As stated elsewhere, windy. Rain this morning, but I beat it by about 5 minutes (the other cycle-commuter here wasn't as lucky).

Had a cager try to hit me. Yes, it was either deliberate or some of the dumbest driving I've ever seen, as he buzzed me with less than a foot to spare, then pulled into the left lane (cutting off the driver next to him [who had to slam on his brakes and cut the wheel to avoid him]), and then into the center turn lane.

Good news: they're finally grading the pavement I ride for my commute. No more rumble strip.

Back on the bike this morning after a few days off due to weather and the need to drive. Streets were dry last night, so I was gonna ride through heck or high water. Neither was present on the way in. Was a chilly 14F when I passed the thermometer. The wireless thermometer at the house said 24 when I left the house. It always suprises me how much the temps can vary over just a few miles. I think it has something to do with all the hills and valleys along the way. Who knows, but it makes it hard to dress for the conditions.

I am sooo ready for springtime.... bring it on!

Brrr, back to 40° again, today. Legs felt tired, whether it was from the chill I've grown unaccustomed to, the extra miles last night, or the extra flappy clothing today, the ride was harder than usual.

On the plus side, a car ran behind me for about 150 yards to their right turn, rather than running around me, then stopping and turning right in front of me. For my part, I tried to step it up, so they wouldn't feel like their good deed was punished. Thanks, car-dude.

Supposed to be warmer this evening. I dislike having to have "cool ride clothes" and "warm ride clothes on the same day... it taxes my rack trunk.

Still, the cool kept the riparian insect life to a minumum.. they were out in force, last night.

+1.

I'm back on skinny tires, with no snow in the forecast until Saturday. The complete lack of effort required to push 700x28c slicks [relative to 26x2.1" spiked tires at 35 psi] is not surprising, but still remarkable. Stats Can says this winter is the warmest in Canada since 1948 or something. It has made for crappy snowboarding these past few months, but the riding has been pretty good. I just hope we don't get a repeat of last spring's torrential rains and flooding.

Fast. I set a new personal best time. 31:07. Last time was 32:00. woot.

I think taking off my spiky helmet cover has made a big difference in my aerodynamic drag.

wet. it's drizzling around here this morning. the only good thing is how warm it is... whew, we jumped straight from spring to summer in my opinion (and i feel cheated out of winter).

25F & breezy this morning. Not a bad ride overall.

Sunny and a little cool this morning, it took around 10 minutes to get to the office. I found a quarter on the way there.

Windy, gusts up to 45 mph. It made it a nice challenge getting home. Windchill wasn't bad because I had the right clothes.

windy = jetted in. snail speed back home. had a cager (+/- age 25, male, w/ girlfriend passengers yell "get off the road, get on the sidewalk" . i just signalled slow down and move left. he was looking in mirror after passing, seemed like he wanted more of a reaction than i gave. oh well! wind was a challange today!

So, I was informed this morning when I logged in that my last login was on 3/8 - and then I realized that it's been a whole week... Didn't realize it had been that long; work and home life have been incredibly busy, and I've missed keeping up with all y'all (as the natives down here in TX are known to say...)

My commutes have been good. Weather has been awesome, except for some mild headwinds on the homeward stretch. Learning to deal with those, which is good, because they'll be the norm until summertime. Had a personal best trip into the office Monday; maybe a slight tailwind, but I'm not telling! Overall, I can really feel my fitness improving - I've been at this a couple times a week for almost 2 months now, and there's a huge difference in the way I feel when I'm riding, the cadence I can maintain, and my mental outlook when the pseudo-hills are coming. That said, I'm falling down on the commitment this morning, drinking coffee, hanging out on the forums, paying bills, planning to drive instead of ride. Worked late last night, long day overall yesterday, and I decided last night to just chill. Wish now that I had ridden, but I'm already 20 minutes late leaving if I'm going to do that, and I didn't pack, so I'll live with my decision and ride in again tomorrow.

Have a good day, all!

Nice ride in except for; a terrible headwind, a flat on the 14th Street Bridge, and the fact that I left my underwear at home (luckily I leave spares in the office). We'll see if things continue to go downhill today.

Drove in yesterday due to rain in the morning and high winds all day. Got some errands done after work while I had the car though. Back on the bike this morning. Cooler than it has been, low 40s and a slight breeze. Had a pretty fast ride in and had a few women drivers almost hit me. The first incident was after I had slowed down for a school bus and was starting to go after the red lights turned off. Just after the bus is a short downhill (25-30 yards) to a stop sign at a T in the road. Well the woman in the SUV decides that she just has to beat me to the stop sign. So I ended up going around her and after she took off from the stop sign she had the pedal to the metal and gave me a nasty look as she went by. Funny thing was I caught up to her half a mile later at a red light The 2nd time was when I was going to turn left close to work and a woman in another SUV almost pulled out in front of me. She ended up stopping in the middle of the other lane to let me go by. Gonna be a nice headwind for the way home which seems to be the norm lately.

Fair commute today! I had the wind at my back for most of the ride so that helped. Wednesday delivery truck took one of the two lanes on Comm.Ave so it was all backed up though it affected me the least. I nearly mowed a truck driver down who parked his 18Wheeler "IN THE BIKE LANE", and then proceeded to walk right out in front of me smoking a cigarette

Back to winter-like conditions. Woke up to some powder on the ground. Switched the blinkies back to the winter beater and headed out. High 20Fs with a nice tailwind. (Not looking forward to the headwind for the ride home.)

Today I almost took an off-trail detour onto some single track paths that wander around near the lake. I've never done that before, but today it looked interesting somehow. Maybe I'll do it on the ride home, just as a break for the headwind.

Almost ran over a ped that popped out from in front of a truck. He was crossing in the middle of the street and I hit the brakes hard and he was completely oblivious. I also almost ran over a woman who just started to cross the street and didn't bother to see if traffic was coming or not. Sometimes I think peds are more dangerous than cagers. They don't even look around to see if it's safe for themselves. They're like brain damaged lemmings, just following whomever's in front of them with no thought for their safety.

Ride home last night was a bear.. 25mph headwinds made it difficult to even go downhill. Oh well, I'm in it for the workout anyways.

The payback was that it became a nice tailwind on the way in this morning. Record time to the office. Also met another commuter that I've chatted with a couple times before. Today she slowed down a bit so we could chat for a while. Had a nice chat before she dusted me off at the top of the hill.... one of these days my goal is to beat her to the top. I'll probably have to plan ahead and haul 2 days of stuff, and leave the laptop at work. The extra weight is a pretty big anchor.

Bracing for big headwinds on the way home

Beautiful morning - cool, crisp, calm. Spring break has decimated the traffic. I reached campus early, so I continued into town - another mile - to use the ATM, then meandered back. Dawdled at the bike rack taking off the lights and putting on the chains.

Head winds will be serious this afternoon. Bring it on!

Bah! Chain tension got me down.

I swapped out most of the parts from my old Bianchi to my not-quite-as-old Specialized road bike. It's really light. Unfortunately, I could not get the chain tension right, as the distance from the rear axle to the BB is shorter on the Specialized. The chain skipped all the way to work, so I'm going to go pick up a chain tensioner today at lunch. I was going to try a rear derailleur, but I haven't had much luck with those in the past.

On the plus side, I can't believe how much better the Specialized handles than the Bianchi. No more sketchiness at low/high speeds - I was stable enough going down the big hill this morning to turn around and shake my fist at a guy who tried to cut me off. Also, the brakes! Who would have thought that 10-year-old dual-pivot calipers would have so much more stopping power than cantis? I'm going to have trouble running fenders with 28C tires, though.

Todays commute was good, it was bright and sunny although I had been led to believe that it was to rain today. It took about ten minutes to get to the office.

Today's ride in was good, sky lightening up as I got to work. When I got to work I was informed that they needed me to transfer to the opposite day shift schedule for a while to cover for someone on a leave of absence, possibly for a couple, 3 months. They paid me for 4 hours for 5 minutes at work, and I finally had a ride home in the sunlight.(Rain filterted as it was). First day in the neoprene booties and I am very pleased. Warm and dry cannot be overrated. Polite drivers both ways, but some needed to be signaled to pass or take their turn at the intersection. I don't want special treatment, just equal treatment. At least they're giving me room.

Nice ride this morning, sunny, still cold and windy but its a tailwind in the morning. took extra time to run some errands and found that a road i was avoiding because of traffic is pretty slow at this time of the day. Could be a good route for when I am running late.

it was a beautiful morning-- 64 degrees, sunny, slight headwind,saw some beautiful wildflowers in a desert landscaped front yard. almost fell when I didn't turn sharply enough and the concrete lip of the driveway curb caught the side of my wheel, but I recovered and didn't spill. first time riding in a while. felt good! 5 miles, about 35 minutes to work. I take side streets so very little traffic...

No bike commute today. Blah.

Temp was in the mid 20'sF this morning. Had a light dusting of snow and encountered several snow flurries on the trip in.