Buzz Me and I'll Smack Your A$$
 

Wish that was me

Wife is at home on maternity so I'm commuting again. Here I am bottom up, PI shoes with built in reflectors on heals, reflective bands around ankles and reflective stripes on tights. Blinky on seat post blazing away, reflective tape on saddle bag and a bright orange vest with yellow reflective stripes wrapped around my backpack.

http://girlscantoo.com/forums/images/smilies/rant.gif Some chick driving a small SUV with N.H. Plates came from behind and Buzzed me up against a parked box truck. I was so pissed before knew I smacked the back of her truck. She looked startled as she turned and looked at me with a cell phone to her head. She invited me to pull over, I was more than happy to as I gave her a mouth full. She initially denied she was talking on the phone, then said she was talking to her friend who she en route to pick up http://www.girlscantoo.com/forums/im...otten/hand.gif. I think I'm too short fused to begin commuting again.

8.25 miles today. 33 minutes. It sure is getting cold up here.

No commute for me today....my seat post broke on the way home last night :( I guess I learned just how temporary my temporary repairs were. So, swinging by the store today to get a new one. Yay.

good commute both ways. cooling down, lots more bikes out there. there were five of us stopped at a light and a pedestrian waiting with us said, "I didn't know there was a bike rally today!" he was laughing. good to see so many of us out here. mostly students, but still...

You know what would make this ride home a lot better? If I could smell the public toilets for about a quarter mile before I passed them... Yeah! That's more like it. A good whiffy cr@p breeze is just what this ride needed.
And I bet a bee in my helmet would really kick some butt! Can I get a bee in my helmet? AWESOME! Thanks, world.

(The ride home last night could have been less stinky and bee-filled...)

3rd day straight w/ truck/car parked blocking bike lane. He helpfully turned his bright headlights on to let me know he was there. I turned my cygolite back on to let him know I was there. The only time I really *want* a HID is when I *want* to blind somebody. Visibility is easy enough to find.

Otherwise, a perfect ride on perfect day.

I was taking the lane on 21st Street and this asshat in an Audi A4 wagon with a bike rack (!) squeezed by me with about 6 inches of space. What really bothers me is that I used to own the exact same car (and I loved it) and I don't like to think of Audi station wagon drivers as jerks or clueless. Or clueless jerks. But this guy was.

Other than that, the ride to work was fine.

Must have been the brother to the girl who squeezed me this morning.

good commute both ways. cooling down, lots more bikes out there. there were five of us stopped at a light and a pedestrian waiting with us said, "I didn't know there was a bike rally today!" he was laughing. good to see so many of us out here. mostly students, but still...

finally some cool weather. enough to make it a little chilly at the start, though not yet cool enough for long sleeves.

and, the new fellows have arrived (i work at a think tank with a revolving class of new fellows every year) and three of them are biking to the office already. we meet for coffee and ride in together.

perfect.

Had to come to work early today to get a headstart on some issues... needless to say it was dark and colder. 44f to be exact. While I was gearing up, I figured out that I left the arm and leg warmers at the office under my desk. So shorts and shell it was then. Wasn't too bad once I got to pedaling, but I was glad to be wearing full finger gloves.

Running the 10w halogen with the LED headlight in **** mode seems to work out fairly well. I could see it flashing against reflective signs in the distance, so I know it was visible. Running out of RealEstate on the drop bars so I moved the dingy bell to the stem.

Very cool morning for this time of year, upper 50s but it sure is nice. I actually put on long sleeves but they were very thin and I was sweating halfway through my ride. Made good time even though my allergies are killing me lately, especially my eyes and nose. I think riding helps to clear them out though. Looking forward to a nice ride home in about an hour.

Ride home was nice as the weather was cool. Passed a bunch of other commuters and delivery guys. Lost my cyclocomp this morning when it fell through the helmet vents and I didn't notice. Oh well.

Ride to work was fast. Even though it was cool out, I had a delayed sweat effect. Felt cool and dry on the way in and started pouring sweat as soon as I stopped. Also, even though there's no proper bike racks at work, I saw at least two other commuters, one w/ a baby seat on his bike and another w/ a Kona Smoke. We're all locking up to the various street signs available.

Do you carry a camera phone or a regular digital camera ?

Next time you come across this type of thing, snap a shot of the truck, and of the tag. Get the name of the company and post it up on this website: http://www.mybikelane.com !!!!

=) GOOD LUCK !

It was really warm this morning! I didn't check the temperature, but I realized about half way into my ride that I was over-dressed. I unzipped my jacket halfway, and opened up the sleeve cuffs to catch some breeze.
There was no fog because it was so warm. I think this is the precursor weather to the 10 days of on/off rain showers we're supposed to be getting starting this evening.

Foggy. Very, very foggy. About a half mile visibility. Today was the first day I wore one of my alertshirts and it must have worked. A coworker noticed it from across the parking lot easily.

I can't wait til I get my cateye tl-1000. The lil dinky light I have on the back of m y bike can't be seen too terribly well.

No commute for several days. My bum has an issue that my doctor wants me to stop cycling temporarily for it to heal. Sucks! Anyhow, I can't even sit very long and am working from home. Thank goodness for that option.

I'll have to try that. Today the lane was actually free.

Great ride, event-free. Seems to really be fall. Dang it!

Well, this is my first post and I had a great ride into work this morning. 7 miles in a little under 25 minutes, which is a good pace for me. My trip is mostly residential, not too busy. I very rarely see another rider, which is sad. Today it started misting for a few minutes. Yesterday I got caught in a downpour for the entire second half of my trip in (15 minutes or so). I actually enjoyed the rain, but riding home in wet clothes was no joy!

Steve

Had to drive the last few days to take the car to the mechanic (they made it worse instead of better so I had to take it back). Now that it's fixed, I can ride my bike!

Fixed the slow leak in my rear tire. It was actually a decent-sized pinhole in the tube. I'm surprised it leaked so slowly. Anyway, super patch applied; good as new.

Last night was the bike master plan kickoff ride in Roseville. Big crowd showed up. Probably 60 people. It was great to meet the city officials and Bjorn, one of the local advocacy leaders, among others. Pointed out some of the successes and failures of the current bike infrastructure to the bike planning consulting company representatives. They took lots of notes.

Guy in a big pickup thought the bike lane was for cars this morning. Cut me off, turned right. I don't think he ever knew I was there despite me knocking on the side of his truck to get his attention.

MikeE

I wasn't able to post yesterdays commute, BF was down. It was pretty standard. Felt a little warmer than Monday for sure. My normal route is under construction, so I detoured onto a much nicer route. Funny how things like that happen.

Nice cool ride in this morning. Joan, another cyclist on my route, caught up with me. So, we chatted for a couple miles until she turned off for her office.

Sunrise against Pikes Peak is always spectacular. The phrase "Purple Mountain's Majesty" in America the Beautiful [Katherine Lee Bates] was inspired by sunrise against Pikes Peak. The peak is covered with snow already btw. :)

Yesterday must have been a banner day for bad drivers. All my lights and reflectives must have made me very visible. I know this because as I was crossing the intersection in the right straight thru lane some jerkwad swung out into the right turn lane and passed me ON THE RIGHT:eek: ! The worst part was the left straight thru lane was empty. I got the plate and description and 2 minutes later I was at Starbucks telling a police officer what had happened, and I got "Nothing we can do without witnesses":mad: . I guess if I had been the victim of a hit and run I'm out of luck if there are no witnesses. Does anyone know of some applicable California law that I can use to get the local police to take action? I had to swerve to the left to avoid being hit as the idiot swung left into my lane. And yes, Helmet Head, I was taking the lane. Several near misses and squeezeplays by people I know see me are making me consider giving up bicycle commuting if I have to die to get the police to take action to make the roads safer.

Today was a little winter preview of chillier air and p*ssing rain. As much as I've been digging zipping to work on my new track bike it felt good to get back on my fendered XO-2 this morning.