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.

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.

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.

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

Rained overnight, fenders got a test this morning.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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. :p
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.

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.

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.

Oh yeah. Ron, it was really nice to meet you yesterday. Scott says thanks for the stickers and signs.

beautiful morning. I stopped at a red light at the bottom of a hill, in the center lane. so any traffic could make left or right turns onto the cross street, or go around me to go straight. Naturally, a pickup truck had to pull up right behind me, instead of either other lane. When the light changed, I started climbing and he stayed right behind me. If I really try, I can make the next four traffic lights, because they're sequenced, so I hammered, with the truck pacing me about 40 yards back, and made all the lights. As I rolled into a left turn lane, the truck came up on my right with the window down, the driver caught my eye, grinned and said, "Thanks. Nice pull up that hill".

Earlier this week I swapped out the flat bars on my old Rockhopper for some drops, using an old set of RSX 8-spd brifters I had kept from my first road bike.This morning was my first ride to work on it. It took a little tweaking, but it all seems to shift and brake as well as you could expect. Not exactly Dura-Ace level performance, but good enough for government work. The drops are 40cm c-c; they're a bit narrow even compared to my other road bikes. I may have to hunt up some 44 or 46ers.

I racked up next to a recumbent that a fairing, 5-spoke aero wheels, and, I could not believe my eyes, carbon fiber fenders! Now that's OCP!

wet wet wet. Also, I can't get my brakes to stop squealing (I keep toe-ing them in, and have toed them in so much that I have started spreading the V's so I can toe them in some more, and it's just not stopping). Anyway, between my brake lever getting floppier, the squealing when the brakes do engage, the rain, my wipeout (albeit on a rubber mat) the last time it was raining, and my glasses (fogged on inside, water drops on outside), I was riding pretty tentatively.

So, wet and slow. Usually I wear my bike clothes for a while while I cool down when I get in, this am they were wet enough that I was getting actively cold so changed earlier than I otherwise might have. Wish I had remembered to pack my rain hat for walking upstairs to the other building for coffee.

On the bright side, during my 'warm-up' ride to school w/ kindergartener, he asked for his own orange reflective vest so cars could see him too.

No commute today as I'm telecommuting and kidsitting. Too bad; it's been a gorgeous day!

Rides this week have been mostly good. Had serious calf-cramping issues on Wednesday both directions. I don't think I've been dehydrated, but it was as bad as I've experienced. Followed that up with major middle-of-the-night leg cramps in about 5 spots in my legs simultaneously. Those places are still painful from the cramps, so I took it very easy this morning and felt pretty good... Weather is getting to be just about perfect for the ride in - ~70 degrees, light winds. Still warm in the evenings, but after weeks of 100+, 90 feels pretty darn good.

YOU CAN DO IT! This most certainly can be done safely in the dark in most areas. The key is to be visible, predictable, and ALERT.

Thanks for the encouragement! I've been reading the lighting & visibility threads and researching lighting setups, and I think I'll be pretty visible. Now I'm a little worried about peds darting out from between cars, and about other, unlit bikes that I can't see.

Didn't ride today, since I had too many errands to run after work. I really miss it when I don't.

39 miles total to work and back. Easy route to work and difficult route back. 2800 feet of altitude gain. There's a section of Roscomare road that gains 100 feet in a block and a half and another about as steep on Wells drive. Nice ride both ways no driver hostility since I stayed away from Sepulveda and Ventura blvd. The downhill on Cal Neva street is the only hill I decend that makes me wish for disk brakes.

Thanks RonH. :beer:

I'm quickly approaching my 100th mile of commuting and I have to say it has been an overall positive experience so far. Not overwhelmingly positive, the route into work has been quite a challenge lately and I don't know how I'd do if I was faced with a flat. I'm a total beginner in the maintenence department so we'll see how things go with time (knock on wood).

Slightly exciting ride home. Similar rain as in the morning (*very* thick mist). I had adjusted my brakes some at work so was feeling better about stopping (fixed the play in the lever, still couldn't get rid of that SQUEAL). Coming up to an intersection, a guy came TEARING across from the left on his bike, behind me I guess, and I think he hit the curb, he certainly fishtailed, went up and over and landed on a freeway exit ramp. Lots of blood from his hands, and pretzeled his rear wheel. Yesterday was the day my cell phone died so I couldn't call for help, but I took him to a payphone anyway. His hands were shaking a lot, palsy style, I felt really bad. I don't think he was too messed up to leave alone while his ride came (it was going to be a bit of time). By the time we crossed the street, found a phone, made the call, etc... his hands weren't shaking so much any more. Anyway, he seemed in good enough shape to sit and catch his breath for a while waiting for his ride. Here's hoping he's just got some sore shoulders tomorrow, and is otherwise fine.

what i like about this thread: whatever kind of day i've had, someone else will have had it too. and actually, today was pretty nice. set myself a different kind of goal: get to work and get home without getting sweaty or putting out any effort. couldn't find my stopwatch for the ride home, but the ride in was just like any other ride when i do sweat it up. musta been tailwinds going on.

the bridge has a long, long (almost 1k) flat approach that's . . . well, it's basically a whole bunch of overpasses and other bridges or something before you get to the real one. or something like that; i've never completely figured it out. anyway there's a bus-stop somewhere along the way, and lately i've been having interaction with people at it. on tuesday it was a scary-looking guy who maintained deadpan eye-contact through the entire approach and then when i was about 5 feet away, suddenly stuck out a thumb like a hitchhiker. still completely deadpan; unfortunately i was already past him by the time my face got a laugh assembled. then today it was someone sitting on the kerb; as i came along i got to witness an impressively long steady sneezing fit. i yelled 'bless you' as i went by, but i don't think he even knew i was there, never mind caught the words. hope he didn't think i was saying something more rude.

the industrial island under north edge of the bridge hosts a mysteriously cyclical variety of industrial activities; today it seemed like they were baking dog biscuits down there. better than the sawmill days when you get slivers of cedar and pine in your eyes, or the ones where they're hosting a city's garbage on its way to wherever it goes.

songs: the red dwarf theme.

up early to a film shoot that I thought would take forever to find and get to. I ended up getting there first! Traffic was awful to this location and on my bike it took much less time than if I had driven. Then off to a lunch with a friend, then to REI to check out the weekend sale (replaced my Leatherman now owned by the airlines). Then to my rehearsal, then home. All on my folder and all of it adding up to a total 29 miles RT. Not a bad commute.

Another nice ride this morning. Right on 47F but it felt warmer; only at the bottom of little valleys did it feel a little chilly. Clear skies. Today being a (US) holiday, almost no traffic; I think I counted no more than 7-10 cages go by past me on the whole 9.5 mi commute into work.

Keeping my heart rate right around 135-140 for the majority of the ride, so I'm just strolling into work, having a good time and getting rid of body fat, while saving money, gas, etc, etc, etc. Can't beat that! :D

GreenAnvil

broken spoke 42 km in what a croc hopefully better 2morow