Averaging 53 degrees in the morning so far. Getting psyched up for the colder temps. I ride 8 miles one way. Car doesn't work so I have no choice but ride in. Good or bad weather. I've been doing this for 3 1/2 months now and looking forward to sticking with it as long as I can. Been doing a lot of research on ICEBIKE.COM to see how others do it. If they can do it I know I can. Like they say, just taking one day at a time. Meanwhile, Performance opened a store here in Columbus so that helps. Getting my winter gear together.


Gary Fisher, Shimano Deore LX, Lights and reflectors galore!

Because it is fun, and faster than walking.

Nice ride in-58F, light headwind, nice clear sky with lots of stars. First time with arm warmers since I'd guess roughly mid-late April.

Morning started with a flat tire in my garage. Once that was fixed, a great 18 mile ride in nice COOL weather. I'll follow Big Ron and make this the last ride this year in short sleeves unless it warms up considerably.

Just got in and cooling down (yes folks in the waiting area who are early - that woman does have sweat rolling down the side of her face) - nice ride - low 50's, low humidity --- I loves da Fall!

And for some reason - today the streets were full of slow drivers - drivers that drove slow anyway - and then would hold up 15 cars as they had to make a left into the 1st parking lot of that building - which held me up too as I'm in the middle of the street trying to make a left. Kinda dangerous - especially when I can see some drivers getting mad at being held up - cause that's when they do stupid things like trying to get around cars - or try and make a U-turn, etc.

Not sure which is worse - fast cars or slow cars. Eh, let's just say ALL CARS. :D

Mid 40Fs. Sunny and nice. Mild headwind. Only saw 2 cyclists going the other way. Both regulars. No suicidal squirrels this morning but one was clearly considering its options. :) Also saw 2 domestic cats.

40 degF. Sunny at first then heavy fog on the other side of the mountain. Overall quite good.

I recently moved and my commute changed from 13mi to 21 mi (each way). So I haven't been riding to work as much. :(

This morning, though, I decided to go for it, and was glad I did. The hour and a half long ride started out in the upper 40s and moved into the mid-50s by the time I reached work. I used my leg warmers and jacket for the first time today, and was glad to have them at the start of the ride.

It was just a gorgeous morning, very peaceful, and I found the ride very meditative. Probably because traffic wasn't absolutely insane for once. :)

Scott

Good work! This could end up being a 4-5 day per week thing, easy! Keep it up!

Cool, bright and sunny. Almost went blind riding up the hill into the biggest friggin' sunrise I think I've ever seen. 52 F/11 C - knee warmers and a l/s base layer. It just started cooling off this week so I'm trying to stay warm during the change - it had been getting up to about 80 at the end of my ride about three weeks ago.

I got humbled today.

I'm not talking about speed on a bike - no, I wasn't planning on setting any speed records today, especially since I skipped breakfast. I'm talking about riding in traffic.

I would say that I am quite comfortable and confident in downtown Toronto thick traffic, taking the lane when appropriate and filtering when appropriate and lane-splitting when appropriate.... To me it's like a fun video game. The idea is to move forward as fast as possible while maintaining safety and minimizing conflict. Make a right move - and you zip by an intersection ahead of everybody without inconveniencing a soul; make a wrong move - you interfere with three drivers who have the ROW -- and still miss the light.

So today I made a wrong decision to hang on the right side of my lane approaching an intersection, while two other commuters (who were pedalling slower than I btw) moved to the left, did a bit of lane-splitting, and disappeared into the sunrise... while I ended up stuck behind a right-turning truck and had to wait for a whole extra light cycle. Normally I am the cyclists who passes on the left, smiling at the curb-huggers, who insist on being stuck behind all right-turners or on being right-hooked. Today, at that intersection, I was that stupid curb-hugger.

Oh well.

No matter what I do, winter is coming. :( My light died today on the way in. It's not a "see" light at present, more of a "be seen" light, but still - I'm P.O.'d.

Yesterday I was trackstanding at a light and a guy in a car next to me gave me a thumbs up and yelled "Nice skills!" Made my day.

Happens to me, too :) So long as you don't try and battle the right-hook out and being silly in that way, it's all good - and it's all good experience anyway. Sorry to hear about that close buzz though, where did that happen?

Congrats seafoamer - welcome to the club :)

My rides have been mostly uneventful that I can recall, nothing major. A friend of mine got a nasty close buzz last night on Adelaide, and if I can I'll ride with her for solidarity tonight as I'm heading east.

Ride safe and tailwinds all 'round.

I drove. The van needed some love too.
Does anyone want to buy a 1980 aircooled Volkswagen Vanagon? Its a nice two tone orange and creme color and in good condition all around. I just dont have the time for it anymore, with my new bike and all.

2nd normal day in 2 wks. 4 days on the road to Vancouver BC last week (good bike watching!). Friday normal, last 2 days in early and out late for roadtrip up north, finally broke out the headlight. Today normal, tomorrow walk to carpool, Friday hopefully normal again.

It seems to be fall out, I'm afraid I missed the last of summer in windowless conference rooms last week.

Nice ride into work. A little fog sitting against the Missouri river levy. Red sunrise. Got to remember to have my camera ready.

So yesterday, with perfect weather and the expectation of a pleasant ride home 2 a**hole pedestrians step off the curb right into my path and I plow into them at about 18 MPH. I go down and the helmet takes a big impact to the pavement (back 'tail' of it smashed in and the plastic shell cracked) and the leeft brake lever totally mangled.

So they think it is my fault because they were stupid. Called the police (this is in the city of Cleveland to no expectation that any would show up) and as I am doing so the cause of the accident walks away with her friend laughing. I still have a little bit of a headache and my neck and muscles on the right side are stiff.

Right now I am feeling too apprehensive to ride my commute --- which really bums me out ---- So how does one process through and get past having an accident? The truly scary part is, if there would have been a car anywhere close behind me, I would have gone down by the pedestrians negligence and would have gotten run over by the car.

Just get back on the horse Sonatageek. Anticipating morons doing stupid stuff in front of you will go a long way towards easing your anxiety. If you're expecting it to happen, you can take evasive maneuvers before it even happens.

I had a good ride in. The temp and humidity are creeping back up again, but nothing like it was a month ago. Had some bonehead in a pickup try to pass me on the left and then right hook me, but he had to jam his brakes on at the last second and turn right from behind me...I bet his bumper was only 6 inches from my rear tire as he switched lanes....Moron! Today is commute #52 for me for the year. My usual goal for each year since I started commuting in '98 or '99... I should hopefully hit ~70 for this year which would shatter my previous record high of 65.

if a car was close they probably wouldn't have stepped in the road.

I had a great ride in today. We are getting warm weather in the Detroit area and I got my replacement battery from Blackburn for my System X3. They replaced it with the battery from the X6! I used the flashing setting on it this morning and you can see all the signs and stuff in front of me for a couple hundred feet flashing. That should let the cars know I'm there. The guard at the gate liked my flasher, he said it looked like a cop pulling without the other colors. He said I needed a red one, I told him I have two on the rear of the bike. I got over heated on the way, so I stopped to strip down to my shorts and jersey.

Nice this morning. 50F. Light headwind. 1 suicidal squirrel.

Yesterday I was riding home and I heard a float Cub (airplane) engine running over in a little area where this guy keeps it. I thought he was going out so I stopped on the bridge to snap a photo, but then he shut down. Guess he was getting in, not leaving. One of these days I need to get my float endorsement. :)

Big Ron is right - just get back out there and ride. Start with a short ride or two. I'm sure you plan to anyway but just in case - you need to replace that helmet.

Haven't read or posted lately--changed jobs within my dept. and my workload more than tripled. This has also meant a couple of days working from home :( and yesterday I even drove :eek:

Not much to report, commuting-wise. Mostly uneventful commutes, with the occasional buzz or near-right-hook thrown in for excitement.

That sucks man. I suggest you ride a 40 lb cruiser bike and try to ride just as fast. See if the next ped who mindlessly steps in front of you walks away laughing!

Finally back on the bike this week after my long road trip last week up the east coast for job interviews and a buddy's wedding in ME. Temps cooled down here, I actually had to wear long sleeves on Tuesday morning for the ride in. This morning was warmer and a little sticky as well. Overcast so temps should remain in the 70s. Replaced a bulging tire on my commuter last night, reminds me how much I love the foldable tires on newer road bike.

Drizzly and cool weather. I think my Gazelle feels it and thinks fondly of its birthplace. I spun out starting from a stop sign because I'd forgotten that the first rain of the season brings up all the oil out of the asphalt, especially at intersections.

Get out of the Roadway!!!
 

"Get out of the Roadway!"

Got that yelled at me this morning as I was patiently waiting behind a couple of cars in a left turn lane for the light to change.

Today's commute was awesome! I added two extra miles just so I could go and get a nice hearty (hearty, not healthy) breakfast, and read the paper. What a difference it made! I feel a bit better about myself for going farther than I needed to just to be nice to myself. Hooray!

Rode to a doctor's appointment today. With a cold. No, the appointment wasn't about a cold (I don't tend to bother doctors with those).

Because of the cold I was soooo sloooooow. Deliberately, actually. I usually don't feel sick on the bike and tend to go as fast as when I'm healthy... but I didn't want to overstress the system. So today a grandma on a three-speed would've been a speed demon compared to me! :)

It'd be nice to have a cruiser bike for this kind of riding. My current beater is a rigid mtb with a rather sporty geometry, while today I really just wanted to sit back and take it easy. A nice cruiser with a basket... yeah...