A great commute today. A red rising Sun to the east a white setting Moon to the west. 69
degrees on the ride this morning. Mist coming off the Missouri river.

i guess i'm really not driving much recently.

let things run waaaaaay too late this morning, until the only way of making it within my standard window was to drive. changed out of bike clothes and into work clothes. skipped the finding of a coffee container and pouring of coffee as a penance. got into car. inserted key; turned key. starter goes rrRRrclick, and that's it. tried it again. rrRRrclick. yeeks; big sigh. check headlights: nope, i did turn them off the last time. check overhead light; battery's fine. check to make sure i've got it in park. rrRRrclick. mysterious.

so eh. i guess it's a bike day after all. back into the house, back into bike clothes, work clothes in the bag, actually feeling kind of 'oh yay, i get to ride after all' about it. didn't bother phoning bcaa again; it's not like the car's going to go anywhere before i get around to it. poured coffee and took it with me.

i was kind of worried though; the only time that car ever fails to start is when i leave the lights on and run the battery flat. somewhere in the alley it dawned on me: somehow, after 9 years of owning it, i just plain forgot it has a manual choke :D i did go back to make sure, just in case i was wrong and it was sitting there flooding the driveway with gas, and sure enough. but by then i had no intention of getting back off the bike.

had a terrific ride in to work. hit all the lights just exactly right, it was sunny and fairly cold and dead peaceful. the drivers i saw were showing a bit of wild-eyed weirdo effect from the restarting of school, but nothing to worry about anywhere. someone ran the red light at the bike-controlled crossing before the bridge, but i'd had my eye on them so it was no bother to me. the ride home was very nice too.

I going to a bike shopt to check out some fenders so i had to take a different route than my susual one to school. Half of it (about 8 km) are on a narrow, bad quality, uneven, and crowded with carts street with a traffic jam at one point. I atullay enjoyed riding through it and the traffic, was my first time biking on such a street, squeezing around and getting ahead of cars, was fun :D

It was great this morning. My bike had it's first service last week, so it was riding really well, there was no breeze and the sun was out. It was a bit cold when I started, but I warmed up pretty quickly.

There's a busy three lane road I ride on that has no bike lane, but the speed limit is only 40 kph because of a school on the road. It's a bit downhill in that part, so it's great being able to take a lane and keep up with traffic.

35F (2C) degrees. Shorts. Long sleeve jersey. No gloves. As usual, a bit chilly for the first mile or so, but once the internal fires got stoked up, I was comfortable. I like cool weather riding but I'm not so sure I'm ready for w*nt*r yet.

I passed a guy on an old touring bike, then somehow I managed to reel in a 'bent. No easy feat on the Liquid with knobby tires. :p I don't think he liked it. He kept looking in his mirror and going a little faster. Eventually I zipped off onto a lakeside dirt path that I like to ride.

Sigh, no bike ride this morning. Did my first half-century ride Saturday and still felt sore today.
Learned anew why I don't like driving to work--inane highway traffic. I think I'll be driving my bike route from now on when I have to drive & leave after 5:30 am.

Looked at the weather last night, and told the girlfriend "I think I'm going to skip riding tomorrow, since Monday is the only day that is supposed to rain this week".

Woke up, saw that it wasn't raining. Looked like it was going to be clear for the next hour or so, and decided to go for it (taking a cue from a post I'd seen in the "bad weather commuting" thread about rarely regretting to ride, but often regretting to not).

No rain the whole way in - it was a little chilly, but about halfway in, I didn't care anymore, because the @#%#$ windbreaker I bought at Target yesterday doesn't breathe for CRAP. The parts of my body covered by the dryfit t-shirt underneath weren't too bad, but my lower arms were DRIPPING by the time I rolled into work. My back was a little sweaty too.

Oh, and I discovered that yet another thing interferes with my crappy wireless bike computer...my front headlight. Luckily it was pretty light out by the time I got going, so I was okay. But it's time to replace that computer!

Finally back on the bike after only riding twice in the past two weeks. Work has been all over the place so I have been driving to work more than I want to. Nice cool morning for a ride in, saw a black cat the looked exactly like the one I have in the middle of the road in the median. Also saw about 3 other riders out and about, one was a roadie and another looked like she was out for a morning ride. I am hoping to ride almost everyday this week.

Great ride in this morning. 69 degrees F and not too humid. Auto traffic looked like a nightmare for the people stuck in their cages. Since I was on my mountain bike this morning, I just rode in the grass and passed people for about 2 miles to the stop sign at Jones Bridge and McGinnis Ferry :p

First ride in with new panniers and rack I bought this weekend at REI. It is so nice to ride in with nothing hanging on your back or shoulders. I did notice I need new brake pads/shoes while I was putting the rack on. Its a cheap wally world mountain bike, so I guess I'll walk over to WW at lunch and get some more brake pads/shoes for the lunker.

The bike itself is not too bad for a dept store creature. It has 21 speeds and I replaced the rear wheel with one from a lbs so it has quick release in front and back. But apparently 800 miles is all I got out of the original brake pads.

Left a half hour late, but no worries. Finally feels like fall around here - in the upper 40s this morning, but bright and sunny. Glad to be getting a light wind jacket this week. Was weighted down with clothes & towel in the trunk bag, and laptop in the backpack. Wasn't feeling to motivated for a Monday, but ended up not much slower. Did the 11.59 miles in 0:45:06.

Looking foward to a warmer ride home!

Happy Patriot Day.

Left earlier than usual because I'm changing my hours so I can get home earlier. Fall and early darkness are coming. Scary!!!
Cool morning but the humidity was higher than it was over the weekend.

Got out a bit late, but no problem. It looked like it was going to down pour, so I had my rain/wind breaker on and my reflective vest. Of course, it didnt rain.

Relaxing ride in, good way to start the week.

First commute with hybrid
 

Today was my first day riding into work with my panniers and 80 psi tires (on a Trek FX hybrid). The ride is 9 miles each way with about a 3/4 mile steep hill to end the ride in.

The past 6 rides or so time I've rode in with my Cannondale roadie and a backpack. Backpack was very uncomfortable because I simply had too many . The 120 PSI's were a bit harsh on some of the backroads. The hybrid rides much softer and I feel more comfortable with my body more upright. It didn't take me much longer either, despite the extra weight from my clothes and laptops. The weather was much cooler this morning; to the point where I had to wear a fleece for the first time in 6 months. The current plan is to ride in Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Too cold too early
 

I'm right now in Cambridge, MA and it was a little too cool for me this time of year. I can feel winter right around the corner...

Temps are creeping downward in the mornings. It was 45F and clear today. I wore the leg warmers, shorts, arm warmers, wind shell, and full finger windstopper gloves.

Sun is also later each day as well, so I mounted on the 10w halogen in addition to the LED flashing light. Seemed to work out well. I may be working late this week as well, so it's a good idea to have the light with me.

Saw a coyote this morning in the rural neighborhood I cut through. It cut across the road about 20ft in front of me. It's a bit unsettling to see them when you are on a bike and alone. The're like medium sized dogs, but wild. I keep the dog spray clipped to the outside of my pack just for them. If they decide to eat me at least I'll be spicy picante flavored. :)

Good ride in this morning with cool temperatures -- any cooler and I'll have to wear warmer clothes. The skies were threatening rain but I got into work dry.

I noticed a dramatic uptick in traffic today -- I wonder if people are intentionally avoiding transit because of the anniversary. Streets that are usually fairly empty were jammed for 6 blocks or more with little movement. Gotta love those bike lanes.

Looking forward to the ride home tonight.

Someone shoot me if I ever explore without a map. Argh! You think I would have learned from the last time. Nope!
I decided to take a path further than I usually do. So, it forked and I took the wrong fork. Needless to say the fog did not help. I encountered a street I know and picked what I thought was west. Was it west you ask, hell no! I went 10 miles east before I discovered my mistake. Oh well.

Not a bad ride in today. One of my co-workers was complaining that we needed more carpool lanes, and that 1 person per car was the bane of his existence. I chucled to myself, then thought better of it and chuckled out loud.

Nice fall morning, pretty uneventful. One more week commuting at commuting time, then I take over kid at school drop-off duty and won't be on the road until after 9.

Mountains = West
Kansas = East

That works here in the springs too....
Unless it's foggy, then who knows which way is which :)

Yup. It was foggy. It is next to impossible to loose your way in denver provided that you can see one of the two. Of course I couldn't see either. Eventually after I found my way, the sun started poking through. Thanks :p

my commute...
 

Wow, I love Hawaii!
Man, it felt good to be back on my bike!

Commute was beautiful, high 70's, light breeze.
I kept up with a roadie for a bit. I was on the bike path, and he was on Nimitz.

I've been watching the roadies more and more.
Starting to wonder if I'm in too poor of shape to try 50 of the 100 miles on the Honolulu Century ride coming up.

I did 36 miles of it last Monday. It hurt. My commute is only 4 miles each way, and it's getting pretty easy.

It's getting a little cool. I've already started wearing long pants, and I'm going to have to wear a light jacket and full-finger gloves soon. I would have liked the full-finger gloves this morning, actually. Just a few more days until my fairing arrives, then I'll be able to ride like it's summer for a few more weeks.....

Lots of traffic on my route today, including a big tractor-trailer that I thought I might be able to draft. Unfortunately, as soon as I caught up to it, it turned off the route. It made a big right turn and I stayed far to the left of it. It was then that I thought I would join the Big Peloton In The Sky: a POS Ford minivan came screaming up through the gap left by the truck as I was trying to move back over to the right. I was trying to give her The Look, hold my hand down and back, and still pedal like hell in case her brakes didn't work. She got uncomfortably close to my wheel.

Luckily, no one else came close to killing me this morning so I'll call it a successful commute.

Too windy and too cold, not a ver fun commute. I hate the wind, it ruins everything....

It was cool and foggy this morning again. Par for the course up here this time of year on a path next to a river. Nice ride, though. The MUP was surprisingly empty for Monday morning. Only 3 other bikes and 2 joggers in the whole 6.5 miles. Both joggers were wearing reflecto shirts and I could see them very well; they both said "good morning" back to me as I passed them. One of the cyclists was heading my way, and cut onto the path in front of me close enough I had to jam my brakes. He didn't even look for traffic as he was coming onto the path. I whipped around him and kept my words to him at nothing more than a greeting (which barely got a reply.)
Overall, it was a nice ride. Almost getting to be glove weather, though.

I'm still waiting for these fall temperatures everyone is talking about. It was cooler, but still about 80+. Today was my first commute in a week. I ended up getting some 48 hour flu thing or food poisioning last week that knocked me out all last week. When I left my house, 2 roadies passed on a cross street. About 2 miles later I saw them again and caught up and passed them. After I passed them I notice one of their shadows and realize they are drafting me. I dialed it up to 26mph for a few blocks before I had to turn. Other than that it was a nice peaceful ride. A couple of roads had been repaved so that was nice.

It's warming up down here. I was in shorts this morning- but still a long sleeve top under the tshirt. It will be shorts and t-shirt on the way home.

Good ride in today. I caught a green light on the fly at mansell road - a first. YIPPEE!!

No ride today, had to drive as I'm travelling between three different sites for work. While driving down the GW Parkway I saw a bad accident between a cyclist and a jogger on the MV Trail. It seems the cyclist was coming down a hill and, just as she approached one of the wooden bridges, a jogger made a U-Turn right in front of her, she hit him and they both went down hard. While she was on the ground, he sat up and held his head as if that's where she hit him (maybe helmet to head). It looked really ugly and, although I wanted to stop, I couldn't because of the traffic. There were a lot of people out there and I'm sure someone stopped to help.

Did anyone see this and knows if they were all right?