Just to keep you all entertained on a quiet commuting Sunday. One more picture of the sky on the late night commute along the Charles River. And people wonder why I ride a bike to work...I'd have barely noticed the sky if I drove to work this week.




http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...theCharles.jpg

Cool but not cold this morning (6C). No clouds, no fog, no wind. Had a nice time.

A couple of firsts for me this morning:

1 - First chilly commute for me (I started commuting back in July). It was 39F when I left the house this morning. I put on some warm up pants and full-finger gloves, but found my arms and feet were particularly chilly when I was up at speed. After warming up the rest of me was fine. I'll be researching cold weather apparel options on the board today ...

2 - I just upgraded my 4-year old Giant Cypress to a Specialized Sirrus Pro. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Although still a flat bar bike, it is much closer to a roady than the Cypress. Of course lighter frame and narrow tires help a lot. I found myself really crushing the few hills I get to climb on the way to work.

Life is Good!

Good ride in this AM, It felt chillier than 50F (10C), but I warmed up a few miles into it. Seemed atypically dark too, I guess perhaps because there is no moon yet. Nearly ran over a possum as he/she scurried across the road. The first live possum I've seen in quite a while. Lots of dead ones, but hardly ever a living one. Luckily my headlights reflected well off of its eyes, so I had plenty of time to steer around it.

I did a hard metric century yesterday where I attacked on the steepest climb of the day (+-18%). 1 guy held on and we finished the ride 1&2. It was nice to see that I had it in me ... but I paid dearly this morning (extra gear, backpack, colder temps). So glad my car is here in the shop. Of course I don't know if I can even force my gas pedal down the way I feel right now. :) All is good though.

That's when you yell back, "I'm trying!" :p

Anyway, I was dumb this morning. Temps in the low 40s. I felt cold so I wore one of my cool-weather long-sleeve tops, my windbreaking high-viz jacket, and gloves. 2 miles into the ride I realized this was a mistake as I began to overheat. Unzipped the jacket and kept riding. Got to work with a very damp shirt, and happy I was wearing shorts, at least. :o

Chilly morning, but otherwise alright. Woke up late so I wasn't able to get to the gym for weights, but oh well.
My roadie's handlebars are starting to look crowded as I've got my camera, bike computer, head light, and healight switch on it. It's a good thing I have the drop bars, or else I wouldn't have any place to put my hands :b

I have forgotten which combination of clothing I need for various colder temperatures! I was way overdressed this morning. My legs were still tired from a great ride on Saturday so I took it easy. The road was wet but nothing was in the air… until the semi passed! Yuck! Hopefully Accuweather is accurate and I can make it home dry this evening.

New chain, new fenders, new borrowed HID headlight, clean bike, resealed bottom bracket - life is very, very good.

Crowded today w/ drivers all over the place so lots of zigzagging around them. Peds were no help either w/ their jaywalking. Serves me right for leaving later than usual.

An electrical transformer exploded on a pole across the street just before I passed by. Luckily I saw the flash first, so the noise didn't scare me out of my seat.

Otherwise, uneventful but chilly. First day with jacket & warmer gloves.

Buzzman, thanks for the fabulous photos! I should grab the camera today and snap a few shots along my route - we are having a gorgeous autumn here.

OK, I really just came down to the computer to check the weather... gotta go :)

Fairly dark....able to give a real test of some of my new lighting (not all here yet) this morning.

Found these little blinky LEDs that have something like little stretchy cords attached....could attach to sides of helmet perfectly. I was blinky McGoo this morning. :)

The morning commute was a balmy 8C (46F). That's warmer than some of our day time highs from last week. It was nice not to have to wear as many layers.

Low 60s, no rain, low traffic... Good 6 miles up the Island.

Chris

This is how I commuted today (Except I am also wearing a tweed suit). It's worth it just for the looks I get :)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2331/...23bea21cca.jpg

Cool, overcast, and breezy. Perfect weather for a bike ride.

Got out of the house a little late, but it was smooth sailing for the most part. I got caught in the wrong lane 2 blocks from work, and got stuck doing a roundabout back to my building with 5 stops at lights, all left-hand turns. Oy!

4:30am commute. Temp 54d. Nice ride in. I've been commuting for about 5 mos. now. Saw another commuter for the first time on my route coming the other way. Forecast is rain for the rest of the week, we'll see if he braves the rain. On the ride home it was 74d, took the bikepath home to enjoy the fall weather. We have a real nice Bikepath here in Columbus that winds along the river and thru the woods.

damp, but not yet rainy like right now.

Boy they let 'em out of their cells today. :rolleyes: I'm riding home on the MUP. Nobody out there except the occassional runner. Eventually I come upon 2 young teen males and a young teen female. We're facing each other and they all move to their right, no problems. The girl is out in front and as I pass her she makes this obnoxious screaming sound like she's trying to scare me. (I'm a pilot and a scuba diver. Loud noises don't scare me.) Then the two boys start doing the same thing.

I just rolled my eyes and kept cruising until they started yelling things at me. I caught words like p*$$y and f@gg*t and that sort of thing.

So I turned my 6'2" self around. ;)

This caused them to scatter like scared little bunnies into the woods. I could see them trying to hide in the trees. I stopped and yelled, "You children got a problem?"

No sound but the cool fall wind rustling in the trees.

"You got big mouths! Step up!"

Still nothing but wind.

"Next time I see you, etc etc..." Use your imagination.

Other than that... Nice ride... :D

It takes some doing but I put those little blinkies on my hubs so they gave a 360 pattern. Not sure how effective they were but it was interesting from the vantage point of the bike seat!

Wet, windy, and I was not in the mood... The ride didn't fix the mood issue... Two hours later and all I'm in the mood for is 2 1/2 men and a tall beer!

This morning was the first real ride in the rain in a long time. It was raining very hard at one point. I had my head down for a second trying to wipe the rain from my eyes and when I looked up I had rolled right past a stop sign. Luckily there was no cross traffic at the time. I kept riding about a quarter mile down to road and took shelter at a school for about ten minutes until the worst of it had passed.

After a couple of minutes a frog was thinking the same thing and hopped over beside my bike to wait out the rain with me.

I woke up this morning grumpy, hating life and the fact that I had to get out of my bed when it was still dark out.

.....ride ride ride....

As I pull up to school, im thinking life is actually pretty good.

On the way home i rode by 3 dead rats in the bike lane. They have been there for a while.

i've got water resistant pants from MEC. No pockets though.

I rode my new bike today. It's fast.

Yeah, that what makes or breaks the deal for me. I have a pair of MEC waterproof pants with one pocket, and just now bought a pair of water-resistant pants from there with three pockets. Three small pockets unfortunately. That's why I usually avoid women's pants... manufacturers seem to believe that women carry purses, and put either no pockets or very small pockets on women's clothing. Funny; our cards and keys are the same size as mens'... :rolleyes:

Steady rain on the return ride. I didn't care, it's such a relieve to be able to bike again. My leg strength is steadily improving and metabo is starting to come back too.

really nice ride in and back. I need a new bike bag, the zippers on mine are fakakta. and suddenly my front light was screwed up too- hmmmm bike gremlins.:p