Last night I had to go back to my daughter's high school for an event. I timed it after looking at the weather forecast to confirm wind direction. They were wrong!! I ended up pushing against a monster headwind and I had to hustle to make time. I was beat at the end of the 13 mile ride.

I jumped into my wife's van (she had parked earlier) in full biking regalia and appeared moments later a respectable looking father (I guess!!). The van has darks tinted glass so it's like my own personal locker. The same wind that perstered me the whole way worked to my advantage as I dried off on the short walk to the event.

I thought yesterday's auspicious start in the pouring rain, thunder and lightning and cool temp (+4 C, 40 F) was bad enough until I realized I had no rain protection on my feet (feet became very soggy 4 or 5 blocks into the ride). Then as I approached the lift bridge (up again) I realized that waiting in the rain is much worse than riding in the rain. Then I got the bike all gunked up, riding through some sand on the beach bike trail.
Nice ride home last night, though - warm and windless. This morning it was warmer than yesterday and not as wet, (light showers and dry feet).
All in all, even though I didn't stay as dry as I would have liked, both days were better than driving! :D

Wimped out today. It's raining again, April showers having turned into, well, May showers. After work my wife and I are heading to her aunt's house in Granite Bay for her granddad's 88th birthday. It's a doable ride (35 miles or so) but I was just too lazy to get my stuff together this morning. Blah.

Had a nice commute in. On yesterday's ride the construction crew had made a little bike lane so I and other cyclists could cruise on through without having to wait for the opposing traffic to be stopped. Pretty cool.

Little cool this morning, cloudy, no rain, and I thought I should have dressed a little warmer - sleeveless vest over long sleeve jersey and shorts. Warmed up after a few kms. Had a bit of light headwind so I decided not to drive too hard on the pedals, just maintain a steady cadence. Felt my thigh muscles working hard going up the QB bridge into New West. I don't like this part as we can only use the west sidewalk, the sidewalk is narrow and the travel is against the traffic, darn trucks go by with less than a metre of space and fly by at 80km/h. After that, it's downhill to the office. Arrived in great spirits, washed up, changed and enjoyed a slice of fresh home-made ww bread with honey and with fresh brewed coffee and listening to Music & Co on CBC FM as I am reading my e-mail and getting organized for the day. Feeling great all morning. Hoping for that tailwind on the way home.

My early commute was very nice until I had no choice but to ride in traffic. :-( Hours later, still not finished with all of my errands, so I'm back out the door before it rains.

Everyone have a good weekend. :beer: Sunday is my five boro ride. :-) Ciao for now.

Took an absolute pasting yesterday evening. Gale force winds and horizontal rain made things very very difficult, nearly lost it a couple of times. Scariest commute I've ever made.

Today I "commuted" to my daughter's b-ball game in SJ. Rained like hell the entire way. I jumped in my wife's van, toweled off, changed and emerged a normal dad. I managed to find the holes in the clouds on the way back ... just in time b/c it started raining like all hell again when I got home!!!

This morning I got going at 5am, whe the sky was just going pink in the east. I didn;t realize how COLD it was at first, and then didn;t want to go back up the hill for a jacket, so I froze in my T-shirt the entire way. :p No wind at all, though, and no traffic at all. I saw a deer crossing the road, which stared at me, then ran across to join its two buddies, afdter which all of them ran away from me as fast as possible.

It warmed up by the time I went home, and a nasty wind was blowing--the usual evening-shift headwind--but since I was leaving instead of coming to work, it was just right to waft me home. :)

A break from the wet. Will spring ever come to California? Hardly saw any wildlife this morning unless you count the feral cats that live near the river. My HR was a good 10-15 beats higher than peak fitness this morning. I'm paying for a week of gluttony and lowered mileage. How did I get so fat and slow so quickly?

i can't wait!!! i sold my place and have to move out by the end of june.. for a while i will be in limbo til my home is finished ... soooooooo i get to stay at my sisters!!! i get to commute. right now i walk, i live so close to work.. but from my sisters' home i get to battle rush hour traffic, a streetcar stable and yeahhhhh the DANFORTH.. a mecca of food and local crazies. This will be a great summer....sigh. :)

You forgot battling the weather, juciluci. Yesterday's pink sunrise foretold the rotten day in store, I didn't have much in the way of legs on the way in, not sure why, but once I got going, was ok with riding, a little cool at +7 C.
I stayed at work a little later than usual, the rain was supposed to end, but didn't, it was a driving mist nor'easter type of rain, low ceiling (couldn't see the top of the lift bridge), I had lights and reflective stuff on even though it wasn't dark. Stayed dry except for da feet.

When I left this morning the roads were wet from the night rain and the temp was 40 degrees F, traffic was light at 5:00 AM and the birds were singing. My ride into work took me 58 minutes on the commuter, those Conti. top touring 2000's roll well, even with a load.

I set a PR coming to work this morning. I did my 6.3 mile route in 26 minutes flat. I didn't feel like I was riding that fast but I guess that's one good thing about not being able to see the bike computer :)

Zack

Hi Folks,

Nice dry and sunny ride in today. I had a break from riding yesterday as we had a public holiday, but I got 50 miles in on Sunday in fine but windy weather. Long weekend rides make the 8 mile commute journey so much easier - it seems to pass in no time.

Cheers,

Ed

Very cool! I also strove for a PR coming to work this morning and succeeded by shaving a full minute from my previous best. I was tiring toward the end of my 12 mile trip, but I saw several riders in the distance and worked to catch them. In fact, I caught and passed every rider I saw this morning. Of course, they weren't huffing and puffing like I was :) Anyway, as a reward for my effort, I decided that I'll be taking it easy on the way home this evening.

ChezJfrey: Congrats! There most be something in the atmosphere today. I'm on the east coast and you're on the west :) I think Donna is picking me up from work this afternoon and we're going to go get her bike and go for a ride together.

It's nice having a spouse who works basically across the street.

Zack

Ride home was ... wet ... AGAIN. You people in the Pacific Northwest ... please, keep your rain up there, will you? This is getting ridiculous. I really don't mind the rain but this is May 6th after all and it s/b sunny and warm, dang it.

The 20-miler was pretty fast b/c I had a nice tailwind. I had a mini-close call where I was riding the narrow strip between the road surface and the curb, something I often do on First Street b/c it gets very narrow in places. I misjudged the height difference between the two surfaces, the road being a little higher than the curb strip. When I made the move to get back to the road surface (just a little nudge of the wheel) my front tire didn't cooperate. For a moment, I thought I was toast. I instinctively started de-clipping my foot but there'd be no way I'd get out fast enough. Luckily I made it by lifting the wheel a little.

This all occurred in less than a second or two. I could have gone down fast and there was a lot of traffic. As it was, I shrugged it off ... but started concentrating a little harder !!

Today looked like rain (but it didn;t. :) ) Large grey clouds covered the sky. There was no wind, except perhaps a light tailwind on the way in.

I felt so good, I decided to take the long way home. No wind then, either! It was a great ride, I did hit one nasty bit--the road had been torn up in a few large, dark patches that I hit on a fast downhill. Fortunately (shocks and fat tires!) my bike took them pretty well. There was a patch of gravel later on the flat, but I knew about that.

I have to try to remember to tighten my kickstand tomorrow. It was clanking annoyingly against the pedal, and I didn't dare to kick it away too quickly, because a few days ago it really scared me by rattling against the spokes. (I didn't know what it was, and thought I had a broken spoke....something I don't really know how to deal with.)

Hey just sharing the love :D Today here started out kinda cloudy but cleared up into a gorgeous afternoon. Had a good ride on my new bike (picked it up last night), trying to take more speed up hills and generally having fun :beer:

My wife's getting jealous of the positive effect this commuting is having on my physique. She's decided to cycle back from her tennis match tomorrow, good on her :D

Ride home last night was cool with heavy cloud cover, no rain though. This morning the clouds looked worst when I left but as I got closer to work they seemed to lighten up. I saw a mallard swimming in the river on the way in. It's supposed to warm up here today and my ride home is forcasted to be almost 70 degrees F.

It was sunny and almost 70 F at work yesterday, but my ride home required stopping to put on a long sleeve shirt due to very cool breeze off Lake Ontario. My timing was perfect, arrived at the lift bridge just as it lowered and the gates were going up. As I crossed the curb from bike path to 4 lane road with 2 lanes of choked traffic, my lunch bag fell off my rack and my rear blinkie fell off. It was a quick scramble to pick things up and get going again, but I made it before the traffic from the other side of the bridge got there. Then once I got away from the lake, it was too hot for long sleeves, but didn't stop, just rolled up the long sleeves.
I've removed my panniers for the summer, bought an 11 litre rack pack at MEC, found that I usually have about 12 litres worth of stuff. That's why my lunch bag was on top of the bag on the way home. I now spend considerable time jamming and stuffing before leaving. I guess I'll be looking for a rack bag with more volume.

Hi Folks,

Not a bad ride this morning, though they have started roadworks in a couple of places along the route. The funniest thing is that, for the last couple of days one of the major sets of traffic lights has been out of order..... and there is less traffic congestion than when they are working. Odd?

Cheers,

Ed

Great for a first ever commute. :D

Standard ride in from my daughter's high school. No rain at least.

Hey, Rats, welcome to commuting! :D

Good to see you back, too, Andy!

Thanks, Inkwolf, dear. I wasn't away long, however ... just a week-long biz trip a few weeks ago. Still chugging along at 2-3-4 times a week.

Beautiful day. Maybe it was because we had such a snowy winter, but it does seem like the drivers are being more considerate this spring. I've only had 1 lane change without looking to complain about all spring. I also notice that the number of drivers that wave to me is steadily rising. Best of all, although the roadways aren't smooth, the road crews have been very diligent about filling all the potholes so I don't fear for my wheels. Maybe I will get a chance to take some pictures of spring wildflowers for you. I really love my ride to work. It makes staying indoors all day at work tolerable.

Should have worn the closed fingered gloves today, but at least I had my ear warmers. Was about 45 degrees on the way in, and a bit hazy from the morning dew. Saw 9 deer total and one crane on the way in. Silly drivers . . .

It rained all day, and was still raining when I headed to work. I decided to take the long way in anyway. :) No wind at all. It was cool, but with my rain jacket on, I was warm enough to enjoy the pleasures of s wet pavement, and the mellifluous squeal of wet brakes. I passed a small wood which was completely flooded, and every time a raindrop hit the water, a little fountain splashed up. I cheated a little on the 'long route' by detouring Cemetery Hill...didn't want to do the climb, and wasn't too keen on the idea of the high-speed, long descent on a wet surface.

At the library, a woman asked me if I had been riding my bike on Lawn Road late last night. "Our dog was going ballistic, and when I looked, all I could see was a red taillight. So I thought it might be you." Yes, I told her, it was indeed me. :)

I went home by the longer route, again, and it was pleasant. Things were drying out, and my decision not to wear the rain jacket was a good one--barely a drop did I feel. In spite of the almost-cold weather, frogs were chirping all along the ditches.

Shortly after I had turned onto Lawn Road, a smallish dog of the farm-collie-mix variety started going ballistic. My friend from the Library was there to yell at him to shut the heck up, and give me a hello. :) Remembering yesterday's nasty surprise if the gravel patches in the road, I applied the brakes all the way down what was once a perfectly good coasting hill. Hope they get it patched soon!