amazing weather again today... high of 57 degrees... this is supposed to be the last week of it here in the DC area though

the ride in was alright although I've noticed lately there seems to be a little bit more traffic than usual... maybe this is just because my new class schedule is putting me on the road during the morning rush hour

I got out of class at 12:15 so I rode around town for a couple hours before going back

the ride back was through gameday traffic but it was more going the other way so my ride back was mostly clear

my chain/gears were showing signs of needing a cleaning/lubing on the ride so I promptly did that upon returning home and then did a post-cleaning ride around the neighborhood for a few minutes

4/4 weekly commute (vac tomorrow)! almost hit punk bicyclist going home (10PM) who was riding w/ another from parkinglot. he had no lites and peddled right out into road w/o looking. my rig has 1 rear blinkie, 3 side (2left- 1 right side) blinkies, 1 headlite, and 1 helmet blinkie. i am fast and silent though (benefit/doubt),let them know (Yell) = no crash. a good week!!

My typical roundtrip commute is about 4 miles. I took a detour that added 15 miles. The detour included a reunion w/ some friends from college and about a 5 hour break from riding. Ride home was fast and fun. Great night and great ride!

Rode to work in the rain today. I decided not to put on my raingear and just go for it. It was warm at 52 degrees so th rain kept me from getting too warm on the way to work. I felt drier when I got to work than when i wear my "breathable" raingear. I need to get fenders for my MTB, the wet black stripe detracts from the hiviz properties of my HHCMF shirt. I really need to get a rack and lights for my roadbike,I bet I could really fly to work on it. The ride home was boring, except the local police kept shadowing me, several different patrol cars, I guess they were waiting for me to blow a stop sign or light. :( They killed the fun!

Great ride to work & home today.Got to ride the ss today.
I hope the rest of the week stay this warm .
Have a good nite .

A nice little ride home. I've been wondering whether I should bring along my headband, but I only need it for the downhill portion on the way home. At a bit under a mile long, it really doesn't last all that long, and it would be so inconvenient to put it on just before the downhill and to remove it again afterward. Especially when the entire commute is only three miles. So no headband for now.

Great commute this morning, 50F with the sky a beautiful indigo. I got an early start so I added a few extra miles and then on a whim rode my the doughnut shop for a treat. A couple of customers admired my bike and its lights. Rode back to the office and found someone had slid the spec sheet for a Surly LHT under my door with a sticky that read "this looks like your kind of bike."

easy ride, nothing silly happened. =(

I rode home in the rain just before dusk yesterday. No big deal for me, but it was for someone else. About 2 miles into my ride, a Chrysler minivan riding in the opposite direction comes across the yellow line, accelerates toward me and honks loudly. Then he quickly gets back in his lane.

I try to be a good Christian, but I really wanted bad things to happen to this guy. I'm sure he would have taken delight in running me off the road, and no doubt would have if he was traveling in my direction.

Punks using vehicles as weapons is my biggest fear of commuting.

After a night's sleep, I realize this fool already has demons working his bones. He's got a sad life.

I forgive him.

I'm glad we have a bike room at work and so far I've been spared the need to "Get Ghetto" out on the road, so that's always a plus. I grew up in one of the three Boston Districts always featured on the news when it comes to illegal activity and I beat the odds, but I can "revert" in the drop of a dime if provoked.

The Ride:

Fair ride today! Rain, Wind, Puddles but I arrived early, safe and mostly dry so it's all good.

What I've noticed:
1) I need better wrap around glasses to keep the water out
2) I need some Rain-X or some other anti-fog
3) I need to get some water proof gloves
4) Perhaps a different helmet cover other than the Yellow LG one that makes me look like Big Bird.

Warmest morning ride in so far this year, in the 60's already! Going to be somewhere around 70 today and it's only Feb, it's crazy. Rain came through last night so the roads were wet but it was no longer raining. Very sticky out though and I was dripping by the time I got to work. Made pretty good time and only had to stop at a couple of lights. Gotta get home fast to get ready to go to my soccer tournament this weekend in Wilmington :)

Ugg...I'm really dragging this morning. I rode the train because I'm leaving town straight from work. Without the bike to get my blood pumping, it's taken me an hour to get settled in and productive.

My ride in this morning was absolutely wonderful. The temp was 48 with a little misting rain and I cranked out the ride in 35 minutes that felt like 5. Just everything came together to make this a most pleasing and pleasurable ride. Car miles this month: 69.98. Bike miles 34.0, so I am still in a deficit position. Had to use the car last night to go to church.

Interesting bike commute this morning, it was kind of like what you'd expect from a sleigh ride (minus the bells): Snow coating over everything, light snow falling, quiet. Very nice, but now the temps are going to drop (it's 25F now) and it's back to a real Minnesota winter, the Artic air is coming.

A rainy Friday
Last night's reunion with friends
means working at home

I hear ya man... :rolleyes: I've had a small gang of 'minority' kids, teens, chase me, screaming at me... kinda scary as I am a very small in stature female... I try my best to shake it off, not let it get in the way of my biking, running, whatever I'm doing.... :)

I kinda liked thdave's spin on this sort of thing...
I'll try it next time I'm feeling the Road Rage by some "sad" clueless driver or pedi taunting me....
certainly easier said than done... but a good approach I thought... :)

Woohoo! The city finally installed bike lockers in the Capitol parking structure. I've only been nagging them by phone and email for 3 years now. No more sneaking the bike past the security guards when I have to work late. No more wet saddle when the bike's been sitting in the rain all day!

I'm psyched!

Woke up from a cool dream [I had a flying car, like everyone else, but mine was kinda cheap - the equivalent of a '82 Civic with a Hondamatic transmission. Anyway, I was at a company party, and they didn't have room for me in the flying limo, so I had to take my own car and pick up two dudes at their house. We stopped by Werewolf Hut and had some tasty werewolf ("Mmmm, that's good werewolf"), then flew around for a while longer complaining about things. Then we went back to Werewolf Hut. It was kind of like a live-action Futurama. Totally cool!!!], about 45 minutes later than I was supposed to. I got out of bed, showered, grabbed 2 Cokes plus some rice pudding, then hammered to work. I was at my desk 40 minutes after I woke up. That's a pretty fast start to my day. I'm going to want a beer by 5:00...

Nice commute today, except a bit of light fog. Not enough to be bothersome, though. I sometimes wish my commute was a few miles longer. But then I'd have to carry water and pace myself to not be too sweaty. I guess a three mile cycling-induced high twice a day is good enough. :) And once the days start getting longer and I'm better about dragging myself out of bed for a pre-breakfast ride, I won't wish it as much since I'll be getting plenty of mileage anyway.

Hi recursive (and Todd et alia)
Yes, that was me. When I saw you ahead of me I wound the Stokemonkey to the top (450watts) and my ~200 watts (tempo pace for me) to catch you. It looked like you had good form, and I like catching interesting looking riders. As I approached I saw the fixie, and the creative head gear, so backed the stokemonkey off a notch and kept the tempo pace. I could see your shadow in the headlights of cars, and figured you were a serious rider, so took my own pace to superthreshold but throttled the stokemonkey down a bit. I didn't want to drop you, as that would be really unfair, but thought I could give you a nice semi-motor pace through the bumps on our route. It was a kick riding through that area at the same pace as the cars. I hope some of them enjoyed the show. It certainly looked interesting from the shadows we were casting.

The 200 watts referred to what I guesstimated it was putting out at the time--we were cruising along the path at a leisurely 15mph or so, and I was enjoying our conversation (and also doing a bit of a sales pitch for the Stokemonkey and the Xtracycle). The Stokemonkey can put out a consistent 450 watts for over an hour with the big battery, propelling a 100lb bike/gear combo to a 20mph average through city traffic.

Bikebuddha--Sell the scooter. An X/SM is much more fun, and more practical.

Side note: I was also almost run off the road last night. I have 2 headlights, 2 taillights and a reflective vest with flashing tube--I look like a freakin' christmas tree on wheels--but some DWS (driving while stupid) person on the phone decides to make a right turn immediately in front of me, I mean ~1-2 feet in front of me. I was able to bring 270lbs of organic and inorganic matter to a dead stop w/o hitting the car, or being hit by the car. I love disc brakes. I read the driver the riot act, and demanded they get off the phone.

http://community.the-underdogs.org/s...happy/wave.gif

Went out and bought a blackburn rear fender and rain pants last night - planning for big rain this morning. I also wore the cold weather ski helmet - its vents are closable and it has good ear covers.
Surprise, no rain, but wet streets, warm - 40's and sunshine. Legs did get wet inside the rain pants - instant sweat.

Someone send some rain and snow down here to the southwest! It's getting too easy commuting in one of our dryest winters on record. Scary too. About 25 this morning and sunny. Going up to 58 this weekend. I love all the riding I can do but I'd rather be skiing.

" Legs did get wet inside the rain pants - instant sweat.[/QUOTE]"

did you get gore-tex breathable suit/pants? makes a world of difference (at least when it's cooler out).
gore-sweat in the summer time!

... ah, my commute today... ... ... I don't wanna talk about it ... I'm alive arent'I?!

^^^Oh dear. :( Hope you're okay. (emotionally, too, not just physically)