This morning was like a bike ride through the bermuda triangle of impaired motorists. Within 1,000 feet of home, this dude in a red pickup decides it prudent to race me to the stoplight to make a right turn RIGHT in front of me. Sure, I was increasing speed to hit the green light (the timing of which I know by heart), but I was in my bike lane and even slowed at first to give him right of way. When he didn't take it, I pressed on. So did he.

I wasn't two miles from my house before some clod in a white Jetta honks at me for properly signaling a left turn when he was THREE BLOCKS behind me. This, on a road where you see maybe one car at this hour of the day. It happened to be him this morning. Resisted the urge to salute him with the tall finger.

Lastly, almost to work, and a 90 year old couple decides that there could possibly no one else on the road at this hour, so why not just turn left in front of me while I HAVE THE GREEN LIGHT. Holy mother of all that is good and pure, it is a good thing I pay attention while I'm on two wheels.

Oh, and looking forward to the ride home. Going to take the trail in the event this behavior carries over into the evening - must avoid traffic. This makes the big vein in my head pulsate. :mad:

yesterday morning's fair skies and mid-60s gave way to swirling, spitting and mid-50s for the ride home. good thing i brought along my trusty rain shell, eh what?

today dawned brilliant and about 48 °F, but by the time i got on the road the clouds had moved in and the air had not warmed much. that steady tailwind was nice, however, and in combination with the heady scent of russian olive and the cheerful phlox bobbing along the roadside, i was tempted to pass the office and just keep going.

A little wet, cool(wore long pants!!!) but decent ride. Looks to be the forecast for the next week.

My commute home last night was great. It was the first time I've been caught in the rain.
I love the smell of COOL rain falling on hot pavement !!!
It's gives me as much joy as the smell of a fine meal or a fine woman!!!
On a scale of 1 to 10 it was a 10

You folks with rain make me jealous ;)
Yesterday was 107 while riding home at 5pm.
I got a "You total f-ing a-hole" screamed at me from a large dually truck with camping box that couldn't pass me on a 3-same-way lane road.
It became clear to me afterward why this upsets me. Not because I feel bad for holding them up, not at all because I feel scared or itimidated. No - it is because it depresses me that there are such total ignorant people that I live among. What a sad state of society. The secondary part is that I so want to respond, to let them know (with a punch in the face) that they are in fact the T.F.A.H - for being so inconsiderate, for not sharing the road with respect, and (this is secondary) for likely driving their weekend camping vehicle to work and hogging road and wasting gas.

Al

After bailing on my commute yesterday (killed my knee working on my back fence on the Sunday) it was nice to be on the bike this morning. Temperature was awesome, though the slight headwind (about 10mph) coupled with knackered hamstrings (again thanks to the fence work!) made it all a bit slower and more painful than it should be!

Quiet ride into work this morning. Nice weather, 45 degrees and no wind. Hopefully the no wind will hold until I go home, as it will be a headwind. Grr.

The weather was chilly enough to drag the coat back out. Then I was greeted with a slight headwind. I went outside for lunch and noticed that the winds have changed direction. So it looks like I'll have a similar slow ride home.

It's getting warm: going to clear 90 today, 92 tomorrow, and the day after that? It's getting that I either need to leave earlier so I can spin along at 12mph rather than pushing it up to 20mph, or I'm going to have to go back to wearing a jersey and shorts. Either way, I'm going to have to leave the house earlier.

It's another beautiful day (day two), but of couse this is the last of it for a while. None the less I've manage to log some serious mileage today. I had to go to my north office first and then back to my main office afterwards. I've managed a lunch run and I've got 38 miles in already. I'm going to take the longer way home and that should give me 51 miles on the day... unless my wife wants to go out on the tandem before the rain comes in... hmmmm. It's amazing what a sunny day can do for you (maybe because we haven't had very many the last month and a half).

Yesterday was my first commute after 2 weeks vacation traveling thru CO, NM, AZ & CA visiting friends/family & getting in as many rides as possible. Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Tucson, San Diego, Pasadena & Sacramento all have great cycling & I felt at least 2 MPH faster (something to do with not having to go into work the next day??) Enjoyed chatting with other riders along the way, especially in & around Tucson. I was the guy on the red Motobecane Grand Jubile with the big smile on my face. Seems Washington had wet & windy weather while I was gone but it turned sunny beginning yesterday. Planning some alternate routes for the remainder of the week's commute just to get in a few more miles. Don

Bloody fantastic on the way to work, bloody wet on the way back. I commute five miles each way on the Tobacco Trail in Durham, NC. Sidewalk to bike trail to parking garage. Absolutely gorgeous, tons of trees and mossy vines.

Yesterday I run into this huge clump on elementary schoolkids out for a walk. Of course nobody gets to one side so I make huge truck horn noises to clear a path. Some boy decides to throw dirt at me, so I say "son, your ass is mine!" and go to turn and the kid takes off faster than a fart in an Oklahoma dust storm.

You can't have this much fun in a car.

I've driven around half a dozen rabbits who freeze in the middle of the path, then completely freak and take off faster than a fart in...well, you get the idea.

Then there are the plank bridges t-h-a-t r-r-r-r-r-e-e-a-l-l-l-y make me wish I had a steel frame.

But the best part is the Lucky Strike tower looming over the complex. When I see it, I scream LUCKY STRIKE! and pedal like mad with that Cake song in my head.

And to top it off I get to wear these padded bike shorts.

It's like wearing hot pants with a giant maxipad stuffed inside.

And you can't beat that with a stick.

It's starting to get colder in my neck of the woods. It's at the stage where my jacket & gloves are just a tad too warm but without it's just a little too cold.

Thoroughly enjoying my commuting but I hardly ever see anyone else pedalling at that time, maybe in the warmer months (only been commuting a short time). I came upon a guy on a road bike in head to toe lycra yesterday morning, I tried to keep up but he left me for dead.

A crappy little dog that looked like a mop without the handle had a go at me last night, it sprung out of a shaddow ambush style, startled the crap out of me to the point where I almost went down. No leash ofcourse and the owner didnt seem too concerned so I gave him a piece of my mind, still didnt seem to care so I told him that next time I'll just run straight over the furry piece of $h!t then I'll shove the carcass up his a$$, not my most dignified moment but he definately got the message, especially since I chased the dog off as I left.

What is it with pre-dawn joggers & walkers nowadays, they're all dressed in black! I'm afraid that sooner or later I'm going to end up with a pedestrian for a hood ornament (handlebar ornament?)

Well, that's my random rant for the day.

Bad day at work . But good ride to work and home .
Have a good nite.

Don't feel too bad, my typical commute involves a headwind mornings and evenings, almost without fail. In the AM I ride west towards the mountains and encounter a nice little 10mph downslope flow. By evening the air has warmed up and is rising up the mountains. This pulls the winds in from the eastern plains, exactly where I have to go to get home. I've gotten to the point where I don't even look at my average speed anymore because I know it's going to suck. Oh well, hills are my friends and headwinds make me stronger. At least we've had nice temps in the 70s and 80s around here recently.

Aside from the above mentioned headwinds, my commute today was pretty nice. It was about 62 degrees in the AM. I was rolling along at a respectable, or so I thought, 20mph on a flat section when this big tubby guy went blowing past me like I was going backwards. :eek: I figured he had old mo working for him, and I was right because I caught him easily on the next hill. After that he started motoring away again, but I kept catching back up on every little rise. Good thing I arrived at work because I was out of hills and don't like to work that hard in the AM. ;) The PM commute was a little interesting too since I had to ride through a few deep puddles from the flooding Boulder Creek. No big deal except for a couple of wet feet. When I left work I could see that it was raining over my house so I took the long way home, and by the time I arrived it was sunny and warm. The puddles on the roads told me I wasn't far behind the rain, but, aside from my earlier wet feet, I stayed dry. Pretty good timing if you ask me.

Cooler than yesterday which made for a very nice ride.

edit: I almost forgot, this morning I was another commuter. He was on the opposite side of the road with a messenger bag and it looked like he was wearing an Atlanta Cycling Jersey. That makes a total of 3 commuters I've seen over the years.

Bright yellow ball of light in the sky this morning! It must be the end-times! The trail was, how do I describe it? Dry, I think is the word, if I remember the definition correctly.

Okay maybe the days and days of below-normal temperatures, overcast skies, and rain have taken their toll. Even hardened Vermonters are beginning to complain.

Anyway, a good ride. Saw 3 other commuter-looking people riding. Passed one of them (MTB), and the other two were heading in the opposite direction. One guy gave me a happy "good morning!" :)

Edit: Yesterday afternoon I was riding home and a guy coming toward me had nifty alternating white and red (dual) headlights. They were bright and very noticeable.

Sweet ride on my rental Catrike. The hills were a little slower than on my DF, and in general my muscles just haven't adjusted yet. Still, it was pleasantly cool, with a predicted high of 21 C this afternoon. Should be a sweet ride!

Now, if only I could see my co-worker's faces when they see the catrike parked near the bicycle stands. :D

This morning was even chillier than yesterday. Makes me wish I hadn't taken the gloves out of my bag.
As usual, I didn't see any other commuters. However my commute seems to be turning into just as mind-numbing of an experience as a ride in the car. So it's possible that I'm overlooking much. Don't get me wrong I still love the ride in, but I can tell I'm not "soaking it all in" like before. Perhaps I need a vacation or a different route.

Interesting ride in this a.m. For starters, the weather is incredible, I enjoy this actual spring-type weather we've been having (it usually just jumps from winter directly to summer in these parts!)

Passing through the residential streets, I came upon a young man, probably 9 - 11 yrs old, riding his bike to the neighborhood elementary school - following proper vehicular cycling technique, wearing a helmet, riding in the 'sweet spot' of the lane (not in the gutter), came to a complete stop at a four way stop sign, before signalling a left turn, and heading towards the school.

I caught up to the kid in no time, and told him I admired his safe cycling skills. He thanked me, and told me that he has been riding his whole life... :) and his parents take him on rides and show him these valuable skills. I was impressed... now I am not so fearful for the future of our civilization with kids like that in my 'hood.

A few blocks later, I stop in a local cafe for a cup of joe, and when I exit the shop, some guy is checking out my vintage Moto - nice ego boost first thing in the morning. We chat about our rides for a few minutes, and then head off for work. So far, it's been a good day - I just hope it doesn't rain on me tonight... the Moto has no fenders.

What a ride home last night. All week the wind has been on the nose but last night I had a 25 mph tail wind.
It was 78 degrees and a great tail wind: wish I could have kept right on going.
This is a new record for the commute home.

Interesting commute this morning. It was cool and spitting some rain but I made the best time yet with an avg speed of 17.2 MPH without a tailwind. Do others hammer on their ride, treating it like a personel TT? I am begining to wonder why I am in such a rush to get to work. :D

Oh, man! 27 degree windchill this morning that froze my fingers, brilliant sunrise over the Tetons, right in my face. What a way to start the day!

ditto grasshoppers weather. My left crank keeps coming loose, even after an LBS used torque wrench. Crank must be shot. I'm actually starting to look for a new bike.

very sunny today, a little warmer (around 60 °F). that north wind really got to me on the way home yesterday; it promises to be more gentle today. and then the rains return...