After two weeks of freezing every day in the rain I bought some gear this weekend, sweet pants and gloves. So now the rain has stopped. oh well.

Cool & muddy on the way to work and home.
But still a good ride . Have a good nite .

Good ride in today. It was a little cool, but the high today is supposed to get to 72F, so that will be real nice.

Bought some new Shimano M-038 shoes and used those with my Shimano PD-m324. Pretty comfortable shoes, I think I need to do a little bit more with the cleat position yet .

Hey folks: Well this weather report for the Mid-Atl region is as good as it gets. After a wet late winter we have been bless with some great weather for months!! Well at least a month and a half, not much rain, lots of sun, mid 70's = great ride. We will pay for this come August but I will enjoy it now.

Woke up to a whopping 58 degrees at 5:00 am. First morning I haven't worn the leg warmers in 5 months. I think I saw maybe three cars the entire 15 mile trip. Of course I hit every conceivable red light and rode into a headwind, but ya can't win 'em all!

Commute home yesterday was done in record time - 11.7 Miles in 48 Minutes on ride time. I was pushing hard all the way, and didn't enjoy the ride that much so I'll slow down today. I had a softball game to get to!

This morning's commute was great. Passed a cute girl about 3 miles in, and then she passed me. We seemed to be riding about the same speed, so we continue passing each other for the next 5 miles. At one point she passes me, smiles, and says "Tag, you're it!" It was fun while it lasted, but she turned off the path with about 3 miles left for me. I hope to run into her again - not because I want to hit on her or anything, but because the friendly competition kept me at an honest speed the whole way in.

I have been out of commission a few days. I have been having problems with gear shifting which I continue to fine tune, but I took bike in today for commute #10. It was a lot of fun, almost a week since last time. Atlanta is heating up.

I have had rear derailleur problems (example, shifting to 5th gear and being in six, slow shifting, etc.) This link was a help (I was going about it the wrong way, before, just learning about mainting my bike, a hybrid, '04 Giant Cypress):

http://bikecenterusa.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=90

Good ride, I was somewhat in the zone or somewhere. At one point, I said, "how did I get here?" Just pedaling felt good. I saw a nest of ducklings just below one of the boardwalks.

Nice spring weather -- 57 F / 13 C. My car needed a new inspection sticker, so I drove to Falls Church and rode to work from there via the W&OD and Custis trails. Five miles without a stoplight or stopsigh! It always amazes me.

Paul
(who wonders how any car owner can get by without a bike)

I may have spoken too soon about summer arriving in Nor Cal. 51F when I left the house at 6:30 so I wish I'd brought my arm warmers. I took a circuitous route and finally ended up on the America River Bike Trail, where I noticed a lot of folks out. Maybe Ride to Work Week is having an effect.

Good ride in today. It might rain later today and tomorrow. I can't wait...I am as giddy as a school girl. As long as it is not cold, I love riding in the rain. Today should be 23C and tomorrow close to 20C.

Went to the bike shop after work to get some brake pads. On the way back home I see another biker a few feet off the road in the grass. Then he justs moves out into the bike lane in front of me, without looking to see if their were cars, bikes or anything. I look behind and since there wern't any cars I went into the center of the car lane. As I pass, I see he has some flowers in hand. I ask if everything is okay. He tells me he was picking flowers. I go along my way.

My commutes are generally uneventful, but enjoyable, so I don't post much here.
I've been riding my fixed to work for the past few weeks. Not much difference in speed or work vs. other many geared bike.
Temps are now into the low 70s (22 C) in the morning, so I work up a good sweat into work. Afternoon temps are in the very high 90s (36 C) - actually that is the airport reported temp, when I get on the busy concrete/asphault roads during the middle of rush hour, my bike themometer (in full shade from my body as I ride east) read 106.2 F (41.2 C) yesterday, but went back down to 99.9 F (37.7 C) when I rode thru a green park area.
Al

Well switched from just riding a bike path in the afternoons, to actually commuting again... Bike to Work Week was the motivator. Using my old road bike with the 700x23s and 13-23 with 52-42... tough on the big hills... but hell I need the conditioning. Tough on the bike too.... it really is not meant for the local condition of some of these roads... Yuck!

Decided to stay off the main arterial as much as possible... it always has been a moral buster... just too many hills and too many fast cars gunning by, lousy combination. So taking a different arterial that just doesn't see as much traffic... although it is a bit longer and I do eventually have to merge back to the main road as it is the ONLY road in one area going over one canyon.

One benefit of the light road bike... I am faster... Duh! But I really have to watch the condition of the road... as well as the traffic situations. Would rather be heads up all the time (which is why I have another bike... but I am working on it now and just ordered a new rear 36 hole rim)

Was cloudy yesterday and I thought it would clear, but it did just the opposite; it started to rain just as I was about 2 miles from home. Crap... just cleaned up the bike too... :(

Today looks far better so far. Pushing the motorists on one particular road, and so far the reactions have been OK... don't really like the tension though. Think I will look for a parallel road... of course it will be residential and slower, but more relaxed. Odd, the boulevard, even though a bit tenser riding, does allow me to move at well over 20MPH... just gotta keep an eye on everything... whew!

Figured out this AM that I could just leave my bike in the weight room... Duh! and all my gear draped over it and it should all be dry by the time I leave... plus I will keep pushing iron just before I go and my bike is right there ready to go.

I hope they get a shower in the new location... we are slated to move in Aug. and little has been said about stuff like showers and weight rooms... little stuff that keeps us worker bees happy. :D

Woke up this morning to 65 degrees. Said to myself "Self I haven't seen this morning temp in 9 months". Hallalua anyways. No wind, no coat, no traffic, and 65. Was a great ride to work but looking at the flags for the return trip, it will not be near as fun, SE wind 25mph :-( Oh well

45F this am no real wind to speek of. As I got to the only stop sign of the ride in a guy pulls up, we both exchange pleasentries. Turns out we leave from the same town, but that's all the chat time we had as I was now at work. Look forward to seeing him again.
Also had rained abit before I left so I tryed out my removable mudflap extention to my fenders. Worked pretty well, the breeze from the forward movement nearly extends the front one to the bottom bracket. Really kept the toes dry too.
Ride home uneventfull, about 10 degrees F warmer.

40 degrees to start off, was overdressed and started to sweat. Will try a lighter coat. Was a beautiful morning for a ride except the cold. Will try again and maybe tomorrow.

Good ride to work and home . My bike is working well .
It was a fast ride to work. I hope my ride tomorrow goes as well . Have a good ride .

We have sunny skies today, which made for a lovely 10 mile blast to work. Maybe I will take the long route home if things stay fine,

Cheers,

Ed

Good ride home. Warm with temps in the low 70's and no wind. The ne shoes and pedals are pretty spiffy! Made some adjustments to the cleats during lunch yesterday and the ride home was great.

Ride in this morning was pretty good. Cool with temps in the low 50's. Nothing exciting happend.

Chilly again this morning, I could see my breath which means I had to wear long pants and a windbreaker. This afternoon it's supposed to go up to 17C, so I won't need that jacket for the ride home. I'm looking forward to when I can ditch the long pants and jacket for BOTH directions.

50'sF, sun, no wind, tired legs. Nice ride but I gonna need a rest soon.

Bike to Work Week rocks! I have rode 2 out of 3 days so far. Unfortuneately it will be my last until next week due to morning meetings and home commitments to compete with getting to work on time.

Just changed my knobbies on my mountain bike to slicks, what a difference. I rode just as hard but had an easy 2-3 mph change in speed. If not for the headwind I probably would have set a new personal commuting record. Averaged 17+ mph for my 12 mile commute and easily reached 20 many times(that rarely happened with knobbies). My wife wonders why I don't just ride when I wake up, how can a non-athletic person ever understand the euphoria that comes with the xen of biking. I can't seem to put it into words for her.
My personal success story, I have converted a fellow teacher here at school to be commuting on bike as well. Take that Big Oil!

Had a good commute in today. Cool and comfortable. Passed a couple of commuters on MTBs going in the opposite direction.

I don't know how people can ride in work clothes. I get all squirmy and uncomfortable just thinking about that. :)

Monday evening I was in Montreal, Quebec, to see Porcupine Tree (great band!) and noticed a very large number of cyclists out and about. Fixies, MTBs, roadies... It was nice to see, except for the couple of wrong-way cyclists and red-light runners.

After the show there seemed to be bicycles locked up all over the place! I don't remember seeing that many bikes in the past. Maybe I just never noticed before I started commuting.

Here is a question for everyone. How often do you clean and lube your chain? I seem to be lubing about every hundred miles or so. I bought new lube_ Cross country? supposed to be more durable and last longer. Any feedback on this stuff?