Poor at best, darn cars and pedestrians kept on cutting me off, couldn't get into a rythem due to them for the first 3 miles.

I was pretty fast on the way in, due to the fact I was back on skinny tires today. It was supposed to snow, but didn't, so I cruised at a high rate of speed. I may have to bump up my gearing, as I spun out a little too often...

Overdressed for the ride home last night and was sweating my butt off by the time I got home (didn't feel like stopping to take a layer off). This morning I had a very nice ride to work. Temps in the mid 40s with a breeze and very overcast. Rain is forecast for today but I made it in without seeing a single drop. It should roll through by early afternoon and be long gone by the time I head home.

The rain made everyone all screwy, so I felt like I was avoiding death every 10 feet on the ride in. It got me really rattled, and I usually don't feel stress about traffic. I stupidly wore all black, and it's so grey out, that noone could see me and I narrowly missed 3-4 collisions at the last minute, with several more close calls. Probably the first commute ride where I was physically relieved to be getting off the bike.

one rain/headwind squall, very short, and then a fantastic tailwind my last mile or so. Blinding sun right now.

My commute passes through 3 counties and a few cities. Imagine my surprise when an Adams County Sheriff deputy intercepted me on the Platte Trail in Commerce City. Apparently, it is illegal to ride on a trail in my crappy assed county. Yet another reason why I want to move to Denver. Interrogating the officer did no good and I left the trail. Cycled for 1 mile into Denver county and rejoined it. Being that I enter the trail up north next to a Thornton Police station and say hello to officers from time to time..... you draw your own conclusions. Moronic rules. Anyhow, I have been planning to find a street route due to bad weather and horrible paths. I guess tomorrow I try route 1. What an idiotic rule. Maybe I will object to it if I can ever find the time.

Strong, gusty winds in Seattle this AM. Headwind all the way into downtown where everything swirled at twice the speed. 3x the work than a normal ride in so I hope to have the tailwind tonight.

The Platte Trail goes from 120th to somewhere near downtown Denver right? Isn't one of it's primary purposes for bike use? How much of is in the Adams country jurisdiction?

This seem ridiculous to me. I can't imagine being stopped on one of the trails up here and told it is illegal.

It is the major north south trail in the metro area. It starts from 104th and goes to bear lake (i think) in the SW metro area. At least Denver does not have their heads shoved up their proverbial rear ends. Maybe I will PM cyccommute for ideas on what I can do.

From 104th ave to around 50 something avenue is adams county.
What a load of crap.

Well no commuting today. My wife is sick so I'm staying home to help with the 3 little kids. Had to miss Thur, Fri, and Mon to help my wife because she had surgery foir carpal tunnel recently and is limited to the use of one hand right now. If I don't miss any commutes the rest of the year then I'll just barely hit my goal of riding 1000 miles between mid Aug and the end of the year. Might have to go on a couple 20 mile rec rides just for good measure.

Very sick of not being on my bike as much as I would like. Also sick of all the infectious crap my kids bring home from preschool!

Welcome to my world :eek:

50º + sunny in Cleveland???

Muchos gracias El Nino!

Had a weird and unpleasant one last night / today. The way in was pretty quick actually although I overdressed a bit for the 50 degree weather.

The way home this morning was just weird. Was trying to leave early to make it home before the rain started and ended up leaving an hour late (indeed JUST as the rain started). For some reason, the pedestrians just kept stepping off the curbs right into my path the whole ride. Then, in Brooklyn, I ran into some accident that had happened earlier to find the street I usually take from the bridge (Henry) blocked off by cop cars and fire engines, one garbage truck and what looked to be someone's covered up corpse in 2 pieces across the street from each other. Didn't have my camera on me, and didn't take long to not mind that factoid.

Then some lady almost hit me as she was pulling out rather briskly out of a gas station in a minivan on Coney Island Ave. It was raining and I have slicks on my bike. Happened in slow motion when I noticed her. Somehow, my back wheel locking up and slipping all over the place as I hit the brakes, I managed to stay on the bike and she managed to stop the car with her bumper 4 inches from me with a scared, startled look on her face. I managed to scream out something like "#@$%#$%ing" as I prepared for impact that never happened. Grumpily made a "watch where you're going" gesture and went on my merry way, glad that the ride was almost over.

[edit] Found out what had happened earlier.

So pedestrians and bicyclists can be killed w/o the driver facing charges. Amazing. And by amazing, I mean stupid.

Trip home was slow cuz traffic was slow. That's about it.

Last night my husband got jumped while commuting back home, at 6 pm in the middle of downtown LA!!! One of the two man walking next to the bike path stretched out his arm and hit him in the face. My husband fell off his bike and the guys took off in a car waiting for them. They did not steal anything, so probably it was a gang dare.
Husband's fine, other than a very swollen face and a shut eye.
I'm writing this to remind everyone that all of us commuters must be on guard at all times. It's not only the cagers that we need to watch out for.

better..But,
first flat (rear) of new distance. extended repair due to first patch failed, had to re-seat tire/tube 2x (was too dark). reset # 3 at home garage. if seals hold = i'll go again tomorrow! see what unfolds!
flats are not cool!

sorry to hear this story.:( it can be really disturbing to be mugged. especially when the pathetic creeps run off like that- no place to put your rage:mad: . I hope your husband recovers well. Violence SUCKS!

my ride was, fortunately, uneventful. a lovely roundtrip on the bike path. it rained after I left home this morning and before I left work tonight but not during my rides.

morning headwind, but nice and steady, not dramatic at all. i set out under yer average cloud cover, and slowly got more and more light as i went south. i parked my bike in full sunlight, but when i turned round the mountains to the north had just disappeared behind all the dark purple-grey clouds. pretty cool for a place where winter is usually so unvarying.

i worked way-way-way late because i had something i just wanted to get finished with, so rode home on the short slope towards midnight. kind of nice and very quiet, although a little surreal and i'm gonna be tired tomorrow. all but one northbound lane of the bridge was closed, and there were people with jackhammers and safety vests doing something civil-works-like in the middle of it.

Traffic lights on one of the city's main streets were all out this morning, and it loused up traffic everywhere. Cars were taking up the bike lanes, forcing me to ride down the yellow line in the middle for short sections :eek:. The pollution is also terrible today. Yuck. About to leave for home now.

Edit: ride home was pretty standard.

Dense fog. Absolutely horrible. Several cars nearly clipped me. One guy pulled out in front of me while I was going down hill. My brakes were wet so I had to Conan the things to slow as much as possible. He sped off and then flew up the hill and swerved around another car in a no passing zone. Jackass. Cagers really hated me today. I guess my lights weren't cutting through the stuff that well. Plus my front light started cutting off because of all the moisture getting in it. But I'm here safe and sound. Heck, I was praying the whole way for protection.

Pleasant morning, about 35 or so, light wind. This evening we're supposed to be 50 but with heavy wind gusts. Always gotta have something to screw up my day:)

As is becoming standard, the way in was much more pleasant last night. Only thing of note was the pile of glass bits covering the full width of the blocked off bike path approaching the Brooklyn bridge. Had to pull over on the bridge and pull a nice shard of glass out of the rear tire, although thankfully the damn thing held together and didn't go flat.

Got my Descente wind layer yesterday and wore it for the first time. The thing feels great but I think I'll save it for 35 - 45 degrees or so.

The way home was foggy and very humid. While uneventfull, I was pushing it pretty hard towards the end and came home absolutely drenched. No dead bodies on the way home, so that's an improvement over yesterday. After a shower and a bowl of borscht, I'm eager to go ride again (and ride I will, to get me a spare tube and a new reflective ankle band since I unfortunately lost mine)

47 degrees today with a high of 60 and 65 tomorrow. I'm hoping it'll get cold again soon. I really enjoyed the 30 degree trips much more.

FOGGY. I thought it would lighten up by leaving a bit later, but no go. It was foggy the whole way in, too. Because the roads were a bit damp, I took the Trek 7300, full light kit blazing. The headlight didn't help much, but hopefully the LED flashers let people know I was there.

Temp was nice for the trip in. Around the East Falls Church Metro, I ran into a nest of bike commuters. Usually I see 1 bike at a time, with most moving in the opposite direction, a solo bike passing (or being passed), and that's it. Today, there were 4 of us in a relatively tight bunch, all headed the same direction, and all wearing yellow jerseys/jackets. As the pack stretched out, I passed a 5th commuter, and spied a 6th commuter, and I almost caught him, but he went straight at my turn-off.

This afternoon, it'll be almost 60F, so I'll be losing my base layer for the trip home.

Cool and very foggy this morning. Made it in without incident though. I will be leaving early this afternoon to go home to give our new dog his medicine and to wait for the cable guy to turn our internet back on.

Pulled my back muscles
So I stoop when I'm walking
and move really slow

Also grappled with the fog, but since I was riding downtown, I'm more concerned with what's going on 10 feet around me rather than a block or more, so it wasn't a big factor in my ride. I did fall in line with another commuter and we had a (I think) friendly competition on Eye St. from 12th to 20th.

Yesterday's commute was uneventful. This morning I was at a red light in the left turn lane and a few cars pulled up. Once the light turned green I turned left and moved over to the bike lane. The driver of the car immediately behind me yelled something out his window as he drove past - all I could hear was "...life, you Moron!" I obligingly yelled back, "I'm a vehicle dude, this is legal. Get over it!" I'm not sure I want to know everything he yelled. Jerk. Another few miles in the trip, I'm making another left, just catch the light as it's changing. I pull into the right lane because the bike lane doesn't start up for several hundred feet. (Anyone know why they make the bike lanes vanish at intersections sometimes?) Traffic starts flowing behind me, and they're strangely polite - the car that passes me in the left lane gives me lots of clearance and doesn't punch it like people usually do, and the car behind me just cruises at a safe distance instead of changing into the left lane and hammering it (which, once again, would be the normal reaction.) When the bike lane started up and I moved over, I found out _why_ everyone was being so nice - the car immediately behind me was a police car. I waved as he drove off. Finally, clearing an intersection a few miles later, I was in the right lane (because once again the bike lane disappeared at the intersection.) As is my practice, I plop myself right in the middle of the lane to discourage buzzers, but the one car going in my direction on the road buzzed me anyway - centered herself squarely between the two lanes and passed me with barely 2 feet to spare. I suspect she'd have given me less clearance except I have a flash flag that sticks out that far to the left. I yelled the rather uninspired, "Use the whole lane!" as she swerved back in front of me and flew off down the road. *Sigh* I'm trying to focus on the zillions of nice (or at least more considerate) drivers who give me lots of room and don't turn left or right into me, but the jerks really grab your attention...

Nice ride in this morning. 40F and raining, but very few cars. I'll deal with the rain if it means there are fewer cars.

I drove to work yesterday for the first time in a while. Odd how I don't like driving much anymore. I could just feel the tension in the gridlock on the way home.

Portland Oregon - heavy rain all the way but thankfully, not much wind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the return trip. No wind. No wind. No wind. Or if there's wind, make it a tail wind.