Rode home last night like my ass was on fire. Don't know why I do that, but I sure was toasted when I rolled into the patio.

Ride was a bit rough this morning, but it was from my own doing. Stayed up till 1 or so playing cards. The alarm started going off at 6:30. I finally got up just before 8 and staggered toward the bike. I made it in fine, but my body was dishing out the punishment for being bad.

A nap would be good right about now.

Didn't ride today. Weather Channel said it was gonna be thunderstorms today and tomorrow. Rode in with my girlfriend (she works a block from my job, and we used to ride in together, but I hate the commute by car as it's on highway with terrible traffic, crappy drivers, stress, etc.). Haven't seen one raindrop fall. Really wish I had taken the bike, as now I have the ride home in 5:00 traffic to look forward to.

Garbage.


I really have got to get some waterproof gear (panniers, etc...) so rain will not keep me off the bike. I really want to get set up with rain gear for the bike, but since I commute on a MTB and I have ideas about a road bike from time to time, I don't wanna make the investment. I need to just bite the bullet and go shopping.

Joey

Epic commute today. Everything clicked, as it somehow does from time to time. A reminder that it is worth it.

Commute home was good. I actually went a route I take when I want to add a bit of distance.

I don't know what the deal is but central Texas has been hit with a deluge as of late. Today (and yesterday) I got soaked coming and going. Added time to my ride each way (~15 minutes of actual ride time) and I had to stop for a bit on the way home due to the downpour (and for some coffee). Yesterday I wiped it on the way home and rashed my thigh and knee but I didn't have any issues today. On the way in was the worst of the raining, and it's weird to be going uphill on a flooded street and have my feet dip into the water on the downstroke.

Rode in an hour early this morning. It was cooler (32C/91.4F 70% humidity) than usual (36C/96.8F plus humidity), but still had me longing for winter. Traffic seems a bit less crazy at 7:45 than 8:45. Need to get a new helmet this weekend... the plastic straps have snapped :(. Hope to get some longer rides in, too... the Jamis is looking at me longingly! :D

Hotterer and stickierer than yesterday. :p Made worse by the face that I was toying with some dude on a hybrid. He came out onto the MUP right behind me so I droped the hamer :) and noticed he was falling back but not as quickly as most people do. I kept the speed up for about 3 miles, rounded a bend where he couldn't see me, and bolted up into a dirt single track that I knew came out further down the MUP. I came back to the MUP and the guy was a couple hundred yards ahead now, so I chased him down but then sat 50 yards back. He may have had a full pannier, but I've got a draggy rear disk brake and knobby tires!

TGIF!

Very nice commute. I think I stretched the "as far to the right as practicable" law coming over the Moreland Ave bridge at I-20 though. I'm accustomed to cars backing up to the edge of the bridge, so I habitually swing out into the left lane and fall behind the cars. This time I changed lanes and realized there were no cars in front of me, and traffic was moving at the speed limit, so I got the exhileration of cars passing me on the right at speed. Not particularly scary but a bit disorienting.

Other than a jacket, it's cheap, simple and easy. I personally have a goretex jacket I had from my military days which I use - in summer, unless it's particularly terrible and I'm prepared, I usually just get wet - but once it cools down, I'd want that jacket on for sure.

Any backpack/pannier can be waterproofed by using grocery bags to line and/or pack the contents in. Heck, the amount of bags I have collected at home I could double wrap everything to be super sure.

I was to go on a bikepool thing this morning, but another participant couldn't make it, so I ended up riding alone - was fun, lots of bikes to pass/say Hi to. Critical Mass tonight which I might just roll with for a bit, it's always entertaining from my past 2 experiences.

Now at 1280miles (not all commuting, I would hazard 800-850 as being commuter miles.) pretty proud of that.

Great ride in this morning...felt really strong too.
Lighter than normal traffic (I think a lot of people are trying to get one last vacation in before school starts up) and the temps were perfect.

Pretty good ride in. Forced myself to take the more difficult route (meaner hill, more downtown lights traffic) just to try to round up to 10 miles one way. Actually pretty easy, the hill was LOADS easier than I remember a few months earlier, it may become my normal route. Anyway, the weather was a little warmer this morning, but missed all the maniacs in traffic on my normal route. Good times, and even though I added a mile and a half to my commute, I only added 1 minute 10 seconds to my ride, so not a bad deal.

Didn't get enough coffee this morning, though...

Joey French

Wonderful ride in this morning, unlike yesterdays rainy commute. Switched to Shirmano R540 clipless and cheap shoes from the old flat petal with running shoes and improved my average overall spd by 1.5mph. This allowed me to take a mile longer loop into work and I feel great.

Back-to-back weird commutes.

Yesterday pm I left work an hour late after a 2-hour meeting with my boss. I left the meeting to find frantic VMs from my wife--she got delayed too and couldn't get the kid from day care. I FLEW home--raised my average speed by .2 mph. Doesn't sound like much, until you realize it's an average over all the rides I've done this month. I'll leave the math as an exercise for the student. ;)

This morning I was mostly packed to leave when I walked onto the back porch to bring the dogs in. One of them was gone. Dammit. Ran all over the neighborhood trying to find him, came back to the house to get the car, and the b@stard darted out from my neighbor's shrubs. Thus I did about a 2-mile run before my 5-mile commute this morning.

Pretty crappy. Legs felt like crap. Had a JAM buzz me while honking and yelling at me to move over. Of course, I caught her at the next light so I rode up to her window and returned the favor. Not my proudest moment.

Had my first cager yell at me today... and I was on the sidewalk :eek:... Some knucklehead in dady's Cady yealled something offensive (not quite sure what, but the tone was clear) and waved a particular didgit my way:eek: I dunno, stupidity is in the air?

Billy

I know this isn't the "how DIDN'T your commute go" forum but I didn't want to start a new thread for my not terribly interesting news. I rode 2 or 3 times a week for a month and was loving it--had even ridden to work every day, the last week.

Then the temps were hitting 115 in the afternoon and I sort of chickened out for a week.

Then I went away on vacation for a week.

The day I returned from vacation I broke my toe and I haven't been able to wear shoes since. It's feeling better enough that I could MAYBE pedal in flip-flops (still can't put a shoe on because it hurts!), but that seems like a recipe for disaster.

So I haven't commuted for three weeks, after only doing it for a month. I'm pissy. :mad: But, I'm still optimistic and looking forward to my toe not hurting so I can start up again! :)

I really have to start timing my rides in on my commuter better. I broke a spoke this weekend and had to drop off the rim at the LBS on sunday - picking it up today.

Anyways, rode the old mtb in this morning - taking it easy all the way - this thing has completely different gearing. Figuring it would take me a while I took a watch with me (don't usually do that) and it took 36 minutes. Wait a minute - it takes me 36 minutes on the commuter with 700x28's on it not 26x2.0 knobbies.... I'm going to time my ride on skinny tires tomorrow. This can't be right.

Real nice today. Low 60Fs, no wind, comfortable humidity and sunny. Followed a guy on a hybrid most of the way on the MUP. Wound up being a pretty quick ride.

I think I had my closest near miss ever. On MUP, crossing a road with a green light. Lady in a white Pontiac was half blocking my lane. I slowed to about 10-12 mph as I went by. As I got near the front of her, I noticed she was reading something and looking down. Then I saw her tires move...and keep moving. Then I started yelling...loud. She got within about 4" of my knee then stopped.

Got my heart rate up and exercised my lungs and vocal chords a little bit. Hopefully she learned what the big white line is for on the road in front of the pedestrian lanes.

Beyond that, good commute.

My commute this morning was too hot and humid. When i got to work my clothes were soaked through, and I am still trying to stop sweating almost an hour later. The humidity is what gets you here in good old South Carolina. Oh well, I am lucky in the fact that i don't have to really do anything right this minute so I can post on forums and chill out for a bit...

My first comute in a week.. ( I had the FIL's truck last week, and due to necessity of running erands with it, ended up not riding :( ) My legs are sore, and the Bike seemed uber heavy this morning. 5.39 miles in 23min for 13.87 mph avg... Slow!

Billy

First commute with inlines on my roadie drops, just means I can stay on the tops when needing/possibly needing to brake - which is nice I must admit. Regular commute otherwise, feeling tired myself, body feels fairly fine but I do need to stop the late nights so often. Got passed just before my MUP turn-off by an older guy on a roadie, was nice to see him steam on through, I said a 'morning' but he had what looked like ear buds and a hearing aid in his right ear (he passed on my left) and didn't respond.

I'm not so happy with the way I get across Lakeshore now, so I might go back to my original "go through the Ex. grounds" route, which cuts the corner out and means I don't have to do a pedestrian crossing to come off the MUP (which is where my problem/hassle is). I also stopped riding across Dundas St. W to Sorauren, because I was getting genuinely tired of the stress/hassle of the streetcar tracks and single lane construction/traffic - plus now (or at least last check) Lansdowne was torn up across all 4 lanes now, so it means a sidewalk diversion to take that way home.

Pics of my drops with the inlines on:

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/phot...87220_3770.jpg

From my vehicle gallery: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...1&id=696475547

It was one of those beautiful morning where I am clearly not inspred to go to work. So I just puttered around on the way in. It's way to nice of a day to have to sit behind a flippin keyboard.

Tonight a tandem ride through downtown is in order I believe.

Relaxing ride, heavy humidity 70's, that allowed me to stretch out after a lovely Sunday morning run. I am not looking forwards with the anticipated 23 degree increase predicted for this evening return, but been through worse.

The wind really picked up just before we started riding today. I thought it might rain, but it didn't - it was just really humid. The skies have already cleared, but I do expect a sprinkling later today...

Nice ride. Dropped Thing 2 and trailer at daycare, then straight up hill out of town to work, rather than detouring to MUP. Stopped at office depot to pick up 200 blank DVDs. Put them all in one pannier which was apparently way outweighed by the other. I think the result was probably the most balanced load I've had in just about ever, and it really felt great on the bike, like as smooth as w/ no load at all but measurably lower center of gravity. Cool effect.

No commute today
Frisbee tourney yesterday
And wife home with me

Nice morning. Around 65 degrees. Crisp cool air. Nothing too special though. Although on the light rail I looked out the window and a homeless man taking a Hit on a crack pipe...at 8 am. gotta love that!

I had weired encounter with a motorist last night On my way home from work. I was peddaling along at a decent speed when a guy in a red ford f-150 slows down to pace me. He rolled the window down and asked me if I wanted a ride. I replied back that I had a ride but thanks for the offer and I waved him off. I figured that would make him go away but he just kept pacing me for another mile or so insisting that I take the offer. I ended braking hard and making a U turn behind the truck and turned off on several side streets to lose the guy but man that was a wierd situation.

R U Young and Female? Not hard to believe that he might have been a creep wanting to do bad things..... or just weird?

Billy