Wulfheir

Same here. Looking outside now looks bright, should be up around 0-5C by home time.

Flimflam

After a day off yesterday, still felt a bit weak today - with the lakeside wind cross blowing into my face/right side (heading East) it was a little tough - with the big bag on the back (college books + usual) it may've made a difference. Had a great ride though, cursed at the wind once but that was all - had to stop on Lakeshore to wait for a gap in traffic to traverse the lanes to get into the left-turn lane, was unusually busy for about 3 minutes which meant I couldn't get over there. Finally the lights turned red and I got over as the traffic was slowing for that. I need to explore the path/trail further east instead of this route - might be more pleasant too - I was going to try it today, but left after 9, so had to still get to work at a good time.

I heard it was going to be warm today, dressed up for cold just in case, was pretty chilly (-3C) but apparently warmer now - I have my big rucksack on today with all my college books, so the slog up to college is going to be 'fun' - hopefully wind will favour me, and I'm trying a new route to incorporate a bike lane as prep/scouting for a longer journey I've got to take on Friday afternoon.

One odd thing was seeing 6 soldiers with packs and rifles walking down the path toward me, I called out a loud "G'Morning!" to them and waved, no doubt they were starting out on a hike/march - was a novelty for sure, though and it made me feel good to get a positive "Good Morning!" back

jyossarian

Ride to work was the usual. Ride home was a no-foot down at a leisurely pace. Feels pretty good.

o-dog

MONDAY:
just at the freezing mark in the morning. the commute in was from my parents' house and it was fun being able to bomb through the road imperfections in my neighborhood with the loaner MTB. they resurfaced and widened the path in Old Town CP and it makes a nice cut-through route. skidded out on a gnarly combination of black ice and slush while rounding a corner but somehow managed to keep myself upright. that was a pucker moment though. good commute in except for that.

it warmed up in the afternoon but was starting to look like rain as I was leaving. I tried to beat the rain back but determined that it wasn't going to happen so I stopped by campus to get a bite to eat (which didn't happen because every restaurant on campus was closed due to spring break) and change into my raingear, which I had packed. it didn't even start drizzling until I got back to my neighborhood, so I decided to put my new rainproof skullcap to the test by riding around the neighborhood a little bit. I guess it protected my head pretty well from the paltry drizzle we had. good ride back.

TUESDAY:
no commute. had to drive in to run errands for the bossman.

WEDNESDAY (today):
cool in the morning. I rode the first 0.3 miles or so at a slow pace with my friend who was riding his skateboard to work at the same time. good, uneventful commute.

warmer in the afternoon but windy. the commute back was to my parents' house and was also good and uneventful other than an extra riding up and down the path in Old Town CP.

tomg

usual :-)
sometimes (mostly) these rides are the hi-lite of my work day!
sad (?), but true!!
tomorrows road calls....
spin safe!

Flimflam

I took a slightly different route to college tonight, taking a bike laned street (Beverley) rather than a fairly main artery (Spadina) - was a bad rough ride, road surface in the bike lane was total crap on most of the way to College St. Anyway, uneventful ride there. Ride back was via a friends house, and I took a one way with speed bumps, managed to beat the cars down there. My cyclo-computer tells me I picked up a max of 26mph, and the first leg to my friends averaged 18mph, which is new for me (though it was barely 2 miles, so no surprise I guess).

Rest of the ride from there to home was mainly plain sailing, had a cab not give me much room after some lights and I was moving out to start passing the parked cars - but I just gave some verbal and he went on his way.

Ride scheduled for Friday is looking to be a good one, firstl leg of 14 miles and somewhat uphill (downtown to North York).

I love riding my bike.
Picking up 26mph and hitting speedbumps is awesome - I also blew all but one of the stop signs on the minor residential streets, visibility was fine around the corners and I obviously had my fingers poised to anchor on (as I had to tonight when an a$$hat raccoon decided to run up/across the street directly in my path, causing a slide skid and cursing).
Feels so good to ride. G'night.

buzzman

took off the studded tires last week and then we got nailed by a nor'easter winter storm on the weekend. With temps rising to about 40F during the day and dropping to below freezing at night the ice, particularly the black ice, is pretty bad when I take the bike path. I have to say if I can survive the week without a good slip and fall I'll feel pretty good about it. But man, it has proven the value of studded tires. I was riding over stuff before that is a major challenge with these tires.

craigdurkee

Guys try this one out for me


bicycle commute Visit this group

ModoVincere

Today's commute in was uneventful except the lady who tried to right hook me making a turn into an unnamed, major payroll company's office on Windward Parkway in Alpharett, GA (just in case anyone is curious enough to look it up ). I saw her turn signal and hit the brakes hard, so not really very close, but thank God she gave a signal. The two soccer mom's in the park last night on the way home did not signal their turns, and the first one caught me off gaurd. Damn near took me out.

I guess I should avoid going through the park at this time of the year, since theirs tons of distracted soccer mom's driving the munchkins all over the place.

pinkrobe

Oh, what a difference a day makes! After all the snow yesterday morning, it was nice to head home last night on dry streets. This morning it was nice and clear all the way in, with minimal traffic and a tailwind. If all goes well, I should be able to roll up my shants and ditch my jacket for the ride home!

kokomo61

Commute in was pretty nice. Got started a little later than normal, but the bike was riding well. I seemed pretty fast today (about 10 minutes faster than the 'normal' pace over 22 miles). Slowed to ask a guy with a flat if he needed any help with a tube, patch or CO2 (he didn't). After that, a guy on a Giant T-mobile team bike was riding my wheel - finally passed me on a climb, but he never got more than 25 yards in front of me. I was able to keep up until my turn-off. (my JTS with fenders, rack and 32mm tires is a LOT heavier than the TCR he was riding, and I'm sure I outweighed him by 20 lbs). So, I felt pretty good about the ride.

deputyjones

Rode in with full rain kit on and got more wet from the inside out than the outside in.

Rode home with 30 MPH tailwind. It was a quick ride home

JohnnyOTS

Bless your heart! I've had 6 flats in the past few weeks (it's a long story - I think I'm running too small a rear tire so I'm getting pinch flats on nasty bumps and the slime tubes are a monster to patch well) and in all the time I've spent on the side of the road with literally hundreds of cars, three or four bikes and several golf carts passing, only one of the golf carts stopped to make sure everything was Ok. Getting completely ignored by the other cyclists was by far the worst...

kokomo61

I'm trying to balance out my karma - two weeks ago I had THREE flats in one ride. One guy was nice enough to let me use his mini pump (I ran out of CO2), and another guy gave me a tube. (I'm now carrying 2 in case I run into him again). A shop that was closed opened up when they saw me get out my cell phone to call for a ride, and they sold me 2 tubes. So, I need to pay it forward a few times to make it up.

If I see a cyclist by the side of the road, I'm at least going to ask if they need help. There's nothing like being stranded.

HardyWeinberg

Early start, 3am to drive wife and Thing 2 to airport for x/c flight. 104 miles on the freeway there and back, then bring sleepy kindergartener thing 2 back into house to resume sacking out until it was time for him to get up and at'em. He was alert enough to have noticed that I jacked his training wheels up to their max height while we were biking to school (why do my front and back wheels reach all the way down and the training wheels don't go that far anymore? I think was the way he phrased it).

Then, partly to atone for a poptart mixed in with the usual cheerios for breakfast, I again tacked on my 10 mile out-and-back past work, even though I was pretty far behind schedule; got in a full 50 min late, what can I say, it's been a crazy day.

chephy

Good grief! You rode in that bike lane?? I would declare it basically unrideable and would ride in the regular lane. Except the surface is crappy there too (not nearly as bad as in the bl though), especially between Dundas and College, so I've been mostly avoiding Beverly the last few months. Although St. George, its continuation north of College, has absolutely beautiful smooth pavement now... Let's hope they fix Beverly soon!

My commute today... was in a bus 'cause my bike's in repair right now. Then I got a ride back from a student I tutored. While in a car, we had a conversation about cyclists and I got to do a bit of cycling advocacy and explaining the cyclists' right to the road. She had all the common reactions "Oh, I thoughts cyclists were supposed to be on the sidewalk. Oh, I would never have thought sidewalks were that dangerous!" I went on to say how cyclists are allowed to not only be on the road but to take the lane if necessary and all by herself she came to the conclusion "Oh, so you treat them just like another vehicle!" Good, very good!

Rick Smith

Wotta head wind -

I was crawling through my ride home in low gears almost the whole way home. At least the rain held out. On the plus side, I found a Topeak basket waiting on my front steps for errands on the weekends.

ken cummings

Good training. Changed the route home and added 400 feet of gain. Most of the gain was on a 2/3 mile stretch of busy road with a nice shoulder bike lane. Good feeling knowing most of those motorists zipping by were semi awed by the cyclist going up the hill with two fat bags on the bike. This same hill has two more bail out points on it so I can get as much training as I want. On a weekend in that same area I can climb over 3,000 feet in 10 miles without repeating the route. Goes near Levi's neighborhood.

buzzman

warmer today- so much less ice. I've felt kind of out of it this week, though. real sluggish. funky winds and temperatures and a really busy schedule have made the commute a bit more of a grind than usual. Though I must admit I'm so glad to have it for the decompress time it gives me after some of these long days. As I left the other night (at almost 11p) my colleagues at work- we were all exhausted- couldn't believe I was about to cycle home. Given that some tempers had just flared in a meeting I'll bet by the time I got home my blood pressure was 20 points lower than any of those who drove home. In fact, by the time I got home I'd pretty much forgotten what everyone was so upset about.

buzzman

depending on where you live in Michigan you have both gray wolves and coyotes-

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7...1682--,00.html

we get some pretty massive coyotes out here in New England these days and they look pretty wolf-like.

Mr_H

This mornings ride was nice and quiet...only 36, but a light wind. Love starting out my mornings that way



Well, that outline does look a heck of a lot like what I saw, but being a bit further south, it's just as likely it was a dog. Though that would be cool if I saw one...so long as it doesnt attack :b

ModoVincere

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date.

Overslept. Still rode in, nice an easy pace, I was already going to be late, so why not enjoy the scenery?
Othehrwise and uneventful commute.

Two Buck Chuck

On my way home I rode through a NPS Park Police speed trap in front of the Jefferson Memorial. I was hoping he would aim the radar gun at me, but he didn't even bother--I was doing my best to go 13mph against a 20mph headwind. I stopped to thank the officer for being out there and told him how I'm always buzzed by cars going 50mph + (in a 25mph zone) through there.

skanking biker

Nice sunny crisp spring morning. First commute of the year. It felt good to be back on the bike

Itsjustb

Uneventful ride this morning. Nothing to see here, move along....