Our temps have ranged from5-18 deg showers, though since late last week the temps are into the mid 20's with noticable humidity on the rise.Hope to get more rain before summer to top up the water supply. Great ridding weather now,cant be to long on the computer.

Well my commute yesterday was a nightmare! :mad:

I wasn't feeling too well so I decided not to cycle to work - big mistake!

My bus is supposed to run every 15 minutes, well the 1st one didn't turn up, neither did the 2nd one and when the 3rd one eventually did turn up, naturally it was crowded (it was a double decker). Anyway we got 10 minutes down the road and were all ordered to change to the single decker bus waiting at that stop - it was quite a crush. Of course this bus didn't go where I was going so I had to change at the bus station and had a 20 minute wait for a bus there. I got off to go for my final bus, and was no more than 5m from the bus stop when it turned up, I put my hand out to stop it and the driver refused to stop so I had another 10 minutes wait for the next bus. My journey to work took 2hrs to do a journey that is no more than 8 miles (I can cycle and train it in 40 minutes).

Well I can tell you it has strengthened my resolve to cycle to work as much as possible and I am in the process of writing a nasty letter to the bus company!

Frodocious, that really is a tale of woe.... I could not bear the frustration of using the bus day in day out, it would send me off the edge.

Today's ride was pretty weatherbeaten though. Very strong gusty winds had me weaving around in places and slowed to a crawl in others. At one point I was about 8 mph slower and struggling to keep it going in two or three gears lower than usual. Things don't look as if they will be much better for the ride home, but are still more inviting than the bus.....

Cheers,

Ed

Pretty good ride in this morning. Temps were in the high 60's. Supposed to be a nice day today. Looking forward to the ride home

My legs felt heavy this morning, perhaps still tired after the hill work-outs I did over the weekend. I still however did two short hills (have to deviate 'cause they're still repairing the road that leads staright to work) one of three minute and the other of almost six minutes, between 5 and 8 degrees. I just concentrated on my spinning....
Cool temps, can't complain...

Corsaire

My legs felt heavy this morning, perhaps still tired after the hill work-outs I did over the weekend. I still however did two short hills (have to deviate 'cause they're still repairing the road that leads staright to work) one of three minute and the other of almost six minutes, between 5 and 8 degrees. I just concentrated on my spinning....
Cool temps, can't complain...
Commute lasted 1'05" today for 12 miles, like I said felt sluggish.
Corsaire

Near Perfect!!! :D 67F(19C) but little humid (1.5”(38mm) of rain last night!) no wind and the road was damp, not wet.. The ¾ mile(1.2km) gravel road was soft and treacherous (I had to use my granny gear for the first time!!! :( Very disappointing!) After that is was smooth sailing on my 13 mile commute out in the country.

I met the typical number of vehicles on the single lane (one each direction) road without a shoulder. 10 coming and 5 passing. All 5 that passed me slowed down below 50mph(80kph) and moved completely over to the other lane. :) There was an opportunity for a squeeze play and the driver behind me patiently waited until it was safe to pass in the far lane. I make a point to give a friendly wave to all drivers that move over.

My entire commute is before sunrise, and with the clouds in the sky it was very dark this morning. Not much moving as far as animals and not much scenery. I did draft behind an indecisive rabbit for about 10 yards. :p

I pulled up and set my bike against the building. (If it is expected to rain I will bring it inside). I took my cloths out of my locker, showered and started working. I’ve been at work for two hours… Now that it is daylight I suppose I should take the time to go out and lock my bike. ;)

Bliss!!!!
:D :D

Nice tailwind this morning. Its starts off kinda of cool but as the sun comes up so does the tempurature, and my arm warmers get a little warmer. Summer is over. Bring on Fall.

42F when I took off this morning. Rode the backup/rain commuter today. It was my first rides on the BULL HORNS that I installed on Sunday. I was saving them for my SS project, but that project is on terminal hold. So I installed them on the Rampar. They look wild and are quite comfy. We'll see how they perform in the wind on the way home. :rolleyes:

Bob

I had a great commute yesterday, between that and my meeting way over in North St Paul I ended my work day with a little over 61 miles. Man, I've got a great job, there aren't to many like this out there. The weather was beautiful, a little windy but beautiful. We've had rain off and on today.

</hee>

:p

Today, on BIKES TO WATCH OUT FOR...!

As I was turning onto the path today on my way home, I slowed down until there was a hole in the bike traffic and eased myself in. Just in front of me there was a guy on a mountain bike, and he stayed anywhere from ten to twenty-five yards in front of me all the way home. Which would have been fine, no trouble at all, I'm sure.

Except.

Attached to the back of his bike was a tented cart. And in this tented cart sat a very large, very disgruntled golden retriever. Who barked. All. the way. to my street.

I tried to pass him, but he kept catching me up. I tried to hang back and let him go, but every time I started pedaling again I'd hear it, drifting down from the path ahead:

arf. arf. ARF. ARF! ARF! ARF!

He was like a freakin' metronome, on and on and ON. He's lucky I turned off at Lawrence, because I surely would have killed that dog by Foster. I mean, I'm sure he was a perfectly nice dog and normally I harbor no vengeance in my heart for our furry four-footed brethren, but ... the hell?

I know, live and let live, takes all kinds to make a world, etc., etc. And I suppose if it's okay for me to use my bike for whatever I wish, it's okay for him to...roll...his dog with his. But I can't help but think, if that dog's not a paraplegic, he'd be much better off at home.

On the bright side...in spite of Mr. Guy with Mr. Dog, I made excellent time tonight. =)

Spitting on the way home last night. I had a meeting that finished early, but I didn't bother doing the extended commute home -- I cut and ran.

This morning was blustery, cold at 5 deg C, and rainy. A south-westerly change came through and the rain clouds obliterated the mountain behind the city. Odd that on my side of the river where I live, the sky was a clear blue. The cloud formed a line corresponding halfway across the river. Still drizzling as I look out the window.

Merryish whats your commute route?

Had one guy in a red acura I think with a spoofed up muffler pull up when stopped at an intersection going south on Yonge St. (Traffic was really backed up). Asked me about traffic being nonexistant for a biker like me. Had a short conversation with the two occupants at whence I remarked that it takes me 1.05 hours to get downtown from my location and 1.5 hours by bus+subway.

Made my day.

Sounds like a good idea!

My ride was very much like yesterday's, but without the morning fog.

yesterdays ride was interesting,insperational;spotted a hybrid bike and i caught up and here's a thin white haired bloke aged late 50's or older crusing at 25kmh yes 25kmh what a blast, and got talking about biking.

Cold, 49F & clear with a light wind at 6AM. Wore a heavy wool sweater for the first time since March. It was Sunny & bright all morning & at lunchtime, I returned to work on my Bianchi Trofeo. Within an hour of my return, clouds rolled in & it began to rain. Got pretty wet on the ride home. This is the second time this month that my optimistic weather assessment left me squinting into the rain on my afternoon commute. Guess its time to hang the Summer bikes in the boiler room for a few months

Low clouds, mid 60s, made great time. Probably the last bike commute this week because of Ivan. On Thursday we are expecting heavy rain with winds 20 to 30, with gust up to 50. :eek:

Damn you, head wind!

*shakes fist at sky*

Cold, wet, dark, blind and surrounded by cars.

Both ways.

F rain.

Same location as HereNT, temp was low 60s. Luckily the first 6 miles of my commute is on a bike path so I don't have too much of a problem with cars. So, it didn't bug me much. 35 and rain is going to be interesting.

First ride in a steady rain and my question about how the backpack would handle lots of water has been answered with the somewhat expected, "Yes, you will need a plastic bag if you don't want that wet."

My commute gear is all non cotton and dries fast so that isn't a problem, but drying the shoes over the monitor is a bit of a pain. And what do I do when I get an LCD panel at work? I think I'll give some rain booties a try, we'll see if this works with an SPD setup .

New to the forum, into my sixth week commuting. Started on a gifted discount store beater, now on a Trek 7100 that I'm planning a long, happy relationship with.

My time is down to 25 min. from initial 45, so now exactly what it took to drive.

Weather consistently gorgeous, about 60 F in AM, 5 miles one way mostly on path along the American River, I see maybe a dozen people each way, so I have the river much to myself. I almost feel guilty compared to those in cold and windy climes. Please don't hate me 'cause I live in California! :o

Oh yes, I work for a health insurer, so we are encouraged to 'alternative commute', and have nice showers/lockers here.

Why did I wait so long?

I'm looking at my Canine-Spanish dictionary and that translates to "!Venga! !Venga! !Venga!"

I had a nice easy ride into work this morning after visiting BloodSource for my semi-regular donation. The volunteer running the snack counter noticed my helmet and clicky shoes and it turns out he's a regular bike commuter too. Quote: "I can't imagine why anybody would drive to work in this town!"

Me neither.

Slept in yesterday and decided not to commute. I was cranky all day especially when I was sitting in traffic on the way home.

Today I had a tail-wind and the ocean was beautiful. Can't wait to get back on the bike this evening!

I'm a lucky guy!

I'm surprised your backpack didn't hold up better; I rode to work out in Seattle on Monday in the rain with a Thinkpad and it came out pretty darn dry. Of course, midwestern rain seems tougher that Pacific Northwest rain anyday.

I wouldn't worry about getting an LCD monitor at work... you know why ;). If you do, you can always drop them off in the lab in front of that heater^h^h^h^h^h^h Itanium workstation. Or better, use Pete's cube.

I think we should buy a clothes dryer for our office.

Yes, the booties will work with SPDs, they have a hole in the bottom for the cleat. Go to Target and get shoe goo or something like that and coat the edges of the booties, especially around the toes and the cleats. My shoes were still wet this morning so I wore heavy smartwool hiking socks, which made all the difference.

I found a hill (well a viaduct technically) yesterday on 45th St. NE going into the University District here in Seattle. It rivals that bastard on Summit/Grand Ave. in St. Paul. There are lots of hills that are almost that steep out here, and usually a lot longer, but the really steep grades have been a bit harder to find. I've been given some tips about some other parts of Capitol Hill and First Hill that are supposed to be brutal. I can't wait. I'm still satisfied with my double (39t/27t) for the climbing, but I have some 53t chainring envy on the big descents. 48t isn't getting me past 44 mph. Why I want to go 44 mph without medical support I don't know... oh yeah, so I can make the timing on the traffic lights.