First day to the new winery job, 12.4 miles each way. Saw 9 cyclists going and 13 on the return. Passed an old cycling friend who was going the other way. "Hey Ken, I haven't seen you in quite a while. What happened" "The Crush (wine grape harvest) is on." "What? Oh. Alright!" I dragged going so when I got home I added 20 PSI front and rear.

Winery job? Can you adopt me?

Great ride today. Had at least three other bikes in the bike rack at work today. For once, the motorcyclists didn't block the bike rack. The good thing about Ohio's weather is that the motorcyclists only come out about a month every year. Still trying to find a better small headlight for my bike. Hopefully Nashbar or Performance will have a sale. Have a good night.

i want some of whatever jyossarian's drinking.

two firsts in a row for me today. first #1: two-thirds of the way over the bridge, i got a large chunk of spiky something into one eye. talkin' large. i slowed down enough to finish the bridge with the depth-perception you get with one eye screwed up like a popeye poster, and then kept going. luckily tears washed whateveritwas out without me needing to do more than pull up at the light and swab my face clean with the t-shirt hem. i had time to wonder wtf you do in situations like this, but didn't have to find out the hard way.

first #2: thanks to asteroid-in-eye incident, i finished my ride in such a leisurely way that i actually only pretended to take a shower. never done that before, but i was running impressively late and i couldn't point to the Wounded Eye as an excuse. the cat's avoiding me now, but i'm sure that has nothing to do with anything.


i'm liking my bike something fierce again suddenly :D

I've been consistently commuting by bicycle for 2 1/2 months now and today was the 1st day it has rained on me. Wasn't raining when I left the house, started hailing. Found out it is hard to ride through 4 inches of standing water at the curb when covering up one ear to keep hail out. It did drop the temp from 101 to 85 though.

Get some googles. And ain't it fun riding? :)

This is my first post with exception to the intro thread. I have been biking to work for the last two weeks, (it's only a couple of miles for me) and I'm new to bike riding as an adult. I work kind of a weird shift (Fri. through Mon.) and on Mondays the regular weekday shift works with us. This Monday I found out that one of the supervisors on the weekday shift rides to work so I decided to ride the long way home and go his way for a little bit. Well, the road he goes down to get out of the gate is long and there is no shoulder. In fact there is about 2-3 inches of pavement on the right of the white line and then there is a 3-4 inch drop off to dirt/rocks. We were riding in tandem on the white line to make it easier for cars to pass and I guess I got nervous or something because I went off the pavement and lost control of my bike. The next thing I know, I'm hitting the ground and my bike is on top of me. We looked at my my bike and I had to bend one of the brake handles back into its proper position. It pretty much looked ok so I rode it home from there. When I got home I looked at it closer and spun the wheels with the bike upside down and it looks like the rear axle might be whobbling a little. I suppose I should have it checked out by a pro. before I ride it too much?

Anyway, that was my first bike wreck since I was a kid, and yes, I was wearing a helmet. I skinned up my knees and hand a bit but I'm not badly injured. It is quite embarrassing though, and I don't think I'll be going that way much in the future.

Fine ride in this AM. It is still warm and sticky (75F, 90% rH), but its getting to the point now where I don't even notice it any more. Got sprinkled on a bit as I was riding. Felt nice and since I was already sweat soaked, made no difference to me at all....other than cooling me off. I did happen to look down and notice the QR on my front rim was released. Not sure when, how, or why that happened, but I am really glad I didn't try bunny hopping anything!! Probably would have lost a few teeth and some blood had the rim come loose on me.

Had some joker blow his horn at me for no apparent reason other than to be uh, well a joker. (that is the nice version of what I called him when he did it) For some reason or other it seems like people are getting less tolerant of having to go around me. Oh well, they had better get used to it since I don’t plan on giving it up until we have a blizzard this winter. Even then I might still venture out on the bike…

I think I have to find a longer route. I am getting to work too early. (Maybe I should leave later?)

I'm 50% through my first week of commuting every day of the week. Today was my first commute deliberately in the rain. I got wet, but not as bad as I was afraid of. Thunderstorms cleared about 4:00AM, I finished makeshift rainproofing and hit the road at 5:30, it sprinkled till about 6:30 and I got in to work (22 miles later) about 7:10. Why yes, I may be crazy, but I did it! Woot! :-D

Nothing to report this morning. Kind of misty on the way in felt good. There's been a Trek mountain bike parked to the same light post the whole two weeks of my new route. Maybe I'll put in a call to my friend in the police department... Oh, and I forgot my belt. Luckily I'm in the office all day.

Weather has been great here for the last 10 days or so.. High 50s this morning, perfect for riding. Got passed on the road by a commuter on a mountain bike w/knobbies, who later pulled in behind me at work. Not sure how I got here before him. My go-go-Gadget legs? :p

The sun was breaking over the horizon on the way in this morning. Makes it really hard to see when you are staring into the sun. I bet it's even harder for the cars to see me so I stayed as far right as I could and kept a close eye on them. Nobody killed me today.

I was telling my GF last night how awesome the legs on IronMan guy were. She said I should catch up to him next time and ask him for a date. Funny girl she is...

Monday night on my way home I caught up to another cyclist and we chatted at a couple of lights. He was headed to a LBS for a group ride. One of these days I will try and get to one of those rides. Roads were wet this morning but I only felt a few drops from the sky. Should be dry and hot for the ride home.

I rode in with my wife this morning, so we were able to chat a bit. Traffic is at an all-time low - I love it!

First successful completion of the new route. It was much nicer -- no elementary school, quieter streets, no chain-killer hill. One street turns into a packed dirt/gravel road and dead ends into a small fence that blocks the street, but on a bike you can go around the fence on the sidewalk and get on the next street without even slowing down. It's great because it means no cars are coming through.

I had to do a little schooling of a guy in a 4x4 Toyota pickup this morning. I'm waiting forever for this light to change and finally it comes on. (I'm actually on the wrong side of the street and crossing in the crosswalk. It's legal to ride on sidewalks in Roseville.) He's turning right and just keeps coming into the crosswalk... and so do I. I look him in the eye, point to my chest and say, "I have the right of way". He gave me a little wave and stopped. I think people are just too used to bikes and peds yielding to them all the time, even when the bikes/peds have the right of way.

Other than that, great ride.

commuting on the mtn bike, I took a dirt trail for a little bit last night going home; I think there's another one closer to home, might look for that tonight.

However, boy was it a mistake to try and find that same dirt trail this morning, going the other way. I've noticed each time I took it that I couldn't quite place the exact spot it kicked me out to the paved bike trail, and I sure didn't find it this morning.

I wound up wading through a mix of deer trails and blueberry bushes for about 15 min before fighting my way back to the paved trail (farther 'upstream' from where I left it). I was pretty fortunate to run into only a few raspberries and no stinging nettles while toting the bike (w/ panniers) through all that undergrowth. I found a few beer bottles mixed into the woods at the occasional clearing, but at least I didn't step on any sleeping people.

Drier than yesterday. I got wet after work but decided to go ahead and do the extra riding I had planned. It only rained for 20 minutes or so, then it was humid as heck. Still, it felt great.

On the way in I stopped at the donut shop and got a box for the office. (Yay for REI grocery bag panniers!)

I beat the hills for the first time yesterday - couldn't believe it. Part was weight loss (down about 15+ lbs), part conditioning, and part learning to stroke the pedals instead of pushing too hard.

These hills are steep - gravel and nasty with big rocks in places, I am not sure I am commuting or single tracking at times.

Anyway, it was great yesterday - I ground up to the top and I wasn't even spent. This was after 2 months of slowly improving, and then all of a sudden - I was there.

I just finished riding mi 6-7 mi route a few days in a row as fast as I possibly could, hammering all straightaways and resting only at lights, out of the saddle for most of the 30 min ride.


My butt hurts...and I'm tired!

Can't wait to try it again, though...

On the way in to work I happened upon a water main break. There was gravel, piled up for the repair, in the south lane and North bound lane was curb high in water.. I walked around on the grass which
was saturated. On the way home tonight water was still pouring out of the hole.

I did my second ever commute today, and it was great! :) Much cooler this morning and I saw 3 deer and a wild turkey all in the same spot. It almost looked like they were all friends just hanging out. :D One was a buck and probably no more than 25 feet from me. He just stared at me as I went by and didn't budge an inch, which started tomake me wonder if I should be afraid of him. :o Leaving the parking lot this evening I hit the edge too hard and my taillight fell off in the street, I turned to look but with traffic coming so fast there was no way I could get it in time. So on the way home I swung by the LBS and got a new one plus a better headlight. No big deal really, it was just one of several cheap blinkies I bought as extras for when friends ride with me at night occasionally.

Fourth day of commuting out of the last six work days.. Tonight was a treat. No headwind, perfect weather, hit all the intersections right and kept the momentum up. Witness a very, very near accident where a dump truck with a backhoe on the trailer ran a red light.. Freaky.

Took advantage of no headwind and did the 11.5 miles in 0:45.00 exactly, which include one very steep climb. Best so far. :)

great to get back on the bike after a few days off. everything normal, took it easy. very nice... hot on the way back, about 102. forgot my water bottle but it was not too bad.

On the way home caught up with another rider. We were in the same business. he sells corks and I make the contents they seal in.

Not so great, I got rear ended, Bike is a mess, I'm sore, and mad at the world of cars.

Chased an ambulance down the MUP this morning. Just past the drop through the first gully were 3 roadies, one down. Maybe they kissed wheels. I hope he's ok.
Otherwise cool and sunny - rode the old steel frame I was planning to sell - damn she shifts and rides like silk. If I didn't have another vintage bike that was lighter I'd keep her.

Really appreciated the ride home as stress relief today, as I was involved in the termination of an employee this afternoon. :( Thanks to the bike, I was able to return home fairly calm, all things considering.