noisebeam

I left 2hrs. later than usual as I had a Dr. appt. So it was a nice 55F and sunny! T-shirt, shorts and sandals.

I was headed down the one way freeway access road, a car was coming off of freeway ramp and driver pulled a u-turn right into me (turning wrong way into one way road)! She did this so she could get to a business driveway that was 30yrds up the access road. I swerved far left to avoid her heading at me.
I bet she does this every day so she can use the freeway for that extra 1mi, instead of exiting one block sooner.

Al

HardyWeinberg

Nice ride in this am. First back/forth day of the week. I am going to try and squeeze in a lunchtime ride too. 700 miles over 15 hrs in a car this week! Too much.

Nice view of Rainier this morning, the rising sun was still low enough to shine on the mtn under the cloud cover.

Funny thing, drove company car to Seattle yesterday for a conference w/ a bunch of academic types. BOATLOADS of bike commuters in Seattle in general and around the U in particular, I was feeling pretty left ouf o the fun.

But! I got a spectacular parking spot right in front of hte door to the meeting hall. So at least there was that compensation.

worktheweb

Cold, very cold. Thankfully I made some equipment upgrades last night -- heavy duty gloves and a balaclava. My hands were actually warm when I got into work (normally they're cold, numb, and in pain) and the balaclava did the job quite nicely (although one of the lenses on my glasses fogged up a bit when I was going slow).

I proved to myself this morning that I can handle pretty much any kind of cold that this area can throw at me. Unfortunately, there was a 25 mph headwind for a good part of the way, made me work hard on those flats. Unless it changes in the next 1.5 hours -- that'll be a tailwind back home though

billh

Uneventful, just like I like it.

gizem310

Dude, I love your attitude!

jwbnyc

It always pisses the cagers off when you take whatever it is they are saying to you as solid encouragement. Just give 'em a big smile and thumbs up, perhaps a bit of a laugh as you go on your merry way. Absolutely drives them insane. Much better than losing your cool.

G. Bucci

We are going through a warm spell up here. 10C above normal. I love it. Had a tail wind this morning and got to work early enough to enjoy a LARGE coffee. Since the snow has fallen I have not been honked at once. I take the same route every day and it's been over 10 years. Even coworkers are starting to ask what it will take to keep me from riding. Maybe people are finally used to me. I sure hope so. It's been a great week! Can't wait till next week.

tomg

having some problem w/ distance, used to be 3.2 miles each way for 6 years now is 12 miles eachway. not too much to some, i assume, but a conflict to overcome myself. it seemed to become easier as the week went on, but the past 2 days were car driven (1993 honda cx). i felt COMFORTABLE getting home in 15 minutes by car (50 mins by bike).
missed my 2 hours of work-out (2), but was truly so much easier to be a CAGER !
i did use about 1/16 tank of gasoline (40 miles or so).
-both sides of the fence...
with the 20lbs i've lost this year and c/v health i assume gained, there is a "no-brainer" to why not bicycle commute. i have not seen any other commuter on my route = 1 crazy biker/2000 "Normal" car/track drivers. i felt deflating.....a "misfit"!
just trying to spin side to side with anarchy!
t
ps: will try 4/5 day bicycle commutes next week, see what unfolds!

buzzman

didn't have to be in today until later (around 1pm) so I had a nice river ride. This evening it was sure chilly and windy. crystal clear skies. I was slooooooow today riding.

tokolosh

it's a fine line between feeling cool and feeling dorky/weird/crazy, ime. the deciding factor seems to be how easy or not-easy you're finding it. which is ironic because when it's hardest is probably when you deserve the most credit for doing it. if you hang in and get more accustomed to the distance you might find your inner needle starting to creep over from 'misfit' to 'superhero'.

i dunno; just extrapolating from me. for me the hardest part of commuting by bike was the first part, when not only was i doing something 'weird', i also didn't feel like i was doing it well. zero cred from both sides, basically. hang in, and maybe it would help to mix up your rest days more evenly with the commutes throughout the week.

tokolosh

some days you get up, and it's just heavy gravity. things that weighed x yesterday suddenly, mysteriously weigh x*5 the next day even though nothing has visibly changed. i figured i was in a bit of trouble when picking up my messenger bag almost rocked me off balance, so i just took both rides easy today.

i'm being a bit careful/vigilant because of christmas coming, but so far there doesn't seem to be too much extra traffic craziness going on. probably worthwhile to keep an eye on that factor all the way through into january though. it would suck rocks to be hit by a crazed mall-bound shopper in the height of the festive season.

Eutychus

This is Sunday, so I haven't commuted for two days. And I haven't been on the forum since Halloween. Here's why. I've been working 12-13 hours a day for the past two months, while my wife was in Germany on business. On the night before Halloween, I had what I hope will remain the most exciting bike ride of my life. Riding home from work at 7:30 p.m., I was attacked by two pit bulls who live next to the trail. One danced in front of me, slowing me down, while the other ran beside me taking bites out of my left leg with every turn of the pedal. Between the two of them, they finally slowed me down enough that I fell over. I then did what I should have done in the first place: picked up the bike and kept it between me and them as a shield. My left pant leg was shredded, blood was pooling in my left shoe, and the "owners," who claimed to be "neighbors," came out and began shouting at the dog doing the biting, "Cujo, Cujo!" I started for home (still 13 miles away) where I thought I would shower and assess the damage, but then realized I was in no fit mental condition to make a proper assessment, so turned north toward the nearest hospital 4 miles away. Fortunately no serious damage was done--no tendon or muscle injury, and the six deep puncture wounds are healing nicely. The day after the attack, I learned that I was the third victim of Cujo's tender mercies, and that he was in the custody of Animal Control. I now own a spray can of pepper spray, and am less tolerant of barking dogs along the trail, but very grateful I was no more harmed than I was. Ironically, my grown son in Hawaii owns two pitbulls, whose gentleness and friendliness he swears by.

jyossarian

Damn Eutychus, glad you survived the attack. Have you pressed charges against the owners?

JohnBrooking

I find that in nice weather, my co-workers think it's cool. The dorky/weird/crazy looks start coming when the temperature falls below 40F and the snow flies. I think it has something to do with the assumption that all us cyclists are just having fun with our hobby and we'll go back to being normal once the season is over with. Then when I keep doing it, they don't know how to square that fact with those assumptions.

Identity Crisis

Yesterday morning (I didn't work today) I encountered a group of about 12 men running down my regular commute route. While it's common for me to see the occasional early morning jogger or walker in the more temperate months I usually am the only one outside of a cage or domicile this time of year at 5:30-5:45 am.

For a few moments I thought I was hallucinating, the joggers were running two abreast in the right lane of a 4 lane road (sidewalks were icy/snowy), wearing appropriate cold weather running garb and were going at a respectable pace. I heard chuffs and remarks as I rode by that sounded like they were just surprised to see me as I was to see them, that an my Nokians definately had to sound a little unnerving to them.

A coworker passed me another mile or two down the road and when I caught up to him inside the building I asked him if he saw the joggers. He (and everybody else) looked at me like I was nuts and said no, but he did see me from about a mile away (thank you Planet Bike Superflash!)

Should he get his eyes checked or should I talk to somebody about my hallucinations?

Mr_H

I haven't been able to bike for a week, so today was a great ride. About 38, clear, etc....nice drivers today too....wasn't hard at all.
I had some facility workers are work here asking me if I planned on riding in the snow. They seemed surprised when I told them yes :b

jyossarian

Warmed up to 45F today so the ride in was cool and quick. I guess taking a day off the bike recharges my legs enough to chase off the Monday morning blahs. Practiced my leaning skills when I leaned on a bus as both the bus and I were moving and I was slowly getting squeezed between the bus and a cab. As traffic slowed, I was able to push off the bus and slide through a gap between the two and get away from both.

pinkrobe

I was in at work a full hour earlier than usual. I think I'm going to die.

Traffic moves much faster at 6:30 a.m., and riding with the spiked tires doesn't help. There's just enough snow and ice left on the first km of my ride that I don't want to break out the skinny-tire bike just yet. It's supposed to be 8C and sunny today, so maybe I can us it tomorrow.

vtjim

Low 30Fs, very light rain. Almost no rain, really. But it was damp. Overcast, kinda dark.

I caught up to a guy on a road bike of some sort. He was walking it through an area of leftover slushy ice/snow from the storm last week. He got back on before I passed him so I just paced him for the mile or two before I left the MUP.

Relaxer

40 degrees, no big whoop. Saw a good amount of commuters, some that I recognized, others that I didn't. Toes on both feet are still pretty raw and sore from an ill-advised ride Friday night in 24 degree weather with very poor footwear.

JohnnyOTS

High 40s - fairly nice ride in, except for my very first crash - turning left in a construction zone I realized that the dirt directly in front of my bike was partially concealing a very large, very deep pot hole. Since my bunny hopping skills are nonexistent at this point (they're on my to-do list) I hit the brakes hard but on the loose dirt couldn't stop in time. I remember actually making it through the thing, but couldn't control the bike afterwards and laid it down on the left side. Very little traffic at 5am in that area, so a very limited audience and no danger of getting squashed. A nice thing about winter riding is I had enough clothing to limit the road rash - a little scuff on the elbow and my knee is going to be extra ugly for a few weeks. I had to push the front shifter/brake assembly back in-line with the drop bars and run the front derailer through it's indices, but other than that my Kona Jake was fine. Happily the helmet didn't take a hit - I don't want to have to buy another one. The rest of the ride was uneventful - I even saw three other bicyclists on the roads - two were even using lights!

luckysnafu

Typical Monday morning ride in this morning. Temps in the upper 30s and me taking it easy led to a nice commute into the rising sun. Temps going to be in the 60's most of this week so I should have some nice afternoon/evening rides home.

arcticbiker

10 degrees, slick roads with good traction on the trails. Saw my first other commuter this morning at about 6:00 am on the trail. I leave at 5:00 am with about a 70 minute ride. Gives me time for a spit bath at work.

Toes and hands were cold today even with my lobster gloves and liners. Feet are always cold. My wife says she's going to buy me some toasters for xmas

crtreedude 

Hard rain this morning but nothing to complain about since it was warm. Raced my wife and workers to the office this morning - I won!

ax0n

The dirty, gross snow has been melting and drying up over the nice warm weekend, then this morning it was misting. The end result was really wet roads with some serious grime on them. It was like really thin, watery mud.

It's also the first time I wish I had a front fender. My seat-post cargo rack pretty much kept my back dry. My jeans below the knee, though, are really grimy.

Oh yah, I raced a teenager that was on his way to the high school. He was riding a cheapo bike on the sidewalk, with all the reflectors removed, no helmet, no lights, or anything. It was pretty dark out, too. He saw me coming down the street when I was about a block behind him, and picked up his pace. I passed him 3 blocks later.

Darn kids.