gee, thanks for that reminder ;)

wasn't cold going in this morning that i remember, but that's not surprising at 11am. drizzly and cool, very nice. left work at 4-something because of arrangements to go to a friend's house and watch game 5 of the mets/cards series. i just rode in my regular clothes because (of course) i got kept longer than i intended and because they're not such good friends yet that i want to spend four hours in front of them in spandex. riding in street clothes isn't much fun when you're in a hurry.

dark and cold by the time i left there and headed for home. guess i'm getting re-acclimatised after the summer, because it wasn't that cold. i'm still riding kind of slow and clunky because i'm still pretty tired.

49F, light rain. Great commute.

Arrived @ work to find a new bike rack the company just purchased set up on the building's parking lot, right under a light pole. That's way much better than locking against a tree which is what I used to do.

Ran into a neighbor at a local grocery store; he was all excited about my bike commuting. When I come home in the afternoon families are hanging out on the street and they all see me riding by. I live in a small rural community where people may not all know each other but for the most part they know if you live around the area. Folks along my commute route are starting to get familiar with me; it's a nice feeling.

GreenAnvil

F_ing wet!

Despite the rain, it was a pretty fast commute. The rain was just enough to soak my coat by the time I rolled in to work, but fortunately it wasn't too cold. I don't know if I timed my breakfast properly, if it was the newly lubed chain, or whether the rain reduced the road friction, but I was flying to work at least 2 or 3 km/h faster than usual. It'll be raining when I ride home too, so we'll see if my average speed is still higher... that will at least eliminate the breakfast theory.

It was a nice ride in for me this morning. It was only 5C but I bought new full-finger gloves which kept my hands from being cold. I also picked up new brake pads, rear shifting cable and cork handlebar wrap this weekend. I finished up getting it all re-assembled last night and rode in this morning - it was a treat to have more than two gears again!
I also remounted the rear rack with better bolts so it doesn't warp or come loose so much with the extra weight of my laptop in the panniers. I got extra long bolts so I can use the same attachment point for my electronics.

I did hit one heck of a pot-hole along the way. I saw it last second and managed to slow the bike a little bit before I hit it good. It was a strange thing, as I was stopping, to watch my LED light launch up in front of me, do a lazy twist in the air and come crashing down. I guess due to the forward motion it was launched with, the light was matching my speed as I braked so it appeared to just hang in the air like it was zero gravity for a second. Totally surreal - until it hit the ground. Still works OK, but it certainly justifies why I usually elastic the light to it's bracket. I misplaced the elastic last night and didn't bother to replace it - oops. My panniers popped off the rack too, but they're also strapped on so they couldn't go anywhere. Thankfully my rims are OK.

The wet snow on the streets melted somewhat and turned into ice overnight - except on my commute in. I didn't have time to get the spiked tires on the bike, so I sucked it up and rode in on my skinny tires. No worries, no problems. Oh, except that my helmet broke when I put it on and I had to superglue it back together. Suxxorz!

The latest trend in auto-safety is to see me signalling a lane change to the left, then speed up to almost hit me. Twice in two days--both BMWs. It may be too early to say it's BMW drivers, I'll go out on a limb and say they're related.

Forgot to put the fender back on the bike this morning. See the attached local doppler image. I think I'm gonna get wet this afternoon.

As a side note, I was just coming back into the office and my bike is in view as I enter - and I notice that my pot-hole incident earlier also bent one of the stays on the rack. It bent back OK. That's what happened when my laptop (in a protective bag, in a waterproof pannier) slammed into it after the pannier came un-hung, I guess.

Part of my commute is now on brand new pavement, freshly laid last night. I wonder how long it'll be before Con Ed comes by and rips it up. The rest of the unpaved, torn up road is still nice and dirty so clouds of dust and dirt get kicked up by trucks and buses and the wind blows all that stuff right into my face. I hope they pave the rest of it tonight.

On the way in, a couple of cars, a taxi and a Porsche, tried to edge into my lane before they'd passed me or even pulled even w/ me. So I did what any right-minded cyclist would do: I forced them back into their lanes by pulling slightly ahead and moving into their lane. It worked!

I never take my fenders off. Lite rain this morning but ride was fun. Rain is supposed to increase this afternoon.

Some mornings I relish the prospect of commuting in a cold rain. This was not one of those times. It was cold, wet, I was running late, I didn't pack well (am wearing damp white athletic socks with my dark brown suit until I can dash out to the store a couple blocks away) and I forgot to bring cash for lunch, so will have to go out in the rain to the ATM.

On the plus side, I finally got to use my new rain pants and was delighted in how well they worked.

Totally FUBAR.

I got up early to take the long way in. About a mile from my house, I ran over some glass but thought I was okay. It wasn't until I was just about out of town that the tire went flat. Swapped out the tube and got the CO2 out. Psss...... Only about 30 lbs of pressure. Crap. Look in my bag for another cartridge. Nada. Okay, I'm only about a half mile from a Home Depot. So I walk over there and ask the first orange apron if they have an air compressor.

Blank look. Pause. "You mean one that works?"

Uh, yes. I have a flat and I'm out of air. I just need a little air.

Blank look again. "What? For your bike?"

Well, as it turns out, no they don't have any air compressors that are actually functioning, just floor models. What if I wanted to buy one and wanted a demonstration?

Uh, no. You'd just have to buy one and if it didn't work, you could bring it back. Okay so I'm not getting any help at Home Depot, not that I ever have before so what was I expecting?

As it turns out, there's a gas station around the corner and the dude doesn't even want to take any money for turning on the air pump. Nice guy. I don't have my presta-shrader shim but I McGuyver a good seal by wrapping the bad tube around the valve before putting the hose on. It's filling, it's fillilng! It's flatting! It's flatting. As it turns out the spare had a hole too, and the patch kit is in the other saddle bag. Sigh.

Damn. Oh, and there just went my bus.

So I call the Missus and she puts the kids in the van and drives out to get me and drops me at work. I am a very lucky, but very stupid and ill-prepared guy.

Everyone, say it with me: But it's still better than commuting by car. :)

:)

Oh, absolutely.

Excellent ride in. Too bad the job is going to India. Gads this company is in for the ride of it's life :(

...their loss AND mine

* 57F, persistant rain and 10-20mph headwinds.... The cost of my rain-resistant wind/breaker ($50) and water resistant panniers ($50)
* making yourself visible to cagers... The cost of my safety vest ($20) and Cygolite Night Explorer ($130).
* Knowing that you just bagged another commute in spite of nasty conditions... Priceless!

GreenAnvil

Rained on the way home. Good thing I had the rain jacket. Unfortunately, I didn't have the rain pants. Ah who cares. The bike shoes are in the oven drying out and I'm still mostly dry.

I pedal to a bus 'stop' (actually a pick up point for a chartered bus). I lock my bike to a pole and cover it with a bike tarp. Today it was raining and blowing. I locked and covered the bike, leaning it against the prevailing winds so it would not fall over. When I got back this evening I see that the winds had changed, knocked the bike over and blew the cover mostly off. The bike was soaked.

I have to find a better place to lock the bike up and I have to sew more velcro closures on the bottom of the cover so it does not act like a parachute.

first commute on the new/old bike. nice. feels a little more unstable at first because of the thinner tires. but it is responsive and fast. I like it fine! it was about 78 degrees coming home. going to work I had a headwind the whole way.

46F & misty/fog this morning on the way in. Humidity must have been very high, because I wasn't hardly working, and my shirt was soaked when I got to work. No big deal, I change clothes anyway. I hit 5 traffic lights this morning, and it took me just over 40 minutes to make my 7 mile commute. First time that I was slower than any trip in my car. The ride home was beautiful, but I was just a touch overdressed. I could have left my T-shirt on and been fine, but I threw on my warmups because I thought it would be colder. No big deal, I'm at home now (31 minutes today, almost 14MPH on the way home!) and am on my way into the shower with my beautiful wife... :D

Very windy and rainy. Fairly cold. It took me 26 minutes to bike 5.3 km. I had a strong headwind all the way home. I finally found the dryness threshold in my water-resistant wear. While I wasn't soaked, my under clothes were just a little damp. Good workout on the legs though!

WET (x2) !

56F, slight rain. Since I'm combining biking with a weight training program, the main thing for me is to do the commute, so I don't worry too much about speed; have been averaging about 14-15mph on a 9.5 mi one-way route, one challenging hill and some minor ones. I try to keep my HR between 120-145 bpm. When there's wind I switch to a lower gear and spin. I get to work reliably, fresh, and I know I've done my cardio for the day. :)

So, another morning commute in the bag. Took a shower and now I feel new!

GreenAnvil