a champagne moment: i successfully rode in without stopping (okay, stop signs and stop lights). this, after one month of commuting 8 1/2 miles each way. i can happily state that it is now a real *pleasure* to ride, whereas before I dreaded getting on, exhausted, lacking the muscle and endurance needed to plow up those incredibly arduous hills in northwest atlanta.

hooray!:D

edit: and, to add to that...saturday i received my certification in effective cycling from the atlanta bicycle campaign and lab.

Pretty uneventful.

It was pounding rain with thunder & lightning. The arterial was like riding in a streambed in many places, just plowing through 2-4 inches of running water as it rolled down the street. Trying to stop called for some advance planning, since I can't dry the rims by riding the brakes, when the rims are underwater ;)

Anyway, made it. Now to dry my riding gear. :)

It was nice. I got out early enough to take a 8 mile detour in the opposite direction of my office before turning around and heading back into town. Cool enough that I needed arm and knee warmers.

That's awesome!! http://emoticons4u.com/cool/cool18.gif

http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoti...happy/1074.gif

Nyrome, good to meet you on Saturday. Glad to hear that your kicking a$$ on that commute.

Warm, windy, & sticky. We've had one heck of a wet year here so far. In fact, June is already 2 inches above normal rainfall, and 5 inches over for the year to date. Humidities which normally run well under 30% most of the time have been closer to 80% of late. Wind was out of the SSE this morning which is a bad omen. Our most violent weather comes out of the east here. The ride home could be interesting.

morning was more pleasant than the afternoon.... plus I didn't drink enough water before I left work, and that made it harder. it was 108 degrees on the way home. jumped in the pool when I got home.

ATL reprazent!!! ;)

Good to meet you too. Reading about other people's commutes in 2-3 " of rain and 108 degree temperatures makes my commutte look like a cake walk. Huh. We only get the remnants of a tropical storm and humidity.

:p

thanks. :) and thanks for the link to the radar. i usually use the wsbtv dopplar. but the one you sent has real time motion added to it for kicks. that's fore-casting, wouldntyaknowit.

It's partly cloudy and breezy in the Sierra Foothills today. On the way in this morning it looked like rain and was a bit chilly. On the way home, patchy clouds and lots of gorgeous blue sky. Since I only live five miles from work, I took an extra two going in and coming home today!

Went out at lunchtime and it was cloudy, windy, and a little on the cool side for mid-June. :o
The sun came out about 4 PM and the ride home was great, just a little windy. :beer:

Glad I could help. :) If you click "Metro View" it zooms in to show the north GA area.

I've been slacking, so here's the last few days' worth of commute reports

SATURDAY:
I guess I'll call what I did Saturday a commute since I rode from my parents' house back to my house (about 6 miles) where I subsequently had band practice an hour or so later. the wind was kickin' and in my face pretty much the whole way, but other than that it was a good ride.

SUNDAY:
no commute today, obviously. gave the bike a much needed cleaning and lubing and did a short ride around the neighborhood.

MONDAY:
woke up to a light rain shower. dammit I just cleaned the bike yesterday! checked weather.com and determined that it wasn't gonna stop in time for me to get to class if I avoided it. oh well. I manned up, put on my rain jacket, slid two plastic grocery bags over my notebook for protection from the wet, made sure to leave with enough time to lock up at the only covered rack on campus (about a 15 minute walk from my building), and gave a raspberry to the elements as I did my first wet weather ride in a long time aside from the fact that it rained fairly steadily throughout the ride and I was wearing shorts since I didn't have any rain pants (note to self, get rain pants), it was a fun ride. wet weather riding is not that bad. I nessecarily took it easier than usual, and used the shoulder-of-University-Boulevard route since it would get me to the previously mentioned covered bike rack faster than my usual route. I was a little late but so was the teacher today so it was cool.

the streets had dried and the sun was out by the time I got out in the afternoon (after an hour of volunteering at the Food Co-op after class), so I did a little extra riding around Old Town and the Trolley Trail before heading home. great ride back!

TUESDAY (today):
slept in a little bit but not enough to be super-late. warm and sunny in the morning. as I was getting to the first light in my intersection, I looked to my left to see an unhelmeted cyclist pass me on the wrong side of the road (which is separated by a median) and go through a red light. he was going really slow so even though I waited at the light (which changed like a second later since it had a sensor), I was able to catch up with him quickly. was delayed in passing him for a little bit by a car that was riding along my left side... he tooted his horn a couple times (first honk in four months!), I guess to warn me that I shouldn't pass. so I passed him eventually and this was on a steep downhill leading to a light. he passed me again when I was waiting for the light (going through it of course) and I caught up with him and passed him again after the light changed. other than that, nothing out of the ordinary... a fast and fun commute in!

after I got out in the afternoon I rode over to the LBS to get a new pedal reflector since one of mine had fallen off. rode over to Old Town via the Trolley Trail (the Greenbelt Road crossing is as bad as ever) then headed back to campus via Rossborough Lane, then hammered home through a decent headwind. really pushed myself on one stretch and was able to keep up a surprising level of speed given that the wind was in my face. great ride home!

Well, Monday's commute wasn't so great. It started out as one of my best, the kind that makes me call the missus upon arrival and say "This morning was the best ride in awhile!".

And then my front tire apparently disappeared from under me as I rode over the edge of an expansion slot. It seems I must have had just enough lateral motion (a veer to the left to avoid a bumpy section of asphalt) to run me afoul of the metal strip. I kid you not, it was like a downward slap by The Very Hand Of God. No hesitation, no slipping about, just down, and down hard. My right hip and my helmet took the brunt of the impact. The hip swelled a little and I received a welt there from fabric abrasion. The helmet is now useless, cracked all the way through on the right side. Today I feel like a bent screen door from secondary effects (every joint hurts), and I took a day off from work, but I'll be good in another couple of days. Any day that you don't start in a cardboard box or end in a pine one is a good day, right? :D

Robcat: OUCH! Glad to hear you're ok so to speak. How's the bike?

I took the extra long way home by heading south instead of north. Rode down the FDR MUP w/ another commuter that works in my building talking the whole way down until we split up downtown. Then I rode up the West Side Hwy MUP and got passed veryclose by another cyclist who then cut me off almost taking out my front wheel. He was pretty oblivious so I gave him a wide berth and instead of *****ing him out, I let it roll and kept riding. Why ruin my ride by yelling at some idiot and then having to ride along the same MUP w/ him. Got off the MUP by riding up some stupid steep inclines from the 79th St. boat basin up to 79th St. Maybe a total of 200' in total length with about 20' feet or so of elevation change. Makes for a fun time on a fixie. I was pulling up so hard my foot popped loose from the pedal. Then I rode through Central Park and was home.

RobCat,
alittle ying/yang ?
sorry to hear of the second part of that DAY, (helmet did its job), and glad to hear you're rebounding!
usual 6.5dst for me, plus extra 11.0 miles or return home (wanted to do more,,,)
t

Right on, Ron. The ride home was really nice. Very unseasonably comfortable for June. This is my favorite part of huricane season...being a few hundred miles from the devestation and destruction but still getting a nice afternoon storm to cool things off.

First day back today - I've been off my bike 6 months, doctor's orders after surgery. Hellish!

I took a short ride last night, 6 miles, to make sure I could still steer and pedal at the same time. Then this morning, back out on the bike path for my regular commute - 14 mile round trip. I had to leave at 5:30 am to get to my last physical therapy appointment (I'm so sick of North St. Claire I could DIE) -- it was already full-on daylight when I left.

I expected to be nervous -- hell, I sort of expected to just fall over when I started! But it was a beautiful morning, and it was early so the trail wasn't too busy, and Lake Michigan was gorgeous as usual. Somebody has spray-painted "SLOW DOWN!" all over the MUP by the lake -- it looks too free-form to be official, but reads too official to be anything but lame. That's like, soccer-mom with a bike-grudge and an airbrush. (no offense to non-vandalizing soccer-moms intended!)

I didn't know what to expect from myself, but the bike was in the same gear I left it in, and I didn't have to gear down. Still made all the hills I'd made before. I went a little slower - I've got a titanium plate in my neck now, so the consequences of crashing are a bit stiffer -- but not too much, and by the time I was on my way home tonight I was back at my old speed.

I've seriously missed my wheels.

jyossarian and tomg: Thanks for the thoughts, and the bike is fine. Some shade-tree truing of the rear wheel is about the only constructive thing I did today. :rolleyes:

It's sticky and gross out today. It feels like 100% humidity, and I haven't seen the sun since yesterday afternoon. I'm starting to think I'm in Vancouver.

Car-pooled yesterday so I could make it home in time for the France-Switzerland game (worst match yet, BORING football). Took a quick 15 km run to get the 0-0 taste out of my mouth (the forest was nice, lots of folks on the beach) and made it home in time for Brazil-Croatia (much better football)...
It cooled off a bit for this morning's commute (only 15 C at 6:45). Looks like some wind for the ride home though.

I know all about that "doctor's orders" stuff. Glad you're back. :beer:

Nice morning commute again today. ~60F and some sunshine. I passed a couple riding MTBs wearing backpacks. Probable commuters. I said "morning" and the woman was very enthusiastic. :)

Yesterday afternoon I had fun. A guy all decked out in "proper" cycling attire came out on the MUP ahead of me. There was other trail traffic so I had a chance to watch him. He was moving away pretty fast. Faster than most people I see 'round here. I cleared the traffic and gave chase. He made me breathe hard! :p I caught him but I had to push the 40-pound bike into a headwind at 25MPH to do it. Then I just followed him (not wheel sucking) for about 3 miles until we split up. Sometimes I think I should upgrade from platform pedals. ;)

Super! It has cooled oof slightly these past few days, so I can ride hard without getting all sweaty.