got cut off by a car today - driver turned off the one-way street without looking. A bystander yelled out, thinking I'd get hit, but I grabbed the brakes hard enough to prevent it. No apology from the driver, who sped off. They caught up with me again later on, and I thereafter saw this person change lanes twice without using a turn signal, and then go through a red light - all in residential city traffic, by the way. I'm kicking myself for not flagging down the police car I saw within seconds of witnessing the red light violation. Problem was, the policewoman in the car was on her cell phone!

temps in the 90s and nearly 50% humidity? sweat City! it was pouring off me! my nose is healing up nicely from my "accident"... my right pedal is breaking I think... I ordered new ones. good, easy ride though. I am still amazed at this part of my route that winds through an office park that is just beautiful-- trees, grass, birds, shade. it's like a bike rider's paradise! I'll take the camera along one day and document it! have a good one,

Go for the fenders e_a!!! http://www.omba.org/forum/images/smiles/023.gif
it makes it all that much more pleasant a commute :)

Today was my first commute day to work. Well, first and a half, I guess, as I pre-rode the route last night with my 13yo son to make sure there weren't any surprises I missed when I scoped it out in the truck.

A whopping 3.64 miles in and 3.65 miles home. But, I felt great about riding the bike. I see it as free exercise, as the 18 minute ride is only about three minutes longer than the car ride in. Now I don't have to get up at 05:30 and pound out ten miles before having a cup of coffee. ;)

I think I screwed up, though, by going out and doing 7.5 (moderately hard) miles on the local mtb trail with my riding buddy (usually we do road work on Thursday nights). That kicked my a$$ but good (pun unintentional). Still, I'm going to ride it in tomorrow, too. This bicycling shiznit is addicting. Maybe it's the endorphins. Thanks (and props) to everyone here who posted their own stories and gave me the motivation/confidence to give even such a short ride a try.

Gorgeous morning here in NC!!! After last week's heat, humidity and pouring sweat it felt like Nirvana this morning. Temp was 63F and humidity 90% as I left home. Still pretty humid, but compared to 75F and 90% humidity this feels great. Felt so good that I hammered it in today, averaged 18.1 over 13 miles, despite the head wind and all the stop lights I hit. Hoping I get a tailwind on the way home to boost that average even more. You all have a fine day and nice weekend too.

A first on my commute!
 

Had a first today, saw another commuter on his way to work. I was heading into work this morning, about 1.5 miles into my 10 mile ride when I was overtaken by a guy on a Kestrel (?) carbon fiber bike. I kicked it up a notch to keep pace with him and we had a nice conversation for about a mile or so, then he had to turn off on his route.

It may not be a big deal for some folks to see other bicycle commuters, but here in rural NW Indiana bicycle commuters are about as rare as hen's teeth.

Nice to see other riders out and about, it kinda made my morning. It even made up for the white Hummer that tried to take my head off with it's side mirror. :mad:

today was hot and humid in the morning (7am), and hotter on the way home, but this thing happened on the way home, i crossed the street (zebra crossing thing), the light was on WALK (green) so i could go, but the stupid thing here in finland (i dono any other places that do this) even when its on WALK certan car lanes may drive over, even though its on walk! so anyway i crossed but relized that i wasnt even suposed to go that way (lol its was to my old house), so i did this wack u turn, and a guy in this ugly a$$ van is coming strait at me so i avoid him with a sharp turn, and i see him in the worst driving position ever (steering wheel under chin both hands at 12o-clock) swearing at me in finnish, hes saying WTF WTF!!! i just stared at him lol! so he drove off... and im still falling off the bike at start cuase of the pedal brake (when i pedal backwards its the rear brake, nexus 4 speed)

Same thing here in rural Georgia. Other than myself I only see a few commuters; an elderly man, always solo on a tandem, 5 or 6 guys on day passes from the local jail (they are recognizable by the old BMX bikes supplied by the sheriff's office), and 1 chick on a hard-tail who works at Wallyworld.

Had a rare very early morning commute today. Left the house at 5:30 a.m. and what a ride. It was nice and cool and I was just about the only one using the roads at all.

--A

63F, blue skies. Lots of cyclists out today. Only a few going my way. I noticed a cyclist come out onto the MUP from a street a hundred or so yards behind me but he wasn't catching me. I slowed up for some cyclist/runner/stop sign congestion and the guy behind me caught up and overtook. Beat up MTB, blows clear through the stop sign and starts spinning. :rolleyes:

I caught him easily as he was riding in the middle of my usual cruising range. Just hung out behind him for about 2.5 miles, then dropped him. Hey it's Friday. I needed to have some fun.

Beautiful weather for my commute this morning (my fourth), but my legs were trying to convince me not to ride. After a cup of tea, I convinced myself it would be worth it. There must have been an earthquake or some geographic upheaval overnight, because it was extra-uphill on my way in this morning. I was a little lightheaded upon dismount, but I rehydrated an twenty minutes later was feeling much better.

'Twas actually on the chilly side this a.m. - especially at 4:30 when I was en route to my DJ shift. Brrr!

I finally got around to chopping the flat bars on my fixie last night, and plugged the ends with a wine cork.
Looks pretty ridiculous, but no more gouging of pedestrians on the narrow campus paths! ;)

I love that chilly feeling for about the first half mile. All the while you know you'll be working up a light sweat by the end of the commute.

mid/upper 50s in the mtns this AM. Perfect!

Beautiful ride in today. Not many others out on the commute.

However, I saw the same guy I did yesterday, and man that dude is fast... couldn't keep up with him on the last stretch of the ride.

It was good to get back on the bike today. :beer:
Took a long July 4th weekend (Saturday thru Wednesday) and only got to ride on Saturday and Tuesday. Had to drive yesterday. We mailed our quarterly newsletter and I had to take them to the post office. Hard to get 5 mailing trays on the back of the bike.

A "cold front" (What is a cold front in July??) went thru yesterday so the temperature was nice for the ride in. Not much traffic :) and didn't see any other commuters :(.

Wow is the city ever clean this am. Big rains last night have swept away all the dust and debris that's been building up for months. It's like the whole town is clean and shiny now.

Almost got nailed by 2 deer crossing the street going down the hill from the house. Saw the cars brake hard on the other side of the road, then the deer came flying across the grassy median directly into my path. Emergency braking, skids, steering away, and crapping my pants seems to have saved a collision. Freakin Bambi... But then again I suppose we did build in ~their~ neighborhood. Glad that all involved were able to go on to have a good day.

Congratulations, and welcome to the club!

My commute was pretty boring, but I did meet up with the other bike commuter from my dept. about a half-mile from our building. That was cool. Then we arrived at our bike rack and found the other commuter from our part of the building just locking up his bike. We chatted about bikes and such.

Only down-side: waiting in line for the shower. :rolleyes:

It's Stampede Parade day, so the downtown core is largely blocked off. I expected to have to do some weaving through barricades and past bylaw officers, but I was very annoyed when I was blocked from getting to the secure bike room by a security guard. The parade runs right in front of the building I park my bike in, and they had the parkade doors locked shut. There were actually three of us bike commuters waiting to get in, and they wouldn't open the doors. The security guard said to go lock our bikes up outside somewhere. "Um, how about no, Scott!"

#1, I didn't bring a lock because I don't need one to park in a secure bike room, #2, I pay to park in said secure bike room. I stormed off, walked my bike to the closest set of doors, went into the building, down the stairs to my level and rode to the bike room. Fargin security bastiges!

You can say that again!!!!! Absolutely FANTASTIC morning for a ride in to work. Cool enough for me to wear a t-shirt and not the sleeveless but I did bring that for the ride home. Traffic wasn't too bad either and I just took it easy on the way in without any problems. A quick ride home this afternoon and a shower before heading to PA to visit with family for the weekend. Have a great weekend everyone :)

Perfect weather for this mornings commute, felt a lot like early fall. I made good time this morning and I ran into the Cat4 racer guy who works in same building. I got his card in hopes of going on some training or recovery rides.

Nice today in Montreal - high 70's. Beautiful blue sky, white clouds and NO wind on the way to work this morning. The only downer today was getting cutoff by a driver and having to lay down the bike at 18mph. No major damage, nice road rash on the elbow, torn handlbar tape and seat edge. It could have been a lot worse. If she was going faster I may have gone under the car and then into some real trouble. This was halfway through my 8mile commute along the lakeshore. Finished without incident and looking forward to the ride home where without fail the wicked afternoon headwind will spice up my friday ride home.

Regards,
Rick

Dead legs from last night's brick workout. But a beautiful morning nonetheless.

I had one of those typical moments all bike commuters have: a driver rides your wheel, you can feel their impatience, and then they swing out to pass you and really gun it, only to have to stop at the red light. And then you ride up alongside, easy as pie, and give them a nice wave and hello! But you're saying under your breath, "Good driving, Bub. You get to wait at the light 20 seconds longer than me."

Great after swapping out 42t middle chainring for a 39.

I just got home from my first week of commuting.

I managed 3 days out of 5 on my commute (36 miles round trip). Putting the seat up 2 inches today certainly helped, and I'll be buying some mudguards at the weekend after riding home in the rain on wednesday.

Best accessory I've bought so far: Lycra shorts

Another set of congratulations!

It was good. Got to work and noticed I had 2 broken spokes. ??? I guess I am walking next door to Bike and Hike for my lunch break.