http://www.one2ride.org/Animation/biking.gif YAAAY! On the road again.
Gotta go easy on my knees so changed the gear on the ss, woulda liked to have gone a little faster though.

Overcast and humid here this :am mostly respectful cagers. The hangers I had stashed at the office to hang my riding clothes have disappeared… :rolleyes: oh well

Lookin’ forward to riding home on the mup.

Have a Great day all!
:)

Sweatfest.
But the guy in the rust colored chevy p/u who buzzed me Tuesday, didn't reappear today, so I got that going for me.

Scenic Ride
 

This is my first visit and post. I have a wonderful 2 way commute every day. It is only about 10 miles each way but I am able to ride a pathway system along the Bow River almost the whole way. On hot days, there is a nice breeze off the river and shaded sections with high polars. On cooler days the trees offer some shelter and the slightly rolling track I can raise my cadence to warm up. On most days from April to October, I encounter Canada geese, pelicans, squirels, gophers and occasionally mounted police (bikes and horses). By riding both directions, I cut about 30 minutes a day from my commute time ( public transportation or svo). I am excited about finding this forum by listening to fredcast.

A continuation of yesterday's post:

My wife and I left the Capitol and rode 6 blocks to day care (and I was very impressed at her sprint to catch the light!), where we picked up the twins. She said the first thing they said was "Bicycle!"

Then we took a fairly circuitous route to avoid downtown traffic madness. First we went through the Amtrak station parking lot, where we stopped to watch the train arrive. Then through Old Sac, following a touristy horse and buggy, along the river for a couple of miles, and then wound through Land Park over to Curtis Park. About a half mile from home, we saw Sr. Paletero (our local Mexican popsicle guy), so we had to stop for a cool treat. It was the absolute best commute ever.

Yesterday I thought the 19 month old was saying 'bike bike' when she was going to the trailer, but it was actually 'potty' and we had to take a clean-up break. 5 yr old was fine w/ that 'cause it was more playtime before his commute started. Today they brought toys in the trailer, usually they just look outside and watch the world go by, chat w/ people in x-walks.

I still haven't made it to the bakery across the street from their daycare. Next week for sure (tomorrow not a daycare day).

Wow some pretty exciting adventures while I was gone! I'm so happy to have my bike back from the shop. New fork, handlebars and stem $$$. But worth it cuz now the bike fits better and is safer.

blah... driving company car home tonight in prep for long roadtrip to early meeting tomorrow. Bike home tomorrow night at least.

the no name (Randor Contemporary) thrift store 70s-80s steel ten speed still feels great. love it! saw a guy riding a three-wheel bike, a cute college chick on a similar bike to mine, several other utility riders. almost wiped out when a homeless guy sitting at a bus stop decided to move his shopping cart just as I was going by. I thought he was asleep but he woke up just as I was coming up on him and decided to move his cart to a position more in front of my path. He saw me as I was almost on him and said, "Sorry", I said "That's OK!" I made it safely past with a slight movement to the left.:) it was 102 this afternoon/

Holy crap!
I was stuck in a very large downpour on my commute home.
The cherry creek trail started to flood. Riding through a foot of rain water is quite disconcerting.
The next time this happens I am diverting to street level. Better slow than drowned. The cherry creek runs between the East and Westbound lanes of a busy street and is 20 feet below street level. Storm drains also dump into it.
I almost did something stupid while trying to reach my destination before the creek flooded. I was in my drops going about 24mph during the rainstorm. A group of people were clustered under an overpass and one of them stepped into my path. 162lb rider+30 lb bike +10 lb of gear going way too fast in a rainstorm would not have been a nice collision. Fortunately, when I yelled he jumped back and proceeded to mouth off. To which I mouthed off right back.
Anyhow, that scared the crap out of me.
In summary:
1) don't ride in a rainstorm in an area prone to flooding
2) ride an appropriate speed in said rainstorm.

stupid stupid stupid
Well, it didn't turn out bad.

Today's commute was, in a word, EARLY! I had an early morning meeting with my 3rd shift Safety Committee so I was up at 3:30 AM and on the road by 4:00 AM. It's pretty quiet and dark at that time, I can tell you.

I switched the bike computer over to my commuter last night and noticed my speed was lower than I thought it would be this morning (15 mph average for a 10 mile trip). :( Must need more coffee :eek:

Other than that it was a nice ride in. We had some pretty high temps this week, but it seems to have broken now. This morning I had to toss on a long sleeved shirt to be comfortable (61 degrees when I left the house).

Nice this morning. Low 60Fs. No wind. Sunny. I saw a blue heron wading around and looking for fish.

Friday. Vacation next week. Yipee! :)

Anyone commute into Burlington this morning and get passed at the bottom of College Street? That was me. :p

Great
 

Thursday, I was able to extend my commute into a ride in both directions and got in 45k. It was just seredipity that the weather and my schedule allowed me to take a different route and add some miles to these old legs.

Had a great ride home last night. On my way down one of the streets on my ride I was passed fairly slowly by a brown UPS truck. He was going around 30mph or so and the road was pretty empty so I decided to draft him to the next light about a half mile down the road. So I get behind him and man, what a blast that was. He sped up down the hill and we were going in the mid 40's by the time I dared to look down at my computer for a split second. What a rush :p This morning I almost got cut off by a full sized school bus that ran a red light. I reported the bus to the public transportation authority so we will see what becomes of that. Warm and sticky again this morning and possibly some shower/thunderstorms this afternoon. TGIF:)

I'm going to take a moment and talk about coffee... living here in Atlanta, I'm just a few miles from Athens and Jittery Joe's coffee. While there last week, I picked up a few cans of their signiture blends. This morning's ride was fuled by their Wake n' Bake dark roast. It was roasted specially for Terrapin Beer's coffee stout, one of my favorite brews. The coffee is just as good as the beer, plus I can drink it at 9am in the office. Not to mention that Jittery Joe's sponsors a pro-cycling team and are very bike-friendly.

I left an hour earlier than I usually o this morning. I expected to see more people on the paths than I normally do but nope. Maybe it bring Friday has something to do with it. Oh well.

Great ride in today and I was itching for it. I didn't ride in the last few days because of the heat/humidity. Yeah I know others were riding but since that weather combination triggers migraines I thought it best to take it easy, especially since I am on vacation next week and I don't want anything messing that up.

Nice ride today. Saw two other commuters that I sometimes ride to work with. They decided to take the long way to work via a favorite morning gathering place for many locals. The rest of the ride was pleasant, except for two garbage trucks that crossed my path. :o

On the way home last night I was caught in a thunder/hail storm. The shape of the hail was weird - 1" long, 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep. It was like being shot with icy Lego. The rain was heavy enough to cause localized flooding all over the city. I got pretty wet. In fact, when I went to put on my gear this morning, it was still soaked. Wet shoes, wet gloves, even a wet helmet. I was cold and damp on the way in. Bleagh!

nothing worse than wet shoes, I was lucky enough to escape the rain yesterday, but barely. The secret to quick drying footwear: put them on top of your water heater when you get home. Works like a charm.

Not even 9am and I've already had three rides:

1) 5:50 - 7:00: 23 miles down to Clarksburg and back on the tri bike.
2) 7:10 - 7:35: 1 mile around the park with the dog on the bomber.
[interim to shower, change, kiss the wife and kids]
3) 7:55 - 8:20: 4 miles from the house to the office on the bomber.

I love it.

First Commute
 

Well, I finally got round to it and made the commute by bike today. I kind of cheated a bit and drove to a friends house to avoid dealing with a few nasty hills and some nastier streets. Still it was 13 miles...don't know if that qualifies as a long commute, but Hey! I did it.

The weather was great, my route worked well, traffic was light, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Now I just have to make it back!:eek:

One less gallon of gas burned!

Today is Friday!
Too sunny for the office
Perfect for a ride!

Really nice ride this morning. Took the dirt trail route... 3 miles without cars :D Counted 15 rabbits. Gotta be a fox or coyote around somewhere. Lots of mud near the railroad tracks, but the Kona Smoke handled it fine.

Hope to avoid a downpour on the ride home like Wednesday's ride. The rain is a bummer but the lightning is nothing to mess with.

Hard and hot. Rode the Fillmore single-speed 17.5 hilly-miles in 110% humidity, 90 degree and with 5 hours of sleep. Carried change of clothes, office crap, new Krypo 8.4-lb chain, U-lock. I am dragging this afternoon.

Got hit by a stomach bug this weekend and haven't really recovered yet. Slow going this morning, hopefully I can hydrate and get back on my feet before dart league tonight.

Nice, calm, not too hot, not too cold. Nice day for a ride.

Course I'm using my brand new cyclocomputer and discovered that my commute might be less distance then I thought :O
I'll have to take detours on the way home to get more of a workout:)