On my commute home tonight I saw some kind of flying object in the sky. I saw it flying at about 10:15 pm, it was a bright white dot of light about a quarter of the size of the moon, and in about 3 seconds, it flew north west shrinking in size until invisible. I've seen big meteors before, big fiery colorful meteors, and other small little dash meteors, but this one looked a little slower, and didn't have any kind of tail. My first UFO. I'm sure I wouldn't have seen it if I was in a car.

that must be some fire they have going down in the valley. by the time i was coming down the hill towards the bridge the smoke looked like bad winter fog. i'm still mixing it up, trying to find something that will feel like a groove, but i don't think i'm there yet.

wore my runners instead of my sandals today, sandals in a bag. took a jar of peanut butter and a box of granola bars to work, to go with my bagels. also!! orange juice with plain yogurt in it, absolutely a keeper. my backpack checked in at 12 pounds on the scale but it was worth every caffeine-deprived second i spent at the sink this morning carefully inserting yogurt through the neck of an old coke bottle with a teaspoon. wish i could bike to work in my pyjamas, i really do. i could, if i weren't so short on the chutzpah for it. on the way home found a trail/track/empty space with a 2-inch path worn across it that looks like it will solve the mess of getting over once i'm on that side of the bridge. go me.

instantly tired the moment i set out this morning. i just don't grok that, but the strange thing is that a) coming-home time is staying constant or getting shorter and b) i do seem to recover faster once i've worked up a sweat. don't grok that either, but mine not to reason why.

came home into what i guess was a headwind. if i use that side of the bridge it might be a constant, since the traffic's oncoming to me. could also just be the direction the wind blows down the river once the day's winding up. guess i'll find out, over time. i don't think i'm QUITE ready to look down while i'm riding, not yet.

work just drags since i started commuting by bike. not sure why, really. mind you it's another of those grody doldrum patches, but i'm also just physically restless all the time, seems like. tired, to be honest. i think some part of me thinks that just getting there is a full day's effort and i should be allowed to go back home and sleep now. i think i really hate getting there late too; i sit around sulking and thinking 'what a waste of all that fine high energy and sense of purpose'. a day that starts at 10am just never seems to get off the damned ground, and then i get home late and sit up too late chasing the reset-my-head time i should have got before going inside to work. i ain't dumb; i just ain't thinking too good.

still, i think i might drive tomorrow. kid will be over on the other side of town and will probably need to be fetched. have to spend the day collaborating with someone whose thinking style irks me square on a cheerful day, so lets not set me up with a glycogen deficit. and my knees are being a little scary. stoopid insertion points.

eating spaghetti with antipasto-out-of-a-jar on it. would love an orange, but don't feel like peeling it.

In some (most? all?) areas honking the horn is only allowed for immediately dangerous situations. You sexagenarians were in the wrong. I don't know if you were in the wrong, too, but I doubt you were.

Edit: Heh, forgot to post about my commute. Last night on the way home I met-up with Ubie (BF member) to take him to my local shop (pretty good, quick one-man shop). That was fun. Ride in the morning was a bit uneventful. The most exciting thing that happened is that the HRM on my new Forerunner 301 was a bit wonky -- it was so cool I wasn't sweating enough for it to get a good signal!

use some water or electrode gel on the strap for your hrm to get a good reading. no commute today cuz i have to pick up some last minute bits for my roof rack so i can bring my bike on vacation in canada. day time's getting short so i have to get the rest of it installed before the sun sets.

On my way home last night I was riding on a side street, 25mph speed limit with speed humps and cars parked on both sides of the street. I was riding along around 15mph up a slight hill and a truck and car pass me as the hill crests. The down hill is pretty steep so I just take off. The truck has turned left and as I am approaching the car he puts his left turn signal on. I proceed to ride by him on the right side, between him and a parked car. As I am riding by, he blares his horn at me. I wave my hand back at him and he drives up next to me and tells me that I shouldn't pass on the right. I told him he was making a left turn and had his turn signal on, but he said that didn't matter. I was mad because it's a back road, not many people on it and he was turning left. Why should I slow down for him when he is turning off the road. I did not put him or myself in danger. I should have asked him why he passed me at the top of the hill if he knew he was turning so soon. Oh well, life goes on. I will probably encounter him again on another ride home.

Other than the idiot cagers the ride was outstanding this morning.

After being on vacation and no commuting for almost a week the legs and lungs are back to normal. Now if I could just keep the years from catching up with me.

The outer bands of Hurricane Ophelia have delivered some wacky weather my way.
It's actually quite exciting riding through the crosswinds and horizontal rain.
Too bad the humidity is through the roof again, I was getting used to the autumnal weather of the last week.

You're my kind of person!

Back on the bike today after missing yesterday. I was so tired all day yesterday. Couldn't figure it out, since I slept fine. Today I have tons of energy, and it occured to me that I was depleted yesterday from driving my car. Bike commute is only like 20 minutes of exercise, but I guess it really perks me up. Any one else have this phenomenon?

Blah, it's humid out there. I didn't commute today, but I did more riding just running errands than I do commuting. Add to that making four trips, 3 blocks each way, to my car to pack up my camping stuff and I got some halfway decent exercise. Hopefully the rain'll hold out long enuff to put on the rest of my roof rack and I'll be set for tomorrow.

...5 hours later...

I finally finished installing the roof rack. I'd take 1 hour on Monday putting on half the rack while I waited for the clips for the other half. Today, It took 2.5 hrs. to install the rest of the rack (measured wrong on the rear part which set me back 30 min.) and put the two viper fork mount bike racks on and the wind fairing. Hopefully my bike won't fall off tomorrow.

For the first hour, an SUV across the street from me sat at the curb idling despite the fact that there's a 3 min. idle law in NYC. Then he shut down for 5 min., couldn't take the heat and started up again to run the A/C. What a stupid waste of gas and money when he could've just sat in the Starbucks 40 feet away.

None of this has to do with commuting, but I needed to vent. Good night all.

OK I finally did it. My first squirrel squishing! He ran away afterwards so it wasn't much of a squishing even though I got him with both tires.

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful ride. Very humid though thanks to Ophelia.

MM

Great ride home--i had to leave my bike at work for a week due to a trip out of town. Anyways, what fun to be back on the bike. Gotta get my lights set up, though.

Very nice ride today - sunrise on the mountains (Currently working in Calgary). Of course the point where I have the best view is a long straight downhill - so I forgot to look (coasting at 60 kph (40 mph) will do that to you). Felt great though!

Tomorrow they're calling for rain. Oh well..

This is a cool thread. nobody mad at anybody. no arguing. I like it.

It's starting to feel like fall here in the northwest. cool morning caused me to put on my long pants and jacket. It's also getting light later in the morning so I have to use my light. I have a very nice ride in to work, very light car traffic. It's nice to be awake when I get to work. I'm not like this when I drive.

flannel rocks.

guess you're my kind too. one of the reasons why i like to bike to work is cause then i don't fall asleep upright at my desk around 3pm. low blood pressure?

didn't mean to ride today what with all the errands involved but i did. dunno why really, but it was lovely in the morning. cool and overcast, just cold enough to feel great when you'd otherwise be a little too warm. got i dunno, an extra mile or two worth of lost trying to find that woodsy short-cut from the other end, so so much for getting to work ahead of the game. nice car-free little semi-industrial cul-de-sacs everywhere. still worth it though, and i did track it down, sortof kindof - enough to keep myself off the freaking SCARY road that's all cars and business traffic once i'm over the bridge. in the process i found a farmer's-market type of stand and went in all oooooo to buy a couple more pounds of ballast. that's something i have been sulking about on this particular ride. going downtown in my previous incarnations meant that i could knock off so many of those grocery/etc errands while in progress. this one it just ain't like that; offends my efficiency gene. stopped on the way home to equip my kid for school though, then took a bus once i was over the bridge. those bike racks are harder on the body than any ride could possibly be.

three other cyclists ahead of me at various points on the way this morning. explained something to me about slow which made me much happier: even if i could go that fast it would be pretty dumb for me to do it. about as dumb as if my kid got his driver's license and set straight in driving like he'd been on wheels half his life.

songs sung throughout today's ride:

- general grant's visit to dundee, michael marra.
- easy money, martin simpson
- wild mountainside, trashcan sinatras?

eating steamed gai-lan with oyster sauce over steamed rice. YUM.

Good ride to work and home. I hope my commuter bike is fixed by tomorrow . The lbs had to order me a part or I wourld have fix it my self . But I really like to ride the ss more . Have a good nite .

Ride home was fast! Not sure if I had a tailwind but either way I enojyed it.

No bike today -- borrowing the family car again for the weekend and I have to pick it up today. Sure I could have ridden but we have a social commitment with the car tonight and I feel uncomfortable leaving my folder in the trunk in NYC.

Sticky ride in this morning, but I was pretty fast. Gonna be another warm one today, 90's by this afternoon. Should be a nice ride home.

What kind of comment is that? You're totally wrong and I resent it. Your mama wears combat boots!

Yesterday evening's ride home was hot & humid. Well above-normal temperatures. This morning it had cooled back into the 60s and was pretty comfortable except for the fact that I was up until midnight drinking adult beverages. Didn't see any other cyclists this morning. Several squirrels though..

Ssshh!! Don't let the secret out!

Had an accident yesterday on the way home. It was all my fault. I guess that it is good to have minor accidents every once in a while to remind myself that I am human. I ride a 26" x 2. tire bike and was tearing down an 8% grade. This road is closed because about 4 feet are falling down a hill. Any way I had just cleared the final Jersey bearer that demarcs the end of the closed section, when a guy in a pickup comes out of his driveway. Problem is that there is a wash-out right before that and when I hit the brakes I started to skidding. It was clear that I would have a slow speed collision if I continued so I layed it down. Gravel is quite abbrassive! So I have a bit of road rash on my right knee/lower leg but its not so bad. I commuted in this morning. The driver was very appologetic, but I considered it my fault and was pretty light-hearted about it all. Did sting though. Still got home in great time to clean out the dirt. Cheers!

Cool ride in this morning, fall is coming to minnesota! A brisk headwind made for a slower ride, combined with the cool temps I never quite warmed up. It was still nice to ride though.

This morning it was cool, low 60's and humidity seemed a bit low. The ride was fine, the highlight being when I pushed the walk button and the stop light and the white man showed up immediately. I was slowed down a bit at a non-controlled crossing but made it to work in the usual less than 10 minutes.

Bad bad bad girl, drove to work this morning.... :-(

slagjumper - sorry to hear about your accident. sounds like you handled it like a pro.

as far as my commute today -- walking out of the house this morning i was all "holy humidity!" but the ride wasn't bad. i drove in yesterday b/c i had around 4,592 errands to run and really missed riding. it's such a different end cap to the day to come and go by bike. i'm hooked!

You only know about my mama's choice of foot wear because she got them from your mama.


I had to go in early today. I dont' really like riding in the dark, but I do it. At least there is no traffic that time of morning (4:30am). It was hard dragging myself out of bed...by the time I got to work I was WIDE AWAKE!!!