I'm not really concerned with visibility on this bike (it's much more visible than some of my other stretched cruisers and choppers), but I may buy a flag anyway. I bought the BikeE AT last week second-hand and it came equipped with fenders, upgraded seat, panniers and saddle-bags, so it has a substantial presence on the street. It wasn't that the motorists couldn't see me, I'm sure. While I know you'll disapprove, I don't wear a helmet. I've tried a few times and simply cannot get used to them. They're uncomfortable, cold (on my bald head) in thw inter and too hot if I put a cap under it and in the summer they're simply unbearable. My head gets incredibly hot when I ride. But I am a remarkably conscientious, predictable and alert rider. I don't run reds. I ride with the traffic, maintain my lane-position. I'm patient and polite and I don't get rattled or riled easily. It must work for me. I haven't had an accident in twenty-six years. Perhaps it was just the three month absence from bike-commuting that just made it seem like motorists were more reckless than usual, but I'm not convinced. I think they aren't used to seeing cyclists during the winter months (though they should be in this city) and don't pay attention AND they're all certifiably insane. LOL.

The ride home was nothing short of unremarkable. Not bad. :) Have a good weekend all.

Ride in was cloudy and wet, fast and easy. Ride home was pouring rain and every intersection seemed to have a cop watching for drunk drivers.

Fast ride today . Have a good nite .

Bad commute day! Fricken heel-struck my sidebag and it partially unhooked and fell into the spokes, popping one spoke off the hub. Fortunately I was already at the office. Not sure how hard it will be to get the spoke back on there, or how many others got tweaked bad. grrrrrr :mad:

Back on the bike after a week and a half off due to an incapacitating kidney infection that has finally succumbed to double strength antibiotics. In order to make my return a little more exciting I pulled off my 1.95 Nokian Studs and threw on some 1.25 slicks.

Wow! 10 minutes faster and a 3mph increase in avg speed despite feeling like someone who just crawled out from under a rock.

Freakin snow, ice...and an overly protective wife (I keed I keed! she just loves me) prevented me from riding in today...sucky part is that the snow will be gone by 9:00...maybe I'll drive home at lunch time just so I can get my ride in :-) how sick would that make me?

Rides last week were nice, fairly windy around here, so i'm getting pretty good at getting down into a tuck possition...helps a lot, especially with a head wind.

Did 20 miles on Saturday, that was nice, though VERY chalenging. 10 miles with what felt like a slight tail wind...10 miles back with a FEIRCE headwind, that kept getting stronger the closer I got to home. Just checked noaa, and it lists wind speeds of 17 when I left and 26-38 mph when i got home...that sounds about right! Still, very nice ride, many other roadies out on the route I took, had fun catching up to/passing some of them, one group of 4 (two in matching outfits...hope they're getting payed to ride like that...) seemed slightly miffed that I passed them, but dispite their best efforts they couldn't catch me untill I reached my turn around point...and then only passed me cuz I was heading back towards them. Guess riding through the winter does pay off! :-)

Got a new mirror in the mail Saturday that I was really looking forward to using this morning, it's one of those Itialian road mirrors, when mounting and testing this weekend it seems pretty sweet, I have yet to ride with any type of mirror (mainly cuz they look goofy on others I must admit) But when I saw this one I was like DANG! Must have.

Well, I'm off for now, will post later if I end up riding in for lunch :-)

Apparantly it has rained the last two nights, so there was a bit of water in a cople of places. Traffic was at a standstill on the busy roads and really light on the lighter roads. I picked up a cement truck as a stalker up the big hill. Overall it was a nice ride.

Wasn't planning on riding in this morning since they were calling for rain. Well I got up and it was nice and sunny and I just couldn't pass up riding in. Had a slow ride in, temps in the mid 30s. My mp3 player broke Friday so I am without tunes until later this week when my new player gets here. Rain should be getting here late this afternoon and into the evening. I am hoping to beat it home and will probably drive tomorrow since we should get an inch or so of rain. I already passed my goal of 150 miles for the month and should hit over 200 by the end of this week and there is still another week left. I haven't had to get gas for my car since March 1st and I still have over 1/4 of a tank left. I might last the whole month with only one tank and have more miles on my bike than car :)

Woke to snow gently falling. Nothing too substantial, but just enough to make the roads too slippery to ride the skinny tires on the wa home.

I'm officially tired of winter. I think I'll go snowboarding one more time then pack it in. I'll have to salt the highway so I can ride the shoulder...

After riding the fixie all weekend, my commuter felt 3x heavier this morning lugging it up the stairs. Didn't feel like that riding it tho thank goodness.

Well... it's the first day of spring... you'd never know it on my ride in this morning. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice ride in it was just more like February (snow, ice, 25F, etc.). I'm ready for spring.

The sun was gently falling through the clouds when I left home. It took about ten minutes to get to the office.

Frickin' cold this AM. Not too bad in temperatures - around 20, but my ride was right into the teeth of a biting 11-14 mph wind. At first an ice-cream-headache problem was bothering me, until I noticed that my running tights / long underwear combination did little to protect my down-under-brother from the elements. Yow. Can you say 'turtle'? I thought you could.

edit: on the plus side, the red-winged blackbirds were singing to me as I pedaled past a marshy area.

Lazy, cool (22F) ride in today. I did just over 100mi since last Sunday to this past Saturday so my legs felt a bit tired. I have my first Century lined up for this May so I plan to get in a minimum 80~100mi weekly if possible.

on the road again! I think it was like 80* at 8a when I left the house.
Lovely, uneventful ride... YAY! :D

Cold and windy, I miscalculated how windy it was. I coulda used an extra 5 minutes to cleanup as I was slower than expected.

a bit chilly and a headwind. after the first 100 feet, went back to the house for a coat! tried another route but didn't save me any time and it is a bit more dangerous. seems faster, but it is not. still 40 minutes door to door saw 2 other 2 wheeled bikers and one recumbent.

Head winds. Lots of 'em. Slowed me down, but the cars seemed to just slice right through it. If I could just make headwinds work for me....

[e] Gaaaahhhhhh!!! There's no heat in my apt. bldg. And who knows when the boiler repair guy will get here. If this keeps up, I'll be working from home tomorrow. :mad:

"cold" here as well with head-winds on return home. i was toasty at the 1/2 point, both ways though. traffic seemed tame, a good day!

Rode in from my gf's place 40+ miles. Rode out yesterday morning. Day off today because of the weather. Had a flat approx. 20 miles out. Changed it in about 10 mins...new record. Wet, windy and cold...perfect cycling weather. Ha! Have been averaging over 100 miles per week since the beginning of the year. 140 miles last week. Last purchased gas for my pick-up on 2/22. Calves are a little sore, but otherwise ok. Will do my regular commute tomorrow(21 mi. r/t)

Need to brag a little on my girl...she's been commuting to church every Sunday for the last month(25 mi r/t). Trains 20-40 mins everyday on a Schwinn stationary. Bought her a used Specialized Crossroads for her b-day last year and she's been wearing it out as of late. Her technique and stamina have improved on every ride. There's this one hill. She had to walk it the first time. The next week I showed her switchbacks. This week expecting her to do switchbacks I lagged behind a little...she went straight up w/no hesitation. She said she's ready to go clipless.

Good ride to work & home . A little on the cold side today. Think spring. Have a good nite .

I haven't posted here for a long time, but I've continued my daily commutes. I ride 4 days a week, with Friday being a non-riding day (explained a bunch of times a while back). Anyway, today was absolutely the best Monday commute of the year so far. I went out into sunshine and about 38 degree weather. It was wonderful. The first day of Spring came in with a bang, and I even got in a noon ride too. Here in Western Oregon, we need to take these days and use them as best we can.

John

I looked out, saw a little snow, and decided to go for it. There was about an inch of snow over frozen ice, and I was sliding a little on some of the tire ruts. Just about the time I started thinking "I must be crazy", I passed another cyclist. A few minutes later, I passed another cyclist. Seems like I'm seeing more riders braving the inclement weather?

The commute went a lot easier once I got out of my subdivision.

Surprisingly miserable today. Chilly but not really cold enough for tights, drizzly but not really raining, I sweated under my jacket the whole way in. Oh well, I guess just typical March weather.

Oh, and I almost had to pull a guy out of his BMW and stuff his head up his tailpipe. For two blocks down a small neighborhood street he revved his engine and swerved around like he was going to pass me. Arrrggg...too early in the morning for that kind of BS.