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.

How was the commute today? Chilly. I gotta learn that the TV news readings of temperature are about 100 miles away from me.
In Denver it was 50F this morning, up here north of Denver, it was 35F.
No gloves, touque, or thermals made for a chilly ride. Luckily a hot shower was on order.

Today was the first commute day that I actually turned around and went home due
to the weather. It was raining and gusting hard so the raindrops stung, there was a
ton of water on the road, and after about a mile and a half on my 11-mile trip i said
"SCREW THIS" and turned around. Luckily there is not too much going on at work today
so I can do my stuff remotely.

I guess there are levels of hardcore that I have yet to attain... props to all of you who made it in similar weather.

I forgot to post about the off leash cat yesterday. Probably the most amusing thing I've yet seen on a bike commute. A guy was crossing a residential street with his black lab and a black cat was trotting alongside the dog.

As I got closer, the cat froze in the middle of the road (stupid cat) and stared at me. I started smiling and slowing down. The human stopped and watched me. I looked at him and kept smiling as I was slowing down. The cat bolted back to the grass as I got closer and I made a squeaky sound at it.

I said to the guy, "He looks just like my cat!" (Which is true.) He said, "I'm lucky enough to have a cat that takes walks!"

Never thought a cat would be that social. I'd have to drag my cat by his neck to get him to follow me. :rolleyes:

It was horrible today, wind had to blowing about 70 MPH and of course I was riding into it, and the dust was blowing everywhere.

Good ride in to work today (75 degrees, very light wind) temporarily interrupted by 4 inch wood screw through rear tire!:( Had a spare tube, though, so not the end of the ride by any means - juat a minor nuisance. Rest of ride went pretty well. Looking forward to a very comfortable/enjoyable ride home around midnight.
Have a great weekend!