My commute is pretty variable, but as I lack a cyclometer, it's hard to say just how far I go at what speed. I try to go absolutely everywhere on my bike - school, library, friends houses, coffee shops, and wherever else I need to go in a day. Going by averages, I'm probably on the bike nearly an hour every day.

While I lived in Italy, I rode with friends who had cyclometers. I averaged about 25km/h then - to the best of my knowledge, I'm as fast if not a bit faster now. So, call it 25ish km per day, average. What's that, 15ish miles?

Tuesday's commute left me with a flat tyre (I later removed something that looked like a bristle from a wire brush). To my embarasment, I had left my spare inner tube at home, so I bussed it.... Yesterday, we had freak hailstorms, which sucked alot (25mm Michelins on ice = no good at all). Today's rides haven't happened yet (more on them later, I suppose.)

Commute started out pretty much as usual, today - 74 degrees, light wind.
About half way to work, a most unusual occurrence in these parts - a motorist was considerate!! Saw him notice me in rear-view and intentionally creep forward a few feet to give me room to do my track stand (i'm not very good at it - requires a bit more room than it should).
A truly exceptional experience around here.
All in all a good ride. Hope you all enjoy yours.

My Comcast ISP has been down lately, hopefully ok now. We are locked into a Spring weather pattern: 32F-36F in the early AM with broken clouds & beautiful sunrises, showers & sunbreaks through the morning then turning wetter with heavy showers or hail in the afternoon & 50F. Had some excitement yesterday: when I went out with my 2 dogs at 5:15 AM, a raccoon shot out from under our deck. He ran for the lake & just escaped up an alder tree. I followed their noise through the dark & dragged both dogs away, then walked them back home for a big cleanup. Got them fed & settled in the kennel with just enough time left to ride to work. Will probably be a while before we see our masked friend again!

Great spring weather the past 2 weeks. Tonight I set a new record in the wildlife sighting department, 14 deer grazing in a field like a herd of cattle. Later I saw a more typical group of 5. The turkeys are also more active after the long winter. The roads are in tough shape with a new pot hole daily, but the longer days and lighter bikes make for some great commuting.

35F this am, no wind. Nice this pm put on an extra 7 miles.

Interesting turn of events at work lately, awhile back a co-worker said that I was an "Idiot" for riding in the cold. Guess who got a new scooter 'cause of the gas prices? Now we have a chat each morning as we get changed into work clothes. Nice guy.

Another great ride today. Hardly any traffic and a place to park my bike too. I do not know if I'll ride my bike tomorrow. That would make 6 days in a row. Have a good night.

Great comment!



I had a great ride today, both ways. Sunny on the way in, Tailwind on the way home, and I found a great way to navigate the exit from the expresway onto the MUP. The first time I tried this route (earlier this week) I had to stop at the curb and lift my bike up. My new way is clean, vehicular, and LEGAL! :)

Tomorrow will be my first bike-all-5-days week. Big up to all here for the supportive community!!

This morning's commute was chilly and lacking of energy. 30F degrees. Maybe the afternoon ride will be perkier. Great weather we're having though. Just wish the 25MPH afternoon headwinds would stop, already. :rolleyes:

AHPOOK, good job on the 5-day commute. ;) Feels liberating, doesn't it?

Great ride in this morning. Clear & sunny w/ 20mph tailwind. Cruising on 53x15 was pretty nice. The ride home should be a little challenging if the wind stays the same, but it's Friday so it's all good. :)

Nice ride in this morning. The temps were in the low 40's. The wind started calm, but the last few miles it picked up and was a strong head wind. There were 4 others out on bikes that I saw this morning. It has been a busy week, with some long hours in the office and too much home work. I'm looking forward to the nice mid-afternoon ride home today.

Since I don't have a computer at home, some of my posts here will be a day late. So anyway yesterday's commute included a trip by the post office to mail off my taxes. :mad:

Then I pedalled around downtown and ran into my friend who had offered me a cheeseburger a few weeks back. He called me over and we spoke for a little while and I made sure to get his name this time; it's William. After that I went over to our downtown "Music On Main" weekly outdoor event. I didn't see anyone else on bikes, except for two Pedalling-Police. So I stopped and asked them if there were any kooky local biking laws that I should be aware of; you know something like, no left turns before 1:00 on Sundays or something (I wouldn't be surprised with anything he may have told me). But the cops just told me to stay off the sidewalk and to get a helmet (actually after yesterday's ride, I started wearing a helmet). I never have been too crazy about cops, it's in my blood. I think they sensed that. Oh well...

Then later on in the night, I was able to try out my new headlight. It wasn't as bright as I was hoping but it's better than nothing. It provides enough light to spot obstacles even though it may not shed enough to know what that obstacle is. It's enough to let me know to move out of the way. My friends at the bar were glad to see that I had started wearing a helmet, which was kind of nice.

Today's commute to work was pretty chilly. I was a few minutes late due to having to wait at the ATM machines. One of them was being serviced and the line was longer than usual. I can't help but think I made the service man nervous, as he kept looking over his shoulder in my direction. Maybe he thought I had the perfect getaway ride. Who knows...

When I pulled into work, a couple of friends were holding the doors open for me. One told me to keep on riding inside, that there was no need to stop now. Once inside, another coworker actually cheered for me. I couldn't tell people how good I felt because they would have thought I was on drugs.

Strange things continue to happen on my commute. Just when I think I've seen it all . . . . Yesterday, my son and I missed the bus so I had to drag him on the tagalong all the way to school then continue to work. Almost to work, I'm on a busy 4-lane street. Red light. I hear this continuous beep, beep, beep, beep behind me. This 60-ish lady in a blue Corolla is making her way slowly through traffic. Sun is in her eyes. She is squinting. Is she in pain, is she having a heart attack? beep, beep, beep. Will I have to perform CPR? She is right next to me now. Cross-traffic is solid and slow. She inches out into the lane! What, she is going to run the red. beep, beep, beep. She is in some sort of hurry. She actually forces the cross-traffic to stop and merges into the lane, all the while beeping. I watch her weave slowing through traffic. Geesh. Weird.

Then yesterday pm. I change in a below level gym and then carry my bike up some stairs to street level, hop on my bike and move across a sidewalk to the street. Shrubs to my right. Halfway into the sidewalk . .. WHOA! Two guys on a bike zooming toward me, one on the handle bars, no helmets. My hands are on the top bars and I am halfway through my British style mount. I have no time to brake. I swerve. They swerve. The dude on the bars jumps off. We miss each other. PHew. They are laughing. I'm cursing them on the inside. But they are both bigger than me so I apologize and reach out my hand. Rider gives me a side handshake and a smile. We are from different cultures. Not sure whether this type of handshake is a sign of disrespect or not. We move on.

Chilly AM ride 38F, nooner ride was sweet. Took off yesterday as my legs were feeling deadWes night. I was passed by a roadie like I was sitting still so knew it was time to rest. Have a good weekend y'all, see you Monday after our ride in

Wonderful ride this morning. I was able to take a 19 mile detour by heading south to Freeport, across the Sacramento River, and back north on the levee road on the Yolo County side. Calm and cool with views of Mt. Diablo rising out of the pastures and vineyards of the Delta.

When I arrived in the traffic of rapidly sprawling West Sacramento, I felt genuinely sorry for the motorists trapped in their steel and glass boxes, inching along from redlight to redlight. With one exception: the woman on the celeste green Vespa (Ciao, Bella!).

How quickly I lost tolerance for cold temp. I didn’t think much about commuting to work in 34 or 35 degree temps and would just dress for it. But lately I’ve been riding during the day in temps of 70 degrees. This morning I thought I would ride and the temp was 43 degrees. I thought to myself – self its plenty warm to commute this morning.

Got out on the rode and about froze to death. - O when will the 50 and 60 degree morning get here. – It should be a great ride home !!!!

Well the ride in this morning was excellent. Bike was running well after the many upgrades over the past several weeks and the weather was excellent. Got a late start, so I had to endure more cars and honks than usual.

Now the question is, how much is my time worth to me? One boss is out sick today and the other had to go to a meeting and isn't coming back. So I could sit here bored for another 3 hours or pack up and go for a long ride this afternoon. I'll probably split the difference and get out of here in an hour or so and "pay" twenty dollars to enjoy the spring sunshine and perfect temperatures.

Ride home at 3am was pretty decent. Temp arond 56, no wind, no traffic, but incredibly slow.
Think i could have walked it about as fast.
Took today off the bike out of shame - and laziness.

GT, i called your boss. Said it was fine if you took off early. Actually sounded kind of surprised that you'd hung around that long on such a nice day. Sorry i didn't get this to you earlier. Hope you bugged out early anyway.

The ride in was EXCELLENT and the ride home was better. :beer:
I had to ride to downtown Atlanta today to do a lunchtime presentation (~2.5 hours of sunshine and fresh air) about bike commuting and Bike Month at the "Lunch on Broad" that Central Atlanta Progress and the Downtown Development Assocoation put on every Friday during the "nice weather" months.
They block off two blocks of Broad Street and set up dozens of tables and chairs so people can get out of the office and eat lunch outside and get some exercise and fresh air.
There was a great band playing (www.bobbyyang.com).
Had lots of people stop and talk about bike commuting. Five bike messengers stopped by (not all at once). Very friendly. Of all the people I talked with, they were the only ones who bothered to introduce themselves.

Most of my day was spent commuting/riding. :beer:
Rode to work.
Rode to the lunch thing.
Rode back to work.
Rode home.
What a way to end the week. :D

On my morning ride in I got a rear flat about 1/4 a mile from work so I just walked my bike in. First flat in 2 months so I wasnt to mad and I only had to walk for about 5 minutes. Fixed the flat at lunch, took me 15 mins which is prety good since its only the second time ive changed a road tire before and they are a pain in the ass to get on the rim. My topeak road morph pump worked like a champ and pumped me up to 120psi easy.

The ride home was against the wind and I kept getting crap in my eyes. I really need to buy some glasses!

Perfect! Sunny + 70F + tailwind = 17.5 miles of pure fun. Wish every commute was like this!

I commuted 6 days in a roll. Most week I only commute 5 times a week . But the weather was so nice I could not help my self . Have a good nite .

Great rides today, and my first "perfect ten" week - five rides out and five rides back.

Legs are a bit rubbery tonight but actually Wednesday night/Thursday morning was the sorest time. Can't wait for next week -- my new Jamis should arrive Thurs or Fri!

Hi all. I stumbled across this huge forum. I commute on my bike every day. 12+ miles each way in sunny (and rainy) Florida. It takes me about 33 minutes one way. It is an urban area. And during rush hour, I can usually beat my time home in the car. -Fast, fast, fast. 25 -27mph cruising speed. It is a total blast. And I feel great with the little bit of exercise I get. And I don't sweat or breathe hard! Am I cheating? You bet!
My bike weighs 90lbs with hookworms and cruiser bars. Ok, it's electric, and I pedal 100% of the time. Can anyone go this fast on a regular bike? I don't think so...Just wanted to share my experience. Power-assist bikes are here. Fast, fast, fast. So if you are riding a regular bike, and I go blazing by you, that is how I do it. Check out visforvoltage.com. I got a wilderness energy brushless motor kit running at 48v. It makes no noise at all. And people think I am the next Lance Armstrong--and so do I!
Am I riding a bicycle? Yes! And I go by the cops taking radar--they don't bother me. And motorists are not as pissed since I am not going so slow.
Ok, I know hard-core cyclists don't accept power-assist.
But for me, there is nothing more better!
See Ya! (disappear in my rearview mirror!)

Posting 24 hours later now. Friday PM's commute was hilarious. I dropped an ice cream truck! :D

It was Friday. The weather was great. The truck was going slowly on a residential street and it was in my way. So I passed it.

A short while later it started playing some silly ice cream truck music. A couple were outside doing yard work and they looked at me. I said, "It's not me!" The woman laughed and said, "It's the ice cream bike!" I laughed.

All in all, a good commute.

Today I went on went to use the bathroom at a hotel that was on the way of what turned out to be a 30 km / 18.6 mi. commute round trip.

So I rode up the drive, veerd(sp?) along the curb of the hotel,and stopped. The attendent askeed me if I wanted Valet parking. It's probably going to be one of those moments I'll never forget.

The commute was good, the weather was good, and even saw a few fellow bikers on the road out there. :D

Stuck on Bents