Today was great. Nice weather in VA, esp for a person used to NE Pa. I also found a new quicker route home from the gym. I go there after work, and sometimes my legs do not want to drag me on the 2 mile wind-blown straight away. This new way avoids it!

Best commute of 2004 so far. Temperature of only 25C or so, steady rain, a stirred-up south pacific and totally moron-free (a rarity around these parts)! What more can a spanky ask for?

Weather has been great lately. I went for another long ride Sunday in the late afternoon sunshine. There were a few showers today but not when I was commuting. I may have overdone it on the weekend since I felt tired after my regular work commute today. Don

Very nice weather this morning coming in. 41F. Warmer then what I expexted. Supposed to get some light rain today, hopefulley it stops for the ride home.

An idiot in a pickup truck got mad that I wasn't riding in the gutter. He kept honking, and then stayed on my left. Unfortunately, I let this moron make me mad. I spit on his truck and gave him a visual representation of what I wanted to say. He then picked up his cell phone and indicated he was about to make a call, as if this was supposed to be intimidating.

He hung back about twenty feet on my rear for a few blocks, effectively blocking both lanes of a major street. Fortunately, I hit a perfectly-timed yellow light that let me through but stopped him. I looked back, waved, and went on my way. I zigged and zagged over to a parallel route home so I could end it.

I should have just smiled and waved at the idiot from the beginning. At least that wouldn't have escalated a confrontation between a 23 pound bike and a 2 ton truck.

Had a great commute today. Weather is pretty crappy (40s and drizzling) but traffic was gridlocked like nobody's business at one point on my usual route. I'm suddenly happy as I get to zip by about 100 cars. As an added bonus, there are two Dekalb cops at the front end of the backup dishing out tickets left and right. This was all happening in a residential area, so I can only surmise the residents have been complaining to the cops about all the idiots who cut through doing 40+mph every morning.

I was...amused.

Winter has decended across the UK again this week, and it is a return to very chilly commutes. Though there was little frost, it certainly reached somewhere below zero last night as there were plenty of frozen puddles to show for it. I was grateful to see that there was plenty of salt on the road.

Cheers,

Ed

First commute since late January! Boy I have some make-up to do. Its amazing how fast your body loses its conditioning.

The ride felt cold this morning. The temp at my place was around 25F/-4C. It felt much colder when I hit the river bottom. (Normally a few degrees colder down in the bottoms) I didn't even start to warm up until 4 or so miles into the ride.

Its sure nice to have some natural light to ride by. The sunrise this morning was colorful. The ice on the Missouri is beginning to develop some open spots. Lots of geese squawking as I passed by.

The fellow next door warned me about 'Rattle Snakes' yesterday. I guess they are a problem on the route in the spring when they first come out and again in the fall just before hibernation. Could be interesting to commute through the snakes.

I guess horse manure isn't enough..

This is the second time I bike into work from my new place. I recently moved from 1.5 miles from work to about 12 miles from work, so now my commute is a much bigger deal. My shoulder's a little sore, so I'll drive tomorrow, but hopefully I can go twice this week, and build up from there. I wasn't so cold as last week, though. Partly because the sun is up a little earlier, and partly because I wore gloves and a hat.

Here's hoping that I'll achieve my goal of biking every day,
Tim

I took yesterday off as I rather overdid the biking on Sunday (well that and I forgot to turn my alarm clock on and got up 2 hours late) Still feeling a bit sore from Sunday but it was syill a good ride in. Fairly grey but with the clouds breaking up and letting some sun out. Lots of chirping birds out and signs of growth on trees and in the grass. Seems like an early spring this year.

This morning it was raining ice pellets that kept getting in my eyes, kinda hard to see, so coming around a corner i hit a little spot of nasty mud that flew up at me and got all over me(its fender time baby)...afternoon it stopped, but was a little cloudy. Pulled up behind a garbage truck going home, horrible stench, luckilly he turned and the road was mine. Ive found that riding in the right side tire track of the road leads to less nerve racking passes by idiots in cars, but makes them very upset.

58F for the ride home! Wow! Is this what spring will be like? I have forgotten the freedom of riding in just a jersy and bike shorts!

Bring on spring!!!

The sap buckets are out in the sugurbush, spring is definately on it's way. It still has to go below freezing nights, but if it warms above freezing during the day the sap runs. I love the sight of those buckets.

Warm showers this morning & sun breaks by 11 AM. We got some wind & a few branches came down. The office lost power just as I left to ride home for lunch. It was still out when I got back. Finally came on about 2:30 PM. That left only about an hour until time to go home. Our "paperless" office isn't very efficient without the computers, but I did get through my afternoon phone calls in record time. We are definitely heading for an early Spring, the frogs began their annual songfest about 2 weeks ago, just a few at first but now there are hundreds. This usually happens mid-March so it should be a great year. Don

Cold, cold, cold. Did I mention cold with snow. A nice sunny -10c today, the wind made it feel more like -20. My eyes kept watering and and the tears kept freezing on my glasses. Still the sun was shining and the roads were good. Could be worse I suppose.

Attacked by a moronic f**khead on my way to work this morning. Had a lucky escape there after someone came along and dragged him away. Took a different route home, sacrificing the sea-breeze in favour of the traffic on Bundall Road, that felt a good deal more comfortable. Wind and rain reminiscent of Lake Pedder on the ride home. Nice.

Sorry to hear about that Chris. What (if anything) goes through their tiny minds?

My ride this morning was cold and frosty - winter is taking one last good bite at the moment.

Cheers,

Ed

Ride home last night was tough. I had a headwind all the way home. My average speed was 9mph and it took a good hour and 15 minutes to get home. Temps were in the low 40'sF.

Ride in this morning was pleasant. A little cold, around 25F. Supposed to start warming up the rest of the week.

I was`nt to clever riding home yesterday.

Left kinda late from the site(catching up on some paperwork) shortly into the ride I could see a "Squall" blowing in from the North so I stepped on the pedals to try and race it home. I was really zipping along on a descent when I hit a pothole and the thump sent my rear light spiralling out of its seating and into broken pieces behind me, about the same time as the Snow storm arrived.
The rest of the ride home was uncomfortable with no rear light in the gathering gloom and increasingly heavy Snow.
A releaf to make it home unscathed.....

Whoa, that can be unnerving. I've had that happen to me and that adds stress that you don't need. I'm glad you made it home safely. I had a nice ride in this morning, a little gloomy but balmy by our winter standards (30F/-1C). The sun is suppose to break through the clouds today, that will be a nice change, it's been a while.

Well, today was the first day that I brought the rain gear along. It had rained overnight. Everything was very wet. The smell of spring is in the air! Temps were around 33F/0C. The river is nearly completely clear of ice again.

Its funny how it takes so much longer to get to work than it does to get home. I guess my body just works better later on in the day.

Great ride this morning. It was quite windy yesterday afternoon, but the wind moved through overnight for a gorgeous morning. I only had one encounter with a stupid driver - dumb cow tried to push me out of the lane going through an intersection. Not really life threatening, but a pain in the arse nonetheless.

Hey, me too!!!

I took a different route home yesterday evening to attack some hills, thereby building leg strength. I anticipated taking it easier this morning, but found nature had a different idea.

I had to climb the nearly 2 mile hill out of town this morning facing a 15 mile headwind. My legs cranked it out under protest - so much for taking it easy. Good back to back workouts, I'd say. . . and I'm feeling quite good right now.

N7CZinMT, first, i just want to say, welcome to wonderful Ohio in a few weeks. Second, the best group of guys to ride with are the Spokejunkies www.spokejunkies.com . Their site has many different trail reviews for many Ohio trails, and a forum to discuss all different aspects of mountain biking. They are a little on the kooky side, but aren't we all? I recommend Vultures Knob, crazy place.

As for my commute today, i actually impressed some drivers after the light turned and i was passing them(not a lot of bikers here in Hicksville University). Headwind both ways(how the hell does that happen?) but pretty enjoyable. Not over yet, gotta go out to my last two classes.