eastbaybob

A good ride this morning a few slight variations to the route but I still pulled into the office in about 10 minutes. For the week I was 5 for 5 for commutes, that is 100%.

dailyrider

Lots of fog this morning. Had my flashing lights on. It's Friday, and I can't wait to start the ride home. The cooler mornings and evenings are nice to ride in.

I can make the hill on the ride home in 4th gear now. When I started it was shifting between 1st and 2nd, with one or two stops on the way up.

chephy

I do too. It's my favourite thread on all of the forums here.

I got slowed down on my way in by a headwind - not the worst ever but noticeable. Brought some dried fruits along to chew as I went and it worked out quite well, I'll start doing that more often now. The way back was rather fast although the wind was against me again! The traffic is much lighter on Fridays than on other weekdays.

I really like my new yellow biking jersey I bought just this summer (and wore today). When I wear it, I feel like a real cyclist! A lot of the time though I feel a bike jersey is too good a thing to wear on a thing so boring as the daily commute, so I get quite inventive. For instance, I regularly wear a bright pink top from a swimming suit my mother bought me (don't worry, it covers almost as much skin as a regular shirt; in fact, that's why I don't use it for swimming - I don't like so much wet clothes next to my body).

jyossarian

Not me. I just look at the pictures.

dah-veed-1

Today's commute was fun and annoying.

Fun because I felt energized, the weather was warm but not hot and I rode fast.

Annoying because on the way home as I approached a car ahead/right that was waiting at a stop sign (no stop for me) it kept inching forward and at the same moment a car behind/left in my lane is about to make a right turn in front of me and WORST OF ALL: A CYCLIST waiting at the same stop sign as the first car takes off and crosses in front of me just as I'm about 5ft away from him! Fortunately no one hit anyone and I passed through unscathed.

Just another day in the life of a bike commuter...I don't even get mad in situations like that. It's been a great week overall!

tokolosh

always read this thread. i love all the different kinds of commutes and the different people who do them.

rode to work this morning just to prove that i could after having been sick and because i didn't want to finish the week with only two rides in it. i haven't had that since the first week that i just tried it out, and i think back then i did three. it went fine; it was actually faster than some of my other rides have been, so i guess i'm getting a) stronger and b) more savvy about how to make it all smooth. pocketful of dried figs was nice to have along the way.

leaving about half an hour earlier really seems to help. easier traffic, easier everything at that hour except for the fact that glancing to the left gives you full-on sunlight, right in the eyes. couldn't see a thing, but i'm thankful for having realised that early enough not to do anything dumb or dangerous at intersections.

got turned round and sent home again for having been sick. decided i feel fine about that; it's pretty much the best of all worlds. the main reason why i went to work at all was because i didn't want to miss another day on the bike. this way i got the day on the bike AND i didn't have to spend a whole day expensively pretending to work for it. took the other bridge coming home, since i had all this lovely additional time for messing around.

grrrrrr. yeah, they got a nice wide SIDEWALK to cycle on, but just try getting to it. that was really freaking mental; nothing but dead ends for i-dunno-how-many-false-leads, and then finally a sidewalk that was locked. had to come down and go through the whole process again just getting to the one on the other side. got a taste of what people mean by 'headwind' on that sidewalk too. but then for dilemma the ride home from that side might actually be nicer in a couple of ways. the hill coming up off the first bridge - it just ain't normal, martha.

got home, turned round and went straight out again (by car) to have dinner with friends-i've-never-met from scotland. that was pretty darned cool; turns out neither of them has ever had a driver's license and the story of me-and-my-bike opened up whole fields of speculation and interest from them.

songs for the day: chain up the swings, michael marra, and freedom come a' ye, hamish henderson. yeah!!

spidercyclist

Very muddy ride to work and home in spots. But still a good ride . Fills like it is getting colder out . I hope the weather hold on alittle longer . Have a good nite .

gew0419

Thank you

gew0419

I'm laughing at this one...thank you for brightening my day.

knobbymojo

It was cold. Im not sure I am ready for winter yet

gew0419

OK...so my commute in on Friday started Thursday when I go home from work. Because, since I joined Bike Forums I have been thinking about things I never thought about before. When I got home Thurday I did some cipherin' and figured out that I have a lot of redundent gears on my little Schwinn Mesa. Then Friday I did an es'peerment, really paid close attention to the gears actually used getting to work and then home again. Out of 24 choices I have for gears I use 9...that's it, just 9 gears. But the other 15 make my bike look really cool! (I guess) Maybe I think too much.
I do know that the gears I have decide to use make my ride a little easier. I didn't know, because I never thought about it, that it made that big a deal.
Beyond that...I passed the little old lady and her dog today. She had him on the leash, but I could tell he wanted to come and say hi to me. Thanks again to the two of you who responded to my "hidden message." It's getting a little cooler here each day and the weather man says that it is going to rain next week. I like riding in the rain. My co-workers think I'm nuts...don't tell them, but they're right.
I was asked today, by a new guy, "Do you ride year round?"
I said, " Yes, I do."
He just shook his head and walked away. I'm sure this 22 year old guy was thinking, "Crazy old man." (I'm almost 50.)
I'm sure, as he gets to know me, this assumption of his will be confirmed.
Weddings and chior practices have put my riding on hold for the week-end, but come Monday morning I will be back out there on the road.
Have a great week-end everyone!

nitroRoo

Cycled home from work for the first time yesterday (drove in). I have been carpooling so I convinced my car pooling buddy he should ride too. I had mapped out what I thought would be the most direct/Least dangerous route using maps and satellite images. A few of the spots took us back through some rough service roads (dirt), over some railroad tracks, and then out through a very industrial area. We got through that, and then discovered this little paved bike path we didn’t know about. We were about to head up the path to see where it went, when POP! There went my buddy’s chain. …and my chain tool hasn’t arrived from nashbar yet (probably will today – go figure). So we were able to borrow some tools from someone in the area, fixed the chain as best we could (reused the pin) and made it about another ½ mile and then POP, there it went again. So I grabbed one end of the chain and he held on while I pulled him the ½ mile or so to a gas station, where he was able to call his wife for a ride. I did the last 5 miles or so on my own and had a fairly uneventful ride.

This morning’s ride in was much better. I found some better routes… down back streets, through a huge cemetery, back through a large corporate office park, a little off road action to cut through to some more suburbian streets, and finally the last mile or so finishes out on one of the larger roads. Made it to work in about an hour this morning (yesterday took about 2.5 hours with all the mishaps). I’m hoping to be able to get it down to 45 minutes eventually… legs are definitely feeling it.. will need to build up to that. I’m glad I did it and plan on 100% biking for getting to work and back. It’s about 9.5 each way. Thanks to all those on the forum who have offered such great advice to get me started.

jyossarian

My pleasure. My karma is set for the day.

jyossarian

Hope your buddy doesn't give up on bike commuting.

nitroRoo

Yeah I'm working on him. Really want him to do it with me.. especially since he's down to only one car right now and "needs" rides to work. We live really close to eachother and I'm trying to encourage him to come with me. I'm going to try to help him fix up his old bike today (old specialized rock hopper that has to be about 20 years old). I think a new chain, new cables, and a derailer adjustment will have him back in business.

gew0419

It's a true friend who will tow his buddy with a broken chain!!! We all need friends like that.

bhchdh 

I commuted 14 miles to the company "Fall Bash", two people offered to give me a ride home. I of course declined and rode another 22 miles home. Some people just do not get it.

Toasted

It was a fun 2 mile ride to the store then across the street to work today...then a VERY fun (insert sarcastic sneer here) five mile walk home...first I missed the turn going through an unfamiliar neighbourhood, then my light went out...not a good night...

oboeguy

Great commute to work this morning. It was grey and cool this morning so there weren't too many people on the Hudson Greenway (call me "le misanthrope" if you must ) so I was able to mostly enjoy the ride instead of worry about dodging the unaware. Rain in the cards for this evening, so more of the (good) same I imagine. I hope I didn't miscalculate the temperature for the return, though. I left the rain jacket at home figuring with a high of 80 today I'll still be too warm to ride with a jacket in the rain.

GTcommuter

Ah, wimped out today. The long frisbee game yesterday afternoon and the prediction of rain all day today conspired to put me on the train. Oh well, I've been doing too much riding and running recently. I'm going to enjoy the off-day.

CaptainKurt99

Just got in from my first bike commute. I feel great! I have much more energy this morning. I usually arrive tired and sleepy, but I feel good today. 13 miles is a nice distance too. There was a small shower today on my way, but it only lasted a few minutes. I'm getting used to riding in traffic and I'm looking foward to my ride home on my newly built commuter.

WonkerJaw

Good ride in this morning... warm and humid at 81 degrees. I was late so I had to hammer most of the way... but I made it on time.

MyPC8MyBrain

Brrrrrrr It was 41 degrees on the way in this morning. All I had was my rain shell... and I peeled that off for the 2 mile climb to up to the office. You can tell that fall is in the air. Guess I need to get some tights and arm warmers one of these days.

Forgot my ballcap today....Had to walk through the office with serious helmet hair this am. Oh well :-)

jyossarian

Forgot to turn my alarm clock on after setting it last night and woke up at 8:45 am so I telecommuted today. Oh well, I'll make it up tomorrow.

luckysnafu

Had a nice ride in this morning after a nice weekend in Baltimore/DC. Sun was rising as I rode in and it was nice and cool. Lots of traffic, but I blew by them and took a different road. Rain and thunderstorms predicted this afternoon, may be a wet ride home.