Trying to outrun tropical storm Tammy this morning... made pretty good time, despite the windy conditions and heavy air. I thought Autumn was coming... guess it was just a tease - back to muggy and humid conditions for the rest of the week, it seems.

I had an anonymous tail last night. Followed me for a good three miles or so then disappeared. Meh.

This morning had to stop behind a school bus flashing its red lights. The idiot drivers next to me tried to get around but fortunately there was traffic coming the other way (single lane each way, double-yellow), incredible.

It was cool and humid this morning and my legs felt heavy going up the hill early in my ride so I took it easy into work and added 2 mins. to my commute. Even in easy mode I still have to dodge traffic and veer all over the lanes to get around cars and buses. Still beat the car traffic and I'm still not fully awake. Saw someone who might be famous outside my building getting her picture taken by tourists and one papparazzo.

Every day has been great... even when I got poured on!

I go today to a location to see what I have WON for Commuting since "Bike to Work Day" (June 22) The (Boulder) County, along with some other businesses, Had this Incentive Contest for Clean Air. I got an e-mail the other day saying I won something... A guy I work with won a New Gary Fisher MTB years back, I doubt I will win something that big, I might get 10.00 - 50.00 Gift Card (thats like 2 cups of coffee @ StarBucks right?)

Good ride in. My buddy replaced his chain last night and rode in with me for the first time. We left extra early and took it easy. He was pretty worn out by the end. I told him to give it a week :)

First year commuting. Every cool day is a record for me. Was 40F this morning. Nice and cold. Went very well. The new problem is that the cycling part of my commute is too short. Time to extend it.

40ºF and clear skies this morning. The river was calm and shrouded in the brilliant colors of Autumn. It looked much like a reflecting pond. Wish I would have had my camera with me.

First commuting report here...started riding to the train station in early May. Now I don't even like to drive there!

Heavy fog this AM..it was like driving in a snowstorm. The headlight was illuminating the "fog drops" like driving a car in falling snow..what do they call that tunnel effect?
Got to leave 5 minutes earlier and than made a significant change in traffic. Only 2 cars today vs 12 yesterday!

The ride was good this morning. It was a little bit warm but not windy. There was a lot of stuff in the street from yesterdays winds though. This morning I had to spped up for a bit but I hit the stop light perfectly. After around 10 minutes I was at the office. Tomorrow I am going to walk to work, so thats the last commute for the week, so it was a 4 of 4 week for 100% bike commuting.

Crazy summer weather we're having, must've been at least 30 degrees C. Anyways, I had a barrage of comments from drivers including GET OFF THE ROAD! (which I should have replied with, YOU GET ON THE SIDEWALK) and SPANDEX SUCKS! All of these comments were in the span of 30 minutes on my way home from school. Oh for those people with a Costco on their way to/from work or school, I suggest stopping by to get free samples, excellent use of the membership.

Rain again this morning ... and one nut case driver.

I'm on a two-lane street with solid center line. I'm stopped heading downhill at a traffic light, taking the lane to avoid being right hooked. About 30 yards ahead is a stopped school bus, lights flashing. When the light turns green the car behind me, horn blowing, tries to pass. But she doesn't have enough room to cut back in front of me so she just shoves me onto the shoulder . I slow down to creep speed, ease past the cars and bus, and continue on my way. To be perfectly legal I probably should have walked my bike past the bus. A half mile down the road she still hasn't caught up with me. But as I turn right I hear her coming (probably doing 40 in a 25 mph zone) horn blowing. Luckily she went straight.

Oh, and she had a bumper sticker. "Problem? Just try Jesus" it said. I wanted to tell her that my immediate problem would be solved if she would just try acting like Jesus. At one time there was a "What would Jesus drive?" campaign aimed at promoting more fuel efficient cars. For me as a bicyclist, however, a more helpful question for drivers to ponder would be "How would Jesus drive?". Maybe I should put that on the back of a tee shirt.

No commute today. I stayed home with the kids since their grandparents are galavanting in Vermont to see the foliage and visit cousins. But I've had a couple of good days this week. On Tuesday I rode in with a coworker who I've been encouraging for awhile to try commuting. She liked it so much that she rode in on Wednesday without me.

And yesterday, as I'm leaving the office, I see an attractive woman who looks a lot like Mrs. Caloso. In fact it was! She works in a building near mine and she was able to leave a little earlier than usual and was walking to the light rail stop. I walked with her and told her I'd meet her at the stop near our house. It's only 3.5 or 4 miles but I made all the lights and had a tailwind so I was waiting at her stop with a good 5 minutes to spare. Then we walked the 1/2 mile to our house. A very nice day.

first commuter report here. suprisingly it was NOT raining this morning - God is watching over us here in the NW after all :) lower 60's. the usual 6-mile ride up the hill + one crazy distracted lady driver who didn't see me coming behind her nor did she somehow communicate her intention to turn right, right in front of me.... Rickwilliams, i think this is another case, of "ask yourself: How would Jesus drive?" :)) i'm also seriously considering puting it on a t-shirt... i wonder if people will get it

Warm commute home and it may be the last one for a while. Looking forward to what ever the weather might bring.

Nice ride in this morning.....cool at -6C. The fog off the lake was pretty cool. Now it is 10C. Hopefully it will get back to our average highs and lows soon. The farmers need a break to finish harvesting. Once that is done I will look forward to snow and winter....I love that first ride in fresh snow when it is still falling and no tracks ahead of you.

I was just about to leave the office to rush home to park my car for tomorrow when my boss called and asked me to cover for her in NJ tomorrow. ARGH! Now I have to drive to NJ on a Friday which sucks. So I turned my computer back on, finished off a project and left a little late. Took the scenic route home past the UN and the East River and amazingly, my legs felt fine so I flogged it up the hills in high gear.

On a brighter note, Bryant Park is installing a portable ice rink at the end of the month so I'll be able to ride the few blocks over there, go ice skating for free during lunch, then ride back. And if I'm not doing anything after work, like parking my car, I can go back and skate some more. Awesome!

Nice ride this morning, riding into the sunrise. The mountain ash and cotoneaster are bright orange-red under a canopy of golden elm.

Brutal day at work.

The ride home was okay, except for the strange creaking coming from my stem. I had to use 5 pop-can shims to get the handlebar to fit, so now I'm worried.

I have no idea what that means.

Leaves are pretty.

Raining like god's tears today (my birthday!). Had a nice ride despite it-I was safe in my MEC Gortex and my clear biking goggles. Plus I got that self-rightous groove all day, so I could yell out things like "YEAH!" and "I OWN the rain!".

Good ride both ways today. Coming home it was too warm for pants and coat, too cool for shorts and t-shirt. 1 mile into my ride I was glad I didn't "suit up". I got home, let the dog out, and just sat down to relax in the back yard when it started to rain. It's been raining ever since.
Tomorrow I am going to the beach with my Bible study group. Have a nice week-end.

October trial bike commute---

Day Four:
Road the full 15 home yesterday. Felt great. Just over 1 hour.

Today parked a little further away, so rode 11 miles each way.

Based on feedback here, I've started to take the lane more. Confidence is building.

Problems: Nothing to mention....

SharpT

Yesterday I wore a sweater under my rain gear with winter gloves plus booties over my shoes, made for a hot commute. This morning was so nice (53F) I just pulled on a wool sweater over my work clothes & hit the road. My new batteries came yesterday so I had the 3 watt generator driven light plus a 10watt & 15watt headlight. First part of my commute is on dark country roads so the lights were great. Light traffic but still lots of careless drivers & had to take evasive action a couple times. Be careful out there.

Commute was trashed today - ended up driving into work and re-justifying all the reasons I've been biking instead. Had to drive in so I could drive out and pick up a sweet deal on a Travel Trac Fluid Plus trainer at $75 (!) I found on Craigs List close to the airport ... and didn't think my rear rack would like that on top of it along with the two UPS units I salvaged from work that have been sitting in my drawer for a month now.

Still, I sat in traffic right along side the EMPTY Mount Vernon Trail or I crawled along at 15-20mph ... which is my bike speed ... had to drive around the building for half an hour searching for a non-residential zoned parking, gave up, tried the garage which I had to fight to let me in since I didn't pick up the parking pass option for my company (they re-imburse me taking the subway instead) ... basically 40 miutes by metro, hour by bike, hour AND A HALF by car & the fear of getting ticketted if I don't get back to my car in time to move it! I really missed my bikes today!

I guess its okay though, I'm +1 fluid trainer which doubles pretty well as my only maintenance stand, and +2 UPS units so my clock doesn't reset if the building brown-outs like it does at least every two weeks :)

happy birthday!!

doing that rain thing here today too. perfect timing - it started just as i was bringing my bike up to the street. i got to drop the bike and (finally) try out my fancy-pants new waterproof breathable rain pants that i bought last week. yee hah!

and they rock. totally comfortable. they're waterproof all right, and they must be breathable because all i had on underneath was an old silk jumpsuit i'd never wear in public, and it was dry as a bone when i got to work and climbed out. so cool; i'm just thrilled with them. the silk has just the right amount of extra warmth too. i am a happy puppy.

rained more or less all day, and i kept looking at it out the windows and thinking 'i think this is what we call heavy rain. right?' by leaving time it was bouncing back off the road in that two-inch-deep haze of small drops that's kind of a clue, so i was pretty sure. but it doesn't feel like it when you're on a bike somehow. i don't really understand how that works. i started climbing back into my outfit at 6:30 and kind of delayed a little, but by the time i got to the bridge, the cars were still backed up all the way around the cloverleaf. it was really fun. i slipped by them all in the bike lane, and i could just imagine they were all probably looking at me and thinking variations on the poor thing/maniac theme. but it wasn't like that at all. i guess rain only looks super-heavy to you when you're behind glass and you can see it falling on you.

it also seems to be good for you if you're on a bike. i just couldn't believe how much faster i got to both destinations today - and i wasn't trying. i can't be in that much better shape than i used to be. went to the bank and deposited a cheque, rode home on the 'real' roads with the 'real' traffic and practiced my traffic sense, and i feel like i could wrestle a python and win. i rode home in indisputably, officially, dirty weather, and it wasn't just manageable - it was one of the most fun days i've had so far.

songs: the obvious child, paul simon; christmas in prison, john prine; gallant murray, traditional.