No commute since Thursday last week--travelling Friday, working from home Monday-today. I miss my bike.

Nice easy ride today. It was a bit humid but we didn't get hit with the rain that's been threatening to fall this morning. For some reason I've been commuting on my Karate Monkey 1x9 lately (past week and a half or so), but today I hauled out the Rob Roy commuter fixie and rode it in to work. Definitely noticed the weight difference on my ride. Haven't had any car altercations since going through a windshield a few weeks ago. Trying to make it a habit (not having altercations, that is).

Fast (unofficial PR) and stylish (wore my BF NorCal jersey today).

We hit two detours on the way in this morning, and actually had to backtrack. :( Traffic volume was up again, but it wasn't horrible.

No commute today, had to go to a customer site for part of the day. Riding in on the subway, though, I got to entertain a little kid who decided that my blinky (permanently attached to my bag) was just the coolest toy he'd ever played with.

I had my second "contact" with a motor vehicle today. I got right-hooked by an idiotic woman on a cell phone and not using her turn signals. I sorta sensed something was up with her vehicle as I was passing stop-and-go car traffic (in the bike lane) at about 18 mph, and she just wasn't going quite as fast as I would expect her to be going. That alone is usually a big warning sign, so I was already on the brakes when she swung the front of her minivan into the bike lane.

I ran into the side of her van, tires locked and skidding. My left arm took the worst of it, hitting her side view mirror hard enough to damage it. (Amazingly, I only have a small bruise.)

As soon as she realized what she did, she stopped, halfway in the traffic lane and blocking the bike lane, and seemed to casually finish her cell phone call. She probably talked for fifteen seconds longer while I banged on her passenger-side window. Finally, she rolled it down, and I just screamed at her to use her turn signals, stop using her cell phone while driving, and watch where she's going.

I didn't call the police, or even get the license plate number. I was just so miffed that I wanted to leave. It certainly gave me an energy boost, though! I finished my 13.6 mile trip with an average speed of over 19 mph.

Yet another reason to dislike bike lanes and cell phones. Oh, and idiots.

- Warren

Warren that had to be some crazy stuff man. 18 mph is fast when you are around women drivers on cell phones. I've had a few of those too. Thank goodness I have never hit them.

Lots of luck on your ride tomorrow.

My ride today was on the edge of getting wet. Hurricane Dean is just a little ways south of me and we are getting some quicky showers at random. Right before the morning commute, it decided to rain. Thank goodness it stopped before the ride. While at my work place it come a down pour for about 20 minutes and left serious puddles for the ride home. Seems I am always cleaning mud from the bike. Lucked out today and didn't get wet, but there is always tomorrow. I figure I will have to deal with the spin off of the hurricane for a few days. Got the rain suit ready though.

Back to the bike-bus-bike eachway to and from work. Met a blind man on the way home who enjoyed tandeming so much he got a Schwinn tandem then went looking for stokers. Good chat on bus ride towards home.

Oink much?

Passing the Korean War monument on the way to work, I saw a large contingent of tourists who looked.....Korean. What would be their impression of this sculpture display of American troops in ponchos fighting in the rain? Assuming they're South Koreans, I'll bet they'd be appreciative. Probably more than Americans. Funny thing, I discussed this war last night with a friend, who said we had won what I had always thought of as a stalemate. The North invaded, we helped the South fight back, and the borders remained essentially what they were at the beginning. That's more than we can say about Vietnam and Iraq.
Mike Doan

Perfect morning temperature today for the morning commute.

Homeless lady shocked me a little when she shouted out, "Aye, little one!" in a voice a little deeper than Gollum's as I rode past her. Usually, she's just talking to herself.

Great commute today, despite about 2 hours of sleep last night. I think the 4 days of rest helped, as my legs felt stronger than they had last week--and I even had practice last night.

Perfect weather too--foggy enough to keep it cool but visibility was good, no wind, and the roads were just damp enough from an early morning rain to give the tires a little less rolling resistance.

True dat...

Going home late along the river last night, I was admiring the lovely fireflies, which have become rare around here since my childhood.

Then I discovered that if a firefly is lit up when it hits you and sticks in the corner of your eye as you ride throught the darkness along a narrow trail bordered by steep riverbank on one side and slightly less deep but equally steep ravine on the other, said damned insect continues to flash, wiggle and make crawling movements with its legs on your cornea in a very distracting fashion until you can get it the heck off you. How it git under my glasses, I don't know.

Nice and calm on the way in today. The construction on my route was cleared, so it was smooth sailing on the way in. I managed to make 5 lights in a row, which basically means sprinting at my top speed for 5 blocks. I honestly wished for gears, cause I totally spun out. Time for a bigger chainring?

I finally rode in this morning after 54 days of zero riding, not even a few seconds on the saddle. For medical reasons. It was a difficult time, I slept more, ate worse, felt tired and sluggish. I gained 12lbs and at least an inch of waistline. (I used to wear a belt to stop my pants from falling, now I had to suck it in to button them)

It was 91F/47%RH, farily pleasant with the sun low.

I started to breath hard ~1mi from home, even though I was taking it easy and I had geared my fixed down to 17x48 (used to be 15x48)

About halfway thru my 8.5mi commute I was feeling pretty crappy, but glad to be riding again. I kept it around 20mph most of the way (18-22mph). I was glad to hit red lights to catch my breath. My lungs were burning, my legs fine.

Ended up with 19.0mph average, ~2mph off my usual.

Now I feel great and wonder how the ride home will be.

Al

The highs and the lows of bike commuting.

The high: I did a U-turn to head back into town and the driver behind me gave me a friendly honk and wave as I swung back around. I guess maybe she'd never seen a trackstand before.

The low: Not more than 90 seconds after that, I found myself on the ground covered in oily water and bleeding slightly. You know how in some parking lots they have those cement drainage channels? Don't cut across them at an angle. They're slipperier than a luge track. As it turns out the bike was fine (the tape and bar was a little dinged up but I'm planning to change them out anyway) and my shorts and jersey weren't ripped, just disgustingly dirty. Oh, and I've got a little road rash on my knee and hip. Feh.

54 days off the bike and your first ride is a 19.0mph average? Very impressive.

Fun gravel railroad bed ride on mtn bike. Last day till Sep, fly to other coast to show kids to their grandparents tomorrow.

Nice speed there, noisebeam - good to be back in the saddle I bet.
Bummer caloso, that bites.

My ride was typical, way too short and uneventful - bit warmer than it has been this week, which is OK. Rain is supposed to hit us today or tomorrow, that should liven things up a bit, or at least crud up my bike yet again.

Almost at the 2000 mile mark on the roadie - nowhere near all of it are commuting miles, as I've ridden down to the border/Niagara Falls a couple times as well as LD charity rides, etc. on it. Makes me wonder if I should start a spreadsheet explicitly for commuting trips, as I used to use Routeslip but gave up when it was down for a week or more.

Anyone else use Excel to track trips/mileage?

This morning was 60 deg and overcast. This afternoon was 75 deg, overcast and humid. Light traffic. Life is good.

Chicago Hurricane
 

I was lucky just as I was about to leave work I stop to check the situation outside seeing that the sky was rather ominous. Saw the increasing rain & ducked back in the building to put on my rain jacket & a few seconds later I hear loud rattling & banging from the nearby dock door. Looked outside the reinforced side door & the rain was horizontal. It looked like a hurricane outside & big part of a tree in frount of the building snapped off. I can't imagine what've would've happen if I had left a few minutes earlier to get caught up in the now reported 58mph - 80mph winds.

I hope no cyclists were hurt out there in Chicago today. I've never seen anything like that before here well except for that microburst during the Taste of Chicago one time.

Actually today's ride was rather exhausting, nice stiff headwind with what feels like 100% humidity - just sucked the strength outta me this morning. Going up into the 90's today - with, hopefully, periodic - perhaps thunderstorms. Moving ... slow ...

Very sweaty, but otherwise pleasant ride in. Haven't been riding much lately due to the heat and a pinched nerve in my neck. Probably neither of which alone would have stopped me from riding, but both together got me to drastically cut back on mileage. Thankfully the neck feels better and the temps are supposed to be cooler next week. Hopefully no more 100 plus degree days for the rest of the year.

To the lady in the RAV4 who buzzed my about a foot from my elbow with an entire two-lane road at your disposal, while also honking your horn and sticking your middle-fingered hand out the window- I want to commend you on your parenting skills. You're setting a great example for the two or more kids in your backseat. I hope you drive off a cliff before you have the chance to bring any more kids into this world to be raised by an idiot.

I will only get a few miles on the bike in today since I had to take my car to the shop for an alignment. I did manage to average 20mph though from the shop to work though and I am riding my newer road bike which I haven't ridden in about a month.

On the ride home last night I met up with a group ride leaving the LBS. I asked how far they were going and they said about 35 miles. I rode with them until the entrance to my apartment complex and it was nice to be drafting for the last few miles. One of these days I have to get out on a group ride.

Woke up this morning to 4C - thats 39F:eek: Needed the full gloves and jacket, even considered long pants. Rode through a thick fog most of the way to work, by the time I got downtown I was soaked and starting to shiver.

The weather around here has been cold for about 2 weeks now, I hope that means we will get a mild winter.

Pulled a bonehead move.

First commute in about 3 weeks. Vacation, weather, meetings etc. kept me off the commute.

Bike is leaning against the van in my driveway. Clicked the garge door to close and start running to get under it in my road shoes with Look cleats. The garage has a rubber floor mat. I hit a bit of water and Whoomph. I'm flat on my back. Tailbone and wrist are a little sore, but not too sore. I got up and went in the house so I could exit the front door.

Good ride and feeling fine.

Last night I tried waiting for the lull between storms to head home in Chicago, and waited a bit too long. Started dry, but then the skies opened up again. It was fun. I totally love riding in the rain (going home).