Terrible!

My bike broke this weekend. It is in my car now, awaiting a lunchtime trip to the lbs. The freewheel is now permanently stuck on the back wheel, so that the pedals move when the bike is moving. And just for fun, the bike occasionally pedals BACKWARDS, making riding the thing totally impossible. Of course, I discovered this on a trail in DC, two miles from a bike shop. Even when I got there I was told that even if they had the part, they don't do repairs on Sunday. Losers. Thank goodness a friend in the area was willing to come rescue me.

Hopefully the part won't be too difficult to get, as I'm riding in a charity event this coming Saturday. Then again, if I don't have a bike, maybe that will push my cheap self to buy the Trek hybrid I have been lusting over. :) I just need a really good excuse to buy it.

Teresa

No sweat, Juha. :beer: Don't mean to cause a stink. I just think there are lurkers in this forum who are newbies or are contemplating commuting, and I thought they should know. They (and you, of course) can make their own choices.

Nice 18.5 miles in light warm rain. What a way to start the week. All in the dark too, what more could I ask for.

Standard ride.

My legs are sore as hell today. I haven't commuted since Wednesday due to saddle sores. That cleared up but I played football yesterday which left my legs fairly sore to start with. I told myself I would take it easy on the ride into work but that didn't happen for some reason. Now I look like an old man when I have to get up from my desk and walk somewhere. I think I'll have to take a drive in tommorrow and give my legs a chance to rest.

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. :)