Riding in today was in shorts and short sleeves, about 66 degrees, with a good tailwind. I dripped a nice sweat and still got in to the train station with well over 15 minutes to spare. I just cut out a about 1/4 mile of the route where a busy street crossing and a curb-hop has been necessary and replaced it with a 70 step stairclimb, carrying my bike and backpack, to the top of a bridge.

Going home, this change also removes the necessity for riding wrong-way down a one way park road (never any traffic there, but my fates are suckers for temptation, so why push it?).

It knocks that leg of my commute down to a hair under 10 miles, but I've added a monster climb to the other end to balance it out, which also avoids a section that's consistently wet from overnight sprinklers. On the left turn at the bottom of that climb, there's always a ton of sand and leaves in the road, so I have to scrub my speed way down, or risk sliding out. This morning I had to to a motocross style power dab on that corner to stay up. As a result, the climb is all leg, no momentum.

I've discovered why stem shifters suck : my knees hit them on stand-up climbs and screw up my gear choice.

Poll: Barcons or downtube shifters - which is better?
The frame is set up for an odd sort of downtube shifter. I'm sure I can find a set, but it seems like barcons would be more easily reached.

The wind is shifting today, going home, I'll have a tailwind, too, with gusts of 40+mph. And tonight we're expecting a solid freeze. Makes me sort of glad that I"m out of clean clothes at work, and I"ll have to drive some more in...

The forecast is 55F-60F today w/ occasional showers that get heavier later this evening. So I packed my rain pants, helmet cover and rain jacket. Rode in wearing jeans and techwick t-shirt while the sky lightly sprinkled drops all over. On the way in, I realized I'd forgotten to bring a shirt for work. Guess I'll just have to sit here in my t-shirt.

Saw a couple people riding to work: one messenger and one guy on a mtb commuting and zig zagging between lanes w/o looking. He got honked at by a couple cabs for swerving wide into their lane. I'd have honked too.

Hurt my ankle yesterday after ice skating when I slipped walking out of the bathroom. Doesn't hurt when I ride, but it does hurt a little when I put my foot down at red lights. Guess I just won't stop at red lights. :D

A bit colder today - around -10C before windchill. Still, not that bad. I definitely need to put some air in my tires when I get home tonight. The cold has dropped the psi to ~80. For the second day in a row, some yutz in a truck has tried to squeeze me out of the road. There's a short but steep hill near my house on the way in, so I zip down that pretty quickly. Yesterday/today, there was a truck coming up the hill at a pretty fair clip, and he basically drove right in the middle of the road. This left me with a 6'-8' gap to punch through between the parked cars and the truck. A bit narrower than I'd like, as the pavement is a bit rough and somebody could open a door and/or the truck could slide another 2' closer to me [by accident, of course]. Anyway, just thought I'd complain a bit. :)

Well, if you can't find a set of cheap STI brake/shifters, then I would lean toward down tube shifters. I've used bare-end shifters in the past [Dura-Ace] and haven't really liked them. See if you can try out a set in a store. I think some touring bikes still come with them.

6 degrees (C) with light drizzle. Turns out my rear fender doesn't really keep the water from striping up my back. And my jacket isn't really waterproof. And if I cross wet streetcar tracks at a 10 degree angle when it's raining, I fall down. I was reminded of Hurst's "Road Rash is a gift. It's a reminder of what not to do.", and sure enough I got smacked down because I was getting cocky. Ah well, just a small reminder of the lesson for the next few days.

But all in all, sort of a fun ride. I mean, I really got quite wet, but I had a change of clothes in my pannier, and I fell, but I didn't really get hurt, and I still far prefer the ride with the wind and rain to the subway ride with the far-too-many-people and the avian flu. ;)

Windy.

Today's commute. 17ºF with sunny skies. Roads were intermittent snow pack and ice. We only got about 1/2 inch of snow. Just enough to mess up the roads. In the past, I would have driven due to the road conditions. Today, I rode the Raleigh Mustang equipped with the new Nashbar Studded ATB tires. The commute was much slower on this bike. Of course, it was a victory to ride at all. Even if a bit slowly.

Beautiful! Brisk cold weather, but traffic moving at a crawl. Since the traffic normally moves 65, just blowing by miles of cars was pretty fun (and it made the highway seem so much quieter and safer) :D

61F for the ride home and the streets were wet from rain, but it had stopped raining when I left work. I put on my rain pants and jacket anyways to keep me dry from road spray and any other rain that may fall on the way home. Got home sweaty all over. So much for breathable. Also, since I have SPD platforms, my regular shoes were a little slippy on the pedals. Some observations:

- Those zips where my pants pockets are aren't pockets, their holes where I can reach in and adjust myself. Their secondary function is ventilation.
- The back of the pants don't really reach up that high in the back.
- The back pockets are so deep that I sit directly on top of whatever's in the back. A surprise if you're not expecting it and your keys are there.
- I get sweaty with that stuff on.

THE PERFECT FALL: 33F, foggy with patches of black ice. Riding past the "Igglesia Christo" sp? church, took the corner to fast, slid into a curb & down I went. I knew I would fall when I saw I couldn't avoid the curb. Went right over onto a grassy hillside, tucked & rolled down, about 3 or 4 rotations which made me dizzy. Got some mud on my clothes & the bars were off center but I was quickly on my way & changed into clean clothes when I reached work. No road rash, just a sore shoulder & a couple small abrasions on my legs & arms where I hit a few rocks. Gotta slow down & be more careful now that its Winter.

It was dry and about at the freezing point this morning, uneventful ride into downtown. On the way home I took the highway out south of the city, then came up the back side of the South Hill on a dark two-lane country road, and that was a pretty nice ride too.

nice and warm for a November morning. A really good ride. My commute time is slightly faster than when I temporarily stopped riding a couple of months ago. This is a good thing!

It was a good ride in this morning, 64 degrees and a 20 mph TAILWIND for a change. I made such good time that my car driving coworkers questioned whether I had left earlier today. Nope, I enjoy my sleep. Played tag with an SUV for about a mile. they would race away from the light only to be caught by me again when the next light turned green. I think he was a little irked when I laughed as I pulled up next to him at the third light. Lots of leaf piles all over the road from the strong winds last night. Beacause of the tailwind I beat my best time to work by a minute and a half. I don't know why I'm competing against myself; I'll just tie. :rolleyes: The ride home was 64 degrees as well with only a 13 mph headwind, but boy, did it really wear me out for some reason. I had to get out the Deepheat when I got home because I added too much distance to my trip home tonight.

I was really tired this morning for some reason... fatigue + some nasty headwinds made for a slightly slower commute in... it was unseasonably warm though which was definitely a good thing... I left the house in my zip-up hoodie and it was off and in my backpack by about the first quarter mile

on the way back it was better, there wasn't much in the way of headwinds and I wasn't as tired so I was able to make much better time... though my chain slipped off AGAIN, this time while I was attempting a merge into heavy traffic... think I might get a chain watcher... do those things work at all?

Bad ride to work today. It was wet windy and on top of
that I got a flat tire on the way to work. I had a hard time tunring the nut on the wheel. So it took longer than It should have to fix the flat tire . Then it rain hard all the way home . But at last I got home . Have a good nite .

eh. mine was motorized. but i got the errands all done, so tomorrow looks good.

Last night I got soaked, as predicted. Rained, hard, all the way home. No big deal. :)

This morning it's about 60F degrees (This is NW Vermont, mind you) and ungodly humid. I also had a howling headwind which wasn't very fun. I plodded along like I was dragging an anchor all the way to work.

Edit: Any of you flatlanders looking to ski/ride this weekend or next: Better check to make sure things are open.

Take me off the newbie list, I had a flat on the way to work this morning (my first)!

Yes, that's right, on the day I am running late and leave the house only 25 minutes before work. "But, it only takes me 25 minutes to get to work, so I'll be OK," I say. "What could go wrong?", I say.

About 3/4 of the way to work, I hear a tick-tick-tick from my front wheel. I stop and look, and there is a tack stuck in there. I pull it out and hear the always depressing psssst sound.

I carry a spare tube, and a patch kit, as well as everything needed to change the tube. It took me 5-10 minutes (I didn't time it), and I was back on my way.

Of course I was late to work, but I work with understanding people, so it wasn't a big deal. Other than that, it was a nice ride in.

This waqs my last post.
Please note the comment about having a cold. Well it hit me hard and knocked me on my seat for a whole month. I missed some work (not much), but I also missed a lot of riding. I've been driving to work for the last month and feeling like I didn't really want to go at all.
But...
I'm better now and back on my bike as of Monday. It's been great, too. It's almost like the time off made me stronger, or while I was off someone came in and flattened the hills between home and work. We've been having unseasonally good weather this week, which has made the ride all the more pleasant.
It's good to be back in the saddle again...everybody sing...
"I'm back in the saddle again
Back where I always have been..."
I don't know the rest of the song.

Approached campus on my commute to work, and discovered the paved path I've taken for years now has a gate installed so vehicles can't enter this access point.

And by vehicles, I mean bicycles and wheelchairs... oh yeah, and the occasional car or truck. Wonderful.

I saw that this morning. What's that about? It looks horrible, so I'm hoping it's just temporary.


On my own commute in, I had a fun experience. I did a trackstand through a traffic light right next to a bus. By the end of the light cycle, the bus driver opens the door to his bus to get my attention (I'm in the next lane, even with the door). I look up, knowing I may lose balance just for a glance, and he's just smiling. We don't say a word to each other, but as the light changes and we both roll through the intersection, he taps his horn to say goodbye.

Telecommuted today cuz I'm awaiting the UPS man w/ my new ski jacket that will also double as a waterproof/breathable winter rain jacket when I walk/ride/whatever. C'mon UPS man, hurry it up!

The commute home last night was windy and about 28ºF. Really could have used another layer.

Today's commute was nice. Temp when I left home was 30ºF with a SSW breeze at around 15MPH. There were still a patch of ice here and there. Traffic seemed a bit heavier today.

Rode in with the wife again today. She wanted to show me a house on our route that has a special window treatment instead of blinds/drapery. They frosted the glass in stripes across the bottom. It looks interesting, but I'll wait until I ride home tonight to see whether I like it or not. Other than that, the ride was uneventful and around -1C.

I ran into a former client on my way to the office. He's a tri-guy, and trains ridiculously hard. He just started commuting on a fixie from out in the burbs. I'm guessing 20 km of rolling hills all the way in. I know it's not a competition, and I see this guy once a year by chance, but now I feel the need to commute on a fixed gear. I am so shallow...

Ahhhhh, interesting ride in this morning, it was 17F/-8C, winds up to 40+ mph and snowy/icy roads. Luckly, it was a tail/cross wind. It was good though, I had all my winter gear on and stayed nice a cozy and traction was good for the most part... it was actually fun. Of course then there is the ride home into that wind, it's only suppose to get up to 24F/-4C, hmmmmm....
PS Hey, it's good to see your posts, Zin. Ready for another adventurous winter?