Adam Turman

Yes, wet, me too. However that was the ride home last night. Man, it was a downpour. So much so that my cell phone got submerged in my pocket. Gotta get a new one, and my grips when loosey on me too. Had to take them off and dry them out. Soaked through and through.

Ride in was muggy and hot, and I felt sluggish.

pinkrobe

It rained overnight, which made everything nice and fresh this morning. Everything except my legs. After yesterday's uber-fast ride in, today I felt clunky and slow. I actually spun my wheels to see if something was rubbing, but alas, it's just my fat ass.

caloso

Only if he was the kinda guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. [rimshot]

I was one of those lycra-encased guys this morning. I am still trying to dial in the fit of the tri-bike. I swapped out the regular seatpost and comfy Selle Italia Flite for a Profile forward seat post and a minimal (okay, "asshatchet") saddle. Not particularly comfortable for the ride around town, but once I got on the open road and down into the aerobars it became a lot more comfortable at speed.

Wulfheir

I got up early and did a 15km commute instead of my usual 5km. The wife is on nights, so I may get her to pack 2 suppers so I can go meet her after work.

HardyWeinberg

Brrr, 60F!!! What happened to the triple digits?

Alox

Enjoyed a bit of cager irony today:

Part of the bike route I follow to work is on a street that ends in a cul-de-sac, installed to keep traffic on the main road instead that runs parallel, instead of on these little residential side streets. Anyway, I pull off the bike path, into the cul-de-sac, and there's a minor traffic jam of maybe 6 cars, hemmed in by a delivery van that appears stuck in the middle of a three-point turn. At first I thought the van driver was just slow to turn around, and I wondered about the wisdom of 'running the gauntlet' and trying to decide whether to stop, or go around the van and risk getting backed into.

As I approached however, I heard the van driver fruitlessly cranking the engine, and I realised that a couple of drivers had been waiting long enough to have abandoned their cages, and stood watching in futility. I glided past them on my bike and deeked around the crippled van, then I stopped, dismounted and helped the driver push the van out of the way, to let the traffic pass.

I wonder about the karmic +/- on this one: yes, I did a good deed by helping the stranded van driver, but I also freed a bunch of cars to belch pollution and wreak havoc on city streets - like poking an arterial cholesterol deposit. I wonder how many of those dirvers realized that (today at least) they owe their freedom of mobility to a cyclist, and will it make them more congenial as drivers?

MyPC8MyBrain

Rode with buddy Nate last night after I got home. We got sprinkled on. We got rained on. We got poured on.... Then we got hailed on. Needless to say, we ducked into a covered bus stop to wait it out. Start to finish was like 20 minutes for the whole deal. Gotta love the Colorado storms.

This morning, I forgot my helmet so I went back after just rolling out. Next departure the back tire seemed wonky... sure nuff it was way low. I went back again and pumped it up. No hissing so I just rode off again.

The ensuing ride was ultra slow. Not sure if it was a bonk from the get go, lack of sleep, or I'm catching that plague that is flying around the office. But I did eventually make it. Now I'm here, but uninspired. I guess at least that's normal.

knucklesandwich

Tiring as hell. I was at work until almost midnight last night (having gotten there at 7am). Fortunately I took the car to work yesterday due to some errands that badly needed doing at lunchtime. Cannot wait to get home and veg out tonight. Passed 250 miles on my month-old bike this morning, about 75% of which is from commuting.

Ladidah

Nice ride in this morning, except the spot on the road I ride (wide, fairly new rural road, not many houses, a few farms) where they sprayed oil and pea-sized gravel yesterday. Why do they do this? It smelled bad and I had oily gravel all over my tires and my panniers when I arrived at school. Saw a fox and a deer on the same little stretch of bike path by my house.

There was a looming black cloud to my north (I ride south to north on my return commute) this afternoon so I pedaled fast and made it home in 58 minutes - a new personal best! made it home before the rain, too!

Dickseacup

The ride in this morning was in ~70 degree, dripping wet (yet, not raining) humidity. Fifteen minutes after I arrived, the downpour began. My wife had to call and make sure I made it in OK. Ride home was uneventful; still hot and humid, though.

Allen

The heat is down but the humidity is up. The fish are back strolling on the sidewalks.
--A

tomg

usual ride to/from but added ride to area we're planning to kayak from (different forum)!
anyway, i noticed several NON bicycle "drivers" riding against traffic, one "wrong way" mention, but car drivers seemed sane!
a good day!

AD-SLE

Picked up a his and her Raleigh USA bikes called Touring/Off Road bikes from the trash a month ago. Put air in tires and they rode fine. Daugther likes the woman's frame and rides it to the pool. Cool.

I looked at the man's frame and decided once I ordered a 350mm 25.8 (odd small diameter) seat post from Sheldon I might be able to adopt it as my daily commuter. Put on my blinkies, rack, reflectors, SPDs and off I went with 165 cranks and old ratchet Suntour stuff. Oh ya, and the tires are 650Bs.....ugh and yet cool at the same time. So, $25 into it and I figure at $3/gal all I need to ride is 110 car avoidance miles which is just ONE week! New tires will set me back $80....the PITA about 650Bs. I'll ride these 44-584s until they die!

Well, today I rode her in. I have decided to name her Eleanor for the Shelby 350 GT in 'Gone in 60 Seconds' which I watched while trapped in a hotel room a couple of nights ago. Right color and rare, just not quite as fast unless Lance was to twist the crank!

In a nutshell, she rode fine. 650Bs are cool and seem faster than a MTB (559) I used to ride but not a road bike (622). Eleanor is a keeper. Need to improve braking power. But I LOVE riding a $25 bike to and from work! Although I covet them, no Phil Wood hubs for me. I enjoy the thrift of the daily commute. Oh ya, how do you spell hot & muggy in Memphis! But it goes with the territory so I can b!tch.

Anyone else ride 650B wheels to work?

650B Primer

georgiaboy

The humidity was high in Atlanta, too at about 58% around 600pm. I find myself breathing alittle harder to get the same amount of oxygen than when the humidity is lower.

Big Ron

First day riding in this week. Monday was really foggy, so I drove. Tuesday was pouring rain, so I drove. Today is really foggy too, but I went ahead and biked in anyhow. Visibility didn't seem all that bad. I could see the vehicle tail lights a good 1/4 mile ahead of me at any rate. Hopefully they could see my blinky and headlights from a similar distance. Sounds like we're back to the hot and humid weather pattern again. Still patiently awaiting September's cooler weather.

vtjim

I was about two-tenths of a mile from my house yesterday when huge rain drops started falling. I went all anaerobic on myself and broke the 25MPH speed limit to my driveway. Just missed a huge downpour. Apparently there was a microburst down on the MUP. Several fallen trees and branches in a localized area.

This morning was a nice ride. A bit humid, but not too hot. Mild headwind. No attractive scenery of the female variety like yesterday.

Mr_H

Nice, cool, a slight breeze. The morning ride is always nice because there's so little traffic.
I may get hammered by storms on the way home though. Wooo

luckysnafu

Had a nice foggy ride to work this morning. Forgot my water bottle but didn't realize for over half a mile so I didn't go back to get it. Monday on my way home I almost got right hooked by a woman in a minivan. She passed me right before her right turn and must have realized I was flying up beside her since she stopped at the intersection before turning to let me pass her on the right! I yelled to her you better stop as I went by and then she peeled out. If she hadn't stopped I would have followed her to get her plate and report her to the local traffic hotline. Reached my goal of 200 miles this month

egonlou

I had a guy sit on my wheel pretty much from 125th down to Canal St on the Greenway. As I turned onto Canal, he yelled over "You set a nice pace!!"

I didn't tell him the half of it. My right brifter is shot and needs replacement, it's on order at the LBS. I have been riding the past couple of days in the smallest cog. My 27 speed is now a 3 speed- Low, Medium, and High.

jyossarian

I had a guy sit on my wheel yesterday, but he was on rollerblades and thanked me for the draft when he pulled out of the park.

For today's commute, lots of racing to beat cars to gaps before they could close them off, lots of cars making turns from the inner right/left lanes (illegal) and some shooting the gaps between crossing peds.

When I got to work, I had a nice 10 minute conversation about my bike and places to ride w/ the mailman for my office bldg. He asked about my bike because he'd seen before that the builder (IRO) was from Staten Island (says so on the headbadge) where he lived. Turns out he rides mtb trails in Staten Island, although they're rapidly being lost to development, and NJ.

DataJunkie

I've had way too many eventfull commutes lately.
Mon: lady runs a red light. Fortunately, I was paying attention and stopped while crossing the intersection. She went by in the left lane going east. I was crossing the east bound right lane in the intersection.
When I exited the bus in my northern suburb on the way home I was greeted by the nastiest storm in some time. Seeing lightning within 5 miles, I hightailed it home. At one point I went anerobic and hit 30 mph on my touring bike on a flat road. I pulled a 15 min ride in about 8. ugh
Tue: Almost right hooked by a female college student in a jeep. 1 mile later almost right hooked by a 30 year old male in a BMW.
Wed: Nothing bad....yet. I was watching a racer in washington park and noticed how high his knees where coming up. Decided to try it and ended up riding about 3 miles an hr faster. Managed to hit my elbow with my knee while reaching for my water bottle. D'oh! I can't seem to pace myself with this technique. I believe it brings my quads fully into the pedal stroke, drastically increasing my speed from 17mph to 20 mph.

RonH

Just an ordinary commute today -- warm, humid, and uneventful.

MyPC8MyBrain

Well, at least I made it to 3,500 miles without a flat. Walked out to the bike last night to go home and it was sitting on the rim. A microfine piece of wire snuck through the kevlar and got the tube. It was tough getting it out of the tire. I think I may have to add tweezers to the tool kit.

Went through all kinds of hoops to get tires/tubes squared away once I got home. Has something to do with schrader areo wheels, with a pretsa spare tube.. 2 tubes, 2 schrader/presta adapter bushings later the bike is ready to roll again at home. Until I hear the fssssssst coming from the kitchen. Sigh {rim tape had uncovered a hole in the double wall rim}

I rigged it this am with some duct-tape-o-rim-liner, but will be redoing tires and rim tape again tonight. I forgot to rotate the back to the front last night anyways, and that needs to be done.

Ride was a nice 60f but 65% humidity... That's pretty high for CO. Seemed slow this am too, but it might have been since I only put 65psi on the DuctTape job.

caloso

Saw a couple of other bike commuters on the way in this morning. One department store bike, one retro cruiser, and one old mtb. I waved and said good morning to each. I was able to adjust my rack to avoid hitting my heel on the new panniers, but all I had time to do was loosen the top supports and rotate the rack back from level a few degrees. It's not ideal but it works for now.

HardyWeinberg

My dad talks fondly of his youthful days spent tipping cows in Staten Island.

I had kind of a streak going, when I ride my red bike on the route I did today, of getting scolded by some driver or other for not being on the sidewalk, but that streak got broken today, which was nice.