Ride home this morning (2am) 62 degrees and 10-15 kn headwind.Enjoyable.
Ride in today around 80 degrees and the mother of all tailwinds - on a geared bike, I may well have been able to coast all the way to work. No prospect of a tailwind for ride home tomorrow morning. Forcast is for high wind to continue, but with temps in the 60s I'm reluctant to complain.

Got a new computer with altimeter. My commute is 36 miles roundtrip with 1500 feet of climbing.

I didn't have to go into work today, but I rode to a buddies' place near DFW airport. The wind was blowing directly in my face, with gusts of 29mph if the weatherman was correct. I was on a singlespeed, and to top it off right before you get to my friends' apartment I have to go up the steepest hill I've encountered in the Dallas area. In fact, it is the hill by which I set my gearing on my ss. I didn't have to dismount, but I was barely turning the pedals over. But the temperature was great and I flew on the way home. Still, I'd take a little bit colder weather with reasonable winds. Riding west today was just brutal, I couldn't even stand up to pump because my chest would catch so much wind that any power benefit from standing was more than wiped out, so I ended up tucked down as tight as possible, riding the drops to knife the wind like I'm racing, but I'm going about 6mph. I'm sure I made some motorists laugh.

Back on the bike this week after almost 2 weeks absence, and it feels great. This morning was rather windy though, requiring some care and attention to hold a straight line.

Cheers,

Ed

Carbon copy of yesterday morning, temps in the low 30s and no wind. There were 5 others out on bikes this morning.

No wind, fog, and 32F with high 60's forecasted for the ride home. I started commuting last summer, in the fall if the temps were in the low 30's I would have put on an additional layer on my legs and a lined, wind-stopping jacket on top of what I was wearing today. It's amazing what is considered cold in the fall compared to the spring! (Plus I learned that I typically was overdressing.)

I had frost on my sleeves when I arrived at work… I should be in short sleeves on the way home!!! :D

Minivans...GRR!

I'm about 50-100 ft from a stopsign ant a T intersection, in light traffic, I've taken the lane so I don't get right-hooked and I'm slowing to a stop. The woman in the minivan behind me decided that I shouldn't have the lane, so she CUT OFF the car that had just turned onto the road from the left (causing it to have to pull halfway off the road to avoid getting hit), pulled up beside me and then moved over toward me. Then she looked shocked and totally afraid when I put my hand on the passenger window. (I'm not sure why I did, it wasn't like my hand would have stopped her from moving over on me.) Then she slammed on the brakes since we were at the stop-sign. Then I started to make my turn and she decided to turn at the same time I did, swing wide, almost take out the truck stopped on the side street and then continued on. I saw her going and turned tight and went off the side of the road fearing she would cut back and hit me. I was right, she would have. What is wrong with people?

Oh, and why did I put my hand on her window? I almost felt like I was a running back trying to straight-arm the defender. There is no question the minivan would win, so why did I do it? It wasn't a consious thing, I just did it. I think I might have hit the window fairly hard too, which might have contributed to her frightened look, but I was only trying to avoid being the speed-bump that she obviously thought I was.

The wierdest thing about all this is that not one person honked their horn. Not the person that was run off the road, not the truck that almost got schmucked and not the lady causing all this havoc. I guess that's the difference between WI and NY.

Well this spring was worth waiting for. Took a while but riding is sweet. Everything is blooming everywhere, riding TO work in a Tshirt.

The classic "I can't be behind a bicycle under any circumstances" driver! :rolleyes:

I had one of those types on my commute home yesterday. Speed limit on the road is 20. So I'm going 20. Person had to get around me, doing probably 30 or 35 to do so before oncoming traffic, then proceeds to pull into a skate park a couple tenths of a mile later. I was past his parking lot before he even parked. Dork.

Anyway, I spotted two muskrats playing in the water on my ride home, and some Canadian geese. I didn't check to see if they had passports. :p

Morning ride was 40F and overcast. Dry, at least.

summer bike, cherry blossoms, tour busses...it must be spring!

Took a new route (more climbing) in to work this morning. Unfortunately, I got lost and was late for work.

23.49 miles with 1322 feet of climbing. I hit 43.3 mph and ate a bug!

Oh well, it was worth it.

Arrgghh... :mad: First wreck in years... Stupid me.
Maybe the weather is too nice:

I was headed home from campus for lunch, when I turned my head to check out a
bikini-clad co-ed suntanning on the quad.
I was going too fast and slammed into a brick column. Luckily, no one saw me.
The impact just threw my handlebars out of alignment, and tossed me to the ground.
I got some roadrash on my left deltoid, some busted knuckles, and a bruised ego.

That's what I get for gloating about the UNC NCAA victory. It's all about the karma.

Ah, great commute in this morning, mid 30's F and I got some extra miles at lunch time to go to our south office for a meeting. It's already 63F, shorts and short sleeves for the ride home. This is great!

Haha, yes, you certainly got what you deserved: girls in bikinis :)

My commute is 6 miles.

So I see that its raining when I get off at 2:30pm and I think "dam, this is gona suck", turns out I had a blast because of sudden weather changes!

I left and it was raining a little so I stoped about half a mile away to put my rain gear on and I head out again. More rain and now a thunder storm. I thought wow this is cool never rode in a thunder storm before. Raining even more now and my shoes are now officialy soaking wet (i cant find shoe covers) but me and my gear are dry. Few more miles and a sudden onslaught of bb size hail comes and by now some of the streets have flash flooded on the shoulders. I keep on going while other bikers getting off from school run for cover. I am smilling during all this thinking it is the greatest thing ever. The last mile all the rain/hail/thunder stops and it gets sunny.

I havent had so much fun on my bike in a long time. Now if I was going to work when all this happened I would have probably been pissed since I would have had wet feet all day.

It was perfect biking weather this afternoon in Minnesota!!!! :D :D :D

The ride home was most enjoyable!

Now you have a reminder to scan ahead (and maybe slow down) to check out the scenery. :D

Strong headwind all the home this morning (sniffle) and no bikini clad women (sniffle), but a really good ride all the same.
Time constraints forced me to drive car today.
Have a great day!

Tourists running to their busses in the rain toting giant golf umbrellas made for some tricky riding on the way home. My bell doesn't work when it gets wet. My voice does, but it's less effective. Happily, the rain was not cold, and I actually enjoyed the ride once I got past Cherry Blossom Central. Now if I could just get some little windshield wipers for my glasses, I'd be all set.

You might try using some Rain-X or similar product formulated to cause water to bead. Works pretty well on the face shield i use on my motorcycle.

Rode to work in a steady rain this morning & it was coming down even heavier at lunchtime. Had to put on rain pants with the jacket top for the lunch ride. The rain gear plus my booties kept me pretty comfortable but traffic was heavy enough to generate a lot of road spray. Multiple bikes give me lots of places to spread wet gear out to dry.

Glorious commute this morning. Just a hair above freezing, sun coming up. No wind. Blue sky. Snow-capped Adirondacks behind a glassy Lake Champlain. *sigh* :)

Makes up for yesterday afternoon's rain-fest!

Great ride this am. +8c, sunny, slight tail-wind, new chain & cassette, fastest ride of the year, to early for all the other bikes, pedestrians, mini-vans & SUVs... my world is a happy place! :)

Ride home yesterday was great as well other than all the spring morons... sorry... mentally malnourished individuals. Countless wrong-way & sidewalk "cyclists"... I'd say they out-number the good riders by about 3 or 4 to 1.

Vent time...
The most annoying thing was a cab driver in a mini-van ("Hey, I know, lets create the most dangerous combination imaginable and let him loose on the city streets! That should do away with those pesky children!" - At least I'm pretty sure that's what the cab company was thinking.)

I was riding along a fairly major roadway, keeping up with the traffic in the 30km/h school zones. As I approached an intersection with a cross-walk I could see a boy (about 5 or 6yrs old) approaching the cross-walk. I also noticed a mini-van cab at the intersection, impatiently waiting for traffic to clear. His wheels were turned to make the right turn through the cross-walk. He was watching me & inching forward. I shook my head & mouthed "NO". He was to impatient to wait for me and decided if he gunned it hard enough he could get into traffic in front of me so he wouldn't be stuck behind the "slow" cyclist. He didn't look at the cross-walk until the last second, hammered on the brakes & came to a screaching stop about 12" from the boy. :mad: :mad: GRRRR!

Unfortunately, I didn't think of getting his cab number until it was too late.

the ice: gone for good
time to swap knobbies for slicks
my joy will increase!

Great ride this morning. Nice temps, overcast without much glare, and none of the forecast rain. Hopefully the showers will hold off so that I can cruise around and run some errands on the way home today. Got one honk, by a Hybrid Civic, this morning. I can't blame him because I had to swerve around a pot hole, but still I consider the hybrid drivers better than most.

your prose is so sweet
that's what I'm talkin' about
I feel the warmth too

the ice: gone here too
studded tires are history
my avatar lies

We rounded up all our morrons and sent them Saskatoon. At least that was what I thought until this morning....in the first instance a commuter I had not seen before pulled up to lights I was stopped at waited for a break in traffic (which happened to coincide with the traffic signal turning to an arrow for the opposing traffic) and proceeded to run the red light, cross the 6 lanes of a major street and ride down the wrong side. Sometimes I think I should stay home on these first nice days of spring. I felt safer when I was the only Fruit Loop biking to work when it was -20C.

On the up side though it was a great commute. Shorts yesterday and today on the way home. It is supposed to drop to 10C for the weekend. That should send everyone back into their cars and houses.
Today should be a high of 26C....WOW. I am ducking out early. :D

Today's commute was horrid, I had to drive my car :(

Nasty cold & wet commute today. I got caught in a late season snow/sleet shower. Bleurgh!

Have a good weekend,

Ed

I look out the front door and the roads were dry, so I pump up my tires check the weather report and went out the door. The radar showed to the north and west but I thought I could beat them. Wrong! 5 miles in on a 17 mile commute it started to rain and I was soaked by the time I got to work. But at least it wasn't snow.