Had one of those near-perfect commutes this morning (despite increased traffic and <sigh> school busses [buses?]). Felt like I was flying the whole ride, as if I'd found that perfect balance of cadence and power, the bike humming beneath me.

It was drizzlin' and a might chilly on the way in, but fenders kept me pretty dry. Fall is a-comin'!

It was great. It was warm and overcast. I Passed hundreds and hundreds of cars today because of a traffic light on the fritz. Absolutely smoked my co-worker who drove in. LOVED IT! Got cheered on by some kids in a school bus, got waved at by a guy that I let go in front of me when I was starting out my ride. So much better than Thursday and Friday's two thunderstorms, two flat-tires in two days, 99-degree piss-fests.

Oh my goodness man, that had to be awful. I hope I don't hit a wasp or bee. Although I did get some kind of bug in my shirt this morning. It was bitting me, and everytime I tried to shake it out of the shirt it would move to the other side and bite me again. As soon as I got to the intersection, the bike got proped up and I went to stripping. Never saw what the bug was but I was half naked and the people at the intersection I'm sure was saying to themselves, what a wierd dude. Back on the road again and dreading the light poles. I ride to work while it is still dark every morning and it seems that every light pole has a bunch of bugs. I have to ride without opening the mouth to breathe or I end up spitting bugs for a mile or two.

Fencing Mask.....................crazy huh?
In the winter I ride with a grinders clear face shield to keep the cold air away.

It's hotting up in Sydney - Summer is coming!

Left early, but still warm - 17 degrees C or so. Stayed in a low-ish gear and spinned all the way in (well, except the uphills. Which is most of the way. Bah.). Lovely. Maybe I should get a single speed...

Commute today was not so good. Had another close call with a Chicago taxi B@st@rd. Tried passing me left and at the same time and turning right from the rightmost straight lane (there is a right hand turn lane to my right) and came within inches at high speed told me to shut up when I yelled "watch it" at him. I swear I loved it when the taxi drivers cried to the city last month that gas prices and citations with no fare increase were killing them. I just wish it would have finally forced them out of business.

Also broke another spoke on the way home (rear non drive outer) so I'll probably drive tomorrow until I can replace it.

All in all, not a good biking day:(

At least the commute on the way there was nice.

Warm and very humid! So much haze in the air that it was kind of foggy at ~6AM. Its funny though, that it felt cool as compared to the recent mornings when the low temps were still in the 80's. The high temp in low 90's yesterday felt cool too....I guess its all relative. Looks like we're going to make it through the entire month of August having had only one day where the high temp was below 90F (~32C). Looking forward to cooler weather in Sept!

PS edit
Didn't even realize it at the time, but I caught the final moments of the lunar elcipse as I rolled out the door at 5:45 this morning. I thought the little red sliver of moon looked really cool and then I couldn't see it anymore. I thought perhaps it had sunk below the tree line or become obscured by clouds. But as it turns out, it was fully eclipsed. Didn't even realize we were having a lunar eclipse until a coworker mentioned it.

Raleigh
 

Yesterday was noticeably cooler. It's funny how you adapt to the temperature changes. Even though it reached about 90 yesterday, it felt so much cooler. And it was -- about 10 degrees cooler than it has been lately. Even with the humidity it felt cooler, although I was sweatier when I got to work (and home) than normal.

What's your general commute route? I ride from North Raleigh down to where Capital Blvd intersects with the Beltline, mostly following the city bike route #11. It's a pretty good route except for a 1.5 mile stretch along Spring Forest Road, which is not too bad in the mornings but a little scary in the afternoons.

Mid 50sF, blue skies. Very nice. Last night I took off the knobby tires and mounted the Transworld City tires. Gave me some extra MPH. Reeled in and passed 4 other riders.

Yesterdays ride home was slow but relaxing.
The ride in this mornign was cool (mid 70's). My front derailier stopped working 2 miles in to the ride. That just made me have a more relaxed roll into work .

I'm back ,baby!!!!

I have taken some time off from commuting for a spell. And I tell you, doing two 43 mile straight commutes in a row hurts real bad after a long layoff. My legs are hurting in a bad way. But, I love it.

Hey Tarwheel,
I'm riding from Cary at Harrison Ave into RTP. A 26 mile round trip. I have a few bad traffic spots too (Chapel hill Rd, Miami Blvd), which is why I leave home at ~5:45 and leave work at ~3:30. Much less traffic to deal with before the rush starts.

Happy riding!

R

I agree with Big Ron and tarwheel, humid but felt cooler than it has been here. I was waiting at a red light minding my own business this morning when a car hit me from behind. I could not believe it. This guy said the sun and his foggy window made it hard to see and he just hit me. Luckily he wasn't going very fast and my rear wheel took most of the brunt, pushed me forward about a foot. I checked my rear wheel after yelling at the JAM and it looked fine. He gave me his business card and said to call if anything needs fixed. I'm gonna swing by the LBS on my way home and have them look at my rear wheel to see if anything is bent since the car's bumper was pushed up on top and it took a good pull to get my bike out from under it. What a great way to start the day...

Got slapped in the throat with a bat (live one) the other night. That's a first! She flew off. I rode on. Everybody was fine. No biting involved.

Fine, knees are still a bit tired, but not doing too bad. Little cooler, was easier to keep the sweat to a minimum.

You can't be too careful! Have someone check for bite marks! And stay out of the sun for a few days just to be sure. :p ;)

Nah, no vampires for me. Just a bat. It was pretty cool, really. And the bat was surely more scared than me. But wait! What are those two red spots on my jugular?/???

Nice sunny but cool ride in this morning. Gotta love Colorado weather... in the summer anyways. A couple more months and we'll be singing a different tune about how cold it is :).

Stupid bunnies... eating grass on the side of the road as I pull up. Sees me, then starts running my direction slightly ahead of me. I know what's coming next. Yep, darts right in front of my wheel. Missed the silly wabbit by inches. I can't figure out why they do that when there was a huge open field off to the right. Must be a death wish.

Roads are really chewed up for the last couple of miles. They are repaving, and have been grinding the roads down in preparation. It sucks now, but in a couple days I'll have roads smoother than a baby's butt.

Fargin' cold today! It was all rainy yesterday, then today the temp hit 2C! What the?! It's supposed to warm up dramatically for the rest of the week, but it was bloody cold on the hands coming in today...

Just started commuting today. 30 miles one way. Weather was perfect! A few cars zipped by dangerously close of course, what else is new.
And a stupid old man in his golf cart was yelling at me to get off the path. The funny part is, it's a marked bike path! *shakes head*

Thomas

It's gonna be a hot one today. And the air quality sucks. I can see the brown inversion layer where Mt. Diablo is supposed to be. Yuck.

Low 50's, blue sky, light breeze, no humidity. It doesn't get any better.

Last Thursday I went over 1000 miles bike commuting in 2007! Woohoo! I just started bike commuting last November so this is a huge milestone for me. The ride in today was nice, in the low 70s F.

It's reverse psychology! "The predator THINKS I'm gonna run for the nice open field, but instead I'm gonna zig <CRUNCH>." :(

Another great commute for me today.

It was nice and cool today and I got to try out my new to me Specialized Rock Hopper. Im not sure what year it is, but from its colors Id say early 90's. I like the bike.

The ride in this morning was fine, 10 miles and little wind. It is starting to be too cold in the morning for shorts. The light is fading. I will have to look into a good light set. Any ideas? I will search the forum too. My ride home last night was a little later than I wanted, I will use that a reason not to work 12 hours.

Damn red lights this morning. I caught every traffic light on the way in as a red. Annoying!

Got my new Connondale Bad Boy 8 today (internal Alfine 8 gear hub). Only done 10 miles so far but mighty impressed, especially as the price has now been reduced to £775 at Evans Cycles. Perfect Commuter Bike, and I still have my good quality Mountain Bike for off road. Time will tell more, but it is fast, sturdy, gear changes smoother than smooth and it looks fantastic. Looking forward to starting my regular commute again next week.

Haven't posted in ages in BF due to lack of internet service and time. But have been commuting like a fiend in Manhattan all summer.

I'll be back to Boston in a couple of weeks and hate to admit I will miss the NYC riding. This city rocks for cycling. Definitely a learning curve adjusting to the city but I've lived here on and off over the past 18 years and it has much improved with each successive visit.

Whether it's the rides through Time Square at night, along the Hudson at any time of day, laps around Central Park or just flying uptown or downtown and never having to wait for a subway or pay for a cab- this is the way to go.

First post in months. Accept for about 3 wks of trips, have ridden 3-4 days a week all summer. Today was hot 90f, humid, and about 15mph head wind. Like riding in a sauna. One of the two roads that were closed this summer finally opened, so my ride is almost back to normal.

Yesterday, came about as close to being whacked as ever. North bound on two lane rural road, oncoming car decides to pass another car, swinging out and accelerating like he's actully going to get somewhere at 5 pm on a monday. I don't think he even saw me on the narrow shoulder on my side of road, I was concentrating on the broken pavement ahead, and didn't realize what was happening until I felt the wind from his rear view mirror on my hand. Don't really know what our closure rate was but I was doing about 20mph, speedlimit in the area is 45, traffic was farely light, so I think the car being passed was doing the limit, passing car probably 50-60, I can easily believe the closure rate was around 80, absolutely no time to react and hit the ditch. If he had been over a few more inches, I'd not be writing this.

Be careful out there.