Very cold at 5am this morning! Strong crosswinds, and scattered thunder showers (all of which missed me--nyah!) Warmer on the way home, at least.

Working at the counter of the gas station today, three different people who have seen me riding around asked how far I come to work. Ahhh, small towns! :D

Sounds nice.

Saturday was a commute day for volunteer work. Beautiful. 11 1/2 miles x 2 = 23 miles round trip. Slow-leak flat 1 mile from home, fixed in a jiffy (why didn't I walk? Well, I would have had to fix it, anyway...) Overall, very nice!

Today (Monday) great ride into work, almost 14 miles. Temps in the 60's, should be sunny and mid 80's today. Have new brakes I put on Saturday (and trued wheel). Stopped so fast my rear wheel wanted to lift me off the ground! :D I'll have to get used to them!

Good to see everyone.

After a long wet spell I can finally say, It was great, I took the long way to work this morning, I also rode my smooth tired mountain bake. It was nice as the sun came up this morning, the temperature was a cool 58 degrees and the air was still.

Left the house late, so took the dual carriageway - 39mph into a headwind (downhill ;) fastest speed I've managed on my bike, perhaps I ought to try full slicks sometime. Other than that a pretty dull slightly humid commute.

Am I allowed to chip in here?

I rode in on Friday and Monday (yesterday).. I'd like to be in on this thread!!

nice and sunny on the way in, tho' I chased my friend for 11 miles (he was about a mile or so ahead as I had seen him pass), but it looks like Gore tex on the way back as it's a bit drizzly.

Tailwind alllllllllll the way in. Love that. :D

Anyone's welcome to post! :) So, how were your first commutes?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...threadid=10226

But monday was MUCH better. I'm getting back into knowing what I'm doing:D

I said to myself last night that I was going to ride my bike to work today," no matter what". Well, I got a flat before I got out of the driveway. Fixed it, and got a slow leak on the way. Managed to make it to work ( 13 mi one-way) before the pressure got too low to ride. Got a nearby bike shop to fix the leak in order to save my only CO2. The ride home was smooth and fast. I feel good. And, I realized that flats are a quality problem- they mean I'm on my bike. Think I'll do it again tomorrow!

I do that, too. Then in the morning, I think, "I wonder if I'll make it," then I say, "WAIT! $%#@%^ of course!!!" I end up feeling really great all day long.

Today was my short shift--5 to 8pm--and the weather was so nice I couldn't wait! :)

Left around 1pm, and took an alternate route--off the highways--that was about 12 miles. I cruised around town for a while, visited a friend, and ate supper in the park, reading my book. (A Bicycle Built for Murder, which disapointingly isn't about biking, but still good so far.)

I took my normal route home, and thanks to it's being near the longest day of the year, it wasn't even remotely dark when I got home.

Great day! :)

Well it finally happened, I had to start commuting to work on my mountain bike. The DPW has managed to dig up all 19.5 miles of my ride, in fact every route to work has some sort of construction going on. All of the wildlife has moved on, all I get to see is construction equipment along the entire route. I don't know why this is going on, the 3/4" strip of roadway that was riding on was in great shape. Oh well, I'll just get into even better shape.
What a beautiful morning, the sun is out and the air is warm, a short and jersey day for sure.

I got soaked on the way in AGAIN!!

Still might be dry on way home.

of the 3 weeks I've commuted since putting the Flying Scot on the road, I've only managed one dry day.

Summer in Scotland :D

Yesterday I had an all day meeting in downtown Washngton. It is about the same distance and time as the trip to my office, but different scenery -- the Capitol, Washington Monument, and Mall!

It is especially fun to cross the Potomac on the 14th street bridge bike lane. Nothing like starting the day by passing six lanes of stuck cars for about one mile!

Paul

PaulH, you rock! I'm afraid to DRIVE in DC, and would be terrified to bike. I'm much happier in Annapolis.

My commute was lovely, as usual. Lately I have had to drive, and am thrilled that this week I can bike nearly every day. My car will be in the shop starting tomorrow, and if I don't get it back by Saturday I may just have to bike to swim practice. I should be expanding my routes anyway, I've already been here 2 months.

Teresa

Well, it's been 16 days since I cracked my ribs and I was supposed to wait a month, but screw it. I'm riding tomorrow. I can't take it any more. I feel like I'm losing more than I'm gaining by not riding. Wish me luck, or at least tolerable levels of pain.

RichC

If I recall it was about 2 weeks after mangling my rib cage (on a MTB ride) that I resumed riding. If you can breathe deeply you s/b OK.

Good luck. I'd go stir-crazy by not riding, as well.

I had a good commute today. (Aren't they all?)

I broke a spoke over the weekend and the bike was in the shop Monday and Tuesday. It is amazing when you take a couple days off on how much your body changes. I have also been rollerblading on my off days, so I am a little stiff in different places than the usual biking muscles.

My pace seems up, at least more than when I began my commutes. Everybody asks, "Is it getting easier?", well, it wasn't very hard in the first place. But, I feel I am getting better and stronger. That makes me faster, and makes me want to take more hills.

This is a little addictive, isn't it?

Ouch, Rich, be careful!

Today I had a major headwind. I'm still trying to build up distance, so I set out early and took a side trip to make my ride-in 20 miles. (And it helped, not having to take the whole 8 miles against the wind in one go!) Went near Oneida, on some of the roads I used to have a paper route on once. Still a beautiful area, and I saw a garter snake. On the way home the wind was with me.....hot, muggy, and buggy--I think there's something to be said for headwinds.

Before I even got my bike off layaway, I took my bike map and marked out routes to local points of interest. One route is mapped to the N.E.W. Zoo, though I thought I'd probably never actually bike there, as it's 18 miles away. I'm going to try it this Saturday, if the weather is good. :)

Commutes home lately have been pretty average aside from the fact that my chain is stretched and needs to be replaced asap. My ride to work went from sticking to the fast main streets to a quiet cowering backstreet ride.

The sudden change in route came when I was pulled over the other night by a cop because I didn't have enough lights and stuff. He wasn't just any cop. He's pretty much one of the biggest, oldest, meanest nit picky, cops in the department. All the tow drivers I work with know him well. He gave me a red light ticket last year too. There are hundreds of cops in this city but I'm always running into this particular cop in his brown, unmarked early 90s Chevy Caprice. His name is Hutch but I think of him as that cop from Stephen King's novel, "Desperation". His intentions are good I guess but still. pfft

I'm on a hunt for a new house to move to at the end of the month so paying for new bicycle equipment and repairs have unfortunately been put on the backbench with needed computer upgrades, dateing, drinking, and food for that matter.

As a result, I've been doing my best to dodge the big mean cop as best as I can. Oddly enough, I'm not losing any time on the commute. It's just more fun to race down the main streats than it is to cart along the backstreats like some kid out past his bedtime.

Sunshine, short sleeves, no wind. Ah! isn't life grand.

As I crossed the bridge this morning a cruise liner was being turned by the tugs, the water was like a millpond.

I was going to bring a camera to photograph my route, but forgot. I'll try to remember tomorrow or maybe do a photoshoot at the weekend.

Started out great, the first day riding my bridgestone since my rear wheel encountered the landscape spike. Nice morning, still air about 60 degrees and clear skys. 5 miles into my commute I had to stop for the longest train in history, it took about 15 minutes to pass. after that I moved on, another 3 miles and I stopped at a red light, and a mis-directed lawn sprinkler started and hit me square, a morning shower, just what I needed, a mile down the road I took a left onto a street and a skunk was checking out a manhole about 20' in front of me. I avoided him, as we all know, he owns the road. From there, I stopped at dunkin doughnuts to pick up a couple af bagels for later, it was clear sailing the rest of the trip in to work.

Made it. Felt great to be riding. I didn't push it, and it wasn't hard at all. A little achy from jouncing, but no problems breathing. I don't want to extrapolate too much from one 13 mile ride, but I don't think it'll be a problem to keep riding now.

Silver Lining #1: I got to mount my new Arkel Briefcase that I got for Father's Day on the rack for the first time. Very handy, and looks cool on the bike, too.

Silver Lining #2: While I was off the bike the city finally finished paving that long stretch that was torn up for weeks. Nothing like fresh asphalt to ride on!

Silver Lining #3: It was a beautiful morning!

And no skunks or trains. It's all good.

RichC

Nice riding this morning, temp 17C and no wind, but they are doing construction on the ramp off the S end of the Jacques Cartier bridge, so I had to carry the bike down about 60 steps. It will be 30C this afternoon, so I will go home by the Seaway Locks to avoid the steps and climb over the bridge, I will accept a 30 min wait if there is a ship going through.