I had a rainride in and a bugride out. I chased the rain going in and this afternoon, these little flying thing, smaller than gnats were everywhere. They died in the hundreds on my face, shirt and everything else that impacted them.

Poor little bugs, they never stood a chance. They are so small, you can't even identify them by taste.

fast return home (wind up and pushing)! saw several other bicyclists, non serious (no helmet, gear, bike drivers stance). these were sidewalk bikers, but bikers non the less! ( +/- 5 bicyclists, + 500 car/truck drivers seen in 30 minute commute) we are not alone!
had some encouraging remarks and strong positive eye contacts. cagers were appropriate! a good day!

Hotter than a pistol coming home. Mild going in. Everyone says, "Do you still ride your bike in this hot weather?" The same ones who six months ago were asking, "Do you still ride your bike in this cold weather?" And three months ago, "Do you still ride your bike in this wet weather?" One answer fits all, in my best Tom Cruise sincerity imitation, "Oh, yeeaahh!"
The bike and I have over 5K since last Labor Day, when I bit the bullet and said, "No more dependence on mideast--or any other--oil!" On my 63rd birthday I began riding 32 miles a day (16 one way) to and from work, and I won't go back unless I'm flat on my back. I wish I had started 10-20-30 years ago.

Hot. I'm glad I had an employee off today and had to cover the 11-8 shift. A little hotter in the late morning, but a lot cooler in the evening. Rode very slowly.

Well I didn't ride yesterday since the weather people said it was going to rain like crazy with lots of t-storms. Well we didn't get much of anything and it was sunny for my drive home. So today they are calling for 2-4" of rain and I said screw it, if I get wet then so be it. So I had a nice ride in this morning, hot and humid but not raining and the sun came out a few times. While riding through the golf course there were a lot of people out, I passed a couple walking and then was approaching a woman running in the middle of the path so I politely yelled "on your left" and you know what she did. She went to the left, forcing me off the path onto the spongy grass where I almost went down. She clipped my handlebars with her one hand but it wasn't too bad. She managed to say she was sorry even though I didn't stop when her hand hit my bike. Then when I was almost at work some guy in a pickup truck didn't use his turn signal so I yelled to him "nice turn signal" and he stopped his truck so I said please use your turn signal and he said something I didn't hear and drove off like a mad man, mashing the gas pedal to the floor and almost peeling out. Gotta love crazy truck drivers.

No rain this morning, but lots of fog. I really like riding in the fog. I hope this rain holds on for a few more days, my new rain jacket should be here today.

Moist & humid. ~70F. Rained a lot last night so things are damp. Headwind, too. More rain today. Brought my rain jacket.

Passed a couple of MTBers out for a pleasure ride (I guess.) Saw one cyclist heading the other direction.

Ride home yesterday was a bit wet, I hung out under the 14th Street bridge for a little while to wait out the worst of it. It caught me again about a mile from home (where there's no cover) so I got pretty wet. I waited out another downpour this morning and left about 40 minutes later than usual but stayed almost completely dry. It occured to me that this was a better option than trying to race to work in the pouring rain, arriving on time but completely soaked. This way my ride home in dry clothes will be much more pleasant.

The rain stopped long enough before I headed out that only the odd puddle spashed anything up on me. Saw 4 other commuters. One was puffing away on a cigarette as he rode, which I thought looked a bit odd.

Took it easy on the way to work and passed 2 other commuters and one delivery guy. At one point, all four of us were riding on the same block in different lanes trying to make our way around traffic. Got squeezed between a bus and a van, but made it through w/o rubbing up against either.

I did some work on my bike last night, and it's working a lot better today. I rode in with my wife, as I had to get to work about 45 minutes earlier than usual. Two days in a training course - should be fun! :)

Sunny when I woke up, but by 8:30 the rain clouds had rolled in. I seemed to beat it, though--no rain on the way there except for a light sprinkle on the stretch into Fort McNair. The nice thing about the threat of rain is that there are few pedestrians on the bike paths!

Nice ride in this morning, a cool 53f coming up the hill to work. Saw more commuters than usual today, like 5 or 6. I'll see maybe one other on a normal day.
I need to get off the couch and get to work earlier so I can get out earlier. I need to ride extra miles on the tandem in the evening with the little woman. I must be in vacation mode still.

I said hi to 3 commuters this morning: two 40-ish women on hybrids and an older guy on a CF roadbike. I think the women were from Elk Grove or farther south, and they park in the Home Depot parking lot and ride up Freeport Blvd. towards downtown. That's a great strategy for the south county commuter.

Oh, and near the Capitol I saw a girl on this laid-back chopper looking bike. Not quite a cruiser, not quite a recumbent. Looks like something that Jesse James would put together. I didn't get a chance to ask her about it.

I had to remember to bring my light and blinky this morning. It may be a late night tonight. But it's always a good day when you get to ride home.

I had a nice ride in today. The first ride with my new Novara Round Town Panniers. I like them. I can just drop my backpack in one of them and head off. http://images.rei.com/media/654931.jpg

I had one other commuter comment that he thought me riding a recumbent was unsafe. He thought the cars couldn't see me. He was on a regular style bike with no blinkies. I disagreed and we rode on. I think I am plenty visible. Heck I have four blinkies going on the back of me. One on each outboard corner of the panniers, one in the center, and one on the back of my helmet. My recumbent is a Giro 20, so I ride a bit higher then others. My head is at the same height as the head of a car driver.

It was overcast so that kept the temperature cool. A good ride overall.

I think some guy on a mtb in jeans and a jacket was racing me this muggy morning :rolleyes:. I went by him right before the red light, he passed me when he blew right threw that one and the next :eek:. I caught him before the third light, but he passed me when he took the sidewalk and then back into the street :eek:...an 18 wheeler was making a u-turn. He mashed ahead of me from here on out barely making the light at the B.U Bridge. I rode the left side of the bridge because I missed the light and he the right. He slowed right down once we got seperated :D...he had to be sweaty as all hell in that get-up.

Rode to work this afternoon, it'd rained yesterday and despite it being a sunny and bright day today much of the trail is a damp mess of leaf mulch and tree junk. Also rode through a flooded tunnel passage above the lowest extent of the peddles made for wet feet but laughter ensued as a mountain biker that was passing me at the time hit a bit of tree and ended up turfing it into the water.

Most annoying thing was the fact that I dont have any mudguards fitted to my bike just yet, I have them... but no little fiddly bolts around to fit them to the bike! Grrr!!! so I got a nice line of crud sent all the way up my back, and front.

Wont be riding back as I've yet to build my diy bike light set (12v 7AH SLA batt + various MR16 lights + car horn = WOO! :D) and theres no street lighting on the trail at all, and most of it is through forestry land (albeit on a grit path suitable for my ickle hybrid).

Felt like superman. The air was cool, mounted on my new brooks saddle, and going uphill in high gear was no problem.

If you lived up here I'd say I saw the same guy yesterday on my ride home. It was raining and he had jeans and a button-down shirt. He was soaked, with a dirty line up his back. Not sure what his deal was.

Riding in the rain in jeans. Yuck!

I feel for you on the east coast with all the rain. They say the system is moving west, so our turn is coming for the downpours. In the summer I strip down for rain instead of dressing up for it. Saturday I worked an extra four hours so i had a quick but peaceful ride home after 3:00 AM. I had a real stressful night at work Sunday, so I was grateful for the chance to take an extra 30 minutes on my commute home. Midnight on Sunday is one of my favorite times to ride in the city. Today I'm forced to ride slow because my front der is sticking and I can't get in the big chainring. Funny it was OK yesterday on my day off, when I was riding on the gravel roads outside town. Maybe it just needs a good cleaning.

By far that is the best way to ride in the rain during summer months. I may toss on a long sleeve wicking layer if it's slightly cool out, but ideally less is more.

Rained last night, so it was cool and cloudy on the way to work. Nice though.

Muggy, but nicer than it's been the past few mornings; not terribly hot. However, TWO downed trees on the DCR bikepath! I got off my bike and eyed them to see if I could move them, but, to no avail. Much too big and unwieldy for me to handle on my own.

YESTERDAY:
maybe it was a case of the Mondays but I was really slow coming in. the ground was wet but no rain. I packed the rain gear just in case I couldn't beat it home. temps in the 70's and really muggy. the ride back was to my parents' house and was relatively fast. it started to rain as I was about to leave so I locked my bike back up, changed into my rain gear inside then came back outside to find the sun had come out. oh well. the heavy rains held off until 3:00 and I was long off the road by then. the jacket came off halfway through the ride back, didn't have that luxury with the pants. first time wearing those rain pants actually (Novara Express), pretty comfortable as far as pants go when worn in 75 degrees with 95% humidity.

TODAY:
pretty fast ride in from my parents house. temps were pretty much the same as yesterday. wore the rain pants and packed the jacket. first commute without padded shorts in a while... I've really grown used to having them and it felt kind of rough without them today (even though I didn't even start wearing padded shorts until the weather warmed up). nothing but the padded shorts from now on for sure. good ride in other than that.

teacher didn't show up today so I went on the computer for a little bit then left and hammered home along the most direct route possible, beating the rain. the ride back was fast and good.

It rained last night so there was heavy fog this morning. This evening the fog was gone, but the humidity is crazy high. Not so hot though, 88º, which beats the hell out of 98º.
--A