jpearl

Hot and humid with overcast skies and annoying wind. Otherwise, much better than being jammed onto a packed subway car.

Caught a few moments of this morning's Tour stage before heading out, watched the action on the summit of the Col de la Madelaine. Left about five minutes late, but made it to work in time. Third time commuting, and third time passing "yellow super safety biker" as I call him due to his overabundance of safety vest, flags, stickers and reflective pads. Had fun pretending I was at Paris-Roubaix as I took a section of cobblestones in Soho.

The ride home was more fun. Two serious sections of cobblestones on West Houston going to the West Side Bike Path (boy do I love my 'cross bike). Nice pace on the path, caught up to and talked with a guy riding the same bike as me. Spotted about four other 'cross bikes today. Stopped to watch some marine construction in Riverside park, then did a relaxing spin back to my apartment where my wife and I watched today's stage of the Tour.

A good ride today, but I think Alexandre Vinokourev had a tougher, yet more rewarding commute: He had to ride from Grenoble to Besancon over two beyond--category climbs at full intensity!!!

PainTrain

One of those strange random decisions on the way in tonight. I went the 'long' way around the lake so I could see the sun set on the water, and so was not on the usual path at the moment a police helicopter crashed on it.

Needless to say, I'm asking myself "Why" right now at work....

jeff-o

Whoa, so you could have been killed by a falling helicopter??? Crazy. Someone's looking out for you...



My commute was frustrating this morning, as I hit every possible red light on the way there. It was as if I was 30 seconds out of sync with the world.

vtjim

My commute was slow this morning. It had nothing to do with the beer and pizza I was consuming until 11 last night.

Rain woke me up at 5 this morning but things had pretty much dried out by the time I left for work at 7.

I came up behind some old dude in a Land Yacht type of car. First he was just sitting in the road with his reverse lights on. (Red flag raised in my head.) Then as I was getting closer, the reverse lights went off and he slowly moved forward about 100 yards to a stop sign and sat there.

I came up behind him and waited ever so patiently. No other cars in sight. He must have been lost because he very. slowly. turned. right. Like: Slower than walking speed. I finally lost patience and went around him to make my left turn.

I think I'm dehydrated. Time for more water.

cicadashell

those always make me nervous, too.

this morning, at the ann arbor airport, we have 73 °F and 68 °F dew point; wind is faint, from the northeast. the airport weather is relevant because i ride right by it, every morning. thunderstorms are likely this afternoon. bring them on, i say!

bwinton

You know it's going to be a hot commute when you're already sweating, and you're still in the basement unlocking your bike. It's 30C (83F) here, but it feels like 36C (96F), and around 70% humidity. Bleah.

On the other hand, it was an oddly fun commute. Cars were backed up for miles due to road closures, but the bike lane was free and clear. And I got to take a side trip through some back streets I haven't been on since my daughter was born. On the way home, because of the road closures, I got to make a perfect left turn through a green light. All in all, quite enjoyable.

Now all I need is for a huge thunderstorm to come through (40% chance of rain!), and I should be golden for the ride home.

j3ns

One more reason to wear Mr. Helmut.

My commute this morning was the first one on slicks Or almost slicks, they are Kenda 26"x1.95" and have some small knobbies in the sides but smooth in the middle. Big change from the mud-tyres I used.
The weather is very nice now, perhaps I'll leave work (read: quit browsing the web) early today and enjoy my new tyres a bit more.

eastbaybob

This morning the for was back much thicker than yesterday. Temps were probably in the low 60's while humidity was up to 100%.

I left home a bit late late, 8:12 AM (work starts at 8:00 AM) and rode slowly as not to sweat. I pulled into the office around 8:25 AM, and felt much drier than yesterday. Once fully cooled down I was able to throw on some baby powder and felt fresh and new again.

caloso

Super hot last night: 103F at 5:15pm. Just a 20 minute ride home but I was soaked when I rode up to the house. I pulled off the shoes and jersey and sat in the kids' wading pool for a bit. Nice.

Super pleasant ride in this morning. It's so nice to leave at a decent time and to ride in casually, rather than leave late and have sprint for every light.

ahpook

I feel ya mhendricks. I biked Mon and Tues, drove Weds, and rode again today. The ride home Tuesday afternoon was pretty tough because of the heat. I took it slow but was shaking a bit at the end regardless (sort of pre-stage 1 heat exhaustion).

Hopefully this afternoon will ease up a little. NWS sez:

So that's good.

PaulH

Hot and muggy (75 F/24 C, 87% humidity) as anything, but a great ride!

Today we replaced our trailer with a Trail A Bike. The results were quite remarkable -- between the higher speeds and the end of belt/unbelt time, my 1 hour, ten minute door-to day camp-to-office time dropped from one hour ten minutes to one hour even. My daughter is just six, but she can develop significant thrust -- it really did feel like having a little motor back there! She loves being able to help out. She also really enjoys the view from the bike seat, as opposed to the more limited on from within the trailer.

Paul

SpiderMike

WET. WET. WET. OH did I mention hot and rain?

https://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...pstory/3266523

noisebeam

Yesterday going home was 115.9 F on shaded bike themometer at 4:30pm. I rode hard as usual for the first 8.5mi and then 1/2mi from home it got to me, nothing serious, just a lack of energy, so I rode the last half mile in easy. I watch the hourly weather forcast/tracking on weather.com and notice that the peak temp for the day always is between 5-6pm which is normally when I commute home.
Overall my daily commute is fairly typical. Mornings are always pleasant, traffic not so bad, almost no agressive drivers. Evenings for the last busy 3mi stretch with narrow lanes are miserable with pretty much getting yelled or honked at everyday with lots of agressive drivers. Very rarely do I encounter anything 'interesting' on the commute, so I can only talk about the weather.

Al

blown cue

Cycling is supposed to relax me, right?

Well, leaving the parking garage where I work, I had to cope with half of Durham coming in for the minor league ball game. Plus bloody pedestrians walking to the stadium. Stupid me didn't ride on the shoulder. Cars or pedestrians. Can I despise them both?

Once I got deeper into the trail I was better. Except when some skinny ass guy who admittedly is in great shape with his precious shoes clipped to his precious pedal ignored me when I said "hello" out of simple courtesy at a crossing light. So I drafted the guy for kicks. Listen, Sparky--I let you break away. You want to pretend to be Lance f-------g Armstrong, that's just fine by me. Next time I'm going to smoke your sorry ass, I'm going to be that last round of chemo you forgot to take.

In fact, I think I'm going to go out right now, throw on my lights, ride on the damn highway. Bastards.

(I feel much better, thank you).

spidercyclist

Had a good ride to work and home but when I was about a mile from work I had some dude growl at me as I went by him. I guess the world takes all types, so I just kept going. Have a good night.

vtjim

Nice ride this morning. Not hot. Could have been cooler though. Smelled a skunk.

Warning: Good-Natured Testosterone Commute Race Tale Follows!

Yesterday afternoon's ride home was fun. I was reeling in a guy on an MTB but before I got to him, he darted off the paved trail and into the woods. Beyond that point there's a stop sign. I was slowing down for that sign and Mister MTB comes zipping back out of the woods and proceeds to drop me like a hot rock, blowing through the stop sign and all.

This will not stand.

I accelerated from the sign and took up residence about 15 feet behind him, and stayed there. Him blowing stop signs. Me slowing/stopping for signs and then catching back up for sport. He never got up out of the saddle but he did bounce and push hard several times. He kept looking behind him. Still here, buddy! Keep trying!

The last sign he blew through, he yelled, "CAR COMING!" As if I was blowing through the signs as well. I came to a complete stop. Stupid cager stops and waves me through. Sigh. More sport... I get on it and get behind Mister MTB yet again.

At this point I can tell he's losing power. He was gradually slowing. 1MPH here. 1MPH there. For a while he had his hands off his bars and was pushing on his thighs.

Finally, he moved far to the right and slowed to about 15MPH, at which point I said, "On your left", and sprinted. Never saw him again.

bcritch

I had a nice ride in. It is funny how commuting on bike one is much more aware of roadkill. I have a opossum on my route that is truly funky! I peddle uphill and hold my breath.

eastbaybob

I left home at 7:52 AM am got to work at 8:08 AM. I rode very slowly for the most part, and also today was cooler than it has been. The result was dryness. Maybe a bit of microwetness of the forhead but otherwise dry. I turned on the computer and learned that the temp for the commute was 60 with 96% humidity, both lower than normal.

I feel really good as I commuted by bike five times this week out of five work days, for a solid 100%, my best ever.

skijoring

Nice ride in today, pretty warm out with some wind to cool me down. Gotta get a headband to delay the drips that invariably cover my sunglasses and create a blurred windshield effect. Had a friendly motorist give me a honk when they were about 50 yards back: that's OK. It's when they are next to you and lay on the horn that's annoying! Missed the commute yesterday. :-(

spidercyclist

Good ride to work and home. It is just a shame that work is such a drag. No help and it is hard to get time off. You know what they say that good help is hard to find. Have a good night.

capejohn

Not only the roadkill, but the injured also. I want to put them out of their misery but don't have the heart.

capejohn

Sunday commutes are the best. I usually have the roads to myself and also an extra 1/2 hr. to get to work. I took a detour today to travel through the city of Taunton and the old asylum. It addes an extra mile and I did a very leisurely pace.

mjw16

Left work Friday afternoon only to find that my front tube's valve stem had let go and flatted on me. Took about 5-6 minutes to change it then hit the road for my ride home on a fairly soft front tire. I couldn't outrun the impending rain and was soon caught in an absolute deluge. I was in between shelter points and was thoroughly soaked so I just kept riding-at least it was cleaning the residue from my recent 4 day ride in the dirt. Then, my chain started to slip everytime I'd bear down and try to accelerate. My middle and top gears just wouldn't catch so I had to ride home gently (a good excuse for the crank/cassette/chain upgrad that I'd been thinking about). In addition, after a trying weekend (truck breaking down on my way to deliver it to charity), I awoke to find that my new HRM is not working-no display (have to return it to Nashbar after just a few weeks of use).

Other than that, this morning's ride was nice; cool with moderate humidity. I took my backup commuter (roadie) and cruised in trying to guesstimate my heart rate for a cardio workout. This afternoon should be tough with heat indices nearing 100, but, as another commuter mentioned this morning "at least the wind is always in your face" when you're riding.

vtjim

What's left of "Cindy" is parked over New England and it's muggy. As usual, it's okay as long as I'm moving. Once stopped, I get mighty uncomfortable.

At 7:45AM:
Temperature: 77F
Humidity: 82%
Dew Point: 71F

James55Thompson

As usual a nice easy commute, temp 76 and sunny with no wind. Some drivers decided to give me a closer inspection, but otherwise, ride was normal.