Wow smells - hmmm I think I may have to re-work my route to take in Dreamland Barbeque every now and then... I loved driving by there in convertible.

New googles arrived and worked great. Not sure they will be dark enough for full sunny summer days but I know me and I'll have lost them and two other pairs before those days reappear!

Here's to quitting time and the next ride. :beer:

Good ride in this morning. for some reason, the cagers were not giving me as much room today as yesterday, but still nothing too close.

Smells...hmmm...diesel fumes, gas from the gas station, fresh mowed grass from the subdivision maintenance crew.

I was 3rd in line at a red light on the way home. About 5 or 10 seconds after I'm stopped, the car behind me honks, not just a beep, but probably a full second or two. I slowly crane my head around to give the, "where-do-you-expect-me-to-go? look". Then the driver shouted out her window, "oops, I slipped!". I waved to say, no big whoop. Then I started thinking, what was she doing in her cage behind me at a red light that caused her to slilp into her horn for a full second? It was pouring rain and couldn't see that much detail through my mirror.

Today was my first ever commute by bike. It was a beautiful morning for a ride, and even though practically all 8.5 miles are uphill, it went well. Lucky for me, that means the ride home is all downhill!

I'm a big guy, trying to lose a few pounds, so I needed a couple little breaks to catch my breath. But overall I felt really good. Now I'm at work with a nice clear head and a great start on the day.

I'm riding a Specialized Sirrus to which I have added new pedals, rack, trunk bag, fenders, bar ends, headlight and blinker. The tires are 700x28, and are just right for commuting: thin enough to be fast and wide enough to be stable. The bar ends helped to give me more hand positions, and allowed me to get into more of a "down" position when I wanted to.

I'm not up for every-day riding just yet, but once a week will be fun.

A bit chilly, damp, and foggy outside...a very English morning. I was so motivated and happy to get on the bike after a couple days of really rainy weather in my locale. Had a really nice ride...felt so good. Today was the first time I did a commute with a helmet on too. I have to say...I thought my head would be boiling hot...but, I must have bought an adequately vented lid...cause my head was damn cold! I have to think this is due to the wind going through the vents and hitting the sweat on my head.

It was also the first commute with my new 26 x 1.5 Nimbus Armidillos...all I can is...what a fool I was for not running skinnier, higher pressure tires when I first started riding. They took a couple minutes off of the ride and reduced overall effort as well. I thank this site for making me aware of them.

Plus...I did you guys proud (I think). I stayed in the street on one of the 2 hills along my route...this particular one goes over an expressway in my area. Instead of riding on glass laiden sidewalks...I timed my entry up the hill ...I waited for traffic to clear based on the stoplight cycle 4 blocks before the hill...I reached the top, crossed the next stoplight and went to the curb (I'm sorry...but this road is REALLY tight) and repeated the process. Traffic passed me safely then WEE! a nice descent pushed me to 27mph. I don't know if I could do any better...there is really basically no room, there is heavy semi traffic and "taking the lane" on this street during rush hour is just NOT an option. Chime in to tell me if I'm a wuss or if I'm doing the right thing, or if there is no right or wrong answer...I could take the criticism. :D PM me if this will tarnish the topic of the thread...perhaps it should be a separate one.

Congrats to you. What matters most is that you're riding. You'll be up for riding everyday in no time...and the pounds will melt off...and you'll feel great.

Perfect temps--low 60s so the knees were bare & happy. First commute this week after last weekend's half-century, so the legs were kinda slow. Little traffic, altough one cager couldn't wait to turn at a soplight so the moron jumped in the left lane to go around me, then turned right-on-red from a non-turn lane. The sun was not up yet so it was still quite dark, but the moron didn't have the headlights on, just parking lights. There's never a cop around when you need one. :( (Unless it was a bicycle cop they probably wouldn't do anything anyway. grumble.)

On the up side, I will set another personal (annual milage) best for the year on the ride home: 1500 miles! (That's up 3x from last year.) :D

Awesome ride. Temp was ~59F (15C) but I toughed it out and wore my sandals. :beer: I'm just not ready to put them away for the year and wear shoes and socks. :o

I don't understand the cagers. At every stoplight all I heard was the click-click of their AC turning on and off. I wanted to yell, "Hey stupids, it's 59 degrees out here. Turn off the AC and open your windows."

Didn't see many other commuters. :(

The ride home should be great. Sunny and 85F (29C). http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoti.../happy/050.gif

This is my favorite thread in this forum and I read it each morning first thing. I usually ride in 2 or three times a week and run in on Weds. It is a 9.5 miles one way with plenty of Pittsburgh hills. With the exception of a half mile streach, it is all secondary roads with very light traffic. Reading the challenges faced by many of you gives me the motivatation to start out on increasingly darker and colder mornings. Also, since I've only seen one other cyclist on my many rides, I sometimes start to question my sanity. It is good to know that there are others out there with a mind set like mine.

Great ride this morning. Pulled out the silk-weight long sleeve shirt, very comfortably cool. And I've got to go uptown for a meeting today, so I'm carrying the bike with me and riding home. It'll be a nice long afternoon ride home.

Utterly dragged a$$ this morning, I don't know what my deal was, but it was kind of embarassing. A semi-nasty crosswind didnt help, either. luckily, i had no problems with cagers for the first time since i started biking to work, so that was a def. silver lining.

here's to hoping for a better ride home.

FYI...don't know if it is the case, but, most cars cycle the a/c on and off when running the windshield defogger...I know on nights when it gets into the 50's (when it was 70+ the day before) you need to run the windshield defogger to be able to see in the morning due to all the dew dude. (play on words intended :D)

Hooray!! :beer:

When you have questions or encounter issues - lots of good resources here.

Congrats again - hope you find it as much fun as I do.

Welcome to the Happy Healthy Commuting Mother F*ckers (HHCMF) club. We're a bike gang that likes to bravely ride to work while wild eyed cagers suffering from caffeine/nicotine/premium gas withdrawals careen wildly around us chasing demons only they can see. Keep up the good work!

So my ride home last night included a trip to Brooklyn for pizza, beer and good conversation before heading home at 11 pm in a slight drizzle. I had to assure my friends from college that I still had a job and was not, in fact, a bike messenger despite my appearance.

Thanks for the support, everyone. I've been working my way up to this for a while, riding around the neighborhood and one evening test ride to work. I've been reading these forums religiously, and have gained much useful information.

The first half of my ride is nice and peaceful, with neighborhood streets and gentle hills. The second half is through an industrial park, with lots of large trucks, fast-moving cars and steep hills. I've been using this website to track my routes (http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/index.asp), and I think I have found a couple of cut-thoughs that will save me a couple of hills and some time on busier roads.

That's the only nice thing about riding through the industrial park: lots of adjacent parking lots and back-way cut-throughs. Louisville isn't a great town for bike commuting, but with a little creativity and a lot of attention to my surroundings, I think it will be fun.

haven't commuted in 2 weeks because of commitments a hour away after work, and a campus that is far away I know I can ride it except for I am afraid of the country roads in the winter I could easly become someones speed bump no one would know or care. Last night I finished getting everything tightened, and checked over. While riding my head set came loose again argh even after the screw drive, and mallet method I might need to get this thing faced? then the seat was loose so I stood up the whole way in turns out even though I was carrying 25 lbs more then ever I beat my record of 15 minutes more work for me :)

I just realized that this might have been referring to the car, i.e. a convertable. :o But, I don't remember noticing that it was a convertable, thought I might just not have noticed...

Yea, jacksoncooper! :beer:

Bravo! I just got a friend to come in as a consultant at work with the enticement that it would give him a bike ride twice a week- he's never been a bike commuter and only just getting going on the bike but he is loving it. He's very happy to get his 16 miles round trip one or two days a week. It's so much fun to watch as someone gets hooked on the bike commute thing. Welcome to the club, pretty soon it'll feel strange when you don't ride in at least once a week.

I don't mean to nitpick here, as I am certain no disrespect was intended towards bike messengers by your post but, and I'm sure you'd agree, being a bike messenger is very much a job- and a respectable one at that. I would be proud to be mistaken for one and I have a sneaking suspicion you relished the thought.

Thank God it's Friday... Too many hours this week. Seems like the only time away from the desk has been on the bike headed to and from this madness. Thank you bicycle for helping me keep a shard of my sanity.

Ride home last night was dark, cool and refreshing. However, the aroma of skunk was hanging in the air through the rural neighborhood. I know he was out there somewhere, but could only see in the light pool ahead of me. Much less traffic when going home later at night. Very refreshing after a day at the grind.

This morning was another early one. Sun was just hitting the front range as I pulled into the office. Farily peaceful that early. Cant wait to get out of here. The deadline I've been pushing all week is at 5 today, so come heck or highwater I'm headed to the Tequila zone shortly after.

Today I caved and went for long sleeves. May have been a bit premature though, extra-super-duper sweaty at work right now.

After a 3-year sabbatical to help raise my son, I'm back at a professional job in downtown DC. Criteria in picking where I would work was, 1) Can I bike there? and 2) Is there a shower close by, and 3) Is there a good place to park my bike (commuter bike is a 2005 Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra).

Nailed all three and am about 3 weeks into it. It's only about 5 miles, but it's through downtown DC traffic, which is challenging. Only bummer was getting doored last week. Required a couple days at the bike shop, during which time I rode my Trek Madone 5.2, which was fun until day #3 when I got a flat and had to walk it about 15 blocks. Not too surprising, considering DC roads. Fortunately, I got my BB back that night and so am back on the saddle, feeling good (and watching those doors -- been doored 3 times in less than a year; in each case, it's been a passenger trying to hop out while the car is stopped in traffic)

The ride in today was perfect. Nice and cool, only got sweaty on the last mile of my 8 mile commute. TOday was my first bike commute in nearly a year and a half. I tried it a little in spring of 2005 and it was a b***h of a commute for me then. A physical a couple of months later revealed that I was anemic, and a massive gastrointestinal hemmorrhage a few months after that revealed why I was anemic. I've spent the last 11 months recuperating and finally felt safe trying again. I've also made some changes in child care arrangements that should make it easier for me to bike commute more often.

The ride home will be interesting to experience, as it's more uphill than the ride in. Shouldn't be too bad though.

Happy Healthy Commuting Mother F*ckers (HHCMF) :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

I'm in for a T-shirt if they're ever made.

I think they've got them and I hear reports they are stylin'.

You be the judge

http://wulfheir.com/pics/hhcmf.jpg