I winterized my commute bike last night, if you can call it that with our mild NorCal winters: attached fenders and lubed with Cross Country lube. And of course this morning was totally dry.

Great ride to work and home . Still cold & muddy out .
Have a good nite .

cold and clear this morning. i noticed frost on some of the leaves in the gutter when i stopped to adjust my saddle, but it's not that chilly to ride in (so far).

left home at about 8:40. this has to be just about the worst time i could pick, with school arrivals and all the last-ditch drivers all over the route just getting into their cars and peeling out on their way to work. that and having the sun in my eyes every time i checked east on the cross-streets slowed me down this morning on my way in. i've noticed that it really doesn't seem to make much overall difference though.

someone was already using My shower stall when i got into the club! oh, the outrage.

coming home was sure a nice night. there was a heck of a wind blowing, but i'd planned to just go easy anyway so it was no real bother until i found myself having to work a bit coming down the slope of the bridge. now that's a wind, but it was that big gusty not-too-cold wind that feels so much like october, so it was neat. something-awful-but-i-don't-know-what had traffic crawling all the way over the bridge; even fighting wind and slacking on my way up i passed most of it.

leaving work i forgot my runners under my desk. had myself all the way changed before i noticed, so i had to go back in for them in my full top-gun outfit. heh; hoping to escape notice while rustling with windproofing and flashing all over with lemon-yellow and reflective tape. not much of a hope, but luckily almost no-one was left and i only got one double-take.

hooray for friday. that's the kind of day that i like.

The forecast only called for a 30% chance of rain - one of those 3 chances in ten hit here. Cold, raining, almost snowing. I woke up late, forgot to shave last night so had to do that, finally said heck with it and drove the truck in this morning. Supposed to be a nice weekend, so I figured I would take today as a rest day, rather than Sat or Sun.

Other than losing my tail light 3/4ths of the way and not knowing it until I pulled up to the bike rack at work, the commute was nondescript.

NOTE TO SELF: In the future, be more sensitive to metal plates covering road work, especially when hitting it at 20 MPH.

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Morning bicycle rush hour on the rail trail this morning. 3, count 'em, three other cyclists encountered heading in to Burlington. Each of us with either a backpack, pannier, or trunk bag. It was nice to see.

No rain (two days in a row now) and temps in the 30Fs. I could clearly see the snowy ski trails over on Whiteface Mountain in New York.

Also saw a large group of loons (17 of them) floating around near the mouth of the Winooski River.

TGIF...

Late night riding + new video game + Friday = rolling outta bed and telecommuting. S'ok though cuz I noticed a lot of squeaking last night and as one BF member said, "When I saw all the rust, I was like, 'that's hardcore'", it signaled to me that I need to lube my chain (again!) after all the rain we've had recently.

OK, somebody check the forums here for the last time jyossarian didn't telecommute on a Friday.

Uneventful ride today, as things go in NYC. A van tried to left-cross me, but I was ready, a car ran a red light at high speed but I was ready. A semi-truck crossing the street (from one lot to another, without the trailer) slowed me down enough to miss a light. A woman pulling her car out got a loud "hey" from me and was started to see a bicycle on the road. I got honked at right before a red light. Yaddayaddayadda, same old, same old. Nothing to see here, move along...

-4C today on the ride in, but no snow! I rode in with my wife today, and I'm noticing a pattern. Whenever I ride with her, we end up taking a "shortcut" or making some kind of dicey manouever that ends up being somewhat life-threatening. Today she says "Go in the right-hand lane and then we should be able to get into traffic up ahead and turn left". Sure thing, honey! In short order I find myself at the front of a line of cars, 5 of which I have effectively cut in front of. My wife was nowhere to be seen, so I'm assuming that she didn't make the light. <just got a phone call - she slotted in somewhere behind me and missed the light> We were discussing life insurance policies last night - and how she wants new furniture. Is there a connection?

Not too bad today. Pretty uneventful aside from the usual "You don't count because you're on a bike" crap. A little warmer today at 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Plus it's Friday so that's definitely good thing!

I can remember a Friday where I was asked to drive to the NJ office for no good reason, but other than that, yeah, Fridays tend to be my telecommuting day. I wonder why... Heck, I almost telecommuted the whole summer!


Amazing what uneventful means in NY. My uneventful rides are filled w/ the same kinds of events, but b/c they're everyday occurrences, they just blend into the same old same old.

Well the sewage plant seems to be my favorite place on the greenway. This morning, coming in an hour and a half later than usual after dropping the kiddies off, I noticied 2 State Park police cars talking to each other by the circle at the top of the plant. As I am riding south on the straightaway (on the right side) one of the police cars was behind me and says into his loudspeaker that I should be riding in the bike lane on the left side of the street. I cruised over to the side and when he passed me I flagged him down.

I explained to him that I frequently encounter motorists driving in this bike lane* coming toward me. He tells me 'ok, but ride safe'. He drives away and I cross back to the other side.

(The area by this sewage plant is right by the West Side Highway between about 135th st and 145 st in NYC. The plant has huge fans that suck air from the land side of the plant and blows it out to the river. You never encounter any kind of noxious fumes. Once in a while, if the wind is blowing from the river, you get a 'moist' smell, but not bad. There is even a park that sits on top of the plant. If you watch the Apprentice it was featured in an episode. I am posting a pic for this. 9A is the elvated west side highway. On street level just to the right of the highway, it is a semi private road, only workers and construction people gain access from the south end of the complex. There is a road that has a bike lane on the east side of the road going north-south, seen divided by a road stripe. All the way on the right bottom is the unfinished greenway.)

Two great rides. On the way home last night I was able to take a nice long detour around the Pocket that added 15 miles to my ride. At one point I caught up to a fellow commuter who was riding a Trek tourer with panniers. We rode for a bit and she mentioned how nice it would be next week when you'd see the sun set into the Delta at that time of day.

This morning was very mellow and I took a slightly smaller loop around Land Park. Not many motorists this morning. Cool with wet pavement but no precipitation. It made me sorry to have to come to work.

Rode it low and slow thru MiG Alley this morning, then punched it when the coast was clear. Many cruisers at the intersections heading uptown.

Hilarious. Some guy almost T-boned me after running a stopsign, then had the audacity to yell obsenities at me, get out of his truck in the middle of the lane and challenge me to a fist-fight. All of this within earshot of the open side door of my LBS.

Within a second or two of running his mouth, the maniac had drawn quite an audience. He returned to his truck and sped off... people on the sidewalk shaking their heads and chuckling. What was that guy's problem?

That section of the Greenway is often strewn with gravel, dirt, glass and whatever else you can imagine. Plus the pavement isn't the best. Fun at night, though, because there's *nobody* there (well, fun as long as you're there before they inexplicably close the gate at one end of that stretch).

For those who don't know, that part of the Greenway has supposedly been under renovation for the longest time. I have a leter from the Parks people that they wrote back in what, June? after I had complained about conditions there. NOTHING has (visibly) been done since. I usually go on Riverside Drive in the morning instead, wonder why?

*makes a frustrated noise*

It's cold and grey out there... The drivers are nasty... The roads are bumpy... The surroudings are the same boring grey concrete... The peds are stupid... There is a dead cat (or rather a bunch of flesh, guts, blood and fur that used to be a dead cat once) on my way home; the poor creature apparently had a fight with a motor vehicle and lost badly...

But I am gonna go out there and ride anyway... It's THE way I commute, after all. And it's not as though public transportation is such an appealing option either...

LOL. I am definitely going to check out the REI tights. My wife was hinting she wants to buy some new tights and winter bike shoes for me. She worries about me (everyone say "Awwwwww, that's nice"). And she has money from teaching guitar lessons that is burning a hole in her pocket. Mir was going through the new Performance catalog with me last night. I like it when she bonds with me like that.

On a negative note, I missed my commute this morning for the first time in months. For some reason, I was so worn down I couldn't bring myself to get on the bike. Fridays I usually am a little tired but this one was the worst. My wife talked me out of calling in sick and gave me a ride to work after we got the kids off to school. It felt really strange to be driving to work instead of riding.

The "Team Performance" coupon I just got in the mail is burning a hole in MY pocket. Besides tights, I have a jones for a good tail light. Any suggestions?

I'm using a combination of a Cateye TL-LD1000 and a Cateye TL-LD500. The 500 is an active light that covers me under state law for a CPSC Certified reflector, I usually set this one on flash mode. The 1000 is a bright honkin' light for such a small package that also provides two banks of lights and light to the sides, I run this one with both banks in constant on mode. When towing the trailer I use the 1000 on the seat post and two 500's, one on each rear corner of the trailer, all of them set for constant on.

AWESOME!!! commute home today.

The commute to work this morning was nothing special. 55 F, Heavy overcast, drizzling rain. Flipped a coin and decided to take the Road Warrior w/Burley Utility Trailer so I could stock up on extra clothes at work and carry one of my castnets and cooler, hoping to cruise the canals and catch some mullet after work before the ride home.

Nothing happened with the fish. Just couldn't find 'em.

On the way home the weather was gorgeous, sunny and cool with a light breeze out of the NE. Traffic was heavier than usual on these rural highways. Nobody passed in unsafe conditions. Nobody made a close pass. Nobody pulled out in front of me, or cut me off. Every single car, truck, SUV, tractor-trailer, everything and everybody, completely changed lanes into the on-coming lane to pass.

i move he owes us a haiku. speaking of which, where's gew these days?

friday friday [snoopy dance]. pizza en route for the kid. lemme see.

nice morning again. this is getting kind of boring. nice morning AND in the lunchroom refilling coffee the lead on this project said 'i'm sure i see you sometimes when i'm coming in'. could be me, i suppose, although i do try to avoid being seen by people who are going to talk to me later on in the day. explained how it might have been, but if it ain't yellow-and-gold from top to toe and covered in silver reflective tape then it wasn't. i'm a little bit fogged how anyone who's seen what i wear and carry couldn't be sure.

i think she wanted to get it off her chest that she would half wanted to honk hi at me, but wasn't sure if it was the Right Thing To Do. and then wasn't sure if it was Rude to just blow on past without doing it. i told her that it's pretty easy to tell the difference between a *honk* and a *hi* from a car, so nothing to worry about there. she looked relieved for all of 23 nanoseconds, until i explained that it probably still wasn't a good idea, given my general coordination type skills. then she did this cool little repressed double-take that swerved straight into a look of even greater worry.

note to self: Do Not giggle out loud at your lead.

ride home was nice too. not exciting, but i do really like this big, moist, gusty weather that isn't too cold, especially when i ride in the dark. lubed my chain in the parking lot before i set off, and as a result was actually able to use all my gears. well, why not. after all, i did pay for them.

the scale at the health club says today that i weigh 149 pounds. heh.

songs: the obvious child, paul simon, baby it looks like you, evan dando.

Dude, I totally envy you and CR's ride. Today, for whatever reason, I literally had like seven or eight drivers who passed me within 12" or cut me off. Maybe the stars were misaligned for me? Eh. Not to misunderstand the situation (which I'm guilty of more times than I have fingers to count), but it seems like your coworker was maybe trying to talk to you. Maybe I'm wrong, but people generally don't go out of thier way to talk unless there's a reason. Eh. or maybe I'm just misreading things.

Telecommuted
Friday is a great day to
work in my jammies

[matrix] ...we give them hell before we go!!! [/matrix]

oooo, i'm a dude

yowtch. actually on the stretch in which she would have seen me if it was me, 12" is about standard, but at least it's a consistent 12" so it doesn't spook me now nearly as much as all the freaking strip malls that fill the whole two kilometres, three or four to a block and each one with its own separate entrance and exit section. why i took lots of time to get used to the rest of the ride before i incorporated that road into it. but the 12" clearance sure sucks when it's not what you're geared up for mentally. and yeah, it's not a good configuration in which to distract any cyclist's attention, it's true. you need to give them a little bit of wobble room, just in case.

heh. about what? a subtle message to stop doing it before i scare the horses? a 'talk' as in a 'come-on'? guess it could be either in other situations, but in this case i think she was just making a rather nice little attempt to hold conversation across the great car/bike divide. i liked it. we're all sociable there despite having nothing whatever in common about anything except owning cats. i got the feeling that she was being just a tiny bit brave, really. she basically opened herself up and asked for some etiquette help about something she knows nothing about and maybe felt a bit inadequate for knowing nothing about, in a city so full of righteousness about Active Lifestyle and Biodiversity Sustainability. now she can say she 'knows' someone who does that surreal bike thing i'm pleased to help.

I was out of work for a month with a broken femur. I went back this week, but I am unable to ride my bikes, or drive my car (stick shift). Hence, I've learned all about the public transit system in my town. I'm selling my car this week, hopefully, and will be car free from now on. The bus system in Spokane is okay, but damn I miss riding to work...