Uh oh, w**ter is coming. We broke into the 40s this morning. Eek! I always forget how to dress. I wore my nylon high-viz jacket and it was too hot. Oh well.

Got the new Trek all sorted out except I need to mount a rear blinkie somehow. Fixed my computer problem (magnet wasn't passing the sensor where it was supposed to) so it was reading correctly today. Average speed is about 1MPH slower than the old Peugeot.

I weighed the Peugeot after removing the rack and giving it to my wife's MTB. It has no chain or chainrings. 26.4 pounds. I'm wondering if I can turn it into a 20 pound fixie or lighter. Hmm. I guess money and weight are inversely related. :)

It finally happened. Forgot the boxers at home and I'm goin' commando!

:( w**inter, cold, fall, dark -- they're all "four letter words" to me. :crash:
I like sunshine and warm temps. :beer:


Today was a good ride but I felt a little tired. Didn't see as many of the regular commuters. Maybe the ominous skies scared them away.

No riding tomorrow. :( I'll be driving because I have to pick up ~300 t-shirts and buy all the food and drinks for our big event on Monday, Labor Day -- the Share the Road Challenge. We're expecting 500-700 riders. :beer:

Last night's ride home was a bit interesting. I was coming up to an interesection with the normal three lanes (Left, straight, right). Since I'm going straight, I stay on course to that. A pickup pulls up alongside of me, at first I think he's going straight, then he starts edging over towards the right lane in a nice, drifting fashion. When he actually bumped my elbow, I realized he wasn't going to stop, so I hit the brakes, floated behind him, and then shot up the other side (so I'm on the left side of his car). I got right next to his window and stared at him, then waved when he didn't respond.

Turns out it was a old guy wearing those wrap around dark glasses. He never responded to me at all... don't think he was ignoring me, I think that he honest to <deity of your choice> couldn't see me. Yikes.

At least this mornings ride was fine...tiring though. I mowed the lawn last night and that can take a bit out of you :)

Attempted to find my lost bike route again. No such luck. Denver's sinage on this route blows.
Anyhow, despite yesterday's new route improving on my times by 10 minutes, this one worsened it by 30 minute. A 2.5 hr commute is a wee bit too much for me.
Legs are shot. Just about everything is sore in my legs. My rear is fine :p
Annoying pain shooting down the outside of my left knee and calf has returned. Time to rub it out.
Thursdays are always tiring days. Not a good day to explore. Oh well, I will give it another shot tomorrow.
Time to write down some directions for the freaking route.

I rode in with my wife, and we were coming up to a yellow light and a left-hand turn. She's all, "GO!" and I'm all "NO!" and we both ended up skidding to a stop in the crosswalk. Then she got snippy about me making her late for work and such. I think I average about 5 km/h faster than her, so that's BS.

Nice ride in this morning, only one confused driver. As I came straight across, they came onto the same street from a "right turn into it's own lane" kind of thing. They couldnt handle that I was in the lane to the left of them so they stopped. A obliged and swung right in front of them just so they could get rid of that question mark that was floating above their head.

Need to ride home muy rapido tonight for the Thursday night MTB ride. That's usually a good time.

After you lose the FD, RD, rear wheel and cassette and replace it w/ a lighter rear wheel, one cog and one chain ring, you should be at or below 20 lbs. If not, lose the rear brake. :)

Very uneventful ride in, other than deciding to take a slightly longer route (I can't possibly emphasize how slight the additional distance was).

But, like a fool, I tried my seat in a higher position yesterday for the ride home, and my knees are defintely paying for it this morning.

Still brisk, baby. And foggy, too! Had to stop at one point to de-mist my shades. Can't believe it's supposed to be back in the 80s this weekend (but eagerly awaiting it).

Oh yes, going up long steep(ish) hill, encountered a roller blader coming straight down. I can hit 35 mph on that hill, not sure what a roller blader would do in a speedskater crouch, bent over, hands on knees, backpack I guess messing up his aero a little bit. But I bet he was on pace to pass the lady on the cruiser rolling down the hill in front of him.

Last night my chain decided to do it's own thing when I was standing and gaining some speed just after getting off the road, but just before turning onto the MUP. The sudden drop from top to bottom of pedal stroke made me lose it, my bars went sideways since I was pulling pretty hard, and I went down. Well, first I went up and over the bars, then I went down.
Scraped up my hand a little bit, scuffed up my elbow a little bit, but that's all the damage to me. Worst was that I totally thrashed my front wheel and ripped a hole in my backpack.
I hitched a ride to the LBS (see the "Why does your mechanic rock?" thread) and got my ride fixed, patched my backpack with some duct tape, and was back on the road this morning for a VERY foggy yet uneventful ride to work.

That morning fog today was freakin' incredible! I just bought an L&M Solo, and even that was barely cutting through it this morning.

I haven't broken my light out yet, but it's getting to be that time.

Back on the bike today. My wrist is still sore, but my grip strenght is nearly back. No incidents to test me. Temperatures pretty comfortable. Nothing else to report.

This morning would have been perfect for a 20 or 30 mile detour but, alas, it's going to be a long day at the office and I had to come directly in to work. Sigh.

Death Race 2006. 'Nuff said.

Ahhh, yes. Back in high school did some work on my chain and replaced a pin when done. The pin wasn't quite right, it seems, as just when I was pumping hard to go up a hill the pin snapped. Elbow, shoulder, hand, and knee all got excellent road rash. Sorry about the wheel.....

While accelerating through an intersection, the rear cog I was using decided to break in half. I nearly went over the handle bars. Nice morning pick-me-up.

Nice and cool this morning in NYC. I have to say the ride back was not so great. ****ing *******s cutting me off to park in the bike lane!

On the ride home, I hit the sweet spot going up 3rd Ave at 72nd St. The light turned red as I went through the intersection and from there, it goes downhill a few blocks. I threw it in high gear and spun it up to a max of 28 mph. Since there was no traffic behind me, I had command of all the lanes and I crossed right to left across 6 lanes and actually passed slower moving car traffic before finally turning on to my block. Not bad for a 40 lb mtb rigged for commuting.

Comfortable temperatures, clear skies, and plenty of time to go at a leisurely pace this mornng. I forgot to mention yesterday that I saw two deer in the morning.

50F in the morning....warmer on the return trip. It's so good to pedal off work frustrations.

I hit that light without stopping today. It usually seems to take forever to turn green. Someone must have called ahead and had a car sitting there activating the sensor that's buried under a couple coats of blacktop for me. ;)

No ride in for me today. Had an appointment 70 miles away that was pretty important so I took the car. Drive in was nice and only took about 45 minutes. Drive home sucked big time. Stop and go traffic, and a 2 hour commute. By the time I got home, I was hot, cranky and my back was killing me. I hate driving.