I was expecting a lot less traffic today, but it was still there. Hiss/boo. I'm a little worried about the ride home, as there will be many an idiot dashing from drunken parties to the mall to more parties to their homes.

oh geez :( I hope you're feeling better soon, jyossarian. Take it easy during the holidays

Well, no more commutes for me, nor any bike rides for that matter, until Jan 4th :cry: No way around it though.

Happy Holidays to all of you and your families :D Enjoy the time off and relax
- P

5/5 week! today traffic was liter in am, but was so amped this pm that i felt more exposed and vulnerable, not so much perceived feelings of semi-shared areas. it was good to be home! Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, May all your communting be fun and joyous. From the Spider.

I was worried last night for you, jyossarian. I had been reading the Strike! thread and heard about your crash. glad you're ok. As for the commute, took the main street through town most of the way to work. I'm getting more confident and willing to take the lane when neccessary. 56 degrees, and I was overdressed. (rant begins) The ride home was marred by some loser taking his Suburban to the local drug haven and almost left hooking me. No signal, no decrease in speed, no nothing. I rode up and slapped his rear window. When he stopped I pulled up to his driver's door and cussed him a blue streak, wondering out loud what he might be doing in a known drug neighborhhood. I was pissed because he saw me and smiled before he left turned in front of me. Took that smile right off his face. He decided to leave the neighborhood when I asked if he wanted me to run his plate number by the local PD, what with his being in a known drug neighborhood, and driving recklessly. I would rather have slapped him upside the head, but I don't do that anymore. GRRRRRR!!! (end rant)

The tires were tired but I thot they had one more ride. Was two milkes from the house when the sidewall on the rear tire blew out. Booted the hole with my last one dollar bill, inserted a spare tube, and limped back home. The wheel also had a broke spoke and got more out of true as I rode. Wobbled enough to make steering uncomfortable. Changed to work clothes and took the beater truck to work, twelve miles. At 12 MPG I'm out $4.18 for gas, and $25 to get the wheel fixed at the local bike shop.

And it was the first dry day in over a week.

Scary to read jyossarian's crash but glad he came through in relatively fine form. Speedy recovery to you! My commutes have been wonderful the end of this week and been way to busy to post much. I put a Nokian studded tire on my front wheel. Didn't have time to deal with the rear one yet but just the front makes a tremendous amount of difference. Two days off now and no commuting but I'm looking forward to the next ride.

Thanks to everyone for their concern. I feel embarassed for not being more injured. Truth is the crash was my fault which makes it more embarassing. My face is less puffy and swollen which is good. I followed up my trip to the ER w/ an 8 hr. drive to visit family for the holidays. Happy Holidays everyone!

Today's commute was good, volunteered to work. The company had a catered lunch for us, and I was still off at 2pm. Tomorrow I'm off, then on for 7 days in a row. Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer, to everyone.

Awesome ride today.

Nice and cool !!

Got to the train station at 5:30AM as usual. It's CLOSED. Turns out that December 26th they run a Sunday schedule, with the first train out at 8AM. So, I came on back home. I'll be back there in time to catch the 8AM train. Oh well.

Today was a nice day to ride, I went in thinking I was only going in for a few hours today, but worked the usual 12. Only 72 more hours of work this week,(I hope). I just wish there would be more than 1 dry day in a row.

I'm back in the saddle again, after sitting out our most recent cold spell. Just can't or won't handle the under 32 degree days. My ride in this morning was nice and slow, a relaxing pace which got me here in 40 minutes. Looking forward to the ride home this afternoon.

Awesome ride again ! A bit colder than usual but easily managed.

=)

Temp around 50°, nice breeze, clear skies.
I've been so slack for the last two weeks, that even given these conditions, it was touch and go, getting suited up and started.

Had a close call with a walker in the residential section, strolling down the centerline, he was. "I'm going to pass to your right side, sir" apparently sounds like "Move to the right, or die, walking pig-dog!" Rich food and a glancing blow from a respiratory infection made the ride fairly strenuous, but it felt good at the end. I got so zoned on the bike path that I cruised right past my usual bridge into town and didn't notice till I was almost at the next one down. Nice man at the train station was very complimentary of my bike and light. "You rode 11 miles ALREADY this morning?!" Remembered my Christmas book for the train ride, "A Walk Across America", which looks to be a hella nice read.

They're promising me a 35-40 mph headwind for the ride home, and 80 degrees. Yow.

I hope you all had as perfect a holiday as I did.

Whoo-hoo! It's good to be back riding my bike! My recent spout of laziness seems to have ended. It doesn't hurt that the weather is mild, and that I found the handlebar mount for my Nite Rider light.

This town is empty! It's good to know (I guess) that the world continues to fall apart even with most of the Feds on vacation.

Got an extra present on the 26th. The wife told the bike shop to put a set of Specialized Armadillo tires on my re-trued wheels

Heaven bless the understanding spouses.

Mine got me some Novara cold weather pants and a new rack for my ride. Almost makes me mad it was too warm to wear them today.

My commute in today was excellent. 59F, riding my Peugeot, with my new Brooks B17 the wife gave me for Christmas.

Tis the time for Winter Vacation Camp, so the Trail-A-Bike went back on. The first half of the ride was great. After that, my daughter began to complain of cold hands. It seems that her new ski gloves were "too stiff", so she rode with them partially off. We may have to go back to the lighter gloves. The first day pulling the Trail-A-Bike is always a workout for me.

Paul

Great ride to work and home. It was warm today, it had to be atleast 40 out. Isn't it something to go from 5 above to 40 in about a week? I hope the rest of the week is this good. Have a good night.

Heh... we northern California riders are *******. You think 40 is warm. We think it's about as cold as it gets around here. Lately the weather has been in the mid-60s with occasional light rain, and almost NOBODY is on bicycles.

Not too many people out on the west side of manhattan this morning. Didn't see my first biker until 80th st and the second below 60th (coming down from NJ). Very quiet out. Most of my body was warm enough, but my feet got real cold toward the end of the ride. In the shower this morning I was starting to wonder if I hadn't done some damage since they were still numb. Feeling ok now.

Wish I could have biked the strike last week. Felt a little obligated to help complete a foursome to drive in.

Feels great to be able to commute in during Christmas week. Hopefully Friday will work out as well, tomorrow looks like rain.

Nice ride in this morning. It was 30F when I left the house, and I dressed just right (well, my feet got a little cold toward the end).

Commuted by train today since my bike is still in police custody after my accident last week. I gotta pick it up today and of course, I forgot my receipt so I have to go home first. Apparently, the wheel's out of true too so I have to get that fixed before I hop back on. Commuting by train was interesting since I had forgotten temporarily where I worked and what station to get off. But deep down I knew since I walked straight to where I was supposed to get on/off to make the exit out of Grand Central quicker. I also got a chance to hit the coffee shop I hadn't gone to since I started bike commuting. They remembered me and I ordered my usual breakfast. The swollen lump on my face is almost all gone, the scrapes turned into scabs which then flaked off by Monday morning (good thing cuz it was really tempting me to pick at them) and now all I have left is a black eye which I didn't have until a few days after the accident. I'll just tell people I got it at my in-laws during Christmas.

Goodly amount of rain and a little wind. That's apparently enough to separate the men from the boys in San Francisco (although usually a bucket of cold water and a crowbar are needed).

I was the ONLY bicyclist on the CalTrain bike car this morning all the way from SF to Redwood City. These bike cars hold 32 bikes and are filled to overflowing in good weather.

Hard to get better than today's ride. Temp in the upper 40's, light breeze, freshly trued and tensioned wheels and Christmas-new Novara pants from REI to try out. Added about a half mile to my going-in route and chatted with a guy who promises to become a commuter as soon as he gets a light and new shoes for his bike. He thought my L&M Halogen was unbelievably blinding. I told him the HID's were vastly brighter, but I don't think he believed me.

Going home yesterday, I almost collided with another biker as we left the train station... Near T-Bone, as I turned left, not knowing he was shadowing me. No felony, no foul, though. Leaving early today, so the ride home will be in 100% daylight. That'll be a nice change.

Had a nice slow relaxing ride into work today. The weather was dry, clear and 38 degrees. This afternoon's ride will be in the 60s.

This was the first time in about 5 days that I haven't been hungover. I also had to go back to work today. Coincidence? ;)

Very sparse traffic today, as the rest of the known universe has the week off. At least it isn't cold, although snow is forecast for tonight.

51 degrees this morning. The ride was nice as school is not going on so there are not a bunch of cars dropping of kids. Took about ten minutes to get to work.