:D yeah! With extra socks and wool undershirt in the pack, it was a very nice ride in today.

Got in 20 miles this morning by leaving early to ride away from downtown and into the wind before turning around to enjoy the sweet, sweet tailwind. I know you guys will understand!

Yelled at a kid riding his full suspension mtb on the sidewalk dodging pedestrians. Probably thought I was a grumpy old fart who needs his Metamucil.

On the way into the office I struck up a conversation with a woman who works in another office. She was asking about how much it costs to rent the bike box, who to call, etc. She said she'd like to ride to work but she's afraid of leaving her nice road bike on the rack. I gave her the info and maybe we'll soon have another bike commuter. Spreading the word, one rider at a time.

Good work! Guess yesterday was SOCK DAY!

Got my bike back from the LBS yesterday, all tuned up, new brakes, new skinny tires. Gave it a good cleaning, hoping that last week's snow was the last. Still had to fight the winds on the ride in today but it was nice to have the sun shining for a change. Didn't fall over due to new tires, so I'll call that a win.

Today is recovery for me.

Yesterday was my 5th commute (ever) and my worst yet. It should have been the easiest ride I've had all year, no snow, no ice, slight tailwind, temps in the mid 30's, 4 days rest, etc. But I had NO energy at all. Struggled to maintain 14mph on the flats, I had trouble controlling my breathing after a moderate climb, and I had to stop about half way through the commute to keep from puking my guts out. I have no idea why things weren't working but they weren't. Strangely enough I was fine on the ride home. Even with a headwind and tired legs I still beat my rolling time from the morning.

You just need to fuel and rest more, BigRed - you'll become conditioned to it soon, it just takes a little time. Just the other day I rode 10 miles out to an event, and the ride there felt awful. The ride back felt WAY better, I think that was a case of my body just not being awake enough that particular morning.

My ride in was a little breezy and felt slow, heading further East tonight to visit my daughter hopefully will be better.
Keeping with the spinning and my knees are feeling much better, back is still sore but I think that's a combination of sleeping in some weird contorted positions and not enough of said sleep ;)

Noticed my back brakes are 'sticking' - which actually turns out to be a mix between a sticky 'arm' (or the part of the V-brake that holds the pad) and a very wildly untrue hub. I need to go to the LBS soon and get that looked at, I've a spoke that's come completely out of the hub amongst the hub being as it is. This means I'm using my front brakes exclusively as the pad rubs on the rim pretty badly and I've not had much time to really fiddle about to see if I can adjust it far enough out to make contact only when I pull the brake lever.

Great commute this morning. 46F was a bit chilly for the first mile ;) but once warmed up I did great. Stopped along the way to help out some high school kids change out a tire. lol I think we scared some people into thinking that they had hit me. I cut 2 minutes off of my average commute time last year. Nice!

Fantastic, on new bike! Pix to come.

The road it showed me was the quickest way to get there. Trust me, I live in NJ

Once again, nice ride in and back!!

BigRed, I am just about to finish my 4th week of commuting to work. its only 2.7 miles and it still took me about 2-3 weeks to adjust to the ride. I was eating like crazy and by friday, it was a rough ride in. Now that I am at the end of my 4th week, I dont even feel as if I have even rode a bike to work when I get there. I even started riding 12 miles RT to the Plasma center after work on mondays and wednesdays. Good luck and keep riding!!!

I've been doing short 4 mile commutes everyday day so I don't get to post those. Today I had to do some miscellaneous shopping and I ended up putting about 14 miles so here's my post.

Decided to take a different route so went up on Flying W Ranch... boy that's a long hill coming from 30th St. I'm still not used to Colorad altitude and while I didn't feel like dying it sure felt like a very long hill! Going down it was a nice and fast 36.5 mph. :D

Kinda windy here in Colorado Springs; I'm still not used to it. My panniers act like a huge parachute and it's hard to go fast; I just focus on getting a good ride and getting there. Other riders are out in shorts (pants and sleeves) while I'm still wearing my windbreaker.

GreenAnvil

I don't know NJ, so I've no idea how NJ is relevant. But anyway, fastest isn't always best, depends on your priorities. There are plenty of times when I'd prefer to tack an extra mile on my commute to avoid a nasty stretch of road or to take in an especially scenic path. But your route is up to you, of course.

occasionally cranking up the pace a bit on the rides in and back. Still feels a bit like I'm pulling teeth until I find my rhythm but eventually I got a good fast ride out of it.

Had a Metro Cab aggressively and intentionally right hook me on Beacon Street. I managed to barely avoid a collision and he even made a second move to guarantee he'd cut me to a stop. When I knocked on his window and asked him WTH he was doing he said, "This isn't Europe. This is America. You have to get out of my way."

That was good enough for me. So I pulled out my cell phone, got his medallion number and called his company to file a complaint.

He then yelled to me, "You're trying to kill me!"

My response was to shrug my shoulders and say, "This is America." :rolleyes:

Rest up. Hang in there. It takes a while for your body to build up the needed blood vessels and muscle.

Really really good ride in this morning. Low traffic and high 30's. Not much wind at all.

Yeah. What's the matter with you, anyway? :rolleyes: Good for you on calling it in, anyway.

Another glorious morning in Vermont. No wind. No clouds. Sun. Low 30Fs. I had just started crossing the bridge over The Winooski River when I heard a very loud whack on the water. I looked down to see a pretty big beaver swimming around in the water. :eek: The beaver's "alarm" is to whack its tail loudly on the water. Obviously I spooked it.

I'm going back later with a gun. I think a beaver-pelt helmet cover could be the next big thing! :D

Beaaautiful day yesterday, first time I got to ride in shorts and a tshirt :)

This morning it was shorts and a jacket, but with 70 degrees planned tonight, Im gonna really enjoy it. I took the ride in easy, my legs are a bit tired after a week of biking, so I just decieded to enjoy the ride more.

A good ride in this morning, but only my 3rd day on the bike this week. Ever since moving about 7 weeks ago things have been a real struggle. Although the move was about 1/8th of a mile from my old place, I keep running into back luck; first I was sick, then problems sleeping, and finally, multiple flats and tire failures. I'd leave home, get a flat, go back inside, change the tube only to watch the tire separate from the wheel, the tube bulge and then pop-this happened three times! The other flats were due to stem failure after replacing a broken floor pump (twice) with others that were nearly impossible to remove from the stem after inflating. On at least 2 occassions the stem would break while trying to release the pump nozzle. I got a universal pump and, fortunately, the problem went away. Oh yeah, then there was the glass in the alley behind my house-that got me at least once. All of these incidents forced me to be way late and have to drive in, take metro, or get dropped off at least once a week for the last 7. Very frustrating. Hopefully things are under control again and the weather seems to be improving. I don't mind a flat on the way home, but it's particularly frustrating when it happens while inflating a tire or after just leaving home in the cold rain.

Anyway, things are shaping up slowly but surely and I'm back on the bike for good (fingers crossed). I guess this turned out to be a ran. Sorry...

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Today's ride in was the exact opposite of Wednesday. Felt great even though I've ony had about 6-7 hours sleep combined for the last 2 nights (baby). Not my fastest ride of the year but it was my fastest morning leg at 14.6mph and 1:33. The temps were still cool but the sun was shining (well, after it came up anyway), lots of animals and birds on the canal trail, light traffic, and I got to work 30 minutes early. It's gonna hit 60+ this afternoon so I'm really looking forward to the ride home.

Some notes:
-I'm getting pretty good at gauging how much to wear so I don't overheat. I thought I might have too much on this morning since I was comfortable when I left (not cool) but once I unzipped the jacket the breeze took care of any excess heat.

-My tires were 40lbs low!!! New rule: Check tire pressure more often.

-Adjusted my "butt hatchet" of a seat so now it's only a "butt steak knife". Better but it's still a racing seat so it's never going to be super comfy.

-Construction zones suck.

Awesome ride in, barely any noticeable wind heading east. For the first couple of miles I kept a 16mph average (sustaining 17-21mph felt fantastic).

Heading north got a bit breezy, but the ride nonetheless was great. At 16 minutes, it's my all time fastest time to get in via that 'scenic' route.

Last night I actually got a "HEY!" from a fellow cyclist going the other way after I did my closed-lipped nod/smile, that felt awesome and I replied with a "Hi!".

This morning I was behind a car and artic/big-rig going through the exhibition grounds and I passed them both at a stop (on the right yeah I know) - as the truck was taking forever to make the turn. He soon was catching up, so I started to pull over a bit more and give him space, then the ****ing car drove by us both, on the right, where there wasn't even a road lane - it just happens to be a wide stretch of asphalt. I shook my head. When all three of us met at the lights around the corner the truck driver called out to me and said "there's your bad driver!" looking at the car. That felt pretty cool, I'm glad that he saw it in that way too - made me feel as though even though I only have 2 wheels and this tiny frame, this guy with 16 wheels and a huge truck felt the same way as I did about the idiot move.

Loving the weather too, first ride of the year not wearing my base layer lifa vest AND first ride in this year with shorts, woo! :D (I brought pants and the vest with me, and wore a long sleeve in case I had to roll the sleeves down for warmth).

Nice ride in this morning. I hauled arse for the first 19 miles and took my time the last 9. I am less than thrilled about heading to work on Fridays for some strange reason.
Anyhow, I am just loving these 700X23 gatorskins on my kysrium elite wheels. A good wheelset makes a heck of a difference. This weekend is the beginning of my road bike hunt. Going to look at a lemond and a cannondale or two. Maybe a specialized.

Great ride in this morning. Nice, chilly <35F weather. Took the long route to see the cars stopped along the freeway.

Fargin' snow! I just couldn't be bothered to ride in on the spiked knobbies, so I challenged the 2"-3" of slush and heavy snow on the road with my skinny tires. No close calls, but I was definitely putting a foot down through the corners. My wife was visibly angry at the weather, yelling at the cats and generally having an unpleasant morning. I'll be happy when this is all done with tomorrow.

Cool and humid. Dark gray clouds but no precipitation. Of course it's sure to wait until 5:31 pm, just as I pull away from the office....

Cold and a little wet. It was drizzling a little so I got faked out by the rain. I had to shed some raingear 3 miles in because it did not rain and I was overheating. For some reason there were more vehicles on the road so early today. Maybe they were all anticipitaing traffic jams that did not occur.