Well the bus trip took forever lots of traffic. When I did finally get on my bike had to fight a head wind first in ages. A little sprinkle but it had rained during the night and of course that meant the cars were playing bumper cars with each other. Lots of accidents even with the head wind I was moving faster than the 4 wheeled beasts. Happy monday everybody

:fun:

Monsoon rains this morning when I got up, so drove to work, then home at lunch, grabbed bike and returned. Still threat of rain, but clouds are starting to break up, just in time for the trip home.

Todays commute was crappy. My messenger bag didn't work as well as I thought it would, and my ride was miserable. Then, after classes from 8 am until 4:30 PM today, I came outside and found some kids trying to steal my bike, thank God I had my bike lock on. So I went to the bike shop I work at to see if the Specialized order had come in(the one with my new helmet) and found out that Specialized hadn't even shipped yet because we were 300 dollars short of teh X-mas season bargain or something like that. But we didn't want the x-mas season bargain. So now my helmet will be here sometime this week. I bought some new tyres and a better bike lock while I was there, my old tyres were badly deformed and had several gashes in them were I could see the tube, and my original bike lock was a skinny piece of crap. After that I headed home, a miserable ride. I averaged 25 Kph, slower than I have ridden in a loooooong time. When I got home my shoulder hurt, my lungs hurt so bad I could hardly breathe, my head hurt, and my back felt like it got hit with a 2x4, several times. I also have a math test tomorrow at 8 AM.

I had a good 20-mile ride home. I started on a different path that I haven't ridden in a while. Turns out the road construction along the way benefited me because of a (relative) lack of traffic. I also had good luck with lights along this route. To add to that, there was a strong tailwind. So I bolted along at a pretty good clip.

At an intersection along the way I saw a little girl twisting around in her car in an effort to get a good look at my blinking lights. I tell you: those lights really attract the kids !!

It was very nearly dark at 7pm today. Won't be long before the entire ride home is in the dark.

Another weird commute home: I stopped by in the LBS to have a look at their clipless pedals. I came out with the pedals, two panniers and a couple of bottle cages, having spent approximately three times the money I expected. But the panniers were on 40% discount and the bottle cages were thrown in free and...

I need to have my bank cancel my credit card. I cannot continue like this.

:beer:

--J

Today was a tough start, I left the house in fog so thick I couldn't see 20 feet in front of me, I almost got hit by a school bus at the first intersection I stopped at, Got sprayed by a misdirected sprinkler about 1 mile down the street from the school bus incident. Rode in the fog for about 10 miles and got a flat in the rear, once up and running again I got chased by a large black dog for about .25 mile, the I cruised into work. Like they say, ya gotta take the good with the bad. Just another interesting commute, It's why we do it.

Heyup!

Don't worry Juha, the bike shop does this to me every time :beer: . If I go in needing a spare inner tube, I'll come out with a new saddle/brakepads/gloves as well. They sent me on a test ride and nearly sold me a whole new bike last week before I came to my senses :) I'm sure this happens to many others too.

Today's commute was OK, though I still have a head cold working its way in. Strangely, this is far less noticable when riding than at work. Our long spell of warm sunny weather is waning, it was cooler and cloudy this morning.

See you all again tomorrow,

Ed

This morning was OK. Now that the sun is rising later, I am using my headlights (I prefer to ride in the light - debris, potholes, roadkill on the road). But, this morn, my light fell from the casing midweigh through. So I duct taped it to my helmet!

Now that it's also getting colder I find my rides are progressively getting slower (1 min per day). No matter.

My ride today started with bright stars. Fog took over when I was only about one mile from home, but the temps were just about right, being 60 degrees and there were no winds. All was good until we turned into the driveway at work. It is a steep down hill with a sharp left, speed bump, then sharp right and speed bump. My Burley trailer came loose on the second speed bump. It jack knifed and rolled onto its right side, which in turn brought my bike down. I only had a minor gash on my left leg. Puppy was fine and the trailer only has a small tear in the canopy. I guess I better do a better job checking the hitch before heading out.

No bike commute for me today! :( I was ambushed by a major sinus infection yesterday, and today my whole head is plugged up and my back aches. Can't trust my sense of balance with my ears clogged, and I don't want to risk riding home after dark when I'm not feeling well enough to give it my full attention.

Crud.

My ride started with a starry sky, too. Seemed a bit chilly for a tee shirt (+10C) the first couple of blocks, ok after that. Just the short 12km commute this morning, I was a little disappointed in that I just got going and it was time to stop. I'll go for the longer 27 km each way the rest of the week!

Spring is well and truly here in Perth, so the morning commute is getting warmer, sunnier and cuter ! We have a gorgeous river that I get to ride around each morning on the way to work. Had the digital camera this morning, so here are some shots.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dp/tobedeleted/swans.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dp/tobedeleted/swans2.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dp/tobe.../riverboat.jpg

Nice pictures! :)

Thanks very much - its great having a digital camera, you can quickly delete the junk ones, and it doesn't cost more to take 100's of shots.

Just thought it might be nice to have a post from someone in the southern hemisphere who is getting to experience spring and wearing less clothes riding - as opposed to the majority of the forum who are starting to rug up.

It's a beautiful clear cool morning in new england, when I woke up this morning I just didn't feel like riding, I forced myself to get ready, had breakfast and got on the bike. I took the back country roads in to work at a very slow easy pace, what a great day it's turning out to be, thanks to the bike. The traffic was very light and there was no wind, I could just here the sound of the tires on the road. Have a great day everyone.

I just can't get over how perfect the riding conditions are here right now. At the end of August when the temps hit 30 degrees C, I was starting to seriously panic. The last couple of weeks have been just beautiful, and the spring wildflowers are still around. I know this can't last, but damn I'm enjoying it!

We're still getting nice summer weather here, but this is probably the last week of it. +15C under starry sky when I left the house, a beautiful high cirrus cloud pink sunrise over Lake Ontario. Nice ride in, 1 hour 4 min. for 27km.
Had a nice dip in the pool (still 75 F) last night after my commute, seemed like a head wind all the way home. This will be the last week for the pool, having to fish out too many leaves before I can swim!

I was not able to ride in today....bummer...as it is indeed a fine biking day here in New England. I did not realize until I jumped on my bike to ride home that my morning crash had caused some issues with my drivetrain. I was way overdue for a new chain and cassette...so trailering the ole girl to a shop (no time to do the work myself). Will be back on a bike later this afternoon and then off to Prince Edward Island for a week of touring. Enjoy!

Heyup commuters

Nice ride today, despite the fact that I still have a cold which means taking it a bit easier. Traffic is now much worse than it was during the summer, so there is less chance to break records anyway.

Cheers

Woohoo! Back on the bike after I picked it up from the shop yesterday. Riding in today was amazing. My gears were shifting beautifully. Normally, since I adjust them, they function, but not that well! Of course, the new chain and cassette might have something to do with that.

The last two days were relatively traffic-free, which was good because I was in a car. Today there were cars everywhere, but I could get around all of them. :)

Hot ride in today, but it was still a pleasant change after having to take the car in monday and ride cramped up in airplanes yesterday. The temperature was already in th 80s at 7:00. I am ready for fall to arrive when it finishes it's sweet time in coming! I had a much heavier load this morning and found I took around 10 minutes longer than usual. I figure I just got a longer workout so it was not a total loss (I think 4 days off the bike may have had something to do with it as well). Anyway, all in all it was a pleasant ride in even though I dropped a water bottle just around the corner from my house and had to go back to refill!

Good commute today! It was a little drizzly which made it cool for once. I didn't feel very strong so I rode at an easy pace.
I've got a really bad saddle sore that's causiong my butt some serious angst.

Due to circumstances I realized that if I didn't get home immediately I was going to be accidentally locked out. So I just pounded out 7 or 8 miles as if my feet were on fire. I made it in the nick of time, but that was one thigh-pumping nightmare I don't want to repeat anytime soon.

I took the Road bike to work today, which meant a detour on the way to work:D but it meant that I had to navigate a large Roundabout.

On the way home it was dark and it's definitly getting colder, still that gave me enough reason to go for the record and scraped 3 seconds off it. and if it wasn't for those two bloody red lights I would have smashed it.

Still that's just an added incentive for the next time I try.:D

The ride this morning was perfect, except that I had an long delay. I stopped to watch a flock of 14 turkeys chowing on the acorns that have been showering down on me the last week. So I guess that it was a perfect + ride.

This morning was not as drizzly as yesterday morning. I hint of clouds made for a red sunrise, and it was 51 degrees out, so me fingers felt it a bit. But the morning commute was great! At noon I came home for lunch, jumped a black cat on the bike path, ate lunch with my wife (she's on the late shift tonight, and so was home), then went back to work. After work, I rode home, had a quick supper, then rode to church to practice in the choir for the first time. Coming back, it was dark but I had good lighting.

All the time, for the first time, I listened to the radio. I had lashed the radio to the back of my bike and turned it on. On the ride to work, I didn't hear much because of traffic noise. I turned it up a bit, and it was much better. I have a small radio, and used twine to lash it onto my bike rack (no earphones!). It definately made the commute a bit nicer, listening to music. On the way back to work from lunch, I came upon a walker on the bike path, and she knew I was there from the radio. When I finally said, "Passing on the right," she replied with a "Thank you." Made me feel good about the radio, as it looks a bit weird to me.

Tomorrow, I'm switching bicycles to my Schwinn. I used the Trek 1420 today, and for the past two weeks. It's a great bike, but my son Brian got new handlebars for his birthday, and I now have his old ones. Mine on the Trek are a bit narrow, and so I'll trade. I put new tape on the Schwinn, and now it has "candystriping" red and white tape. It looks snazzy.

John

I had two different rides. Last night I rode my new Trek 1000 home. This morning I rode my old Raleigh in again. (The saddles are sore in different places - I prefer the Trek saddle, but needed to rest the old seat bones!) I hadn't realised that the differences in set up were that big! My Raleigh felt all scrunched up after the Trek with the seat angled backwards, but it's the right angle for the ride. Now I want a sign for the back of the Raleigh - "My other bike's a Trek"!!

14 miles, 55 minutes on both bikes. Bit slow, but it's the first time I've done the whole way in a while.

Ellie

Nice sunny autumn morning today. I had to delay my ride into work because I needed to pick up a paper at the university library, and they don't open until 9. This also gave me the opportunity for another 1/2 hour in bed ;)

There was STILL busy traffic after I re-started the journey at 9:30ish. What is with all these cars:confused: Fortunately, most of the bad traffic is in the opposite direction, so I can breeze past them with a big grin.

Cheers,

Ed

Nice, still, clear 54 degree morning for me, Traffic was light and rode in without incident. nothing exciting to look at, just another great ride to work, the place I go to wait to ride home.

My primary commuting bike is still in the shop, so rode my oldest daughters Specialized Hard Rock in. Took a little getting used to the Grip Shifts. The bike is heavier than my Trek and has very large MTB bike tires, which made for a lot more work than my IRC Metros. Puppy and I made it safe and sound, and it sure beat driving the car. Hopefully I daughter will not miss her bike today.