As I rode to work yesterday pre-dawn, there was a small rabbit at the side of the path. When I was about ten feet away, it popper straight up about 3-4 feet, then straight back down. When it landed, it raced toward my front tire (missing, thankfully). That was just weird.

My first commute today... I had planned on testing out routes around the area to see what was the most suitable way to work, but I ended up taking the chance and ride to work unplanned. Conditions good, traffic medium, weather cool. A good way to try out my first go to work without ever planting my behind on a bus seat. This is my commuting bike; http://home.no/mahl/foldr.jpg , a Dahon Boardwalk. Perfect for my needs and my tiny city-centre apartment. Also a very comfortable bike and fitted for my pretty short commute (20 minutes).
Turns out, on the first go, I spent 5 minutes less on the road than I usually do bussing there! Pretty incredible, really.. ANd this was straight from my front door to the entrance of my work facility. Seems bike commuting is the way to go.

What can I say? Another wonderful ride in with temps around 68 degrees. Although I was a little tired (haven't been sleeping well the last few nights), my legs had plenty of juice. I caught up with, and followed (not really drafting) a roadie who complained as I passed him. I was hanging anywhere from 3 to 8 feet behind and off center. I was basically waiting for a good opportunity to pass after warming up. He asked if that was me "riding his @ss", I answered "yes" and asked if he had minded. He said that it wasn't safe in the dark (he had a point, but I was never really on his wheel-and he knew I was there) and I told him that I knew what I was doing and just let it ride. I passed and accelerated to about 25 mph, passing 3 other riders and saw his headlight shrink as I pulled away. I finished up pretty strong and rode around in the garage for a few minutes to cool down. Not quite an "all ride week" for me (it will be one for a good friend of mine) but 4 out of 5 is pretty good.

Cool morning again, wonder if the remains of that storm in Florida will reach Vermont and bump up our humidity.

Had an interesting ride in this morning. Today is my last commute from the apartment I live at, on Monday I will be commuting from a different location. This morning while I was in a bike lane riding, I was coming up to a stop sign and there was a guy walking his 2 dogs in the bike lane. I politely say as I am slowing down "Sir, the bike lane is for bikes, please use the sidewalk" to which he replies "F you". So I said, "And a good morning to you too!" and went on my way. Nice way for a last commute on that route :rolleyes: The weather was nice this morning though, low 60s.

50Fs again this morning. Felt like I was dragging an anchor. Even checked to make sure the wheels were spinning freely. No, it was just me having zero energy. I ran about 5 miles on Wednesday and I think it caught up to me today!

My wife said I could get a new bike for my birthday (next week). Is it weird that I feel badly about giving up commuting on my old workhorse Peugeot? I want a suspension!

Yesterday, I was superman (I had a tailwind in to work). Today, nothing, nada, no juice, no zip. At least it wasn't too hot.

Oh well, it will get better.

Another great ride. I took the scenic route which adds 15 minutes but is alot less congested and feels "country". Took it nice and easy this morning because I'm riding a century tomorrow morning, and because I've been pushing it pretty good for the last few days. This week has been the year's best weather (as far as I can remember) in Boston.

Got my commuter frame out of the shop yesterday evening. I had to take it in to get the BB taken out (it was totally jammed in there). Looking forward to getting the new one put in so I can stop riding my "good" bike in to work.

Interesting week of commuting, mainly due to the drastic changes between Monday and Friday.

Monday was hot, mid 90's, typical calm summer traffic around town. Then, by Friday, the morning temps dropped to the chilly 60's, and Durham's population increased by the thousands as students arrived for the start of the fall semester.

I attended our monthy Bicyclists' Breakfast this morning, had coffee and conversation with our local crew of bike commuters. Every week, I see a few new faces show up...

Have a good weekend, everybody!

I rode Tuesday and Thursday and had flats both days… what luck! We'll try it again on Monday. Have a good weekend.

There was something else I wanted to write...

Funny experience with a blader this morning. I came up behind him. There was a stop sign up ahead, and we were approaching a couple of people out walking, so I was content to drop out of warp and coast until we cleared everything.

We passed the peds, safely navigated the intersection, and then the blader stuck out his left arm and gave a thumbs-up, moving all the way to the right side of the pavement. He hadn't turned around to look at me. I wasn't making any noise. I had no idea how he knew I was there.

As I went by him I saw he had a mirror on the helmet he was wearing. Very cool! I said hello and waved after I passed...

Man it was hot today. It was at least 70f when I took off at 7:50AM. I took it very easy and arrived at work in good condition. For the week I rode my bike to work 4 of 5 days, and walked the other day (my bike was in the shop and I didn't want two bikes at the office) (oh, and walking takes 23 minutes).

The highlight of the week came yesterday. As I was leaving the office parking lot, I crossed the street, and directly across the other side was a lady walking down the sidewalk. As I turned she looked towards me, and I to her. Our eyes met. She was chinese an beautiful. And I smiled and grunted something out that only I could hear and rode on. And as I rode away in disgust, I thought of all the clever, witty things that I could have said yet didn't. But next time! Yes, I will be ready.

I'm home today so I guess I can summarize the week of commuting M-Thu. We've had a very nice string of seasonal weather with cool mornings, thick marine layer, and mild afternoons -- PERFECT bike-commute weather. Suprisingly I haven't seen too many of my fellow 'regulars' out lately, but it could just be that my timing's off. I think I've only driven once in six weeks. The challenge lately has been holding back off the competitive (even self-competitive) drive enough so I don't hurt myself. Last week I hammered 3 rides in a row (Weds in and home, Thurs in) and I was hurtin' on Friday. This week I've been much better about taking it easy to keep it SUSTAINABLE.

Pleasant enough commute today. The last two nights I've needed my fancy new lights from Performance. I haven't had a chance to take and post pics yet, but for now let me say that I am quite pleased. Those 30W come in handy on bumpy, dark, narrow, tree-covered paths. :D

Warm to cool back to warm morning commutes this week. Little shower on the way home tonight. This will be a tune up for the up coming weather. Made 4 out of 5.

It was cool and clear this morning. Almost too cool. This evening it was raining steadily. My only rain gear is a very light weight sleeved poncho and a couple of those plastic bags that newspapers come in. These I put over my socks and inside my shoes - plastic tube socks if you will - to keep my feet dry. For the longest time I refused to ride in the rain. I had imagined to be much worse than it is. Now I actually enjoy it.

Oh, and I saw another bike commuter this morning - someone I'd never seen before.

...just finished my first week of commuting both ways all 5 days!!! (140 miles) Was even able to bring home all my dirty "work" clothes. Still have 2 outfits at work, now only if I can find a way to take my dress shirts to work...my wife will never have to drop me off at work.

You might want to consider one of these . Guy at my LBS told me about them; said they're popular with commuters.

Congratulations on such a successful week!

did half rides today, was seeing some friends in the afternoon and wanted to take it easy. say fakepearls on the ground i wanted to pick up.

after work, had some beers, and enjoyed the half commute back

good times for all.

Set a personal best time for riding in to work today. The round trip stats were 19.2 mph average (plenty of stops and other reasons to slow down) and 26.7 miles. Sundays are a nice day to ride to work...minimal traffic in the morning.

High 70's... nice and cool. No flats this morning. yeah!

Had a pretty nice first commute from my new apartment. No more bike paths or back roads though, all main roads with 45mph speed limits and no shoulder. Got an extra rear blinkie so people can see me and a glasses mounted mirror. Lots more traffic than I am used to, but it was still a nice ride.

Legs felt heavy today, kinda like the humid air felt heavy. Fenders may have to go back on the bike this week. :( Plus some heavier, seasonal tires.

Nice ride this a.m. The fog was so thick, I brought my blinkie with me.
By the time I got to work, the front of my body was quite damp from the moist air.

A bit slower this morning. I stopped to adjust my saddle height up a tiny bit, and stupidly set the saddle crooked, so had to stop again to straighten it. I think that's mostly what slowed me down. Passed 9 other commuters (that I noticed) this morning - nice!