It was cool this morning, a pleasant change after last week. The ride was good as I hit the one light perfectly and managed to get to the office in about 10 minutes.

Today was my first bike commute...

Day One:
Did the park&ride thing to cut my commute from 15 miles to 7.5 miles, while I get a handle on everything.

Why did I decide to commute? I just realized one day that it should be possible, so I went online and found all sorts of info that got me motivated. I realized I have it pretty easy. Somewhat bike friendly San Jose, showers at work, side entrance at work, bike racks in our stairwells...

I did trial runs Sat and Sunday, so I felt prepared. I wear a high vis lime green jacket (quite cool this morning) , riding on my tuned up roadbike, last 5 miles is on a well paved bike path.

Got outta bed at 7:05AM, at my desk drinking coffee at 8:23AM. Not bad for my first day.

Problems: Well I forgot my bike computer, not a problem, but I'm trying to nail down my average speed and distances as I try different routes. Then about 1 mile into the ride my handlebars started to come loose. And finally, about 3 miles from work, there was a bobcat sitting in the middle of the bike pathway :eek: . Got my adrenalin going. I stopped and waited a couple minutes as he was stalking some squirrel. I then sprinted past him, or tried to at least. He turned and just watched me from about 4 feet away as I rode by. I then lost control and wound up off the pathway :o . My mind is spinning as I am trying to analyze the best spot to reenter the slightly elevated asphalt pathway. I'm clipped in, and I could feel the cat ready to pounce as I'm about to wipe out; however, I manage to find a spot to reenter and I speed away. I look back and the bobcat never moved.

That's going to be an interesting ride in the dark as winter approaches.

SharpT

Wow, some dangerous wildlife out there folks... This summer I was touring a region with lots of black bears, and happened to be riding at night on an unlit country road surrounded by forests, mostly. Boy was that scary! The funny thing is, though, that I actually did meet a dangerous animal that night... and it happened to be a dog. Somehow, with all this fear of bears I forgot about the domesticated animal threat. :)

Anyway, no commute today since I visited my parents on the weekend and they drove me to the university this morning. I had to take a bus+subway home and it felt very weird. :)

Nice ride in this morning. A very light fog that shimmered through the headlight. Was fun to watch. Staying dark later. Probably need to upgrade lights to get a little more distance with the beams.

Great ride this morning. :)
Great ride tonight. :)

Great ride in today, weather is at the point where it is to cold for a t-shirt, but not cold enough for the jackets I have. This will be the first year I try to commute through the winter, and I think a good "breathable" shell is going to be key (all the jackets I have now are standard windbreakers/ski jackets...it's hot air baloon season in my town (Albuquerque) there is a big week long fest for it here...but none to be seen by my house. I think I may ride in the long way tomorrow to see how many I can see.

I had a great ride this morning too. The air was chilly and I felt comfortable in long pants. My bike was almost silent, except for the whirring click of the recently overhauled drivetrain. I like the soft sound of a clean lubricated chain riding over the freewheel cogs. When I left the house it was still dark and very little traffic was on the streets. I am looking forward to the ride home.

Ditto on the good ride.
Ditto on the "I need better lights."
And ditto on the scarry wild life...coyotes aren't supposed to be around these parts. I found out, though, that if you scream like a 6th grade girl it scares them away. (My apologies to any 6th grade girls who might read this.)

Very foggy here this morning, I had to take my glasses off half way to work. I couldn't keep them from fogging up. Any suggestions of what you all have used that might help me?

I actually had to put on my sweats coming home...it was just cool enough that I didn't feel comfortable in shorts, especially so soon after getting over this cold. My recently healed broken foot really hurts...I wonder if it's because of the weather change???

Last week I rode only 48 miles (lowest total since I had to take time off in May cause of a sprained ankle). Today was first time on bike since last Tuesday... Felt good to be back in the saddle again :)

Was sick all weekend, so I didn't do my regular long ride on Sunday, but atleast I felt good enough to start commuting today. Rode the SS. It was a good, fast ride to work and home. Have a good night.

didn't sleep much last night, and was the most tired i've ever been. tired going in, tired coming out. at least one knee is making ominous signals at me. the weather was nice both ways though - no rain, and clear and cool by the time i came home. another ride home in the dark, and this time i did cross over and use the correct side of the bridge. bleah. it is nicer riding with traffic flow, but this side of the river is NOT innarested of bikes and people who ride them to work. it's a class 1 highway with a bike/pedestrian sidewalk both sides of the bridge, but apparently no protected means of easily getting to the side i'm supposed to be on from the side i come from. there are unprotected/unorthodox means, but they're not easy either. i'll have to get my map out and find the right detour, i think.

and lord, i don't like the arrangement at the homeside end once i get there. there's an exit that peels off to an island mid-river, that has to be crossed on foot. the way it's placed, cars coming into that exit have about 15 feet to see me at 80+kph. i hate city planners; i zarking do.

but i still love my little kilometre of off-road track on that side. i think i love it even more in the dark. it's funny how the passionate hate and the passionate love don't mix together and mellow each other out. i am NEVER going to work in this part of this city again.

songs: dublin blues, guy clark. chain up the swings, michael marra. rant, martin bennett.

Had a nice ride in this morning, cool and cloudy. Saw a couple other commuters and we waved :) It's nice to see others out there riding. My allergies/sinuses came roaring back yesterday. I tried cleaning out my sinues last night but ended up making it worse and had to sleep breathing through my mouth, which I can't stand. But the ride in seemed to help clear me up. I am looking forward to the ride home this afternoon.

Glorious ride in, today. Cool, Partly cloudy, nice presunrise light action.

The trail-sleeping dude has moved to the other side of the trail, negating my anticipatory avoidance maneuver, but I had warning from a jogger. Outran a bus that wanted to stay too close on my rear thru town. Got on the train and found that my usual spot had been taken by one of my oldest and dearest dirt riding buddies, now a budding commuter.

I got all the parts hung on my new project commuter bike last night, just needs the tweaking and adjusting to get it set up right.
I'm looking forward to my new light system arriving this week, too.

It was awesome. :D

Today's ride in was great. I left about 1/2 hour earlier than usual and missed all the garbage trucks. :beer: But I did run into a lot more traffic in one part of the ride.
What this town needs is more cars --- not! :crash:

Good ride home yesterday.. gotta love those slicks. And today's ride in was pretty good too, except for the headwind.

I was a bit groggy on the commute in, having stayed up way past my bedtime watching football at a friend's house.

We're having some great weather down here in NC... excellent riding temps, and I love Autumn mornings.

Finally replaced the ancient Conti Sports on my old Motobecane with some new Panaracer Paselas... wow - what a difference!

Got my new tires put on my bike last night. I had the standard issued (for my Fuji Ace) Kenda Kwest tires that lasted three years of sitting in the garage and now 900 miles of commuting. So, I upgraded to a Bontrager Race Light Hard Case. They look and feel great.

Unfortunately, today was not a commute by bike day. I rode my Harley in to work. The reason: performing some adjunct professor service downtown at a local college from 6:00 to 10:00 pm.

What I found out from my ride in today is that it takes me the same amount of time to ride into work as it does to drive! I had been making a larger "course" to keep my weekly mileage up; but, if I ride the "short course" to work, it is the exact amount of time by bike as it is by car/motorcycle.

Oh well....get to test out the new tires tomorrow!

Chris

"Dude...!"

He, the dude, was there just as I exited the bridge over the intersection of Highway 2 and 27th Street, a major north-south arterial. The bridge feels like flying over the traffic, and when you're down with the autos, it looks like flying over the traffic. The sun was just rising, and the clouds were painted with lavenders blending to pinks and oranges.

I had made it a point to leave early this morning. I've been trying to get to work earlier; doing so makes the commute easier -- it was much easier getting across O Street this morning -- and the office is more peaceful before everyone arrives. For autumn, it was muggy and warm, but the gusty wind was promising a change later tonight.

Traffic on the trail was light too. I'd only seen a few people along the way, and none for the last mile or so. The bridge has three segments. I was just leaving the first, and there he was.

The first thing I saw was his gray t-shirt, followed by his shades, helmet, and, finally, bike. I didn't notice the make, but it was rigged out for commuting. He was up, out of the saddle, hammering. The bike was all over the place, jerking from side to side, and coming right at me in my lane.

I hit the brakes, but because the path narrows over the bridges there weren't many places for me to go. He glanced up, noticed me, and jerked his bike over into his lane, almost losing it but somehow staying up on two wheels. I looked back over my shoulder to where he was wobbling over the bridge. My heart pounded both from exertion and the adrenaline that had just been dumped into my bloodstream. I tried to think of some way to express that, though we'd been lucky enough to avoid it, if he'd just calm down the probabilty that we would have ended up in a tangled mess at the end of the bridge would have been even less.

"Dude...!"

I think I am finally transitioning into the winter cycling mode. Even though it has been cold'ish and wet this week, I have not even blinked an eye at commuting to work. Even did a 20 mile ride on Sunday morning in low 40F temps. What a scary development.

It was 36F/2C. North winds at around 11MPH. Roads were wet and there was a light rain falling. The snow that was forecast for overnight did not materialize. The smell of wood stoves filled the air. Foliage is in full brilliance. The sound of my wheels on the wet pavement. This was a great commute!

Stopping by the LBS after work to pick up my new Gators! WhooHoo! Perhaps my feet will stay warm now!

I worked out at the gym last night and then rode home. Oy, that was not a good time. The road bike was nice and light going up the hills, but I was tired from pumping iron. This morning started out better, with temps just above freezing, no rain and minimal wind. I was able to fix the chain on my SS [sort of], so I rode that. It felt slow, but I really like the stopping power.

About 1/3 of the way to work, an SUV tried to pull a U-turn right in front of me. The problem was, his vehicle was far too big, so he ended up perpendicular to the sidewalk, leaving me about 18" of road space. I was going to give him the stink-eye, but I concentrated on making the gap. Disaster averted.

Later, less than 100m from my parking spot, some dork decides to cut left across two lanes of heavy traffic. She/he drifts left in front of me, then signals, then comes to almost a dead stop, then goes again, pauses, then lurches left once more. At the same time, another vehicle was trying to go right - I recall from physics class that two objects cannot occupy the same physical space at the same time. I guess the drivers didn't take physics. I was almost taken out three times in 15 seconds.

I like commuting - it keeps my reflexes sharp.

October trial bike commute---

Day Two:
Didn't forget my computer today, so I got a precise distance of 7.52 miles (flat), avg speed 14.2, time 31:45 minutes. This is my first time to avg over 14, so I'm feeling good. My goal is to make the full 15 mile commute (each way) with an average speed of 15mph. Head wind coming home yesterday broke my confidence in that goal.

Got outta bed at 6:55AM, at my desk drinking coffee at 8:14AM.

Problems: Well I forgot my belt for the 2nd day. Kind of nuisance. Also forgot my cell phone. I had everything setup last night, but I put my phone on the charger. It was kind of stupid, because the cord is long enough to reach my pil'o'stuff.

I have a question on how to handle intersections when you are attempting to turn left, such as the one below. I try to avoid these, but I will have 1 or 2 each way.

Ah, and I didn't see the bobcat today.

SharpT

Today was good. The weather was between an offshore flow and a Santa Ana, a bit cool, high 50's, but low humidity. The ride was fine also, I sped up to hit the stop light, thus making it to the office in about 10 minutes.

Had an evangelical ride this morning to spread the commuting gospel. A coworker called me last night to take me up on the offer to ride with her to work. So I swung by her house and we rode a casual route into work. She was pumped!

SharpT, in that instance, I would take the left turn only lane as a car would, then move carefully to the right, after making the turn. I would NOT take position between cars, as your diagram indicates you do. Alternatively, you could take the left-or-straight lane but use it to get up onto the sidewalk for a bit, in the NW corner of your diagram, but that's got its own set of dangers.

If you take the left-or-straight lane, you face drivers in the left lane who will not consistently STAY in that lane, and they will cut you off or run you over. Riding between cars in any lane of that intersection looks like a recipe for road pizza with commuter cheese.


*edit - I have a similar intersection set up on my route in. I go straight through it and take a quieter thru street a couple blocks farther along.