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? :rolleyes:

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. :D

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. :D

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

:D

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

oooo, i'm a dude :p

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 :D 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...

Was a bit damp with some sprinkels comming down this morning. Stopped about 20 min into my ride and I never got wet. Good ride and warm at 50 degrees. I was ready for a 40 degree ride and riped off one of my shirts before I even set out. Was still a little warm. I still need to learn what to wear in the morning based on temps.

I stopped at a light to cross. It had the metal detectors in the road. After 1/2 minute a car stopped behind me. So we wait for about a minute and I decide to move forward so the detectors could pick up the car behind me. Sure enough a few seconds after I moved the light changes. I guess I need to use the cross walk button from now on. :(

Anyone here ride Crooks from M-59 to/past Maple road? I usually see him when I drive (6:45 AM). Helped me realize I could do this last summer.

Daylight!!

I put the NiteRiders on the bike yesterday because DST ended and I knew I'd be getting home a little past sunset today.

But no commute today. This morning as I was readying the bike I saw a cut in the sidewall of the rear tire running from the bead to where the gumwall meets the black tread. The tube was just peeking through the hole. :cry:
I guess I'll hit the bike shop at lunch and pick up a new tire. :o

But tomorrow is another day. :)


I hate tossing the tire because it only has ~2200 miles on it and there's lots of tread left. :(
Can't use it on the trainer. It's a 700x32 tire.

Eastern Standard time gave me the glimmer of dawn this a.m. Simply beautiful. What a great way to get to work.

I spent part of the weekend building myself a headlight with great anticipation for using it this morning. Daylight savings time gave me a bright ride to work without the need for the headlight. Kinda bummed that I didn't get to use my new toy.

My commute was weird this morning. I ride in very early so I usually have the roads all to myself but today was different. Another rider came up behind me, it seemed like just an instant between noticing him back in the distance and having him right on my tail. I’m slow on my mountain/comfort hybrid so I expected him to blow past me. When he didn’t I turned to get a good look at him and got the shock of my life.

The guy didn’t have a head! Just a knobby white bone sticking out of the top of his jersey and no helmet! He didn’t have a real light either, instead of a Catseye or Nightrider he carried a flaming Jack O’ Lantern under one arm. ( I haven’t check the laws yet to see if that’s even legal) I found whole new gears on my bike as I set my personal speed record toward work. I thought he was going to drop me but when I crossed Fanno Creek he just seemed to give up. I started to relax but then he hurled the damn pumpkin at me. How rude can you get? It would have beaned me too except there’s a mean headwind this morning and it smashed into a parked car instead (I saw in the mess that at least the pumpkin had a helmet, fat lot of good it did)

Anyway, consider this a heads up for any of you who have to commute home after dark tonight, if he’s found another pumpkin this guy might still be out there

Woke up this morning and thought "Shoot, it's light outside. I'm late for work." Then realized that the time changed and had to double check all my clocks to make sure that everything was accurate. But a nice ride in and I even got to take off the fleece gloves about half way.

The joys of DST were rather marred by the rainfall this morning. Despite that it was a refreshing ride and from somewhere I seemed to have summoned mighty pedalling power as I raked most of the route in top gear.

Still looking forward tomorrow as I'll be switching to the roadie for lots of lovely high speed road ninja joy.

I enjoyed my ride in too, although it seemed like there was a lot more traffic. And riding home in the dark (at rush hour) won't be as much fun. Ah change!

DST observed, too. Made the ride in to work much more enjoyable. Now, if they'd finish the construction at the 1/3rd mark of the route, it'd be nearly perfect.

Overdressed for the 35F temps. I'll enjoy the 70F temp ride home this afternoon.

.

Nice ride in, not too cold 52f and no wind. I wore the rain gear anyway as showers as forecast for later. Showers and the first really dark ride this year, should be an interesting combination.

As I rode in this morning a flock of geese in V formation flew right overhead and stayed with me for awhile. They were moving about 20, just a little too fast for me to keep up. They passed me and must have flown a large arc, as they came across my path about a quarter mile further. From all the honking I think they wanted to get another look at my goretex rain gear. :D

Hmm, I could just picture a flock of geese all wearing little rain vests.

:roflmao: That's a great idea for a costume for tonight's Halloween Parade. The headless bikeman! I could put a jack o'lantern in my messenger bag and have people sign for it.

Rode in with ice skates strapped to my backpack cuz an ice rink just opened up at Bryant Park a few blocks from here so now I have something else to do at lunch besides wonder what to eat. Ride was nice, 55F and included lots of zig-zagging through traffic as usual. Skidded to a stop when a ped started crossing the street w/o looking to see if the coast was clear. When he heard me skid, he glanced at me, smiled a ***** eating grin and kept walking. I shoulda just plowed right into him. Noticed a lot of peds were looking the wrong way down a one way street when they crossed. Oh well, Darwinism at work!

OK, Ichabod. Nice.

I discovered a good alternate use for my taillight flashers last night -- jackolantern lights. They look great. My kids loved it. The flashing red lights were perfect.

Great idea! I love it.

My ride in today was perfect: 47F and the bluest skies of the year. Still wondering why everybody in Sacramento doesn't ride a bike to work, if they can.