Thursday PM I snapped my rear derailleur cable. Friday it was replaced. Now she shifts easily and smoothly. Took me a little while to get used to it. New brake pads, too.

Had one suicidal squirrel incident this morning. The little guy ran out from the trees in front of me, froze, thought better of it, did a 180 and bolted back into the trees. All this in the timespan of about 1 second.

Summer is hanging on around here. Temperatures supposed to be in the high 80s this week.

Lovely, lovely commute this AM. I think its been 2 months since I've bicycled to work; today I saw my first significant wildlife on the commute - a deer in the river bottom & a wild turkey on the side of the road. Now, I live within the city limits of Minneapolis, so I don't expect much for wildlife. I saw the deer as I was riding over the Mendota Bridge, which crosses the Minnesota/Mississippi river valley right at the confluence. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that we see so much wildlife, given the river valley, but its still somehow bizarre. Yesterday we saw a couple hawks, who briefly perched on a tree right outside our porch for a few moments, before a squirrel scared them off (?!?). Then watched another one take down a chickadee or something in a yard across the street.

Anyhow, it was nice to get back on the bike; none of my usual excuses panned out; despite being disorganized & wasting 15 minutes packing, I was still able to get to work on time.

WAAAY too flippin' early, that's what. Out of the house at 4:15. Didn't see much traffic, though—managed to run every stop sign and red light between home and work. Saw two skunks, a feral *****cat, and a jogger.

Had a nice, cool ride in to work this morning. Lots of traffic out since I left later than usual and I hit every red light. I am going to start riding the "back" way to work from now on, especially since they will be repaving the main road I use.

I loose my "boyscout" award for today. I was not prepared for the mid 30s temperature this morning. Was supposed to be mid 40s. Amazing how much difference that 10 degrees makes! So, I turned back and drove. I'm so ashamed.

Time to get all the cold weather gear together and back in the Panniers.

Nice'n'easy recovery ride today (did the NYC Century yesterday).

Had an incredible commute into work this morning. Up at 5:15, left the house at 5:45, drove to my departure point (I live 26 miles away from my work, so I split the commute...half car, half bike), and left my bike departure point at 6:10. It was a clear, crisp morning...first morning of the season here in SC that I wore my jacket...it was in the low 60s, so about 50 degrees as far as "skin feel" on the bike. I tried a new route today that allowed me to warm up for about 3 miles before hitting some pretty nasty hills that require a higher heart rate...I was much better prepared for them. The rest of the ride was pristine. G-d I love commuting by bike!!

Wow, it's HOT in Toronto these days! I am heading for the beach tomorrow!

I left the house pretty late as my first and only class today started at 12:30 p.m. and I felt the effects of the temperature for sure. But I am glad the warmth is hanging on - we have plenty of cold weather coming, there will be enough time to get sick of it...

On the way back I saw a couple of kids, aged maybe around 12 or so, who were actually riding bikes in the street on the right side of the road. The road is a residential one, but there were quite a few cars there due to rush hour. The kids weren't extra confident, but they were following the rules of the road - until we came to an intersection with four-way stop signs. They seemed to be letting every car go and didn't cross themselves! At first I thought they were just waiting for ALL the cars to pass (stupid, stupid kids!), but then I overheard a conversation - it seemed they wanted to make a left turn but found themselves near the curb and weren't sure how to do it. So, of course, they didn't handle the situation perfectly, but still good for them, for they are actually trying to learn proper cycling techniques, and I am sure by the time they are my age they'll be much better vehicular cyclists than I.

bleah and double-bleah. must be monday. nothing wrong with the ride or the weather, just me. awake at 7:16, got paranoid about packing enough lunch/snack/etc, not out of house till 8:30. was slow starting, slow getting there, and slow getting myself down to my desk. once over the bridge i followed up on a previous idea and deked one block down to do the last part on a more peaceful road, which is good only it doesn't go the whole way. seems like my destination area really is set up only for car commuters and trail/rec biking, nothing between those two things. bleah again.

slow leaving because slow getting in. just under an hour coming home though; surprising considering i only intended to get over the bridge and then take a bus. home. starving. eating half a cold pizza and thinking my birkenstocks probably can't stand up to this.

also notice (tentatively, hopefully) that i'm not paralytically terrified of that bridge anymore.

Great ride to work and home . Did not see any other commuter today .Made good time on the ss today .
Days like this I wish by ride was longer .
Have a good nite .

Two stories, one from yesterday's return and one from this morning.

So yesterday I'm crossing Midtown on 45th St as is my custom these days. I've just navigated Times Square (always a hoot) when a "fancy taxi" (like a fake mini-limo) pulls out from the curb right in front of me. OK, so I stop about 8-10 feet behind him and really have nowhere to go: if I go left around him, I risk getting creamed by cars coming out of a parking garage, and if I go right, well, there isn't much room there. So I wait about 5 seconds as cars start to accumulate behind me and what happens? The moron starts to backup! I gave my best frantic "HEY!!!!!". The guy looked surprised and annoyed and at this point I took my chances going left and made it through.

Today I was feeling reeeally good on the way to work so I decided to go for the mythical "three green lights in a row in Midtown", which I've never pulled-off. I've just crossed the second light and am really getting my mojo going, dodging jaywalkers and potholes when I feel something fly off of my person. I make a quick decision to ditch the three light attempt and pull over to the right. I look back and OMGWTFCELLPHONE!!! Yeah, my phone which I had only loosely secured in its little pocket on my backpack (intending to later stuff it in better, ha!) had flown the coop! A quick-thinking ped attempted to go for it to save it from oncoming cars, but was unable to get in. Amazingly, only one car slightly brushed it with his tires and the phone survived intact!

Had a nice ride in, passed two other commuters. Had one of them draft me for a bit, which just pushed me harder.

Not related to cycling but I had some dude do that to me. I pulled out of a gas station and this big, bad ass 4x4 pickup, waiting at a red light, suddenly started backing up,and backing up and backing up and backed right up into the front end of my Malibu. Some drivers make you say WTF.

The days have gotten humid again here in Houston. Last week was awesome (low 50s% humidity). Today and yesterday...94%!

Yesterday on my way home, I was going under an over pass. The lanes are such, far left = left turn only; center lane = left turn OR straight; right lane = straight or right turn. Since I am turning left and want to stay to the right side when we complete our turn, I stay in the center lane and take the full lane (so anyone going straight does not hit me). I am in the front of the pack waiting for the light to turn green. When it turns, I stay in the center of the lane and move through the intersection and gesture my left turn. The guy behind LAYS on the horn the entire time he is behind me while going through the overpass. I turned around and the guy (and his wife) must have been over 60 years old. Was I in the wrong or are they just further testimony of the road rage here in Houston? I have navigated that intersection almost two months straight and that is the first time someone did not maintain proper restraint.

Anyway....today's commute was yet again uneventful....BUT FUN! My ride to work is only 6.6 miles, but the commute is joy enjoyable I have pushed it to 10 miles both ways.

Later,

Chris

They must be transplants from the Northeast! Good reason to carry a little gravel in your pocket.

Great commute this morning. I stopped reseting my cyclocomputer everyday (to get a weekly, maybe monthly? tally) and I like that I'm no longer trying to beat the clock.

Also -- I had several people sitting outside, waiting for the bus, walking with a stroller, say hello. That was nice. I've already come to the conclusion that biking has made me feel more a part of my community, but mornings like this when the community is out, about and (whoa nelly!) even responsive, add a new and irreplaceable benefit to commuting.

Great Ride this morn...

I bet I was the only one with shorts on... saw more riders on the road today... more then usual!

My commute was rotten! Of course, it was in the cage ('97 Subaru Outback) to the dealership for a 75k mile service and its yearly detailing. Then I got a shuttle van to work.

All morning I've been yawning and feeling de-energized and lethargic. The reason seems obvious... I need my morning ride! I must be addicted.

I've been on vacation (central Fla) for the past week so haven't been commuting. What a shock when I hit the road this morning. What happened to summer? It was a little on the cool side today. Not my favorite way to start the day. I like warm weather.
Anyway, since I haven't ridden much in the last week some of the hills were a little tough this morning, but hopefully I'll back to "normal" by tomorrow.

I left late so I booked it and shaved another 40 seconds off my best time and averaged 19.8 mph. Felt great!

Summers gone! Fall is here!

It was a brisk 69 deg this AM and only 94 deg going home yesterday evening. It was the best ride home I've had in months, beautiful cool clear air, the first one since mid May below 100.

Al

BRRRRR Nice sunny morning, albeit a bit chilly. Temp at my place was 40F when I headed out. From home I drop into the river bottom where the temperature is normally at least 5 degrees colder. At least it feels that way.

I am running my lighting system now for testing purposes. It is amazing how differently traffic reacts to me with the rear BRIGHT flashing and the bright light on the front. I'm going to take it out one of the evenings after dark to play with it.

Wow, my ineptitude paid off! I woke up late, and decided I'd better drive. As I drove, I thought I was being a lazy bum, because I could have made it by bike if I'd hurried up. But when I got to work, some people were moving the bike rack from outside to inside the secured back entrance, where I normally park. There was no way to get in there while they were working, so I would have had to park outside somewhere with my flimsy cable lock that is normally fine for inside of a locked building. My bike would have been stolen for sure, or at least messed with/stripped....

Good ride to work and home . I even had a good day at work. I hope the rest of the week is like this .
Have a good nite .

did my first night ride today, and it went quite well. My $8 head and taillight set from walmart did the job, the taillight is superbright, and flashes annoyingly if I want it to. The headlight isn't terribly bright, but it's bright enough for oncoming traffic to see me, and when there aren't street lights (there aren't for about 5 miles of the ride), it's bright enough to see the road.