Another day in the death trap......arghh.......I started out today allowing 90 minutes to get to the opposite end of the city for a dentist appt. I would have been fine if it didn't snow 5-10Cm last night. The riding was too dicey to count on getting there on time...alive. So I turned around. I think I am going to change to a dentist closer to my end of the city. I was really looking forward to 2 hours of riding. Tomorrow will be a better day.

It's been a while since I've posted but I'm still at it. We've had it great so far weather wise (if you're not into Skiing or snowmobiling). Unseasonally warm so far. I had a very nice ride in this morning. Dark all the way in but that goes with the territory. It's fun looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations that people put out in their yards (looks a little odd without snow, but hey). It should be an equally good ride home (in the dark) after work (man, the day light hours are short).

Great ride today. The last few days haven't been great weather-wise so I've been riding the bad weather badass. Switched back to my usual ride today which has a shorter wheelbase, taller BB, and higher gear.

The mp3 player was on shuffle but it kept serving up sooper funky older Del tracks. Rocking along finding all my gaps, hitting green pretty much the whole way. Managed to bring it in with a 17mph average even with some wicked traffic and headwind, so I'm pretty happy.

I hope my ride home is as nice.

I don't know what my problem is, but lately I find myself yelling at people. Last night I yelled at a Chevy Tahoe and a wrongway cyclist. This morning I yelled at another wrongway cyclist and a Honda Accord that ran a light in front of me. Everyday, I promise myself that I'm just going to keep my head down and worry about myself, and everyday I break that promise.

Anyway, this morning was absolutely gorgeous. Clear and warm after two days of rain. If only I didn't have stupid work to break up my rides.

Yes, my detist moved and I have farther to go. So, I changed my six month checkups to fall and spring so I don't have to deal with the snow issue. Of course if I have a problem with my teeth... well, that's the gamble.

Rained again last night but it had stopped by 6AM. It was 38F & no wind but heavy rain was forecast so I rode my safest rain bike ( it's heavy & slow but very visible) I felt like I was in my own little world with the headlight & strobe system lighting up the road & alerting motorists to my presence. As usual on this bike, every passing car gave me a wide berth & I had an uneventful commute in. When I rode home at 3:30 PM, the rain had arrived so I had to wear my full rain suit. It was really coming down but had warmed up to 49F. When I reached home it was getting pretty damp inside the rainsuit but still dryer than I would have been without it. Don

what a kick ass day today. kicked ass at work, kicked ass at lunchtime ride, kicked ass after work ride.

The buttery smooth ride of my new specialized sequoia turned out to be in part due to low tire pressure. Tires are rated 75-100 and they were at 60. Borrowed a friends floorpump to air them up. I can feel the road a little more, but it still rides real nice. :)

I was riding home today and got a little ashamed of myself for a second. I looked at myself wearing goofy looking clipless shoes, bright red shirt, headlight and rear blinkie on my ROAD bike. I thought to myself "What have I become!" Back when I got my first mountain bike I used to think that mountain biking was fun, road biking must be a chore, I'll NEVER be a roadie! NEVER!!! Well, I don't think I'm a roadie, but I love my road bike and I love riding it.

Good ride to work today. Road the SS. It rained off and on all day but good ride to and from work. Have a good night!

Super Douper..Bright red shirt, bright shoes...Well, maybe the shoes can be excessive. One pair of mine are...But wth...Gotta be seen and be comfortable..I don't care what they think be proud...ps---to be really safe, where are the reflectors??My reflectorized vest has a blinkie built in it...
Ever go into a restaurant in bike gear...Get healthier...Waitress' might eventually hit on you..can't be all bad...I have seen it happen.

I got lucky on the ride home last night. It rained all afternoon and stopped about a half hour before I left work. Nothing but wet roads for the ride home. Traffic was ok, better then yesterday. Been a pretty mild December so far.

Morning's commute could be classified as "nervous." It's just above freezing and it had been raining so the trail was wet. There was just a little bit of slush in one place. Other than that it was just wet.

Waiting for my studded MTB tires to arrive so I can switch bikes when it gets bad.

Yesterday gave it's share of problems. I popped a spoke on the journey to work, suffered a (slow) flat on the return ride and noticed that my headlamp had developed "the flickers" again.

Luckily I have spare spokes to fix the wheel, but I was hoping for a quiet evening... The fauly connection inside the lamp took some time to fix (I hope...).

Have a good weekend,

Cheers,

Ed

just about 40 °F, a little drizzle...no egregious rudeness, traffic actually a little light. it has been a mild december here, too, although rather damp. i'm sort of looking forward to the challenge of snow.

have a good weekend, bike peeps!

Beautiful, murky new moon rising in the east. Temp in the mid 40s F, humid but not wet.

As I came through the freeway underpass and onto the reservation, the fields stretched in front and around me, reaching out to the mountains in the east, and to the low gold-rimmed blue clouds, hiding the sun.

Wet the last couple of days, with the peak of cycling commuter saturation coming last night. Started undressing in the tile foyer when I got home since my cycling clothes were doing a good imitation of rain forest drippage. ;)

Beautiful morning today though, have to work 12-9 and I might leave home early to take advantage of the warm temps.

Ride in was slightly snowy. Roads were wet, but not icy. Quite windy, and a bit cold without the scarf I foolishly left at home. A little under 40 degrees outside, gray and cloudy, but really lovely once I got going. Traffic was obliging. What a great day for a ride...

Last night as I was putting the commuter up on the rack I noticed a broken spoke on the rear wheel. The wheel had stayed pretty true, so I didn't notice any rubbing and there wasn't any creaking from the rim. And then I noticed a second broken spoke, right next to it. And then a third!

It's rare that I break spokes at all. To break three in a single day is off the chart. Now that I think about it, there's a lot of debris in the streets including lots of sticks and branches. I wonder if one of them flipped into my rear wheel and popped those three.

So this morning I had to ride the "A" bike. Boo hoo for me.

First commute on my new Dahon Matrix folding bike. I've been traveling on business for the last couple of weeks, and I couldn't wait to get back on the bike, so the rain didn't bother me. Very foggy. Rode alongside of our esteemed (or something) Vice-President and his very long motorcade. I had jumped up on the sidewalk so as not go get underfoot. He usually takes a helicopter, but I guess the fog was too dense.

Really like the Matrix. It does not feel like a folder, but like a regular mountain bike. I'm not used to the suspension fork, but I'll either warm up to it or replace it. The best part about it will be on my way home, when I take it on the Metro, folded, during peak hours. Whoo-hoo!

It was downright hot by the end of the ride this morning. I probably won't need my knee warmers when heading down to the beach tonight.

For the first time, I was complimented on visibility. She rolled down the passenger side window and I thought for sure I was going to get an earful. It was so nice to hear what she had to say. "You are marked really well, I can see you from a long ways away." I figure it is all good so long as it is not a target on my back. I thanked her and kept on truckin. It was -14C and most roads were cleared after yesterdays snow.

I had to drive this morning as a friend at works is borrowing my old minivan for the weekend. During the drive in I noticed something -- there are more bike commuters right now than I saw all summer. I saw at least 6 people on the drive in. How odd!!! I wouldn't think people would start bike commuting NOW!

Last night's commute home was fantastic. I worked on my bike Wednesday night and it was working very smoothly. It was also my first totally dry ride all week.

The last couple of days have sucked here in Maryland. Not too cold, but very rainy. I'd much rather have snow. There seemed to be a lot of impatient truckers on Route 1 this morning who didn't mind getting dangerously close to me and spraying mud all over me. Yech.

It has been a long wet week for commuting in Chicago. Not necessarily rainy every day, but water on the ground and in the sky. Lots of mist. I kind of like riding in wet conditions; I like the sound my wheels make.

I wasn't planning on riding today, though, because my rain-gear set is not yet complete and I was promised rain, rain, rain by weather.com. Showered last night, set my alarm for half an hour later than usual, laid out work clothes, the whole routine. Then when the alarm went off and I looked out the front windows, we were having a perfectly lovely morning, sunshine and light fire-opal clouds high above, backlit by the sun. Very little rain, and chilly, but not cold.

So, I threw on my bike gear, stuffed the work clothes into my pannier, and rode to work really fast. :) It was a great ride; the lake was still as glass and the sky was absolutely beautiful. Looking over my shoulder, I could see the 80% chance of precipitation looming at the skyline: grim. I put on the speed because at my usual pace I'd be very, very late; I could feel the burn, but not so much it hurt. Actually made it to the bike station about the same time I usually do, showered pretty quick and made it in just before 9am - perfect. Ten minutes after I got there, the dark clouds screeched to a halt and parked themselves over downtown, where they have been pouring mist and drizzle and rain ever since.

In other news, though I had to wait about a month and a half longer than I expected to get my return label, once I shipped my lock off, Kryptonite got me my new one really, really fast. I shipped it off Monday afternoon and had my new lock in hand on Thursday. Very cool.

It rained again overnight & it was 49F with a few showers for my commute in. Unusually humid & I dressed to to warm so was getting quite damp during the commute. I rode my Motobecane touring bike & enjoyed the change. Mr Moto got me to work in good time but I had to peel off my sweater & flannel shirt for a while to cool down. The rain started again just before lunch & I had to put on my full rain suit. That's twice this week. Supposed to be going into a clearing period tomorrow, good time to clean & lube a few bikes. Don

Cold this afternoon when I rode in. Enough so that I wore new wind pants. Had to stop halfway to work and take off the nylon rain jacket I had on, just too hot along with the poly shirts I was wearing. Same deal on the way home tonight. I'll wait 'til it's in the mid 20's before I try the long pants again.

My first snow commute! Not scary at all. The rail trail is un-plowed but the snow was only an inch or less deep, with a lot of clear/wet areas, and it was above freezing. MTB with knobby tires worked fine. I have studded tires in the mail.

I saw one fresh MTB track enter the trail about halfway through my commute, so I wasn't the only one this morning! :)

Right now it's raining and snowing. Should make for an interesting ride home.

Good Commute this am. I felt a little sluggish and realized I didn't drink enough H20 before starting out. It was -14C and road conditions were terrible. It went from raining and +5C to snowing and -5C within a few hours on Saturday. With all the melting and rain the roads were a skating rink on Sunday and still today. I do feel safer on my bike then I do driving my car. I guess I feel more in control however unjustified that may be.

Have a good one!

Wow, -14C, now that's some winter biking.

It was around 2C and grey, but dry here this morning. Not a bad ride considering the gloomy weather.
I got a new frame (Kinesis alloy frame, carbon fork) at the weekend to replace the failure of my no.2 road bike and have had a fun time bike building. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get it ready to ride as I'm awaiting a headset and front derailleur that the bike shop did not have in stock. This, of course is a real frustration - having a new bike almost ready to ride :).

Cheers,

Ed

First commute since just before Thanksgiving. I've been sick with a nasty chest cold. Still not 100% over it, but feel good enough to ride in the cold weather again.

The commute this morning was cold. 8F/-13C. I think the chain on the bike was not liking the cold much as I think I had some sticky links. Its the only explanation for what was happening. Supposed to be mid-40s by the afternoon. We will see if the problem goes away along with the bitter cold.

It's good to be back!

Commute this morning was cold. Coldest yet for me this year. I think 25f plus 25mph winds. Roads were wet, and I feared patches of ice would jump out and slam me, but did not come across any. I've decided that below 25f I shall always wear the windpants I bought from campmor (anything over that and they get too hot). Today just wore some fleece tights and silk long underwear and they boys about fell off. The ride against the wind was tough, but not as bad as last week.

It's been snowing for the last hour or so, but the weatherpeople have thrown their sticks and bones; and they say it will stop soon. Wind at my back on the way home...