After hurting my back last wed and getting a massage to relieve the pain I took the weekend off. What a difference that made. I am seeing nice results on the hills that usually kill me.
Thus, this morning's commute was wonderfull. Plus, it was in the low 40s. Nice and warm.

The commute today was boring. I flew along at 20 mph, stayed refreshingly dry and didn't sweat at all. Ends up I've been riding too much. Had to take today off to replenish my stock of work clothes. Todays a blood drive at work though, so when I donate I won't have to worry about falling off my bike later. Be back on the road tomorrow.

Didn't ride today. The boss asked if I could give him a ride to work this morning as his wife's car was in the shop so she was driving his car. So I obliged and drove to work this morning. Used the opportunity to drop-off about twelve bags of cloths at the Salvation Army on the way to work too. Back on the bike tomorrow!

Nice ride in today. It was about 55F and sunny so t-shirt and work pants for the commute in. Gotta love fall weather that's like this cuz pretty soon, it's gonna suck. Got slowed up by some police vans and buses that were crawling along. That's the last time I try to ride like an obedient cyclist. After I swung around the police van and shot ahead of the bus, things were clear sailing. Rode in between two trucks and passed both of them in the middle of Lexington and rode on the LHS to make my left turn at 42nd. When I got to work, one of the other commuters was back on his commuting bike, a Giant Cypress LX. All last week he rode an old red mtb while his new ride was in the shop for maintenance.

Strange weather. 50F degrees. Kind of a side-wind but it pushed me at times so that was nice.

Friday night I was riding home after a visit to the pub with friends. I had my headlight and blinkies going. When I came up to one intersection, there were some people on the sidewalk. One was a kid. He said, "Whoa! Look at that bike!" I said, "Hi there!"

What an awesome ride. Base layer (barely needed), s/s jersey, arm warmers (came off after 5 miles), full finger gloves (also came off), "cooperative" cagers, lovely fall colors in the trees, and lots of sunshine.

Can't wait for the ride home.

Too bad you didin't have a spare bike for him to ride.

You didn't show up on your bike and offer to have him ride on the handlebars? No balls!

Too bad you didin't have a spare bike for him to ride.

62F here in Plano Texas. Nice ride in. But there was one minivan slowly rolling onto my path from a parking lot and it made me mad as hell. When I passed an intersection, a car passed me using the same lane. Luckily I am not a total advocate of VC, otherwise I could be hit. Just be careful about parking lot exits and intersections.

Riding again after two days off [day 1 - went to work early, went home after midnight; day 2 - hungover, food poisoning]. Aye, 'tis chilly! There is still ice on the roads near my house, but I'm sporting the Schwalbe Ice Spiker tire on the front. No sliding, unlike last week when I thought I was going under a car every 5 minutes. I'll throw one on the back in the near future.

By the way, I got my brand new scattante R550 from supergo.com. I love it very much; the ride is much more enjoyable and faster (shortened the commute by about 10 min). But I am somehow wary of those skinny 23c tires. My tires have gone from 26X2.0 to 27X1.25 to now 700X23C.

Overcast, breezy, and surprisingly warm. I kept the window open last night to hear the rain that never came. Didn't really know how to dress when I left the house and ended up taking off my gloves and windvest. I met my buddy for our pre-work 20 mile loop. He's joining a new racing club in the new year and he's really pushing me on these rides. I'm getting stronger but I need a massage and a nap when I get to the office!

A little warm for November but a great ride. My wife wanted me to run by Publix on the way home so that added a couple miles and a couple pounds to my ride. Oh yeah the strangest thing happened to me on the way home, I was spinning along at about 100 rpm and some guy in a Range Rover yells at me to get into a higher gear. Now you can run me off the road, you can tell me to get the f*** off the road, but don't critique my riding from the passenger seat of an SUV.

Finally just before I reach home I start hearing voices. It turns out the shortwave radio I carry in my pack had flipped on and I was hearing the hosts of All Things Considered.

Maybe he wanted to race?

Ride home was uneventful which is good. Lots of dogs on the ramp leading down to the MUP. Enough so that I had to stop and wait for them to pass. Had a friend tell her hubby and her two friends that I take my bike everywhere. Not quite, but yeah, I do take it lots of places.

Picked up some toe clips for my pedals today. I haven't ridden with them in years, and boy did it come back quick. I'm sure I will eventually go clipless, but for now I'll go with what I know. Had a personal best time coming home riding with the clips, Kicked butt and felt good. Had a few sprinkles, but it didn't rain because I had my raingear in my rack bag.

nyergh. two people at work started conversations with me about my commute today. i'm done with the pr for the year. don't want to talk to another human for at least a week, and most certainly not about my freaking bike. would like to be left alone for a goooooooooooood loooooooooooooooong time.

late start - cat killing someone else's chicken bones all over the house in the witching hours, and then scaring me for an hour this morning by looking just enough like a cat who'd ingested cooked chicken bones. finally left her to it but fretted all day, specially since the kid left his cell phone off after school and i couldn't check - or tell him to leave me a couple of cinnamon buns. uneventful ride this morning - full of sunshine!!! and come to think of it that's probably why i'm in such a repulsive mood now. cold and dark coming home; nice actually except that my right knee really is killing me. stoopid world.

too late for squash players in the shower but there was an older guy milling around with his foursome in the common area with pressure bandages around both his knees. in retrospect and given my current mood i wouldn't at all mind going back in time and mugging him for them.

don't think i sang anything. the scale today says 145.

Cooler this morning in the low 40's but it was a nice ride in. Uneventful for the most part, but there were a few big trucks that had to pass me on a narrow road but they waited till it was clear, so I commend them. Going to be warmer today than yesterday, record highs I'm sure near 80. Shorts are in my bag for the ride home.

The ride home last night was uneventful - just the way I like it, cept for a 15mph head wind most of the way. This morning was beautiful for riding, low 40s, almost no wind, polite drivers, just an enjoyable ride. Supposed to rain later, I'll probably get wet riding home, oh well, it's only water.

Ah, the usual crazy cager business yesterday... A miserable b!tch honked like crazy because I was in the centre of the lane on a residential street, to pass a school bus parked some 100 m (300 feet) away. What a MORON. She eventually passed me on the left in the left-turn lane and then turned RIGHT from there at the next intersection. That was kind of amusing anyway; I slowed down on purpose right after the second honk... to-o-o-o-o-o-ok my swe-e-e-e-e-e-et time to pa-a-a-a-a-ass that bus...

Other than that - great commute. I was returning in the dark and loving it (good for a change, anyway).

Rode into work for my 2nd time today. A little bit of fog along the Missouri River. It was warm and humid but right when I got over the river it was probably 10 degrees cooler. My distance in was 4.1 miles. It felt good, and it is a way to ride when family activities cut out my ride at night.

Traffic along the Chouteau was heavy but I have a bike lane or rideable shoulder all the way.

My ride was brisk this morning. It was my first time commuting in sub-freezing temperatures and it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. There was ice on the car windows but I didn't encounter any on the road. The mixture of water and leaf goop must have a lower freezing point than just plain water. Even at 30F I still had to stop on the uphill portion of my ride and peel back some layers to stop sweating.

My bike rode just fine after its trip to the bike shop. When I had a flat tire last week I took it in for the free new bike checkup. I also picked up a spare tube so I can fix the flat myself next time and I had them put in a pair of tire liners to delay "the next time" for as long as possible.

The worst part of the ride for me was on my long downhill stretch. I read the thread yesterday about quick release hubs not being fastened properly and all I could think about was not having checked the hubs myself after the bike shop. The wheels stayed on, the guys at shop did their jobs well.

My commute was really really great today.

I raised my seat a while ago, and it made my knees feel somewhat better. But my handlebars felt really low. Well, now I have my handlebars up higher, and, ooohhh, does it feel gooood. I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself. I finally feel like I can spin my legs around without restriction, and my back doesn't get sore from riding. Wow!

I saw a guy who was apparently trying to light a cigarette while riding the wrong way down the bike lane. Forgot to say my usual "other side please!" which I try to say when I see wrong-way cyclists on two way streets.

And I saw the usual flattened squirrels yesterday. I wish they didn't have to get themselves squished so often around here, but such is life.

Commute this morning was fine. It's election day so I passed a few city council candidates trying to glad-hand voters at the subway stations. Gave a friendly nod to a bus driver who gave me some space to get around him in tight traffic that I actually had to wait for. Gave the stink-eye to a couple cabbies that swerved in front of me to drop off their passengers. Told a limo driver that had parked too close to the bike racks at work that he should try pulling up a few ft. instead of manhandling the bike locked to the rack so his passengers could climb their fat arses in. And he manhandled the bike not 5 sec. after the owner had locked it up right in front of him. Some people got no respect for OPP. Had to wait while the passengers climbe in before I could lock up my bike.

beautiful -- it's still high 40s, 50s here in denver at 6:45 when i leave, and it's light out now in the AM, and been sunny for days.

of course going home it's dark by 5 - but i changed the batteries in lights last week so ready for that...