I think I saw that guy on the Bow River pathway this morning too! He did have one hand on the bars though. Still, what a stupid idea...

Slower this mornign - back on the Raleigh. I really do prefer to be upright for the commute, much as I like how fast the touring bike with drop bars feels.

Smooth and easy ride in today. I had one disconcerting moment when I went to take off from a light and my bar-end rotated about 45 degrees. Obviously, I don't know my own strength. ;)

Nice. Hot! Last of 3 day break from kid-shuttling, grandparents in town.

The idiots were out today.....

1) Idiot gets of stopped bus and leaps to far side, right in front of me. Then panics when he hears me yelling "watch out, bike".

2) Same bus stops to let a whole group out a few blocks later that all get out in front of me and leave no room for me to get by.

3) Come to intersection, 1st car on main road is turning right, so he goes. I start to go right behind him, and it seems 2nd car wanted to turn right too, but did not have turn signal on. Barely missed that one.

No ride in today: carpool with the missus and kiddies.

Yesterday I witnessed a supreme act of stupidity by a cyclist. No wait, he was a guy on a bike, not a cyclist. Anyway, I and another guy were stopped at a light when this JAB comes blowing through the red and was nearly taken out by a pickup truck crossing the intersection. Lots of blowing of horns but he just kept going.

The light changed and I caught up to him and said, "Nice move. Now they think all of us are idiots. Thanks a lot." He didn't even look at me. He just kept looking up the road. So I said "I hope you have your organ donor card filled out." Then I dialed it up to 400W.

Jumped between the stroms last night for the ride home. Love that doppler radar site. You can see where the holes are and blaze through. Traffic was slowed all over the place, so I took my proper place on the right and whizzed by them all. Ha ha.. cars stuck in traffic. It always makes my day when I win :)

This morning was nice. Left an hour late because I was too lazy to get up. Traffic is much more calm at 8:30 than it is at 7 or 7:30. Must just be other lazy people like me.

Had one car buzz me though. It was because the idiot woman was tailgating the SUV in front of her and had no line of sight to me. That one always scares me because they have no clue that you are there. But I saw it coming and went way right. I shouted something and gave her the you are a dummy gesture. Silly drivers.

I'm getting used to the commute now. Weather was pretty hot so I got a little sweatier than usual, which sucks. But the traffic wasn't bad, and I have a better idea of where I need to be at certain points. I even photo-outlined my commute: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=319699

Wow. It's hot. We're having record heat here in the PNW and it hit 102 in Eugene yesterday. It's almost 80 here already but I usually can cool down while I'm changing into my work clothes. NOT TODAY! Heatwave killed the AC yesterday so it's 88 inside our offices. I'm sitting at my desk now dripping onto the keyboard. lol!

Another beautiful day...I'm getting used to the commute, and my legs feel stronger than a few weeks ago. The hills don't crush my spirit anymore! Weather's definitely heating up today, though...we're expected to break temperature records every day this week...but I'm not doing the 23k return trip. The afternoon/evening will be spent at the beach, and I'll stay at a friend's place...near the beach and 5k from work.

I don't get it. They get off the bus and start crossing the road immediately? Please tell me you were not trying to pass a stopped bus on the right.

Classic right-hook situation. To avoid it, either take your place in line in the middle of the lane or... be very careful, I guess. You sure as heck can't rely on turn signals.

Today it is pleasantly cool for a change. Got the usual collection of boneheaded motorist moves here and there... One guy tried to change lanes right into me - pure inattention, not malice.

No....this is a very busy road with no shoulder. This is the only section I ride the sidewalk (legal here). It's a very wide sidewalk, built with cyclists and walkers sharing it in mind.

The group wasn't really that bad....I can't really blame them as a big group comes off, but the one guy that got out with a "leap" to the far side without looking was the one that pissed me off.

I've never smoked a day in my life, but I've felt like it the past few days. All of these massive fires in the West are muking up the air and I get to breathe it in. I've been taking the bus most of the way home in the evenings to avoid the worst part of the day.

Other than that, it's been great. My goal when I started riding in March was to get to work in 30 minutes. I think my first day was around 58 minutes. If it wasn't for a headwind the last 10 minutes of my ride, I would have done it. 31:08 :)

My trip home was terrible. It was pouring and I was trying a different route. I just bought a 24oz water bottle and today was the first time I used it. It's also the last time I'll ever lose it.. because it flew out of my bike along the way!! I think that works out to about $1.50 a sip.

I raced a guy on a mountain bike with a messenger-style calf tattoo and I won :D

I'm at odds with myself over posting this.

I was crossing a street from a MUP at a crosswalk to join a different street in the proper lane. While sitting at the light I noticed a mid sized bird hopping around like it was injured. When the light turned green I was going to go over and get it out of the lane it was hopping in to. What happens? A driver yacking on his cell phone runs over the bird's head. :(
Ugh...
What a depressing sight. I don't particularly like birds or dislike them but have a soft spot for animals in general. Crap....

:(
I left an injured baby bunny by the side of the bike path today. I couldn't figure out how I could possibly safely get it home on my bike (then take it to the wildlife rehab center). I spent the next fifteen minutes of my ride trying to think of a way to somehow make it work, but there was just no way. I'm sure the ride would have killed it...

Wow that's brutal DataJunkie... :(

My ride home was a bit windy in places, but overall good - rear wheel needs truing again on the roadie, few spokes loose, couple broken - was going over the next to last speedbump and this was the after-result (after having had to carry the bike + heavy pannier with no working rear wheel! damnit!):

http://flimflam.homelinux.org/images/bike/IM006176.JPG

The bottom metal curled hook I guess jumped off and consequently met up with the wheel in a most intimate way... It was hell to get that bungee crap from between top cog and the wheel spokes. Other damage from incident: bent the top side rail on the rack, I guess going ~22mph when this happens has a fair force on the rack when the bag is suddenly yanked down :p I felt the skid, knew something happened in the back end figuring the untrued wheel had given up the ghost I quickly glanced for traffic while braking and unclipped and looked.. said "whoops" and played with it for 5 minutes before realising this needed more than I was prepared to do on the darkish pavement. Yay for drama! :)

:eek:

I took all those bungee thingies off the bottom of my panniers. I'd rather risk them flapping than have them attempting to mate with my spokes...

Got rained on on the ride home Tuesday. That was a definite improvement over 95F and humid though. At least the temps were fairly pleasant. Had to give the bike and my lower body a quick shot from the garden hose to get all the road muck off though. A bit cooler and somewhat lower humidity today. Nice unremarkable ride in. Hoping to have a nice tailwind on the way home which may help me to break the 90 minute commuting barrier.

+1 plus I got rained on last night as well...
I actually left work and the radar was clear enough for me to make it home. Less than a mile from work my rear tire blows out, not just the tube but the tire also goes. Since I was actually on my way to the bike shop to get a new tire, I just walked the mile there and had them change it for me. Of course after getting that done the rain had moved in and I got absolutely poured on. I don't really mind the rain, but it was extremely windy and I almost got blown over a few times. Luckily there wasn't much lightning to deal with.

Pretty typical ride this morning, warmer than I expected though. Saw about 4 other commuters out and about.

Ride home was windy with a cold front that blasted thru here in the afternoon that reduced the temp by 21 degrees - and caused some thunder/lightening - enough so two people were hit on separate locations. Nasty.

But --- what a difference today!!

What a <best "Tony the Tiger" imitation> GREEAATTT day out there - hence, a great commute (well if you don't consider in the busy city traffic that is...)

55F, clean and clear <breathe --- ahhhhhh>

Sure beats the 5 hr "wander" I did Monday - where I sucked in and sweated out 6 bottles of water in the humid, oppressive 96F.

And I hit my "urban" mtb road (under serious construction) with gusto this morning. Still can't believe some of those fools are still taking their cars over that horrible stretch of gutted out hilly/rocky road, I mean I even take a beating as I ride thru there - hitting as many hills as possible, of course, and then drop back down to the 2 foot dug out wasteland of road! :D

Brought my mountain bike this morning, with rear wheel off the roadie on the rack. Boy she's heavy with that rack + pannier on! Nice smooth/easy ride in though, took Queen St. to the LBS before dropping down to work, saw a bunch of other cyclists on Queen and of course milling around the store.

LBS mechanic had a brief chat with me about his concern for the integrity of my wheel now that it's been damaged twice in a shortish time frame (it was trued not long ago, by another LBS) so he said perhaps to replace it - which means, due to my "antiquated" drivetrain stuff, I'd have to replace the cassette and chain as well - but frankly that's not so much a big deal and would only benefit me really. He's going to chat once we have more time about possible options (I mentioned the Mavic Open Pros that I've read so much about here this week :))

Broke 1500 miles on the mountain bike this morning, too... significant number wise, but this has been over a year of having the miles tracked, so not so impressive in that sense.

Beautiful this morning. Low humidity. Low 60Fs. Blue sky. Light tailwind. Saw some other cyclists. Didn't catch anyone (or get caught), but I did come up behind a cute (from behind) female at a light just as it turned green. She turned left. I went straight. Oh well. :p

Calling Mr. Murphy.

Tuesday the forecast said no rain so I rode the new Touring (no fenders). Sure enough, it rained my whole way home.

Rode the MTB commuter yesterday in anticipation of the forecasted afternoon storms. The rain arrived 2 hours after I got home.

Got held up in traffic this morning, and couldn't filter right safely. A two-car accident on my route closed both normal lanes, diverting a heavy traffic flow onto the shoulder to get around them. I realize that car collisions often turn the vehicles involved, but from the way things looked, these cars collided as they were both trying to turn the wrong way onto an exit ramp off the highway. Brilliant.

I'm doing the Michigan MS bike tour this weekend (double Century) so I planned to just take it easy today on the commute. 16 miles against a real stiff headwind killed those plans.

Good ride though. Every ride is a good ride.

What a great day
 

Yesterday's storms really cleared out the heat and humidity. Terrific ride in this morning. Saw lots of cyclists and commuters on my way in. Wish I could have kept riding but work awaits...

It is hot here, but not as bad as after work.... The heat must be making drivers grumpy, I got cut off turning a corner. Oh well - no damage done.

Even better, I ran into my boyfriend riding the other way to his work. Kind of a nice surprise. :)

Slow this morning - I have a case of lead legs and was forced to sort of meander along. Oh well, meant I had a very short cool down period on arrival. I don't know why I'm so tired, but my appetite's been off so maybe it's a simple case of fuel shortage.

The air felt... soft this morning on the way in. Higher than average humidity I think. It's going to be a scorcher, but I'll be at my company's beer - I mean golf - tournament. Whee!