LilSprocket

I'm jealous!!! I was running late this morning so took the car
I'll make it worth it and take a trip to the grocery en route home for heavy things and not touch the car all weekend.

I chuckled when I got my auto registration in the mail yesterday...

Ya'll have a great w/e! TGIF!!!

jyossarian

Almost rear ended a cab today that was right hooking some other cars, then paused midway through his right hook right in front of me. I had to bunny hop a pot hole, then hit the brakes hard to stop and my rear wheel came up just a little bit. Other than that, no other drama on the way in although I did notice some of the traffic lights were flaking out which'll cause traffic tie ups later.

ctoddrun

Thanks! Yesterday was very doable - no commute today, as I'm working from home this morning and off this afternoon. Will be back in the saddle Monday... Will probably do the 1/2 trip thing one more day, and if I feel good, I'll pull the drive back a bit and do 10 mi. or so each day...

ctoddrun

Thanks for the welcome! I will absolutely treat those folks with kindness. It's taken me 10 years to become "enlightened." Would be a bit hypocritical of me to be down on the others, methinks...

balto charlie

I was really cold today at 18F/-9C but feel like a wuss after reading this. I don't know what the NWS has a reading for Baltimore but my house therm was reading a damn chilly 18. Wore the winter sporthill pants today for the first time since mid Dec. Even threw on an extra pair of gloves under the Amfibs and 2 jerseys under the jacket.
I was pretty toasty once the body kicked into overdrive. Should be in the 50'sF tomorrow. Screwing weather.

pinkrobe

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but kick-ass sunrise again today. It's going to suck when daylight savings time kicks in around March.

caloso

I had caught up to a high school kid riding a cruiser with his helmet hanging from the handlebars. So I engaged him in a little Socratic dialogue:

Me: 'Scuse me. Do you mind if I ask you a question? What's with the helmet on the handlebars?

Teen: I dunno.

Me: Well, you made the decision to put it on your handlebars rather than your head, right?

Teen: I guess.

Me: You know that it's to protect your head, right? Are you more worried about protecting your handlebars than your head?

Teen: I dunno.

Me: Let me ask you, are you planning on going to college?

Teen: Umm, I guess. Probably.

Me: Don't you think you'll need your head for college?

Teen: I guess.

(The light changes.) Me: Just some things to think about. Have a good morning and be safe!

Now, in the kid's defense, he was riding VC and--I cannot stress this enough--he had gorgeous hair, thick and perfectly cut and gelled.

* jack *

I see that alot. Mommy makes him wear his helmet, and when he's around the block, off it comes!

noisebeam

I see a market for inflatable and/or foldable compact helmets.

Al

* jack *

I had a nice shot of adrenaline riding home for lunch. I pass by a house with two fenced-in dogs often on my commute, and today they had gotten loose and were going through some trashcans down the block. I love dogs, and I didn't want to see them run over, or chase down any kids or other cyclists, so I hopped off my bike and got their attention.

The dogs (Shar-pei and a Boxer) went crazy when I entered their yard, and came after me full-speed: barking, snarling, drooling, etc. The boxer kept trying to sneak behind me and bite my ass, but I kept my bike between us the whole time I tried to corrall them back in the fence.

Anyway, long story, I got them back in after some struggle, and as I prepared to pedal on home - a neighbor across the street came out and said those dogs had escaped and threatened him before. He had called animal control in the past and had taken some photos of me 'fighting' with the dogs. He was also a cyclist (actually had tights and cleats on) and said he would email the photos to me later. Cool. I can't wait, I hope I look studly.

Wulfheir

You WILL post them here, right?

o-dog

kind of chilly this morning... and it seemed like I was slightly slower coming in than usual

it was much warmer on the way back... hit a small pothole about a minute into the ride back and wobbled a little bit but was able to regain stability and avoid wiping out

about halfway through the ride home I took a quick detour up and down the Paint Branch trail as a breather before heading home... the path isn't heavily used this time of year so it was a fun detour

mtessmer

Oh man, it's like I died and went to heaven, it's in the mid 40's (F). It's a tropical heat wave for this part of the country. I had a great ride in this morning, I took the long way. I went out at lunch for a ride and it was tough to come back. I'm taking the long way home. This is great!

GTcommuter

Good ride in this morning. I probably set a winter-time personal record. And tonight is Critical Mass, so a good chance to catch up with some friends.

But even better was my mini-commute during lunch time. I got a craving for a peanut-butter-bananna-bacon sandwich, so I jumped on the bike and took off for T.W. Collin's Grocery. Unfortunately they were closed and I had to settle for pizza, but it was worth it to get an extra 3.5 miles in during the day.

tomg

another 5/5 days commute week (still 100% 1/06). going in there was a sewage backflow from two manhole-sewage covers. all was dry exept there. almost lost it on black ice there. all else was dry.
way home traffic was backed up (no pun intended) to a crawl on sh 47. made lane change easy, and the left only signal went i was able to go (thanks to truck behind me to set sensor) BUT a van from opposing traffic started to go staight towards me. i yelled and pointed to signal (left only) and he stopped. earlier, a lady was merging into traffic lane, i had to yell 'yeo" there as well, with effect.
weekend's here, time for so serious riding now!! have fun!

jyossarian

How many miles you gotta ride to work that off?

I lost track of the number of times I almost got sideswiped or buzzed. Weird cuz it usually doesn't happen. Oh well, got home safe so I'm not complaining. Combined w/ the cab I almost rear-ended this morning and you'd think I'd be mildly annoyed, but I just can't bring myself to care too much.

* jack *

OK, I think these photos are hilarious and stupid, but just so you guys don't think I'm full of ****:

CommuterRun

Nothing new to report, so I got a picture of a section of my favorite leg of the commute. The last 3.5 miles through the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. There was an unusually high volume of traffic this morning, I got passed from behind by two cars, and by another going the other way, before I stopped to get this shot. Actually, I had to turn around to get this shot. I don't take good pictures facing the sun.

buzzman

Great pictures! The dog story is hilarious. Nice, typical Florida road. Florida cracks me up though- what's with the stingy shoulder?- not like there's not enough room to add one.

Didn't have to go into work today but ended up cycling into Boston anyway to drop off paperwork at two locations. This morning finally took some time to tune up and clean off my bike and degrease and lube the drive train. Discovered I had yet another broken spoke on the rear wheel and with the minimal chainstay clearance with the 1.95 studs the wheel had been rubbing. The tire pressure was down to about 25 psi in each tire. Finished the repairs and headed out and couldn't believe how fast the bike felt. Whipped all over town, came back on the bike path, ran into another cyclist for a little bit- a little more camraderie this time of year so good to see other people out there- he said he'd managed to ride most of the winter. Gorgeous night, clear crisp with no wind. Clicked over the black ice with the studs without incident. We've got a Nor'easter coming our way on Monday night.

spidercyclist

Six days of riding and five of those were commutes.
I hope the rest of winter is like this .
Have a good nite .

CommuterRun

Thanks, Buzzman. Not sure when it passed, I was living in Okinawa at the time, but I understand that the state passed a law requiring paved shoulders on all new highway construction and repaving projects.

Somebody told me what the required minimum width is, but i don't remember what it is off the top of my head. I think it's either 3 or 5'.

Further down this road the trees and bushes have been allowed to encroach on the right-of-way up to the white line.

LilSprocket

Those are awesome pics!
20mph winds kicking my butt southbound A1A today Whew!
about 68* Surf's WAY up. Beach WebCam

www.floridabicycle.org/rights/takethelane.html

CommuterRun

Hooked up a canoe behind the Townie this afternoon. Loaded it up with fishin' stuff and headed on down the road. Beautiful ride. A little cool, bright sunny day, with a headwind coming right off the bay. Took me 50 minutes to cover the 7.5 miles. A wee, little bit over 9 mph. I figure that's not bad, considering:
1. A Townie is by no means considered a fast bike.
2. Pulling a 14 1/2' trailer that's easily over 100 lbs.
3. Over 5 miles of that 7.5 are on sand roads, currently in good condition, but still sand.
4. The headwind.
5. I was the pilot to this rig.

Got there and seriously considered turning around and hitting the river because of the wind, but I was already there. So I launched the canoe, locked the bike to a tree, broke the trailer down and stowed it in the bow of the canoe and shoved off. Got a good upper body workout against the wind to get to a tidal creek I wanted to try. No fish, only one strike. Beat it back out against the wind into the next tidal creek, this one with a better, rocky bottom. Again, no dice. Oh well, days like this are very rare for me and the fish prbably need a break, anyway. Got back to the landing and everything put back together.

By now it's close enough to sunset I know I'm not going make it home before dark, so I take a few minutes to break out the lights and put them on the bike and trailer.

Thought I might see more critters out and about this evening, but all I saw on the ride home was half-dozen buzzards on a road-killed raccoon, one squirrel and a house cat that may, or may not, have been feral. Being in fairly close proximity to a trailer up by the highway.

All in all, a very good ride and good workout.

Rothaí

Started to commute again a couple of weeks ago after breaking a rib Oct/Nov time. SO good to be back on the bike, the only trouble is the traffic. Ireland's economy has boomed for 10 years and there's so much extra traffic on the roads. I come along a main national route to work (19km/12ml). Managed to drop my bottle when putting it back in the bottle-cage and it rolled out onto the road a bit.....I was going to leave it but got it back - it was scary !! I'll go back home along quiet back roads in the morning after night shift work tonight, looking forward to that.

buzzman

didn't commute today but had to post this anyway. Did a nice 32 mile road ride going west of Boston where it gets quieter. 51F for temperature! Saw two big deer on the road and then a gorgeous red fox in a snow covered field out by the Great Meadows Conservation Area- it only takes about 45 minutes to bike out there. It can take me almost that amount of time to commute into town in the morning so pretty amazing what a change in direction will give me.