It was cold enough today that I needed a jacket. I couldn't quite see my breath, but my hands did get a chill. I was looking outside my window this morning, and I was thinking that it was too early for the leaves to change color. Then it dawned on me that I had hit two shrubs and a tree with Round-Up. Now they're dead!

I rode the 8 miles to work yesterday. After work, I rode 20 miles to my tennis match, and proceeded to play 3 sets of Singles (I won the match, 7-5 in the 3rd set). I drank a few beers after the match, and threw my bike in the back of a friend's pickup truck. Hey, at least it's carpooling! 8 miles this AM, and after work I will ride 10 miles to a tennis match (Doubles). This time, I intend to ride home!

Muuuuch nicer weather today! :) I was running a little late this morning so I had to kick it up a notch, but I still got to work with two minutes to spare. After work I took a nice detour to my LBS to pick up a few things, then back home. It's amazing how easy it is on a bike to go from work, to LBS, to home during rush hour as opposed to a car. I bet driving would have only been 10-15 minutes quicker at best, plus I would have been irritated and angry the entire time. :D

Rainy in the AM breezy on the return ride. Not many bikes out today.

Ride in was nice. A little bit cooler, but nothing that made a difference. I cooled of on the side of the building and talked with a coworker who rides. He's got a Madone 5.9. Seems like a pretty cool guy.

Took another route home... again. This will probably be the route I stick with on the way home. I saw another rider out. I waved and said "hi" but I didn't hear a response so I don't know if they saw me.

must not get militant must not get militant must not use explosives sorry I failed yesterday I snapped on a cager today. They have been getting worse more sounding of horns and buzzing and lewd commets being hurled. I was taking off and a guy in the right lane does the get on the sidewalk gesture then yells get on the sidewalk you a$$ I yelled hey elitest b4st4rd get out of your Mercedes and get your fat 4$$ on a bicycle and flicked himm off he rolled his window up and sped of like a ***** and then I took my left turn. I was so pissed at my self for doing this, but I am really tired of being honked at or getting the buzz twice a day, or maybe three times. Sorry everyone but the pannier worked out wonderfully today it might take a little bit getting used to having weight on one side. My next thing on the bike is to get drop hanle bars for extra speed, thanks for letting me rant.

Great ride home from dinner out with friends last night (I'm counting that as a commute!) - tummy full of Korean Hot Pot, nice flat rode, hardly any traffic, watching the moon and the possums...

Contrast with today with finding a new route to the train station - rear deraillur stuffs up so I end up walking, of course UP a hill - grrr. Ok, venting finished, end transmission.

home sick on monday - i slept all day; it was great!! too busy doing i-no-longer-remember-what to check in when i got home on tuesday, and now it's wednesday already. incredible.

it's getting crisp and chilly in the mornings. i'm having those morning rides where so long as you keep going you think conditions are supremely perfect, but if you even stop at a light, you lose your own breeze and it suddenly becomes ridiculously hot again. weather been all over the place. i picked up a pair of huge taiga goretex mittens for a buck at some charity yard sale on the weekend, and i just might have to start using them. haven't thought seriously about the winter riding aspect at all for this year, but i bet i'm not really ready for it. eh well. i wasn't ready for it last year either, now that i think about it.

i've been coming home during real sunset: get the coloured-cloud show while i'm up on the bridge, and it's dark by the time i get home. that's a reason to appreciate bridges; no traffic to distract your attention up there. we've been getting those big puffy differentiated clouds that will soon give way to five months of uniform grey, eight hours a day if we're lucky. i've been enjoying it while the getting is good. i like the 'gloaming' period right after the sun's really gone while there's still some light in the sky too. maybe this year i'll organise myself so that i do the dark ride in the mornings, and still have some light while i'm heading home. yeah, right. maybe i'll just join the french foreign legion for fun.

the other thing i'd like to do one of these days just to see what it's like is get out of bed, get dressed and get straight on the bike, without stopping to wake up or drink coffee first. i'll probably join jimmy hoffa and amelia earhart in that great never-heard-from-again company if i ever do it.

songs: two little hitlers, elvis costello; joshua gone barbados, tom rush.

I was back in my cage today. :( I cramped up bad on the way home yesterday. Bad enough to call in the calvery. Decided to take a rest day. Hoping to ride again tomorrow.

Another 8mile commute in the books. To work in under 28 minutes (27:41), a new PR.:D I am really starting to enjoy this commute thing. Probably because it is still cold in the morning now.

Uh oh, w**ter is coming. We broke into the 40s this morning. Eek! I always forget how to dress. I wore my nylon high-viz jacket and it was too hot. Oh well.

Got the new Trek all sorted out except I need to mount a rear blinkie somehow. Fixed my computer problem (magnet wasn't passing the sensor where it was supposed to) so it was reading correctly today. Average speed is about 1MPH slower than the old Peugeot.

I weighed the Peugeot after removing the rack and giving it to my wife's MTB. It has no chain or chainrings. 26.4 pounds. I'm wondering if I can turn it into a 20 pound fixie or lighter. Hmm. I guess money and weight are inversely related. :)

It finally happened. Forgot the boxers at home and I'm goin' commando!

:( w**inter, cold, fall, dark -- they're all "four letter words" to me. :crash:
I like sunshine and warm temps. :beer:


Today was a good ride but I felt a little tired. Didn't see as many of the regular commuters. Maybe the ominous skies scared them away.

No riding tomorrow. :( I'll be driving because I have to pick up ~300 t-shirts and buy all the food and drinks for our big event on Monday, Labor Day -- the Share the Road Challenge. We're expecting 500-700 riders. :beer:

Last night's ride home was a bit interesting. I was coming up to an interesection with the normal three lanes (Left, straight, right). Since I'm going straight, I stay on course to that. A pickup pulls up alongside of me, at first I think he's going straight, then he starts edging over towards the right lane in a nice, drifting fashion. When he actually bumped my elbow, I realized he wasn't going to stop, so I hit the brakes, floated behind him, and then shot up the other side (so I'm on the left side of his car). I got right next to his window and stared at him, then waved when he didn't respond.

Turns out it was a old guy wearing those wrap around dark glasses. He never responded to me at all... don't think he was ignoring me, I think that he honest to <deity of your choice> couldn't see me. Yikes.

At least this mornings ride was fine...tiring though. I mowed the lawn last night and that can take a bit out of you :)

Attempted to find my lost bike route again. No such luck. Denver's sinage on this route blows.
Anyhow, despite yesterday's new route improving on my times by 10 minutes, this one worsened it by 30 minute. A 2.5 hr commute is a wee bit too much for me.
Legs are shot. Just about everything is sore in my legs. My rear is fine :p
Annoying pain shooting down the outside of my left knee and calf has returned. Time to rub it out.
Thursdays are always tiring days. Not a good day to explore. Oh well, I will give it another shot tomorrow.
Time to write down some directions for the freaking route.

I rode in with my wife, and we were coming up to a yellow light and a left-hand turn. She's all, "GO!" and I'm all "NO!" and we both ended up skidding to a stop in the crosswalk. Then she got snippy about me making her late for work and such. I think I average about 5 km/h faster than her, so that's BS.

Nice ride in this morning, only one confused driver. As I came straight across, they came onto the same street from a "right turn into it's own lane" kind of thing. They couldnt handle that I was in the lane to the left of them so they stopped. A obliged and swung right in front of them just so they could get rid of that question mark that was floating above their head.

Need to ride home muy rapido tonight for the Thursday night MTB ride. That's usually a good time.

After you lose the FD, RD, rear wheel and cassette and replace it w/ a lighter rear wheel, one cog and one chain ring, you should be at or below 20 lbs. If not, lose the rear brake. :)

Very uneventful ride in, other than deciding to take a slightly longer route (I can't possibly emphasize how slight the additional distance was).

But, like a fool, I tried my seat in a higher position yesterday for the ride home, and my knees are defintely paying for it this morning.

Still brisk, baby. And foggy, too! Had to stop at one point to de-mist my shades. Can't believe it's supposed to be back in the 80s this weekend (but eagerly awaiting it).

Oh yes, going up long steep(ish) hill, encountered a roller blader coming straight down. I can hit 35 mph on that hill, not sure what a roller blader would do in a speedskater crouch, bent over, hands on knees, backpack I guess messing up his aero a little bit. But I bet he was on pace to pass the lady on the cruiser rolling down the hill in front of him.

Last night my chain decided to do it's own thing when I was standing and gaining some speed just after getting off the road, but just before turning onto the MUP. The sudden drop from top to bottom of pedal stroke made me lose it, my bars went sideways since I was pulling pretty hard, and I went down. Well, first I went up and over the bars, then I went down.
Scraped up my hand a little bit, scuffed up my elbow a little bit, but that's all the damage to me. Worst was that I totally thrashed my front wheel and ripped a hole in my backpack.
I hitched a ride to the LBS (see the "Why does your mechanic rock?" thread) and got my ride fixed, patched my backpack with some duct tape, and was back on the road this morning for a VERY foggy yet uneventful ride to work.

That morning fog today was freakin' incredible! I just bought an L&M Solo, and even that was barely cutting through it this morning.

I haven't broken my light out yet, but it's getting to be that time.

Back on the bike today. My wrist is still sore, but my grip strenght is nearly back. No incidents to test me. Temperatures pretty comfortable. Nothing else to report.

This morning would have been perfect for a 20 or 30 mile detour but, alas, it's going to be a long day at the office and I had to come directly in to work. Sigh.

Death Race 2006. 'Nuff said.

Ahhh, yes. Back in high school did some work on my chain and replaced a pin when done. The pin wasn't quite right, it seems, as just when I was pumping hard to go up a hill the pin snapped. Elbow, shoulder, hand, and knee all got excellent road rash. Sorry about the wheel.....

While accelerating through an intersection, the rear cog I was using decided to break in half. I nearly went over the handle bars. Nice morning pick-me-up.

Nice and cool this morning in NYC. I have to say the ride back was not so great. ****ing *******s cutting me off to park in the bike lane!