Cooler this morning, so it was a nice ride in. Supposed to reach about 90 again this afternoon, another hot ride home. I almost ran over some kids who ran out in front of me on my way home. They came running down their driveway and didn't stop crossing the street, I had to brake hard to avoid them.

Didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning or like cycling to work. My wife told me I was being a wuss, so I rode in. I felt better after a few miles and was glad I rode today.

Took some work to get out of the nice warm bed and get onto the bike this am. 42F is starting to be pretty cool in the mornings. First day of leg warmers, fleece cap, and long sleve tshirt under the windbreaker. When it gets to 36F or so it will be windproof tights.

Once I actually get on the bike, I'm always glad I did...It was such a nice morning for a ride.

Time to replace the battery in the outdoor temp sensor for my thermometer. Can't really rely on morning weather report for accurate temperature for some reason. They must be getting readings from another county or something.

Another perfect day to ride a bike. Cool, clear, and calm.

Knee cap is recovering steadily and I road 24miles round trip today. Very tired on the return ride.

ugh..................I'm so happy I'm off Thurs & Fri......I got a snoot full of exhaust and an earful of police car siren all the way up 6th ave. tonight.....this was after getting stopped on my normal route home last night (up 1st ave past the UN......I'd hoped the day's business woulda been over by 6.....)

great weather lately. it's going to be really warm tomorrow. feels like summer weather.

nice ride home today met my wife part way home and we did the ride together. nice.

I Hate High Heahwind For 9 Miles!!!!

Today I decided I wanted to go fast. I put a larger seatbag and lights on my Merckx AX and left my commuter bike in the garage. It was a great morning for fast ride, with temps in the mid-60s and no threat of rain. I actually saw another bike commuter for the first time as I was leaving me neighborhood, but he turned off another way before I could catch him. I was hoping to talk to him as I'm one of the few lonely souls bike commuting in my part of the city. Kept a fast pace all the way to work, despite catching the usual red lights, and finished my 10-mile morning leg about 3 mph and 6 minutes faster than usual. That was fun, and I think I'll stretch out my afternoon commute to 20 miles or so.

I tuned my derailers and lubed the chain and pumped up the tires last night and it ran like a new bike. I really should do that more often than once every 3 months.

Coming home yesterday, I got held up by another motorcade for some other bigwigs. The cops stopped traffic so the motorcade could make a U-turn and block up the street. The secret service agents and foreign security agents wandered around keeping an eye on things while the delegation from wherever took their time getting to their cars. I was tempted to just slip through til I saw the cops blocking pedestrians from crossing.

This morning another motorcade was hanging around the Waldorf so I guess the prez is still in town. With all the cops hanging around, it made running reds easier because drivers were on their best behavior.

On yesterday's evening commute i drafted behind a backhoe. It was awesome because i was riding into a strong headwind, i was struggling to do 20kph (slow). The backhoe was wheeled and was doing 40kph. Drafting behind a vehicle like that is better than any tail wind because your usually riding faster than a tail wind anyway... it was awesome. (Although you have to have a death grip on the brakes).

Now this morning's commute introduced a new road hazard: Politicians, or their supporters anyway. I ride through a small town in the midst of a heated mayoral campain and they're taking to the streets, or rather the shoulders to wave at the passing cages. Something else to dodge i guess.

The CBC lied about the temperature this morning. +8C my ass! My fingers were frozen before I go to the halfway mark on my ride. It's supposed to be sunny and warm the rest of the day, so I'll extend my ride on the way home. :)

Unseasonably warm this morning. This was probably my last "Summer" morning ride.

Wearing only bike shorts and reflective vest – feeling almost naked – riding in the dark towards a big, full, yellow moon. I could hear the deer rustling in the surrounding woods.

Life is good!

Overdressed and managed to hit every single red light on my route in today.

Last few commutes have been fairly incident free. On the way home from my daughters last night, had a *very* close call with a door...

I had no time to think, I just reacted instinctively (slight eye closure, body tensed, I naturally shifted left away, hit the brakes HARD (I only know because I remember feeling the back wheel locking), yelled a frightened and shocked scream) and found I was OK all in the space of about 2 seconds. It happened so fast that I didn't even have time to get angry, I just carried on - it was crazy.

My camera didn't even pick out the door, as I was already too close to it when it opened on me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3sFA6syGyY

I have a video uploading for my 'scenic' route which I took this morning, I'll post once done.

Short. Just out to Thing 1's grade school (4 blocks) and back, to wait for contractors.

there's a right-turn on red that I have to hit every time on my way to work and I had to stop because a tanker truck, taking up the entire right turn lane, needed to wait for a green before it could get the necessary clearance to make the turn.

First time in three years on this route that I've had to stop at that light. Proceeded to get snagged by every single red between home and work.

In the plus column, I started my ride by pacing then passing this young lady on a hybrid with basket panniers. We split paths after a couple of blocks, then two miles later, she joined my route a few blocks ahead of me. I caught up to her and said, "obviously I don't know all the shortcuts yet" and she was very happy to describe this nifty little back route that had no stop signs or lights. So, hooray for friendly neighbors!

I havent ridden into work all week because I got fired. I start at a new place on Friday though. Its a little closer and they seem to be cool with my commuting choices, so thats good.

I left early and got a photo of the moon at 6:23 AM this morning. First cool ride in this season.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...MOriver003.jpg

It was pretty good except for the part where the bird flew into me and scared me half to death on the MUP this morning. He came from the field on my left, missed my left leg, flew through the triangle of the bike knocking my water bottle half out of the cage and then bounced off the inside of my right leg into the corn field on my right.

I think both of us came out of it unscathed but certainly freaked out. lol

Ride home was actually one of the best I have had in a long time. I ride so much better when the temp drops into the 70ies.

nice shot!

That was my backdrop over The Charles River and the Boston skyline on the ride home. Loved it.

Fast. I had a 22 km/h tailwind. Very nice considering I put slicks on two days ago.My average speed went up 5 km/h. Cool ride in - I think it was 7 degrees? Soon it will be time for the long sleeved jersey or cycling tights.

Ride home was nice - 19 degrees, rode with a guy on a road bike part of the way. Only got 'oinched' by traffic once - Buses and panel vans are the worst!!

Great shot of the moon! It wasn't that big in NC. It was a gorgeous morning here with temps in the high 60s and the moon lighting the roads. Good thing because my red low-battery indicator lit up on my headlight about 2 miles into my 10-mile commute. I've been wondering how many commutes I could get on a single charge to my battery, and today I found out. Previously I had ridden 4 rides (about 3 hours) with no problems. Today was my 5th ride on a single charge. I left the light on and made it all the way to work without it going dead, so I ended up getting about 4 hours on a single charge. Not bad for a 5-year-old, $60 NiCAD Cygolite.

We've been mooned! :p Nice picture.

No commute yesterday. Drove wife's car in for maintenance. Thinking I should get a rack and ride from the dealership to work. Oh well.

Today was nice. A little bit damp, overcast, mid 60s, and a light tailwind. I saw only one other cyclist, a "trail regular". Passed her with a bell ring and a g'morning.

Nice ride today. Took shortest possible route after dropping Thing 2, total length turned out to be about the same as the scenic route after dropping Thing 1. But, of course, much less scenic. 2 miles less than scenic version of this morning's errand. I am wondering if I should have worn long sleeves, they're talking rain later. Well, I'll get a chance to do it again in the rain soon.

Felt tired and lazy again this morning, and thought about driving instead of biking. Read an article in the morning paper about some local North Carolinians who just rode Paris-Brest-Paris. When I got to the part where one guy was saying he was falling asleep while riding I decided not to be wuss today.

Nice ride today, cool, clear and no wind. Started just before sunrise, so I had lights running. Moon was a bit higher here, so not quite as spectacular as the excellent pic.

Had a little excitement when a couple of emergency vehicles went by while I was threading my way through stopped traffic at an intersection. With all lanes stopped and enjoying the gridlock, it's not exactly obvious how to clear a path for them.

Some one tossed a picture frame on my route, guess they figured a little more glass wouldn't hurt. With the sun low, it really picks up the glass bits. The wonder is that I don't have more flats then I do.

Nice moon!

I passed 2500 miles last night (2500.5 when I got in my door ;)) - not all commuting miles, but a gross portion are - very impressed with myself for that (for the metric folks, that's a tad over 4000km I think)

Ride this morning was uneventful barring a cabbie pulling a U-turn directly in front of me and another guy, he had his drivers window open and no doubt heard my "WTF!" so I rolled up to him at the next lights and just said "you could've waited 2 seconds man, come on" all he gave was a meek looking face and a "yeah, sorry".

Great ride nonetheless.

Yesterday on the way home i was buzzed, and of course at the next light i found myself next to the JAM.
Since he had his window open i asked him "Is there any particular reason you are trying to run me off the road?"
He then proceeded to cuss me out, but i had the last laugh as i filtered past him and he got stuck behind in traffic. A fellow commuter behind me pulled up to me and said that the guy had come within about 3 inches of hitting me. He does this only to race to the next light....