Today was hotter, 87F/30C, but still drier, only 74% humidity. Windless = breathless today. When I got home I asked Dan for a big hug, and he backed up saying "NO, No, get away, you are a radiator" So now I know what kind of machine I am.

16 degrees C this morning -- can you believe that "officially" winter still has another four weeks to run? No, neither can I.

It was a strange sort of commute, early on I went on a psychotic attack to just make a couple of traffic lights that were orange at the time (got them both, ra!). Then I got owned by some gusts of wind, recovered, got delayed by more traffic morons in Surfers Paradise, recovered again, before hitting a loooong traffic light delay just before work.

Just another commute folks.

I've had a great summer commuting-- almost no rain, no big breakdowns, no crashes. It's been boring...... and very nice!

Today I met another cyclist on the road at a stoplight. A Japanese collage student. He's riding a steel "U" frame one speed, full chain guard, head light, tail light, frount tire mounted generator (looked top of the line), 700 wheels, with high flanged, quality looking hubs, with Panaracer touring tires I had never seen before (again, looks like top end stuff)

The kid's got a good stainless steel pump and a nice black backpack. He's not really dressed like a hardcore cyclist, he's wearing polyester slacks and tennies, but he can handle a bike. He askes me how to get to Tacoma. I tell him he's already in Tacoma and ask what part of town he's heading to. He tells me he's going to L.A ?!? So I tell him to fallow me and I take him across the east corner of town and get him on the back road to Portland, Oregon.

So I say goodbye and wish him luck. I ask him how long the trip to SoCal is going to take. He thinks about 25 days, maybe more. I ask about climbing hills with the one speed. He just laughs and says he'll push the bike uphill on the tough ones.

Totally crazy kid! I hope he makes it.

Yesterday's ride home was miserable! Hot sticky weather. The tempature was around 90-92 and the humidity was way up. I sweated a whole bunch.

The ride in this morning was not as hot with tempature around 70, but the humidity was still way up. Chance of storms today.

The new commuter is doing a great job so far getting me back and forth to work.

Hi Folks,

I had a great ride this morning. The weather cooled off overnight after a spectacular thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. With all the extra moisture in the atmosphere, there were eerie patches of mist drifting across the countryside, with bright sunny weather in-between. I spent the first half of the ride chasing a mist cloud, finally descending into the cool damp fog on the last section of the ride. Atmospheric, in many ways :)

Cheers,

Ed

Quite cool this morning. I wish I had worn the tights! Temp was in the low 50F range, but had overcast skies. I felt sluggish the whole way in. Still, it was a nice uneventful ride. :D

63F, cloudy & a few sprinkles at 6AM today. Saw several of the regular commuters on the way in to work. I only worked 3 hours then to the dentist for a 3 hour session. While I was in the chair, a steady rain started. We really needed it, this has been the driest Spring/Summer in memory & everything is really dry. Don

Rode Sunday and Monday. Uneventful except had to go the long way 'round Monday; ran out of coffee and stopped for a hot tasy beverage. had to use the car Tuesday for my job. About to leave for the commute now. Hopefully thunderstorms won't deter me on the way home.

I missed the storms again yesterday afternoon. Stopped raining about an hour before I left work. Nice ride home, a little cooler but still hot.

The ride in this morning was real nice. Quiet and the wind at my back. The tempature and humidity dropped so that helped make it pleasant

I had a good 18 mile commute this morning. Used my Carradice Barley for the first time commuting and managed to fit all my stuff in there. A nice change from panniers where I tend to bring more stuff.

Unusally, as I passed through the Air Force Academy on the Sante Fe Trail, I passed ~300 cadets running in a giant pack (consuming the entire trail, of course). Pretty neat to see, and more people than I usually encounter in a couple months of commuting.

baker

Well, looks like its back in tights for the morning commutes. The morning temperatures have been in the high 40F or low 50F range all this week. Lots of tree limbs on the road from the thunderstorms last night. More big boomers in store for us this evening.

August 05

Will be a memorable day today. Sunny and extremely windy this morning -this is the windy city- tail wind I should add.
It propelled my commuter (hybrid) without full effort to a never reached on flats 30.3 mph hehe. On the downside a slower fellow commuter screamed WHHHHOOOAAA when passed. Forgot to yell "on your left" but with nobody on the bike path and overtaking at least 10' away from him didn't deemed necessary.... that was fun. :D

The ride in this morning was considerably cool for August in my neck of the woods. Usually its hot and humid until September. Then the tights come out. Not a bad ride, feeling a little burnt out though. Although I checked my computer and noted that I was keeping a cadence in the upper 90's cruising at 30 km/h. I also hopped on the scale this morning before heading out, and for the first time since June until now it finally dropped almost right on 200lbs mark. Down from the 215 in May. That was quite motivating. Looking forward to the ride home after work. :D

Scads of walkers and runners out on the American River Bike Trail this morning. There's one guy who always wears a big straw hat, cradles a big water bottle, and takes these really exaggerated strides. He gives a big friendly wave to everybody that goes by, even roadie snobs in full lycra like me.

It rained overnight and we had scattered clouds & 58F at 6 AM. The roads were still wet all the way in to work so the red Gommitalia tires on my Motobecane got a good wash. They haven't looked this pretty for quite a while. I had errands in the afternoon so I drove back after my lunch break and that meant I missed riding in afternoon showers today. This evening I fashioned & attached a leather mudflap to the rear fender on my Motobecane and mounted a blinkie light on the backside of my helmet(Its getting pretty dark during my morning commute) Don

Recent threads about slip sliding in wet conditions..My commute for the last 5 months have been dryer than a fire cracker fart. Thank god for dry commutes...I ever live where it is wet..Don't know how I will adjust...I get disgruntled when it feels wet from a heavy fog. The good thing about our usual dryness, (other than lack of water and how that effects living organisms) biking is great and I would think safer.

Great ride home last night. Tempature was around 77(F) and low humidity.

The ride in was nice. A bit cool with temps in the mid 50's(F). Nice and quiet again, the only sound was the gears shifting on my bike.

Cool ride in this morning again. Feeling pretty strong like I can push harder even in a headwind. Like the ride home last night I surprised myself. Brisk headwind (mostly to my left) and I still managed to maintain my 31km/h 100rpm pace. Legs felt sore but not painful. This morning I took it a little easy until I spotted another roadie and tried to bridge the gap, didn't go too well. I have a lot more training/riding to do. Metric century planned for tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it as long as it doesn't rain!

This morning was my first unburdened commute in quite some time. I got a trailer on Tuesday, hauled two weeks of supplies to work on Wednesday, had stuff that required a backpack yesterday, and then today... nothing but the usual minimal roadside tools, keys, $30 cash, and a cellphone in the back of my jersey. 68 degrees, SSE winds at 7 mph resulted in my best time so far, a 20.2 mph moving average for my 12.4 mile commute. It was a good time.

What's up with Segways on "non-motorized vehicle only" bike trails? Especially ones that don't move over when you honk your horn at them... Stopping to chew them out seems like a waste of time; water bottle shower? Call the cops?

Good job!

Yech segways are just gross, but at least they are electric.

I'd tell them: you know, motorized vehicles are not permitted on these trails. And i will report ya'll to the authorities if i see you again.

Any other day, if I arrived at work breathing heavily, coated in a sweaty sheen, hair sticking out crazily in all directions, shoes covered in dirt and dust, and blood streaming down my leg...well, I and my coworkers would be very worried about my state of mind.

When it's a day I've just ridden my bike 11-12 miles to get there, my coworkers still question my sanity, but I feel a lot better about myself. :) I'm just glad I live in Southern California where I can do this sort of thing year round--barring earthquakes, West Nile mosquito attack-swarms, or "ash days" during wildfire season when you don't just see or taste the air, you also wash the air off your body when you get home.

The blood, by the way, is from gouging my calf on one of the pedals, and not from fighting off some rabid pack of dogs or something, although I was thinking of trying to pass it off as an X-Games injury.

2 miles left to arrive to work today, (riding my usual route), discovered that the whole road was blocked due to heavy excavation (!), what a f....! I asked politely to the guy apparaently in charge if I could go jump around the fences, he blatantly told me no!
So I had to go back and take a deviation of 2 extra miles, gave an little longer work out than expected, which included overtaken a Hwy. risky though.
Corsaire

You don't have to live in socal to do that everyday. You think blood is intimidating, try ice hanging from your chin...

Nice ride today. I took a little different route when I got to the city. I rode up over "Flag Hill" to 10th Ave and the back on my normal route at 7th St. It was a little shorter, but included the fairly steep climb. Took off work after about an hour and headed home on the normal route. Saw 3 dogs roaming. Only one of which showed any interest in pacing with me.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Bob

Great ride today. Temperatures were perfect, no headwinds, and the lights were switching pretty quickly when I hit the reds. I hooked up with another commuter on the way, and we chatted for a bit. He showed me a new shortcut throught he university to mix it up a little.

We parted ways, and 10 yards from the driveway into my office, I spotted a patch of broken glass too late to dodge it. I prayed that my magic tires would just repel the shards and I could go about my business.

NOPE. No such luck. I heard the PSSSSSS, unclipped, and started braking. I looked down to see the rear tire acting as a Slime cannon, shooting a pile of the stuff onto the ground. I've decided not to use Slime again, but I'll have to patch this tire up before replacing it tonight. I guess I know how I'm spending my lunch hour.

Fortunately, I didn't spill like I did when the front tire blew on me.

Great ride, cool breeze and beautiful sky. First day of riding in with my wife and son (she works at his school). Then I rode the rest of the way in to downtown Atlanta. Life is grand! (boy, are those endorphins still working...)