Heh yes it does feel a tad weird not to have clips. Thats why I don't ride my Wally's world bike to work and only ride it on the weekends.

There is this overpass that has random joggers who like to cross the road without clearing it. Sop they'll be half way into the first lane which is what i'm in before they see me. and they're like #$@^@!#%

Nice sunny cool morning ride in. Feeling a little slow compared to the end of summer last year, but it'll get better...

Early ride home today because I had a dentist appointment at 3 pm and was done by 3:30. Went home early instead of returning to the office to finish off the day. Took some streets home I don't usually take and zig-zagged around traffic all the way home. It's fun moving so slowly and yet still beating cars in traffic. :D <--- Actual smile

All the Beantown commuters take it easy going home, it looks nasty out :eek:

Beautiful day today in MI, which made for an easy 6.5 mi. into work and an easy 6.5 mi. back home. I had a ~15 mph headwind for half of my homeward commute though, which made the last part of my day quite difficult.

I fixed up my GF's bike this weekend (new chain), so I'll be riding it and returning it one of the days this week since she lives close to where I work.

Interesting and eventful ride home today. To start with the weather, DANG the wind was 36 mph with gusts to 47, it was wild. And bowing North and west, north is normal, but west is pretty rare, but turned out to be fun. I had to fight the winds down the hills, and across the flats, but it blew me uphill on the last stretch, Normally the downhill/flat section accounts for about a half hour of my ride and the uphill is an hour. Today it was the other way around. Kinda like riding up hill in a vacuum. Crazy

Then there were the crazy drivers/riders. On a two lane road I saw one car slow down unexpectedly and for no reason (the well intentioned moron) to let a cyclist a hundred yards ahead of me or so cross a street. Just as the rider started to pedal again, a car that was BEHIND the one that had slowed down, went to pass (cutting into the bike lane...not that anyone was in it, the other rider was crossing it) Anyway, the rider, once he saw the first car was slowing down, never looked again, went right on across and narrowly missed getting clipped. Crazy people everywhere.

Anyway, good 20 miles home, made up for the short ride this morning.

Nice both ways, can't complain,

Working at the college bookstore this week without classes; so my commute is only about 2/3 of the way I would usually take. It's not even a commute! Well. Anyway. This morning, 50s and windy and chilly. The forecast was for "rain likely", and because I did not expect a monsoon, one was graciously provided for me by the time of my return commute. Heavy, cold rain and winds. It's not, I don't think, the headwinds which are worst, but the ones that come and hit you broadside. Some of the days when it's been very windy west-east, I've nearly been pushed over!

I am excited for the change in environs to come next week when I go back to Newton. :)

Nice ride today .

Excellent both ways...rack'n up those miles for the Cascade Bike commute challenge.

chilly in the morning and I hadn't commuted for about a week due to illness so I was pretty rusty. took the fast/road route in and was pretty wiped out at the end of it. still a very good ride in though.

much warmer in the afternoon... called the bike shop and they told me they had the new rear rim I needed (my old one was cracked) so I rode over to the bike shop and they put the new rim in on the spot (my bike shop rules) and I rode around town for a couple hours and did the PB Trail with the new rim. I was a lot faster than I was in the morning and the new rim is great! the trail was very buggy and crowded today. the ride home was fast and smooth.

Are you at Salem State? Welcome back to Newton in any case.

And yes, the weather today was fierce. I had a vicious commute in and out of Uphams Corner in Dorchester from Newton with heavy rain, wind gusts of 35-40 mph and busy city streets. Rode back to over by BU with a friend and realized I can commute alone and barely think about the traffic but to watch how close some of the cars and trucks came to him was very disconcerting at times. It was the kind of rain that hurts your face when it hits.

And FormerBMXer I did your Comm Ave route on the worst of days but fortunately without hazard. One of my favorite moments of the day was when I was down on Mass Ave in Dorchester and a cyclist on the other side of the road yelled to me through the wind and the rain, "What are you, crazy?"

Yaaay, I got myself back on the road bike the last two days after having not ridden anything but the Townie for the last 3 months. :)

Thinking I should be flying on this bike compared to the Townie, I was somewhat disappointed on my first three rides to work and back. Then yesterday, as I was leaving work, I realized when I switched to computer over to the road bike I never reprogrammed the wheel diameter. :rolleyes:

After realizing I was going faster than the computer said I was I felt much better and pushed a little more, going even faster on the ride home yesterday. :)

:o :rolleyes: D'oh!

Nice ride this morning @ 50F, and no wind. No cyclists out today! I guess the talk of rain scares away the less adventurous.

Animal sightings: One beaver, swimming. A female cardinal attacking a large worm. The usual herds of squirrels.

My drive train is going south on me, I think. It's getting more and more clicky and noisy. Yesterday I cleaned it and soaked it in (unused) motor oil and it's still making noises. It's the original chain and gears. 20 years old. Not sure how many miles. Way up in the 4 figures, for sure. The teeth on some gears are rounded and worn. The chain is probably stretched obscenely. I'm just not sure I want to spend the money for replacements. Been thinking about a new bike.

Maybe I should go fixed. :)

Such a nice day yesterday, I wish I could have ridden a bit more than I was able to. It always seems like I have something else to do. Maybe a diswasher will help.

This morning was great as well, and the weather today will be fantastic. Unfortunately, I'll be stuck inside this virtually windowless building all day, lamenting my choice of not becoming a landscaper or something... *sigh*

Mixed it up this morning and took a different route for part of my way in. Added about 1/4 of a mile to my trip but it was nice to see some different scenery. An older guy in a pickup decided he just had to beat me to the red light even though I had taken the lane. I really don't understand people sometimes. I always like to yell at them "congrats on beating me to the red light, do you feel better now?" :D Might get some rain on the ride home tonight but I am hoping not.

Today would've been a great day to have a helmet cam. Splitting lanes, passing cars, squeezing between buses and cabs and vans, zigzagging around cars, blasting through pedestrians crossing against the red, etc. I don't think I spent more than a couple blocks in the right or left lanes cuz traffic was just crazy today, hence the antics described above. Got to work and saw these two people from the Facts of Life hanging out in front of my bldg.

http://www.lisawhelchel.com/gallery/...pubshine_a.jpghttp://www.televisionhits.com/factso...mindyearly.jpg

Yes, I am at Salem State. :) Yikes, that's quite a commute. I was going on Canal Street here, once, and the wind nearly blew me into traffic. Fortunately 1A tho isn't as busy as Boston city streets. Or doesn't seem to be. Most of the larger trucks stick to 114, I think.

I saw you were in Newton; whereabouts? I'm near the Waltham border.

This morning, he passed me around Chelsea Piers and gave me a honk. I caught up to him when he was stopped at a light in the teens. He passed me when he got going again, and I figured I wouldn't see him again. As I was getting to Canal St, I saw him stopped at the light for westbound Canal and I had the light for eastbound Canal.

I went from the bike path onto the West Side Hwy for a block, made the left onto Canal, and he never caught me before the Manahattan Bridge.

You are very brave.

Crappy ride in today. I heard that one of the main intersections on my route was blocked by an accident, so I took a different way in. Aaargh! Traffic - not even enough room to filter. When I finally did get moving, I hit every red light. Then, when I got to the bike room, there was a dude hanging around trying to get me to tell him the door combo. He snuck in after me, so I had to wait while he parked his bike and got out. He might be legit, but I called security and alerted them. I hope my bike is still there when I get back after work...

WOOT! I love making cars feel slow, especially if it's someone I know :-) I also like how that picture makes it look like you rode right over 2 or 3 cars! sometimes I wish I could!

Nice ride in this morning, did the long one (20 miles) the wind from yesterday was gone, and I left on time. Got to work and the receptionist in the building I shower in had a big ole' box of bagels. Offered me one and I gladly accepted. I love free food. :D Hoping to do 20 home today too.

The gloom lifted and it was a nice morning to ride to work. A unique feature to todays ride was that there was another bicyclist. I couldn't tell if he was a commuter or a school kid, but as he rode on the sidewalk I assumed he was a school kid. He was also under the impression that he could show me up by passing me, so then I had to pass him. We are now riding even, but I have to make my right hand turn while he is going straight, but as he is on the side walk I have to cross his path, which means we will collide, so I slow down and allow him to go first.

I like to read this board and all the complaints about cars and trucks. But I have found that in Camarillo, CA the absolute worst, most dangerous things on the road are young people on bikes. On a related note, on the way home yesterday I heard a car honk its horn. That was the first horn honk in a couple months that I've heard.

I yelled at a kid to put on his helmet. It was hanging from his handlebars. Hanging anything from your handlebars is dangerous, but a helmet? C'mon! You kids are killing me here.

I rode home yesterday and broke my fourth spoke in as many weeks. I think it may be time to have all the spokes replaced in that wheel!

Had a fine ride in this AM. Cool, no winds, and dry. Finally getting back on the bike after way too many distractions over the last several months-been traveling a lot, had to put my beautiful 14 year old greyhound dog to sleep, bad case of bronchitis, knee problems, etc, etc,....Hoping to get back into the 3 commutes a week pattern. Sadly I still have more travel coming up which makes it difficult to get into the habit. Rain forecast for Thurs, so may have to sit it out until Friday.

Had a fun commute this AM. Must have eaten my wheaties or something because I was pumped. Was out of the saddle cranking as soon as the lights turned green. Met up with another commuter (on a bianchi eros. Hi to you if you're reading this) on Geneva (rarely meet up with other commuters so far this year) while we got stuck behind a muni bus at the light near the Cow Palace. Left the other commuter at the light initially and was cranking for me, but assumed he would catch up to me, which he did (in my defense, I'm lugging my laptop and a new can of Cytomax into work, but we were going downhill anyway and I'm a n00b). He pulled along side and asked how fast we were going. I told him 31 and he took off and left me behind. He had to stop at Bayshore since he was turning left and the light just changed to red. I was going right, so I didn't have to slow much and did a lean into the turn. Began pedaling while into the turn and scraped my pedal, but didn't bite it (thank you cycling gods). Anyway, was a fun commute this morning and I'm pumped!

I ended up getting a ride home with someone last evening, as we had a major windstorm. There were branches and leaves all over the road this morning. Had some fun trying to jump the larger branches. One of these days I will learn to actually jump well. Saw several other cyclists out.

There were no cars there. I was the ony one moving in the intersection. The timing has to be just right.


During lunch, my colleague said that he observes the different riding styles of the bikers on the path while he is driving down. He said my style was "GET THERE!!!"

I had to work an extra half-shift last night so i didn't get out until after 3:00 A.M. What a great hour to ride in the city! It's the quietest hour of the 24, all the traffic signals are blinking, and there's nothing to worry about. I saw one other cyclist, about a block ahead of me. I kept gaining on him, but he veered off before I caught up. he was probably scared that I was following him!

Today is the irst of two days off, so naturally it's getting ready to rain. Channel 6 said we're to get three inches of rain tonight. :eek: So I guess I'm glad I'll be safe home before it starts.

I don't mind a blizzard, but I hate heavy rain!