Weird commuting day. I had to be downtown first thing to sign some papers and that took longer than I thought. I was dressed up for business, but carried my bike with me on the train. So jumped on to ride back to my side of town. I needed some rim tape, so stopped by my favorite LBS and got that. It was pretty hot and I needed a new pair of biking shorts anyway, so I bought some, changed into them, and rode back to my side of town. Now I'm in the office until late and screamin' hungry. I need to go find some BBQ for lunch.

Great ride in this morning. Got a new wheel on my bike last night with a new set of cogs and a new rear shifter and everything is riding like butter. The traffic was fairly light and the weather was pleasant. Looking forward to a nice long ride this weekend.

Good COmmute in the morning nothing to entertaining cant wait for panniers to replace 2 diffrent bags being strapped to the rack

Greetings all. My first post here.

I had a good ride this morning. My commute begins at a train station near LAX Airport and concludes 14 miles north in Santa Monica, CA. The weather was cool and the air was still as I started north at about 6:30am from the train station on Aviation Blvd. Almost immediately I was cruising at a healthy clip. I have no computer on my bike but I estimated my speed at around 15mph. I was anxious to get off that road. There's no shoulder, no bike lane, and no sidewalk. And traffic is aggressive on Aviation. Once past the first straight away; however, my ride takes me along hotel row near LAX and then along a recently resurfaced road paralleling the north runway. Traffic here is fast but sparse and the bike lane is acres wide. I can negotiate this stretch fairly free of vehicular molestation.

I should add that I started commuting by bicycle about three months ago. For the first time since I started this experiment I closed the distance and passed another cyclist. Thus far it has been a considerable effort to achieve this little feat. This time I was well ahead of him before I realized that I had not even gotten winded. He never caught me either. It was a small victory for me. My endurance has definitely increased.

I glided through the little village of Playa Del Rey and then into Marina Del Rey. The light was with me as I crossed Washington Blvd. I slowed along one of the side streets for a rest before dropping the hammer on Venice Blvd. A street clock in south Santa Monica read 7:29 as I rolled into the final three miles and I walked in the door at 7:40am.

I crossed paths with no caged cretins today and even received an applause as I passed a homeless guy who stopped digging in a trash can to give me accolades.

Nice post, Kendell. And welcome.

Thanks, Caloso. It's good to find this forum.

I rode in with my wife this morning, and we kept missing lights. It was kind of nice not to have to put the hammer down and get all sweaty. I still got to work before 8, but was quite relaxed doing it. Very nice.

First day back commuting after vacation. Worked on cadence rather than speed. A "slower" regular passed me gleefully. Who cares! Felt so good to be on the road.

bah humbug. pending-all-week visit from some very head honcho indeed took place today, and everyone scurrying around dripping flop sweat and channelling frank burns at the troops since oh, wednesday at least. trying to put hospital corners on things that have no corners and banning the most ridiculous things. what is the matter with people? just realised have been in a hostile crouch all week waiting to be told by some wound-too-tight loon that i cannae bike tae work on The Day, a) lest vhh get to see me coming out of the elevator in my spandex and migraine-green shirt, and b) cause they want a nice tidy organised bike cage to show him, not some sloppy pigsty all cluttered with bikes that don't colour coordinate or line up in order from smallest to biggest wheels. didn't happen, for which small mercy give thanks.

but it meant i didn't want to eat my habitual post-ride bagels in the test lab, just in case someone saw a crumb fall and had a coronary. cranky and crabby all day in consequence. so on the way home i detoured to the neighbourhood that makes bubble tea with sluch and fresh fruit, and then walked my bike along the sidewalk for a block or so in search of coffee and halva and other such life-sustainers. seems pretty clear that someone who preceded me didn't like the bubbles in their bubble tea, because the sidewalk was littered with them. found one of them stuck to my rear wheel when i got home. i wonder how much iron there is in bubble tea.

For somebody who has been riding for 3 mo, that is quite a feat. I remember Aviation Blvd from being in LA on business. I didn't ride it (only drove) but remember the place. Good on ya!

Wow. Someone knows the road. Cool.

I do have a bunch of touring experience from my teen years. Youth Hostel tours of Europe and the Canadian Rockies. And I used to ride all the time back east so I am no stranger to cycling. But that was years ago and I am new to commuting by bike in L.A. It's a whole other monster from riding around national parks and New England bike paths. Aviation Blvd. is an intimidating little patch of real estate. It takes some getting used to. But with a little skill, a sprinkling of defensive riding, and some guts it can be negotiated. I'd actually like to see more cyclists doing it. It would give us a stronger claim on the territory if regular drivers knew that Aviation was frequented by cyclists.

Ride today was nice both ways. I only worked 4 hours, I had to do some job skill testing. I've only been doing this job 10 years. Drafted off a city bus for a half mile on the way home. I also stopped by the LBS and found I didn't need anything. Strange. Ride On!

"at least I missed the *baseball* sized hail that was falling earlier in the day!"

Yes, that could've damaged your frame! :p

good ride yesterday, nothing unusual. kinda hot.

Same think here Tok...thought it was just my perception...hang in there better days are com'n.

I've been commuting on and off by bike for years, but I've never had to deal with divided highways with buses. Until monday anyway - I recently moved to the over side of the city and will start riding again.

Nothing much to report. Stocked up on emergency lunch supplies today and ran out of room in the seat bag, so I tried to carry them on the handlebars. It worked ok but not for much more than my commute. One lady tried to pull a stunt to get around me but didn't see the moving truck at the corner and had to get back in line behind me.

Nice ride this morning. 60F. Light headwind. I'm breaking down and taking my bike to the LBS for a new chain and inner ring. I was lubing the (20 year-old) chain and noticed it's missing 4 rollers! :eek:

I think I fixed my loose seat post problem from last week. I cleaned and dried the post and cleaned out the hole in the frame. Put the seat back in and tightened it down as hard as I dared. It didn't slip down this morning.

Nice ride in this morning. I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning the drivetrain and replacing tires on my road bike. Rode that bike in this morning....with a clean chain and a new set of tires on. Only one incident this morning. Couple nut cases with close cropped hair saw me coming up on the back of their car in traffic. Do you think they moved over to the left to let me pass? No.....these guys had to move to the right to try to cut me off. I jumped up on the curb, shifted up 2 or 3 gears, stood up and passed them doing about 25 to their 5 mph :D . I heard the passenger yell something...but I have no idea what he said. Later on when they caught up to me again...the passenger had something to say...but I don't know what. I was too busy giving the one finger salute to them.

If you ever have the desire to haul a dumbell in a pannier, don't.
That 20lbs threw off my balance quite a bit and my commute took a bit of extra time. If I ever do this again I am strapping it to the top of the rack.
At least this morning I had the following thought after being left in the dust by a roadie "HA! You think you are so freaking fast! I'm carrying a pannier that weighs more than your bike and only going a few miles per hr slower." :p
Then I passed him later after he flatted out. Go figure :p

Nice ride in. Still very humid.

The idiot shuttle bus drivers on the university campus I ride through still haven't learned that you're not supposed to cross a double yellow line to pass a cyclist. Saw two buses pass a guy that was 50 feet behind me. The road is narrow so I took the lane. They tried passing but nearly had a collision with an oncoming shuttle bus. @$$holes!!! I wish the university wouldn't be so cheap with their wages so some Americans would apply for the bus driver positions.

A section of road on my commute is being re-graded [top layer of pavement torn off and the remainder is deeply grooved], but only on one side of the road. I tried to deke around it, but then a minivan decided to slide in front of me. I went around him, only to be confronted with oncomong traffic. Oh, and my helmet broke. Sigh...

How did that happen?

Stupid question. Why were you hauling a 20# dumbell?

A coworker of mine lifts his dumbell while coding. Being that I have twigs for arms, I thought it would be amusing to give it a try. Seems to have helped him and I could use a bit of definition.
So far, all I have managed to do is kick it with my foot. Time to move it.