Okay, now I feel guilty about being on the west coast. A balmy 4ºC under mostly-sunny skies for the morning ride (15 clicks) No dire consequences, apart from riding past two schools where every single child is dropped off by mom in her massive SUV. Definitely a wacky traffic circus with all that parallel parking, u-turning, backing out of alleys, double parking, hovering, unsignalled turning…

Gotta love it, though. Even on the rainiest, darkest, windiest early morning, riding a bike is always—at least a little bit—fun. Goes back to the time I managed to wobble my first bike across the yard and crash into the fence.

Very nice morning. Got started a bit earlier than usual but by halfway through the 11-mile trip I'd stripped off my jacket. And hey, I didn't get a flat yesterday like I'd thought!

Most people log in to this thread to wax poetic about their day's commute. That is my normal approach. NOT TODAY!!! The commute in this morning SUCKED!! I intentionally left an hour and a half earlier this morning to beat the rain and to get a head start on a large project at work. Every was going as planned - the rain was a mere sprinkle with a little bit of a light rain mixed in occasionally and my cranky knee was feeling fine despite the cold and the head wind. Then the rain picked up and, as I turned a corner, I discovered that my rear wheel had picked up a large shard of glass. And I had failed to restock my patch kit or pick up a spare tube. I did have a jar of rubber cement (a remnant of my last oversight a few months ago) and one large patch. It took three attempts to get the patch to stick and close to an hour wasted. I was cursing as I walked through the door at work this morning -- it's unusual for me to do that in public! Snot was pouring out of my nose from the cold and rain. It took me two hours to shake the chill.

I borrowed a friend's car and ran to the LBS for TWO tubes at lunch. The half empty glass is slowly turning towards half full. Now, if this rain will slow down before it's time to head for home and if the Cubs will lose this afternoon, I'll be happy!

Sorry to be such a gloomy Gus, everyone!

Same old same old, nice weather but lots of pollen.

Hey Analog -- CUBS SUCK!!!

Signed,

A Cardinals fan who lives in Chicagoland

(I now feel a little better.....carry on)

25F with very little wind this morning. The sun feels warm now even when the air temp is so cold. Still finding it hard to get out the door so as to be to work on time. Good thing my schedule is not locked down to the 8-5 routine.

Well... On the way in I was in the middle of right lane of a 3 lane street, passing a long bus bay (crammed with buses and taxis). Half way through it I saw a bus begin to inch into my lane, so I moved towards the left edge, expecting the driver to see me and stop. He hadn't. He hadn't even checked his left mirror, I could see his profile in it - he was concerned with something on his right! I stole a quick glance to my left, and not seeing anything next to me, I proceeded to change lanes. Left edge of his front bumper got into the middle lane (the one I just changed into) as I was next to the middle section of the bus, forcing me into the middle of the lane. It all happened very quickly, but when I got into the middle of the lane, not having a clue what's behind me, I was horrified - I was sure something was going to hit me momentarily. I kept braking (not too hard) during these few seconds, and the bus pulled into the right lane and ahead. I got back into the right lane OK (having checked what's behind me first). I looked at his license plate and considered chasing him, but he crossed the intersection when light was changing to red, so I turned right and continued my commute. When I got to work and cooled down, I thought it wasn't worth pursuing it.

On my way back, I was in the right side of the right lane, just before an on ramp from a gas station. I saw several cars merge in front of me, slowed down, looked to my right to see if there are any more trying to enter the road. I saw a car driving slowly some two car lengths behind me, so I kept riding straight, preparing to cross in front of him. Before I could say 'f**k me', the guy blew by me at high speed. His right tires were on the shoulder, and he barely cleared the barrier to his right.

Other than that it's getting really warm - it was around 30ºC (85F) in the afternoon.

Phew,
Pawel

Yeah... well... that's like, your opinion, Man...

I hope you do feel better, you sounded a little ragged this morning...

32F with broken clouds at 6AM today, made for a beautiful sunrise but I let my speed get up a bit over 30 mph on the final downhill before arriving at work & received an "ice cream" headache as a reminder to keep the speed down.
"is the damn pine tree pollen that coats everything with a thick layer of sneezy greenish-yellow powder" I can identify as we have this problem every Spring too. Really cakes up & looks terrible on dark colored autos also. Don

Low to mid 20's this morning, with a little wind and sun. Most if not all of the bike trail
has been recently plowed now.

This was one of the few times I did not ride to work. The reason is that the aluminum spider on my primary bike is totally trashed -- all arms appear broken. I needed the car to get the bike to my LBS. I hope there is a crankset available that will fit it.

Tomorrow, I'll be back on my backup bike -- a fenderless, chainguardless hybrid with fragile tires Hope my "real" bike is back in service again soon.

Paul

72 degrees,slight following breeze, and new/better tires made commute in today quite tolerable. To make it even better, recieved applause at stoplight from cager who was at least pretending to be impressed that i beat him from one stoplight to the next - repeatedly.
My new tires (armadillos) are great!! I now am intimately familiar with every single bump, ripple, and pebble on my ride. Low rolling resistance does have its advantages, though.
Enjoy!!

I had a nice ride home too. I had a "serge" moment though! I caught up to another commuter who was a) panting pretty hard and b) jumping stoplights at the end of the oncoming turn-lane's turn. Said "Hey you know, it's really not worth it to jump the lights like that -- if you get hit because you do that it's YOUR FAULT! Just wait 5 seconds and it'll change."

I don't know if the message got received but I couldn't let it pass.

Mother Nature sure pulled a good one on me today.

Sunday afternoon it got up to the mid-60s F here in Maine, our first really warm spring day! We went to the beach. Yesterday I couldn't ride because my bike was in the shop, but it came back at the end of the day. So today, I was pretty psyched about getting back in the saddle now that spring is finally here, and I set right out without even checking the weather report. Good thing I had at least the knit gloves, because I quickly noticed that it was chillier than the last couple of days had led me to believe it would be.

Then this afternoon, it starting SNOWING. Nothing stuck on the ground, but snow was stinging my eyes most of the way home, with probably a 10 MPH wind sometimes against me. The temperature was mid- to high-30s F. Ha ha. Good one. Thank you, Ma Nature. That was really funny.

I guess I just needed to be reminded that this is Maine.

I had a great ride to work today. It was a little cool in the low 50's. Had to avoid a lot of construction. I even had a spot to park my bike. Have a good night.

How was the commute today? Wet. Really wet. Rain showers and wind. The rain is supposed to stop by lunch but the wind is supposed to get worse by this evening.

Good ride home yesterday though.

No commute for me today due to rain. Time to look into some fenders I guess.

Sunny and cool (52°F). The rain last night washed the pollen out the air as a front passed through, making the ride in wonderful. Happy trails!

I was all excited about this morning's commute. Yesterday I purchased a head light and a tail light blinker. But this morning my dog got loose and I wasted the last bit of darkness looking for her. So I'll have to test out the head light tonight.

Other than that, the commute this morning was great. Cloudy and cool with the usual minimal traffic. However the three miles seems like a teaser now. I'll have to start taking the long way in. The hardest part about the commute is turning into our parking lot at work. Oh the pain!

excellent ride, 42F, I dressed properly this time. Longest dry spell in a long time in these parts. knock on wood

I was actually excited to see the rain this a.m. - washed all that damned pollen away...
first time I could inhale fully through my nostrils without sneezing in days!

Usually I have allergy problems and being in the same general location, I can definitely feel your pain. But for whatever reason my allergies haven't been too bad this year. I thought it was due to the cycling, you know, actually having to use my lungs for once.

Nice ride at 49 F / 9 C. I took my backup bike today, which I was initially unhappy about, but turned into an interesting change of pace. For all its limitations, it was my everyday commuting bike for three years, and it was pleasant to start a beautiful spring day with an old friend.

Paul

A goose charged me the other day. That sucker came right after me. I instinctively piped up with my best goose honk. Aggressive little thing. Probably could have done some damage.

Two comments on my squeaky breaks, "You should oil those brakes", one from someone waiting at a public bus stop, the other from a kid waiting for a school bus. My first inner thought was, "You idiot, bicycle brakes don't get oil, they get adjusted". Fortunately, I've learned to filter my first response. Then I explain that I like them loud because they act as a horn to stupid drivers. No, didn't say that last part, filtered. I do a lot of filtering on the bike. Idiots, every single one of them.

This time of year they are protecting their mate and young ones. A few years ago, I got "too close" (I was riding next to the curb) and one whacked me in the back side. It left a huge welt!!

My rack broke away from the front dropouts this morning and dragged behind me. I was smoking down a hill and it scared the pee out of me (kind of nice on a chilly morning -- kidding, just kidding). The rack is 11 years old. Time to invest in another $15 rack!