Thanks for the kind words buzzman :beer: He is home until next March when he gets deployed again. Most likely back to Iraq but there is a chance he could be going over to Japan which is where he wants to go. My parents are coming down this weekend to get him so he can spend some time at home.

Had a nice ride in this morning. Didn't want to get out of bed but I made good time in after leaving late. Lots of traffic out there but I did see a few other commuters, more than usual. Higher gas prices and warmer temps are bringing out the bikes. I think this summer when prices are sky high more and more people will be riding bikes :)

Sunny. Mid 40Fs. Light tailwind. Not enough to make much of a difference.

I chased down a little city tractor thing (not sure how to describe it) and we were cruising down the street at the speed limit of 20MPH. This amused me for some reason.

It's beginning to be that time of year. The trail hotties are re-appearing. ;)

Beautiful rides yesterday and today here. 5C yesterday morning; 18C for the ride home; 7C in this morning. Decided I needed the gloves and jacket yesterday on the way in, but was comfortable in just shorts and t-shirt this morning.

It was also good to be riding again after being out of town for two weeks (although I'd rather not be at work with the weather so nice...).

Meow.

I godd a sidus idfectiod, cad't breed for duthing. Sure was preddy oudside, dough... :(

Road in with a nice tail wind and 68 degrees under a bright moon. Saw a momma with three baby raccoons crossing the road just ahead of me. The cubs stopped at the curb to watch me ride by before momma came back to get them going again.

No commute today cuz I'm leaving for a trip, but I did take a ride to my car 3 blocks away to pack some in the trunk. And I'm bringing my bike w/ me!

Safe and easy ride today, nothing crazy to rant about.

Number of oddities on the ride this morning. First, windy (~13MPH when I left, said weather.com) which is odd in the mornings, or at least I think it's odd in the mornings. Then, wind was from NNE instead of typical S/SE (cold front moved through last night) so was in my face for half the ride in. I think I like it in my face in the morning better than the evening. Had to stop 2 miles in to try to adjust my backup light bracket, which I loosened to move down the bar slightly, and which apparently didn't get tight enough. No luck - need to wrap some tube in there to make it fit the bar better, so slipped the light in my pocket and moved on again. Then, saw another cyclist ahead (never happens!) - or rather, saw his blinkie. Had to stop for a school bus, and by the time I saw him again he was diverting from my path, so no idea if he was commuting or just out for a morning ride. Then, around mile 10 I noticed the bike was feeling a bit "bouncy" as I climbed up a small hill. Looked down at the back tire, and sure enough it was going flat. Great! Pulled up a nice piece of lawn in front of a million dollar estate and ate a pria bar while I casually changed the tire. Leak seemed to be from the inside (rim side) of the tube, and it seems that my rim strip had slipped/rolled a bit and an edge of the hole that the spoke nipple goes in (what's that called, anyway?) was exposed. Covered the rim strip with a glueless patch at that spot to hopefully insure that it wouldn't happen again and changed the tube. A couple roadies out for a morning ride took the time to make sure I had what I needed as they rode by - if you're reading, thanks, I appreciate it! Finished the change and was back on my way into the (now stronger) wind. Finished the rest of the trip with no adventures, saw another cyclist a couple miles up the road. I don't think I've seen a single other cyclist in the morning in 3 months of commuting ('cept some kids at the park earlier this week) and today I saw 4... It is definitely spring (okay, already summer here in N Texas...)

Have a great day, all!

Did a road ride last night and, for some strange reason, could not sleep. I had to drag myself out of bed this morning with a mighty groan and some wincing. I'm only doing a half day today, as I'm meeting a friend from out of town this afternoon.

ctoddrun: That's great that you found the rim tape cause. I had that problem myself one very long day when I was trying to do a solo century but had to call my wife at 72 miles after my third flat of the day. I was ready to tear my hair out.

Today was just gorgeous.

I'm tempted to send an office-wide email offering to help out any cyclo-commute-curious co-workers. Maybe a better option would be to let them come to me.

It was great. Today was Bike to Work and School Day and the city set up several locations with coffee, bagels, orange juice and a t-shirt. Stopped by on the way to work and enjoyed the scene and munchies.
Took the fixed gear today after a too long break from it.
Al

Hoang, you've already learned maybe the most important cycling lesson...don't leave home without levers, spare tube, and a pump. Man, wish someone had told me that before went on my first ride 20+ years ago.

My commute was nothing to speak of. Normal.

Wow, I miss being able to post in this thread. My commute is from under the covers to the foot of my bed now -- my office has been in my bedroom since the beginning of the year. Of course, now I get up at 5 AM and put in 30 miles on the roadie 4-5 times a week. Does that count as a commute?

Great commute home yesterday, did 20 miles, worked a bunch on my pedal stroke, realized i've been pretty lax about that, and am in the habbit of only pushing "down" and rarely pulling up...gonna focus on that for a while...

Recruited two new commuters within the last couple weeks, both are part time, but hey, any time spent by anyone on a car rather than a bike is good right?

Did 20 in this morning, and gonna do 20 home tonight, weather is GREAT. Hoping to punish some spring tuners on the way home...

niiiiiice weather. breezy and cool. well, cool for here, about 85 or so. it appears one of the back streets I ride on is getting re-paved or something soon. they tarred the cracks and made big scrapes on either side of the street, (wrecking most of the bike lane-- happy "ride your bike to work day!") ... be interesting to see what this will do to my commute. great ride, though. :)

Good both ways, 2 days until new road bike. Woohoo!:D

Great commute today .

great ride in this am and a great ride home tonight. Looong day in between but the bike rides book end it nicely.

Good ride home last night, with a light wind at my back for a good bit, which is a very pleasant change from the normal headwind. Made good time, didn't run over anyone on the greenbelt path, and felt strong the whole way home. Came across another commuter, too. Seems that we share about 1.5 miles of our route, but I've never seen him before. Chatted for a few minutes in line at a 4-way stop, then on our separate ways again. Seems like a nice guy...

No ride today, as I'm still not equipped for wet-weather riding and it's been storming since late last night. Tomorrow is a vacation day, so I'll try to log some miles. Come to think of it, Monday is a vacation day, too, so I won't have a commute till next Wednesday... Stink!

Have two coworkers seriously considering commuting. One is a former cycling enthusiast who is getting frustrated with gas prices; he plotted a route the other day and drove it yesterday, so I think he's serious. The other is a guy who's a fitness freak and in great "physical specimen" kind of shape who's looking for a way to change things up a bit. I gave him my old helmet, still in great shape, the other day when he told me that he hadn't started riding because he needed one and couldn't afford to buy it. Hopefully I'll see a couple more bikes in our part of the office next week. That would be cool...

My normal commute is 10.5 miles one way. Yesterday we had an offsite meeting for 4 hours then the rest of the day off, so I rode to it. It was a 70 mile round-trip. Very nice trip, by far the longest I've ever ridden at once (previous max was about 30 miles I think). I rode there in the dark and cold, but it was warm and sunny on the trip back. I rode west for 2 hours, so now I'm sunburned twice as badly on my left side. My daughter thinks that's pretty funny.

A fine ride today, nothing to complain about! :)

Had a nice ride this morning. High pressure system parked overhead. Sunny, around 50F. Low humidity.

I spotted two cyclists ahead of me on separate occasions, but one turned onto a side street and the other stopped and began stretching his legs. I deluded myself into believing they saw my high-viz jacket behind them and got scared. :D :rolleyes: :p

Nice easy ride in today. No problems; no complaints. The students are starting to leave campus, so there's not as much foot traffic, but car traffic (profs, business people, etc.) stays the same.

New on the list here.

Ride home last night was not fun - strong headwinds - ave of 15-20mph with gusts over 30 ugh. The winds died down last night, the skies cleared, and the ride in this morning was glorious! I have a 15 mile commute each way, mix of urban/rural routes.

B-E-A-U-tiful sight yesterday on the way home. In the yard across the street from my neighborhood I saw a HUGE bird pecking at something on the ground and occasionally hopping. I thought it was a hawk; it was a turkey vulture.

I think it had caught a field mouse or a small rat. The hopping was to pry pieces off the carcass.

I have to admit--I held up traffic coming out of my neighborhood for a second or two as I slowed waaaaay down to stare at this bird.