RonH

A great ride in. Had to stop at the Decatur YMCA to drop off some flyers to advertise an upcoming Bike Ed class. While I was waiting to pull out into traffic, I started counting the "mini-vans" (mini???) and SUVs that pulled into the YMCA parking lot. In the few minutes I sat there waiting I ran out of fingers and toes. Why do all these $#%^* need to drive an oversized POS (less than a mile in many cases) just to get some exercise?
Why not walk or bike?

At nearly every stoplight I heard a constant "click - click" of everyone's AC compressor. The temperature was ~58F (14C)!! Hey stupids, turn off the AC and open the windows.

Saw two new-to-me commuters. Both looked well-prepared for the journey to work. Also saw two roadies out for their before work rides. Lots of waving and smiles this morning.


I saw one of those go by our office last week. First time I'd seen one other than in a picture. Looks like a great hauling machine, as you said, but steering looks like it could be tricky.

truman

So long, Old T.
I avoided talking to you for quite awhile.
Your obvious illness and poverty repelled me and then shamed me for my revulsion.
When I heard you speak to others, you were hard to understand, so slurred was your speech.
Still, on Veteran's Day, cued by your "US Army, Retired" Cap, I finally moved myself to speak and wished you a happy day.
And thanked you for your service.
You rolled your scooter chair over and slowly, laboriously, I found out about your years spent fighting the Korean War and in Vietnam.
You drove tanks and armored personnel carriers, serving several tours.
Tank driver - maybe that's why you always bumped me with your electric chair when you rolled past to the handicapped seating on the train
When you came home from Korea, you got kicked out of three restaurants before you found one that would let you sit indoors to eat your first non-army meal in two years.
Wounded and wounded again, you couldn't work after Vietnam.
You talked about riding a bike when you were a kid, how you'd go everywhere and be gone for days, fishing, hunting, or visiting cousins.
And how you wished you could do it again.
I enjoyed chatting with you, so much.
I'll remember most how you'd point to parts on my bike and ask how much they cost, and how you'd laugh when I told you.
Over the years, your pension and veteran's benefits had dwindled, and you found yourself living from aid check to aid check.
I know you were always excited when you cashed them at the local convenience store, but it's never a good idea to flash your roll.
So, after years of service and more years of pain and hardship, someone felt they needed your roll more than you needed to keep driving your chair, like a tank, like you rode your bike as a kid, wherever you went.
And with a small cheap knife, he did what the Koreans and the Chinese and the NVA and the Viet Cong and Agent Orange all failed to do.
I'll miss riding with you, Old T. Peace on your head.

jeac

Chilly. I left my house in a rush, i knew i was gonna be like 10-15 minutes late for class. Thought it was a little warmer outside and rode in shorts and a t-shirt. I'm so dumb i should've turned around after a couple blocks to get my sweatshirt. I hope it warms up a little before i ride home

GTcommuter

That deserves to be published somewhere better than our meger forum.

RonH

I'm the gopher today and just got back from the L5P post office and Sevananda Market. What a gorgeous day!!! I guess I should have gone to a post office that was at least 15 miles away so I could enjoy the day.

DataJunkie

Nice commute in, 50F roughly.
I picked up my kid from his grandma's house yesterday, raising my mileage from 45 to 62. In the space of two weeks I have ridden almost 550 miles. No wonder my legs hate me.
While I was exhausted during the ride in a strange thing happened while I was sitting in a line of cars at a light on a hill.
The light turned green and I had one heck of an energy surge and took off like a bat out of hell. 0-18 mph in a second or two. I then spent the remaining minute wondering what just happened and how I almost rear ended a car on a hill.
The same thing happened as I approached work so I sprinted in. Nothing like finishing on a high note listening to an old system of a down song.
Must have been the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

HardyWeinberg

Nice ride. Extra 8 miles this am (4 miles past work and back).

RonH

The boss is out today so my office mate and I rode to Mellow Mushroom and had a great lunch - outside. The weather is awesome!!!
Got a few nice compliments from the waitress on my "artwork".
We sure hated coming back to work.

rando

got another flat! luckily, it didn't happen until I got to work. first time I ever changed a tire, took about 15-20 min. it was a tiny shard or glass that worked it's way into the tire and punctured a tiny hole in the tube. I slapped another one in there, pumped up and voila! good to go! I'm dreading the day I have a flat in the rear tire.

caloso

No commute today (offsite training) but I remembered a cager encounter from the other evening's commute that meant to post. A kid in a Camaro tried cutting me off at an interesection but I gave him The Look. He followed in behind me and then rolled down his window and yelled "You ride your bike like you're driving a car."

I said, "Yeah. Thanks."

I chose to take it as a compliment but I don't think he meant it as such.

luckysnafu

Nice week to be riding to work around here. Saw about 8 riders this week so far and got waves from most of them Temps are in the 80s today for the ride home before the cold front comes through along with some rain. Changed my front brake pads last week so they are feeling a lot better. Just hit 2000 miles for the year and should be on track to hit my goal of 2500.

vrkelley

Yest he weather has been great. Took a late lunch and did some hill repeats...many more needed

BirdOnABike

Coming in this morning a garbage truck buzzed within a few inches of me and the passenger yelled out 'get on the sidewalk.' I remembered the tag # and called the garbage company and left a message for management about their trucks' behavior, just to let them know they need to educate their drivers on proper passing of bicycles.. No returned call as of yet.

RomSpaceKnight

Weather definitely turning colder now. It was only 2 weeks ago I was in t and shorts. Am now in long sleeves, jacket and pants. Was 5'C this morn going home after 12 hr night shift. Sun is in eyes going home in morn and in eyes going to work at night. I miss summer (just a bit).

coolness03

Windy morning! Ah, what a struggle to get to work. I don't think I shifted beyond 5th gear. And like last time I felt gassed by the 6th mile. Lots of huffing and puffing and coasting at low speed. Heavy pack doesn't help matters much. I have to figure out a way to lighten the load even more because like Mondays commute I took in a Powerbar Gel pack an hour before the ride and it was like I was flying. I also left some items at work to pick up tomorrow when I drive the car in.

Been seeing too many riders out there running reds, going against the flow of traffic, and not being visible enough late at night. Not cool guys.

But hey, a lady in her SUV of all motor vehicles out there, politely allowed me to take the lane before a left turn onto Melinda Dr. Things like that need to be mentioned.

RoseInOregon

This morning was gorgeous: a silvery early dawn fog, and then the canteloupe-colored sunrise over the river.

I've been riding to the office 2-3 times a week for about a month, and realized as I was coasting into the lot this morning why the workday day feels so different when I ride as opposed to when I drive. In the car, my commute takes about 8 minutes; on the bike, closer to 40. When I drive to work, I feel like I just rolled out of bed right into the office. I've got to skip over a lot of gears to get from dreamland to screaming sales manager land.

But when I ride, there's this lovely forty-minute cushion between the house and the office. I get to see early risers playing with their dogs in the park, chat with other commuters at stop lights, even smell what people are cooking for breakfast as I roll past their houses (bacon! at 7:30! I didn't know people had time for that!). By the time I get to work, I'm not just awake, I'm almost human.

I hope I keep my nerve up for the morning and evening commute in winter darkness. My husband (an ex-daredevil motorcycle racer, worrying about ME) wants me to promise not to ride after the time change. I need to convince myself, before I can convince him, that I can do it safely.

tokolosh

still gorgeous weather, sunny and cool every day. so today i leave my rain pants at home and it clouds up during the day. still made it home without getting precipitated upon.

some days i just seem to hit a trough where even though i feel just like always and i think i'm riding just like always, i can't get anywhere near the times i've let myself start feeling entitled to. whenever it happens i feel all surly and churlish and childish and mad, like i'm being ripped off by something. this has been one of those weeks, so i want my medal for determination.

i still haven't done anything about my car. i'm getting kind of alarmed by myself; it must be almost a month since it died. i keep kind of making this appointment with myself to care, and then not doing it. it gets harder and harder to take cars seriously if they're not doing anything useful for you. this week i found myself mentioning to someone that i grocery-shop by bike too. they were shocked, but honest, the thought of driving anywhere just makes me want to climb under the bedclothes and sulk. it's a slippery slope, this bike thing.

RonH

I see we have a new commuter. Welcome to our elite group, coolness03.

cooperwx

Rained overnight, fenders got a test this morning.

OK DC/VA area commuters... how did you fare in the deluge this morning??

dalmore

Fun ride today. Weather was good, bike was good, polite drivers everywhere ...

Now my trip in the cage yesterday was a different story altogether...

GTcommuter

Fine ride in today. Found a new route through the cemetary that is much flatter, but doesn't go past the antebellum grave sites. I was supposed to go to office happy hour tonight but I'll probably duck out and head home early.

mcoons

This morning was lovely - 55ish - headwind but not always, got the 6:17 bus, but had to wave my arms wildly to flag down the driver or he would have kept going. I'm riding my fixie and had to stop 7 miles in as the tire was rubbing against the frame - fixed it and wow, I can pedal!

This has been quite a week for flat tires. Monday morning, got all prepared, decided to pump up the tires a bit more and as I pull the pump off of the stem, I pull the stem out of the tube - pssssssshhh... although I could have changed the tire in 6 minutes (the leeway I had before missing the bus), I didn't need the stress so I drove.

Then last night I rolled up to my garage and entered the code for the garage door opener and I hear psst...psst... and look down and there is a staple in my rear wheel! It continues in double exhalations as I put the bike away, and luckily it was not on the road. Later I replaced the tube, fixed a few tubes and all is well in bicyclommute-land.

DataJunkie

The good news is that I am not sore after 250 miles this week and 280 last week.
The bad news is that I have absolutely no energy even after increasing my caloric intake.
So, I had a nice slow "smell the flowers" ride in this morning. Took 2.5 hrs to ride 28 miles.
I found the perfect way to slow down.
I changed my MP3 player from shuffle and pointed it to my Radiohead Ok Computer album. So much easier to go slow with nice relaxing music. Watched the sun come up.
I need a nap.

Relaxer

God, it was pretty much awful. Y'know, the rain and wind, I can handle (and dress for). The impatient and apparently blind drivers, I can handle (and adjust for). But the pedestrians... Those, I can't handle. Seemed like every 10 feet there was someone dashing into and across the street, more concerned about holding a newspaper over their precious hair than watching out for themselves. I understand if you got caught in a surprise shower, but it's been pouring since last night! Bring an umbrella and use the crosswalks! Seriously, twice I came within inches of slamming into someone, and several other times I had to come to a complete, very awkward stop. And people were looking at ME like I was crazy!

That said, I'm glad I didn't wuss out and drive. For one, it would've taken twice as long. For another, it would've cost me $16 (or more) to park in the garage.

ModoVincere

Fun ride in this morning. The temps were absolutely perfect for riding at mid 60's and overcast. Took it sort of easy. About half way through the ride this morning, after hammering it for about 4 miles it finally occurred to me...why am I in a rush to get to work? Its nice outside and I don't really want to be stuck at a desk all day, so why am I hammering it so hard? Felt kinda stupid for a few minutes.

Anyway, I slowed down and just enjoyed this morning's commute. Only one buzz this morning too. A lady on a cell phone in a white mini van came within about 6 inches of my left elbow. I was going up hill, maybe about 8 mph, and instead of using the left hand lane to go around me (which was quite empty by the way) she buzzed by me at about 45 mph (I'm guessing her speed here, but it was a whole lot faster than I was going). People like that scare the h$ll out of me. I don't think they have any real respect for human life.