I'm a bit of a wimp because of the remnents of my cold. It's 33deg out this morning so I am driving to work. I don't want to risk a relaps.

My coworkers are looking at me strange. Apparently, wearing shorts when it is 30 out qualifies you as a loon. One of the benefits of wearing a different outfit in the office than what you rode in wearing. Common! It's going to be 60F later today.

Nice uneventful commute. This week I have started working on my cadence. This helped me show up a few minutes early.

Non-descript ride in today. A bit of a headwind, so I didn't feel fast [nor slow]. I'll be enjoying a roast beef sandwich with horseradish today for lunch.

The usual. 43F when I left and it may rain this afternoon so I brought the rain jacket, but left the pants at home. Some kind of Nor'easter scheduled for tomorrow so that should be interesting. I hate helmet hair.

It's closer to Thanksgiving. I didn't ride my bike because my wife told me that the traffic today is a little bit erratic. I noticed that there are more cars during the time I usually ride my bicycle to work. Have you noticed any difference in traffic during holiday season? I am afraid there will be more DUI on the road, so I am going to drive for next few days until the alcohol clears those DUI cagers brains.

-5 °C (23 F) this morning in Oxford, with reports from car driving colleagues of temps down to -7 °C.

Glorious sunshine though, Glorious sunshine, really, glorious........

Cheers,

Ed

48F (9C) at my house when I left at 6am. With the mist along the American, it felt 5 degrees colder on the bike path so I'm glad I wore the full tights and a ski cap.

I feel bad for people who don't realize there are other ways to get to work than driving a car.

My wife was looking through the new Performance catalog for gift ideas -- it looks like I am getting Triflex tights and a new commuter jacket. Whoooooohoooooo!

Both my rides today were uneventful except for this AWESOME view I had the good fortune to witness on the way home. I was riding downhill facing east but i was still high above downtown Portland. With the sun just about to set, the sky above the Rockies was this delicate pink color and so was Mt Hood which I could see absolutely clearly. The mountain range in the distance was a deep green/indigo color and was immersed in low clouds that made it look eerie... I just had to stop and stare for awhile and wish in vain for my camera.

Beat the rain home.

ride to/from went well. there does seem to be an increase in offensive drivers, but manageable.
i did loose a "blinky" flashing lite on return trip when i hit a road bump. it flew off (gotta figure a better way to mount) and i was in the process of retreiving it when a car drove over it, pieces went everywhere. still had my other flashers (4) and head light.

fog fog fog. fog in the morning, fog at night. THICK fog - couldn't see up to the stop-sign from the mid-block alley just before it.

fog is extremely cool. of course i wouldn't want to live in it, but it's sure neat for someone who never sees it. i love that mysterious effect where the edges of things just suddenly show up at you, where one pace before there was nothing there. magic! really neat pearly kind of light filtering down through it too. and riding, i could actually feel the individual little droplets meeting my skin. it's as quiet and private as snow without the disadvantages of snow, very very neat. and ooooooo, the smell of it . . . could breathe that for days. i was more careful than usual though. got no idea how visible any of my visibility stuff is through fog, so i just assumed it wasn't at all and based myself on that. started late again, so traffic was pretty mild anyway. dunno the temperature, something between 5 and 10 probably.

must have been low cloud, not river fog. when i got down to the last steep descent and was almost at river-level, it thinned out very suddenly. then thickened up again as i went up the bridge, thinned as i came down . . . couldn't see the river as anything but a shadow from up there. like a whistler painting. i liked it a lot. was even more careful coming home, what with the dark on top of the fog, but it was fine.

nothing in the health club at all. but as i came into work there was a van with a trailer parked just outside the doors. odd. van and trailer had washington plates. trailer had a texas-based url sign-painted across the back of it. and the van had a 'university of so cal' decal along the back window. you wonder how they got all of it together in the first place, never mind up here to bc.

counting down the final two months. yee HAH.

Overcast, a little above freezing, and a nondescript 5-mile ride to work. There was a natural-gas leak somewhere in the building, so I grabbed my bike and gear in case we couldn't go back inside, but we were given the all-clear. Darn.

Going home, I went ponderously slow most of the way, taking it easy, feeling (and hearing) the IRC Blizzards gnawing on asphalt with carbide steel at ~35psi/2atm. Arrived home in the dark to see the apartment manager changing light bulbs on a stepladder under the carport. "I figured that might be you," she said cheerfully. "That looks like a nice bike. So do you ride all winter?"

Bit of fog this morning so I rode my old Centurion Le Mans with its home made headlight & yellow strobe lights. Every car passed with care & gave me lots of room. Forgot how visible this old tank is, made for a nice,peaceful commute to & from work.

The commute was fast this morning! The east wind that slowed my ride home yesterday was still blowing and this time was helping me out. The chilled air was invigorating as I maxed out the gears on the flat stretches. Even the hills were easier, with the wind like a gentle push in the middle of my back.

A lady with an off-leash dog was walking but the dog paid me no attention. the only other biker was lightlessly parked in the bike lane opposite me, just watching as I rode past.

Wet ride in. Not a downpour, just drizzling. Wore rain pants, jacket and helmet cover and stayed relatively dry from the rain. With the pit zips open to full, the wind blew into my arms at every stoplight (woohoo!). Didn't wear any gloves though so my hands were cold, but manageable. Gotta get something like rain-x for my glasses. Didn't see any other cyclists, but one of the other commuter's bike was parked outside the building so I'm not the only one riding in the rain. Forgot my belt so I have to pull my pants up every 5 steps.

What a "freaking" adventure! - My commute home last night.

Whoohoo! There is nothing like riding a fast road bike under torrential downpour in the middle of rush hour traffic! Water everywhere!

The rooster tails from my front wheel shot water into my shoes. I'm glad that I'm 'clipless'--a huge difference in helping me stay on the pedals.

The Michelin Pro 2 Race slicks, on the front and back, stuck to the roads very well. I averaged 19.2 MPH for the commute!

By the time I arrived home, my epinephrine and endorphin levels were through the roof. What a blast! And, the best thing--no one friggin' tried to kill me!

Took the ratty winter beater MTB to work today. Supposed to snow later! It's raining now. Temps in the high 30Fs.

Today is cubical moving day at work... Got me a window seat but that eliminates some vertical space for hanging riding gear. Not sure how I'm going to work it out yet. Some people have screwed coat racks to the wall. I might do the same. The cube is a little bigger as well, so I've got more room. Bike is now 20" behind me instead of 10.

Could be my last commute of the week if I take tomorrow off for the holiday...

Decided to ride to work the entire way. The mind was up for it but my body was not. 2.5 hrs to go 35 miles. Ugh!

Amusing item today: a man was jogging with his lab sized dog. The dog had a red blinkie on its collar. Amused me greatly.

Negative items: hit a windshield wiper blade and arm lying in the street. Had a disagreement with a ped. "on your left!" "warn me earlier so I can get out of the way!" "I did! It's not my fault you are deaf" or something to that effect.
Last but not least, no lady joggers on my way through Washington park. Grrrrr...Tight jogging pants make my morning.

Windy. The winds are from the south side of the "Nor'easter" they're having up along the east coast from DC to Maine. The hills were a little more difficult today for some reason.

The sun was trying to come out but I think the clouds will win the battle.
The temperature was ~42F (5C) with a wind chill of 36F (2C).
Traffic was light so I guess everyone was at the airport trying to get out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend.

wind. too. strong.

the rain was heavy and cold, the sky was dark. but it was somehow fun riding with the feeling that my raingear was keeping me dry and the fenders were working, the messenger bag was waterproof. i was safe from the wet cold.

43 F, feels like 36 F. Raining pretty hard!

It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning. Whoot!

I'm in your city. Let me guess, do you ride to the east in the morning? The wind was blowing leaves, branches, trash, and small animals past me for the last two days.

Made excellent time after falling in behind a landscaping truck for the middle 2 miles of my route. I was spinning easily in the big ring when I pulled around the truck to make my turn on to L Street. A glance at the computer: 30.5 mph!

It's fun to go fast, but everyday I'm more convinced that the bike I'm using as a commuter just isn't that well-suited for it. It's a wannabe racer and the more I read Sheldon Brown and Grant Peterson the more I notice that most of the road bikes sold today aren't particularly useful for anything other than racing and club riding. So, I'm thinking seriously about getting a Soma Double Cross or a Surly Cross-Check frame. Just thinking out loud but these frames seem like the Swiss Army knives of the bike world.

Anybody else here riding a cross bike as a commuter?