GTcommuter

Walked in this morning to repair my flat tire since I left the bike in the office last night. Saw a fellow BF commuter and waved a cheerful hello (though I was secretly ashamed to be walking instead of en bike).

GreenAnvil

First time out to work this morning on my Gary Fischer Kaitai under a constant drizzle. Mechanical disk brakes worked pretty good; noticed some screeching once when applying the front brake. But it stops and it stops now (compared to my older bike caliper brakes).

The CygoLite light system was a MAJOR improvement over the 4-AA battery powered light I had before.

I ordered a rack (should be here by Saturday); in the meantime I went out and got a rack for my wife's bike but installed it on my GF in order to use my new bike today. The panniers were too close and my shoes kept bumping into both panniers; this forced me to use the middle of the foot for pedaling making it uncomfortable. So when my rack arrives on Saturday I need to make sure that the rack and paniers are sufficiently far back to enable me to pedal without obstruction.

The bike is much faster than my previous one. I did the commute in 41m (normally I do it in 47 min+, pushing hard) without even trying... so just a change of bike was the cause of a 6+ minute improvement?

Also, last night I got my first flat tire ever (on my old "anvil" bike). But it happened very close to home so I just called the wife and she picked me up. Up to that point I had ridden about 35m for the entire day.

GreenAnvil

Wulfheir

The fog was so thick coming in that it felt like I was driving through a mist the whole time, like way more than usual. It was fun, but near work I approached another cyclist from behind and could barely see her blinkie, made me wonder if cars were seeing me.

Scorer75

Wow. Today's commute was awesome.

They were expecting wind and rain, we got sun, calm winds, and 65F!!!

I set a new PR covering the 17 mile commute on my mountain bike in 58 minutes at an average speed of 17.2 mph!!!

I wonder how fast I could have done it if I didn't miss those last few lights or if I didn't have my fenders, rack, and bag on the back.

Anyways, awesome ride and am looking forward to cruising home the long way.

genel

Wow, beautiful day today. First sunny morning in recent memory, and tail wind too! Nice and cool, but I'm not looking forward to the headwind home.

There must have been an accident somewhere, because traffic was gridlocked. Other employees are calling in stuck in traffic. I didn't see even one other bike though.

MyPC8MyBrain

Took off work yesterday at 3:00. That was my 8 hours and I'm determined to work 0 ot hours this week due to the 60hrs last week. Since we were both home early enough, we racked up the tandem and hauled off to our favorite evening ride. It's fun to ride home early so you can go for a ride.

On the tandem we put the hurt on a roadie taking the maiden voyage on his brand new Fuji. Saw him pulling us when we were cruising down the avenue. You know that when two bikes are headed the same direction, they are racing. We backed off a bit to let him think he was going to own us. When he got about 10 bike lenghts back we hit it.... and pulled away till he was a small neon lime dot in the mirror. Then we slowed up for round 2. This time we let him pass us and pull ahead a couple bike lengths before we put the hammer down again. She honked her squeaky duck horn as she went past... silly girl. Turns out this guy was parked next to us in the lot, so we chatted a bit with him.

This morning was another brisk one, 38f when I left out. Headed through the rural neighborhood in semi darkness, I about crapped myself when a pack of large dogs emerged from one of the side streets 1/2 block ahead of me. First was 2 German Shepherds, then an equally large black dog and 2 more medium sized mongrels. I slowed and got ready with the pepper spray.... Then the owners came into view, just out for an ealy morning stroll. I gave them my mean look for letting 5 dogs wander the road unleashed, then went on my way. Stupid Humans really piss me off sometimes.

DataJunkie

40F! It warmed up. Time for jersey and shorts again! not

I was in a bit of an odd mood this morning.
Was riding along a MUP and passed 2 roadies crusing along. I did not "drop" them. I passed due to the fact I was riding faster. Anyhow, I said morning to each one as I passed them and received two pairs of scowls.
Anyhow, they passed me 10 minutes later while I was munching on my cliff bar. I said morning again and no response. 5 minutes I came upon them and yelled morning in a laughing voice. Later I passed them as they took a breather and yelled morning again.
I amuse me.
Passed another roadie who looked a bit pooped and said hello. No response. WTH? I must look butt ugly.

rando

the commute was great yesterday-- the temps have fallen and the light has changed and it is cool in the mornings! AAAAAHHHHH. sigh of relief. it is truly a pleasure to ride in this weather. got stuck behind some pleasure riders who were going too sloooow so I passed 'em! lots of cyclists out.

Relaxer

Great ride this morning, 68 degrees in downtown DC at 7:30 am. Felt a little achin', having done 100 miles in night rides since Saturday evening (broken into three segments of 33.5 miles each). But that's the great thing about commuting. I never include it in my weekly mileage goals, so it's just a bonus 35-40 miles per week.

caloso

Yesterday we had a fun ride home. The twins' daycare is a block from the Amtrak station and 2 blocks from the Calif. Railroad Museum so whenever I tow the kids I try to take a little detour for the benefit of my train-crazy son. My daughter really doesn't care about trains, but she seemed to enjoy the ride too.

This morning my wife is off work so I got up early and rode the Caldaro to work, taking a 15 mile detour around the Pocket. About a block from my office, a guy on a beautiful Colnago caught up to me at the light and we exchanged compliments on each other's bike and chatted about Campy superiority. (No Shimano flames, please!)

JohnBrooking

Had a fun conversation with my wife this morning. I was trying out clipping a red blinkie to my waistband in the back, and was currently bending over to pump up a tire:

mwrobe1, I generally go to long pants under 60F, since I can then just wear my work slacks for the ride, not sweat much, and so do not have to change them when I arrive. (We're business casual.) My current bikes do not have a chain guard, so to avoid getting grease on my right pants leg, I roll them up to my knee or tuck them into my socks or (in really cold weather) rubber-band a rag to the inside of my calf. (So fashionable! ) The left leg I just use a rubber-band to keep the cuff from flapping.

saraflux

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!! i have been fighting the off-again, on-again cig battle for a long time (years and years). it's hard.
keep us posted on how your stamina improves without the smokes... i find that i'm fine for the commute (5 miles each way), but on a long ride (30 mi. round trip) i cannot make it much farther than that without taking lots of short breaks to get my wind back and stop feeling like i am about to have a stroke or something. do you have that problem?

windy today. i HATE headwinds when i'm in a hurry.

hairlessbill

A little chilly in Boulder this morning too but it was bright and sunny. Took the red bike (red=fast) in today along with my new red 'Flash' sox (lightning bolt=really fast) so I must have been really really fast! I didn't even break a sweat this morning cuz it was so cool. But I wasn't so fast - must have been that morning hockey practice - despite all that that.

Anyhoo, just wanted to comiserate because almost every roadie I run across on the bike path has that scowl. I almost never drop anybody or pass anybody but if I do I always give a smile and a little wave (like hi! how are you? just passing by...). Sheesh, it takes so little. And why is everybody in such a rush on a fine morning like we had today?

mwrobe1

Honestly...I never had that problem, but I'm 32 as well (don't know if you're older/younger). But I tell you...I noticed a bit of a difference on the way in this morning...felt like I had more "spark" up the 1 hill I encounter on my route.

BTW...22 hours w/o a cig now. WOO HOO! I think, unless I do something really REALLY stupid by the end of the day; I could consider myself a non-smoker now. The last time I quit (for 3 years) it was the first 24 hours that were the hardest.

dalmore

Stick with it mwrobe1 - it was easy for me both times I quit - the first time for 5 years. The last time for good was 10 years ago. All those failed attempts between the two were very hard though. Crazy hard.

The ride home was great - chased down and passed a roadie. He proceeded to hang off my rear wheel for a couple of miles - I pedalled thse two miles much harder than normal. I'm a little sore ...

pinkrobe

Tres foggy today! I ran double blinkies on my back, but I put my headlight somewhere [if you find it, let me know], so I was all but invisible from in front. I have to head in to work early tomorrow, so I should dig out my light and charge it up.

mwrobe1

OK...ride home was fun...I felt like it was a challenge to get home before it started raining...but it never did. 24+ hours since I last had a smoke. I'll owe up to you all if I slip up...but I don't think thats going to happen. I know this will sound "well...duh!" to people who never smoked...but damn...even 24 hours without smoking improves breathing and gives you a little more ummph while on a bike...I'm using this as motivation to continue to be a non-smoker. I gotta get that 18 mile commute time down to an hour doggone it!

G5Ti

I rode my new road bike today.... holy cow! A commute that normally takes 35 minutes took 27 without any additional effort!

A beautiful early fall Ohio day... good stuff. Gotta get some warmer gear though; I can already tell it's gonna be a cold one.

redden

First commute since getting injured 12 days ago. I went past the barriers today and noticed a big change. It was brightly lit. I had no problem seeing the barrier. Made me wonder how I could of missed it before. How did I manage to live this long if I'm that oblivious to my surrounding?
Checked a picture taken the day of the accident and it was dark despite some street lights. Here's the picture https://tinyurl.com/re2ok That was taken about 45 minutes after the accident, so it was a bit lighter than when it happened.

I arrived on Campus a few minutes later than usual, taking it easy till fully healed. Felt great to ride again. Now I'm looking for a HID light.

MSCDcommuter

Which MUP were you riding? I've noticed that nobody ever says hello on the South Platte trail. I guess they're all too busy training for Le Tour

JohnBrooking

Last night was one of my nicest commutes in a while, in an odd sort of way. I had an appointment downtown until 9 o'clock, and when I came out, in was raining steadily. Fortunately, it was not very cold, and I had my high-visibility flourescent jacket, light-colored slacks, bright Rover headlight, and two taillight blinkes, one under my saddle and the other clipped to the back of my waist, so I wasn't too worried. Although I did get sopping wet, I was not cold, and the smells were interesting, a very damp froggy/fishy smell. Further, there was not much traffic, which was good because the roads were that shiny wet surface that just seems to eat light. I also tried a different way home, which worked out very well. It was very rewarding that despite the weather, which to the uninitiated might make it appear that I was crazy, I felt the whole time like I was very much in control of the situation. Nothing unexpected happened, and all the motorist encounters were fine. So overall it gave me a nice feeling of self-confidence, as well as reminding me that I was a part of nature and rain happens.

When I got home, my wife was fortuititously standing at the back door calling the cat in, having heard him meowing upon my arrival, so she was able to get me a towel and collect my wet clothes as I removed them on the back porch. I expressed a desire for some strong drink, and she offered to make me a martini! So I said I guess I'll just go upstairs and put on my bathrobe and slippers while my wife brings me a martini, and it occurred to both of us that the only thing lacking was if I smoked a pipe, which I don't! So that was kind of a nice cozy homey situation. A nice night.

Hhowdy

Howdy,
We are starting into winter here, I had my first commute under 40f this week. The wind is a moment by moment thing around here, somedays it's a tail wind both ways and other days like today it's a frickin grind into a 20mph wind.

M.R.

buzzman

voted in a primary this morning on my way into work. Only one other voter was there while I was and he rode in on a bicycle too.

really nice ride in this am. moving kind of slow. have had a cold for 1 1/2 weeks now. It is improving but it's hanging on.

rode in and completely forgot I had a reserved spot in the new bike room and almost locked my bike to one of those generic outdoor racks used by the great unwashed. This new bike room makes me feel like such an elitist. I'll have to take some photos of it to give you all a sense of how plush this space is.

rode to a late night rehearsal (locked the bike outside to a rack) then did the ride home and barely remember the ride I was so caught up in my thoughts. It was raining.

Came home to find out my candidate won!

RonH

Sorry guys. No bike commuting today. I only had 5 hours sleep Monday night and 4.5 hours last night and I have to work till 9 PM tonight.
Just got the wife out the door and now I'm going back to bed for a few minutes.

bikebuddha 

Ron you missed a great ride this morning. It was as Eliza Doolittle would say, "lovely."