and the theme of today's day was . . . vermin. extremely strange.

first thing that happened was that once i brought my bike out the door and turned back to lock it behind me, Something flung itself at my helmet, landed, and hung on tight. something sizeable enough to make me yelp. it was a pigeon. i mean, what? then it fell off, flopped around in the door jamb for a bit, hauled itself up and vanished into somewhere else, pursued by a crow.

second thing was the lovely discovery i made while in the shower. i believe i've picked up athlete's foot. bleh, sigh, and a detour around to the drugstore on the way home for the absorbine stuff. and god damn it, i guess this means shower shoes from here in.

very nice rides both ways though, aside from that.

I was riding down the Manhattan side of the Manhattan bridge yesterday afternoon, doing about 25mph, when two bugs hit me in the face. I just saw these two dots, one about an inch or so higher than the other slam into my face. I was more stunned than anything else, I was just hoping it wasn't bird poop.


My mom watches my kids on Thursdays and I had to meet them at the doctors office for an appt in the afternoon. They were sitting under a bus shelter and saw me ride up from about a block away, and the kids were trying to bust out of the stroller yelling "BIKE, BIKE, BIKE!!!"

Moist commute this morning. ~50F. No rain, but the trail is damp. Big TStorms rolled through last night. I stayed up too late last night and had no energy so I just kept it in a lower gear and toddled along at 13-15MPH.

Supposed to rain later today. Usually I'm not bothered by rain but this weather is starting to bug even me!

63° and still. It's gonna be HOT this afternoon.
I'm hoping for a tailwind on the way home. A man can dream...

Cool this morning, but nice and dry. Trike time! Hopefully, it will be rain-worthy soon: I picked up an old steel fender on Freecycle and I hope to use it on the rear wheel. It'll need some steel wool and a few coats of black high-gloss, but it should work well.

Nearly 2nd crash in two weeks...this time in the rain

Riding through the second most dangerous part of my commute, Kendall SQ., where I turn on both beams. I really don't even know why I bother turning on my lights as peds are compelled to look opposite the traffic, usually yaking away with the person to their left. Today some guy steps out in front of me because he's 30 seconds late for work. I veer to my left to go in back of him. Well of course he stepped back so now I'm screwed because the road is wet and slick as shyte.

I hit the brake, the rear wheel locks, I go into a slide, my right foot unclicked and then my left. My left hand goes out to break my fall only to land on the tail of a pickup truck, I'm stopped 180° from the direction of travel facing oncoming traffic .

No point in venting I guess, fresh idiots are born everyday.

Beat the rain home last night and had a new record time in getting home, just 19.11 minutes with an average of just over 20mph Storms rolled through in the evening but luckily no hail this time (had marble sized hail last weekend). Ride in this morning was great again. This couldn't have been a better week for Bike To Work Week around here. Temps in the 50s again with the sun rising and a slight tail wind. Saw a biker this morning and a couple last night on the way home. There was a spot in Durham where they are giving out free breakfast to bike commuters. I wish they had something like that in Cary since it is deemed a bike friendly community until 2007 or 8.

Great ride this morning. Whatever was bothering me yesterday went away, and it was free breakfast day as part of Albuquerque's Bike to Work week. I went a bit out of my way to stop at the nearest station, met some people, entered the drawing, had a bagel and some juice, and picked up a free patch/lever kit and a really bright dork band. I was amazed at how many other commuters there were.

I didn't see any bike commuters on the ride in today. I did catch up to a courier though. An older guy, he's been doing it for years - I remember him from the 90's. There are a few stalwarts who are actual professionals - they are couriers by choice. They don't seem to take many unnecessary risks while riding, in contrast to the summer couriers who are all over the place.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Great ride on Bike to Work Day. Perfect weather.
I rode with the Bike Train from Decatur to downtown Atlanta. Had about 15 riders.

BTW: GTcommuter and Map tester. Sorry you got stuck with a PowerBar. They broke out the bagels and muffins about 5 minutes after you left. I ate a bagel in recognition of you two biking to work today.

I hardly ever see bike commuters untill I get near the college campus. My commute today was great. The usual gail force wind pushed me all the way into work, the wind always makes me feel super strong or like I lost 50 pounds The air temp was just enough to wear a light jacket and start off cold and finish up nice and warm.

faannntastic! TGIF!!!

Ride to work was good today. I am a bit tired because I didn't go to bed early enough last night so I was a bit slower today. It is going to rain on the way home, I am excited first rain ride. Going to go buy something waterproofish on my lunch break.

have a good weekend

Over a quarter of a million views on this thread!

I have commuted all winter for three winters now, but last night, May 18, turned out to be my coldest commute ever. It was windy, raining hard, ant the temp went down to 42F degrees. I was foolishly dressed in shorts, sweater and light rain jacket.

That wasn't so bad, but I had no gloves. the pain was extraordinary, and my hands were so numb and stiff that I almost couldn't squeeze the brake levrs when I got home.

Nice BTWW crowd this am - I got free coffee and donuts, some stickers, a blinkie, and a t-shirt that says, "Kick Gas" !

Sorry you had a bad commute.

Keep that stuff up there.
It's supposed to be "almost" summer in Atlanta and some of us needed full finger gloves and jacket or vest with arm warmers today.

HEY WEATHER GUY. THIS IS THE SOUTH.

Glad to hear they had a good turnout over there Wish I could have stopped by.

Not the whole way. I rode down the river road from my house in Sacramento and met them part way. Sen. Tom Torlakson (happens to be chair of the Sen. Trans. Comm.), Asm. Lloyd Levine, and a few lobbyists rode from Torlakson's house in Antioch. In Freeport, a small town just south of Sac, the small group met with a larger group including Sen. Debra Ortiz and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. We rode over the Freeport bridge into Yolo Co. and up the levee road to West Sacramento, around Raley Field and back into Sacramento on the Tower Bridge.

We mortals hung back to let the press get a nice shot of the VIPs at the head of the peleton. And when we arrived at the West Steps of the Capitol, there were several TV and radio stations and photographers. I hung off to the side but I think my knee was in one of the shots. I was standing next to a guy with an old-fashioned penny-farthing and it looked like the cameraman was trying to get a shot of the old and modern bikes.

It was a nice ride. The bikes ranged from a carbon Merckx with full Record to older steel road bikes to the Lt. Gov's second-hand Trek hybrid. No accidents, no falls, lots of press, and a nice chance to chat with some of our elected representatives.

Had four young and pretty women in a car honk and wave at me on the way home. It was a nice commute.

It has been raining the last week so I have not been on my bike. Today was bike to work day. I rode with several people in the rain to work. It was wonderful. Today was also the last rainy day so I will be back on my bike.

same as other commutes.
at the close of National Bike to Work Month i attempted to contact local newspaper to "advertize" to local paper this event (started mon telephone call t/c, tuesday email, weds t/c again, and friday email again with 1 response in t/c, but NO write-up noted.
i talkd with local school crossing-guard. he stated that he rides his bike (not to work) andthat he sees "o other bicycle" commuters in route to/from work here but tg.
advertise advocacy will happen for 2007 Bike to Work Week/Day here!
tg
Happy Biking to Work. (period)!

Excellent 32mile round trip..the gentle rain on the way home was refreshing.

great commute, hot but very enjoyable. less traffic and also fewer bike commuters with the students at ASU mostly gone. I had my route mostly to myself for a change. kinda nice. yeah it was 102 this afternnoon, but so what" i had a jug of water and took it nice and easy.

I tried for two weeks to get a letter to the editor published regarding Bike To Work Week. In that time I was in an AP article regarding bicycle commuting on the front page of the very paper I was trying to get a letter to the editor into, which noted my hometown, and still no luck. Some people just won't consider other options. I guess we can try again next year.