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.
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.
Rode to work.
Rode to the lunch thing.
Rode back to work.
Rode home.
What a way to end the week.

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!

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.

Stuck on Bents

FIRST COMMUTE TO WORK EVER!!!

The temperature was a brisk 6-ish degrees C, but with shorts and a jacket (and gloves) I stayed warm enough. Actually, I didn't sweat very much at all. My commute features three mean hills, the second one being the worst. I had to ride up the sidewalk for that one, I even had to stop for a second to regain my strength. No matter, I'll be able to tackle them all without slowing down too much... in time. My legs are a little tired and my lungs aren't used to the cold, but I'll adapt to that soon enough as well. Oh yeah, it was a 4km ride, but those hills... argh.

Drivers were polite, no-one honked and they all gave me enough space. We'll see how it goes on the way home during rush hour! I saw three other bike commuters on the way. Two outpaced me because of traffic lights in their favour, and one was going the opposite direction. Heh, that guy was bundled up like it was the middle of January!

Hmmm, what else? Oh yeah, I couldn't use my clipless shoes because I didn't have any way of bringing my work shoes with me. Size 13 steel-toe shoes are, um, unweildy when they're not attached to your feet! Someday when it rains and I take the car (sorry, not that hardcore yet) I'll take an extra pair of shoes with me and leave the work shoes in my locker.

Okay, started a new routine today. If it's new can it be a routine?

Monday
Drive to work and go for a run
Ride home

Tuesday
Ride to work
Drive home

Wednesday
Drive to work and go for a run
Ride home

Thursday
Ride to work
Drive home

Friday
Drive to work and go for a run
Drive home

Saturday & Sunday
Recovery days

Left the shop this afternoon, it's pouring rain and 70 F with 15 mph winds out of the E, which puts the wind right at my back for about 75% of the ride. HOWever, all is not roses. These roads are a crushed coral substrate in the asphalt, which means they've got about the same friction coeficient as greased teflon when they're wet. No kidding, in 42-23, my favorite take off from the light gear, if I'm not careful and stand on it like I normally do I'll spin the back tire and go exactly nowhere.

As I'm cruising on down the slippery road I'm thinking, "You know, theoretically, if you were going fast enough and lost it on this slick road, your body would continue in a straight line making it more likely that you could recover the bike and lessen the likelyhood of doing a gravity check." Yeah, right.

So anyway, I'm coming through town, approaching a light I've taken the lane when a car pulls out in front of the car in front of me. She gets on the brakes and starts to slide. I get on the brakes and the rear wheel breaks loose. The little voice (soft sultry female, of course) is saying, "Warning. Collision Imminent. Immediate Evasive Action Required....Warning. Collision Imminent. Immediate Evasive Action Required.................." Well we got through that one with everything right side up and intact.

After the big hill climb, I'm nearly home. Following a car, if we were going fast enough I could have been drafting. Now it's important to point out here that we drive on the left. She's preparing to hang a right. Turn signal comes on, brake lights come on, everything's groovy, then the little voice says, "You have room to pass on her left." The ditches on the secondary roads around here seem to be an after-thought. They're open pre-formed concrete with, usually, concrete covers on them, sometimes a metal grill work. This ones concrete until just past the car where I want to jook it back out on the road, of course right here in this spot it's aluminum diamond plate and I can't really see well enough to tell this because of the rain and fog on my glasses. For the folks that may have never experienced this, let me tell ya', wet rubber tires on wet aluminum diamond plate are slicker-'n-snot-on-a-doorknob. I lost both ends like right now.

I put my speed theory to the test. I'm now flying through the air in the cycling position wondering where my bike went. It's still under me, but in no position to keep gravity from sucking me to the ground.

Then all of a sudden WOOOO-HOOOOO, I've recovered it. I didn't go down WOOOOO, DID YOU SEE THAT? Wait a minute. There's nobody around but the car driver that just turned off. WOOOOO, I DIDN'T LOOSE THE FRONT END, I DIDN'T LOOSE THE REAR END. I COMPLETELY LOST THE WHOLE BLOOMIN' BIKE AND RECOVERED. WOOOOO.

Think there may have been a lesson in this afternoon's ride that I'm supposed to remember, but at forty something I would think I should already know what it is.

"Bones break. Be careful."

A co-worker of mine also rides and runs to work a lot. He does Iron Man-type stuff so it's training for him.

Haven't had a rainy commute in 2 or 3 weeks now. This morning it was in the low 40Fs and I had yet another nice ride to work.

This past weekend was perfect riding weather so I rode everywhere. I was to help with a fund-raiser/blood-drive, but I showed up too early. So I rode through the park and visited by biking buddy Dan. I felt bad because he thought I had come over to invite him along for a ride. Back to the fund-raiser and they ask me to go hang signs at some of the nearby shops. "With Pleasure!"

My car hasn't rolled out of the driveway since Wednesday afternoon and the only time I rode in a car this weekend was to go eat with some noncycling friends of mine. At least I didn't have to drive (I've never really enjoyed driving, not since I was fifteen at least).

This morning's commute to work was another great one. I just wish I had gotten up earlier so I could have taken the long way in. Still it's hard to get out of bed on a Monday morning.

I'll be headed out for Chicago tomorrow and will be stuck in a car for the next four days on a roadtrip. I'm going to see a couple of Nomeansno shows (any old-school punkers out there?). Should be worth it.

Warm commute, had to be 50F. Very nice ride with shorts and no wind vest/jacket. Legs were a little sluggish as I rode a lot on Sunday.

A great ride in this morning. Temps in the low 50's and my legs felt fresh. I'm back on my Surly after replacing my headset bearings this weekend, although it's not as nimble as the Centurion I've been riding for weeks, it feels a little faster and better suited for the bumps and potholes of DC streets. I'll probably break out of work a little early and head out to Wakefield/Accotink for some mountain riding, I heard the trails were in excellent shape.

What beautiful weather. First commute this season. Sunny and cool this morning. I couldn't ask for better biking weather. Enjoy your day from Schaumburg!

Excellent first day of the week commute. Today is 6C with very little wind and sunny. The nice weather is sure bringing out the fairweather cyclists and other athletes.

We are almost a one car family now. I sold my Saturn but took in a trade. The trade is only worth a couple of grand and it will soon be gone too. Anybody looking for a 1982 Grand Prix with 130,000 Km? I guess this wouldnt be the best place to try to sell a car. After this morning I can't understand why anyone would cage it too work if they had a choice.

Beautiful weather this morning, but traffic, especially truck traffic, was very heavy. Seemed like the entire route stunck of diesel. Hopefully a little wind this afternoon will clear it out.

Heading home on Friday we found a new bridge open and the detour we've been taking the last month is no longer needed. Fresh concrete and a new view is much better than the old pavement and tractor trailers we had gotten used to.

This morning the temps were in the upper 40's there was no wind and 10 other people out on bikes. I came accross a fox this morning, it was having a goose for breakfast. Looks like the score is even, Goose 1 and Fox 1.

Thank god for the commute. It was a really long, really exhausting weekend. I missed my group ride Saturday; I gave up my solo ride Sunday. The only time I got on a bike all weekend was to move it in and out of the garage.

A nice ride in this morning: cool and breezy with superblue skies. I brought a jersey and shorts for a "detour" on the ride home tonight.