Priceless! :D Refreshing experience shared with us...thanks

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

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.

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

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!

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? :)

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nice ride, though quite a bit cooler today. Yesterday's low was 66, today, as of 6AM, it was 40. Had a 5-10 mph head wind, but still eked out a 16.4 avg. Looking forward to the 10-15mph tailwind on the way home!!

Laurie Anderson?? I haven't played her CDs for years but your post made me realize how much I miss her music. She'd make a great sound track to my morning commute riding through the dark streets.

My ride was quick today, I missed yesterday due to a flat so my legs were well rested. There were four pedestrians out this morning but no other bikes.

My average time was reaching a plateau after dropping fast for the first few weeks of riding. I know that's the way it goes with any new workout but I like to see improvement to let me know I'm getting better. Today I found I could shave lots more time off my average by pedaling on the downhill parts where I used to coast. The gain is big but it isn't as satifying as climbing the hills faster.

Chilly. 24F but no wind. I need to keep my toes warmer, the cleat seems to act as a heat sink, as others have noted.

Bill

The usual commute. Usual = riding between lanes, taking lanes, running reds, dodging peds and zig-zagging around stopped or slow moving cars that don't like the lane they're in. It was about 42F when I left this morning so I wore the usual t-shirt, but threw on a corduroy jacket and left it open to let the heat escape. Brought gloves for the ice skating and ride home, just in case. Ankle still feels achy. Didn't think I'd sprained it that much. Oh well, what the hell.

25F & clear, no wind, 10 -12 peds up near the college, 4 other cyclists....typical commute. Found someone's bike lock and hung it on a bridge rail in hopes that they'll find it. Still trying to find a good, warm, economical pair of gloves for the colder temps. Read all the posts and online reviews and still haven't come to a conclusion on what to buy. What a cheap skeptic ass, eh?

Earth First!

I sort of missed the sunrise while I was in the shower. I've got that "Soul Meets Body" song by Death Cab for Cutie in my head. You know - "...and in my head there's a Greyhound station..." Yeah, that one. Anyway, it was nice and bright on the way in, but way colder than it looked. It's supposed to get up to 16C this weekend, so I should organize a road ride or something.

Monday was my last commute before this morning. That day I had come down with my cold. The way in was fine. The ride back was not. Big old wind\rain\snow storm hit when I was trying to climb a hill. The end result was me diverting to a bus.

Tues: VPNed into the office. Worked from home
Wed: over cold but did not want to risk with 15F temps
Today: rode straight to work from home. 35 miles. Still a bit tired from the cold. Took me 2.75 hrs. 2 hrs is more the normal time.
Nice commute. Interesting seeing areas I normally bike through in the dark in daylight.
Overheating with 20-25 degree temps. Better than freezing.
Later today I will bike back home to make up my missing miles.

Got soaked again yesterday for the ride home. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees in 2 hours, earlier than the weather service said it would, and all I had was my nylon jacket and shorts. Pouring rain, 40-some degrees. Oh and a light headwind. My hands were cold before I'd gone one mile, so I pushed myself to generate heat. It worked. Had a pretty fast ride home, actually.

This morning it was in the mid 30s. Crosswind. No rain though. Lots of squirrels.

I'm prepping the MTB tonight in case it snows. 30% chance.

Nice ride in this morning after a couple of days off. Low 40's and very sunny, but had a headwind the whole way in. Should have a nice tail wind on the way home though. 20's tonight, gonna be a cold ride in tomorrow morning.

mine wasn't that good today. I got a flat! well, a half/flat. it was still inflated a little bit. so I put it in 1'st and rode my 1 mile [thank goodness] home.a toenail puncutured it! like a dog's one!

Rode home quick to move the car. Ended up riding in between lanes a lot on 3rd Ave. Ride was uneventful except for being passed closer than necessary by some shmuck w/ Florida plates. Too bad I couldn't catch up w/ him to tell what a *****a$$ driver he is. Took 45 mins. to find a spot which ain't great, but ain't as bad as it could've been.

I have a pair of these gloves and have been very happy with them. http://www.rei.com/product/47938535.htm

As for my commute, it was gorgeous: 50F and clear blue skies.

My morning ride in was about normal, overcast and below freezing. It's time to begin being careful about black ice here. On the way home, it was fairly thick fog in the city darkeness (not New England thick, but thick for here) and my headlight was like a light saber in the fog. Luke! I AM YOUR FATHER. :p Unfortunately the fog only lasted 1/3 of the way home.

But... I have to go back down there in a few minutes to finish a project (it's 7PM here) so I will get another chance to resist the lure of The Dark Side and the four-wheeled minions of The Empire in a little while :) My HID light saber is already topped off and ready for battle :D

Today was the first day I commuted to work on my bike. I can't begin to describe how awesome it is to not have to deal with the T (I work in Boston). It's only 3 miles, but it's nice to be able to get from door to door in less than 30 minutes. I have to say that i'm a little out of shape, but it felt awesome nonetheless. I forgot to bring gloves and a hat, so it was a little nippy at 31F. :D