Warm ride in this morning. Shorts and a thin long sleeve shirt was all I needed. Went to get my road bike out of the closet and the back tire was flat. I thought I smelled tire air on my ride home last night but it must be a small leak so I didn't bother with it when I got home. I pumped it up this morning but I didn't want to chance it getting flat today so I rode my MTB instead. Talk about a change in riding...the mtb is heavy and slow with wide slicks. On the 1/2 mile stretch of road in a 45mph zone a car buzzed me with less than a foot to spare even though there is a center turning lane he can move into to pass me. I raised my hands at him after he passed but I don't think he cared or even saw me :rolleyes: 85 and sunny for the ride home this evening :D

I'm convinced being sealed in a car lowers your IQ by at least 10 points.

Yesterday afternoon I had a killer tailwind. Easily hitting 30MPH on the flats and grinning like an idiot. I started wondering what would happen if I went up to my big chainring and pushed hard, but I didn't do it.

Naturally, I had a killer headwind this morning. :( Slogging along like I was dragging an anchor. Saw a flock of cormorants floating in the waves. Heard spring peeper frogs for the first time. Hoping for a tailwind again this afternoon.

No commute. I can deal with the roadrash on my leg. However, my wrist is unable to flex since it is nice and swollen. At least I can move my fingers again.

No commute yesterday cuz I had to wait for the UPS man to deliver my stuff from Pricepoint. Ride to work today was a lot of sprints and a lot of red lights. Got to work, bought some coffee and didn't notice it was leaking into the bag so of course the bag tore open dropping my coffee in the elevator so now I'm coffee-less! :(

A nice ride this morning. I'm betting against the weatherman today, and decided to take the (fenderless) trike. If it rains, I will get soaked.

Hopefully it will also be warm enough that I won't get chilled to the bone!

Nice ride this morning, clear and calm. I briefly shared a mup with another cyclist, which is the first time I've seen one on this path. There was a little rat dog with full rat dog haircut running around that tried to chase me for a bit. It was funny.

Great ride in this morning, did 20 miles and had an episode of testosterone poisening (I didn't coin this phrase...stole it from someone else) Basically I let my ego get the better of me...A guy I often see, but at a different section of path...rides I think a specialized cross bike with road tires passed me while I was stopped at a street. I manned up cought him and then hung with him once I got started (I don't think he was being an ass, he just had better timing than me)

Then on an underpass section of the trail I was gaining on him without really trying, I figure he thought he'ld dropped me like a bad habbit and wasn't even concerned. So I passed him shortly after. Kept ahead for a little while but he took exception to being behind me I think (do I smell or something :-) and passed me back, with a friendly "good morning" I said good morning to him too, and then it was on. He set a blistering 20 mph pase and didn't let up. I got a good draft off him though and was feeling pretty strong, so I stayed behind him for a while and after a few more street crossings I buckled down, gave him an "on your left" and came around, telling him he could draft off me for a while now :-) I one upped him and kept my "passing" speed of 23-24 mph and held it for as long as I could, luckily it was long enough as we came to a section of the path that goes through the University and you have to slow down. I was DIEING as I finally let off, and looked at my HRM to see 192!!! HOLY FREAKIN COW! I'ld never seen a number that big before, and thought I was gonna pass out right there (partially from shock, and some from lightheadedness) then we cruised through a bunch of turns, and some traffic, and you have to climb a small hill, he was in front now, and although I normally like to sprint up this hill, I was WASTED, and it was all I could do to just motor up it. He on the other hand still had good energy (I like to think because he had been drafting me last :-) and just whipped right up it.

Good fun.

oops, double post...

One of my worse commutes this morning :(. I'm in between roadie builds and the rain showers this morning threw me into a loop. Long story short, I basically needed to move the stock Alex Wheels that came with my Lemond, back to the my commuter. The problem is I forgot that I put the 9speed cassette back on so I was jumping gears for the first 1/2mi because my commuter/beater has Sora :o. I had to manually place the chain on the top chain ring because the adjustment is out...again (Mixing Campy/Shimano :D). Eventually I found a combo that worked, so I proceeded to spin my sorry arse into work.

I was able to ride home in a T-shirt last night, which was nice after a sweaty workout at the gym. When I got home my wife told me she almost blew through several intersections because her brakes were just "gone". After dinner, I showed her how to tighten her brake cables with the barrel adjusters, then I tightened up the cables properly. She thinks I'm cool. :D Then I re-built the front wheel of my winter commuter with the assistance of a Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz. Good times.

Today's ride was fast and uneventful. Except for one thing - I'm coming down the ramp into the parking garage, and a ped just steps in front of me. He saw me coming, and he also saw that I was doing 30+ km/h [it's a steep ramp]. I lock up the rear wheel and steer around him, giving a "whoa - sorry". Good times!

Great ride. Low 50sF and sunny. :beer:
Had to ditch the arm warmers half way to work.

Heading downtown today to do a short (30 minutes?) bike commuting workshop (~1:30 PM). Hope all goes well and I don't get booed off the stage. ;)

Started out swimmingly, with temps in the mid 60's and and negligible winds when I left early at 5:30 to ride out past the usual turnout into town to put in some extra mileage and maybe grab a 'spresso before the train. About 15 miles into the ride, I popped a spoke. I twisted the remains around its neightbor and wobbled back the the 4 miles or so to the train station. This evening I'll wobble it over to the good bike shop, which happens to be closest to the train station and put the wheel in for a respoking. It's ~10 years old or so, and I got it for a song, so it's likely due for new shoelaces, all around. Still a nice ride in, spoke and all.

It was really nice this morning, I mean really nice, pure blue skys and sort or almost warm. On the ride I missed the light so decided to cut down a different route, passing the school, as its closed now for the week. Without school, no traffic and very pleasant on this route. The ride took around 10 minutes.

As I am going on a trip this evening this is my last commute for the week. For the week I was 4 of 4 in bike commutes. For the year I am -5 for bike commutes in that I did not commute by bike this year on 5 occasions.

Truman, which is "the good bike shop?" I know of only one in my area of far north Fort Worth, but would love to have other options...

Thanks!

Ride this morning was awesome! Left about 30 minutes later than usual, so the sun was already showing signs of life when I left. Usually when I leave late the traffic is awful, but not today. Very cool. Hit 2 of the 4 lights perfectly (that never happens) and as a result tied my time for fastest ride in yet. Slight tailwind half the way certainly didn't hurt, but I'll pay the price for that on the way home in a couple hours...

I got the race bike out today, wonderful ride. I won't do this often as I worry about having that bike at work but for such a nice day it was worth it.

The warmth has come. 92 for yesterday's ride home. Forecast to be 97 today. (which means about 95 for ride home)

I guess the heat will be here soon.

Al

The bike was at work following a couple of atrocious work days so no journey in this morning but I rode all the way home again and managed that 11 or so miles in just under an hour.

I'm gonna be dead chuffed when I get this down to 45 minutes and people stop passing me :)

But then I'm curently about 250lbs, am riding a 26" wheeled folder and carry a dirty great crumpler stuffed with clothes and a laptop so I guess I'll be a little slow for a while.

Walked out the door this morning to find that I had a flat tire...on the car. BUHAHAHAHAHAHA! No problem! ;)

'twas an average spring commute today:

temps in the 80s, bikini-clad coeds tanning on the quad, bike cops (with their bikes) in the men's restroom... :D

- oh yeah... what is up with that bag of poppyseed bagels at the intersection of Carolina and Hillsborough?
I found a half-shucked ear of corn lying there a month ago... what is going on?

and the pollen in the air is driving me nuts. really.

Fastest ride to work ever(18MPH average), marred by getting cut off from behind turning left into the driveway at work. I was taking the lane and signaling left. Highbeamed and yelled at them, contractors went in the back way to avoid me. On the way home I was almost left hooked by an oncoming car pulling away from a red light to make a left turn onto the highway I was crossing. He stopped in the middle of the intersection, so I drew his attention to my green light and said "My green light, Buddy!" Guess he missed the lights and bright orange shirt. No suprise, he wasn't bright enough to realize red light means stop. Picking up my new Giant OCR2 in 8 days, should really smoke the times I get on the MTB. Lived another day, rode both ways,can't complain too much. Ride on.

Beautiful commute today. I had a headwind downtown, and once out of the city, I had a nice tailwind (it's usually the opposite). A car full of high school girls shouted "Hey biker!" as they turned into the local ice rink. I laughed, because I would have done the same thing when I was their age. ;)

Okay, it's a gorgeous day. One break in a long string of rainy days, so I have to get off BF, get all my assignments in, and sneak out for an extended detour home. I'll post about it tomorrow.

absolutely wonderful commute to work today. The weather was a little chilly on the way there, but a balmy 68 on the way home.

Overshadowed by an unfortunate cut-off by a driver which was far too close for comfort...drove me into a pot hole and blew my rear innertube. Walked it to the bikestore because I didn't have anything on me to fix it (got the bike a week ago, wife said "you can get the bike, but NO accessories). Had the innertube changed, spent $100 on accessories. I'm prepared for another dangerous driver to cut me off and send me into a pot hole again.