Last couple of days have been quite nice. Been able to maintain a good speed on the journey, however it was all change this evening on the way home. Wind had picked up which made things colder and slower. To make matters worse something seems to be wrong with the chainset/bottom bracket feels like its slipping ever now and again. Time to browse the Mechanics section....

Haven't commuted all this week... been sick with a flu/cold. Is it perverted to read these stories to keep me company? :)

Another great day, mostly clear with a light tailwind, temps in the mid 50s (f). I've been riding this whole week with a lighter cotton sweater or sweatshirt over a tee-shirt and fingerless gloves. Nice. Still using the tights and shorts but I'll probably switch to just shorts with leg warmers at night. Lots of other riders out today, I stopped to put some air in my tires and was passed by maybe half a dozen riders going in both directions.

I have to admit that a bit of spring fever has set in. Yesterday I went and did a quick 2 mile loop around the office parks in the mid afternoon. Really nice, I just put on my helmet and gloves and rode in my jeans. I need to get some long pants that are nice for riding and for working. It'll be nice when shorts weather is in force so I can skip the changing of clothes portion of the day.

Well, what a great day to bike commute! To bad my ride home ended about 1.5 miles into the ride. I got "RIGHT HOOKED!" The very first time I have been hit by a car since I started riding! I managed to stay up and get the bike stopped. Called the Police, filed a report, took the bike to my LBS for repairs Bent crank, peddle, and the icident knocked my wheels way out of true. In the morning I'll be calling the driver's insurance company to file a claim for the repairs. The officer, a really cute blonde, was great and had some cycling knowledge too! The driver was cited for failure to yield and she is also citing him for a retest of his driver's exam. The officer told the driver that he was very lucky that he hit an experienced bike "driver."

N7CZ, glad you came through that ok. If that insurance company is smart, they will buy you a new bike just to keep you happy. A couple years ago I had a very close call under similar circumstances. Driver on a cell phone truned right in front of me into the Burger King driveway, then saw me & slammed on the brakes, stopping right across the bike lane! I skidded to a stop just touching his car.

30F this morning, 54 in the afternoon. Supposed to rain tomorrow, I guess change is good but I could get used to this. Don

Not at all. My philosophy on this issue is that if I'm too sick to ride in, I'm too sick to be at work. In an ideal world, everyone would stay at home when sick to avoid passing it around. However, a few who ramble on about "productivity" might beg to differ, however.

Took my old bike this morning, getting some repair work done on the current one. Felt like I was putting in a massive effort to get absolutely nowhere for just about the duration of the ride, then arrived at work 5 minutes earlier than I had expected to on the basis of the time I left.

I am at home. Hence why I have more time to look here :)

Woke up to overcast skies and damp roads, at least it wasn't raining.Still the ride in was much better than the ride home last night.

AdrianB - Hope you get better soon

Hants - I woke up to the surprise of snow here in Oxford... Time for the folding mountain bike again. Sadly, my booties and sainsburys grocery bags did not prevent very soggy feet this time around. The snow on the bike path was very wet and slushy, which also caused problems by freezing in the cassette, making the chain skip.

Have a good weekend everyone,

Cheers,

Ed

Hey, glad to hear you are alright, keep us posted.

The sun is shining!!! Wow, twice in one week, that must be a record! Of course it was like January out there this morning, 3F/-16C. I didn't lube my bike very well after the last time I rode it and I had a frozen brake, oh well, at least I had one good break on the way in and I could shift. The sun is pretty intense and it's suppose to get to 30F so it should loosen up. I had a great ride in and my foot warmers worked well also. Think spring :D

Thanks for the concern! I'm having dizzy spells this morning. My doctor has asked me to go to the E.R. to get check out. :( Not sure if this is a product of the accident or not? Oh well.

Hope everyone has a great commute today! :)

Hope everything is OK, take it easy

Grey, colder with a bit of headwind today. Still made pretty good time, guess the spinning work is paying off a bit. Supposed to be nice again tomorrow, for once on the weekend.

Thanks for the concern!

Good news! I'm just fine. Just a bit of fluid in the left ear causing the dizzy spells.
I didn't think it was related to the incedent yesterday, but my doctor wanted to play it safe.

I pick my bike up this afternoon!! YEA! Just in time to fly out to Columbus, Ohio for a week. :(

N7CZinMT:

Glad you are OK (and your bike is, too). Have a good trip to Ohio.

Paul

Rode in again today, completing a week of commuting four times. I should be able to go 4 times every week now. Yeah. Still feeling my shoulders, though. Hope that's going to go away as time passes. I might start looking at some panniers or something to at least get the backpack off my back. I've been keeping it just a couple pounds though so I wouldn't expect it to make that big a difference.
Glad to hear you're OK, N7CZinMT. That must be pretty damn scary.

Tim

It was cloudy both morning & afternoon. Traffic was light & aside from a few sprinkles each way, the promised rain never came. Don

Not to brag but I guess I have the easiest commute of all. I finally got my wish come true and get to work from home. Never late to work and I can finally ride my bike again on my lunch hours. I usually only end up doing about 10 miles because of all the traffic lights; just to get on my bike makes it all worth it, FREEDOM!! Even if I get a flat, which I did my first day "back", it didn't matter that I made it home a while later then my lunch hour--no one knew and I didn't tell them. When the time changes I may even start riding my bike "before work" when it gets to hot to ride in the middle of the day. Then "after work", my husband and I can jump on the tandem and take a nice neighborhood ride. I guess all this doesn't really count as "commuting" but riding is riding -- right? :D

Not a promising start to the week.

Got the MTB out of the garage for its first ride after I treated it to a new chain and cassette at the weekend. Got to the top of the road to find the chain slipping on the cranks, no way could I ride to work. Quick double back.

Fortunately I've just brought my other bike into a roadworthy condition, so a quick change of saddle bags and I was off on the road bike.

After that that it was a great ride in, quiet and a lot quicker!

Pretty uneventful today. Traffic was relatively light for some reason, so I was only travelling at the same speed as the cars (mind you, I'm still recovering from yesterday's century). I wouldn't mind the temperature dropping a few degrees, but I suspect that isn't going to happen for a while.

51 F/11 C and breezy here this morning. I took the Nokian studded snow tires off the bike this weekend and replaced them with my new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. After three months on the studs, the quiet will take a bit of getting used to. However, tere are real benefits -- even with all the stoplights and stop signs, my trip was several minutes faster than usual.

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I was just going to laugh off any possibility of getting snow tomorrow morning in the DC area, but now that you've gone and taken the studded tires off your bike, I think we know what's coming. Snow and ice for tomorrow morning's commute. ;)

I was greeted by mild but windy weather this morning. Not a bad ride in, despite the tricky moments where the wind tries to help with the steering...

No commute tomorrow as I have to travel on business.

Cheers,

Ed

Nice ride this morning. It's my first since my emergency appendectomy. You'll be surprised how being laid up in a hospital for a week will ruin your fitness level. Still it felt good to be on the roads again. We may have rain this afternoon so that should be fun.