fixed rear + front brake = bike you can ride anywhere, anytime!

mid 30s (°F) here. from the radar you'd think it was snowing in ann arbor, but it is not, i'm here to tell you. further south, on the other hand, may be a different story; certainly the sky looks dark in that direction.

so happy i glued the fixed cup on my bottom bracket last night. so happy!

Gray, misty, damp... low 60's.

This morning I attended a newly-organized Biker's Breakfast, when local bike commuters get together once a month over coffee and food before the start of the work day. It is sponsored by the Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and it was the second meeting.

I saw some cool bikes, and met some interesting people. There were a couple fixies, a recumbant, a few road bikes, and a couple MTB commuter-conversions. The breakfast was attended by some locals, some Duke students, and some LBS employees.

I think this Biker's Breakfast is a great idea, meeting and networking with like-minded neighbors... any other commuters out there in Bike Forums Land have something similar in their communities?

It was awesome. Shorts, short sleeve shirt with lightweight vest, and bright sun.
In fact, it's even warmer and sunnier now, so why am I inside stuck inside sitting at this computer?
Maybe I can sneak out early.

Beautiful weather and I'm hoping to get a longish detour home tonight.

It was a beautiful day today & I had a nice commute after driving yesterday. There was a strange lack of cars, I was more than 1/2 way to work before I encountered one. Just riding along enjoying the sunrise. Supposed to receive a gully washer pineapple express type rainstorm this weekend so probably won't do any recreational riding. Have a nice weekend.

Great first commute of the year, took me too long to get back on the bike this year. 30 f this am, spitting snow towards the end of the 11 miles. Rode home with 2 coworkers, 40 f or so and light rain. Can I say it again... great to be back on the bike?

Woo-HOOO, car repairs are done. I can start commuting by bike again Monday.

Bet you don't hear that anywhere other than a bicycle forum.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually looking forward to the week starting on Monday! My new bike should be ready to be picked up then, and the temperature is supposed to go up to +12C by wednesday! FINALLY!!

I'm really looking forward to starting my commute on my bike. Hopefully I won't be squished by a car until after I get addicted to riding.

Comfortable ride in at 12:30 pm today. Took a little longer route to enjoy the weather, especially because I knew we were to have thunderstorms tonight. Got delayed a bit by church traffic and didn't mind a bit. Almost got hit near the end of my commute though. I was in a right turn lane and needed to merge left to go straight through the next intersection. The guy behind me was going graciously slow and acknowledged my signal to move left. Some yahoo about 3 cars behind him figured he had waited too long though, and pulled left, zoomed up behind me, then went back into the right turn lane so he could turn in front of the cars that were behind me. Idiot. We arrived at the light at the same time.

Very overcast today. Left the house at 0600 and rode down to the highway by-pass where I have a nice, lighted, straight, down-hill run. The light was red at the intersection going onto the by-pass so I'm rolling up slow in the right turn lane, we drive on the left over here, waiting for the light to change when Dork in the car behind me decides I'm not approaching the red light fast enough and hits the horn. So I stop. Short of the line, but too close for him to pass without having to stop in the intersection. The light changes and I make my turn into the right lane of the left side of the four lane, divided highway by-pass, then check my left rear and move into the outside lane. Shortly after this Dork passes me in the right lane and I give him a big smile and wave <you better be fast, Dork>. The hill steepens and I go into aero-tuck and start working my way up to 53-12 (times like this I wish I had something taller). At 68.56 K/h I blow past Dork and he doesn't catch me again until we're almost in town (a little over a kilometer from the bottom of the hill).

The rest of the ride to work was very nice in it's uneventfulness.

Passed a bunch of cars tied up in traffic on the ride home. Not nearly as windy this afternoon as was forecast. Dropped the chain once on the inside. Gonna have to make a few adjustments tonight for tomorrow's ride.

Edit-In retrospect I feel I should clarify my aero-tuck. This is not like the aero-tuck of a fit 25 yr. old on a fast road bike. This is a tuck that's as tucked as I can get over a 42 yr. old pot belly on a flat bar hybrid.

40F, rainy, and bad traffic. Approaching my last left-hand turn a jetta seemed annoyed with me taking the lane and proceeded to ride about two inches from my rear wheel. If someday scientist isolate the gene that makes people jerks I'm sure they'll find it occurring frequently in the metro-Atlanta area.

37F degrees under a steady rain. A great day to ride! I think the bicycle commute season has begun, barring a freak snow storm. One never knows here.

The rail trail has patches of slush-covered ice, but nothing impassible.

Yesterday I was down by the trail checking out its condition and I watched some big Ox on a mountain bike bomb right into a patch of the ice/slush. He barely held it together for about 25 feet then did a nice slow-motion slide & dump to the ground. I watched to make sure he was okay, and he was. Probably just a bruised ego.

A little soggy though enjoyable don't know the temps but not cold.

Spittin' rain, 12 mph headwind with 20 mph gusts, and cool (48°F). Traffic was backed up so I headed over to the bike path and took it in. A good day to ride! Happy trails!

45F and nearly calm. What a joy.

A really nice commute on this bright Monday morning (in the 50's); I could easily have kept right on riding. No rain on the commute in but it is raining now. The weather should clear up by this afternoon!! Had one jerk honk at me this morning, and I complied by flipping him off. Have a Good Day!

Barb
My bicycle commuting blog

Add 10°F, and you have my commute this morning. It was actually quite nice.

Although there were some stupid drivers that thought that having two lanes to go around me wasn't enough, and decided to let me know by honking that I was causing them to slow down to look at me. Bizarre. I didn't curse at them, though - I'm learning the zen of cycling.

Absolutamente beeeeeeeeeautiful out there. Gorgeatiffic. I would be really pissed if I couldn't ride my bicycle today. Sunshine . . . on my shoulder . . . makes me happy.

"This is a tuck that's as tucked as I can get over a 42 yr. old pot belly on a flat bar hybrid"
CommuterRun: 43mph is pretty fast, I'm 65 y.o. this year & now try to stay below 30 mph (48kph) on descents, so enjoy it while you can, you will reach my advanced state of degeneration soon enough. Don

Awesome lunch box there MapTester! ...you got Nav Tech runn'n on that thing?
Err yeah...my commute...windy with light traffic.

Heavy rain @ 5:40AM & once again, no cars for the first 2 miles of my commute. Maybe I should leave 20 minutes early every day! Heavy rain with gusty wind at Noon. There were a few sunbreaks throughout the day, but not during my ride times. Driving rain when my lunch was over so I drove back to work. Don

Mine too, though the spitting rain had pretty much stopped by the time I got out of the dr's office
and headed up to work (Santa Clara, CA). Roads were damp but not soaking, and despite the wind
it was great to be out there.

As an Aside, Hi everyone, I just registered to post here. Thanks for your posts both recent and in the archive.
Here's my introduction post in the other forum.

Looking forward to a great ride home!

Good ride to and from work today. Got to race a train on the way home. Almost beat him, but ran out of road. All in all, good ride. Have a good night.

Slid the cleat back a wee bit on my right shoe before I left this morning. Nice weather, partly cloudy with a little breeze at my back, out of the NW, 64 F. Left a little late so felt kind of in a hurry. Skipped the usual break stop on the way in. The rush was completely unnecessary, got there with plenty of time to spare.

The weather cleared and turned warm around noon, then got cooler, windier and cloudier through the afternoon. Wound up riding almost all the way home in the rain under heavy overcast skies. As I was leaving work I noticed something felt funny with my left shoe. The foremost screw was backing out. Really glad I caught that before it fell completely out. Probably something I need to start paying more attention to.

Debating with myself as to whether it's better to wear eye protection in the rain and not be able to see as well, or risk going without and being able to see better. At night in the rain there's no question. I can't see at all with on coming headlights on rain spattered glasses.

Good ride in for the most part. It was really foggy and I had to take my glasses off because they kept getting misty. Besides that it was a good ride, tempature around 35F. High today is supposed to get into the mid 60's.