My commute itself was ok this morning, but the city started repaving operations on the last 300 meters of my ride 10k commute. I lucked out and took a side street to avoid breathing in the paving fumes, but at some point they're going to come out ahead of my short cut. I'm not looking forward to that.

I got toe clips on Friday and installed them over the weekend. (No, it didn't take me all weekend.) :)

I guess they make a difference. Either that or I was imagining it. I had a good headwind and was making the same speed as I would without a headwind. Its nice being able to apply power over more of the revolution. Come to think of it my one hill climb seemed faster/easier, too. But it's Monday.

Saw 3 or 4 other cyclists. One guy had a trailer. Another old dude was on a 'bent. Always like seeing those...

Today's ride in was pretty good. I didn't ride to work at all last week due to the holiday and subsequent work travel. But I did put in a few 30+ mile rides at the Shore, to go along with numerous coffee rides, so my 6.5 mile commute this morning felt shorter than normal.

Worked from home all last week so today was my first commute for this week. Traffic was crazy and because of a building explosion in the area, emergency crews were rushing from all over the city to get to the scene. Traffic complied by pulling over to let the crews through, but it was a little puzzling hearing sirens from every direction. I was hoping it wasn't anything too serious and in a sense, it wasn't. Seems to have been a gas explosion that caused a residential house to collapse and not anything more sinister.

Spent the weekend resting up the legs for this week's commuting. It's getting easier! I have a 200+ ft climb over 1/2 mile, and made the climb on the middle gear on the front. Still having trouble with my tougher climb, the same rise over about 500 yards, but I'll get better at that one, too!

And so week 3 begins...

Neat ride in today... rode in from above the cloud tops. More of a fog in the lower recesses of town. But it did look really cool from above.

My legs were kind of wonky this morning. Tried to get a ride in yesterday between the rain that's been hitting us every day. Didn't think that I would get a long ride, so I "rode it like i stole it" On all 3 of the big climbs there was another rider behind. You know the story, if two bikes are headed in the same direction, they are racing. Really cooked the legs racing up those hills. One of them is like 10% for over 1/4 mile...ouch. Got poured on for the last 4 miles. But hey, it was riding. In the end, I got about 25 miles in yesterday.

All last week traffic was very light. But this morning everyone was back. At one of the choke points the backup was just short of a mile. Only one SUV riding on the shoulder and forcing me onto the gravel.

Bit of a headwind, but it's forecast to stay around and give me a nice push this evening. I did a 38 miler over the weekend and my legs are still a bit sore, so I'm looking foreward to a little help.

I knew it was gona rain on the way home, sky was filled with dark clouds, and then i hear thunder, so i left work a bit early and on the way home saw this guy with his helmet on backwards and he was riding SO FRIKIN SLOW, looked like he had no idea what he was doing, and i got home pretty wet but once i get my wet clothes off i hear this roar i look out its POURING i whould have been soaked if iwas out in that... then 5 min later sun comes out... missed out on my shoping, new tires and rear rack... damn.

Had an unpleasant experience with a car driver this morning. I think I'll just leave it at that.

Great ride except for the half deer (front half; and very decomposed) leaking organs onto the bike trail. Now how did that get there.

Also, I was really enjoying having replaced my 42t middle chainring w/ a 39t.

No commute today. I went to the Doc before work. I may have a Meniscus Tear :( I hope not, I am going for an MRI to determine that.

The Doc didn't tell me to stop running or riding but suggesting taking it easy, be sure to stretch and not try to push big gears, which is no problem on my commuter, since it only have one gear and there are no hills on my route. I have a charity metric next weekend, which I intend to do very slowly and stop at all the rest spots :)

My midnight commute home was through a gathering storm. There were those Dracula-movie lightning bolts in the sky ahead of me, and it was weird to see the moon shining through the clouds at the same time. I was kinda scared, but at the same time grateful that I wasn't in a car. I was right in the middle of it--the fresh ozone smell of the storm, the stink of the first raindrops hitting the dusty earth, the sound of thunder, rain and wind, and the feel of the temperature dropping 10 degrees in a few moments.

I ran a red light then saw a cop sitting there. OOPS! I hoped he wouldn't stop me as I really wanted to get home before the brunt of the storm hit. He let me go. Whew! :)

LilSprocket, the meniscus tear isn't that bad an injury--assuming you have the more common type! I had one a few years back and wish I hadn't had the surgery.

My $0.02....if you have the tear and decide to get it repaired, make sure your quadriceps are as strong as you can make them before having it done. Many folks I know have had it done (we all play Ultimate Frisbee, which is hell on your knees) and many of us developed patellar tendinitis either because of the tear or the recovery from the surgery. Having really strong quads will help prevent that (and help the tear itself).

Here's hoping you don't have it!

I rode in today, over and out!

ARGH!!! Crazy ride home! I had to yell at some young chick driving an old POS 90's Saturn. She comes up from behind with two of her scags in tow blowing her horn for no good reason. Long story short, she tells me I should be riding on the sidewalk :eek:.

I told her if she doesn't know how to drive around bikes, then she shouldn't be driving. I didn't want to ride angry so I took this as a Omen and scrapped my afterwork ride. Some people think they own the forkin road and don't want to share it for shyte!

Followed a couple messengers up 3rd Ave. on the way home which made for a fun ride, zig-zagging through and around traffic w/ nary a stop. Also made my commute home one my fastest w/o really trying.

The commute today was awesome. My bike has been out of commission for 3 months. I ordered a new one and they were through making my size for the year. I fixed up my old one and today was the first commute since it crapped out on me. I went out for a lunchtime ride too. It felt so good to be riding again. I vow to not be without a bike for that length of time again until I'm ready to hang up my fenders.

Got caught in a pop-up thunderstorm. Lasted just long enough to thoroughly soak me. Fenders still work.

Great ride in today, using the big chain ring more and really generated some speed mid 30mph. Coming home sucked I was slow and tired and some ******** yelled at me for sport just as I crested a little hill. Good news I drastically increased my rpms trying to catch him at the light. All training is good.

I haven't posted in this section in ages. The ride was lovely, through the park as usual, la-di-dah, everything's great, until....I took my work clothes out of my basket when I arrived, and I realized I had everything except one thing: my bra! Oh no! Had to decide which was more professional, my cylcling tank top (liner has a bra), or my blouse for work, but bra-less. I picked the blouse; fortunately, almost everyone is out of the office today, on vacation or out sick....

fairly fast commute to school from my parents house this morning. temps were cooler but muggy. part of a street on my route was recently repaved and that section is really fun to hammer and go as fast as possible on. my front reflector came loose early in the commute and I had to pull over to re-tighten it. other than that nothing out of the ordinary on the ride in, good ride overall.

warmer in the afternoon. I was tired and had been doing some reading in the afternoon so I left later than usual and went straight home. had to pull over to adjust my seat halfway through the ride. great ride back too.

The deer was gone by the time I was going home, but the scent remains.

Hey! Thanks b! :) I hope not too. So, unless it's horrible (which I don't think it is, I'm inclined to go check stuff out asap, before anything gets worse), you figure to let it heal on it's own??? I'd be into that... It's tough to work the quads more when the knee is sore... any suggestions? Shallower squats??

I plan to work commute tomorrow (I really miss my bikey when I don't) then the MRI in the evening.

A fine ride in today, the heat and humidity is back, but nothing like it was last week at this time. Managed to make it in to work without any dripping sweat (it started as soon as I got off the bike though). My seat had been slowly sinking on me, so when I got in to work had to raise it by ~1/2" to get it back where it belongs.

Good ride this morning. I can feel myself getting stronger with each passing commute. I definately have the bug now!