Good ride to work & home . Still a little chilly out today . Have a good nite .

Got home in one piece on my second commute and dealt with a little rain toward the tail end (a sprinkle). To alter a quote from the movie "Say Antyhing":

"The Rain on my helmet is a baptism..."

A beautiful sunrise this morning...


and nobody on the bike trail except me

To top it all off, I have the "Guard" dog sleeping under my desk

Pretty decent ride home last night. No wind, warmer temps (low 60's) and light traffic.

Ride in this morning was pleasant. No wind, temps in the low 40's and again light traffic. Enjoyed the morning and took my time coming in.

what he said, only a little farther north. although i didn't take my time coming in, i enjoyed the morning all the same, as always.

great AM commute. temps mid 40'sF, woods are in full bloom, lots of great smelling flowers wisteria, viburnum to name a cuople. Even saw a fox

Nice easy pace on the ride in this morning. The old legs still felt very tired after Tuesday's ride. Sunny and 45F with no wind. Can't ask for much nicer conditions around here.

Yet another sunny ride in the 30Fs today. Beginning to get monotonous!

I took it nice and easy in today as well. Last night was Wed Worlds race ride and my legs felt like tree trunks this morning. But as usual I was nice and stretched out by the time I got to work. Now back to work

I'm in week three of my commute, and I was able to really work hard almost the whole ride today. Only had to slow down a couple times. I can definitely feel the improvement in my legs...

I also really enjoy the shortcut I found through this little county park. I ride into the park through the back of a neighborhood, around a bike/jogging path, then down this long gravel fire-truck-only-road that leads out into the back of a different neighborhood. I'm the only one there in the morning (in the afternoon there are often some guys playing soccer in the grassy area). I saw a rabbit on Tuesday... and there are some really nice-smelling trees blooming in the park.

And best of all, it eliminates like 5 intersections from my route.

Makes me glad I bought a hybrid though, I don't think I could ride on the gravel very well with road bike tires.

Wow, it sure was nice to ride to work this morning without gloves and a hat under my helmet. I took a longer way in this morning and did a eight mile lunch run loop and grabbed a sandwich. It's 70F now, a little windy but nice. I'll probably take the long way home. Spring has finally returned.

Foggy but a nice ride in ... no view of Mt. Rainer in almost a week.

Great commute today. It was actually in the 40s. (After being in the 30s every morning this week.)

Something amusing happened. I had barely started my ride when some guy on a mountain bike came out of the woods onto the road behind me. I was keeping an eye on him in my rear-view. He was sort of hunched over and looking all serious. I just kept going normally and he kept pace behind me.

Approaching a stop sign. As I usually do, I slow down so I can stop if necessary. MTB rider blows by me and through the stop sign.

"Okay", I thought, "I'll play cat & mouse with him." I followed him down a hill and onto the trail. We got to a slight incline and he began to lose speed so I dropped him and put a bunch of distance between us.

Next stop sign coming up. I slow down and I see he's rapidly overtaking. No cars coming, so I hit the pedals and deny him a flyby. Put some distance back between us.

Yet another stop sign. This one I have no peripheral views so I kind of have to slow down substantially before I'm sure it's safe to cross. This gives the guy ample time to overtake, and he does, and blows through that stop too.

I decided to stop playing leap frog and just paced him a few bike lengths back. He got agressive on the pedals a few times but I just hung out behind him. Eventually he turned off on a road. Giving up? Not sure.

Great ride this morning. Set new personal best average speed (had a nice tail wind)
Second day with my new Marin Novato... replacement for my stolen Larkspur. The Novato is a blast to ride - very responsive/maneuverable.

Still very paranoid about getting it stolen - tucked it away in the office underground parkade.

Oh man! What a ride today. On a climb out of an intersection, a porta john truck paced me with his bumper just off my rear tire, and his mirror filling my helmet mounted mirror. Verry intimidating. He stayed there about 100 ft until I abandoned the narrow paved shoulder for the gravel. Nice guy.

In town, while I was passing the usual line of traffic at a stop sign, a kid opened the passenger side door of a van in the line of traffic just in front of me. My new brake pads did a fine job. First time I was almost doored from the left.

On the other hand, while on the bike path portion of my route. At a blind intersection where the path crosses a street, and I'm coming from the right of the crossing traffic, a car actually stopped at the stop sign before crossing the marked bike path. I was amazed, first time in two years I've ever seen that!

Had a great tail wind on the way home wed. Hitting nearly 24 on the flats, 30 on the descents. Whooee.

Starting to warmm up again, upper 40'sF. overcast, chance of the wet stuff for PM ride. Legs feeling heavy after a 200 mile week. How do those xcountry tourers do it? Have a good weekend. temps in these parts will be in the 70'sF.

Today was commute #7 for me. It was a beautiful warm and clear morning for it. Thoroughly enjoyed the uneventful ride.

A hangover isn't the best way to start a ride but sometimes you just have to work with what you've got. It was all worth it. I had a great night and a great ride into work this morning. The hardest part was turning into work. That's always the hardest part it seems.

I couldn't believe what I was feeling when I stepped out of the house for the commute this morning. Mostly sunny and 53F! Sounds like rain and thunderstorms for the ride home. Bring it on.

Gray and foggy. 50F Great ride. Arrived comfortable...and not overheated. Must get the sweat-factor down tho.

I'm still having trouble with cable stretch on my shifter cables, especially the front.
It caused me to spend most of my commute twiddling with the barrel adjusters instead of focusing on my riding, so it was slower than usual. Very nice weather out. Gonna wrench for a half hour on my lunch break (now) and see if I can tweak it back into line before the ride home.

I have been commuting on my new Giant for 11 weeks now, with one week off in the middle (holidays). If I ride all five days it is about 120 km, but we have had a few long weekends here of late.

So I knew I would be close to 1000km at the end of the weeks ride, but thought I might fall a little short. Didnt think about it until I was home with bike packed up for the weekend, when I finally looked. 1000.0 km

I didnt do a pre-commute check of my waking pulse 11 weeks ago, but was a 20 a day smoker who had done little exercise for 18 months. This morning it was 52 bpm. Back where it was in the middle of 4 years commuting in the late 90's

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Ten mile round trip to work daily. Feeling better than ever!
Nice scenery, less traffic with fuel priced as it is...

This was my very first commute to work! I am a runner mainly, and usually just bike for cross-training. It was sunny and warm, which is how it is here about 70% of the year (in East TExas) I stayed mostly on the back roads, but I did have to go in traffic a few times and people acted like they didn't know what a bicycle was...especially in the 'hood....but at least no one threw anything at me. Even though I was wearing my Hello Kitty backpack! If I start doing this more I will invest in more grown-up gear.....after all I am past 40..

How is the commuting/riding in Durham? I am going there next week and plan to rent a bike from Durham Cycle Center for the week. Staying and working in Triangle Park.
Anyone in the area to answer a couple of questions?