The fog was insane this morning along the Sammamish River Trail. Since the weather has cooled off, there's more people out riding to work. I saw 6 other riders this morning between 5:30 and 6:00am. Thankfully, everyone was running decent lights. There could have been a couple ugly rack-ups going around the tight corners of the construction detour on the trail had we not seen each other coming and decided to swing our turns a little wider.

Incidents from the last week or so:

A sheriff buzzed me. That was sweet.

On Thursday there was a major accident along my route home. A sheriff (I wondered if it was the same guy...) was diverting all traffic onto the local highway, on which I can't legally ride. He laughed when I asked if I could ride on and then let me go. I had the entire road to myself for about .25 miles, then came to a LOOOONG line of backed-up traffic. Normally I don't pass cars stopped at a light, but this was too tempting. I passed them all, then cut through between two stopped cars to get in the left-turn lane, and rode on. I was thinking, "See ya, suckas!" I wonder how many of them were thinking, "Maybe I should ride my bike....."

This morning a lady honked at me when were both stopped at a red light waiting to turn right. I turned around to give her The Look, and she waved me off to the right (which I ignored--it's a dang red light! Not that I'd have moved for her regardless).

People really don't get it. If I'm riding in the middle of a lane, there's a damn good reason for it, and no amount of yelling, honking, screaming, engine-gunning or other intimidation is going to make me move. If you want to pass me, use the other lane!

Today was "Neighborhood Cleanup Day". What they should call it is "Everybody Put Your Crap In The Street And Create A Huge Traffic Hazard Day." The crap in the street is bad enough. What's worse is all the scavengers driving at 5 mph and randomly stopping dead in the middle of the street so they can run to the curb and salvage that desk chair with the ripped seat and missing casters. Feh.

Otherwise, it wasn't too bad. My legs were surprisingly fresh even after riding up to Mt. Rose yesterday morning (not from Sacramento, just from Tahoe City!). I had to remember to bring my light and blinkie, as it may be a late night at the office today. Yay Monday!

No more commute for me! Job's over. :D

Gotta look for someplace to work so I can ride there and back... :)

Took my cruiser for her maiden voyage to work today...

No helmet for the first time on the commute..


What can I say about that...

1. felt just as hot without it as with it. ( I wear a full face bmx helmet )
2. felt a little less safe, but more like a rebel than anything else..

=)

I actually saw another bike commuter today, first one this year.
School started today, so I'm officially in the leave-before-dark crowd again. in the summer I slack off and don't leave until 7:30 or so.
The fog was so heavy last Thursday I finally gave up and took off my glasses; wiping them every 10 seconds wasn't keeping them clean and I could see better without them. I was glad for my HID up front and xenon strobe in the back.

Nice ride in today. I broke out my 2nd pannier this morning for (I think) the first time since I bought them (over 3 years ago) so I could transport a box to take to the shipping store at lunch.

Had a close one on the ride home Friday night. There is a high speed section with no shoulder. I mean the paint is the edge of the road. I tend to roll up to 30-35 in here to keep up with the traffic. There was a tow truck that had loaded a dead one on his back on the dirt to the right. He decided to pull out ahead of the car in front of me. This car slams on the brakes after just passing me ...so we were fairly close. I had no time to stop since the road was a bit wet. Had to swing into lane#2 with only 1/2 second to glance at the mirror. Missed the back of his car by inches. Now since the tow truck is rolling in the road, I have to pass him before I can go back right. He almost came into lane #2 on top of me without looking till I yelled at him. Then he slowed and let me back to the right lane. Yeah, he got the bird. I was trying to think what I could have done differently, but came up with nothing. Thank god the left lane was clear.

This morning was cooler.. a mere 49F when I left the house. First day for tights and shell in a long time. Need to rummage around and find some of that winter gear. ie full finger gloves.

It was cooler here as well. I broke out the light cycling jacket, tights, gloves, and skull cap.
Was still to warm. bleh
I hate temps in between my layers...or something like that.
My tights are no longer tight. Must have something to do with the additional weight I lost this summer. :p

ever have one of those days where you are just toolin' along, not spinning, just mostly coasting and enjoying it? this was one of those days for me. I got home later than usual, but with less sweat.:)

This morning it was a good 10-12 degrees warmer than last week in the morning, and it was VERY humid. Ugh! On the ride home it rained lightly, which I didn't mind since I was already soaked with sweat from work anyway. Not a very inspiring commute, and yet it was still more fun than driving there. :D

Just got told The day shift where I work was going to 7 AM from 8AM . Means I have to start lugging batteries and lights :( . Means I can be less of a VC in certain areas, sorry HH;) . I would rather come home in the dark. It means I can pick up more rocks for my garden when I pass through an old cobblestone quarry.

Wet.

First commute to my new job. The ride itself was rather uneventful, but I enjoyed every second of it. Lately my recreational rides have been getting old and tiresome, so it was nice having somewhere to actually go, not just a big circle. I work noon to 8pm so when I left it was not cool... it was rapidly approaching 90 at 10:30am. Tonight was the first time I rode at night. Ever. I was definatlely glad I went to the LBS yesterday for lights (Cateye EL320 in front and a Cateye LD170 in the back) and a new saddle (Specialized Avatar).
I was plesantly surprised with traffic. Cars gave me plenty of room tonight. One even stopped to let me pass before they made a right turn. Too bad I wasn't expecting it and almost tipped over. I felt really comfortable riding at night. Everytime I looked at my computer, I was riding between 18 and 22 mph.
All in all, it was a great commute. Commuting by bike beats commuting in a cage any day.

:)

nice ride today. Rode the Speed TR folder today - it's my foul weather bike. Expecting rain this afternoon.

And for the second straight time - A Green Light to cross Old Milton Parkway at SPEED!! Now to get one at Mansell Road ...

I rode my wife's MTB since my Peugeot is out of commission. I had to raise the seat, but it's a guy's bike so it fits me okay. The seat is angled for a chick_oops_woman so it wasn't entirely comfortable after a while. :o

Oddly enough I was cruising at about the same speed. What does that mean? I guess the Peugeot had oodles of drag from the worn out drivetrain or something. Gonna go check out new bikes later. I feel like I'm buying a new car or something.

Came in on a different route this morning - someone from the chicago_bike community on Livejournal had suggested it to me a few months ago, and this morning I thought I'd give it a shot. It's the same distance as my "street" commute (the lake path route adds a few miles), but it was much less harrowing. I still get to take diagonal streets, but the bike lanes are wider, and there's much less traffic.

I like it!

The sky was very dark when I left work last night. I tried to outrun the coming rains, but the clouds opened up on me about 1.3 miles from home. :o


This morning was warm and very humid. One of the main roads that leads to the university I ride through was blocked with downed power lines, so every cager going to the university decided to take the neighborhood streets I take. http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoti...t/sterb020.gif The backup was ~6 blocks. Of course you know I didn't wait my turn in that mess. If I had I'd still be on my way in to work.

Once again it rained. It wasn't a hard rain, just a steady one...and this time, I remembered my jacket. Nice ride in, I'll be glad when I get my brighter headlight in (gotta order a brighter back one).
I also discovered that I need to get an air freshener for my office...drying my clothes in here isn't bad, but I think my officemates aren't going to enjoy the smell for long:)

8.75 miles this morning. First trip using my touring bike. It's so much faster then my hybrid. My average speed increased 3mph. Gotta love it.

Rough ride last night. I was heading to a social event and had to pass through a roundabout. I had a car enter as I was trying to get through, swerved around them, clipped my pedal on the inside of the turn, and went down rolling. Got up pretty quick, no major damage to the bike, and a slight sprain in my wrist. Then got soaked in a thunderstorm as I was putting my stuff back together. I sat through the social event with some ice on my hand and rode home feeling pretty good. My neighbor is a nurse at the big trauma hospital in the city so he lent me an Ace bandage and some more ice. Everything seems to be better this morning, but I did walk in to the office and it was pretty darn humid.

Fall* is beginning to sneak up on me. During the two weeks I coudn't ride, it started staying dark in the morning. I had to break out the headlight yesterday.

* In metro Denver, it's Fall, instead of Autumn, because things pretty much just go gray. People leave the city in droves to see Autumn, up in the mountains. Luckily, it isn't that far, and the contrast is spectacular.

Rain at last! Cool at last!
After months of no rainfall and 20-odd 100 degree days in a row, things finally broke here. Rode in about 70 degrees his morning, loving that.

And had a close near collision with - are you ready - another bike commuter. I was downtown, I had the green light - one of the few today, since they seem to have gotten out of sync over the weekend - and this bozo, an older-than-me guy (50's?) on a hybrid, with a backpack, blows across on the sidewalk, popping out from behind a building right in front of me.

No finger was necessary, but I did bellow "Look out, Clown!", as I crossed in front of him. It was close enough that I expected to feel his front wheel hit my back one.

Nice quick ride today. Temps were resonable...upper 80's, so I didn't even soak through my clothes :)