Switched my commute to a 20 mile each way route, had to do it sooner or later if I wanna be able to hold my own when I do the BTC in June...but DANG it kicked my butt...some slack jaw on an electric motor assisted mountain bike passed me on about mile 17 or 18 and it flat out pissed me off. I tried to catch back up, but he was able to sustain like 18-20 MPH (must have been, cuz I was doing 16-18 up hill and he was pulling away) Unfortunantly his battery never gave out and I couldn't catch him. I hope I see him again on flatter ground cuz I'll run his battery ragid and then pull away :-)

Nice morning though, weather just starting to turn, almost warm enough to loose the tights but still layering in the morning.

AM in sucked! at area where 4 lanes and dummy middle lane is, a cop i assume was on the way to work, or undercover (had uniform on but driving blue/green camery) pulled next to me, told me i needed to get off the road, that this area was not for bikes. i told him that i have the same rights and responsibilities on the road as he did, legally.
he stated he would give me a summons next time and drove off. this helped get me stay fired-up for the day. it's bad when the law enforcers are not clear about the laws. now i spent another 2 hours looking for NJ specific statutes so i can copy,high-lite, and educate our local policeat the station. NJ legal website is down today! i have contacted the Bicycle Coalition of South Jersey too.
(this is not the first time the police were not clear about laws here).
ride home was good! vent over...

Poor DataJunkie...guessing you can't kick their (likely fat) smoking asses out of your house? you sound like you need a :beer: hope you get better soon, and can kill the mice, and get rid of the smoke...sure hope they aren't smoking inside your house...that'ld be too much for me to handle

on spring break this week (poor me, huh?). so no commute. nice road rides yesterday and today. it's a whole different world on the road bike with tights and jersey. the bike felt super light but my legs at times felt super heavy. just glad to be out and riding in early March no matter how slow.

Commute home was fine. At lunch I went to the LBS. As I was leaving, I looked at my bike, thought, "It's only 3 blocks. I'll just walk, I need the exercise." Since when did walking become exercising as opposed to biking?

The kids aren't fat and neither is her boyfriend. Due to his acne and being 37, I suspect usage of a particular popular drug, meth. Letting them move in was one of our worst decisions.
No, no one smokes in my house. I'm a militant anti smoker. My sister in-law has asthma also. Her older sister (not my wife) and mother have emphysema. Very smart for all them to smoke. My wife is working on quitting and now has extra insentive. She does not want either condition. Now if I could just get the wife to start cycling. All she has had were x-mart bikes. I'm thinking a nice entry level bike for her bday may be in order. Anyhow, I'm rambling even worse than normal due to the meds.
I want to commute so flippin' bad. Just not at the point where it will help. I'd probably get sicker. Our dry weather is also bringing the allergy season on early. ugh!

Good ride in this morning - bit of a headwind, but not much to worry about, 50 degrees (with 93% humidity!) when I left the house, so pretty comfortable all the way in. I guess the short, slow run I managed yesterday morning did more to my legs than I knew, because they were BURNIN' all the way to the office. Felt like I was in pain (good pain...) the whole way, and moving pretty slow - so naturally, I beat my fastest commute by over two minutes.

Ride home was good, too, but the winds had shifted and were in my face half the way home. Tried a new route today; I think I won't be taking that one again. Road was awful bumpy, traffic was lousy... Probably worse than the section of my normal route that I was trying to avoid.

the commute in was good... and since my night class was my only class today, I went in at 3:30PM or so. temps in the high 40's but I was somewhat tired going in. other than a slam-on-the-brakes moment at one intersection (car at a 4-way stop decided to go at the same time I did), it was the usual pleasant, problem-free ride in.

the commute back was a night commute, probably one of the last night commutes of the winter season. the batteries ran out on my main tail light right before I set out, luckily I always keep some extra batteries in my backpack so a quick change of batteries and I was good to go. pretty smooth commute back, although it seemed like I was just a little bit slower than usual. got buzzed by a Jeep (about a foot and a half clearance I'd guess) but other than that no traffic problems. the big hill about 3/4 of the way home really kicked my ass on the ride back, I was a lot more tired than I usually am after doing that hill. overall a good ride today though.

Good ride to work & home. I rode a little extra today to the movie store and then to work . I hope the rest of the week is ths good . Have a good nite .

Not quite as windy this morning as it was yesterday afternoon. Today's weird occurrence: I was out of the saddle climbing a short hill when I noticed this car fairly close behind, not passing me. After cresting the hill the car pulled up next to me and the passenger side window came down. Then a girl who couldn't have been older than seventeen shouted out the window that she loves me and the car sped away.

i think someone snuck in last night and added about 1000' to the hills...rough going today.

I hate you :D, wifey and I have our first on the way, so if we couldn't agree the cost before, we sure as hellz won't agree now.

Nice ride today, I really took my time and just kinda tooled in. I've been bangin on the trainer a bit more lately in prep for century training. So I guess you could say I'm training for training :rolleyes:.

Had a nice ride in this morning. A little cooler than yesterday but no rain today, upper 30s for the temp. Roads were wet most of the way but there wasn't too much spray from my tires. Rode into the rising sun and a little headwind. Should be a nice ride home this afternoon with temps in the 50s. Later this week 70s and maybe 80s :)

Strange... same thing happened to me on the way home last night. Nobody has said anything for weeks and then the "I love you" from a high school girl.
Also had a 5 year old girl say hi as I was passing their suburban on the way down the hill. I asked her if she liked to ride her bike fast, and she said yes.. I said Me too, and sped off down the hill ahead of them. It was fun.

This morning was a great ride in. Some days, everything clicks right, the traffic parts like the Red Sea, the lights stay green, and your legs are full of zippity doo dah. It was one of those days. First sub 30 minute ride in to the office [28min] Might be cuz I took the studs off and put the Conti's back on :D

Winter comes back tomorrow.. we'll see if I ride the slicks or drive.

Back on the saddle after about a week of waiting for the trail condition to improve. Mid teens F, brilliant blue sky. All was right with the world. :)

Peds and some service vehicles have packed down the snow so it's fairly smooth and rideable, but only 10 or 12MPH on my non-suspension MTB.

It's supposed to be 50F here later this week. :eek: (This is Vermont, so that's kind of a big deal for us.)

If I had driven to work today, I'd have shot a whole bunch of people. The commute was filled w/ numbskulls randomly turning, stopping in the middle of traffic, changing lanes, crossing the street and being general nuisances. One woman even bodily tried to make room for herself by nudging my bike while waiting for a line of school girls to cross the street going the other way. Some people just need to be knocked on their asses to get them off their high horse.

Beautiful ride in this morning. 60, count 'em, 60 degrees of Fahrenheit love for me.
My L&M light wasn't charged - I'm guessing I didn't seat the plug fully, but I knew when I picked it up and it wasnt' warm that something was up. Still, there was enough light in the predawn that I had no qualms about hooking up the backup cateye and rolling in.

The bugs along the river are almost back in their full glory. Bandana and clear glasses to keep the various orifi clear. I notice a lot of green bug guts smudges on my shorts this morning.

Day 3 of the no-chamois challenge. I added an extra 10 to the ride home last night, and I might be starting to get a slight pressure sore on one side. Don't feel it after the first half mile, though. I'll take a look and reevaluate tonight.

I think it was right around freezing today. I was able to ride sans balaclava for the first time in ages. A little more snow needs to be cleared off the roads, then I'll be able to go back to skinny tires. Hurrah!

Not a great day. I was running a bit late and then found I have picked up yet another slow leak in my front tire. I briefly thought about driving in today, but realized that it would take more time to change and drive then just put some air in.
There was a fender bender on the main street near my house, so traffic was backed way up. Bike lane was clear and I passed the cop trying to get to the accident.

It was clear right above me, but all around were clouds, the ground was a bit damp from overnight rains. It took about 10 minutes to get to the office.

Today's ride was short (I only live a mile from work) and the sun is a shining, I think the temp was around 23F or so, and all went well till I went to change..

And brought everything but my boxers! So today the office chair is surprisingly more plush and comfortable, and with the only down side that no matter how tight my belt is, the pants want to slide right off the shorts (yes, it is 23 out, so the shorts are on under the PI pants for the ride) just had to share.

So... how often does everyone forget a key piece of clothing? In warmer times I keep a full change of clothes tucked in a desk drawer, but apperantly I didn't refill after the last memory lapse, ah well, half way done, and now it will take no time to change for the trip home!

Scene from this morning's commute:

So, tooling I was, along the river path, feeling very peaceful - serene, even - admiring the sunrise, listening to the ducks, and feeling the riparian bugs glancing off my clear glasses, when up ahead I see two columns of runners, in step and wearing matching PT gear, heading my way. ROTC? Reserves? Dunno, the colors they're wearing don't have any obvious association. I hear the faint wail of cadence called, "lo-radda-layo", and I start to wonder if they're prepared for a fast mover going against their flow.

As I get closer, the leader makes like Moses and each column moves to either side of the bike path, I hear the leader chant, "Good Morning, Sir", followed by the whole platoon, "GOOD MORNING, SIR!!" . As I split their columns, I stood my peaceful, serene arse right up on my Eggs and bellowed, "OOOOHRAH! Pray for WAR!"

Whoever they were, there were a few claps and hoots offered up as I pedaled off...

Wonderful commute today, until the end. Raining slightly, but just enough to keep me cool. Got to work, was in the parking lot going around to the back of the office building and appreciating the quietness of my new fixie. Going around the corner of the building and WAMM! Wheels right out from under me. Now I've got a good sized bruise on my leg and tore my handlebar tape.

as I left the house this morning about ten minutes later than I had planned to, I cursed myself once again for not beating the morning rush hour. but it wasn't nearly as bad as it usually is. a little backup at the one light I cross, but no big deal. I was behind a bus for about half of the commute in which of course meant decreased wind resistance. really smooth ride in.

I did an 10 mile or so ride around town and the trail before heading back home through an 18MPH headwind. great ride back other than the headwind.

great, eventless, clockwork, sharing, acclimate, "far-fig-neug-gahn" day, to/from!
only issue is attempting to program new cheap odometer (i can live with that!)