eastbaybob

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.

ahpook

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.

oboeguy

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.

detrieux

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.

rickwilliams

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.

postmark

...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.

Longhorn

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!

dmarcoul

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.

billwatson58

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.

WonkerJaw

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

luckysnafu

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.

skijoring

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.

* jack *

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.

Stubacca

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!

djgonzo007

Very nice commute this morning. The weather couldn't be better. Saw a couple roadies on my way in this morning. Lately I've been seeing more roadies during my commute in and out which I think is great. Today I'll hit 300 miles on the new Klein i bought about a month ago and that's with only two full weeks of commuting. Now that my car is sold I should put 100 - 130 miles a week on my bike! Very cool I think, I never thought I'd catch the bug like this but I love it!

eastbaybob

Yesterday was probably the hottest day of the year here, mid 80's, so I was concerned about the tempts this morning. Things turned out fine however, clear skys and low 60's. The ride in was done in about the same 10 minutes its always done in.

mtessmer

I haven't posted in a while. I'm having a great summer with allot of extra miles on my commutes. I even got a 50 miler in last week... well, when I got to the end of my road at home afer work my odo said 49.3, well, I couldn't leave it at that so I did an extra loop. Life is grand.

Tree Trunk

Came upon an "incident" on the way home last Friday. As I approached an intersection, two cyclists were moving their bicycles from the corner and one was talking on the phone. Apparently, they had just been assaulted by a guy who had passed them in a pickup truck. After yelling at them as he passed, he pulled into a gas station at the corner. As the cyclists waited for the red light to change, the guy in the truck ran up to them from the gas station and took a swing at one of the cyclists. He hit him in the face. The other cyclist got off his bike and knocked the "truck guy" on his butt! The "truck guy's" girlfriend was applying a bag of ice to his face when I got there. The cyclists called the police and a report was filed.

Scary...this occurred on my usual route. It's been a strange year with a lot of road rage out there.

Treespeed

I hate stuff like that. When I ride more and more I just let the verbal stuff go as it can never get anything but worse. Especially here in South Central, you just never know who is having a bad day and packing heat.
And speaking of heat, man has it been hot. I'm reminded of the Biloxi Blues quote, "Man it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot." It was pushing up to 90 as I rode in this morning and I wanted to die with all of the sweat pouring out of my helmet. Of course back home in Seattle it's back to 60 and raining. And here I am riding around with full fenders without a drop of rain for months to come. Though I'm sure many would love to trade commuting routes with me come winter.

spidercyclist

Good ride to work and home. Bike was acting a little funny, the crank was making a weird noise, but I think I fixed it. First real commute in two weeks. I was on vacation but I still rode a lot. Have a good night.

stockholm

Wonderful ride in this morning: full headwind all the way and I loved it!

We have a beautiful late august here, with temperatures at 15C in the morning going up to the 20s in the afternoon. Clear blue, wonderful skies and lots of other commuters. Oh, and did I mention it was wonderful?

RonH

I hope everyone else is enjoying the nice commuting weather. I'm not! No bike commuting yesterday or today.
We're having our annual Share the Road Challenge (century) on Labor Day (Sept 5) and yesterday I had to pick up 70 dozen cookies, several cans of powdered Gatorade, and granola bars at Sam's Club.
Today I have to pick up a few hundred T-shirts for the event.

Tomorrow and Thursday I can ride.

Friday is a maybe. Someone (probably me ) has to pick up 600-700 canned drinks for the event.

Some days I'm not too crazy about working for a bike advocacy organization. The various projects intefere with my riding.

oboeguy

For once I wished for wind: 92% humidity this morning1 Made a low 70s morning very sticky and gross. However, the overcast skys meant a lot fewer Greenway users which is good for me (all mine!!! ).

Two innovations in my commute over the last two days:

- Take-a-Look mirror. Take it from a mirror-doubter, this thing is amazing! A little twist of the head and all (that is behind you) is revealed. I've mounted it on my shades (which have the clear lenses in for early AM / late PM commutes) and can still flip them over to put in my helmet upside down to Be Like Lance(TM). It doesn't really work too well on Midtown streets though -- too bumpy ever for a head mounted mirror!

- I found yet another cool feature of my Wingnut bag. I try to keep my removable rear fender of as much as possible to keep it from interfering with folding but carrying it has a been a problem. I (re-)discovered yesterday how to use the patented "Wing Pockets" to strap the fender to the side of the bag. Very handy!

Edit: one more thing. Outside of the bagel shop, some guys in construction or some similar profession saw my helmet-mounted blinkie and asked me about it. Oddly enough, the mango-colored folding bike was not what they found interesting. Their two main theories were that it was a flashlight (in effect, correct) and that it was a camera so my wife would know exactly where I go. I told them yeah, it's a camera because she can't get enough of good looking guys like them. Laughs all around.

milank

lotta rain and a lotta wind. Pretty good commute considering.

The worst part is how dark it is and worrying about being hit .

ridealot

Wet ride in this morning. Light rain showers on the way in and a nice tailwind. Katrina is hitting the Ohio valley today and the weatherman are calling for strong rains and winds. Probably end up putting my bike on the bus racks for the ride home.