It was a great commuting week this week. Managed to get 7 out the 10 rides in so far, today I am going to drive cause of the rain and lack of fenders. Yesterday, I finally adjusted my seatpost length, moved it up about 2 inches, and holy crap does that make a difference. I was flying home last night, housed all the hills and rises with much more ease than usual. It was like riding a new bike. So nice. Today, I am off to buy some fenders for anymore wet weather that could come our way in NJ. May the weather stay nice!

And, ADKPeaks, it gets better with time, just keep making little adjustments to your bike if necessary and know you can do it!

I wish there was a safe route to the other school I go to... I'd ride 5 days a week if I could.

Hope to see you out there.

A week of ups and downs...broke an average speed last night! Broke an overall mileage record of 132mi (commute only)....but then...nearly broke my head fooling around on the handlebars :p

Over the limit on mileage...took it slow and easy this AM recovery style riding.

vrkelley's post reminded me of the one good thing about my extremely dangerous commute this morning; I set a new PB for speed. 30 mph on level ground. Not bad for a mtn bike with slicks, a rack, and a trunk, methinks. Maybe I should thank the dump truck drivers for pissing me off enough that I chased them.......

No. I'm still mad as hell. :mad:

Can't complain... 5 1/2 miles from Huntington Beach through Fountain Valley on my way to Santa Ana. 22+ minute ride time for my best avg speed yet, 15.4 mph.

First off, 90% of my commute is along a major surface street with very wide sidewalks and signs posted specifically saying "Bikes OK on sidewalk" as long as you're going the same direction as traffic. So I stick to the sidewalk, riding slowly and always stopping at intersections to wait for the pedestrian crossing sign (I basically act like a pedestrian on wheels).

At a major intersection I was waiting on my crossing sign as the opposing traffic was finishing up their protected left-turn directly in front of me. The pedestrian crossing sign started, giving me right-of-way. I waited for what I thought was the last SUV to clear the crosswalk and started to cross (there's usually one car that's halfway through when the light changes, so I expected that). To my suprise, there were _more_ cars behind it, including a police car! A lady in a Volvo talking on her cellphone saw me and braked quickly with a suprised/embarassed look on her face that seemed to say "Oh, no, I'm about to hit someone in a crosswalk!" I almost rode around her in front to make a point, but she seemed to realize what she did, so I waited for her to pass.

Today was a mixed bag. On one hand it was lovely and I added mileage to bring up my total to 75 miles for today.
On the other hand, in the same location a crack ***** tried to spit on me Wed, a 16 year old punk kid (300 lbs or so) saw me coming up and pushed me off the trail as I passed him! The ensuing profanities I uttered would make a sailor blush. Anyhow, I was fine and stayed upright. The fool was f'ing with me. I called DPD to ask for a few more patrols in that area. I am starting to wonder how I can avoid that trail. This whole thing is a bit disconcerting in regards to my safety. Plus, why does this only happen in the day time? People suck. I now need to ponder how I plan on rectifying this issue. I just do not feel safe and there does not exist much of a viable street alternative route.
I could purchase pepper spray to make myself feel safer but I doubt it would do much in reality. Due to the excessive amount of cyclists on this trail during daylight hrs I could always wait until another cyclist rides by and follow him or her. When I first started riding this is the method I use to feel safer.

On the other hand, I encountered a roadie who was having difficulties finding a location that I was riding to and he followed me to downtown. Something like 10 miles and we had a nice conversation. This is the first time ever that I have had company on my commute. Cool guy.

Must focus on the positives. <-- repeat ad nauseum.

Oh... earlier this week or late last week I had a chat with a roadie commuter I have passed going in the opposite direction for a year or 2. Good talk and another nice guy.

first commute since Wednesday. I had a visiting lecturer at my house and we went into Boston via cab. I brought my folder in by throwing it in the trunk. Left it in the bike room since we cabbed it home together, too. Then rode the folder over to pick up a zipcar yesterday took the guest to airport this morning with the folder in the trunk and returned the zip and took out the folder and rode to work then home. nice day. rainy though.

I rode to work today (sat 4-28-07) and my shifter for the rear gears took a dive (I can go down but not back up)... So I went from 21 speeds to 3...:(...On the way home, I was riding on the sidewalk (US 41.. very busy street) and was waiting for the cross walk "walking man" to go. Good thing I was paying attention, because the guy in the Odessy wasn't... Then there was the little dog that wanted to jump out of the moving vehicle to get me....

Oh well.... Still better than walking...

Billy

This is when you take your pump of the bike and beat the Cr@p out of the fat kid! And when he's lying on the ground in a pool of blood.... tell him his karma's in need of repair....

Of course, this is why i have a CCW permit! :D

Billy

Heh - In Vermont we have permit-less CCW. ;) But I don't own anything small enough to ride with. :eek:

My ride home yesterday was surreal. I had a splitting headache for some reason. Still managed to pass a couple of other cyclists (though I wasn't working at it), and the ride was otherwise nice with a light tail wind. But I got home and the headache quickly developed into a migraine. :mad: No idea what causes them but I get 'em once every year or so. Went to bed early. Fine today.
:beer:

http://homepage.mac.com/awcg/.Pictur...e/Commute1.jpg
Full. The commute was full today.
Nice, a little windy, but not too windy, and traffic was not overly rough.

BTW it took Atticus (the dog) all of a second and a half to zero in on his bag of rawhides.

Today I hauled some a$$ to the location where I was teaching a CAN-BIKE course. I didn't get enough sleep, left a little later than planned and was slowed down by a mechanical problem. So once I got going, I was moving at a damn good clip. Riding along the lake Ontario path I came upon a bunch of lycra-types in a sort of a paceline. It was kinda funny the way I blew by them on my overloaded old mtb: "Ding-ding, passing". :D Of course, they were probably having a recovery ride or something and I was in a rush. Funny still. :) And kept me going faster than I would've, which is a good thing, 'cause I was cutting it a little fine there.

Happens to the best of us.... Of course it seems to happen to my wife every morning :eek:

A little chaos is good for the soul.... Notice I said a LITTLE.....

Billy

Dust storm on the way home OUCH.
Here it comes look out....
KPHX 282310Z 15025G38KT 4SM BLDU BKN120 OVC200 32/06 A2990 RMK AO2 PK WND 150 41(windspeed)/2253 RAB06E09 P0000
There is a Mt./ hill behind the cloud which you can kinda see. Note it was sunny and a 100 degrees no clouds just west of here.


http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9865/pict0004cw3.jpg
Here it comes looks rather scarry from here. I am headed right into the thing.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8742/pict0009yr6.jpg
In the mix
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1749/pict0021xg1.jpg

video short
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRS8bRtrcLc

Hmm.... Good way for me to commit suicide. :p
I am about half his weight. Dude could have sat on me and squashed the stuffing out of me.
However, being quick and all I could have dashed in threw a few rocks and hauled a$$ out of there. But if they were packing..... ugh

I'm going to tag along with other cyclists when passing through that area from now on. Strangely enough morning is fine. Go figure.

See... I'm big, mean (lookin) and ugly.... Most people get out of my way..... Sorry :(

Looks like my hometown in SE WA state. We would get a few of those every summer. It would literally blind you and making riding or driving impossible. I had a friend from Puerto Rico that was freaked out every time one hit.

I have the fugly part down. :p
Fugly combined with goofy looking does not help. :)

Well Not today but yesterday while heading to class I came across deer... Not a problem, except for they ran off the trail..Immediatly spooked and ran back..almost running me over!!!!Good times!

Yea I wear safety glasses. I only worry if rain is behind them. This one didn't have rain.

Yea that is on the Leeward side hey....

My first commute today. Just one way though, the DH will pick me up and take me home. I KNOW! But it's uphill all the way home and my legs will just not do it right now. A few weeks on the bike (this was my first day back this season) and I'll be able to do both ways, though slow on the way home.
At least I'm trying. And we make bio-diesel from waste oil from the fryer in our bar so we are still green.
It was a great ride though! Today is a beautiful day in Denver!
Ginny

2nd commute with the compact. It's 170 from 172.5 that I had before. Much easier on the hills but I think the seat will have to be repositioned. It feels like I'm sitting too low and my avg speed is down.

Ran some errands today to REI on E. Woodmen to exchange a faulty GPS unit (Garmin eTrex Vista Cx). I'm having a difficult time finding enough good routes between the West and East parts of town (divided by I-25). I see roadies all the time and yet people here I think have an "aggressive" attitude towards bike riders. Gotta stay VERY alert...

After REI, crossed I-25 through some trail that connects to another one that goes all the way up to Palmer Lake. Biked south, passed Criterium (a bike shop), crossed the bridge and got off at that parking lot and into Mark Dabling Blvd. Came home, rested for a couple of hours, then headed out to Albertson's with my Yak BOB to pick up some groceries.

total miles for the day: 17.7

It's so windy around here... since I'm running a heavy setup (bike with rack, panniers, trunk, etc is about 55lbs; with EMPTY panniers). Yak BOB is about 15lbs. Add in all the stuff I carry in my panniers and trunk. Today I was hauling 55lbs from the grocery store.

One of these days I'll have to get me a roadie just to see how fast I can really go and to ride for fun and not just a way to commute (although I still have fun).

GreenAnvil.

GreenAnvil

Really nice ride in this morning. I switched back to panniers from the backpack since its getting pretty warm in the afternoons. It was especially nice getting to work and not having a big spot of sweat where the backpack sits on my back.
All the cagers behaved well except one that had to pass me, even though it was not safe to do so. Oh well, you can count on at least one idiot on every commute.

50, light wind, clear skies....good ride. The drivers were even semi intelligent this morning so I didnt even have close calls. That's a good way to start the week.

I just did my 1st commute on a fixed gear (I had a Specialized Dolce, got hit by an SUV, totalled the bike, had to buy a new one, went fixed--Giant Browery) and it was **amazing**. My time was cut by a 1/3 because I was spinning a much lower ratio than on my road bike, and I didn't feel nearly as exhausted as I normally do. Maybe this is just because I'm on a high with a new bike and all, but darn, it was awesome.

The one wierd/hard part was spinning down the huge hills by my office and not being able to coast and using only a front break. But I'll get used to that. :)

Good time to go practice crosswind landings! :eek:

I had a pretty strong headwind this morning. Not so much fun. At least it wasn't raining. Some thunderstorms rolled through about an hour before I left for work. Looks like I get a headwind riding home today too. :mad:

This morning commute was horid. Weather was a little on the cool side and it was dry, but I had no energy this morning. Pushing the pedals was really hard this morning.

I caught the bus this morning (7 mile journey) but I'm cycling back later on, as the bike
was having a service....

Great weather here in Oxford, UK. Not a cloud in the sky. However, I'm stuck in the office
until 6.30pm!!!!