Who left the refrigerator door open?? This mornings temps are mid-40s (7C).
When is April gonna get here.

I hope I don't freeze my *** off today.

Let's see. Arm warmers, knee warmers, vest, wool socks, full finger gloves, base layer, portable propane heater.

I will chime in ...(1)

After 18 weeks of warm weather here in SE PA, I got faster on my heavish hybrid on my 12 mile commute on this traffic laden rolling hills.

So far drivers are most corteous and give me the most room possible when passing. Close brushes with death are due to their miscalculation regarding my speed, perhaps they are not used to see a bicycle going over 20mph sometimes. Few drivers are ill intentioned/irritated by my prescence on the road, and very sparse yelling is present on my commute.

Commuting it has proven to be a real bliss over driving, and I thank god and all the angels in the sky that for the health I have that allows me to fly over the beautiful country/suburban roads in my area.

Now lets get down to business.

We need MORE commuters on bikes. We have to spread the word that the bike is the next big thing. The US needs to have the bicycle culture asociated with patriotism (or something really catchy for the simple mind) so people get out of their butts/carseats and bike commute as much as possible. Most of us know how difficult it is to live in the sububurbs with poor pedestrian/bike planning(2). The status thing can be carried over two the bikes. For the people with limited budgets: there is a bike for you. For the people with wealth and willing and able to buy the nicest things: there are armies of handmade, custom fitted, titanium(3) beauties to be had. For the middle of the ground people: there is a sea of decently priced machines to pick from. What could be coolest than having a stable of different bikes to match your outfits?.
I know that the current infrastructure of most urban areas is not fit for massive bike transit, but there are roads to be ridden, packs of bikers to be gathered and commute in groups. There are kinship relationships to be formed on the brotherhood of the pedal.

We must spread the word. Use any slogan you can.


Now back to the usual sillyness.

(1) Dont have many friends that commute on bike so to share my nonesense
(2) I have two cars, wife cannot commute on bike due distance and lack of showers at workplace.
(3) I was thinking of an expensive material.

Back on the bike today, wo0t! Got the busted spoke repaired, cleaned the bike and drivetrain and I'm back in action on the mercifully dry roads (I've learned my lesson -- flood warnings ==> don't ride, foo'!). Very windy today... chilly too, but comfortably so.

Sorry Ron, that was probably me. First really cold (40's) commute of the year. I felt pretty comfortable once I got to work, but I might be writing to Rivendell for some wool arm warmers. I'm still holding off on the tights for a couple of weeks...

First ride in two weeks due to weather and holidays. Missed it alot. Last weeks weather, later sunrise, and the coolness has thinned out the runners on the greenway, less hazards.

Does it count if I rode to work, realized I forgot my chain, rode back home and decided to just work from home instead? If so, feel free to read on. If not, feel free to read on anyway. Ride in was nice. I passed a couple messengers leisurely making their way to work and passed another commuter. Realized I didn't have a chain when I tried to lock up at work, thought of the Dumbest things you've done commuting thread, then jumped back on my bike and rode home.

Great ride in. I waited until the sun was coming up before I left. When the sunrise hits Pikes Peak, the mountains are washed in a lavender glow. This is what inspired Katherine Lee Bates in America the Beautiful for the line "Purple Mountain's Majesty.
I get somewhat inspired by that as well.

Weather man said 54F degrees, but it was really only 45 when I hit the road. Still was fine for shorts and a hoodie.

There is one spot where there are always tons of bunnies running around... now I know why. Somebody has been feeding them. There were a dozen or so apples and some carrots scattered around. Every morning the scatter when I ride by. They are pretty funny in that they run really fast... then freeze like they think they have just become invisible.... silly rabbits.

Don

Enjoying the unseasonably warm weather in Minnesota. It was almost 60 degrees (Fahrenheit) when I left for work this morning. Rode to work in shorts, short-sleeved wool jersey and arm warmers. That's weird for 6:30am in mid-October in Minnesota! Usually this time of year I have to wear long-sleeves/pants/jacket on my ride to work in the morning and carry a second set of "warm weather" cloths (along with my work cloths) for the ride home. Not today!

My first ride in clipless pedals today. Knees sore from century ride. Still, could not resist trying out the new toys (early b-day present to self )

hey! they said it was gonna be nice out today.
yet the god-damned wind was still out there, hassling me all the way in to work.

My first commute in clipless too! It was awesome. I love clipless.

Incidentally: Never wash all your cycling gloves the night before you have to ride to work. They were all still wet! I wound up using my winter gloves because I didn't want wet frozen fingers.

After a week of riding in South Lake Tahoe [altitude!], I just flew up the hill on the way in today. I would have been faster on the flats, but the chest cold I contracted down there has me coughing up lung butter on a regular basis.

Low 40s here, but a beautiful morning with clear skies and a full moon. I did have to wear my full gloves for the first time time this year. After my first mile my fingers were freezing - luckily I had packed the gloves in my pannier pocket. Now the sun is out and it's supposed to get into the mid-60s, should be a nice ride home.

I fell in behind a couple of other cyclists on the parkway this morning (kinda rare to see others this time of year) with itty-bitty front lights and one rear blinkie each. I had a hard time seeing them, so I can imagine how much trouble the cagers were having. They weren't exactly the friendly type, decided to put the hammer down when the realized I was only a few yards behind them. Road bikes, no bags other than a saddle wedge. When I am loaded down riding in the dark on a cold morning, racing isn't exactly one of my priorities. Then they ran a stop sign and turned off a bit farther up the road. I remember thinking 'Gosh, I hope they don't hit any deer', as fast as they were going with them itty bitty lights. Of all the things I worry about riding on dark mornings this time of year, I'd say deer are right at the top of the list.

Well, I didn't freeze my *** off after all. I was comfortable all the way to work.

About 3 miles from work I was on a side street and had been followed for about 2 blocks by a slow moving Subaru station wagon. I thought, "Hmm, what's this guy gonna do?"
He finally pulled up beside me and rolled down the passenger side window and said, "You're very visible."
I thanked him for the positive comment and told him I try to be as visible as possible for safety sake.
Visible?? Me?? I was just wearing my neon yellow/green jersey, neon yellow/green vest, bright yellow arm warmers, and riding my black bike that's covered with yellow reflective tape.

Rode directly in this morning and the ride was absolutely unmemorable. But I've packed my shorts and jersey for a long ride home tonight. I'm really looking forward to it.

Today's commute was a total gas. I rode my Aurora roadie/commuter after a week of commuting on the fixie and it was like biking on air. I easily sustained 25mph and breezed through the first 5 miles without hitting a red light (a very very rare occurence). Coasting feels so... decadent.

Rain last night cleaned the roads. I left before sunup this morning, but it was warm. Lots of traffic, but as usual the drivers caused me no trouble.
I haven't been able to ride for two weeks due to travel, so today was the first day back on the bike. It felt good, but all down hill in the morning. We'll see what it's like going up hill 6 miles this evening.

Yep, that's usually the ritual for this time of year. It was a beautiful full moon out this morning too. I took the long way to work, did a long lunch run (it was tough to come back) and I'm checking out early and taking an even longer way home. You have to grab this nice weather when you get it, it' short lived.

... and never leave your gloves out long enough for your better half to misplace one before you ride again. <grumble> No gel gloves today.

Today was a good day. I left early around six and enjoyed a traffic free commute to work.

Clear skies, windy, tried new route approach on fixed. Hill almost killed me.

Tomorrow will be geared bike. Give the knees some rest. Coastfest.!!!

Thank you tokolosh...I'm glad somebody caught the irony.

This weather is amazing here in Oregon. The only thing that betrays the notion that it's early spring is the falling leaves and fir needles on the ground. What a wonderful smell as I ride over them.

This morning I used my new light and it was great!!! It lit up my road llike it was day time (I might be over stating that.)

I have been seeing a lot more riders on my trips to and from work. I passed the same lady on the hill today. As I went past her I said, "The hills do get easier." She just kind of chuckled and said, "Yeah, when?" I just said, "You'll get there, keep riding!"

People at work still are amazed that I am still riding. they have no idea how pleasant it is!!!

Last week was bad for me. After a neck injury had me bed ridden for 3 days, and an emergency stop/fall that happened on the Tour Du Port in Balitmore on Sunday which left me with both knees and an elbow skinned I knew I probably should take the metro. But with a 60 degree clear sky, forget it - I went! And enjoyed it, knees still hurt, and um ... some neosporin leaked through the bandages onto my leg warmers, but it was worth the ride - even with the knee killer hills on the Custis Trail. I made sure to stop at CVS on the way home to get some extra large bandages for tomorrow.

alarm clock lost half an hour somehow while we were out all weekend watching the pennant playoffs in other people's living rooms, so i got a reasonable amount of sleep by accident. i think it rained a bit this morning; nice actually. just a gentle continuous spitting. i was a few minutes behind my last week's time getting down to the bridge, but still covered the rest of the ride in my usual number of minutes despite what i'm pretty sure would have been a headwind even to everyone else for about half of that part, so i only took a few minutes longer than usual. and coming home i made astonishing speed; only 10 minutes longer than it took me to get there in the morning. mcwow. i keep thinking 'but. . . but that part has the HILLS.' a month ago it sometimes took me that long to do the easy part. i don't understand it either, but i'm happy.

anyway, it was really nice. more than the speed factor, what's really cool is that i'm not getting as tired to make those speeds as i was getting to do it all in a lot more time when i started out, if you get me. it makes the whole thing so much more fun, and it's like a bonus because i was prepared to keep grinding just as it was if necessary. if this keeps up or doesn't regress through the rest of this week, i think i might start letting myself get used to it. so that's what this week is about.

note to self: the recruiter who's handling this contract called me during the day. i'll have to take the kid's phone with me tomorrow and call him back sometime during the day. remember that when he asks how it's going, he means the job and he wants to hear about the project. he's not asking how my commute's coming along, and he doesn't want to hear about my shiny new times. three months left on this thing.

i don't do my little ride through the wild side any more. i'm leaving work late enough, and i'm confident enough now to just use the road all the way, and go over the overpass with the cars to slide round the cloverleaf. that part of today was fun too; something was up with traffic way up the hill on my home-side of the bridge, and i actually passed several cars. a novel sensation for me. i miss the backlotty chunk in a way. i like this speed thing, and it's fun to have a long chunk of road with nowhere to stop now that i don't need to stop.

songs: freedom come a' ye, hamish henderson, while showering.

An otherwise nice commute was marred by a ped. I was flying across 45th, going from Times Square towards 6th Ave. I see that for the first time in a long time I have a chance to make the left turn on to 6th before the red light, so I gun it. A ped starts inching out into the crosswalk. I'm forced to slow, dodge and holler. At this point the light is turning red and I have no choice but to complete the maneuver, and get yelled at by the ped! Was I pushing it a bit, yes, though I would have made it through unimpeded just beating the light. Was I wrong? 89 out of 100 survey respondent say "no". Was the ped wrong? Absolutely! how a ped can yell at someone for running a light when standing the crosswalk while traffic is still flowing (not to mention cutting off a clean left turn) is beyond me. Meh.

Oh, and I was hit by a little rain squall about a mile from home. I had left the jacket at home (arm and leg warmers, FTW!) so I was worried that I would freeze. Not so -- the rain stopped after a few minutes. In the end it was rather pleasant.

Almost didn't get in today. Bike path is routed onto a sidewalk at the corner by my office, As I passed a gas station a delivery van almost took me out. Don't know where he was going as there was traffic, and he couldn't have gone anywhere. His bumper left some dirt on the left rear panier. If I had been clipped in I would have surely fallen into traffic, but with the regular pedals on, I was able to get my feet down without falling.

Way too close!

Most of my commute is on two lane road with heavy traffic on a narrow shoulder. But it's the sidewalk portion that I always consider the dangerous part.

Take care!