My commute home last night was brutal. 20-25 mph head winds the entire 15 mile trip home. I was getting worked big time. I had about 5 miles left to go when some JAM buzzed me while I was in the bike lane. The driver literly swerved 2-3 feet over the white line into the bike lane while his passenger screamed something at me. I watched them turn into a grocery store parking lot about a 1/2 mile up the road from where the incident occured. I hope they had fun changing the 2 tires I kicked the valve stems off of.

Traffic was crazy this morning. Had to swerve to avoid a truck that started its left turn early, and was hugging the curb on the wrong side of the street (mine). Then saw a guy on a motor scooter getting grazed by a taxi that didn't realise how wide it was (with passengers). Terrible grinding noise and sparks, but the guy didn't fall off and was ok. Shortly afterward, the same thing almost happened to me :eek:

You wouldn't happen to be Pinopian would you? [sci fi "March to the ..." series]

:p

Low 20sF this morning. Not a cloud in the sky. Nice tailwind again. I passed a guy riding northbound (I ride south). I found out my Michelin Transworlds shipped yesterday. Coolness.

This week is kicking my butt...despite taking the quick roadie in again, I could not convince my legs to move. Went nice and slow coming in, swerved to avoid yet another person who wasnt looking both directions before crossing an intersection (about the 5th or 6th this week). Wind in my face (10-15 mph), chilly, about 30ish or so....
I think Im gonna sleep in this weekend.

Today was BAD, Strong head wind combined with ice pellets in my face. Icy roads and 4" deep water to deal with. The road has that 1/2" slush due to the snow/ice pellets, and cagers were kicking it up at me. Today I rode the sidewalk!! I was the only non-cager so I figured if I ride the road I'll get killed or splashed, or both.

Fast. My recent switch from 35c knobbies and platforms to 32c road tires and clipless has led to a noticeable decrease in my commute time.

Cold, wet, and pretty miserable.

A JAM honked at me at the same place I always have trouble with cagers on my route. The road goes from 2 lanes to 1 AND has a concrete median. The right lane becomes a RTOL, so I have to move over. Today the driver behind me honked repeatedly for me to "get out of his way". I let him know exactly what I thought of him: he's #1. :)

EDIT: And then I felt bad for having given him the finger, because about 3 cars back was Subaru with a "Share The Road" plate. I dunno...should I have just been the meek cyclist and not responded to the JAM? These are the things I think about.

A little cool today 45f, and a 10mph headwind. Traffic is very light as schools are closed. Got the first flat on my new tires (300miles). I had hoped that the slightly wider 32mm tires would be a bit more flat resistant. Lots of glass and gravel on the route this year making flats a real issue.

Chicago commute
 

Little chilly along the Lakefront path. Path was pretty empty at 6:30AM. Traffic (only 2 miles of my trip is in traffic) was light, but in the Loop (as always) the CTA busses tried to kill me.

Note to self, on days where temp is < 50 degrees, get full finger gloves.

Beautiful sunrise on the way in this morning! Unfortunately, I forgot to lube my chain and my tires are running low. I will take care of both those things tonight when I get home. I also picked up new shants, as my other ones developed a hole where there wasn't supposed to be one.

Rough encounter this morning, since the fairweathers are all coming out of the woodwork. That means ninja joggers on the MUP, which normally aren't an issue since I run a good headlight. This morning was not a 'normally' kind of morning.

Where the MUP goes under a bridge by Redhook Brewery, there's a downhill turn either direction going under the bridge. There's a concrete retaining wall on one side, a 4' high guardrail to keep you from falling in the river on the other side. Big signs on either side of the bridge warn people: "Trail users stay to right of trail." There's a yellow painted solid line dividing the trail into 'right' and 'left' sides to emphasize the sign's point.
A group of joggers was approaching under the bridge this morning. The pack leader was wearing a couple of LED blinkies. The rest of the group were ninjas; not even reflective piping on their clothes. 3 of them moved to the far right when they saw my headlight. The last guy in the line wasn't so lucky. He decided it was a good idea to step directly into my headlight like a frightened doe. He was not originally in my way. I don't know what compelled him to step in front of me. (Did he think playing 'chicken' sounded fun? Was he just freaked out like a skittish woodland creature? Is he part moth and attracted to the light?) I dodged him as best I could w/o slamming myself into the concrete wall, but still ended up giving him a gnarly bike-polo style shoulder check which knocked him back into the proper lane. I think he's gonna be a curb-hugger from here on out.

Radio said 30F, but it wasn't, there was only heavy dew, no frost. There was very heavy fog though, so I crossed to work at x-walk and biked up the last half block on the sidewalk rather than cross traffic that maybe I couldn't see as well and surely couldn't see me as well, headlight or now.

I did have to dodge a ninja bob-and-weaver.

Took it nice and easy today. Cold morning, light traffic, only other commuters seems to be going the opposite direction. The lane is mine, all mine, Mwahahahahahaaa....ahem. Kept an eye out for any bags of money or wallets but no luck. Maybe tonight. :rolleyes:

To Robtown: Sorry, don't know what a Pinopian is. Filipino? Then yes. :)

It just seems to early in the year for me to be wringing out my tshirt and helmet pads. Had a ford EXcrusion try to put me on the side walk of a four lane road (with median in the middle). A wrong way motorist deciced to take up the exact middle. So basically someone's bad driving skills, blocked someone's attempt to not share the road. :D One of those times where I wish I had a bike/helmet mounted video camera.

I forgot to include this in my earlier post about my commute. I had a new experience yesterday.

To leave my building I have to ride up a driveway that's about .1 miles. As I'm riding up the driveway yesterday I hear a honk. I ignore it. I hear another honk that's a little longer. On the slim chance there's something back there I need to know, I look back at the car.

It's a freaking security pickup for my own company! The jackoffs are supposed to be watching out for the well-being of the company AND ITS EMPLOYEES and they're honking at me?

Apparently the security guys here have hassled 2 other commuters for not riding on the exercise path. Of course, the exercise path in question (which is frequently used by joggers and is barely wide enough for one person) doesn't even reach our building. How are we supposed to get here? Geniuses.

Well my afternoon commute (~15 minutes from now) should be fun. Here are the last readings from the airport: 35019G27KT

North wind (in my face), 22MPH gusting to 31MPH. :eek: On studded Hakkas. :rolleyes: Whee!

The studs should keep you from being blown backwards anyway.

Another great commute. The new chain makes it easier to pedal.

First commute post relocation
 

After a daily commute in Memphis....I moved to NH where things are just a tad colder...and whiter! Built a new ride over the winter and after a few weekend dry runs I did the deed yesterday! Oh, ya, the day with 30 MPH gusts from the north...and you guessed it, I was heading north. Easy ride in. Not so easy ride home. Hopefully the first of many more rides. Guess I am a weather wimp!

Snowy. And a bit of an adrenaline rush when I kicked the sh*t outta the JAM that jumped out of his car at a red light and chased me after I flipped him off for cutting me off.

Who knew the scrawny 'kid' on the bike could take out someone twice his size? :eek:

Then, when I've got him on the ground beating the crap out of him, he screams "Enough, enough, enough!" So... I back off, and let him get up. What does he do? He pulls a f***ing knife!

"What're you gonna do with that?" *stepping towards him* "You better just get back in your f***ing car"

He turned and RAN back to his car, jumps in and locks the doors. I walked back (He's blocking the intersection at a red light... yes, it turned green while we were fighting) and snap a pic of his plate... he runs the red light and makes an illegal left turn to try to get away from me.

Fun stuff, huh?

Post the pic. Mooowwwahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! *pinky to corner of mouth, Dr. Evil style*

I'm not much of a violence orientated guy, but people here in Brisbane HATE bicycle riders. Anyway, I was on my way home riding well on the shoulder on a straight 1.5 km road with almost no traffic, when these two rednecks pass me and throw a FULL glass tallie (600ml) beer bottle at me! It slams into my helmet and falls on the ground, but didn't smash. I was absolutely fuming, because this could have easily killed me, so I picked the bottle up, slammed my 520 into top gear and caught up with the rednecks stopped at the next traffic light. I don't think they expected a glass bottle to shatter their front and side windscreen like that! Needless to say, I hightailed it out of there! (I should have just reported them to the police, though)

What pic? *looks innocent*