Nice ride to work and home .Nice weather today .
Have a good nite .

Not to wet at 6AM today, rode the Centurion rain bike through intermittent showers. By lunchtime the sun was out & it appeared to be clearing up. Wrong! but I foolishly rode back on my new bike & didn't even wear my rain gear. When it was time to go home at 3:30 it was raining again. I left my nice white jersey at my desk to avoid that black stripe up the back. I keep some clean clothes at work so I substituted a long sleeve blue shirt for my jersey, put on my helmet & headed for home. the rain gradually tapered off & had stopped by the time I reached home but I was pretty wet. Not cold though as it quite warm. Got out of my wet clothes then cleaned & dried the bike.

Pleasant ride in this morning. Tempature was around 48F. Slight wind and not much traffic. Have not been able to ride in as much because of after work commitments and some other stuff. Hopefulley that is all done with and I can get back to riding to work more now.

mid 40s this morning and quite insistently drizzling, turning to rain at the moment. perhaps it will stop. the weather forecast in the morning paper seemed a little odd - it referred to temperatures in the 70s as "seasonable", which they are not - and then i noticed it was dated september 28. ah, the sweet antiquities of times past! would they only persist as fiercely in my heart as they do on the breakfast table!

I had plenty of excuses not to ride today, but I took each of them on and rode anyways! I cleaned my bike from stem to rear derailleur on Monday night. I also put new tires on, and thought I was ready to go. But this morning the second of my pannier attachments broke. I fixed it with a bungie cord and an old leather toe-strap. Then my blinkie was dead, but I scrounged around in the messy drawer and somehow came up with two AAA batteries. When I got outside and pedaled my first stroke, I almost fell over because my chain had come off. I finally got going, but my rear derailleur was being twitchy, and the whole bike was grinding. I realized that I forgot to re-lube the chain after getting it sparkling clean. So I relied on only 2 gears, which got me the 12 miles to work after all. It was a glorious morning, 45-degrees, sunny, and the maple leaves are still pretty bright. I felt sorry for all those scowling faces stuck in cars in traffic.

After 2 rides in the 20s (F), this morning's ride in the mid 30s felt warm!

It was spitting very light rain. Not even enough to make the trail wet.

I was in Prague on vacation last week, and we hit a low of around 16F at our house during that time. I'm not sure whether I'm happy or unhappy that I missed a commute that day!

Great ride in this morning - especially compared to the craziness last night. There is a disruptive set of roadworks in the vicinity of my workplace, so the traffic this morning was backed up everywhere. No problem on a bike! at one point I passed about 1/2 mile of stationary cars on the outside. One driver tried to make a move to prevent me doing this, but since there was absolutely nothing coming the other way I just used the "wrong" side of the road. Ha ha, you're stuck and I'm not!

Cheers folks,

Ed

39F at 6AM today with patchy wet fog but I rode my Moto Grand Jubile to hopefully have a faster commute. About 1 mile out & on the darkest part of the commute, my headlight dimmed, then went out. I was just cresting a hill & didn't have much speed. While I was fiddling with the light (thought it might be a loose connection) I rode off the edge of the pavement onto grass & then went down when I tried to go back up over the pavement edge. Headlight was totally gone, & the butblinkies in each hip pocket went flying. Both went out as they hit the pavement! I felt some road rash & a very sore left shoulder but nothing seemed broken so I groped around & located my blinkies, got them operating again. As I got my bike up, I spotted the headlight of a fellow commuter approaching up the hill, he greeted me & we tried to ride on but my crank freewheeled & there was a ratchety noise coming from the rear wheel. We coasted down hill to a streetlight & found my chain off both front & rear sprockets. Doh! Got everything back in place & rode on to work. I am going to see the Doc this afternoon as the shoulder is really sore. It feel's odd & I don't have the range of movement that I ought to have. Serves me right for riding a bike without a backup headlight. Be careful out there folks. Don

More fog. That is all.

good ride in this morning, a little cold. I need to wear a base layer or something. It's really cold when I first start moving. Maybe I should do some jumping-jacks or something before I leave the house to warm up.

Last night I saw a couple other commuters, with lights and all...it was great. One of 'em really smoked me on a downhill. He had a nice road bike and was pedaling the whole way down. I was a little nervous to go over 35mph on my old-ass bike.

Nice trip in this morning. Mid 40s with a SSW wind 15-20MPH. Expecting snow Thursday evening.

I commute about 15 miles each way from W. Los Angeles down Venice Blvd. to downtown LA and on down to South East Los Angeles. If one is careful, it's not as hairy as it seems. Many drivers here are actually a lot more considerate than you'd expect. To me, downtown LA is beautiful at 6:00am. It's still warm enough to ride with a t-shirt here. I hope I'm posting this correctly.

Rain all the way to work and home . Lite rain on the way home and alot of fog .But still a good ride .
Have a good nite .

Definitely a memorable ride...Guess, starting doing Christmas shopping errands at a Border's 23 miles away is sort of a commute....Really sunny and near 70 for this nice November day...Felt good riding to Encinitas....
Problems of the day....new area, not sure which way to turn at pedesterian cross walk....I was not atop my bike but straddling it...Light turned green...Motioned car, I was not going...She waited anyway..By smile and wave suspected she was a friend of cycling...So, a pick up truck plows into a her vehicle that was stopped just before the intersection...She moved to have him stop..He gave me the finger as if I was at fault...He looked like a real jerk...If looks could kill...
Did I do the right thing...Felt she had him dead to rights...He hit her in the rear...He is definitely at fault...No need for me to stay..He sort of intimidated me...I expected flack...
Felt she did not need witness'....She had him...Think I should have stayed as a witness....Did not occur until I left...I expected crap from him....
Same ride...got my Christmas gifts of music...To be mailed overseas.....Went to second store...Got something for my wife...
Well cycled another ten miles to commuter train stop...Wanted to connect with local non stop bus, so I would get home before dark...Had no strong light....End of commuter train was 20 miles from home...So what happens....Two cars in Carlsbad had an accident atop the train tracks..Holding up the train long enough to just see my connecting bus take off, bike rack empty and all...Bus driver would not stop...No other direct bus for two hours...Found a bus reguiring two connecting buses , get me home with well after dark...Missed out on plans with my wife...
So bike commuting can bring about the unexpected...
Should have just left two hours earlier or taken a light and to hell with the combustion engine..
But, my Christmas music is great and our overseas friends will love this compilation cd...of the years best adult alternative music...
Had I just left two hours earlier, I could have gotten another 30 some miles of glorious sun and a crystal clear ocean for my viewing pleasure.

Buadrr! Commuted 10 miles this morning. The route is flat and totally open, it rained and was 35 fahrenheit, but worst the wind was 25 mph (37 km) straight in my face, it took almost 8 mph of my cruising speed. Looking forward to this afternoon where it should be in my back.

not bad...bit rainy...but not bad. Past a nasty motorcycle accident which made me pay a bit more attention to the traffic!

I feel I am missing some great biking weather, but with daylight savings time I just can't get on the road home soon enough to beat the dark. Even though I have lights on my bike, my wife feels with Suburban traffic(Chicagoland) that it is a bit too dangerous to be on the road in rush hour traffic. any thoughts?

very mild upper 50s and damp, some fog, the rain has stopped. no tense encounters, no fingers, no shouting. just a wonder to be out there.

An east tailwind at about 10K, -8C and clear skies. A good commute. Last night I had to get home quickly so I took the shortcut which involves significantly more riding in traffic. I don't mind the traffic but it sure isn't as relaxing as when you ride through Wascana Park and on bike paths.

Have a great day!

I hate riding during rush hour. It's not just the number of cars. It's that people have spent 8 ro 10 hours at a job they hate. They are hungry and tired. Therefore, when you are out there riding 18mph in a 40mph zone you just add to tire restlessness. Perhaps during that time take the sidewalk.

Your wife is a bit like mine, except mine has learned to accept the fact that I'm willing to brave Chicago suburban traffic in the dark. It's not as dangerous as it sounds but it can be tense at times. I have been riding Warrenville to Downers and back for the last eleven years -- not a mark on me!! Of course, when I got home Nov 1, my wife exclaimed "You're safe!!". She's accepted the fact that I am going to ride anyway, but she's not used to it.

Do it. You'll thank yourself come March when you already have your base miles in due to your commute.

By the way, I feel crazy saying this, but I wish the weather around Chicagoland would just get cold and get it over with. I keep overdressing every day just because I don't trust the weatherman!

Ah, yes. I just did my first day on the new commute. 29.5 miles in over some very hilly/rolling hill terrain (Calaveras "Wall"). Had a headwind and lots of fog, but did it in two hours. I feel great! I can't wait until I'm good enough to do both ways (vanpool back) and more than just twice a week.

Good things comes to those who wait...

Yes, we actually had mosquitos out down here in St Louis. Mosquito bites in Nov. It's crazy.

Did I mention I was Last night I drove through more fog after a very foggy morning and day. I mentioned that I was going to set my alarm so I could make a decision in the morning on whether or not to ride in the morning. My wife was very adamant about me NOT even considering riding in the morning because it’s going to be foggy. So I left it alone and slept in… This morning there wasn’t any fog. I was a little upset but I could accept it… NOT ANY MORE!!!! It is currently 53F no wind and Sunny!!! And I have to drive my car home!!!

Sorry for the rant… Had to get that off my chest.

Don, Sorry to here about your wreck. I hope it’s nothing serious with your shoulder. Hopefully you will have a quick recovery!