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.
I guess I'll hit the bike shop at lunch and pick up a new tire.

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.

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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.

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

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.

Mid 40s and clear for the most part this morning, though I did get rained on for like a minute. Funny how that works sometimes. I forgot my cap, but luckily had my winter skull cap in a pannier pocket, so my head stayed warm - too warm near the end when I took it off to let the cool wind dry my hair.

I tried out the $18.99 wind jacket that I bought yesterday at Kohls. I just had a long-sleeve baselayer shirt under it and I was warm, but not roasting, for the whole ride. I usually wear a cotton/poly or wool sweatshirt over a base layer this time of year, and my heavier winter riding jacket when things get really cold, but when temps are 35-50, it's hard to find a combo that is just right - this dirt cheap jacket seems to fit the bill just fine - and it's water resistant too. https://www.kohls.com/products/produc...=1130776462426

Low 50's and rainy. My creed is to never drive on Halloween...no matter what! True to form, traffic was backed up for 20miles in the inbound route....bike trail? only 2 bikes seen.

Hard boiled some eggs for lunch and tossed them in the backpack. Upon arriving 45min's later, the eggs were still warm and the clothes felt like they came out of the dryer! Cozy. In spite of the wet streets, a very nice ride!

Off to enjoy an hot breakfast. Nice change!

That worn feeling is probably from riding day after day at a very high heart rate or perhaps consistantly from not eating after your ride. Also the racer people tell me that biking performance goes in streaks and like every 6 weeks or so your performance may drop for awhile.

If you don't already have one, how about a heart rate monitor? I've been using one for a few months and am surprised at how high my HR was on the hills (though legs feel OK and not out of breath).

I started commuting to work a month ago. First week, on Monday, second week on Monday and Tuesday and then third week from Monday to Thursday.

My commuting is 18 miles round trip and the traffic is light at the time I am out on my bike: 9:15 AM in the morning and 6.50 PM in the evening.

At first I got honked almost once or twice a day. Now, nobody cares about honking at me anymore. I guess I have become a constant nusance they think they have to live with.

I really enjoy riding my bike and have the workout in the morning and in the evening wired into my life style. I felt much more energized and it's llike a addiction now.

Right now, I am commuting on a 1985 Schwinn World Sport that I bought from Ebay for 25 bucks and cleaned and painted myself for another 60 bucks. I learned how to take the bike apart and service it and put it back together on this bike. I will soon graduate to a Scattante R-550 I purchased from SuperGo.com. I love the specs and weight (19 lbs) and it probably will make my climb a little bit easier and I get through the dreaded intersection much faster.

I am commuting along Plano parkway in DFW area and it seems to me I am the lone bike commuter along the three-lane road. Hopefully someone else, seeing that I am still alive doing bike commuting, get inspired and join me on the road.

Nice to join you die-hard bike commuters.

By the way, I am from China and have commuted there in the past. But the commuting scene is totally different from what we have here.

Overcast with a gusting wind today. My hands were pretty cold for some reason - I should have worn mitts. When I ride home after my workout, it will be extra dark out. I put my headlight on my helmet last night, where it shall remain for the next 5 months. Now to find the charger...

Welcome! I bet we'd all love to hear your observations of commuting in China as compared to here in the US.

Thanks, chipcom

It was 20 years ago in China. The bikes are almost all one speed roadster style with bell, chain case, (mine with fully enclosed chain case), fenders. I don't think I got any lights on the bike. It's very slow riding, about 5-7 miles/hr and you have to share the bike lane with other bikers, a lot of them. We wore normal clothes not the fancy jersey and shorts we have here.

I lived in the northern part of China, so we also rode on snow and ice. Every year I got 2 or 3 crashes on ice at low speed, but embarrassing nonetheless.

One of the horrible experiences I had is to ride into a construction hole (no yellow tape around it to warn bikers) and got a lot of body parts broken at one shot.

I had only one brand new bike bought (26 inch wheel) for 120 chinese yuan for a monthly wage of 45 yuan (actually my father paid for it, even I started to earn wages). Before that I had one old bike I didn't know how old it was, functional but ugly.

It's kind of different now, but old bikes are still ridden more than the flashy new bikes, mostly because bike theft is really bad and you can't afford losing more than one bike.

I guess that covers the start of the story.

I will probably post some interesting pictures of bike commuting in China in the future.

Have a nice ride back. It's raining cats and dogs here and it could be my first riding in rain in the US.

This is my first time posting pictures. Here you see one of the most ridden commuters in China called "Forever".

The electric bicycle is popular in China for daily commuters now.

I don't ride with a HRM but probably should, at least for my weekend road rides. The last three weekends I have missed my saturday road ride and I am wondering if that has anything to do with the lethargy. The power I had in September isn't there right now. Of course, I rode all but three days in September so that may also have something to do with it. Two of those days in September were my first ever crits.