Gorgeous day today. Funny thing, Thing 2's daycare was closed today, so I had her while waiting for spouse to return from her am gig. Got out the trailer to bring Thing 2 along for the bike ride to Thing 1's kindergarten. When she came out and saw my bike and his bike, she immediately went to pull her tricycle off the porch. I had to take it away from her to put her into the trailer for the ride to school. She was OK w/ that but wanted to go herself.

It was raining all day and then it stopped just as I was getting ready to leave the office. 41F with a 14mpg WNW wind that made it feel like 35F. It didn't rain the whole way home, so I'm thankful. The sun peeked through the clouds at times creating very dramatic landscapes... I was treated to some nice sights... wished I had my 35mm camera with me, but I'm glad I was there to enjoy those moments.

GreenAnvil

Whiney sarcastic letters don't usually get you anywhere. Complaints should be factual with a suggestion for improvement. If I received something like that, I would hit the delete key or gash it right away.

Bummer what happened to ya tho.

IMHO.

really nice! weather was good, took it easy and coasted much of the way. gotta love these thin wheels. stopped by the LBS that sold the bike to me and bought some spare tubes. they said, "How's that Univega treating you"?
Great! It's my Commuter."
I was dropped by two people on mountain bikes, wait, no, one was a bmx. lol

It did list the facts quite well though. It even had suggestions for improvement, even though I don't think one should be obliged to provide suggestions. It's bloody obvious: educate your bleeping drivers.

(It also helps to give more details in your reply so that it's clear what post you are replying to.)

freaking amazing... after playing some basketball on campus to end the day, i rode home in t-shirt and some jeans... on a fall evening. only in los angeles.... thank heavens.

What, you actually think that they would pay attention to my letter anyway? The only way to get Big 4 to acknowledge that their driver is a moron would be to catch the guy on video, go to the press and do a surprise interrogation of the president of the company. Writing a very factual and informative letter tinged with sarcasm was a way for me to vent my displeasure beyond the confines of bikeforums. I purposely avoided mentioning I was on a bike because we're marginalized out here in the land of the F-150. In the slim hope that somebody would ask the bearded wonder to pay attention to the rules of the road, writing an attention-getting letter was better, IMHO, than something bland. It got your attention, eh? ;)

My schedule is finally easing up a bit enough for me to sit and read through bike forums again. I've been riding pretty much every day and it has maintained my sanity and blood pressure as I've worked in two locations for the last 5 weeks averaging 14 hour days with only a couple of days off.

Things I've been thinking about on my daily commutes as of late-


#1- Folding bikes rock if you think you might need to grab a ride home in a friend's car. (:)- dalmore)
#2- When busy and stressed don't stress on the bike commute. Go real easy. Be happy you're riding at all no matter the pace or the distance.
#3- Folding bikes can move right along- this I knew but I'd forgotten.
#4- Nothing beats the feel of a good solid non-folding commuting bike for stability and all round speed and comfort.
#5- Biking as part of a commute can be very satisfying even if I don't get to do the round trip.

Rode in the rain yesterday. All urban streets ride. This commute route would have been a nightmare in a car. It was pleasure on the bike, a little slick in the rain, but a pleasure to not be stuck in the traffic.

congrats Wulfheir- but does this mean you won't ride for the rest of the year? will more riding mean getting ahead of yourself chronologically?

This is my 5th week of commuting. I've ramped it up a bit, now I'm going 4 days a week on the bike after going 3 days the past month. It's been great, the bike has held up well, when I'm engaged in traffic I'm more assertive and following the rules to a T, and most importantly spending lots of time here and learning a lot. Thanks.

But real life is starting to creep in.

I almost got the classic right-hook today by some numpty. The driver thought he could turn in but he wisely stopped midstream as I passed him with a few feet of room. Hearing the horns of other drivers, berating this guy (or were hurrying me up?), was sweet music to my ears. Whatever, I didn't get the worse of this situation.

But on Tuesday night I almost collided head on with a kid riding his BMX bike real low while listening to his tunes. That's one. Two, he was going the wrong way in the bike lane. Three, he had no lights on whatsoever. He literally jumped out of the shadows and I didn't see this kid until I saw the whites of his eyes. Thankfully we didn't evade each other in the same direction or else it would've been messy. Sweet Jesus, I didn't think my heart could beat that hard and so fast.

I'm seriously considering doing a pro wrestling-style Clothesline manuever on the next person I encounter going the wrong way. I don't care if the person is elderly, carrying a baby, or if she's frickin' Shakira. They're getting the Ric Flair treatment.

Ok I'm kidding, but I can dream can't I?

Great Sunday commute to some overtime

total 45.6km
Av SP 24.99 km/h
Max Speed 67.8km/h

nice sunny day, not to warm a real pleasure

Had fun on these weekend commute. Lo-traffic, hi-fun.

I left late, so I really punched it on the way in, arrived all sweaty and sniffly. Three minutes late.

But the person with whom I was supposed to work today showed up five minutes late, so I pretended I've been there on time, heh heh. :D

+1 on the Sunday commute. Boston had the Charles Regatta going on plus a Paul Simon concert- I wouldn't have wanted to be driving a car in all that traffic

Great ride on the regular commuter (not the folder). So nice to whip down the road at 23 mph right out with the traffic instead of toodling along on the da Hon helios. Little or no wind today. Road over to Dorchester, then over to BU then back to Newton then back to BU then back to Newton. Yo yo commuting but got some miles in. Lots of urban street rides but I'm missing my bike path rides along the river.

No commute today as the wife wouldn't allow me to go out in rain and 25 mph wind gusts.

:(

This was my first day back on the bike after a week off (wisdom teeth removed + A reaction to the meds). Gah, how I missed it. It was nice out, 35 degrees, a slight breeze, light traffic. I wore just the right amount of clothing so I didnt end up at work sweating up a storm.

To make things better, it was the first day on the bike I rebuilt :D (See my other post)

No clotheslining Shakira:) Man that is one cute young lady IMO.

Today's commute was fine. Chili, but fine. Only one idiot today, and he was in a BMW, surprise, surprise, surprise. I'm stopped behind a bunch of cars at a light, and this nimrod wants to pass me even though he can't go anywhere. I stared him down until he acknowledged that I was there. Once the light changed, I politely let the idiot go ahead of me, but man what an idiot.

Fine ride in this morning. Very sunny. Only got one honk and that was from my roomate being a smarty. Weather was chilly and I broke out my wind jacket for the first time yesterday.

My ride started off really nicely. Not too cold in Dublin, clear bright promising Monday until a Mercedes drove into me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A guy turned onto the main road into me, must have been blind! More a pain in the arse than anything cos now I have to go get my wheels straightened and have a massive gash and bruise on my shin!

funny thing was last night I was dreaming of the fetish cycles bike I wanna build. But that's for a different forum all together.

Whatsamattawidder? ;)

Did a 40 mile ride around the Bronx yesterday that had enough hills to make Lance weep. That meant I had dead legs on today's commute. Got to work a little early and saw the street sign I lock to occupied by two bikes so I had to use another, less secure street sign. Locked up, left my keys in the pad lock and went up to the office. Tweny minutes later I noticed I didn't have my bike lock keys and rushed outside to find my bike still there and the keys still in the pad lock. Grabbed the keys, made sure everything was locked and smiled at my own stupidity.

This is a lost fight... better to wait another day... :)

GreenAnvil

80% of my commute is Westbound. Guess which way the wind was blowing this morning? Yup, you win.

48F Winds West @ 20mph

I don't know why but it just kicked my ass today. Hopefully they stay West so I can enjoy the ride home.

Bummer - glad to hear it wasn't more serious! Assume you got the necessary information and this bonehead's going to be footing the bill for your bike and body repairs???

Beautiful sunrise today! I've got another month of those, then I'll have to wait until February...

Glad you are not in too bad a shape. Hope you get new bike and punitive damages from the guy.

This is my third week of commuting. The first I did it 3 days, second 4, and this week I'm going to try commuting the whole week. It was a crisp 44 and dark out when I left the house, and I got to wear my hoody for the first time on my ride. I also switched from my fixed-gear Motobecane (which I'd ridden the past two weeks) to the mountainbike I just resurrected from the depths of my father-in-law's garage. I'd spend the weekend tuning it up (first time working with a geared bike) and it really made the ride a lot easier. Being able to downshift for the hills and just maintain a high cadence (I listen to Atari Teenage Riot on my morning rides) the whole way made the trip go quickly. Didn't encounter any real major idiots on the way in. I did have someone decide to try and squeeze himself into my lane and get a little close with his side-view mirror, but it was at a red light so I just pulled ahead a bit and beat him through the intersection. I really love it when it's cold enough that I don't have to change clothes when I get to work. :)

I was sick in bed all week last week with the exception of Tuesday, where I braved the bicycle to work despite my illness... There where things needing taking care of that required me physically to be there regardless of my health and I figured the ride (taken slow and easy, of course) would give my immune system a little boost. This was before I realized how sick I was, and I'm sure that having soaked pants in the cold rainy ride home didn't help - but it was fun despite the chill and I saw a surprising number of other brave souls riding the opposite way.

Saturday I made the ride to work and back to collect my laptop and some other work related items to catch up on what I missed during the week. The weather was windy but beautiful, however I felt like death by the time I got home and spent the rest of the day in bed.

Sunday it snowed! I was feeling a little better, so my first instinct was to phone a friend nearby (aprox. a 15 minute ride away) so I had a destination to try my bike in the snow. I let a little air out of the tires (too much, I think... will have to mess around with it) to deal with the slippy roads. The ride home taught me a lesson however - if I'm going to be trying this in inclimate weather, I need to weather-proof myself and not just the bike! My leather jacket with layers underneath is plenty warm and dry, but my legs where soaked and freezing as where my hands. The full-finger cycling gloves do great when it's cold and dry but are useless in wet snow.

I may have to call it quits for the cycle commuting for the cold and rainy days until I can afford some good waterproof pants and gloves. Sadly, the next few months are generally cold and rainy here. :cry: