Great ride home last night, tempature right around 65F. Slight tailwind and I had to stay late at work so when I left, rush hour was over and traffic was light. Not a bad ride at all!

Good ride in this morning. The tempature was right around 40F. The high today is supposed to get up to the mid 70's. I should have brought my shorts.

Man I was not interested in riding in today but I resisted the urge to hop in the cage. Yesterday I did my commute and then did a family ride with my son and wife. Hauling that trailer bike up hills is a bear. Well later that evening I had a volleyball match and this morning every muscle is sore.

Well I did it anyway (yea for me) and it is going to be a great day, high of 65* and bright and sunny.

First bike commute ever for me this morning - I am finally close enough to work to ride now (no more 88 mile R/T commutes).

What a gorgeous day - Was 34 degrees when I left at 6:40 pulled in at 7:30 AM, 12 miles later. Shocking to see how heavy my bike is when the panniers are stuffed with work clothes. Maybe I'll leave a few sets here at the office, or perhaps at least my shoes.

I found the ride in was really nice except breathing the heavy truck diesel fumes as I sucked wind while going uphill through a small town about 45 miles NW of Boston.

I found the toughest thing was getting my bike and my gear into the back loading dock door, and unloading my panniers to go to the shower room down the hall. What a hassle - worse than the ride.

How does everyone else carry all their gear? Backpack? Or do you pull the panniers right off teh bike and carry them with you?
Thanks
Rick

First Commute for a year or more on Tuesday. I have a new bike which is always an encouragment to ride :) My butt hurt like hell for the first 5 minutes and the legs felt wooden, I got blown away by a few other guys but I'm just sticking to my pace for now to let the knees warm up to it. I'm delighted to find that there is now a cyclepath for the majority of my ride, the path runs next to a railway line. Woops, looks like it have been more than a year since my last ride http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/cycling/pbn....html#maylands.

Man the ride home was hell with a headwind all the way and extra wooden legs. I had a rest today and I want to ride tomorrow but it may be raining with lightning so I don't know :(

Paul

My first commute today, too! Man, it feels good to be back on the bike after a long winter. Moved from Texas to DC and this has been the first time in a long time that cold has kept me off my bike...It is good to be back.

For any of you who live in DC - how in the world do you get from the Key Bridge (coming from VA) down to the Capital Crescent (K Street) without going down M to Wisconsin?

Hey Rick, What I used too do was leave as much stuff at work as possible, Heavy stuff like shoes. A good routine I had was to ride 4 days a week and then on Friday I would take in 4 days worth of laundered shirts and leave them in a locker or hanging inside a suitbag or whatever. I'd take a pair of trousers for the week as well. That way when I rode I only had to carry fresh socks and undies! that all goes in a pretty small backpack. It may sound like a cheat to drive one day a week but we used to socialise on a Friday night anyway so it would be a late ride home.

I worked in the city and had to use and elevator to the basement so I tried to keep the bulk down. I used to keep a lock on the bike rack at another workplace instead of having to carry it every day as well, Just leave it locked to the rack for when you return.

Happy and Safe riding

Paul

Couldn't be better. 50F no wind, light traffic. Think I'll ride across the street for lunch.

I don't find it to be a hassle. I park the bike in a bike cage, remove the panniers and change in my office. I don't find that I need a shower once I get to the office. I shower before I leave home; 5 minutes after I get here I am dry and feel as clean as I would if I had caged it. I have huge panniers that I carry a suit, shoes, jacket, lunch, extra clothes and tools. Yes, my bike with all my gear weighs alot but I don't focus on weight or speed. I bike all year around so it is going to be tough for fairweather riders to catch me.

Today was 0C and cloudy with a head wind. It is supposed to be 12C by Friday. I am looking forward to a family ride this weekend. We will be able to put both our girls in the trailer (26 months and 11 months) and make some miles.

props to all the first-evers. stick with it!

already mid-40s today. i got some extra riding in this morning when, about 4 miles in, i heard this thwack sound fading off behind me that i recognized as my cell phone hitting the pavement and tumbling to the curb. i realized i had forgotten to zip my pockets and noticed that my wallet was missing, which explained that other, softer noise i heard near the beginning of my ride. so i retraced my steps all the way home, where i learned that a neighbor had found it and picked it up. the things we do to get an extra 8 or 9 miles of riding!

our fair city took a stab at sweeping the winter's detritus from the streets a few days ago. in many places they only succeeded in loosening the hardened materials and spreading them uniformly over the bike lanes, which are now covered with a soft, well-graded mixture of grit, gravel, cigarette butts and broken glass.

the red-winged blackbirds singing in the reeds that surround the stormwater detention ponds are quite enough consolation, however.

Beautiful lovely warm weather here in Houston. 68 deg F when I left the house at 5:45 am. Warmed up even more as the sun came up. Short-sleeves all the way!

I get to ride home in a commuter van, so I don't get the afternoon heat or the afternoon road-rage. Love it.

Thank you for the encouragement. This morning was a little better though I'm not totally convinced that riding clipless has improved my cycling. However, I'll keep at it.

Congrats on your first bike commute! And to all the other first timers/returners as well!

The answer to the above question is yes and yes. Some people take backpacks; I use panniers and I always take them with me. I've had mine stolen when I left them on once. Check out the Advice for New Commuters thread (up at the top, like this one) for other methods/thoughts.

VERY NICE. :D
Didn't need the knee warmers or base layer. Just shorts and a long sleeve T-shirt under my lightweight vest (for visibility). Stopped at Kinko's to make some copies and dripped sweat on all my papers (they had the heat on :eek: ). I was glad to get outside again and cool down a little before I took off for work.
It's days like this that I almost wish I was unemployed again so I could do my 30-40 mile rides in the early afternoon. I sure miss those days. :cry:

Ahh... pleasant memories. I remember my first bike commute after moving closer to work.
I had a stupid grin on my face all day (love those endorphins!)

Nice ride in. I'm getting the hang of my new ride, so I was really flying a few times. Happy trails.

Rode in on my wife's hybrid again. With the headwind, it was like pedaling in sand. I think I may hook up the kids' trailer to it and fill it with milk jugs. That'll be my training secret!

I've been fortunate today so far. I had a beautiful partly overcast ride in this morning, then after I got in it poured all morning. It stopped raining at lunch time for my lunch ride. Now, let's see what my ride home will bring, looks pretty gloomy out there. It's been balmy for this time of year, right around 50F/10C.

Had to deal with an impatient driver this morning. I swear to god people around here either drive 10-15mph above OR below the speed limit.

I don't know if any of you read my past posts on here, but the raccoon roadkill is hangin out for the 5th week now. It's pretty disgusting... all you can see now is fur, shards of carcass, and a skeleton. Ick.

Rode in some fresh snow today. Temp. was around +12F (up from -7F a few hours
earlier). All in all, a nice late winter ride.

74 degrees and sunny! All the college girls are sunbathing on the quad, lots of frisbees being tossed (more pedestrians to dodge) Spring has sprung!

Due to some construction on campus, they have a path on my route blocked off, and the detour is a soggy path of mulch. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until my rims were mired in the muck. Dang nasty.

First commute (25K) of 2005. Left the house at 5:50am temp was -3C. Warmed up for the return trip +12C. A little out of shape and 15lbs heavier since my last commute in November.

Today was the first dry, clear, projected 50F day, but I had a MD appointment this evening so I drove to work, moaning the whole way. Got to work, MD's office calls and reschedules my appt to tomorrow night. Now I am going to miss riding both of the decent days this week. After this winter, that is just not fair.

37F at 5:45 AM today with broken clouds but it was dry. Sunny most of the day & just a few sprinkles on the way home this afternoon.

Good ride to work but on the way home, I was riding by a bunch of kids on a porch and I was hit by a rock from one of them. So I had some words with the kids. I told them I would call the police and rode on. Have a good night.

A lovely ride to work and back was had today. The stiletto chopper that I have been using all week is impressing me every time I am out. I was flying past folks left right and centre today, startling more than a few that a long, low chopper could blow past them so quickly. Some university students even videotaped me while cheering me on. I love spring.