Wet ride this morning, should be even wetter this afternoon.

Two nice commutes in a row. Yesterday my ride home was in the dark again, and it was raining. I like that for some strange reason. :p This morning it's in the high 40Fs and damp, but no rain.

I chuckled at myself this morning when I realized that if I ride my knobby tires enough, they'll turn into slicks all by themselves and I won't have to buy slicks. :rolleyes: :)

Wow, it was foggy this morning, and cold, about 30. It was an easy ride in, though I rode closer to the line then normal (just to give myself more room from cars).

I saw the most suicidal biker I've ever seen too. One of the roads to my work place is a 4 lane (with a center turn lane) highway/main street with speedlimits ranging 55-65 (And in the area near the college, 70s isnt uncommon). They built a MUP on one side to link the college to the rest of the town and this is what I ride on the final stage of my commute.

Anyhow, I'm riding up the MUP, lights turned on on my bike, wearing a bright orange jacket, when I look over to the other side of the road. There, riding against traffic (55-65mph), wearing a dark black/blue jacket, no helmet, and as far as I could see, no front reflector, was a guy on a BMX bike, pedaling along.
I was stunned. I thought about calling out to him to tell him it's unsafe, but he wouldn't have heard me over teh morning traffic.

Yeesh.

Wow, thanks to the gods of weather and bicycling today. I felt a touch of a cold coming so I slept in a bit this morning. I was dreading the weather and put on my jacket, waterproof socks, and head cover. But I must have caught a window and had hardly any rain at all on the way in. Now I can watch the rain from my window until the ride home.

Yesterday was... interesting

The trip in was uneventful. I rode my bike to get some thai noodles over lunch, which aside from giving me a relentless case of halitosis, was also uneventful.

The bus on the ride home got stuck in a huge traffic jam. Today was supposed to call for snow, so I called my LBS on the ride home and had them price a new rear wheel with a megarange cassette. My 30t wasn't cutting it on one part of the trail this past weekend. Anyhow, once I got off the bus, I hit the LBS, picked up a new shimano-hubbed wheel and it was ready to throw a tire on. I Strapped it down to the top of my toolbox trunk and made the trek home (the LBS added about 2 miles to my ride home).

I'm pedalling along, not going all that fast, but not going terribly slow either, with a giant bike wheel hanging off the back of my bike parallel to the ground, and drivers are going around me no problem. Then, I get a road bike next to me all of a sudden. We're on a slight incline and I'm maybe going 7-10 MPH. I'm not in much of a hurry, I just don't want to lose my momentum going up the incline. I keep my cadence, and he paces me for a bit (100 feet or so) then takes off like a bat out of hell. The f'n roadie dropped me.

he pulled back down to about my same speed 50 feet in front of me. As we crest the hill, I pick up some speed, but he doesn't. There's no traffic in my lane and I'm closing on him (not trying to race, but us clydes pick up speed on the downhills). I move to the inside to get around him, and then he pulls in front of me and slams his brakes!

So anyhow, I got dropped, cut off a and brake checked BY A CYCLIST on my way home. My guess is I was going to slow for him up the hill and he was ticked at me, so I had to "learn my lesson".

People should need a license to breathe.

Ride home was uneventful and rather pleasant. I checked the weather last night, and it was supposed to be 15MPH but a tailwind this morning. Of course it switched direction, and I ended up with a headwind. I got a rack and panniers last night and tried them out this morning. I give them a thumbs up even with the extra drag. Unfortunately my marginal rear wheel broke another spoke on the way in. I hope I can make it home.

So close, and yet so far. I can almost ride my skinny-tire bike to work, as the snow and ice is almost gone from the route. Just a few more days...

Had a bit of a cool wind at some points, but had a great ride in - 34 mins flat. (Including the physio by-pass).

Rode with a guy from Cosburn/Donlands area right through to Richmond/Victoria on/off - He followed me first, then I had to blow the nose and was slow to get the glove back on at the next lights, so he came ahead and I followed, he went straight at Bloor/Sherbourne then I saw him again on Richmond - was most pleasant to know he was basically doing a similar trip to me, yet had a different route. Didn't say a word to this guy either, was just pleasant. I tried hard to catch him when I saw him again on Richmond, but the lights/traffic held me back enough to lose sight of where he went. Maybe another day!

No ride today, forecast calls for high winds and rain/snow. Ride home last night was plesant not too cold and no wind, with a couple of interesting events.

I rarely come across other cyclists, but last night on the bike path portion of the commute, I was not paying a lot of attention, and almost ran into an oncoming cyclist. He had a light, but it was easly lost in the lights from the nearby traffic. I spotted him when my own lights lit him. Actually, I think I picked up his reflector before I noticed the whimpy headlight. Must remember to watch out for poorly lit cyclists on the bike path.

Later, I was coming up on a stoplight in heavy traffic, it was green, a car was on my left and was pacing me. He was making a right and was apparently waiting for me to cross the intersection, and not cutting me off. Car behind him, layed on the horn, and then gunned it. Passing in the left turn lane with his tires squelling. All this energy just to catch up with the traffic about half block ahead. Maybe I'm getting old, but the average speed around here is 15-20mph tops, absolutly no point in this kind of lunacy.

Anyway, I'm getting a lot of use out of my light system, but it just barely has enough charge to power a one way commute even with careful management.

A beautiful day to ride in the nation's capital--it was in the mid-50's this morning. A cold front is coming through tomorrow (the one that is now in the midwest), so tomorrow should be stormy and cooler.

My new DiNotte 5W should arrive today, so I should be able to illuminate the cyclist and walkers without lights along the dark Mt. Vernon Trail. I find that the bikes without lights are the most dangerous part of commuting in the dark!

My new light arrived last night and boy is it bright. I was showing it off to my wife and she said "You're really going to annoy some drivers with that thing!"

Heck, I probably annoy plenty of drivers already just for having the nerve to ride a bicycle on the street. As long as I'm seen and can see the crap in the road.

Yep.

I guess I just beat the latest storm in this morning. Typical fall/winter/spring drizzle, moments of notable headwinds, but nothing leading up to the 2" of rain we're supposed to get today. It's picking up now, though, I see.

Today wasn't too bad except for the 25mph+ crosswind I had to deal with on the last leg of my journey. The ride home should be teh suck, as I'm going to be dealing with a 27mph headwind with gusts of up to 35mph for the 16.6 mile ride home. No sweat!

40-something degrees, raining and dark. Almost got hit today. Came to a stop sign at a road intersection with two cars lined up at the stop sign on the crossing road. I let the first car pass since he came to the intersection first, then when it was my turn to pass the second car hit on the gas and almost ran me over! I was so mad!!!!

Lesson learned: let EVERY car waiting at an intersection go first; cross intersections last. It may not be fair but I'm the guy ON A BIKE...

GreenAnvil

My commute today was great - 6C and foggy this morning, 8C and clear in the evening. Since it wasn't raining (seems like a rare event these days) I decided to try a new route on my way home. It was a 17.5 km ride instead of the usual 13.5 km. I think I'll go to work the same way tomorrow. The big hill at the end will probably kill me though. I hit 56 km going down tonight (coasting, with a little bit of braking since I'm a chicken and didn't want to get going too fast). My regular commute takes me up the other side of the hill every day, but it's much more gradual on that side. Should be fun!

Not really. Not for me anyway. This way I'd have to wait FOREVER for long lines of cars that form at four-way stops sometimes. Partly because there are so many of them, partly because most of them will stop and wait for me because they are law-abiding.

I say go, but always be ready for idiocy like this, and have your airzound and escape routes ready. ;) And yeah, a good light in low-vis conditions is a must.

Good luck out there. :)

Had a good ride tonight, blew by quite a few bikers :D as I left much earlier - I guess many bikers don't stay as late as I often do.

Pretty slow tonight, though that did include my stop by MEC to grab a PB 5000x at 37 mins/13.0 avg. Wind in the face across Cosburn was enough to take the edge out of my legs and make me (what seemed like) crawl along at 14-15mph. Maybe my legs were burned from giving 'er on Bloor past all the other riders :p hmm... It's only more training! :)

I usually always prefer to let cars go in front of me, that way I know they're out of my worry-zone - sometimes it's obvious that the driver acknowledges and let's you go, again I must admit most of the drivers in the core at rush hour seem to handle their crap well with bikes - at least with me, granted I've had some run-ins, but the majority seem decent.

Nice ride both ways on the MTB. Felt like riding it today instead of the roadie. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so today consisted of several coworkers telling me tomorrow's forecast. Does no one remember me riding all through last winter, rain or shine? I guess they feel if I drive, they aren't as lazy. Wrong. Anyway, if I don't ride I am grumpy all day.

Well, not a whole lot has happened on my commutes as of late, which is a good thing. Or is it?

A big change. I've switched shifts, I was working a 9:30-6 but now going in earlier, 6:30-3.

Now what I really loved about the 1st leg of my commute is the views of the Arrowhead Ranch neighborhood here in Glendale, AZ. Nice looking homes, pretty mountain backdrops, but most especially the same series of cool cats I wave to in the bustling morning hours:

The jogger with the unusual stride.

The elderly couple on their morning walk, always holding hands, in their other hand, a mug of coffee.

The fully kitted roadie who drops me each and every time as I cross Deer Valley and 75th Ave.

The fully bearded newspaper deliverer in that ratty red truck.

The construction workers building that new house, always friendly when I need to stop and use their portapotty.

The 30-something woman, in her long khaki skirt, form fitting tops of varying colors, her light-brown hair pulled back, walking her beagle on Melinda Dr.

All that's all gone now. Granted, like some of you I dig commuting in the dark, it's definitely a lot more peaceful nowadays. Eerily peaceful, and dark, and I love the sound and feeling of the cold wind flowing into my helmet.

But I really honestly miss those folks I regularly ran into.

took the Comm Ave route into town today- it's quick but not the most relaxing of rides. Lots of parked cars so I've got to watch the door zone. for much of the ride I can take the lane completely because it's so heavily travelled with cars going about 20-30 mph that I can move right out into stream of traffic. But tons of BU students crossing at odd moments make it like I'm playing a video game.

Then rode to Dorchester and later back home via Mass Ave, cut through the back of Fenway park and over to Comm and to the west. Had some strange state constable type guy in a black SUV with Commonwealth of Mass. plates and wearing a white shirt with a badge and baseball hat with a state insignia buzz me intentionally on the way home on Mass. Ave. He was screaming a blue streak of expletives when I caught him at the next light. I just took note of his plate number and moved well off to the side and let him go- he seemed like a nut and was probably legally packing so I wasn't about to argue with him. Other than that it was a very pleasant ride tonight- no wind, just calm, damp, unseasonably warm air.

whoo-hoo! we had us some weather today. wind warning, rainfall warning, and they weren't kidding about the wind part at least. 55kph headwind, with gusting crosswinds up to 65 on my way in. the wind had been blowing all night, so the road was just littered with crud all the way in - twigs, leaves, small housepets . . . i gave up any expectation of a normal commute as soon as i got out of the house and just took the whole thing steadily and carefully, so it was extremely fun. mostly because it was at least 9 celsius and not raining yet, i suppose.

coming along the long flat approach to the bridge though, i saw something huge blow across all six lanes of traffic, just missing all of it, and fetch up against the road-facing side of the barrier about 50m ahead of me. when i got to it i discovered it was basically a chunk of the side of somebody's house: a ragged-edged sheet of vinyl siding about 4 feet long and at least 2 feet wide. that sobered me up a little, but also made me awfully glad i hadn't been out there in a car. on a bike you can at least see something coming and change course or stop, no? i turned it long-side down against the barrier so it wouldn't give the wind anything else to pick it up by and flip it onto the mup and went on a bit more cautiously. the warning was still on with an extra 10kph tacked onto it when i set out for home, but i can't say i noticed it much. the main feature of the ride home was the eerie quiet of having a wind like that at your back instead of your front.

overall, probably my coolest ride so far this year.

I will definitely try to be more aware out there. He had absolutely no excuse: My bike has a CygoLite Night Explorer pumping out 25w on the front, a blinky on the back, I wear a safety vest, my pants have reflective strips on the sides, so do my booties and helmet, gloves and water pack, and I also tie reflective wraps around my ankles for added visibility. I can easily be mistaken for a UFO one of these nights... On top of it all, there is a very bright street light right at that intersection and all of us came to a complete stop before the sequence. The guy was just annoyed that it was my turn to cross.

In my anger, I stood right on the intersection (I know I shouldn't do this) staring at the guy as he sped away, and I forgot to try to get his license plate number. Please don't laugh (or do if you must) but I even thought of throwing the CygoLite's battery at him. (Of course I can't do that since the battery's cable is coiled around the bike's frame and the guy was already beyond my range, but honest to goodness it did cross my mind.)

Most of the traffic is local so I'll keep my eyes open for that car (I remember car make, model, color and I think based on the car's features I can identify the year); I'm sure the guy will show up again.

Thanks for your comments and advice.

GreenAnvil

High 40s. Almost no wind. I was rolling along at a good clip on the Liquid. Lots of energy today. This afternoon I'm supposed to have a nice tailwind.

I wore my stylish Pivovarský Dùm jersey. :)

My Slicks got a slow-leaking pinch flat tuesday from hitting a pothole too fast. I tried to bunny-hop it, got the front wheel over, but I was moving too fast to pop the rear up in time. Anyhow, I fixed that last night and put the slicks on my backup bike, knobbies on my regular commuter (I wanted to play in the dirt! There's a bunch of parking lot construction and dirt mounds just 1/10 mile from where I live)

Nice morning, was dark when I left, getting brighter when I showed up to the bus. It's kind of overcast and it was right at freezing when I left.

I took my newly-frankensteined backup bike in today just to see how it fares. This was the first measurable seat time I've gotten on it aside from the quick zip around the 1/2 mile walking trail surrounding my apartment complex that I used as a shakedown right after I bought it last week. I thought riding a hardtail with slicks was brutal. This one's a rigid, and it's absolutely relentless over any kind of bumps. It will probably be my snow bike once it gets nasty out.

I'll get pics of the backup bike later today.

62 degrees and a light but steady drizzle in the nation's capital today. Patches of leaves lie around the streets like bear traps; it almost makes it fun trying to avoid them, along with the rush hour traffic, pedestrians, potholes, broken glass, car doors, homicidal bus drivers, clueless cab drivers, slick man holes, errant squirrels, and all the other things that make commuting oh so much fun.