caloso

I'd spent an hour last evening swapping a cartridge BB into the Bomber (I don't know why anyone would mess with an old-style bottom bracket anymore). I thought I'd be trailering the kids to daycare this morning, but my son slept later than I expected so my wife volunteered to drive them in as usual. And instead of the Bomber, I rode the Racer. Nice ride in, and fast.

saraflux

the cooler it gets, the happier i am.
it was around 60*F and no wind...
nice nice nice.
i broke 800 miles yesterday. i am really happy with how the car-free life is treating me so far.
i LOVE fall.

chephy

Yay - I'm officially a commuter despite lack of a full-time job that requires commuting!

HardyWeinberg

Another perfect riding day. 8 days into my new schedule, and I finally had my system disrupted; I forgot to pack underwear.

There was a kind of spectacular fatal car accident essentially right on the bike trail this weekend (car blew through stop sign, no hint of braking, jumped curb, flew over the overpass, flipped in mid-air, landed upsidedown on I-5 20-30' below). People have been putting more and more stuff on the overpass barrier in memory of the passenger who died instantly. The driver's apparently getting better up in Seattle. There are investigation spray paint marks up the road the trail parallels, but I don't know what they're marking, there is no hint of braking attempts that I can see.

dalmore

hang in there nolucker. I'd pour you a scotch if I could.

superted

his fault, not your responsability to not get yourself killed in "this traffic" afterall, you are traffic so you have the same right to life....

youre never too old.





Oh man the commute sucks at the moment, the tube/ underground / "metro" is so crowded, its still fairly warm so theres a lot of BO and I'm gagging to get out riding again. Theres a complicated reason why I cant ride that no-one would understand so I cant be bothered to explain.

huhenio

well .. I am still riding the motorcycle due my 70+ mile roundrtip commute. I keep waving to the few and the proud who brave traffic on pedal power. I am as jelaous as hell. It was a beautiful summer, and now the fall is yet more inviting than ever.

I am selling the cage and I will keep riding on two wheels at a time for the time given

mxu63

Rode in was nice and easy. Since I am a newbie, I had a question popped up. Who is supposed to cover insurance for my biking?

HardyWeinberg

AFAIK your own health insurance if you're the only party to an accident, the car insurance of any car that happens to hit you. PIP, I think it's acronymed.

tokolosh

don't know what i did to my right knee but it must have been good cause it was pretty hurty all the way home. i rediscovered the granny gear and took it very easy because i still have 2 days to go this week. i need to do something about that car.

buzzman

my ride in was great today on the folder. Got notice my new drive train components are on the way but after tuning up the folding bike I'm starting to like the way it rides. It's much lighter than the big old clunky commuter. The regular commuter is such a work horse in comparison.

Ride home was nice, too.

mxu63

Thanks HardyWeinberg. I appreciate it.

mister

Nice ride today. I didn't work this weekend. Monday I didn't ride since I was working on stuff at home and lost track of time so I had to drive to make it on time. Tuesday was another day off, so I was dying to get back on the bike. I took some time yesterday to do some adjustment on my front deraileur and ended up cleaning my entire drive train. All in all, nice ride both ways. I guess the bike gods were on my side today

dalmore

Back in my cage today - Last nights ride home was a great one. Saw an interesting new bumper sticker that will be appearing in my signature soon.

Fell in behind a roadie who seemed appalled that I dare speak to him - he responding only with a hand signal indicating for me to pass on the left. You just meet the friendlist people at times. Of course he then picked up his pace to one that I could match but not pass. I laid back about 15 feet and just to his left so my mountain bike would constantly be in his mirror. hehe!!

He did have a nice jersey though it was a picture of a jersey cow on the jersey. Quite clever.

saraflux

gorgeous weather!!!
i swear, the cooler it gets, the nicer the drivers are. (now that i said that i'm sure that i have jinxed myself ) i had two different people let me into the left lane when i needed it, and no close passes this morning. i must be getting faster- people don't have to slow down as much to let me in.
took the last stretch kinda slow. man are my legs sore the last couple days...
i'm glad i have the weekend off to rest up.
monday morning will be the fastest ride ever!

Mr_H

First day commuting in two days (stupid cold). Felt nice and good to be out there again
Relaxing commute, somewhat chilly though. Summer is definitly gone.

deedubya

Got unexpected rain this morning. Unexpected since I did not check the forecast. That said, if I had checked the forecast, I don't know if I would have taken the bike, the car, or the subway this morning. So I'm a bit damp here at work, but I got some exercise, so I suppose it's worth it.

ModoVincere

First ride this week for me. I'm still fightiing a stupid cold, and starting to wonder if its turning into bornchitis.

Had to take my cage to the shop this morning, so I loaded the Wally World mountain bike on the trunk rack and drove to the shop. Loaded up the bike with panniers, a bottle of Dasani water (forgot my normal water bottle), and away I went. Saw two other commuters, both on road bikes and not very freindly.

It felt kind of nice to be outside this morning.

GTcommuter

Nothing much to say. Cool weather, not much traffic.

cakmakli

I've read this thread often but this is my first post to it.

I usually ride my bike to work 2 - 3 times a week and I run in once a week. It is a 9.5 mile route and since it is in Pittsburgh consists of quite a few hills. Two are pretty major, which are long and steep. The route itself has light traffic except for a 1/2 mile stretch where things sometimes gets hairy. The route starts out with a short run through my housing development to a bike trail, which I follow for 1/4 mile. I then go through a Coraporate park which has a paved bike trail. I then hit a back road that takes me through a quite wooded area. I then must get on the busy highway that I mentioned before which has a very narrow shoulder. After that I finish up on a road that has wide shoulders and just a litlle traffic.

I started out today's ride a little late so I had some time to make up. The trouble is that I have to be at work at 0730 and it's getting light later and later. I'm now leaving at 0645 and just make it in time. Today was especially dark because of the rain clouds. I almost made it - 3 miles to go - before the rain came. It wasn't really that bad because once you get wet it doesn't matter anymore and you might as well kick back and enjoy it. The hot shower afterwards was really really nice.

vrkelley

Excellent ride...Just a heads up...a hybrid car went by...whoosh...didn't hear him AT ALL...There's been a paradym shift...don't just listen for cars! Look also!
Some look like this!

caloso

I had an appointment before work and it was quite dark. And of course I couldn't find my stupid light. Sheesh. So I had to use a second blinkie on the front. Good streetlights where I was riding, so I wasn't too concerned about potholes but I wanted to be visible to cars of course. And I thought that if I got stopped by a cop I would argue substantial compliance blah blah blah. And then I realized that I've never seen a cop stop a cyclist for no lights, even when they've turned in front of them.

MyPC8MyBrain

Nice ride in this morning, drivers were pretty well behaved. I think I'll have to email the city today. The glassy remmants of a squished cage are fouling my lane under the Interstate.

If I don't mail them, it will be there for the next month until a sweeper happens to wander by. They say that they sweep every street at least every 2 weeks, but I'll go by the same bits of trash for months on end.

Tonight I'm loaning one of my MTB buddies a road bike so he can try out riding the black. I think I'll take him on some good downhills so he can get the full adrenaline rush. The bike is a cross/hybrid, but I've got 90psi slicks mounted... he'll get the gist of 40mph bugs in your teeth.

vtjim

Surreal commute this morning. Nearly 58F degrees (pretty nice for this time of year in Vermont), and a ridiculous headwind. Yet I made better than average time. Yesterday my legs felt like they were being forced to drag an anchor. I got about 6 hours' worth of sleep last night after being out drinking with a big crowd. I dropped a couple of commuters on MTBs. Maybe Flandis was telling the truth.

Saw a couple of domestic cats. Dinged my bell at 4 runners who were taking up the entire MUP width (naturally - I wonder if they drive like that, too). They moved immediately, and one of them thanked me. Okay then.

GTcommuter

Yea, that happened to me by a Hybrid Highlander. It was strange to see such a big car be so quite and just appear next to me after a red light. Yikes. I have a theory that hybrid drivers are like-minded to bike commuters and will drive more carefully. At least I hope so.