In the cage today. :(

36F this morning. Broke out the Triflex tights and had to rustle up a beanie so my ears wouldn't snap off. First truly cold ride of the season. Why did winter have to come back so soon ? Windproof gloves are just a tad light as my fingers were a bit cold and numb. Either that or I'm just not in winter metabolism mode yet.

Breathing in cold air really seems to slow you down for some reason. Now I remember why I rode with a neck gaiter pulled up. More for pre warming the air than for it's insulating value.

I've come to the conclusion that the second headlight [3LED niterider] in strobe mode really makes a difference. I've been running it for about a week now and noticed that people on side streets will wait even if I'm nearly a full block away. It probably won't make an idiot less of an idiot, but has a nice effect on the sane ones.

-1C this morning (that's 30ishF) first frosty one since March or April. I also forgot how much slower we get when it's colder. Took all of last week off to recharge the batteries (and it rained most of the time anyway). Felt a little better today,

38 F this morning. First morning of leg warmers. Froze the toes a little. Need warmer socks and gloves.

Pulled the Wonder Twins to daycare this morning in their Chariot. Not a single complaint: no "stop poking me!"; no "I can't see!" (meaning that someone's helmet has slipped down); no "give me back my Thomas!" (meaning that my daughter has snatched her brother's beloved train). Nope, just contented chatting and the occasional "garbage truck!" or "tractor!"

Passing through Midtown we overtook a twenty-something young woman on a Cannondale that looked to be as old as she. Stylishly dressed for the fall in a wool skirt and boots, but alas she had no helmet to complete her ensemble.

The only bad part of the ride was when I (stupidly) decided to avoid a busy intersection by cutting through a parking lot. A middle aged woman in a crappy Suzuki Sidekick was racing through the entry lane, probably going 25 or 30. I locked up the brakes and actually got turned a little sideways but kept it upright. I gave her the WTF look and actually only mouthed the F part, which took a lot of restraint on my part since I had the kids with me. And then, she has the nerve to roll down the window and yell, "Hey! You got a problem?"

"Yes, as matter of fact I do have a problem with you driving 25 miles an hour in a parking lot."

(And then I nearly started laughing when I heard my 2 and a half year old Greek chorus repeat "parking lot!")

Now, I should know better than to go through parking lots, especially when I'm pulling the Chariot. And now I really know. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

ride in...
 

Another beautiful 76F light breeze ride in!
My new Armadillo tires are doing nice.
I need more light when I come in to work pre-0600.

Already looking forward to the ride home...

Great! Commuted to kindergarten w/ Thing1. I've been working on him to get him more confident riding in the street (it's flatter, smoother, much easier for somebody riding a little bike that is about a third of his body weight, and he can roll through intersections where he has the right of way, which I won't let him do when crossing the street from sidewalk to sidewalk), but he prefers the sidewalk lately, so I followed him in a 24" gear, roughly 2.5 mph. We parked our bikes together in the rack, went in w/ his stuff, and then off I went to come into work. When I got up to speed (or past say 5 mph), I could hear this annoying squeaky/raspy sound, something binding/scraping both wheels, so that bugged me the rest of the way into work. I might poke around at them before I take a lunchtime ride (since I have a roadtrip for work and won't be biking again until I go home Wednesday).

http://home.comcast.net/~adrian_spidle/sep18.jpg

First day of sub 40F temps in a while. No biggie. Overdressed as usual and had to remove a shirt and jacket.
It seems that I dress the same at 38F as 48F.
Different year + weigh less + new gear = toss the old what to wear at what temps list.

it just keeps getting better.
i had a friend's car as she was out of town so i wimped out and drove a couple days last week, but did 30 miles yesterday (that's quite a ride for me :o ) and today was great. it was mid-60's and very little wind, which is always nice) and i think i may have broken my best time to work. sometime this week (c'mon bikeman- ship the rest of my parts...) i will have a BRAND NEW bike. ooooh. i cannot wait to take her out. i have a feeling that my commute will get a lot easier and more fun with a brand spankin' new ride.

First day back after a week of "vacation" (Topsail Island = good; in-laws = bad). The commute was beautiful today--perfect weather and no one tried to kill me.

Weird thing--while I was on vacay my boss called to tell me they're "offshoring" (outsourcing to India) 5 jobs from my dept. and we all need to apply to keep our jobs. Made for a VERY quiet day here today and a strange vacation.

Good commute today. When I left the wind wasn't too bad and it hadn't started raining yet. Ride home was in the rain and I loved it. The MUP I used was nearly completely deserted and I took back streets to avoid getting splashed by cars. My feet were soaked when I got home but I didn't care. :)

Today was the first sub-zero commute of the season. As usual, I had my morning coffee outside on the loading dock in a short sleeve shirt, while I let my temperature return to normal. I'm sure the guys arriving in their parkas thought I was nuts.

was running a bit late this morning so did the Comm Ave route into work instead of the bike path. Made excellent time and got right out there with the flow of traffic for big portions of it. The traffic moves at around 20-25 mph on most of Comm Ave in the early morning commute and the avenue has a slight slope down into the city or is flat and runs east/west with a general prevailing westerly wind so a cyclist can make decent speed on a good day- and thus avoid the hundreds of parked cars per mile and swinging car doors.

The ride home was on the bike path and the air was either dead calm or with an offshore breeze that made the ride home just fantastic. But the best part of the day was getting my newly registered spot in my college's new bike room! I have my own reserved space in a room that is a former storefront so the door opens right onto the pedestrian alleyway it is on, it is well lit, safe, easily accessible (you swipe your ID card and the door swings open on it's own), the room is under video surveillance, available 24 hours a day and I can occasionally leave my bike there overnight if the weather stinks so bad that I have to take the bus home- all this for $5/year.

Now that's civilized! And that's progress!!

My first collision!
 

So yeah, today I had my first collision. Not with a car though, it was another bike. We were both on a MUP. I was turning right onto a bridge, he was turning left, oncoming and cut the corner - wammo! He swerved a bit and we only smashed shoulders - neither one of us fell, so no problem! He apologized profusely and made sure I was okay. I demanded all the cash he had on him and then sent him on his way. I'm just kidding about the last part ;) Seriously, he was really cool about it and I didn't even care, it did make me a little more cautious on those corners though. Bike paths are dangerous!

i have special mojo. all i have to do to make it suddenly rain really, really hard is stop on the way home for groceries. regular desultory hardly-counts rain with lots of space between the drops as i go in; can't-cut-through-it-with-a-fog-light rain when i come out. i only had about 1 kilometre left to get home, but i left the store with dry feet and was carrying half-inch puddles inside each shoe when i sloshed through the door. when i took them off to pour out, the heels were still dry. that is some kind of peculiar sensation: when you take a step and feel water oozing up between your toes as you land, then recede again as you move on to the other foot. . . at least i tracked down the rain pants this morning before i set out.

that was kind of a crash return to the hard core of winter commuting, but the rest of the day was fine and even better than fine. cool (14C), hardly raining at all, heavily overcast in that way that gives you that special light. i had a ball. and i'm feeling strong (touch wood).

i'm loving my felted wool socks from last winter. nothing beats them. but by my calculations i need 15 pairs just to get through a week.

pair one: for the ride in
pair two: to wear during the day and for the ride home
pair three: waiting to be changed into the moment i get through the door. can be worn again for the ride in on the following day.

songs: memories of east texas, michelle shocked; the dream before, laurie anderson.

Sorry to hear of your mishap GT. Hope you're ok. Did it trash the front wheel or was it just a flat?
You can tell me (us) all about it Wednesday night.

That ROCKS!! I love it. :love:

I was forced into a little unplanned single track action this morning. Call it a brain fart but I stared at the construction barrier for over 1/8 of a mile until I realized - just as it was too late to stop - that the barrier was blocking MY LANE of travel. DOH!! Cars to the left -construction site on the right - construction it is!!

Saw another bike commuter at Windward Concourse and Windward Pky. Hello if you're a BF member. :)

I've been doing a fair bit of riding in - only the couple days of rain in the past two weeks kept me from taking my bicycle (I took the bus instead). However, before you think I'm being a wus, I just got a good deal on some Planet Bike fenders this weekend that fit nicely onto my road bike and that's what was holding me back - 27" wheels kick back a lot of spray!
I also geeked it out a little with a small cycle-computer (Filzer DB4L) a rear LED/blinky light and finally got the rack mounted so it wouldn't come loose on bumps and slam into the rear brakes again. :eek:
(more about my geeky add-ons when I get more batteries for my camera and can photograph them)

The weather was very nice yesterday, but overcast on the ride home and I was expecting it to start pouring - but it waited until late at night and was raining on my ride in this morning instead. The fenders work awesome, and are well worth the $20 I spent on them. Since the blinky was new, it was a little overcast last night and I can't reach it while riding, I switched it on as I left work last night. Nearer to home another commuter rode up beside me to tell me how bright it was and that he'd seen it from quite a ways back - which made me happy. We chatted a little then went our separate ways.

The ride in this morning was wet, but I enjoyed it. I left early since I had no idea how much longer it would take me to travel the 20Km (aprox. 12 miles) to work with slippery roads & muddy paths. I spent almost the whole ride on the inner chain-ring to keep my traction, but the trip only took me an extra 15 minutes. I packed a separate change of clothes in my back-pack which I wrapped in a garbage bag before strapping it on the rear rack. Everything arrived dry, I changed - so I'm dry now too.

I wasn't the only one, either. I saw quite a few people out on their bicycles this morning, not as many as usual but I was travelling earlier too.

All and all a nice start to the week.

Went halfway and carpooled today. A chilly morning even if it was only 48 degrees with a 9 mph wind. Say, how cold does it have to get for you guys to make the switch from shorts to pants? I wore a long sleeve shirt w/shorts this morning but could not justify pants just yet. Just curious. :D

Oh yeah...I've been cutting down on my cigs for the last few weeks. This morning was the first morning in years that included no smoking of cigs with the coffee...I'm about 14 hours without one as of this posting...wish me luck...I think this may be it.

Hideous headwind this morning. 25MPH coming off Lake Champlain. I powered through it though. Supposed to rain later.

Yesterday I took a side-trip through a local park (Airport Park) and rode around through the woods and had a good time. I like having an MTB commuter. :)

Weird thing of the week: There's a dumpster along my route that has recently had a large white decal with black letters attached to it. "N133DB" That looked an awful lot like an aircraft tail number. I looked it up on the FAA web site, and the number is assigned to a plane registered to a guy who lives here in Burlington. So do I try to get the decal back to the guy? How did it come off his plane? Strange...

50 degrees on the way in. My top was nice and warm (layered), but my legs are a bit chilly. I guess I really need to look into some sort of cold weather pants.
I noticed this morning the sun is lower and lower in the sky, soon all those reflective things I have will come in handy. Woo!

Walked in this morning to repair my flat tire since I left the bike in the office last night. Saw a fellow BF commuter and waved a cheerful hello (though I was secretly ashamed to be walking instead of en bike).

First time out to work this morning on my Gary Fischer Kaitai under a constant drizzle. Mechanical disk brakes worked pretty good; noticed some screeching once when applying the front brake. But it stops and it stops now (compared to my older bike caliper brakes).

The CygoLite light system was a MAJOR improvement over the 4-AA battery powered light I had before.

I ordered a rack (should be here by Saturday); in the meantime I went out and got a rack for my wife's bike but installed it on my GF in order to use my new bike today. The panniers were too close and my shoes kept bumping into both panniers; this forced me to use the middle of the foot for pedaling making it uncomfortable. So when my rack arrives on Saturday I need to make sure that the rack and paniers are sufficiently far back to enable me to pedal without obstruction.

The bike is much faster than my previous one. I did the commute in 41m (normally I do it in 47 min+, pushing hard) without even trying... so just a change of bike was the cause of a 6+ minute improvement?

Also, last night I got my first flat tire ever (on my old "anvil" bike). But it happened very close to home so I just called the wife and she picked me up. :) Up to that point I had ridden about 35m for the entire day.

GreenAnvil

The fog was so thick coming in that it felt like I was driving through a mist the whole time, like way more than usual. It was fun, but near work I approached another cyclist from behind and could barely see her blinkie, made me wonder if cars were seeing me.

Wow. Today's commute was awesome.

They were expecting wind and rain, we got sun, calm winds, and 65F!!!

I set a new PR covering the 17 mile commute on my mountain bike in 58 minutes at an average speed of 17.2 mph!!!

I wonder how fast I could have done it if I didn't miss those last few lights or if I didn't have my fenders, rack, and bag on the back.

Anyways, awesome ride and am looking forward to cruising home the long way.

Wow, beautiful day today. First sunny morning in recent memory, and tail wind too!:D Nice and cool, but I'm not looking forward to the headwind home.

There must have been an accident somewhere, because traffic was gridlocked. Other employees are calling in stuck in traffic. I didn't see even one other bike though.

Took off work yesterday at 3:00. That was my 8 hours and I'm determined to work 0 ot hours this week due to the 60hrs last week. Since we were both home early enough, we racked up the tandem and hauled off to our favorite evening ride. It's fun to ride home early so you can go for a ride. :)

On the tandem we put the hurt on a roadie taking the maiden voyage on his brand new Fuji. Saw him pulling us when we were cruising down the avenue. You know that when two bikes are headed the same direction, they are racing. We backed off a bit to let him think he was going to own us. When he got about 10 bike lenghts back we hit it.... and pulled away till he was a small neon lime dot in the mirror. Then we slowed up for round 2. This time we let him pass us and pull ahead a couple bike lengths before we put the hammer down again. She honked her squeaky duck horn as she went past... silly girl. Turns out this guy was parked next to us in the lot, so we chatted a bit with him.

This morning was another brisk one, 38f when I left out. Headed through the rural neighborhood in semi darkness, I about crapped myself when a pack of large dogs emerged from one of the side streets 1/2 block ahead of me. First was 2 German Shepherds, then an equally large black dog and 2 more medium sized mongrels. I slowed and got ready with the pepper spray.... Then the owners came into view, just out for an ealy morning stroll. I gave them my mean look for letting 5 dogs wander the road unleashed, then went on my way. Stupid Humans really piss me off sometimes.

40F! It warmed up. Time for jersey and shorts again! not

I was in a bit of an odd mood this morning.
Was riding along a MUP and passed 2 roadies crusing along. I did not "drop" them. I passed due to the fact I was riding faster. Anyhow, I said morning to each one as I passed them and received two pairs of scowls.
Anyhow, they passed me 10 minutes later while I was munching on my cliff bar. I said morning again and no response. 5 minutes I came upon them and yelled morning in a laughing voice. Later I passed them as they took a breather and yelled morning again. :p
I amuse me.
Passed another roadie who looked a bit pooped and said hello. No response. WTH? I must look butt ugly.

the commute was great yesterday-- the temps have fallen and the light has changed and it is cool in the mornings! AAAAAHHHHH. sigh of relief. it is truly a pleasure to ride in this weather. got stuck behind some pleasure riders who were going too sloooow so I passed 'em! lots of cyclists out.

Great ride this morning, 68 degrees in downtown DC at 7:30 am. Felt a little achin', having done 100 miles in night rides since Saturday evening (broken into three segments of 33.5 miles each). But that's the great thing about commuting. I never include it in my weekly mileage goals, so it's just a bonus 35-40 miles per week.