A Beautiful 40+ this morning. I finally got a chance to wear some of my new bike clothes and they kept me cozy the who way in. I finally got a chance to ride again after some family issues that needed tending to. I hope to ride the rest of the week. I am really enjoying my bike commuting. I can't believe it took me so long to come around to this way of life. I guess I needed the cost of gas to go up so high in order to make some changes.

42 when I left home with the sun just beginning to come up behind me. Ten and a half miles later I was in my office thoroughly exhilerated from the ride across the prairie. Looking forward to the ride home, should be in the high 50's by then.

Can you imagine if it had hit a windshield or let's say an open convertible speeding along..Up above the truck really seemed to be moving at a high pace.Would not seem a pipe wrench would just be perched atop a bridge rail...Must have been blown off of the truck..

Who would have thought it? If you overhaul your rear hub, put in round ball bearings, and grease it up, you'll go faster!?!?!? This is amazing. I think I'm on to something, here. :D

I rebuilt the rear hub over the weekend, and the ballbearings were not round, if you tested them by rolling them in your fingers. After adjusting the cones to the right setting, I gained several mph on my ride. I can't wait to see how it does over the week. I figure some of that is from not riding over the weekend and eating healthful foods, but it can't all be from that.

I can't wait until I've saved up for an American Classic hub for the back. The front one spins so nicely...

I got a call at work... "You need to be home in 15 minutes"! :eek: I didn't make it, as my commute is 13 miles! I was home in 50 minutes, and that included wrapping up what I was working on, changing cloths, and answering the cell phone 3 times in route! :) 20.3 mph average!! :D

When I arrived at home my daughter wasn't even ready to go! :mad: :mad: :mad:

crap day at work, but it was all better after 9 miles in the saddle.....until i had to explain to my wife what was so crappy about work today :mad:

oh well.....I'll just sit here and drink some beer and shop for a new bike online, then get up early and get a good ride tomorrow morning.

45F with patchy fog at 6AM today, had a quiet ride in. 65F & sunny at 3:30 PM.
Wildlife highlights today: 1. A peregrine falcon that made a low gliding pass over me as I was leaving the parking lot for my lunch commute home. 2. A 2 point buck that was spooked out of the woods this morning by construction activity next to where I work. He spent a while strolling around our parking lot watching the earth moving activity next door where some of his woods used to be, then he calmly strolled through 4 lanes of heavy traffic on Martin Way & disappeared into the trees. Don

Wow 20 mph average. That's impressive.

Nice ride to work & home . Hardly any car on the road .
Thanks ....

20.3 mph average..Congratulations..My commute might be easier if not for confounded hills..Like the hills, but I know it lowers my average...25 mile commute with probably at least seven miles of climbing, effects the average..
Often on a long flat heading towards the ocean, I cruise for long distance at 15 to 20 MPH range..But, even in the flats, seems really strong headwinds constantly effect that...Like to think I could do 20 mph consistantly.

Great ride this morning until.... I reached the driveway to my workplace. This is a very narrow driveway (room for 1 car) and I had to give way for a minibus in the opposite direction. After this, I set off and the driver that had been waiting behind decides to overtake - too close for comfort - and gives me "two fingers"* when I protest. Well, I am determined to have a few words, knowing that at least this time I can catch up with the individual in question. Luckily I was in a good mood and feeling composed, decided not to use foul & threatening language (we work on the same site after all) so I approached with a civil "sorry about that" (shouting etc.) but did you need to do that? His charming response was "You tu*d". Charming! I continued to give a very civil but firm browbeating, conversation variously involved the following:
Me "Why did you make that manouvre?"
Him "I was trying to get around you"
Me "Why, there is only 100yards of drive?"
Me "how much time did you save?"
Him "I didn't know you were going to swerve"
Me "I was only just setting off as you squeezed past, you need to give cyclists a bit of room"
Him "Why don't you learn to ride a bike?"
Me "if you rode a bike we wouldnt have so much trouble getting to work in the morning"
Him "I do ride a bike"
Me, pointing to his car "That is it is it?" I couldn't resist that ;)

OK enough... But I'm quite pleased that I was able to keep things civil and explain the pointlessness of the whole thing. It was just plain dumb :rolleyes:



*an ancient English greeting made in defiance to French forces at Agincourt by English longbowmen. Now in more widespread use.

Good ride home last night. Traffic was normal and the wind was calm.

Warmer temps on the way in this morning, around 50F. It was rainy though, steady showers on the way in. Going to be like that most of the day I think.

Great ride in this morning, but it's starting to get chilly out there. My rr derailleur is having issues so I had to switch to friction shifting which, when using downtube shifters, isn't the easiest thing. On the plus side, it forced me to work in a higher gear and my legs got a better workout for it. I made good time even though I had little perception of speed since I couldn't read my computer in the darkness of my 5:30 ride. I saw another rat run across my path, I'm now convinced that it was a rat that I ran over yesterday even though there was no trace of him on the path last night. I guess we'll get some rain this evening and tomorrow-my goal is to ride through the winter this year.

Excellent ride this morning. 47deg. Thick, dead air. I did happen to spot a couple of 'stealth' runners. I like this time of year. Ed Holland, I envy your sense of patience with drivers. I have learned I must keep my mouth shut if I have an unpleasant encounter. For some reason, my vocabulary becomes very limited. :D

Beautiful ride in. Temp was 3c (37f). No wind or angry drivers and I mostly hit green lights :)

nice 50 °F overcast but a flat tire...poo. most likely one of those rocks i ran over. will examine later.

Well I did it again. Second time commute. A short one, 3.2 miles but enough and a nice one. Little bit of a sweat but earlier in the week I had packed in a sweat towel and some anemities. Sure wakes one up in the morning. Working on the bike slowly, got a rear rack now need to get a bag. Downhill on the way in, moderate hill tonight on the way home.
Kevin
Specialized Crossroads in process of becoming commuter bike.

38F when I left home this morning. Light breeze. I'm finally going to have to break out the head lights. Man, only 6 more months of dark! :rolleyes:

Nice ride home last night, but no ride this morning. My wife is worried about me riding if there is rain. Well the rain never came but I had to drive because I had a meeting I couldn't be late for and then the other person was late for the meeting. My best average was 17.2mph, but I am confident that over the next year with enough of this continued cycling I can move that up to around 20, after all I have only been riding consistently since July.

I have a mountain bike, will changing the tires to slicks add some speed? About how much if any?

Socksshep - slick tires on an MTB gave me another 2 or so mph average, plus a lot more cornering confidence. Changing to a cyclocross bike with slicks got me another bit of speed.

Great ride home last night. Just warm enough that I didn't need the jacket.

No ride in this morning thanks to an early meeting and a lunchtime appointment. Just makes me look forward to tomorrow even more!

An awesome ride in this am. 1000's of Canadian Geese on the lake preping to go south I would assume. Some stay for the winter but only a fraction. The steam was comming off the lake and made for an awesome picture. Too bad I didn't have a digital camera with me. It was -4C clear and sunny.

Bad commute this morning -- riding my MB instead of commuter. I haven't checked to make sure the seat bag had everything I needed. Of course, as Murphy's Law goes, I had a flat five miles from work. There was a spare tube, but nothing to inflate it with. My frame pump is on my commuter and the CO2 inflator is with my road bike. STINK!!!! And I didn't have a Presta adaptor so using the compressor at the gas station wasn't an option. This morning was the first time I have been late for work due to a flat. A friend of mine had a Presta adaptor and our shop at work has a compressor. The spare tube was a patched tube, too. We'll see if it holds out on the way home.

On the positive side, I was only a half hour late and did not blow my perfect attendance (and the nice bonus that goes along with it).

49F & clear at 6AM today, bright stars with no moon. I rode my Motobecane Grand Jubile & hit every light green: 12 minutes total commute time for my 4 mile commute, a new personal best & 20 mph average speed. Not bad considering the small hill I climb early on. By my lunch commute home a high layer of fog had obscured the sun, supposed to burn off & be 74F this afternoon. Don

It's been a warm dry autumn so far in the Sacramento valley, but that means fire danger is high. This morning there was a spectacular dawn as the canopy of smoke overhead was lit by the rising sun. Didn't bring the camera of course :(

After "playing around" with those adapters for several months I found that they don't work with every type of pump, so out they went! All the bikes at this house now have Schreoder valves! I even drilled out my touring rims to make the switch, no more diggin' for an adapter that might not fit a pump anymore!! Easier to find a hardware store tube out on the road too.

Today's ride was uneventful, dark and cool goin' in, & sunny an cool comin' home.