Nice and bright and brisk on the way in today. As I was going in today I saw a friend from college going into a building close to where I live. I stopped and we chatted for a minute, and as she turns to go into her building she says 'have a nice ride' and I say 'you too' and then correct myself with 'have fun at work!' ... I hate that, but it's still pretty funny when it happens.

ARGH! People are irritating the crud out of me!

Riding down my nearly empty 5 lane street to the MUP. I was in the right lane like normal watching a motorist pulling out from a side street and then the driver attempted to pull out directly in front of me. HA! I foiled her\his dastardly attempt at clobbering me due to the fact I had already switched lanes. Plus, I could see this happening a mile away. It doesn't take a genius to determine that even with a reflective jacket, reflective tape on my bike, a bright blinkie strategically placed on the right side of my handlebars, and a headlight that motorists still won't see me. For god's sake they can't even seem to notice semi trucks. Anyhow, the fool honked at me. Uh? Where upon the motorist received the universal sign for WTH? followed by several one fingered salutes.

Later a camouflaged ped scared the heck out of me. No harm. No foul.

30 minutes after that I rode under a train bridge and was alarmed by the fact that there was two strange persons on either sides of the trail. I pushed it up to 400 watts and hauled arse out of there. Then I blew up.
Finally, I was in a crosswalk that I use to meet up with a small MUP I use, where a brilliant blonde lady blocked the crosswalk and then some with her gargantuan SUV while chatting on a cell phone.

Apparently I should have worn my oscar the grouch jersey today instead of monday. Back to sulking in my garbage can.... I mean cubicle.

Uneventful ride in, though I did see a guy carrying a cage of chicks on the back of his bike -- very cute. A guy on the bike next to him tried petting one through the mesh, but it ran to the other side of the cage.

On the way back, I took the long route. There's one part that always scares me -- a pitch-black two-lane bumpy underpass on a sharp blind turn. Not so worried about traffic behind me, but oncoming traffic gives me the willies. As I was passing through this section today, I suddenly saw headlights reflected on the wall, and the sound of screeching tires... when my heart started again, I realised the sound came not from the cars in front of me, but the cars ABOVE me (over the underpass). Creepy. The rest of the ride was uneventful except for a strong headwind.

Bright, sunny ride in. I may have to switch to darker lenses in my glasses. It rained/snowed last night, but all that was left on the road was little 2" circles of frost. Even these went away by the time we got to a well-travelled street. So much for the 4" of heavy wet snow that was predicted.

Nice sunny-ish ride (still some fog). Low 40s (F). Caught most of my lights, atypical.

No ride. Working from home to care for the baby while my wife runs some errands.

Picked the right day; the kid had us up several times overnight, and I've been up since 5.

Cool and rainy. Just the way I like it. Keeps the riff-raff off the bike path.

yesterday, I got in just as a bunch of minor crises broke out at work, and I pretty much spent the entire day in bike clothes. Didn't get a break until 1:30, when I left for lunch, and by that time I figured that I'd just skip the shower for the day. Also, wound up having to leave my laptop at work since it was in the middle of uploading a ginormous zip file to a client's intranet site and I didn't want to stick around to wait for it to finish.

So, since I didn't need to bring my PC home, and since I hadn't used my office clothes, yet, I just left my panniers at work and rode home unladen for the first time in what felt like forever -- just me, the bike and a seat bag with tools and spare tube. Felt like flying.

Ride in was also a pretty nice, and it was neat to be able to get out of the house without running through my daily checklist of ensuring that everything was in my panniers. Just got dressed, ate breakfast, got my keys and left.

Now, I'm looking for excuses to leave my panniers at my desk for another day.

No commute for me this morning. Shoulda have been up at 4:30 to head out the door at 5:30. I woke up at 6:15, so it was the motorcycle for me this morning.

Wow... traffic can really get bad downtown! I rode along a stretch of Queen St. (a two-lane street with streetcars) I rarely ride and, boy oh boy... Everybody is stopped because of streetcars, lights and (mostly) other cars, there is no room to filter and the damned streetcar tracks are just waiting to catch your wheel... Ugh! I actually walked my bike on the sidewalk in places which was much faster.

And, hell, are we gonna get some nice weather this month or what? It's cold, windy and generally yucky.

flat on the way home...peddled 13mi home anyway

Hate how the weather says it'll thunderstorm all day, you heed its advice, and then it ends up not even raining.

No go.

Yeah, I've ridden Queen St. on Fridays at rush hour before -- it's great because you're going so much faster than the cars, but the danger of getting doored is massive. Nowhere to escape! Glad you got through it unharmed...


Edit: As for my commute, I took the long ride in this morning. Fantastic, but it's definitely not winter any more ... need to start wearing a different shirt for the ride in

feeling a little tight today and not terribly fluid on the bike. It felt more like an effort than it has in a while. Maybe not enough recovery from two long fast rides on the weekend and then two days of commuting in high winds- the rides in have been fast sprints with lots of spinning and the rides home hard workouts into the wind. I definitely need some recovery rides. Took it nice and easy on the way home.

Yesterday was exhausting for some reason. Light wind and a bit cooler but no real reason for me to perform so horribly. Anyhow, it was a decent ride to work and home. I ended up riding behind several cyclists for a few miles. Strange since I am used to riding alone.

Thursday is a recovery day \ strength training at the gym day for me. However, due to a spring storm due on my next ride day (Friday) I intended to ride this morning. Headache, sneezing, red eyes, not enough sleep, just plain tired, and on and on = I'm taking the bus. Hopefully I can get a ride in on Sat or Sun. As I looked at my bike this morning all I could hear was my 3 year old saying "don't want to!" he he. Time to ride the bus and nap.

Sorry to hear that DJ...is it ever gonna stop snowing? Sheesh!

It was raining pretty good on the way home yesterday, breezy and mid/upper 40s. Wonderful. Why do we enjoy conditions like that?

Anyways, my tennis shoes were still damp this morning, so I had to go with the backups. Fog and wet streets this morning...

It's snaining. Some sort of snow/rain mixture hurling itself at my face with a headwind. Stingy. Roads and MUP were just wet. No ice. I saw one poor kid riding to the high school, looking unprepared. Head cocked to one side, squinting to see, helmet askew. I felt bad for him but at least he was toughing it out!

Last night I was hashing (running for beer) and ran enough that I'm pretty sore and a bit stiff this morning. Running isn't my forte... (Beer is, though.)

Great ride in this morn.

Yesterday I drove because I had an interview. They want me, but it would make my commute 50km round trip (currently 10km). I could do that in good weather, but not in winter, so we'd need to put a second car on the road. Also, driving back from the office sucked, stop and go, hurry up and wait traffic. I saw a cyclist heading home and got jealous. There are a number of issues that will probably lead me to stay put for now.

I'm at a training course next week 22km from home, debating if i'll bike there, or bike to a co-workers house and carpool, or get picked up by another co-worker on his way. I'm going to try the route on the weekend and see what it's like. The bonus part is that the course doesn't start until 9am, and i'm used to starting at 7.

Soaking rain and wind, but my time was pretty good. I do need to fabricate some kind of waterproofing for my DiNotte taillight battery pack. The light is amazing, but the battery pack needs better protection from the elements.

It actually took a month or so off. The first half of spring tends to be chaotic here. No biggie. 2 days of riding is 112 miles. I just hope I do not see another cyclist today... otherwise I will be annoyed as heck.

Apparently I did not eat enough yesterday. After eating a bowl of cereal this morning I was sitting on the light rail famished about 90 min later. Time to raid my stash of food at work.

Ah, 'twas a lovely ride in. I would have been happier if it had been a few degrees wamer, but the temperature is slowly climbing. I should be able to get out for a ride after work. Mmmmm... Road ride...

metro train today, and tomorrow. Wonderful morning after a hard rain last night. At least I got a half-mile walk to the train station in. Wish I were riding.

My only report today is this:

"I hate headwinds! Whomever invented headwinds SUCKS!"

Gah! From right outside the driveway all the way to the ramp to our bicycle racks there was headwind. It took me over an hour what usually is a 45 minute ride. But I gotta look at the bright side. My legs will be stronger, I hope.

First commute was yesterday....definatly will repeat. Only drawback is riding home at midnight. ugh. Fun while on the ride, but way overheated once reaching home, and sore this morning.
Definatly need a different bag to carry clothes, snacks, and drinks in.... they normally just reside in my truck all week so I constantly have them.... can't do that with the bike.
My main problem is telling myself to slow down so I am not heated and sweaty when I get there. I almost hate the fact that the company is moving closer to where I live. I guess the old BMX will be the commuter instead of my nice Bianchi.