Nice, easy, cool, clear, no wind.
Far change from last nights ride home with strong winds against me, a broken seat, and tired legs.

Oooh, and I saw another commuter. An actual commuter...with a bike decked out with lights, and panniers, and all. Pretty lady too...wish she had been going the same direction :b

missing out on my commute today because of injury sustained on yesterdays.

Dragged @ss something serious this morning, my legs hated me. Acceleration really was a chore. Might have something to do with my lack of proper hydration lately, or maybe I was still moody after watching the dolphins lose last night.:mad:

I keep having neeeeear incidents on my way to/from work, mostly just basic courtesies that are extended to drivers but not cyclists. Makes me think there needs to be a bit more bike 'advocacy' in drivers ed courses and the like.

Weather might prove to be a factor today. Ride in was a nice 50F, but cloud cover was heavy. The sun came up as a big muted red ball. The forcast is for thunderstorms, not a chance of thunderstorms, just thunderstorms :). The legs were a bit taxed from riding the MTB last night, but I slogged into work none the less.

I have to get used to all of the extra cars on the road due to school back in session.

Got a feeling the ride home tonight will be a wet one. I already went out and put the cover on the bike since it started raining a while ago.

It was super-quiet on the way in today. Many of the larger employers in the downtown core have instituted a "days off in leiu of pay" policy, so there are literally hundreds of people not coming into work on certain Fridays. It's kinda nice!

I was relieved to be back on the new bike this morning. I really don't like driving to work, even though it's not a hard thing to do. I look forward to the ride.

Let's see: I saw a mouse (or something) skitter across the MUP. I also saw a cat, not near the mouse. Plus, lots of squirrels, and a chipmunk. I've also noticed waterfowl in Lake Champlain. That can't be good news. It means they're migrating south. :(

I took the Liquid off the MUP and onto some dirt trails but not for very long because I was late.

brisk, foggy. Crazy car traffic, I need to get back to either before the flood or after it, restore some of my own sanity.

Overslept this morning by about an hour, put myself together and got on the bike in record time. I thought I'd be dragging since last night's dinner conisted primarily of cookies and milk but was surprised to find that I was cruising along at 20 mph with little effort. Since it was so late I had plenty of light and stripped the bike of its headlight/battery to save some weight (plus I don't like the clutter of these things). It was cool and foggy and should be a nice ride home.

Now that school is back in session, I no longer have to transport my daughter to day camp. That means that the Trail-A-Bike has been removed, making my bike about 25 pounds lighter. I'm still enjoying how quickly and easily I get up hills. Noow, if they would only finish up with the coinstruction at the Routes 50 and 27 overpass...

With these cool mornings and warm afternoons, it's like experiencing summer and fall in a single day.

Paul

Paul

As I reported bout two months ago, I wouldn't be commuting much anymore because I would be driving my pregnant wife into work. Well, she's still pregnant so I'm still "Driving Mrs.Williams" .

Today I was amazed at how many wobbly new cyclist (students) are out riding with no helmets :eek:. Funny-Scary just to watch them, handlbars swinging from side to side, torso wriggling. Knees coming out the side trying to maintain balance :D :eek:.

Pedaling through the dark
toward a full, yellow moon
floating over the misty corn fields.
Life is good!

Pretty amazing morning, got up at the appointed 5:30 but didn't have to take the dogs out (as the SigOth was taking them to the dog park later). Got out the door at 6 for my 3.5 mile ride downtown (fixed 2004 Bianchi Pista). Moon huge in the west, nice and cool morning. Made most of the lights and got to the bus early. Getting brighter as the bus drops me in the Northland for the last 5 miles. Last night I figured out the quickest way from work to the bus, so I repeat the process. Almost the most scenic and not very many cars at 6:40, so I ease my way past the leveled forest that will soon be a housing complex and across to the frontage road. When I get to the swoopy section, up and down and up and down...I get to the top of the highest small hill and the Airport is to the left with the moon above it and a few slivers of orange peaking through the haze to my right. Soon it is a floating orb above the trees.

Doesn't get much better...

Tgif
 

Cool morning here in the South Puget sound it was below 50 at 4:30 when I started my 7.2 mile commute Large moon and except for a couple of Semi's in the Sumner industrial park area it was pretty quiet seemed hard to get going for some reason but after a mile or so I warmed up and everything started to work (my joints that is) On the way home I took it easy enjoyed the sunshine and a little breeze made it home in 37 minutes not bad for a lazy ride I thought

god I love it when the temps get out of the 100s. nice both ways. riding home, to save a few minutes I decided to ride on the sidewalk. on the wrong side of the street. I won't be doing that again!:eek: more pedestrians out now that the temps have dropped, too. might be time to abandon the sidewalk. when I got home my ice water was still cold.

Back in Boston after a summer of bike commuting in NYC, Rome, Lisbon and then road riding in western Massachusetts. It's great to be back in Beantown and riding the bikepath into the city daily. Today was a beautiful commute along the Charles River. Not quite the same as riding along the Tiber, the Tagus, the Hudson, the East River or the Housatonic but it sure was nice to be home.

A great commute today. A red rising Sun to the east a white setting Moon to the west. 69
degrees on the ride this morning. Mist coming off the Missouri river.

i guess i'm really not driving much recently.

let things run waaaaaay too late this morning, until the only way of making it within my standard window was to drive. changed out of bike clothes and into work clothes. skipped the finding of a coffee container and pouring of coffee as a penance. got into car. inserted key; turned key. starter goes rrRRrclick, and that's it. tried it again. rrRRrclick. yeeks; big sigh. check headlights: nope, i did turn them off the last time. check overhead light; battery's fine. check to make sure i've got it in park. rrRRrclick. mysterious.

so eh. i guess it's a bike day after all. back into the house, back into bike clothes, work clothes in the bag, actually feeling kind of 'oh yay, i get to ride after all' about it. didn't bother phoning bcaa again; it's not like the car's going to go anywhere before i get around to it. poured coffee and took it with me.

i was kind of worried though; the only time that car ever fails to start is when i leave the lights on and run the battery flat. somewhere in the alley it dawned on me: somehow, after 9 years of owning it, i just plain forgot it has a manual choke :D i did go back to make sure, just in case i was wrong and it was sitting there flooding the driveway with gas, and sure enough. but by then i had no intention of getting back off the bike.

had a terrific ride in to work. hit all the lights just exactly right, it was sunny and fairly cold and dead peaceful. the drivers i saw were showing a bit of wild-eyed weirdo effect from the restarting of school, but nothing to worry about anywhere. someone ran the red light at the bike-controlled crossing before the bridge, but i'd had my eye on them so it was no bother to me. the ride home was very nice too.

I going to a bike shopt to check out some fenders so i had to take a different route than my susual one to school. Half of it (about 8 km) are on a narrow, bad quality, uneven, and crowded with carts street with a traffic jam at one point. I atullay enjoyed riding through it and the traffic, was my first time biking on such a street, squeezing around and getting ahead of cars, was fun :D

It was great this morning. My bike had it's first service last week, so it was riding really well, there was no breeze and the sun was out. It was a bit cold when I started, but I warmed up pretty quickly.

There's a busy three lane road I ride on that has no bike lane, but the speed limit is only 40 kph because of a school on the road. It's a bit downhill in that part, so it's great being able to take a lane and keep up with traffic.

35F (2C) degrees. Shorts. Long sleeve jersey. No gloves. As usual, a bit chilly for the first mile or so, but once the internal fires got stoked up, I was comfortable. I like cool weather riding but I'm not so sure I'm ready for w*nt*r yet.

I passed a guy on an old touring bike, then somehow I managed to reel in a 'bent. No easy feat on the Liquid with knobby tires. :p I don't think he liked it. He kept looking in his mirror and going a little faster. Eventually I zipped off onto a lakeside dirt path that I like to ride.

Sigh, no bike ride this morning. Did my first half-century ride Saturday and still felt sore today.
Learned anew why I don't like driving to work--inane highway traffic. I think I'll be driving my bike route from now on when I have to drive & leave after 5:30 am.

Looked at the weather last night, and told the girlfriend "I think I'm going to skip riding tomorrow, since Monday is the only day that is supposed to rain this week".

Woke up, saw that it wasn't raining. Looked like it was going to be clear for the next hour or so, and decided to go for it (taking a cue from a post I'd seen in the "bad weather commuting" thread about rarely regretting to ride, but often regretting to not).

No rain the whole way in - it was a little chilly, but about halfway in, I didn't care anymore, because the @#%#$ windbreaker I bought at Target yesterday doesn't breathe for CRAP. The parts of my body covered by the dryfit t-shirt underneath weren't too bad, but my lower arms were DRIPPING by the time I rolled into work. My back was a little sweaty too.

Oh, and I discovered that yet another thing interferes with my crappy wireless bike computer...my front headlight. Luckily it was pretty light out by the time I got going, so I was okay. But it's time to replace that computer!

Finally back on the bike after only riding twice in the past two weeks. Work has been all over the place so I have been driving to work more than I want to. Nice cool morning for a ride in, saw a black cat the looked exactly like the one I have in the middle of the road in the median. Also saw about 3 other riders out and about, one was a roadie and another looked like she was out for a morning ride. I am hoping to ride almost everyday this week.

Great ride in this morning. 69 degrees F and not too humid. Auto traffic looked like a nightmare for the people stuck in their cages. Since I was on my mountain bike this morning, I just rode in the grass and passed people for about 2 miles to the stop sign at Jones Bridge and McGinnis Ferry :p

First ride in with new panniers and rack I bought this weekend at REI. It is so nice to ride in with nothing hanging on your back or shoulders. I did notice I need new brake pads/shoes while I was putting the rack on. Its a cheap wally world mountain bike, so I guess I'll walk over to WW at lunch and get some more brake pads/shoes for the lunker.

The bike itself is not too bad for a dept store creature. It has 21 speeds and I replaced the rear wheel with one from a lbs so it has quick release in front and back. But apparently 800 miles is all I got out of the original brake pads.

Left a half hour late, but no worries. Finally feels like fall around here - in the upper 40s this morning, but bright and sunny. Glad to be getting a light wind jacket this week. Was weighted down with clothes & towel in the trunk bag, and laptop in the backpack. Wasn't feeling to motivated for a Monday, but ended up not much slower. Did the 11.59 miles in 0:45:06.

Looking foward to a warmer ride home!