I've worked up to commuting every day. Strangely enough I made the leap to every day commuting when I was working for three months overseas, in the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. Bad air quality and chaotic traffic but I thououghly enjoyed the experience. That's when I got used to riding in the rain and figured out how to deal with problems and not let them keep me from biking. I came back home and found that getting in the car in the morning felt unnatural.

My commute today was great but eye-opening. My street bike (Jamis Coda Comp) was in the shop so I rode my old Diamondback mountain bike. I had forgotten how much better my street bike is for commuting in my circumstances - 14 miles round trip, some hills, some heavy and some light traffic. The mountain bike is great for some things but not for commuting, for me at least.

Durham, huh? Me too!

Hey Rick, I just wanted to say hello to a fellow Virginian.

I would commute about 6 miles round trip to my previous job at Office Depot a few years ago. I would ride my Klein Mountain bike which was fine but no road bike. I would ride in the rain and heat, morning or night. I found it peacefull in the mornings to hop on my bike and actually smell and feel the ride to work and not just see it. I did feel a little awkward sometimes, though, when someone would come in the break room while I was streching. :)

Great early morning commute today 6am. Fine fresh cool morning. Good after the excesses of the weekend at the Edinburgh Festival.

OUCH!!!

Went Down yesterday.... Was making a right turn onto a Street... Pavement-to-Pavement with a (1.5 ft) patch of WET Concrete... Damn bike just went out from under me... I did a pretty good roll with one foot still clipped in.

Funny thing, I am in pretty good shape, all I got (so far) was a little Road Rash on my Knee. Getting ready for a ride today!

It's great to be back on the bike this morning after missing all of last week. I was a little apprehensive as my left knee has been bothering me (just on my commuter bike as it turns out). I moved my saddle forward about a quater of an inch and that seemed to really help--very little to no pain this morning. I also re-calibrated my cyclo computer for my new wheels to get a more accurate idea of my speed (going just by feel, I was a little disapointed with some recent rides, but as it turns out I'm averaging 19-20 mph).

Nice and cool this morning - 62 F or so. Had to swerve around a fresh roadkill skunk, then got cut off by three(3!) drivers in a turn lane that I also occupied while moving forward. 2/3 of said drivers were on cell-phones. I wonder if they were talking to each other?

Edit: saw two bunnies and a group of wild turkeys(two hens and 6 poults). :)

Great commute, I had a late start but finally made it in.

Amazing foggy morning in Ottawa, wish I'd brough my camera, like something out of a Monet painting. Rode my Conti Ultrasport tires at 90 psi instead of 100 and it made the ride that much more comfortable.

Bit of a chilly commute this morning with temps in the low-mid 40s. Had to wear the arm & leg warmers with a jacket. Comfortable the whole way, but am not quite mentally ready for such chilly temps.

The morning ride into work to day was overcast, a bit cool, with a decent head wind. It almost looks like it'll remain that way throughout the day which would be nice for the commute home.

This was my first time commuting on a day besides Fri. and I liked it. Keeping my clothes from wrinkling wasn't as much of a pain as I thought it'd be. I'll be commuting M,T,TH, and Fri. this week. I just refuse to drive my car since I'm so ticked about the price of gas in SoCal. Anyways, I really enjoy the commute. I can wake up later since I don't have to ride before work and I get to work earlier than when I take my car.

Uneventful commute today, except for the brutal heat. Our area's typically oppressive humidity
pushed the heat index close to 100°F today. I replaced the old Weinmann center-pull brake pads
on my old Moto GT with some Kool Stop pads yesterday, and this was my first commute with them.
It was good to feel safe again ;)

WTF? Have not commuted in about 2 weeks. Today was hard, I was very tired, winded, yet when I got to work, I realize it was one of my fastest rides! WOW.

Wonderful ride in this morning, like fall. Cool temps in the 70's and breezy. It's also quite a bit darker than just a month ago. I felt good this morning and passed several other riders, however, I made a couple of bad choices on the road in DC. One I got caught between cars on the double yellow line trying to cross 15th street, the second; I cut off a truck that was pulling into our parking garage-bad move. I don't know what I was thinking, but fortunately nothing was that close and I'm here to talk about it. Usually I'm more conservative. I've also concluded that my rear hub has finally kicked the bucket. It's an XT with a lot of miles. It loosens whenever I remove the wheel and now makes a grinding noise. I think I'll replace it with something better as opposed to having it rebuilt. May be a wet ride home for us DC commuters today...

*Unbelievable!!! After crashing on Sunday, The ride in today was Great! I put on New tires on about a week ago... Conti Town & Country... well the Conti Rep was right, I gained about 3 mph on my ride in today... Then of course I was making those legs work harder since I was so jazzed up~!

Ride Safe

Yesterday: Fast ride. I ended up having an easy weekend just hanging at home and doing a few odd jobs, and the 2 days off the bike seemed to give me a lot of energy.

Today: Took it easy this morning. Didn't want to get out of bed, and I think I'll do a longer ride this afternoon on the way home.

What did Greg Lemond say? "It never gets easier. You just go faster."

My ride was very pleasant other than my annoyance at the driver who ran the red light at Vallejo and Land Park. She appeared quite elderly and her car had disabled person plates. She cruised right through the red at 30-35 mph and only after she got 100 yds or so past the intersection I saw her brake lights go on. Well, don't bother now!

Anyway, the rest of the ride was easy and slow. I fell behind a guy on a cyclocross bike who seemed to be going to the Capitol area too. Lost him at a stoplight that I didn't want to sprint for.

Still overcast and foggy this morning. It was nice though, the air was moist and crisp. Had my fastest ride to work yet. As I continue to get comfortable with the roads I should be able to get it down to 30 min. or so. It's a little hard to get out of bed but once I'm on the road I'm lovin' it!

Bennington Battle Day. No work, so I battled through a 28 mile ride through the lovely burgs of Shelburne, Hinesburg, and St. George. I saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk trying to be inconspicuous, while sitting still on a branch scanning a field for breakfast. Some pretty stiff southwestern breezes = not a very fast ride.

Bennington Battle Day? WOW, maybe they will come up with something like that for us people across the lake.

Mexico has Cinco de Mayo; Vermont has Bennington Battle Day.

Funny commute today. One car didn't see me, and pulled out from a side street in front of me,
but I was ready for it. A few minutes later, a motorist stopped in the middle of the street where
there was no stop sign, because I was waiting to take a left across his path. I usually wave these
people on, but there were cars backing up behind me, so I went. Then, after that, another driver
decided to change direction in the middle of an intersection, as I was following behind. She would
have right-hooked me, had I been further ahead.

This evening, I picked up our weekly crop and flower share, so I put the old rack on my bike this a.m.
I strapped the ½ bushel box to the rack, and tied up the flowers in a plastic bag and secured them
through the drops of my handlebars. First time I had done this, and it worked pretty well. My old touring
bike is turning out to be a great utility cycle. All I need now is a trailer.

A wet ride to work. First time in months since there was rain on a ride. Did not really rain on me but fell off trees, splashed off road. Used rear blinker light and most drivers gave me more room and respect.

You guys can celebrate if you want. The battle was, arguably, fought in New York State.

I did have to work, and my commutes were fine.

I made a karma deposit on my ride home. There's a section of trail that can be a little crowded (between the Burlington waterfront and North Beach), and today it was getting a lot of use. I hammered up the brief hill heading north and then waited it out behind a couple of kids riding with fishing poles. Kind of reminded me of when I was a kid. :o

Then I noticed one of their kickstands was down. (It was the kind that mounts to the rear axle...) When it was clear ahead, I bolted up next to him and said, "Hey watch that kickstand!" He looked down and said, "Thanks!" I watched in my mirror as he stopped to put it up. Might've been ugly if he'd taken a left corner. :eek:

Happy Bennington Battle Day!!

My company's moving out of town...they may want me to move with them...So when I was riding through the 'hood I kept wondering could this be the last time I may ride through this part of town...forever.

I wondered what it was gonna be like riding though some multi-laned lilly-white corporate burb. No chuckholes..no fear of getting jumped..no pricks in a beat up buicks trying to knock me into the curb on a busy 3 laner...