around too. Looks like my new baby's going to the doctor. Oops, looks like I skinned my knee too.
Two accidents in 3 weeks. I'm ahead of my normal quota.

Poor ol' B'n'D! You really seem to be jinxed. :(

Normal commute today--warm and against strong winds going in, wind had died by the time I went home. Nice sunset, but an overabundance of mouth-diving bugs.

What a beautiful morning...nice and cool (relatively speaking), very little traffice, and a new record time/average speed for me to the office. The lunch time group ride, then ride home, will definetly be much hotter...

Have great day! I know I will after this morning's commute...:D

I left about three minutes late. I actually made up the time over a 1 hour period (may have been favorable traffic signals :p ) I'm taking it easier on the way home, though.

:thumbup:

Hi all, Im back from vacation, had a great time. The ride in today was great, warm still air with just a few rain drops to keep me cool. No new surprises on the road, no new pavement and very few animals running about.

Today was my first successful commute! It was 13.3 miles and took roughly one hour fifteen minutes. I imagine it will be rougher riding home in actual traffic - with the sun out. Thursday I started to ride, but my headlight went out about one mile down the road. I turned around, got in my car and drove. Now I've got spare batteries (and a spare light). Anyhow, it was a great ride. I'm feeling good. :)

Congratulations on your first commute! It only gets easier as you go along and you're going to love it!
I must be overdoing it because I just didn't have it today. Maybe over did it this weekend. I still made it, but sore-legged and slow paced. Of course, I'm going from a week of road biking to riding a fully loaded hybrid. Maybe I'll catch a 2nd wind before the ride home. Need...sleep...!

Ride home: see above

The air is cool this morning, I pushed quite a strong head wind all the way in this morning. I guess fall is comming, I saw 3 skunks in the road that were hit by cars over night. I'm not looking forward to the cold mornings and the ice and slush on the roads. I really should move south. It's forcasted to be in the mid 70's here today, the ride home should be great.
Bikes, I hope you got your much needed sleep, ya know, you can over train and recovery takes longer when you wear your body down.

I saw a skunk this morning but he was alive and well. He crossed my path and then looked back at me as if to say "You better not run over me or you'll be stinky all day." I believed him.

Misty ride in this morning (back blinkie on) but as there is no wind and it's sunny in the most beautiful country in the world (I'm biased :) ), I'm looking forward to the ride home.

Beautiful cloudy cool morning (82 degrees, cool for Mesa, Arizona). Stayed above 20 most of the way and cleared all but 4 lights. Finished the whole nineteen mile ride in an hour! That's a personal record for me. Beautiful end to a commute that promised to be frustrating as I discovered the rack I had would not fit my road bike (dooming me to wear a backpack until I can afford the Fuji Touring and use my panniers).

Rolled my bike out to start my trim and found the rear tire nearly flat. So, I brought out my backup bike...a Specialized Crossroads hybrid. No fenders, but the morning was beautiful, clear, and cool after yesterday's storms.

The Specialized has a much differenr riding position than my Kettler, with a lot more weight going on to the handlebars. As a result, I was a bit sore at the end. On the other hand, it is nice to have some granny grars and spin merrily up hills. I rode this bike every workday for three years, so I imagine I will re-adapt in the day or two it will take to get my usual bike fixed.

Anyhow it was a glorious ride, and a great change from the 96F/36C with 90% humidity that has been our norm for the past month. It is also good to look out my office window and see Washngton spread out below me, rather than a smogy blur.

Paul

I had a great ride today, with only a few exceptions. The weather was sunny this morning, then in the afternoon a thunder shower hit my bike. A quick dash outside brought it out of the rain.

I took a short ride at noon to a GI Joe's store to get a map and look at hiking gear for an upcoming vacation.

In the evening, I had a great ride home. I saw two cars try to go through a cross walk while I was in it--not good and I shook my head. Encountered a kid on a bicycle riding the wrone way, against traffic and I said to him, "Not Good!" as he passed. He wasn't wearing a helmet either. I had wanted to go where he was, but he forced me into the lane, with another bicyclist behind me, cars passing and a curb divider on the far side of the curb. It was a setup for problems, but none occurred.

I was going onto a freeway overpass toward the end of my ride, when I dechained while trying to accelerate. 'Had enough momentum to go to the road's side and get on the walkway. While there, I saw that what looked like a used battery was placed on the sidewalk beside the overpass near a light post. It looked like a used battery, but I got my cell phone out and called it in to 911, explained that it probably was a used battery but because of its suspicious location, it probably should be checked out. 'Don't know the outcome.

My son and I talked last evening about that ol' LeTour I rode today, and he was uncomfortable with me riding it. It's only 20 years old, and I've modified it a lot. The dechaining in an intersection gives me enough pause that I'm going to remove its rack, and begin riding my Trek 1420 again (I had been saving it for training rides--which I haven't done many of).

A good day's ridin' though.

John

It was great having the temp down to 22C this morning. There was a strong wind but it was pushing me most of the time. I saw quite a lot of bikers out celebrating the cooler weather, including a group of about a dozen roadies. On the Jacques Cartier bridge the traffic into town was messed by a 4 car rear ender which made me feel rather smug.

On the way home the wind was a lot stronger, and there were several concentrated showers around. I had to shelter for about 5 mins while one passed over. As I didnt want to fight the wind while climbing over the bridge, I took the ground level route by the St Lambert locks. When I got there a ship was just leaving the locks so I had to wait 5 mins for the bridge to come down.

It was cool today, with almost no wind and no bugs! Sweeeeet. It's getting to be dark by the time I get home. I could see Venus or something on the horizon as I pedalled up the last hill. In a week or two, I expect I'lkl be seeing stars again.

When I find the scumbag who lit that big fire last night, I will personally hunt them down, kill them, skin them, and eat them. And no, I wouldn't consider it cannibalism.

:crash:

I had to drive as I must tend to those expensive car duties: oil change, emissions testing, tag tax. I instantly acquired "the 'Tude'" and began hating everyone around me, calling them all bastards and maniacs.
Cars are great for reminding you how important your bike is.

I left the house this morning in a jersey and shorts, about 200 yards from my drive I was just about frozen, I thought I would warm up after a while so I didn't stop to put my jacket and long finger gloves on, Well I rode the entire 18.5 miles and never warmed up. It was 52 degrees and damp, I guess the warm mornings of summer have gone south. The afternoon commutes are great though, mid 70's and dry,

Dang, are you having a fire in all that dryness?! :eek: Tell us more, please, we don't get much foreign news here. (Especially those of us who don't even bother keeping up with local news.)

Hotter this morning, sweat in eyes. There was a motorcycle accident that closed my usual route to cars. I simply dismounted and walked past it on the opposite sidewalk bringing a 5 minute detour down to 2. I have been trying out cycling shorts for the past two days(on the recommendation of my boss's boss) and think they actually are cool enough to stick with (as opposed to the cotton shorts I was wearing). I took it a little slower this morning and found I only pulled in a few minutes later as I still managed to catch about the same number of lights. I think the magic speed is between 18.5 to 20.5 mph on the street I ride.

Today was great. I got my Gary Fisher back from the bike shop yesterday so I was able to huff and puff my way up the hills on my route. Darn the heavy yet fun bike! :p It was a good morning commute, a gentle breeze as I was riding over. It was pretty hot, and no wind going back, but I still enjoyed it. I then rode down to the lake and splashed around a little bit. Awesome day.
:beer:

The sky was a perfect blue, with fluffy white clouds, it was cool and breezy--perfect bike weather! I took the long way to work.

There were big grasshoppers all over the road--the huge brown ones that fly away on black and yellow wings when you get too close. So many that when I saw a 14-inch-long piece of bark on the road, something in my subconsious said, "Whoa, now THERE'S a big grasshopper!" (Yeah, yeah, the rest of my brain is still laughing at those cells.) Also saw a couple of groundhogs--they're out scarfing down everything in sight in preparation for winter, I guess. I was sorry to get to the end of that ride.

The way home was nice, too. My headlight was fading badly halfway home (those cheap batteries I used in a pinch last time!) and I had to stop and change them in the dark. CatEyes are pretty simple, fortunately, and I was soon on my way again.

Saw some cyclists getting honked at today: two boys riding abreast, the wrong way down the highway, with no lights in the dark. Morons.

Hmmm what a nice comute, cool this morning no wind ate up pavement all the way. found a way to get from the bus to the office without having to deal with too many cars, and it added a couple of miles to the trip. The ride home was hotter but the sun was out and lots of young ladies were tanning them selfs at Greenlake :D I have found that I am begining to like riding up hills, a nesecity here in Seattle

Clear cool and no wind in mass. Wore my wind jacket and long finger gloves this morning, I was short on sleep last night so I loped along at an average speed of 14.8 mph for the 18.5 miles. Got to work without a bead of sweat. It was one of the most relaxing commutes I've had this year. Most of the ride was on brand new black top.