Typical ride in today although I seemed to cross paths with more school buses this morning and people walking. Mid-50's and cloudy and the wind was not bad. Supposed to be 70 this afternoon. Definitely staying darker later into the morning though.

First time I've come into work when it was so dark. I left about 6:50 am. Usually, the moon helps but not today. It was dark in the valley on the MUP. My light was adequate, although I went slower because of all the debris (leaves, twigs) on the MUP. Didn't want to ride over a big branch.

It took a lot of concentration. :( I think I'll travel the road next time I ride when it's that dark.

57F, fog/mist. It took forever to get the fenders on this morning, and I've decided I will leave them on pretty much all the time. Too much hassle.

Saw a big diesel pickup that had made too tight a turn, and its cargo trailer had rolled onto its side. Snarled traffic a bit but I breezed right through :) Got to work wet from the moisture in the air, but no sweat, man.

One road on my commute is about 1/2 miles of totally unpaved road at the moment due to some sort of construction. I failed to consider what it wold be like after 36 hours of rain. :eek: The adult in me would have picked a different route. The kid in me was quite pleased to be playing in the mud!! :D

On the way home in the cage yesterday, I was leapfrogging a fellow bike commuter for about 6 miles. I've ridden "with" him on a couple of occassions so I was pleased to see that at his slower pace, he was still pacing the cagers on my commute!

Almost hit from behind at a stop sign in a residential area.
It had just rained the day before, and the roads were still wet.
I slow down, come to a complete stop, look both ways, and then I hear tires skidding and sliding behind me.

It seemed like the driver either; 1) did not notice me or the stop sign - or 2) did not expect me to come to a stop at the 4-way intersection.
Either way, I consider myself 3) lucky.

Roads were wet and it was humid, but looks like the rain has passed for now. Most of the unpaved road is paved now, but there's a couple blocks where it's still chewed up. Had a guy in a Geo Metro pass close to me. When I passed him at the corner, I noticed he was eating his breakfast off a plate!

I couldn't figure out why I couldn't see very well in the mornings, despite my HID headlight. Problem: orange lenses in my glasses. D'oh! I'll switch to yellow tomorrow. Other than that, it was a super-warm ride in, and the roads were dry.

HUMID! Can't decide if I rode in or rowed in :eek: Like Dalmore said- 36 hours of rain. All the roads are still wet around here and the mud was too deep to go XC with slicks on the mtb. So the commute involved a lot of sitting behind cars and buses unitl the shoulder got wide enough to safely filter past a lot of standing auto's.

One kid who was waiting for his bus saw me doing about 20 mph between two cars. I was keeping up with traffic and taking the lane due to a very narrow bridge on McGinnis Ferry Rd. The kid starts screaming for me to go faster. I know I look like lance :rolleyes: , but comeon, I'm going as fast as the traffic will let me go. Any faster and I'd of been in the back seat of the Acura in front of me.

Over all nice ride in today, especially after caging it for 2 days in a row.

Commute this morning was beautiful! I also have a couple of stretches of new pavement - actually fresh concrete roadway. Turning a two-lane into 4-lane divided just oustide my neighborhood - the new lanes aren't open yet, but they're done (sans striping) and I can easily pass through the barricades. So now for 1/2 mile each direction I have NO traffic issues on this particular road. Getting spoiled!

Sunrise this morning was beautiful, new tires (Nasbar cheapy things with kevlar belt - 700x25) were great and felt fast compared to my old 28s.

I need to check out my headset, though - had it overhauled a month ago, and the steering is becoming a bit difficult and feels like it's too tight or the bearings are hosed. The wrench was all proud when I picked it up after the overhaul and he told me he was able to reuse the bearings. Please... I would gladly pay the extra $4 or whatever since I've already paid for you to crack the thing open and put it back together. Might have to stop there on the way home tonight...

Do tell - what are they? I bet you already posted that and I missed it...

Hey! Some of us read this stuff at work!!!

Quoted for humour.

I bought slicks for my Dew Deluxe last night. Ride very fast, and very smooth. Panaracers.

Got up this morning, front tire flat, bike goes in the car.

At least I can still ride home tonight.

Nice morning - 68 degrees on the way up to the low 80's today. Having recently finished a tour, my legs are in great shape. I glided into work today.

Surprisingly warm this morning but foggy. I really need to slap some fenders on my bike. Wore my new "Share the Road" socks, but couldn't tell if any cagers noticed them or not.

After yesterday's experience, I went with the belt and suspenders and duct tape approach. Changed the tubes, put a new tube and a new patch kit and two CO2 cartridges in the saddle bag, plus another tube and a pump in my backpack.

No problems this morning. I'm hoping to get a long ride home this afternoon to make up for yesterday morning's misadventure.

Didn't ride. New to this and with ice on the streets here in Colorado I was uncertain as how to proceed so I drove. People commute year around but how when there are icy streets. Just go slow?? Suggestions? Thanks.

Cold and wet! Wearing long sleeves and pants at work, fall must really be here. Still no coat or tights biking though. And, I did still ~double my commute going past work ~3.5 miles before turning around to head in.

I also skipped out today due to the ice this morning. I managed to get a bunch of slush, snow, and ice into my small chainring last night and was stuck in a low gear but still had fun. Ordered some fenders last night. Hopefully I'll be better prepared for the next storm.

Pouring...I arrived dry as a bone, including the inside of the shoes.
Showers Pass stuff holds up. It's on it's 5th season. That's better than most TV shows :P

A knobby tire on the front will allow you to commute on ice.

First close encounter ever... the road is clear, visibility for miles, and there's only me and this roundhole approaching at a distance driving a white van... This is a country road... the only thing out there are cows and the occasional farm house. He didn't bother to take the opposite lane or even the middle of the road. No, he just whizzed by less than a foot from me at roughly 45 mph and I was riding on the shoulder.

Morons and roundholes should not be allowed to drive (even less vote) in this country (USA). >:|

GreenAnvil

it was okay! i had to stop this morning to take a bunch of stuff off because i was way too hot. i knew i would be because i left the house comfortable, but i was too stubborn to take off a layer at home. when i got to work, my hair was soaked down to the ends because the new jacket i got just seals in moisture, and my body didn't like it. it was embarrassing showing up all wet. didn't want to ride without it because i didn't bring my safety vest. also i was still stubborn.

but in other news i have to confirm that a shower cap on the helmet absolutely keeps in an astonishing amount of warmth and moisture. if you're cold then try out one of those things.

Ride home was much harder than the ride in - a cold front blew in, and I had 20+ mph winds. For part of the ride they were at my back, which was very nice. But then I turned, and the were alternately across my bow or I was quartering into them the rest of the way. Got a better workout than usual!

Ride in was cool, but 5:30AM is too early to leave the house for a meeting. Of course, I'll be leaving at 5:00AM tomorrow for an even earlier meeting. Ride home was good but I'm still feeling worn out from overtraining.

As is usual with me these days I did not have any lunch... too busy or too lazy to bother or something. Every time this happens I tell myself on the way back home: chephy, go slowly, don't push yourself too much. And I manage to stick to that resolution for about a minutes and then I see a green light in the distance I want to make... and the race is on! :D Oh well, bonking is good for endurance, isn't it?.. :D

Also on the way back a rear brake cable broke on me! Then I cycled to a nearby bike shop to buy replacement only to discover that I did not have any money with me. DAMN!

The day was beautiful: very warm and dry... Probably the last such day until next May... Bye-bye summer. :(

I left a couple hours before I had to be at work since the weather report was forecasting strong Santa Ana winds. Of course, there was no wind at all the whole way in. I extended my route and while at a stop light a car drove by that was on fire. I did a sprint to catch it at the next light and let the driver know his car was on fire. He jumps out and PULLS the object on fire out from under the car. Now there's a car on fire in one lane and a burning object in the next. I pull out the cell phone to call 911, but the line was busy. As I hung up a patrol officer happened to be coming up and saw the blaze. A couple minutes later both fires had burned themselves out. On the way home my chain came off twice. I've never had this much trouble with a chain. POS....