Mr_H

Foggy...moist...I'm glad I have fenders Other then that, rather normal ride

idcruiserman

Rain this morning but warm. Nice ride with the new fenders. No other bikes and the car traffic seemed less, so I made good time.

Relaxer

My luck kind of ran out this morning. But I'd rather light a candle than curse the darkness, so I'll say instead that Lady Luck prevented me from serious injury. Pouring rain this morning and I'm going down Massachusetts Avenue, on the BIKE LANE!!!, and an SUV flew past me and then made a sudden right turn with no blinker. I did a last-minute swerve to avoid plowing right into him, and went smack into a patch of leaves. I remember thinking, 'not good' before my wheels went horizontal and I was down in a heap. Even worse, my backpack opened up and my work clothes got soaked. The SUV? As far as I can tell, it never even slowed down.

It's almost fortunate it was raining because I was layered up in rain gear and all I have to show for my accident is a bagel-sized raspberry on my right thigh, torn rain pants and wet clothes at work. Other than that, great ride to work!

jyossarian

He had to wait longer than 5 seconds whether he cut me off or slowed down and cut in behind me. I was right next to him when he pulled this stunt and the reason he had to slam on the brakes was due to the line of cars in front of him waiting to make a right turn. I passed him on the left before he even got to the intersection. Some people just want to hurry up and wait.

Ride in today was less drama filled and more rain filled. Wore the full rain pants and jacket w/ the helmet cover and realized the helmet cover doesn't work too well w/ my new helmet. The visor part was obstructing too much of my vision so I had to flip it up to see. And of course when it's flipped up like that, it doesn't work as well at keeping the rain out of my eyes. Not too bad since I had a tailwind pushing the rain away from my face, but the ride home will be a different story.

luckysnafu

After the almost 2" of rain we got yesterday if finally let up last night and I was able to ride in this morning. Roads were still pretty wet but it wasn't raining. I did have to deal with some heavy fog for the first part of the ride but the sun burned that off pretty fast. Had a woman in a minivan who just had to pass me going through downtown. Speed limit is 25mph and I was going at least 27 or so but she still had to do it. I caught up to her about a half mile down the road and passed her while she was waiting for the next light. She only had to wait about 10-15 seconds before I would have moved to the right when the road widened but she just had to get past me Spotty showers or a thunderstorm could be in store for the ride home this afternoon but at least it is warm (60s).

pinkrobe

Heavy rain last night resulted in some icy spots on the road this morning. My wife did a nice two wheel drift up to a stop sign but managed to recover quite well. Traffic was pretty bad on 4th St., but I made it in okay. I managed to catch the S4 from Mt. Royal again. He's easy pickings.

vtjim

Yesterday afternoon turned my morning headwind into a raucous tailwind. Funny how that works. I was moving fast for a while. (20MPH = fast on heavy knobby-tire MTB)

No ride this morning. My friend left her car at my house (drinking and watching elections past midnight) and her boyfriend drove her home in his car. I drove friend's car to her house and she drove me to work from there. My wife is getting me after work. (How complicated!)

Just as well though. It's raining.

hairlessbill

Gorgeous 70 degree day today. Glad winter's over. Switched to spd's/sandals on the fixie because of my bad foot. It feels easier with this setup but without a computer I can't tell.

Some a_hole in jeep on his cell phone almost rolled through a stop sign before he saw me. Then gets upset that I get to take my left turn, after I waited my turn so he gives me the one-finger salute and I heartily give it back.

Other than that it was a wonderful ride in.

ActionJeans

Last night was pretty chilled, although I really need to clean my chain, and true my wheels. I swear, if you threw something at my chain, it would stick. So that's my project for tommorrow (or one of them I guess).
Almost wrecked coming into my apartment complex though, which was rather funny. Step hill leads down into my complex, and it's pretty new, very slick, blacktop. So I fly down it like I normally do, except it's extremely wet. Notice my back tire locked up pretty easy, and slid sidewase for abit... ok, no big deal, let off pressure, apply both brakes, back brake a little less firm, front a little more firm... ok, locked up the front brake... hmm, not slowing down very much, and I can't make the turn at this speed, not even close... Same thing again, locked both wheels up, skittered to the left of the road a bit, and then started looking for a place to crash... ok, cool, theres a bush dead ahead, aim for that in case you can't get it slowed... I was all ready to unclip and wipe out into a bush (which would have been hilarious), but I finally got it slowed enough to just make the apex of the right turn.

Ride to work was shorter than normal. Got up to late, had to drive to the bus station (yes, with a car), but I'd missed that bus, so I had to drive to the next park and ride place (about 7 miles down the road), and pick it up there. Well, it sucked that when the bus got there, BOTH bike racks were in use... so I had to decide... drive to work (which I hate to do), wait for the next bus and be late, or haul ass to work from here, and try to make it in on time. I picked option C, and it worked out ok. I made just over 10 miles in a little over 30 minutes, which was about as fast as I could have ridden this morning. Man, my chain REALLY needs cleaning. It's like riding in molassas. Made it in only a few minutes late.

caloso

Okay, it's settled. I absolutely positively have to get a new light. I've been trying to get away with a cute little Cateye LED light. It's sufficient for riding in town with street lights but I discovered that it's totally insufficient for actually lighting up your path on a dark road.

I've been following the Total Geekiness thread and would love to be able to homebrew a portable sun setup, but I just don't have the time or skills. So I'm going to spend a little bit of dough and get something BRIGHT.

As for this morning, the streets were wet and the sky threatened to open up again, but no rain. Once again, I was perfectly comfortable on the bike but started sweating once I walked in the building. I need to leave a few minutes earlier and spend a few minutes standing in the cool stairwell before going up to my office.

Flimflam

Had a good ride in today, felt great having rested yesterday. Was misty and rainy, but not too much actually coming from the sky. Got honked at for being in front of a car (I guess the person didn't appreciate me taking his precious 8 feet of roadway up, despite the fact that traffic was indeed stationary and I wasn't slowing it down in anyway).

I was checking out a rather nice looking female while I had taken the lane, got honked at by a cabbie who didn't like my slight off-straight swerve as he was trying to push himself over into my lane - fair enough, I'll accept that one

Traffic today slowed the ride in, 34 mins with an average of 13mph - seems about on par.

Was a lot warmer today, 8C when I left - I donned my GoreTEX army waterproof, and layered as normal - big mistake, I was WAY too hot really, but it wasn't such a big drama.

I also put the lights on first thing today for some extra "HERE I AM, PLEASE SEE ME" - definitely need to get some lights for my own needs though. Where's that Xmas bonus that cries "Buy an SON, Buy an SON!"

noisebeam

My commutes continue to be pleasurable.

It was a pleasant 85F/15%RH going home yesterday - enough to get a good sweat going, but not so much warmth to hurt.

Al

jyossarian

Wet ride home and the wind was blowing the drizzle into my face. Tons of traffic to slow things down, but I got home fine and had a good time in the process.

nukemm

Found an alternate route than adds about 1.5 miles this afternoon. It has a decent hill climb in it as well, and it's all residential. Took about 5 minutes extra to get home, due to the length and the hill, but it was worth it. I got nice & sweaty...

Flimflam

Had a good ride home, traffic on Adelaide was heavy as ever due to the construction between Spadina and Yonge (at various places).

Going east of Yonge, crossing the final parts of the streetcar tracks and I feel my water bottle out of its cage, looked down and it's balancing precariously on the top of the cage - I signal, move left and brake to stop and fix it up, so of course good ol' momemtum throws the bottle into the path of the car behind/passing me - under the car and then under a rear wheel it goes, luckily it 'bounced' and flew up onto the sidewalk - where a kind lady was good enough to pass it over to me. Damaged, but still holds water, all is well. Allow me to now comment on the terrible condition of Adelaide St. - the bumps is what jossled my bottle free, having to pull up over them (some holes/cracks/grates are a good 1-2" deep) - I might try an alternative tomorrow, I'm starting not to enjoy that short stretch of my commute - the traffic and insanity it brings is a bit too stressful for what I'd like to be a good ride.

Crossing the Bloor viaduct, I get a nice remark on my vest from a lady I said Hi to at a red light. Then, heading over the bridge itself and I was going along at my usual 20-21mph (I think due to the windshielding on the sides, I always seem to get a really nice smooth speed going on there) and a guy on a mountain bike (which I also ride) really blew by me... I was thinking "holy **** he's fast" - must've been 5mph faster (if not more), kudos to that guy. If anyone is that guy or knows him, he was wearing these unmistakable BIG white woolly/winter socks - it still amazes me, heh - I've been passed before, no shock really, but that really blew me away.

Drivers were awesome tonight, had one guy stop at a green to let me cross (turning left), he held up the traffic for me - very good of him, I thanked with a wave as always (I thank drivers for not turning in front of me anyway, I hope it makes them realise I'm a human and worth waiting 5 seconds for).

Again, was way too warm on the way home - I stopped off to drop my backpack and get a prescription to take to the pharmacy, and man did I ever realise what a great back warmer/insulator my backpack is - I sure noticed a difference when that sucker came off. Still, the clothing stuff is all experimentation.

redden

Left 20 minutes later than usual today, spent more time at the latate threshold as a result but got to work on time. maybe I'll leave late on a regular schedule as motivation.
Unseasonably warm, hard to believe it's November. My home was the hottest city in America yesterday. At least I'm doing my part to combat Global warming, commuting via bicycle and holding in my farts. Hope I don't spontaneously combust.

tokolosh

derailleur weirdness
from yesterday's crash. today
i rode to bike shop

mister

Oooooh... a haiku about the commute.

Another great riding day. Perfect weather, easy traffic, no problems and I felt great the whole way. I had been thinking of asking how I can get a locker at work the last couple days and when I got to work my manager said "Umm... we had the regional manager come in and he says you can't keep your bag with you in the office." What timing. I got a lock and locker. On Friday, I'll bring in some clothes and a pair of shoes. Now I don't have to carry a bag. Ha! Take that micro manager ass hat!

Big Ron

Nice ride in this AM. Nice bright moon helping illuminate the roads. The roads were still wet from the soaking rains on Tues and Wed, but not so much as to create any roadspray or other issues. It was really warm this AM at ~54F and is supposed to hit mid 70's this afternoon. Combined with a 10 mph tailwind, should make for a very nice ride home!

GreenAnvil

Yesterday both my rides were in total darkness; rain in the morning and fog at night. Good thing that my Night Explorer light held up to close to 2 hrs of light @ 15w and 25w on some stretches. I still would like to have a power hub so I don't have to worry about charging the battery or it running out of juice if I forget to charge the battery.

Today was warm! Wow, I can't believe how warm it was for this time of the year! I'll take it.

GreenAnvil

tuolumne

Watch out for those wet leaves! It was drizzly this morning, and had rained hard all night. Most of those stubborn oak leaves finally came down and riding was a hazard. One mile from work I took a bad fall, thankfully no cars were around. I was daydreaming, swerved to miss a big pothole, then bag to miss the curb, then I'm going sideways at a 45 degree angle (hockey stop) thinking this is not good. Fortunately, the leaves prevented any road rash or ripped clothing. Everything appears to be intact. Don't daydream on wet leaves!

vtjim

45F and foggy. 8th of a mile or less near the lake. No wind. A nice commute, actually. The MUP was still wet from yesterday's rain, and had lots of Evil Wet Leaves but that was about it. My riding glasses kept fogging over.

I used my headlight and rear blinkie on the road(s).

Mr_H

Last nights commute home was....uh...windy. I dunno what it is around here, but I guess as winter sets in, it blows from the south up (right in my face on the way home). Ah well, at least it was a nice, uneventful ride.

This morning it was about 45, slight wind, nothing much. Drivers were pretty nice today except one dork who was in the lane heading towards me (opposite side of the road), and decieded to swerve and honk at me....he didn't come anywhere close to me, but I can't figure out what the heck he was trying.....
Hrm

idcruiserman

Windy ride home last night, but uneventful. Overdressed this morning for 37F and arrived very sweaty. Nearly got hit by a car crossing the MUP. Driver and passenger didn't see me at all, but I braked in time. I wish the city had just put bike lines on the road instead of creating a MUP. Hardly anyone walks on it, and it makes for more dangerous rides since cars never look for bikes while crossing it.

ModoVincere

Legs feel like rubber today. I worked late last night, so I really pushed on the way home. I took a longer route to avoid heavy traffic when it was so dark out. I managed to average 17 mph on a Wally World mtb for 15 miles.
Also found that some mud still remains in places from the rains we had monday night and tuesday. Front wheel tried to slip out from under me while I was "going native" trying to get around a series of school buses that were so far over to the right that there was no pavement at all beyond the tires. They were all turning left and I wanted to go right, so I went over into the grass and mud area to get around, but there was not much grass.