DataJunkie

Good ride home. 80F and sunny as usual. Very little wind.
I am meeting up with a BF member saturday to ride the foothills and Boulder. I hope my legs can take it. 220 miles since sunday + 50 or more tomorrow. eek!
That reminds me, time to pull up the Boulder bike map.

ken cummings

Typical but for the dead skunk in the bike lane a mile before I got to work.

HardyWeinberg

Very nice coming home. Went 3 miles the wrong way 1st to double my 6-ish mile commute, felt great to have the time for that. Verified that stretching a detour around a big construction project to a big nasty road is a lot quicker than taking the detour as it's marked.

mister

Days like today make me cringe. Halfway in, I notice my chain rubbing on my front deraileur. Odd... I just adjusted it two nights ago. I don't think anything of it until *plunk* chain drops from the big ring to the small. I try to shift it back and there's no resistance in the brifter. Great. So I pull over and take a look and find out the cable came loose from the deraileur. No time to fix it though, I'm already a little behind. So I just ride the rest of the way in the small ring and fix it when I get to work.

I figure everything is fine. At least that's what I thought until I got to a traffic light on the way home. I stopped for the red. Light turns green so I go to pedal. Deraileur cable snaps at the same moment (I was on the big ring) I push the pedal down sending the chain right onto the bottom bracket. I slam my man bits on the top tube, some how manage to unclip and catch myself from falling and limp out of traffic to the curb. I could hear people laughing. The only thing hurt was my pride thankfully. Needless to say I took it slow the rest of the way home.

Still, a bad day on the bike beats a great day anywhere else.

tokolosh

ain't literacy great? had a similar thing happen this morning, but not so suave. down at the bottom of the bike path where it meets the major road and has a controlled light for cyclists, i pushed the button, waited the usual five minutes and then just had this really weird total-dork moment when the light changed. i put my right foot back on the platform pedal and applied instant-takeoff pressure, without checking first that the pedal was flat. i had it on the edge. it spun round, my foot shot off it, i did this buster keaton bit i can only describe as falling through the bike . . . impressively embarrassing, but while i was painfully unpeeling myself from the crossbar some twit across the road was running the light, so oh well. guess i got the guardian angel with the sense of humour.

conversation with the qa manager when i got to work. she was skulking in the car park smoking and got curious about the bike-commute thing. i got the flash-of-inspiration answer to those who are only curious enough to ask how far you ride because they never ride anywhere, and then blithely ordain that it's a nice easy ride. 'yeah,' i said cheerfully, 'that's what i thought too before i did it.' was pleased with myself all the rest of the day

cakmakli

I'll have to admit, I rode in Thursday but because of working late and the cold rain I left my bike at work and took a ride. I can assure you that taking a ride is a very, very rare event for me. It did give me a chance to have a great run to work Friday morning and ride my bike back home in the evening. It turned out to be an awesome ride. The weather was cool and with just a sprinkle of rain. Really nice.

chephy

The weather is lovely: cool but not too cold. Little traffic. Whatever traffic is there is still annoying however. God people are dumb! As I'm waiting to make a left turn from a small street onto an arterial, this POS comes up to me on the right, turns left with me and proceeds to yell at me. I yell back of course... But there is no point in trying to educate such morons... Just pedal along...

redden

50 miles and 3100 of climbing. Topanga was very rough for 2-3 miles due to repaving. A bit cold but warmed up once on PCH. Commute to work completely in the dark. Trailtech light did a nice job of lighting up the road, not enough for daytime speed on the downhills but enough for 25mph.
More than the usual number of hostile drivers on the way home. On Sepulveda there is a section that requires either riding on the sidewalk or taking the right lane. I took the lane. It's the 3rd lane that merges after the light. A women driving an Explorer was 6-10 inches from my back wheel despite lane #2 being available, in the intersection she passed and layed on the horn. If someone waved a gun that would be a crime, but use your car to threaten someones life and it's ok. I'm really sick of it. Open season on bicyclists in Los Angeles. When will it stop?

GreenAnvil

Again, nice commute this morning. Starting to get chilly... 44F started to use a balaclava and under armour; still felt my cold in my elbows. Really smooth ride, almost no cagers, great starry sky! Took a shower and breakfast and feel like a champion now!

Happy to be bike commuting and being a part of this bunch.

GreenAnvil

Mr_H

We're getting one of those days of fall that is having an identity crisis and thinks it's still summer. 50 when I came in this morning (20 degrees warmer then last week), and a possiblility of a big big rain storm. Fortuantly I didn't get hit with rain, but since it is getting darker, I had a chance to test out my headlight for the whole ride. Niiiiice.
Good commute

GTcommuter

Fine ride in this morning. Had to carry a foam-board poster into the office, so that was a bit tricky turning with it under my arm. I would have put it in the trailer but I've been evicted for the next week because my roomate's family is in town and he needed an extra bed. So I'll be commuting from three different locations this week, possibly one much farther way from work than usual. Should be interesting.

dalmore

Let's see best way to describe today's commute - WHEEEEEE!!!

JudyO

The ride this morning was not as fun a usual, although the weather was quite nice.

At the beginning of my commute: from my house ~15 m to stop sign, left onto four lane road, ~50 m to lights to cross 6 lane road, ~100 m in left turn lane to lights to turn left onto two lane parkway. So I took the left turn lane and a jerk in a Jetta honked and buzzed me, passing on the right, to get around me so he/she could wait to turn left in front of me (behind two other cars) at the red light instead of behind me. Nice. I wanted to yell at them, but instead I waived to thank them for the morning wake-up-honk. Only the second time, since I started bike commuting in June, that I've been honked at while riding in Ottawa... so I'm not really used to it.

About 15 minutes later I stopped and waited behind a school bus loading up a bunch of kids by some big apartment buildings. Once the lights on the bus turned off I realized that all the traffic was still backed up and stopped on the street. I slowly passed the bus and a few cars and realized it was because there was a bike down, rider in the middle of the road surrounded by a bunch of people, bike off to the side on the sidewalk. I passed it all cautiously because there was nothing I could do to help and I didn't want to be in the way. After I got past I could hear sirens and see lights way behind me trying to get passed the backed up cars, and there was an ambulance coming in the other direction that I saw just before I turned off that road. It's a two lane road, designated as a "recommended bike route" although there are no bike lanes. I ride on it every day. I hope the rider is ok.

Mugsy Malone

This morning was my first commute since last Monday - I worked from home on Tue, Wed, and Thur last week and then had to get to the airport on Friday.

Anyway, after spending Saturday morning on a 30 miles ride around the island of Manhattan on Air's Downtube, my 7 mile commute this morning felt like nothing at all! Great weather this morning, and no issues. Yay.

RonH

Today's commute was awesome!! Light traffic, sunshine, and the temperature was just warm enough for my sandals. I'm only working 1/2 day today so they will be very comfy for the ride home.

CliftonGK1

It's getting cooler here. This morning it was 46F, with a nice heavy fog sitting all along the Sammamish slough. But there was a massive surprise to the commute this morning: There's bridge construction at 116th St on the Sammamish River Trail, and the trail has been detoured for almost a year. Between last Thursday and this morning, the trail was opened back up again. The detour is gone! Not that the extra 1/3 mile was a big deal for distance, but it involved narrow 90 degree turns with high weeds that made them blind corners. Now, it's a straight-through under the bridge again. WooHoo!

Relaxer

A nice ride in today. I did a ton of miles this weekend (approx 120), so was considering taking the subway or even (gasp!) driving, but figured this morning would be good to stretch my sore legs out. And so it was. Sunny blue sky, 58 degrees, I figure my shorts wardrobe only has another week or so before I have to move to pants. Kind of took it easy (as easy as possible in downtown DC rush hour) and now I'm feeling very even.

After a hard night or weekend of roadbiking, I often struggle with getting motivated to do the commute ride the next morning. But once I'm in the middle of my ride, and especially after, I'm always so happy that I did it. And yet, even after experiencing this phenomena a hundred times or more, I still struggle with that lack of motivation. I was being so pissy and moany this morning, and just felt this dread about having to get on the bike. Three minutes after I left the curb, I couldn't have been in a better mood, looking forward to engaging with the downtown drivers.

It helps that biking to work is the most practical and convenient way to get to the office. If I drive, I fight traffic for every inch and then have to pay $16 to park. If I metro, I have about a two-mile walk. So it's very very rare for me to blow off the bike, if only because my alternatives aren't really that hot.

mjw16

My commutes have been absolutely awesome! Since I was recently diagnosed with a partially torn rotator cuff I'd been considering parking the bike, at least for the winter, and possibly resuming in the Spring (after allowing things to heal or having the recommended surgery). A few weeks ago, after an MS 150 ride in New Jersey, I thought I'd bite the bullet and take the Metro-starting a 4-5 month long bike free commute. That lasted exactly one day. Delays on the Metro and no viable cardio option had me frustrated and determined to be back on the bike the next day. Although I don't think the cycling caused my rotator tear (it was years of lifting, tennis, racketball, etc), I thought cycling certainly aggrevated it-not allowing it to heal. I now think it was more my refusal to stop the other, aforementioned activities (which I've now largely done). Since then, things have really improved and the riding's been great. Now I'm planning to ride through the winter and plan surgery in the Spring (hopefully it won't be necassary).

dalmore

Ouch1 It's amazing how much you use your shoulder for everyday things isn't it? I count my shoulder surgery as one of the best things I ever did. Hopefully PT will work for you. If not here's hoping the surgery works out as well for you as it did for me.

saraflux

I was in DC this weekend and I guess I forgot how small Norfolk is (where i live) because all i could do was think about how quick my head would explode trying to hold my own in that traffic. the 'bike lanes' are filled with cars, parked cars, trucks, peds... wow.
kudos.
i'm glad i live in a tiny town.

mxu63

I slowed down a little bit and felt much easier to ride. That was fun. Good pace.

hobbsc

Today's commute was hurried at best, I averaged about 25mph the entire way because I woke up late. Luckily traffic wasn't too bad. Got to work, quickly changed clothes and went straight into a meeting.

Phew. Last minute commutes are crazy. The funny part is, I can usually ride to work faster than I can drive.

caloso

I did a half marathon on Sunday and I'm a bit sore this morning. But I think an easy spin to work is just exactly what my legs need.

HardyWeinberg

disjointed... usual .6 mile r/t w/ kindergartener, then hang around the house a bit waiting for appt, then 3.6 miles to there, that took 2 hrs, then 1 mile ride to lunch w/ wife, after that, final 2 miles to work. Took 4+ lane strip mall road all the way from lunch to work rather than MUP, 2 nasty construction sites making me do a lot more merging w/ impatient drivers than they were wanting to see. Next time I'm on that route, will stick to MUP.

vrkelley

Met some friends for lunch via bike. The wool dress shirt held up well for the 4.5 mile ride over there and back.