I finally did it.. :) Today was my first commute to one of the two offices that I work @.

Rode 5.25 miles to work .lol

Avg spd was 12.2 mph and it took 25 minutes :)

This is on my caugh.. huffy.. caugh.....

here is a pic of it setup for commuting (daytime only)...

http://nitrousworld.com/images/bicyc...e/p1010001.jpg

No commute today. :(
Going to hunt down a new rim during lunch.

Last nights commute ended oddly. When I cross over the main street by my house there is a short MUP (2000 feet maybe) that leads directly to my street. I came around the curve and low and behold two sets of tweens (or teens) standing in the middle of the MUP making out. They blankly stared at me bearing down at them (fully loaded panniers, somewhat large guy, etc) and refused to move. I actually had to yell at them to move "MOVE!" and they still didn't bother. I barely missed them.
Then was called an ahole. Poor little me. :p
Anyways, this goes without saying: teens + hormones = the intelligence of a lobotomized rat

Left the office yesterday and was greeted by a howling wind with intermittent showers. By the time I was within a mile of the house, the rain turned in a downpour, which lucky for me, didn't last long. This morning's ride was a nice easy ride in with extremely cold, for this area, weather. But weather or no, I feel bad when I don't ride in.

Yesterday, the snow had melted. Today, the city had cleared about 2km of sand/salt from the shoulder. Everything is turnin' up milhouse!

Thanks tokolosh, I knew you'd know.

It was 18F when I left this morning all decked out in layers w/ my beanie and ear wrap under my winter helmet. 12-15 mins later I was at work sweating like a sweaty man who wore too many layers. Felt like I had too much on and it affected my low speed maneuvering ability. And I needed that maneuverability because traffic was a jam-packed nightmare! Barely any clearance to get by and a few spots where I had to use the sidewalk to get around the cars. Needless to say, this played havoc w/ my commuting time.

On a day like today, you expect to see the nuts out and I did. On my block approaching me was an older gentleman jogging and on Lexington I saw two women of a certain age riding single speed or 3-speed cruisers with front baskets and rear panniers dressed in winter jackets, dress pants and boots w/ 2-3 inch heels. Of course, I didn't see any roadies out, but I expect they're out there somewhere.

I stole my wife's bike today. Hopefully she won't notice. Mine is under repair. I had a little bit of rear wheel slippage going up hills in the snow. It isn't too deep. It takes me longer in the winter because I go slow to avoid finding ice patches at high speed. I brake going down the big hills. No problem with fogged up glasses this morning. They were stowed in my bag.

Almost got tagged by two vehicles turning directly in front of me. I can't wait to get my HID light. It's gonna sharks with frickin' laser beams, man... frickin' laser beams...

commute was not good today. had to take the subway. front hub is wacked.

The fog was kickin' like a KISS video. Tomorrow I'm wearing my Peter Criss makeup.

It's Tuesday, so this morning, I rode in for week 2 of commuting. :) Another beautiful San Diego morning. Wasn't so beautiful at sunrise (yes, we San Diegans are wimps), and got to sleep really late last night thanks to work, so I didn't ride before breakfast. Did I mention that I love commuting? :D How else would I get to ride on the days I don't ride before breakfast?

I felt good this morning. I think it must've been that I got full 6 hours of sleep for once. Woke up refreshed, was dancing to some tacky country song while getting ready, installed another rear light (my 4th one) :D and inflated my tires before I left. There was freezing fog today, random patches of ice on the road but my tires held their own surprisingly well (knock on wood). I felt really strong... made it to work in record time and even managed to keep up with this guy on a fancy road bike :D I'm going to try my best to go to bed on time today... the stupid annoying insomnia can go to hell

As I once suggested in another thread, try jogging around your apartment for half an hour or so. It's an extreme measure, but it has yet to fail no matter how not tired I might have felt before or how much was on my mind.

Yesterday afternoon, I broke a spoke on the fixie. I have to go somewhere after work, so i can't take the wheel in. I only have one fixed gear, so I rode the SS mtb in. Coasting feels really odd when you haven't done it in months. Oh well, at least I'll get some looks from the drivers tomorrow with my fixed wheel strapped to my back. This is the second spoke I've broken in a couple of months. I think it's time to build up some wheels and lose these Quando-hubbed wheels that came with my bike. Stay safe out there. Houston weather is so odd -- it was in the 30's last week, and now it has climbed back up and will hit the 60's today. We just get cold front blasts here. Last year we got snow on christmas, and were wearing t-shirts on new years.

Exciting commute for me today. About halfway to work I see traffic backed up for 1/2 mile onto Roy Rogers road. As I get closer I see what about 1 cm sheet of ice across the road. It has been quite cool in Portland but I wasn't expecting that. Apparenlty I hit the worst ice in the county (http://www.katu.com/stories/81715.html). I ended up falling once at low speeds. No damage other than my pride. But it was somewhat taxing. It was so slick you could hardly stand. Studs would have been awesome but it ended in 3 miles and this is the first time I've seen such conditions. It was fun to pass go slow and still pass cars.

I stopped to take a few photos. Hopefully they will come through as attachments (first time using this)

-Scott

I had a very nice commute in this morning. It was 25F/-4C (a heat wave), roads were pretty clear of snow for the most part. It was close to 30F/-1C at lunch time so I took a longer cruise at lunch time. I'm really looking forward to my ride home. It sounds like we might get clobbered by snow tomorrow and Thursday... hmmmmm... will see.

cold commute today (but very adaptable)! saw 3 locked bikes (catch the bus to a/c casinoes) and a fellow commutor (we are not alone)!
funny, i had to stop at about 8 red lites today, and actually got "noticed" at left-turn-only signal, contrary to yesterdays post

Commute home included some shopping downtown for a Balaclava (didn't have my size) and some Under Silk long johns (they had my size). It was cold out w/ a headwind all the way home from Houston St., but the headwind warmed me up cuz of the extra effort to actually move. Was sweaty when I got home so even pulling off one layer, I was still warm enough that I opened the pit zips to let some air in or out or whatever.

The ride to work this morning was nice, 37 degrees with a <5 mph headwind. I was running a little behind, so I took the main street through town. Traffic was fairly light due to the early hour. It felt good to time the lights and hit greens instead of stop signs. I left work early today, so I saw some late afternoon daylight. I need to get to a window once in a while. It was 50 degrees with no wind. The last 3 miles of my ride I just loped along behind an older man on a older 3 speed with a spring seat and panniers. He didn't have a taillight, so I just followed along until we turned in different directions 1/4 mile from home. If I run into him again, I'll suggest a taillight. He had a headlight and two rear reflectors so I figured he had decided for himself. I didn't feel like trying to lecture anyone today. The cagers were didn't crowd me, I wonder if it's because in the daylight they know I can get a plate number, or they can see I'm one big mofo.;)

Congrats, keep up the good work! :)

Cold!!

so three months ago when i started doing this, the health club had this honking great container of baby powder in the zone where the hairdryers go. i used to pour it liberally into my shoes, then shake them out once i was done showering. being both unwilling to carry two pairs of shoes every day and all self-conscious and twitchy and that about going to work with stinky feet.

well, so i used up their baby powder and waited expectantly for the baby-powder fairy to bring replacements. after a couple of days nothing had happened, so i took it upon myself to tell someone at the front desk. they thanked me somewhat bemusedly but didn't do a thing about it, except eventually remove the empty bottle. i said nothing more about it, being as how i didn't really want them discovering how it all got gone so fast in case it constitutes some kind of Massive Breach Of The Terms Of Service to put the baby powder they provide out the sweetness of their corporate hearts and in the clear light of good faith into your shoes. and after a while it occurred to me anyway that maybe it wasn't theirs after all, but belonged to one of their rich tennis players who thinks the place is their home.

so anyway. this week, only three months after starting this thing, it dawned on me that not all the little spritzy bottles lined up alongside where the bp once was (which are most certainly health-club possessions) are full of hairspray, which was why i'd been ignoring them. one of them was actually a fancy-pants holistic health-foody form of deodorant. not that i'm about to be starting to spritz a mixture of witch hazel and bergamot into my shoes, and not that i'm still using the shoes that started it all anyway, but sigh. too much of my life seems to work out like that.

still a tough ride both ways. i know why too, and there's probably nothing to do but wait it out. could rest but i don't want to; i'm sick of resting. this will be a four-day riding week anyway since i'll be downtown on thursday, so i really don't want to miss any of them. sometimes it occurs to me that it's always been a fight against something to make room to do this commute semi-regularly. right now i'm not feeling like i'll miss it when this job is done. i'll just be mad that it was so full of setbacks and impediments.

cool and grey all week so far, but not actively raining, i deliberately underdressed thinking that it might help keep the pain threshold down. it did, but i dunno if that was just because my legs both went numb. felt good even if that's all it was. i could get hooked on that.

songs: apple cider reconstitution, al stewart; let the sunshine in, from hair; and if venice is sinking, spirit of the west.

Things you don't want to get shouted at you as you ride past #42: "Have you seen two rotweillers anywhere?"

:eek:

How do you lose two rotweillers?!

Otherwise, fastest commute for a while. Sure sign that the wind was behind me!

Damn Damn Damn !!!

I had to bring in 2 monitors from one office to another today, so I had to lug them in my car :(

No riding.... sheesh.

Around -5F here. Moisture crystalizing out of the air. :) A fine morning for a ride.

I went with a balaclava and ski goggles today. Got a tad overheated climbing the hill to my office building, but was otherwise comfortable. Long-sleeve cotton (I know, I know - I don't perspire much) shirt and nylon cycling jacket. Polar fleece on the legs. Gloves.

I saw a loon and some ducks swimming in the lake. The ducks had their feathers all puffed out against the cold.

I also saw some VERY strange tracks in the snow. Nothing I've seen before. Little feet with a well-defined line down the middle. Opossum?

Co-Worker, jokingly: "You got studs on those tires?"
Me: "Yes I do."
Co-Worker: "You do?"
Me: "Yep."
Co-Worker: "Nooo. Where?"
I point out the studs.
Co-Worker: "Wow!"
:)

One of my layers ain't pulling its weight. Leaves me all clammy and traps the sweat. It's gone from the repertoire, relegated to use for fashion only in non-sweat environments. Meanwhile, my ski socks are pulling their weight. Hope I get the new ones I ordered last night soon otherwise I'll have to keep washing and rinsing the same pair every night. Ride today was a blast cuz of all the fast zig-zagging and fast lane splitting. Beat traffic down to midtown and even had the light at 42nd St. to make my left turn. Big change from the jam packed traffic of the last two days.