tulip

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!

scottmorrison99

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. 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.

o-dog

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?

spidercyclist

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 .

tokolosh

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

vtjim

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.

FloridaJohn

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.

gew0419

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.

* jack *

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.

nicomachus

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.

jyossarian

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!

Zin

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.

pinkrobe

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...

mtessmer

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?

Gus Riley

Priceless! Refreshing experience shared with us...thanks

When I commuted, buses were always on my watch list for things not so good coming from behind.

mjw16

Almost wrecked on my morning ride in yesterday, wasn't paying attention and let my tires slip of the paved trail and skidded againts the side of it as I tried to get back on. I dropped my left leg and kept from crashing. Then, on the way home, coming around a turn, a girl was standing in the middle of the trail trying to pick up her puppy. I yelled "heads up" and she went right, left, then right again. I decided to go behind her and she again changed her mind and almost got it. I locked up the rear, fish tailed, and dropped my left leg to keep from wiping out. She was very apologetic and cute too (which never hurts). I caught up to her later and chatted for a bit, she was cool and continued to apologize, I told her not to worry about it.

This morning's ride in was uneventful by comparison, just beautiful spring-like weather. I think the ride home will be a different story with the approaching cold front.

o-dog

really windy today... the headwinds were the worst I've probably ever encountered for almost all of my commute there and back... slowed me up quite a bit

on the way back I took a detour down the Paint Branch trail to Home Depot to pick up some stuff that I needed from there... it only started drizzling about 3/4 of the way through the ride home from there so at least I missed the heavy rain

tomg

one of those days! farfignuegen!
ride in was sunny, 70degf, with the wind in my direction, and traffic sane, (except 1 driver who wanted to turn right, i held my lane, she sped up and passed, then turned right, an apparant misuse of energy), and eventless.
ride home was better. except for staying at work extra for inspection tomorrow, it was 75degf, light wind in my face. i got to break out my head-lite and 5 flashers (it was dark). it felt like the traffic was lighter, even more distance was given (cars passed with increased distance between).
Why are there not other commuters in this area of south nj? the kids are waiting for a bus to take them 2 miles to school from here. i am aware of about 4 other commuters from or to this area i see in route. i attempt to lead by example!

mechBgon

Light snow this morning, so I finally put on the IRC Blizzard tires. They're on their third season and still growl down the road quite convincingly My ride in was non-eventful. I went out at lunch and bought my LD1000, installed it at work, and cruised home in the dark.

At the bottleneck at 25th and Southeast, a person in a car was undecided whether to try to make it to the bottleneck ahead of me or not, and decided to wait, so I dropped a couple gears and punched it, then wound back up to the 48x11 and kept laying on the power for the next four blocks to the traffic light at 29th. Signal, mirror check, headcheck as a formality, merge left, and the left-turn lane's mine. They never overtook me. So that was my best Cheetah impression in a while. Not easy on a bike with this much rotating weight and air drag, but it's good training, eh?

FloridaJohn

I don't know which biking god I angered this week, but I am paying for it now.

As I mentioned earlier, I had a flat on my front wheel coming into work this morning. No big deal, I had a spare tube.

On my way home today, I had another flat, this time on my back wheel. Since I had already used my spare tube this morning, I tried (unsuccessfully) to patch the hole. I'm not sure what I did wrong but it didn't seal.

I had a meeting at 6:30 tonight, so I didn't have time to try it again and had to call my wife for a pick up. I only got 1.5 miles in this afternoon before I had a flat! That sucks!

I only have 3 days this week to ride, since I was out of town on Tuesday and tomorrow, so I hate to lose half of one day.

I swung by the LBS after my meeting tonight, but they were already closed. Hopefully I'll be back home tomorrow early enough to get by there and buy some new tubes. Otherwise I will have to drive on Friday. This time I am going to carry two spare tubes!

spidercyclist

A better commute today. It was windy and cold, but atleast it didn't rain. This time I didn't have a flat tire. I rode the full suspension because the roads are starting to get rough already and it's not even winter. Have a good night.

pinkrobe

I'm riding home in the dark as usual, and as I pass a young woman walking some sort of orange skinny-tire thing up the hill. As I ride by, she says "Nice legs". To which I reply, "uh, thanks". Now, as I get to the top of the hill, I think about this. It's pitch black on most of the hill. I have a 10W spotlight shinig from my head, plus front and rear flashers. I'm also wearing shants, so she can't really see my legs anyway. What she probably said was, "nice lights", and she probably meant it in a sarcastic way. Sigh. I rode by the house that my wife wants us to model our windows after. It's not bad with the stripes, but I think one broad stripe would be better and more dramatic. As long as the cats can see out, it's good by me.

tokolosh

glad you're back - i was kind of wondering.

yowsers. i could not sleep last night. i don't know; maybe it was because i had to drive yesterday when i could have been perfectly fine on the bike. the days when i drive because i'm coming unglued don't give me that side-effect, so maybe. anyway, it sure felt more normal to get up and ride to work today, even on two hours' sleep. the morning was cool and soft and grey; really really really nice. evening felt colder but wasn't, with just a touch of headwind in places. got stuck behind an oblivious pedestrian near the top of the bridge, but i was feeling pretty mellow and yeah. maybe a bit sleep-deprived. just dawdled along behind him for a few hundred metres, trying out a 'HEY THERE!' every now and again. used the time to practice my balancing, and try to figure out what's up with that one leg that aches all the time. i dunno; i think maybe the cold is getting into my hip and my knee. feels like stiff joints and/or stiff ligaments; nothing much else is wrong. bleh. just one darned thing after another, this life.

foursome overheard in the health club today:

'and this is grace, and this is helen, and this is . . . are you marjorie?'
'no, i'm me.'

heh. ima miss that health club when the time comes.

songs: wonderful remark, van morrison, o superman, laurie anderson.

mjw16

All packed up and ready to roll the bike out the door when I realized that I had a flat. I thought about changing it but, since I was already running late, I scrapped that ideal and drove in. Even though I can justify the break, I never really feel good about driving, I never feel as good or awake as when I ride. Oh well, I'll change the tube tonight after working out and running errands and ride tomorrow.

NoRacer

Recently, I picked up a GORE SOHO jacket. With an UnderArmor long sleeve as a base layer and the SOHO jacket on top, at first, I felt chilly, but once the body heat increased from the exertion, I was toasty. On the bottom half: bike shorts under tights; two layers of tech socks.

It's was only 36F, but I wanted to see how well the two layers on top would do. Just in case, I brought along some polypro arm and leg warmers, but didn't need them.

Tomorrow, it'll be 10 degrees (F) colder. My worst fear is black ice.