I resent that, I'm not a crackhead, I'm a drunk!

I saw a sight by beaver dam flats yesterday. Some construction workers were wearing high-vis cycling vests with their work garb. What will they think of next?

Just beat the rain in (a real downpour!!) and that's always good. I did have time to ponder the apparent shift in how the humidity felt from earlier in the week (45F=cold and clammy) to today (50F=warm and muggy, my glasses were fogging).

Good ride today. Only potential unpleasantness was at my building. Female driver pulled up alongside me and turned slightly to point at the driveway entrance to our building. Thought she was going to blatantly right-hook me (I don't use that entrance), but she stopped and waited for me to pass.

Funny, been doing this commute nearly two years without a right-hook there, and then had 2 near-misses in the last week.

The farmers can thank me for this morning's rain, which I practically guaranteed when I took off my fenders for the season.

I took a roundabout route to work today so I could ride most of it on the American River Bike Trail. Silent but for the plap-plap-plap of the rain and the zzzzzzzzzz of the tires on wet pavement. Just one other rider on the trail and just one other bike on the rack when I arrived at the office.

I walked in to the building and there was a young woman waiting for the elevator. I said good morning and she gave me a bemused smile.

friggin' gorgeous ride today. i've been letting my friend borrow my gunnar roadie for the last couple of months and just got it back last night. i've been riding my fixed gear and my mountain bike in the interim. man...my gunnar just flies!!! i usually have fun going fast on it and then go back to the peaceful calm of the fixed gear after a while, but i think i'm gonna ride the gunnar as much as possible. i missed it so!

Gorgeous ride for me this mornign too - the wind died down and the clouds stopped moving in, so I had a window of peaceful sun to ride in! I just got my bike back from the shop yesterday (spring tune-up) and she's moving beautifully. I took ten minutes off my time and I wasn't even pushing! Wheee!

An update: legs REALLY hurt now. Getting out of bed was a very interesting experience. Walking around - even more so. Biking feels fine though.

Awesome posts in here today! WOW. Great ride both ways....r

Saw NO bikes at all....ealized that yesterday was the first day of BIKETOWORK month...no wonder some many COBs where out there... They musta wore themselves out weaving, pass'n and sux'h wheel

Great ride in again today. So many more bike commuters now that the weather is changing. As much as I like seeing so many more riders I miss the uniqueness of being one of the few in the middle of the winter. Took Comm Ave in and the bike path home. Bike path is getting more and more crowded but it's tough to tear myself away from that river view.

It took me twice as long to get home today because of this craziness.

wet wet wet

good to be back on the bike!!

Been two weeks thanks to a business trip, a rabid box cutter with the accompanying 6 stitches; and the 10 stitches just a few inches away that I got 4 days later when some feisty feistaware attacked me.

Riding was little uncomfortable on the right hand/wrist but nothing reopened and nothing is swelling so ... Damn it's good to be back!

marqueemoon - now that is a pot hole!

craigdurkee - the rainbow shot!

thansks love the rainbow as well

Another beautiful springtime morning commute. Cloudless skies. Light tailwind. Temps in the low 40Fs. I didn't see anybody out until I'd been in the MUP for a couple of miles. That was nice.

Coming up on a stop sign, I heard a car coming so I slowed and stopped. A cyclist was also on the road, and he turned onto the MUP ahead of me so I rode with him (behind him) the rest of the way in. He kept a nice pace. Saw 3 or 4 other riders going the other way. Seems like there are more bicyclists out this year.

Cool and clear, bright too. The past couple of days we've been cloud free and it's made it cold in the morning, but very cool on the way home. Last night I pushed it fast and managed to get home in under 28 minutes (for 8 miles). Woo, a record for me at least

Great ride home last night. Except I had to stop twice for mechanical reasons. First was because it felt like my cleat was coming loose (again) so I stopped to tighten it but it was fine, just me being paranoid. Second was the dreaded chain suck. Never had this happen on a road bike before and I'm still kinda wondering how it even happened. The chain was sucked up and lodged between the little ring and just behind the BB. Couldn't kick it out so I had to dismount and yank it out (cursing at it the whole time) with both hands. Might have to check the chain for damage but it seemed ok for the rest of the ride home.

Even with all that mess I still made my best time and fastest average yet, 1:25@15.7MPH. For only 1 month of commuting I'm reasonably pleased with my progress so far.

Commute was peaceful but cold. Brrrrr. The morning sunshine is very beautiful and seemed like the squirrels were out in droves. Only irritation was an old man feeding squirrels and chipmunks in the cemetray I ride through daily and he decided to do so on the side of the road/path. He didn't have much choice since he was in a motorized wheelchair however one silly chipmunk did know what way to go when he saw me coming and almost landed under my tire. I was forced to brake quickly and almost took a tumble myself. Poor chipmunk and I could have been hurt, why must people do the dumbest things in the worst places?

Positively gorgeous this morning. High 40s and due to the fact this was my recovery ride I left a 1/2 hr later resulting in daylight the entire way in. Everything is green and my allergies are quiet. Keeping my heart rate low and taking the train halfway in makes it feel like I have hardly worked at all.
The funny thing was that I was originally going to ride in normal clothes but couldn't convince myself that I wanted to. I be a lycra addict.
Tomorrow I will be riding the Tarmac to try out the new cleat with 9 degrees of float. That should help my splayed foot.

Beautiful weather this week. Not too hot, not too cold and not too sweaty. Won't last, but I'm enjoying it while I can. Today's ride had a few more sprints cuz of traffic bottlenecking so while 3 lanes would narrow to one and all the drivers looked at each other to see if it was safe to merge, I'd scoot past and grab the lane. Spent a few mins. wrestling with another bike locked up at the same street sign I lock at to get it out of the way.

Cool and windy this morning, temps in the upper 50's. I'm on the verge of my first "all ride week" since moving, I don't want to blow it now. Allergies have been killing me and I'm worn out but still going. I also adjusted my saddle to relieve some knee pain I've been having-amazing at how big a difference a slight adjustment can make. Also, front end brake squeel is back-that's ok, I've got to replace the rear pads anyway so I'll re-adjust the fronts while I'm at it.

The way in was great. All those miles on the new road bike are paying off as I constantly found myself spinning in a higher gear then before (having taken some time off the hybrid).

On the way home this morning, right past the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side, a bunch of cyclists were coming down BOTH lanes of the separated bike path. Tried to go as far right as I could but one dude did not get out of the way and ended up endoing in glorious superman fashion as I barely got out of the way.

Since I ended up in the emergency room a couple weeks ago after doing the same manouver (albeit, due to an unattentive ped), was glad to see he was ok and no damage was done. Kinda ironic as I had just finished a conversation with a co-worker about bike traffic and the amount of cyclists on the road these days.

Other then that, it's absolutely beautiful out. Did an extra lap around PP and will probably go back out for a few more.

Good ride over to the East end last night, must've had a slight tailwind or barely no wind - seemed to make good time. Toward the end I started noticing occasional weird vibration/noise, and finally noticed the back wheel would start catching on the frame every now and then. Not good, I thought. Got it back to the ex's and discovered the non-drive side wheel nut was loose enough to cause the wheel to shift. Scary, but easily fixed (I can only assume the beating I gave my bike on the offroad valley trails started this off) - kinda worrisome it happened, but meh. Another thing that gave me bike-rage was that my front spacebar started slipping down under the weight of my two headlights, and the allen key tool I carry with me doesn't have the right size on - so I had to wait until I got home to fix that. I think the harder ride from higher tyre pressure must've started this off.

On the way home, I subway'd it across the Bloor/Danforth line from East to West because I didn't feel like riding, it was late and my front lights aren't much good pointing at the floor.

Ride from work to ex's was 35 minutes (about 9 miles), which is pretty decent - made great headway up the hills on Woodbine, the Gerrard->Danforth hill I kept a decent pace up which I was happy with.

Rest day today, still keep slipping on proper rest schedules and didn't want to ride out to the East end again tonight.

Glorious sun this morning. Nailed dead center the downpour going home last night, which was actually a lot of fun, definitely like the cascadia fenders. Missed the lightning at least so didn't have to test my hypothesis that I would right straight through it. (First thunderstorm since moving here 3 yrs ago?)

Blarg. This morning's ride kinda sucked. I'm tired (this is the first time I've tried back to back rides) and there was a horrible north wind that was (a) right in my face and (b) fracking cold. However, I made it, I beat the rain, and my co-workers are suitably impressed. I am calling down blessings on the head of whoever invented polar fleece with merino wool content... breathable, warm, and doesn't get stinky!

I will however be taking the bus home, I think. Not that I will get any less wet and cold by doing so... hmmm. Must ponder this.