Ugh. Hot and humid. Other than that, fairly quick ride.

Not bad until I came up upon this other guy on the MUP. He was weaving side to side using up the whole width. I really had to wake him up because he was keeping me from passing him.

Only two problems: 1) drivers who don't understand the meaning of parallel white lines perpendicular to the road, and 2) suicidal rodents. One or the other is going to get me killed one day.

My weekend is Sunday and Monday, so today was the first commuting day of the week. I heard on a shop ride last night that several of the pro teams from this past weekend's Saturn Rochester Twilight Criterium were still in town and doing morning training rides on the MUP--the same MUP I use on my "long loop" to work when the mood strikes.

Despit the heat and mugginess, I took the long loop to work. Sure enough, shortly after stopping to help a girl with a huge case of chainsuck, the Australian team, Savings & Loans, blew by me in full kit on their way back from breakfast. I wasn't even able to grab a wheel.

It's official: I've been dropped by the best!

Or how about that big fat white line that they think they should stop in front of?

Nice commute this morning. Cool and calm, but will be warming nicely by the time I ride home. JAMs were even fairly well behaved this morning. I must be getting them trained well.

Pretty warm ride this morning, but I took it easy and arrived only a bit sweaty. I love taking the lane and (mostly) keeping up with the traffic down University Ave. Another cyclist stopped next to me near my workplace on King St. and thanked me for introducing her to some sort of short cut -- not sure which one it was. Thinking of heading home for lunch (need to save money), but it's supposed to go up to 35C/95F this afternoon.

When I got to work this morning, I felt abnormally exhausted. I then realized that I didn't have my glass or two of water with breakfast this morning. I won't make that mistake again.

Sunshine, no wind. We had to detour, as our normal route was dug up, with backhoes straddling both sidewalks.

Good ride out to the east end last night, first time I did the full ride with clipless and I got there fairly quickly not my best, but up there - able to maintain a much faster pace (23-25mph) than my usual (19-21) - on Bloor, not the north Sherbourne - I burned out a tad racing past all these other cyclists up the hill but still had enough in the lungs to yell at a car that decided to drive in MY bike lane (and was consequently stuck behind a bus, why he didn't just stay in his lane I don't know - the bus had it's 4-way hazard flashers on which should've been clue enough he wasn't making the light so no need to lane squeeze and rush).

Hot but good ride in, longer ride than normal as I stopped at a friends in the East.

Was showing off my clipless stuff and had my first fall :p Had my left foot unclipped and was making a very small/tight turn right to turn around in the yard, and kinda toppled off as I needed a foot down. No biggy, I just laughed my ass off having JUST previously explained that particular 'issue' of riding clipless :p

Nice ride in, just commute, no kids. Several other bikers.

A bit windy today, or maybe I'm extra wimpy. I don't think I ate enough yesterday. Meh.

Work is a bit crazy with one of my supervisors having been let go and everyone else running around like headless chickens. Not so sure it's worth hanging in there myself (or if I'll be given a choice). I'd rather be out on the bike, tired legs or not!!

First day with the new "Alert Shirt"....I really liked it. I think I'll be ordering more to use them in regular rotation.

Last two days' commutes have been windy and a little drizzly. The rain held off until about the last quarter of my ride and gave me incentive to book it up the final hill and into work. Thanks to the rain we're experiencing an uncharacteristically cool June. Temps only in the 80s and the strange wind has been keeping me from showing up to work drenched (in sweat at least). Speaking of, I hate hate hate headwinds! They're my nemesis. I've got a hill climb that always taxes me near the end of my ride and when there's a strong wind from the south it kicks my ass!

Also almost got bumped by a co-worker on the way in the parking lot. She decided to pass me by going into the oncoming lane and ignored my left turn signal, nearly clipping me. I avoided her SUV and followed her to her parking spot, where she didn't have the time to talk to me due to being on a conference call. Now wonder she didn't look to see me signalling.

I've been VERY thankful for my cyclocross tires and waterproof Axiom bags over the past few days. Keeps me on the road and my laptop dry. :)

Today's ride was awesome. I headed down to Freeport and I have a guideline that if I make it to the drawbridge by 7, I can take the Yolo County loop and be to work on time. I got to the bridge at 7:10 and noticed that a) I'd have a tailwind and b) my legs felt good. So I crossed the bridge and hit the gas. I was able to hold 21 on the crappy pavement and when I hit the new pavement near the W.Sac. city limit, I was spinning easily at 24. I crossed the Tower Bridge at 7:50. So I'd made up a huge time deficit. I just hated to see the Capitol -- just wanted to keep riding all day.

Ugh, didn't ride in today. Over the weekend, a friend and I did some trail riding in the forest (Harbison Forest). Anyway, about 2 minutes into our ride I took a nasty fall off a fairly easy jump, tweaking my bike up a bit and landing on my side, leaving me with a deep bruise in the hip, skinned elbows, sides and leg. Also, think I kinked up my shoulder as well landing on it. I kinda missed the ride this morning, as it's my birthday, and I really enjoy my ride early in the morning. Oh well, hopefully the soreness will go away soon, maybe I can pick up tomorrow morning.
I did however get a bell for my bike from a coworker for my BD (half our office commutes by bicycle, my boss has a cool folding Dahon), and I am ready to use it on some walkers on my route through the park!

Joey French

I hit a ground hog this morning. Actually he hit me. I saw him start running from like 20 feet away, I figured he was heading to his hole in the side of the bank. Nope he ran right up the bank across the trail and right under my rear wheel. I felt my wheel ride over him but as I looked back he was running away. I hope the little guy is ok.

very humid.

Fairly uneventful except for this:

Best way to describe this intersection is a Y. This is in a residential area. One road feeds into the other. I was on the 'main' one. the other road should yield to me, right? the other street also has a yield sign. I saw a black mercedes coming from the other road and I braked to slow down just in case they didn't stop/yield to me. Sure enough, they didn't.

Either she didn't see me or did, and said, humph, a biker, he won't mind.

It was extremely foggy this morning. I got out to the highway and saw how poor visibility was, and decided to go home and get my car. It was the first time I have driven to work since May 1st. Only the 5th time since the beginning of March, so I'm not doing to bad.

Work to live to bike to work to live... :)

Edited to add: I had a nice commute this morning but I had slept in. This wouldn't be so bad except the later I get up, the longer it takes me to get out of the house (I swear this is true, I have no idea what's up with that stretchy time business). So, when I got to work two hours later than I'd have liked to be here, there were no more spaces in the bike closet...my poor baby is parked outside, a hundred yards down the parking lot. Not only is my bike going to be hot enough to melt my shorts when I go to ride home this afternoon, but a huge part of the appeal of riding is that I don't have to trudge anywhere at walking speed in this god-forsaken valley of fire, and that benefit is shot when I have to put my bike in the outdoor rack. :-/ That'll teach me to hit the snooze button.

Looking forward to the ride home, anyway!

I just realized that as of this afternoon, when I hop off my bike at my chiropractor's office, I will have broken 1000km for the year (80% commuting). This is a nice milestone and calls for celebration! I think I will see if they have a massage appointment open :D

Did some online job hunting this afternoon and found that the local college is hiring support staff at *considerably* higher pay than I am currently making. It would cut my commute in half, but that means more time for recreational riding. Oh, and studying. Since I'm officially leaving here because of going back to school, not because it's a snake pit. :rolleyes:

Congratulations on the milestone! What do they mean by "support staff"? and is there more than 1 position? As of Saturday I need employment too. :(

Congrats, and I hope you can get your massage! :beer:

:lol: at "stretchy time." I know EXACTLY how that works! For me, it's part and parcel of ADHD. When I was first given Ritalin, that was the first thing I noticed - so THAT's what "time" is! (But I didn't like the side effects).

Replying to a few other things at once:

Yes, I got my massage (ow. Shoulder was kinda locked up there from stress. Ow.) and feel much better :) (I am also drinking a Guinness at the moment, by way of a recovery drink :D)

Support staff = administrative assistant positions, student advisor, that sort of thing :) Workingbike, what kind of thing are you looking for? And may one inquire what happened? (I bet mine is more dramatic!)

Even hotter on the ride home and still humid. Decided I just wanted to get home fast and sit in front of the A/C and the best way to go fast is lane split Park Ave. all the way home. Had to muscle a few cars that tried to get in my lane while I was still in it, but other than that and the heat and humidity, it was an awesome ride.

Strange sighting today. Came out to unlock my bike and had a really big dragonfly humping my front tire. Tried shaking it off and spinning the wheel, but it wouldn't budge til I dropped the wheel and it bounced off. That's not the strange part. The strange part was this was in midtown Manhattan at Grand Central Terminal, a good mile+ from the nearest river (East or Hudson, take your pick). I wonder if it was trying to catch a train?

HOT AND .... STICKY!! And bumpy - have to use the roadbike at the moment and our streets are just awful.

7.75 miles of pleasantness this morning.
Nice way to start the day.

Had a great time this morning - woke up especially early and got out the door by 6:20 AM. It was 70 F and a bit humid. My second time commuting by bike to work, and I was curious how the sweat was going to be (no shower at work - I just do the birdbath thing).

After getting into work and giving myself 10 minutes to cool down, the clean-up worked pretty well. If I can do it this morning I don't think it's going to get that much worse over the rest of the summer.

I also used my new Take a Look sunglass mounted mirror for the first time this morning. Wow, what a difference. That is definitely going to improve my comfort level with bike commuting.

Scott

No commute today... The wife and I are going to go put a bid in on a house.... Wish us luck!