Near 60F(!) and sunny. Leaves are changing at lower elevation so it's getting prettier too. Headwind, but it didn't seem to bother me much. Saw just one other cyclist. A MUP regular. Cute young woman on a road bike.

A squirrel darted out from under leaves and missed getting hit by about 12 inches. :rolleyes:

My first commute ever! About 60 degrees. A really nice ride.

Good ride in. Barely looked at my speedo - therefore I had a more relaxing commute. Saw a couple of fellow commuters. One wearing a reflective vest but with no lights whatsoever :( The other with a blinking bright led in front, riding on the sidewalk :( .

Taxis are on strike today. Not all of them, but enough to make the ride clear sailing while keeping traffic at a sane pace. I hope they keep striking.

Cool ride in, nice tail wind. Started about 30min before sunrise. Forgot the helmet, kept glancing up were the mirror ought to be. Felt really odd not to have it.

Pet peeve: drivers that insist on waiting at stop signs till I go through, even after I've carefully timed it so they'll go through first.

Welcome! How far is your commute?

9 miles each way. Thanks for the welcome!

I can't fly and I am not an acrobat.

That being said the one type of wreck I have never performed finally occurred.
I was riding along a pitch black path with my pathetic light and failed to notice a large portion of a tree that had fallen over the path. Lets just say I stopped.... sort of. I flew over the handlebars and ended up lying under my bike somehow. I think it flipped as well. For whatever reason I found that one amusing and started laughing. Nothing wrong with the bike. A dirty jacket and a few bruises for me.
I finally got my endo out of the way. :p

Glad you're ok!

Ahhh, those are bad, aren't they. It's probably my No. 2 pet peeve, right behind fellow cyclists with loudly squeaking chains. :D

Cool, sunny (well, sunrise-y), nice!

Howling winds. The SantaAna winds that are driving our yearly fires here in SoCal.

My morning ride is 8 miles stringht into the wind.
At one point I was out of the saddle, struggling in the small ring making about 8mph. On the flats.

Thank you. :)
However, I fear I spoke to soon.
I was sitting in a meeting and my foot started shooting flames through it.
I can't even walk but my wife is on her way to pick me up. I have a decent pain tolerance and this is threatening to overwhelm it.
Oh my goodness..........

I wonder if all the cabbies are back at work. Didn't seem like they were striking on the way home. I watched a cabbie push a motorcyclist over by changing lanes into where the motorcyclist was forcing him left. Then I saw a Hummer run a red when he realized that speeding up to a red light, then slamming on his brakes wasn't going to stop him in time so he just drove on through. There's some crazies out there.

Hello Amber! And hope the foot is OK, DataJunkie.

Bit cooler today; was overcast after some really hot, sunny mornings.

My ride was pretty uneventful (although I got passed - twice! What's that all about? No-one passes me!:D), although I did witness another cyclist giving a bus driver a good earful.

The bus was stopped at a bus stop, with his left indicator on. Traffic was passing by - it's a two lane road. Just after the bus is a small side turning - I was actually waiting to pull out from that turning.

A cyclist comes past the bus, indicating left. Just as he kind of gets up to the bus, the bus indicates right and pulls away. I can't be entirely sure if the cyclist had actually drawn level with the back of the bus when the bus started moving or not; one thing I am sure about is that the bus kind of went from indicating it was pulled in to indicating out and moving pretty much instantly.

Or course, this meant the bus started to block the turn the cyclist was trying to make. The cyclist kind of took on the bus though, shouting as he went, half pulling in front of it - basically determined to make the turn in front of the bus. In the end the bus stopped moving, and the cyclist pulled in front of him, shouted at the driver for a little while about using his mirrors (with suitable colourful phrases), and made a big show of taking the bus license plate.

I'm not entirely sure the bus driver was totally in the wrong. The highway code says to allow buses to pull out, and he night have thought the cyclist's turn signal was indicating a lane change, rather than a turn. Then again, gven that it was a bit unclear, the bus driver probably shouldn't have started moving until the situation was clear. It just struck me as just one of those slightly awkward incidents that happens on the road from time to time. Either way, I'm doubly convinced that shouting at drivers is pointless. I have no doubt at all that the bus driver is convinced he was in the right, and now hates cyclists even more. And the cyclist, rather than quietly taking evasive action to avoid the situation and then feeling good about being alert to others and riding defensively worked himself up into a froth that will probably spoil his day.

Ho hum. Stay safe out there people, and perhaps try to stay calm too!

Well I can definitely tell I'm going to like the morning commute better than the afternoon. On the way home I got passed very closely by a lot of cars and buses, people act much more careless in the afternoon I guess. Everyone was on their cell phone or had music blaring. Kinda made me nervous but I made it home okay.

I finally put the wrap on my handlebars, and tightened all the bolts - no more squeaks! Not a bad temperature today. My hands were a bit cold, but that was it. It's supposed to be crazy warm for the ride home...

72d. Good day to commute. Took my scenic route home, same as before. I'm wondering if this will be the last good day of the year. I'm doubting it. We have a cold front moving in, but I think we'll see some more nice days with the weather pattern we're in.

Great commute this morning, 25 degrees, couple inches of snow and clean crisp air. Life is good. Moved from sac town to get some clean air and mountains and have never looked back.
It is funny as everyone at work expects me to drive because it's cold, thats why they make layered clothing. Rode home in shorts and long sleeve jersey to find out it's still only 44 degrees. I guess I have acclimated to the weather and the altitude.

Don't let them put you off! Ride well out from the kerb; makes the traffic have to notice you, and gives you somewhere to go if a car does get too close.

Excellent weather both ways...very rare for Seattle esp. this time of the year

Thank you as well. My foot seems fine at the moment but that is most likely the painkillers.

Anyhow, my saga continued. :( We were driving home with my bike on the trunk bike rack after my wife came to pick me up.
So, we were slowing down on the freeway due to a traffic jam and a teenager plowed into the SUV behind us throwing them violently into the back of our car and my bike.
The good thing is that we are all right and everyone had insurance. My 4 year old did start crying and complained that his arm hurt. Fortunately, that was temporary and he is well.
After a visit with the police, firemen, and the ambulance emts we inched our way home on the back streets that I ride on. If anyone ever asks why I prefer to ride a bike I will smack them in the head. :p
All in all I am out of commission for some time. Need my foot to heel and a new bike. Commuting on an expensive racing bike this time of year is not something I want to do.

Time to have fun with the insurance. This is only the 4th time our car has been rear ended. I am seriously considering trading it in for something with less bad history and much larger. :p

Oh and I will never use a trunk bike rack again.

On the positive side, I get to start pondering what I want as my next commuter. Maybe a fixie or another touring bike. Don't know yet.

No bike commute today. I was sidelined by howling desert winds, dust, smoke and ash blowing though the air from nearby firestorms in the bone dry hills of Orange County, CA. It looks a bit hellish this evening with the flames glowing across the hilltops a few miles away. This will probably mean several more days of no pedaling until the air becomes breathable again. Right now if you go outside you have to chew while breathing. This is not a good thing when riding a bike.

Well today was the day I was dreading....time to park the bent and pull out the mtn bike. It started snowing after I got to work and did not stop. The ride home was nasty, slippery and wet. The great thing about a LWB, recumbent it that your close to the ground, making it an easy fall. I will miss the bent but the mountain bike will be fine.

slooooooow ride in this morning. For some reason the 50+ miles I did yesterday wore me down.

I didn't have much steam today but I managed to enjoy the ride any way.

Beautiful, beautiful weather!:)

sloooooow on the way home, too.

Started in rain this morning, and ended with wind...phewf. First ride with my new rear derailleur, and fenders! On the way home got the first flat on my new bike..a tiny piece of glass, almost missed it when I examined the tire.

Nice and pleasant ride in. Last day of good weather, it seems, before the long sleeves and jackets come out in a couple days when the lows hit the 40's. Legs were sore from a hilly 130 miler on Sunday and some stop-light sprint intervals during the day. A good sore.. the kind that reminds me why I keep riding. More and more, the 9 mile commute seems too short.

On a sad note, my front tire finally called it quits and wouldn't hold any pressure over 80psi. It was a Bontrager 23 that came with the bike and had over 3500 miles on it. All this time I though there was a Mr. Tuffy under there and was surprised that the thing held together all this time all alone, despite having what must be a whole bottle worth of glass shards and a ridiculous amount of cuts and bruises in it. Now the front is sporting that monstrosity of a tire kown as the Armadillo until I aquire some Krylions.

-3C this morning, my first sub-zero commute this year. Wore gloves for the first time too. Had a really nice time, although some a-h0le refused to dim his lights for me, blinding me for a good 20 seconds :mad:

DataJunkie, glad the wife and kid are OK. Damn! That is some amazingly bad luck for one day...

I don't know about luck. It's typical in a car. Sucks that it was you this time though.

Why is it that you prefer riding in again :D :D (runs for hills) :)

My first wet ride in to work this morning. I've been soaked before but it was always on the way home. Oh well, took a while to change and everything's behind me in my cube being blown at by two fans :D. I'll live.

Made me realize that I'm missing some crucial commuting equipment. I need waterproof shoes/boots as the shoes I was wearing today may withstand a light sprinkle but not a constant splashing for 40 minutes.

Something for the head would be nice too. I think I'll make a winter helmet following jeff-o's instructions (rebel-cycles.com).