A milestone; today I had my first commuting flat. I was just across the street from work when the front wheel went all wobbly and I noticed the tire rapidly deflating. I pushed the bike into the parking decks, dug a piece of glass out of the tire, and changed the tube. After two years of doing this almost everyday I'm finally a real commuter.

This is about last night's ride home. In Chicago drivers can be ticketed if they are not using those hands-free cel phone devices. I don't get it.. but I was behind two people on thier bikes talking on a cel-phone. I mean using one hand to steer and one to HOLD THE CEL PHONE.

I don't know about you, but I find it dangerous and annoying. The least they could use the hands free device. Ugh.

Well, it was a pleasant ride in today, humid. This afternoon will be around 92 degrees, will work up a good sweat on the way home. :)

Last night on the way home I had a run-in with some punk asshat on a bmx bike. It was 5:15pm in downtown when the sidewalks are full people leaving work. This genius was on the sidewalk next to the new Dept. of Education building when he started pumping his little boy bike up to maximum speed (15mph by my computer) and pops a wheelie, riding pretty much the entire block on one wheel. When he got to the end of the block he nearly took out an older female pedestrian, and was nearly taken out himself by a car taking a right turn.

I yelled, "Stay off the sidewalk, idiot!" And he gave me the finger, yelled "F*ck you!" and took off down an alley.

Well, I was pissed. So I turned at the next corner and I found myself about 100 yards behind the yahoo. I just kept spinning and closing the gap and when I got right on his hip I said, "Look. I don't care if you hurt yourself, but when you threaten the safety of pedestrians, it makes us all look bad."

He turned WHITE. And then he started cussing me again and tried to sprint away. Well, I'm on a road racer and he's got one gear and 20 inch wheels, so I chased him a bit. And lectured him, but mostly chased him because I wanted to see how long he could maintain 20 mph on his little toy bike. I said, "Why don't you give your little brother back his bike and you can grow up and get yourself a big boy bike, you can ride on the street like an adult."

I was still pissed, but that was fun.

That what it was this morning at 5am ;) Of course the humidity was only 40%.

7/22 Weather, Phoenix, AZ:
Time, Temp, Feel, RH, Wind D, Wind Sp, Pres, Precip, Vis, Sky
5am 91 90 40 E 6 29.83 0.00 10 p/sunny
6am 92 91 35 ESE 7 29.85 0.00 10 p/sunny
7am 93 95 32 E 4 29.87 0.00 10 p/sunny

Al

Caloso that was a good story.

A 5:00 AM Commute this morning so temps were perfect and I was in shorts and a tee shirt with no cares. Also at theat time I was able to take the direct route of 1.2 miles rather than the regular 3 km route.

Well, I wasn't sure whether to post it here or in the "Some Cyclists Are Their Own Worst Enemies" thread. I thought it went better here because I'm sure you guys all see the same sort of crap.

I can't wait until the afternoon commute home. This is what keeps it exciting!

"Today: Partly cloudy with afternoon thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. High 111F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%."

Al

Ha... Good for you. Some peer-police work was definitely in order. Laughing at the mental image of you loping along while he's spinning at 125RPM. :D

Foggy and cool this morning, warm and humid this afternoon. To many cars this afternoon.

Still it was a great commute.

Got to ride to work on a Saturday since we had to have locks changed. What a beautiful morning and ride home. I added 10 miles just for fun because it was so nice with low humidity.

Didn't really commute today, but I'm gald I went biking early in the morning. It got to 102 degrees here in Chicago. Right now it's 93 degrees outside and its 10 pm.

I had the weirdest night yesterday. Coming back from university at night, I encounter not one... not two... but THREE cyclists with lights on their bikes. Two of which had real lights and not just blinking leds! I'm in Montreal, QC, where I feel like I'm the only person with a bicycle around here that knows light is a good think to have when riding at night. And on top of that, I passed a pedestrian with a red blinkie on his head so he'd be more visible...

Never seen that before...

10c here at 6am N.East Scotland decidedly chilly. Only one car, a dog walker and two other cyclists in the whole 9 miles. It's the best time just wish it would warm up a bit.

whoa nelly! 79 °F, dew point 74 °, and it's barely 8:00 a.m. did someone pick me up and drop me into coastal carolina when i wasn't looking? a break from this stuff would be okay.

Missed my morning commute today, but had a nice 50+ mile road ride yesterday so the legs are a little tired. I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow. :-)

Had a nice ride to work this morning. Coolest day this month I would say, low 70's and the humidity wasn't too bad. Gonna be close to 100 for the ride home though, but I will be taking it easy out there.

Forgot to post here. Had a little near incident with a dumb jogger (with headphones -- see the "MP3 player" thread"), otherwise pretty good. I took it really easy to day for whatever reason -- I was actually passed twice. :eek:

The funny thing is when I left home, I had the fenders on the bike, b/c the forecast last night had been for rain. It wasn't raining when I left but I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't it be funny if it started raining just before you got to work so you'd get a little wet but not have really needed the fenders?" That's exactly what happened! :)

Looking forward to heat indices from 100-110F this week... joy. :rolleyes:

Stopped by the LBS to redeem my Trek Lucky 7 prizes: peak bar, keychain, water bottle.

Ride in to work was fine, just way too hot and humid... took it real slow this a.m.

The morning overcast was back which means the humidity was up to 100% but the temps were back down to the low/mid 60's. I rode as slow as possible and got to the office in a somewhat dry state. Because of the current heat wave here the a/c in the office is running when I get to work so I can cool down easily.

LOL! What a great story! I encounter those kids ALL the time on my commute- they are always riding on the wrong side of the road, causing trouble and pissing off drivers who end up taking it out on me later. I had the funniest images in my mind while reading your story... kudos!

Nice pair of commutes today. Little warm coming home (computer read 90 at one point) but it wasn't overly humid.

Question for racers or group riders: Is there some sort of signal I can use that tells a rider, "I see you behind me and I won't move as you pass?"

I was on a narrow section of the trail where I don't usually pass other riders unless I think they're going really slowly. I slowed up and stayed behind two teenage girls. Didn't take long before I saw a roadie coming up fast from behind. When he got close enough, I just pointed to the trail on my left as if to say, "I see ya, come on around."

He said, "On your left! Thanks!", passed me, then "On your left" to the girls and he kept going. Big legs. Lycra. Real thin tires. Didn't catch the brand of bike but he was sprinting pretty well.

After the trail opened up I passed the girls and expected to have a hard time reeling the guy in but I was surprised that I caught up fairly quickly. Going up a hill, he even got out of the saddle and I didn't have to do anything differently to keep up. His cadence was faster than mine, too. Made me feel strong. :)

Only half a commute today. On the way home a storm was coming with lots of lightning and my neighbor picked me up. Got to the house and another neighbor had hay baled but still out in the rain. I then helped get in hay in the lightning until it rained. Got an upper and lower body workout.

And I wasn't even out !

I missed a couple of days of commuting last week because I was sick, so to get back on the bike is a real joy. I had a good ride to work and home. My bike was making some strange noises, I'll have to look at it tomorrow before I ride it, but still a good ride. Have a good night.