Ed Holland

Exhilerating commute this morning, despite (the weather) being a bit windy. Sometimes a ride is just a really good ride, and that's that. I was surprised by today's ride as I woke up feeling a bit groggy - as if I had been for a night on the loopy juice. Sometimes the body refuses to take any notice! For any Joe Satriani fans out there, think "Can't slow down".

Have a good weekend,

Ed

Inkwolf

Yesterday, more perfect weather! I notice the woolly bear caterpillars are starting to take over the roads. Saw a raccoon in broad daylight, too, heading for a cornfield. Time to stock up for hibernation! (Is that why I've been eating like a starving lumberjack?)

On the way home, way too much traffic. But I had bright stars overhead (though I could see a distant storm with lighening flashing way off to the East.) I got honked at twice, one might have been a friendly, but the other was a definite "Get off the road!" honk from an inattentive van driver who came a little too close before realizing I was there. Think I saw more owls, and possibly a deer, though the pale shadow vanished into the corn before I got a good look at it.

mrfix

A little cool this morning, a light jacket and a pair of long fingered gloves and I had a great ride in accept for one thing, I have 93 miles on my new brooks saddle and it's winning, I don't know if I can stick out the break in period. With 8 hours to heal during the work day, we'll see what it's like on the way home, I'll tell ya, there's nothing like a sore bottom to take your mind off the hills.

Andy Dreisch

Last night's ride was nice. It was only 13 miles but the basketball game the night before was catching up to me and I was tired. So I backed off the speed a little and enjoyed the trip. It's fun every once in a while to vary the routine. Going a few MPH slower was a nice break.

tchazzard

Ride home last night was great. Wind was at my back and temps around 70 F. I had three road bikes pull out behind me and start the chase. As my father used to say, you are only racing if you are winning. This part of my ride home is a long gradual downhill. The wind gave my bike and trailer a nice push....so they were unable to catch up to me. I waited at the next intersection. They looked pretty beat.

alcjphil

This week I returned to work after my vacation, and it has been tough getting back into the routine. I start work early, and usually leave home at about 5:15 in the morning. It is now dark for most of my commute. This morning was quite cool, about 12 Celcius, so I had to cover my arms and legs for the first time in a long while. Quite a change from the very hot weather here during the month of August. Since I ride every day, this will be a pretty good week for milage, I expect to pass the 300 km mark from Monday to Friday. The rides home this week have been tough, with strong headwinds, although this means that the mornings have been easier than usual.

JDP

Commute was excellent today. I rode all the way into work as opposed to taking the train as usual. I had to be more careful with cars since my I'm not as visible in the dark. Less traffic meant I had to hit more crosswalk buttons. I enjoyed the cooler temperatures but I was still soaked in sweat when I got to work. Brought a full change of clothes and deodorant and cleaned up the best I could with paper towels. I haven't noticed any B.O. today so I think I'll keep doing this. Stupid me bought a monthly train pass just last week.

pinerider

Yesterday was the first trip of my new extended 27km commute. Just the trip home yesterday, a beautiful evening, still warm. Made it home in about 1 hour and 7 minutes on "Tonsafun", my 92 Norco Katmandu MTB (bike weighs 35 pounds + panniers + work clothes, etc.) Only about 5 minutes longer than on my road bike last week in a trial run.
Felt good, just a little cramping in my calves for some reason. I hadn't ridden this particular bike for a week or so, maybe my calves have gotten accustomed to riding the trails on my Norco Bush Pilot.
Still have to get fenders for the commuter, was going to get skinnier slicks for tires, but I think I'll stay with the knobbies for now.

cyclezealot

Yesterday's AM commute had patches of rain clouds- tropical front down in Mexico- with clear sky.. Since I did not have to return to work next day, I took the long way home. About 5 miles further.. The longer way results in some pretty sizeable hills. The extra 5 miles with its hills, took me only a little longer than an extra 15 minutes over normal commute.. Commute home was about 2 hours and 10 minutes. With the hills think my mileage was 14 mph.
Like this alternative because there is lots less traffic over the nuts that drive on the busy state highway.. Seems at least one person dies on this road from an accident each week. ( Thought it took the state 3 deaths to put in traffic lights.)
Anyway, alternative ride is great because it is through Temecula's wine country and nice rolling hills. The ocassional rain cloud felt great, because just enough rain to cool oneself down
In spite of the slight rain, don't like rain in my drive train- got out my Pedro's chain cleaner and wiped down the bike before going to bed..

Inkwolf

Summer's over, back to working on Saturdays! I actually like it, as it's the one day I will be able to ride both directions in actual daylight.

Today it was clear and in the 80's. I had a headwind going into town, and made some no doubt amusing sound effects when the wind blew a bug straight down my throat. (Can we all sing "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly..."?) I stopped at the grocery store to pick up lunch stuff for the week. It took me several minutes to get my stuff packed on the bike, as the bees seems extremely attracted to both my bike and my orange vest, so I kept running away!

The city-wide rummage sale took place in Seymour today, so after work I decided to cruise around in further search of a beater bike I could try to fix up and use as a touring bike. First I went to look at the Sanwa I saw yesterday. I got permission to pump up the squooshy tires with my frame pump and give it a test ride.

The ride--about 20 yards down the sidewalk--was terrifying. Maybe it was just the bad, old tires, maybe just that I never rode a road bike or used drop bars before, but I felt like I was balancing on a toothpick. A WOBBLY toothpick. It was a relief to get back on my fat, sturdy comfort bike.

The rest of the pickings were pretty slim. I saw:

A Huffy Sportsman which had so much character and retro charm I was almost tempted to ask the price

A Schwinn Starlite (or something) with saddle-baskets, which felt like it was filled with lead.

Two Schwinn Suburbans from vastly different time periods.

A Huffy 609 and two matched Murray Spectras, all of which were too tall for me.

I did see one bike from the road which looked ideal, but then I realized there was no rummage sale at that house. Eventually I went home, after another stop at the grocery store. Never go shopping when you're hungry or thirsty--I got to haul home 4 liters of cheap creme soda.

oceanrider

Friday I re-enrolled in college at the young spritely age of 47. Now that's not particularly remarkable but you generally don't see 47 yo women in my area using a bike to commute 50 miles round trip. Actually, I didn't ride the entire distance. Only around 12 miles. The rest was by commuter train which allows bikes on board. I'm used to riding my bike up and down A1A which isn't the same as riding from the beach into the urban areas of town. It took some getting accustomed to and some parts of it were pretty scary, especially crossing on and off ramps to the I95 freeway with those big trucks getting on and off. It took about an hour each way which wasn't too bad. If the powers that be accept me into the nursing program down the road and I have to do clinicals and attend class, eventually I'm going to have to get motorized again. I had to give up my car because I couldn't afford responsible car ownership. I'll get to that bridge when I come to it.

The advantage is that my exercise is built into my regular routine except that I can't do the all-out pedaling I would do on a Sunday morning ride down the beach highway. Do you find that because you commute, you're not particularly interested in recreational riding?

Another thing I noticed was that my bike was the only nice bike around. All the others were in the Huffy category and pretty beat up. It's going to get beat up in no time and it's time for a U lock.

Gus Riley

Ocean, beware! I've gone back to university (full time). Went back last year and have worked hard at it! I was 47 as well and am still hard at it. It's a great thing to do and not many people our age can go back. I'm enjoying the heck out of it, but it comes at a price...I don't get to ride much anymore. Between the mileage (33 miles one way), all the homework and study time invloved and the normal everyday tasks at home...I have no time to ride, ever! Oh, once in a great while I make it out, but not often.

If you can commute to school and your commute is good "fair" miles...then you have it a bunch better than I!

Have fun! I'm jealous, looks like you get to cycle to school!

mrfix

Nice clear cool morning in new england this morning, Had a great uneventful ride in, rode the touring bike with the new brooks, I think I'm winning, it doesn't fit like a glove yet but after 215 miles it's getting there. It's forecasted to be a nice week, shoul be great for us.

chewa

Was catching my friend ( he was about a half mile ahead) and was down to about 200 yds after 9 miles, and I got a ****ing puncture. Rushed to fix rather than install the spare tube (because I wasn't sure if all of the thorn was out so reckoned a thick patch would stand up) and it went down again. had to keep stopping to pump up.

After this will be redoing it again at lunchtime. AAAARGH!!

tnorman

Great commute this morning! Rode my new road bike for the first time on my commute. This thing rides like a dream! I got to work barely feeling like I'd exerted myself, but yet I got here a few minutes faster than my fastest commute on my hybrid. I was a little nervous around the rough roads and small off-road portion of my commute, but it seemed to handle it just fine.

The weather's supposed to be nice all week; maybe I'll be able to ride every day!

Tim

pinerider

Even though most of the trip is in darkness, it was a very nice ride in this morning. 1 hr 6 min for 27 km (17miles) trip fully loaded (work clothes + laptop in panniers). I'm using a BLT Doppler front strobe and Gary Fisher rear flasher + pannier reflectors + vest + legband, no problems with others seeing me. Well lit streets most of the way, anyways.
The laptop seems very light when walking , seems very heavy when going uphill on bike.

Ed Holland

Heyup commuters,

Good commute in today, despite grey skies and cooler temperatures. I think the ride home will be very wet though

Hope you all had a good weekend. I was busy planning with my LBS on building up my winter road/commuter bike with new wheels. The idea so far is to lace up some Mavic CXP33 rims with DT stainless spokes, to a set of Deore hubs. Oooer, those are MTB hubs aren't they ? See... what I want are hubs that will stay fresh riding through an English winter and I might just get away with it if I ride in disguise and you all promise not to tell the roadies . Comparison of assembly diagrams from the Shimano website reveals that the seals are far better on Deore hubs than the price-equivalent Sora road hubs. Sora really don't hold up to weather very well, from my experience. The other advantages are that I go from a cheap freewheel hub to freehub (hopefully no more bent rear axles) and from 5 to 8 speeds, with good old downtube shifters.

Hope I didn't get too techie in the commute section,

cheers,

Ed

Paul L.

I finally had a commute in with rain! I am sitting in my cube listening to everyone else around me moan about how bad traffic was. I took it easy this morning and lost a grand total of 3 minutes off of my normal 55 minute (17 mile) commute. That was mainly due to the headwind the storm generated. I have to admit that although I enjoyed getting wet, I was not prepared for the color my socks turned. I usually wear the socks I wear all day cycling in because my feet don't sweat much usually. Today I discovered that the wet streets turn white socks into a dingy grey color. Hmmm, Guess I will try not to sit cross legged today ( wearing them inside out helped a little). That seems to have been the only problem though (I also had a noticeable lack of the helmet "wave" in my hair due to the rain as well). Perhaps fenders would help with the sock problem also. Anyway, it was the first commute of the year that actually ended Cooler than it began, I hardly even needed a cool down at the end of the ride because being all wet the breeze was doing a bang up job on that score. Great day to bike commute!

Andy Dreisch

Ride in was chilly today. Morning shadows are longer, and the girls have been donning their autumn clothing, I see. Yes, indeed, the autumn months are upon us. I'm going to need my knee warmers before too long.

I'm curious to see how some of you folks in the colder climes do this year. I'd imagine it's pretty danged chilly already for many of you. I admire your hardiness because in SJ the temps may drop to the 40s every so often.

Andy Dreisch

Me again. This time my bike-commute was about ten minutes long.

I have a slow leak in my back tire. I was all prepared to quickly switch out the tube when I realized that I left all my CO2 cartridges in my mountain bike bag!!!

I gave up and rode the train home.

Disappointing, but still the first flat in about 1000 miles on ym new commuting bike. This is by far a record. (I usually got one flat at least every other week.)

Ed Holland

Hi Folks

Well, it was so wet yesterday that I was tempted to wear flippers and a snorkel on the way home . It poured all afternoon and didn't stop until I got home. Luckily I remembered to empty my bike before the rusty water escaped onto the hall carpet.

I notice there has been a rain theme at the moment - does anyone else use shoe covers to help stay dry(er). My girlfriend bought mine as a present before I even thought about clipless pedals and shoes, and I had no trouble using them over regular shoes. One modification was to put silicone sealent inside, behind a seam that runs down the front of the cover. This really improved the water exclusion. Hope this might be useful.

This morning it is a beautiful sunny day - gorgeous!

Cheers all,

Ed

alcjphil

The last few days here in Montreal have been quite warm, yesterday afternoon the ride home was hot, about 32 c, or 90 f. We did have one cool morning last week and I did need arm and leg warmers, but the really cold mornings are a long way off. In the past I have been able to commute right into December, as long as the snow holds off. Tomorrow is supposed to cool off quite a bit. Yesterday afternoon in Montreal it was warmer than it was in Miami.

mrfix

Great morning, cool and a little humid, fog was thick in the low areas of my ride and of course the mis-directed lawn sprinklers along the way for a little wake up. Do you think these people are aware of the fact that they are watering the street? It's forcasted as a hot one here today, my ride home should be prefect, I like it hot, the hotter the better. The Brooks is still tough, It's getting there but has a long way to go to "fit like a glove" as they say. I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast before I leave the house, this week I changed to grits, I think they are too heavy, I feel kind of sluggish for about 10 miles. I'll give it a few more days before I switch back, of course it could be the brooks. I'll tell ya, that thing is like getting new puppy. Have a good day and enjoy the ride.

pinerider

Hot ride home last night (90F), but a dip in the pool at home fixed everything. Head wind on the last leg of the trip, pannier bags have the aerodynamics of a brick.
No panniers this morning, nice ride in, down to 1 hr 4 min. for 27 km (17miles). I was schocked at the number (6 or 7) of fellow cyclists I saw between 6:00am and 6:30 (sunrise at 6:50) with absolutely no lights. They give the rest of us a bad name!

Teresa

Very nice ride in this morning. A car tried to get around me at the last possible second and ended up in the wrong lane. I only wished their window was open when I passed because I wanted to call them a moron. But it was probably a good thing that it wasn't. I tend to do stupid things like make fun of people and then later realize I shouldn't have.

Teresa