Mechanical problems forced (?) me to ride mtn. bike today. Bike weighs something like 40 lbs and has very agressive knobby tires - not the ultimate commuting ride. Oh, and its suspended (bouncy).
Anyway, ride in was helped a great deal by 20-25 kn of tailwind. Good, but if it does not let up, i am in for an incredibly slow ride home.
Auto people were generally cooperative today & temp. perfect (65ish).
Looking forward to next ride, hope you all are to - ENJOY!

Just below freezing at 6AM today, but it was clear & dry . For the first time since last Fall, I rode in without a headlight! Just blinkies front & rear & sunglasses to mute the rising sun as I reached work. Gotta love Spring. Rode in to the capitol grounds for a demonstration with some co-workers & it was really warm & sunny, great fun & hard to go back to work in the afternoon. From today's WFSE Union newsmail:
[A few dozen anti-contract picketers gathered across the Capitol campus.
They attempted to block the Federation rallyers as they made their way
across campus back to union headquarters. At one point, an anti-contract
picketer drove his 10-speed bike through the Federation crowd that was
peacefully walking on the sidewalk. When the Federation group realized the
anti-contract crowd had blocked the street-level crosswalk across Capitol
Way, the Federation marchers peacefully altered their route over a nearby
pedestrian overpass] Our Washington State police reprimanded the union people for blocking the sidewalk, being confrontational & leaving their permitted area & we later received an apology from their spokeslady. Just for the record, we were about 75 strong & it was a 27 speed Torelli! Don

Good ride to work and home . Still need to dry up a little more . The high today was about 40 f.
Hve a good nite .

Wet ride on the way home last night. Got some misty rain, and then some hard rain about a mile from home. Not bad otherwise.

Ride in this morning had damp streets from the rain all night and tempature right around 41F. Soon as I pulled in the garage the sky opened up and another downpour happened. Supposed to be that way all day.

Traffic was lighter than usual. About 50F the sky was clearing but the roads were still wet. I've had worse commutes.

I jumped the gun on my trail commute yesterday. The ride home put me into 3 or 4-inch thick mashed potato snow. Wet, heavy, frozen granular stuff. The front tire plowed through it, wildly steering left and right. In the deeper snow the back tire simply gave out and lost traction. Bike stalled. I dismounted and walked to the next section of easier snow. Repeated this process several times.

I had two different joggers overtake me when I was riding. I felt like a dork!

Feeling badly outmatched, I stopped at a dog park and phoned my wife for a dust-off. She came with our dog, I loaded the bike into the cage, and the dog played in the park.

RAIN, rain and more rain. Usually I say it's better than a car but I'm not so sure that today it was. Train was late, single track section was flooded. Ok Ok It was an adventure so it was better than a car....but just barely.

Today's commute was GREAT!!! 50F (10C) and bright sunshine. :)

Then it happened, when I was about 1.5 miles from work. I was at a stop light on a narrow 4-lane road and was taking the lane. I was also at the front of a line of cars. The light changed and I started off down the street. Before I had gone a block I heard a loud screech and saw some sideways movement in my mirror. Apparantly the driver of a Honda Civic (directly behind me) thought his car was small enough to squeeze by me. The loud screech was either the Honda driver slamming on the brakes when he realized he couldn't squeeze between me and still be on the right side on the lane divider line, or maybe it was the screech of the dump truck's brakes that almost plowed into the Honda. Luckily I was in front of a wide driveway and pulled to the right just in time.
I decided to let the line of cars pass while I looked to make sure I didn't "soil" my shorts. :eek: My heart is still pounding. :o I think I'll bypass that stretch of road and take a side street from now on.

F**king Atlanta drivers. Each one thinks s/he is the only one in a hurry. :fight:

I have "commuted" here in Canada for about a year, once or twice a week...a nice 25 km. ride, some large hills to get a good workout. I was never quite serious about it - just on my mountain bike, knobbies, and a large backpack. I am moving to Europe this year (Netherlands), and will be commuting full time...hence my questions in another thread around around panniers. I consider myself a newbie to true commuting. The commuting there looks likea way of life - bike paths from town to town and through the towns as well. I am looking forward to it, unfortunately, a short ride (5km) to work...may have to take alternate routes through the Dutch countryside!

Wet roads and dry roads on the way in today; no other issues. Last nights commute was eventful because it poured down rain all the way home. A headwind caused the rain to pelt against my skin which sort of hurt. I need to figure out something to do about my feet during rain rides. I tied 10 gallon trash liners around my feet and taped the top to my leg warmers. This technique only worked so so with the water leaking in through the top of the bags. The water sloshed around my feet, and yet somehow the liners kept the inside of my shoes dry when combined with toe warmers. I think I my the connections in my headlights stopped working from the rain.

Barb
my bicycle commuting blog

If it is too long a ride to cycle in on the other days, there is always the "drive and ride" compromise. Gear yourself up, throw the bike in the truck/on the racks (depending on your vehicle), and drive halfway - lots of places to park for the day - find a Wal Mart lot, mall parking lot, or better yet - get ot know someone who has parking along the route - and use their spot during work hours. This way, you still get to ride..

Temps were in the low 30s and there was no wind. The weather was cloudy and so there was no sunshine. I ran into two other people out on bikes this morning. I saw a fox chasing geese near Ruby Hill. I always thought fox were smart, this one kept on running even after the geese took flight and were well out of its reach. Seems, I need to rethink my perspective on fox intelligence.

Commute home last night went ok.
-What went well was that I was able to perform a left turn in busy two lane traffic in the 'correct' manner.

Only a couple of minor things:
-Turning left into a road where a car was waiting to do a left turn out:
Just as I was turning across it, it started to move, and then braked when it realized I was there. That concerned me because I did indicate before making a turn. Maybe I should indicate for longer to make sure they see me, but then there is the trade-off that you have less control with one hand.
-Turning left into a traffic island:
There was a car behind that wanted to go straight. It was one of those 50/50 situations, I decided to slow down to let her pass before making my turn. Maybe I should have just moved to the left in front of her making her slow down.

Perfect commute on the way home. 64 glorious degrees, sunshine and flowers in bloom. Hated for it to end.

Wierd ride home from work this morning. Wierd because my rear blinky thing apparently took flight from my bike on the way to work. Riding home at 2am - exactly the time local bars kick the drunks out - with no rear light is kind of scarry!
Dealt with this temporary set back by being hyper-aware of cars behind me and getting way out of their way long before they got near me. Where i could ride on sidewalks, i did. Not proper, i know, but seemed sensible in this instance.
Anyway, got new blinkie thing today - will be back on bike immediately following 5 day vacation in Seattle!
Ride safe - ride hard - ride well - RIDE!!!

amusing ride home....at one large and dark 4-way light I had to stop at, the car across from me brighted me a few times, I finally figured it was over my light...I forgot the niterider and was using my 3-LED...so I unclipped it and waved it up and down a few times....then heard the guy in the car yell more mockingly than anything "smartass!" :p

The ride tonight was rather good, if I say so myself...oh and on the way home I BOUGHT CHEESE!!!!! :D

39F dry with a few clouds @ 6AM this morning: beautiful sunrise, quiet ride in. Rode home at lunchtime & noticed the beginnings of a saddle sore. 55F but more sore riding home this afternoon...aHHHg, time to take a few days off.

Frost and Mt St. Helen's makes for beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Got caugt in a bicycle traffic jam on the way home...The last guy in line complained bitterly...everybody turned and glared at the poor SOB.

Alot of mud on the way to work and home .
I had to wash off the bike & boots when I got home .
I hope It drys up some my tomorrow.
Have a good nite .

I wimped out on the ride home last night. I was tired, it was cold, it was windy, it was rainy, and I was tired. So I utilized the bike racks on the buses and took the easy way home.

Ride in this morning was nice. Dry, cool with tempature right around 33F. Slight tailwind. The day is supposed to be dry and cloudy, tomorrow the rains come back. Weeeeee!

I rode in the snow this morning!

Normally, in the dead of winter, I don't do that. I don't have studs, and usually snow means it's a storm and the roads are slippery and dangerous. Now, since it's late March, it's well into the high '30's already, there are only a few inches of wet stuff predicted, and it's supposed to all be gone by late afternoon. Furthermore, the roads started out clean. So I left early (which for me means before 7:30 AM), and sure enough, the roads were only wet, and I had no problems aside from from sitting here typing this in damp pants (after having brushed mucho sand off the cuffs).

Riding in the snow wasn't exactly pleasant (those lightly drifting flakes are not so gentle impacting your eyeballs at 20 MPH, and the glasses watered up too much to be used halfway through), but it wasn't too bad, and it's always nice to have a new experience.

I took the real long way round last night and my legs felt it this morning. A very slow commute.

Last night on the way home the temp was -2C. Good commute in today......-16C and calm. My rear derailler was first frozen in the granny cog; I was able to move it into the smallest cog. It could have been alot worse...I could have had to drive. Hopefully today is the last day for the full underarmour coldgear. It is supposed to warm up to +9C for Sunday and stay above zero well into next week. I am just itching to get on the new hybrid (Rocky Mountain RC-30) and hang up the studs and mtb I have used all winter. I got it for Christmas but the LBS said that as long as I am not riding it once it dries up I can take it for a spin and decide then if I want to keep it. I would like to get the next one up (RC-50) but I would only be getting a Deore derailler (instead of Alivio), a 27 spd instead of 24, upgraded brakes (not disc) and shifters; oh and its bright metalic red instead of blue. The cost would be an extra $300 CDN. Check it out. Do you think it is worth it?

right around 32 °F and overcast, but no wind. a little on the cold side for going barelegged, but i was more distracted by the fixed cup of my bottom bracket unscrewing itself. i love french bikes, but goshdarnit. i realized, after overhauling the bb last weekend, that i forgot to loctite that bad boy. i figured i would "just keep an eye on it." it happened pretty fast, though. getting home will be interesting.

It was grey and overcast with temps around 40, so it was a nice cool ride. Despite last night's torrential rain turning the first 3 miles of unpaved trail into a gully rutted, squishy ride it was really nice. At one spot the rains washed a boulder about 2-1/2 ft in diameter off a hill and into the trail. It is certainly the wierdest thing I have seen on my commute so far.