I had a similar issue - very frustrating.

the rims (cane creek) have offset drilling and the tape didn't quite cover the edge of the outer spoke holes. Couple times a week, POW!

I thought a fast 25 min run in the early am followed by trailering Thing2 to her daycare (and returning empty trailer home) would keep me from getting too rabbitty on my wife during the commute, but I still wound up zipping up a couple hills and waiting for her at the top. It was never too asocial, and it kept us both at a conversational level of respiration for the 80% or so of the ride we were keeping the same pace, so I think it still worked out OK.

$3.00+ a gallon gas hasn't slowed any of these cagers down yet. Crazy drivers and three right hooks made for a forgettable commute.

Decided to slowpoke it through midtown. Regretted it when I got stuck waiting for a train. I swear, Sacramento will always be a cowtown as long as a train can bring the citywide commute to a halt.

I set a new "record" for the commute into the office today. 53 minutes door to door with an avg speed of 18.1mph. If not for all the damned stop lights and major intersections it would be about 22mph. Oh well!! 50 degrees and sunny, little wind. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeelightful :D

TWO flats and a big tire gash 7 miles from civilization this morning. Ugh.

Used both spare tubes on the flats (always carry 2 - or more!), and slapped a temp patch on the tire gash just to limp in to work. Fortunately, no additional flats for the rest of the ride in...

Now to find a replacement 26 x 1.25 tire...

Nice day today. No head wind. Happy biking :)

my commute happened on the bus today. this is what happens when drunk friends lock your bike with THEIR lock and go home (to pass out, perhaps)......

Nice and cool this morning, about 55.
Getting ready to head home now; temperature is 81 degrees. ugh.

first full commute
 

Today was my first full commute both ways. It is 11.5 miles each way. I started by trying the way home because I thought that was the easier way with all the hills. Wrong. The way home is the harder way. So I guess it was good I decided to just do it and ride to work. The ride in is 45 min and I averaged 15 mph. The ride home takes 1 hour. there is a long stretch that is just steady uphill and I guess that really slows thing down.

Anyway I am proud of myself for doing it. I conquered hills I thought I couldn't do and there are still some that need conquering.

Kathy

Good job!

Noticable headwind this morning at about 12mph. Has increased to 25mph troughout the course of the day. Tailwind will make for a fun ride home. Once I make the turn north that is.

Had Headwind the whole way to work. Was a downpour this afternoon. I may give up and ask for a ride.

Nice! Keep it up!

Flat tire just about almost at home. Big piece of glass stuck into hole created by drywall screw a couple wks ago. I wonder if this tire is on the verge of having had it w/ <700 miles on it.

Despite a holiday (Victoria Day) I did commute today to do my usual volunteer dog walking at the Humane Society. It was a beautiful commute - hardly any cars on the roads at all! And in the evening instead of heading home I met up with my bf and we rode to the Ashbridges Bay park where there were firework displays. It was quite amazing. There was a whole large sandy beach there full of people and all over the place fireworks were going off before the official event even started! I've never seen so many 'folk' firework displays in one place. It was slightly unnerving, with all those things going off all around ya! But then the big thing started and it was amazing - one of the best locations I've ever watched fireworks from. They were going off right above our heads. And unlike it usually is, nobody was blocking anyone's view, there were no real "best" spots - it was great no matter where you watched it from. A very nice atmosphere. :)

Then we quickly rode back before the cagers even managed to get back into their cars to drive away. The path along the lake was full of pedestrians (people walking to their cars parked at a plaza about a mile away), but the usually awful Lakeshore Blvd. was closed to cars for some of the way and had very light traffic for a bit more, because it was feeding off a narrow parking lot exit. A cluster of bikes occupied the whole right lane - felt like a critical mass ride. :) Past the plaza the traffic thickened but the MUP became empty again as pedestrians turned into cagers at that point. Getting out by bike definitely was the fastest and most convenient way to do it. I don't really understand people who drive to those events. Trying to get out of there at the same time as everyone else is a huge PITA. I know; my parents do these things with strange regularity and I used to get dragged along.

short commute over to Cambridge and back today. nice weather though and the bike path is being repaved in some places- thank goodness and the MDC.

Good ride in this am. 64F, light winds, and cloudy. I was a scofflaw and rode on the Durham Freeway for ~ 1 mile. I've always wanted to try that to see how much shorter it was. Its only about 1/4 mile shorter, but eliminates 3 stoplights for me. Too much gravel and debris on the shoulder though, and since the freeway has rumble strips, I was forced to ride on the far right of the shoulder where the debris was at its worst. Oh well, at least I gave it a try (and didn't get caught). Might save it for the occasional day when I'm trying to get to work faster.

D'oh! :D

Nice commute for me. Low 40Fs, glorious high pressure overhead, making for blue skies and no wind. I reeled in a commuter in work clothes on a hybrid, then felt guilty for reeling him in. :o

I found out what was making a ticking sound on my back wheel. It wasn't the derailleur. It was the wheel reflector. :rolleyes: I "adjusted it" the other day and I guess it was too tight against some neighboring spokes. I stopped MUP-side and slid it inward as an experiment, and the sound went away.

Cool then warm. It was like I rolled closer to the equator or something. I started yanking my arm warmers off and sweat was pouring off me.

I'm digging the early sunrise.

Chilly start so I wore a lite jacket. Regretted that move after about 10 minutes.
Otherwise a normal commute.

On my way home last night I scared a woman in a van so much that she stopped in the middle of the road for about 20 seconds. I was coming down a hill at about 25mph and she was backing out of her driveway onto the road. I know she didn't see me coming so I yelled which must have scared her since she stopped right in the middle of the road blocking both lanes. I zipped around the front of her van so she could see me and kept going. She sat there for a bit before going again even though a truck was behind her.
This morning was an average commute, had a decent headwind to contend with which slowed me down but not bad other than that. Gotta make a trip to the post office later this morning.

she was probably thinking "gosh I coulda killed him!" when just a second before, it had been just another boring morning. Maybe she'll pay more attention now...

My commute was GREAT. I love this college town when it's empty. and it's still nice and cool and beautiful -

this is the first real spring Texas has ever had!
:D

What's up with the lefties these days? Came to first signal right buy my house just as it was turning yellow. Gave it a mash to scoot through at the same time the lefty decided he was going to blow through as well. Grabbed up the brakes and stopped so he could pass. I know he saw me, so I smiled when I gave him the bird as he whipped passed. He replied with the palm up, "I'm an idiot", shrug. In fact, I think he was.

The rest of the ride was awesome. With the added exercise benefit of a 25mph headwind. I'm fairly sure that will spin around the other way for the trip home.

Got to bust out some bonus miles tonight. The GF is out of town and I'm way behind in training. Ride the Rockies in 3.5 weeks.

First time this year...
 

Finally! The stars aligned (well, really, our family's schedule aligned), and I was able to ride in to work today. Had an embarassing problem that delayed my start, I had forgotten the combination to my cable lock! Arggggh! I finally remembered it, but got out the door about 20 minutes later than I wanted to. (In retrospect, i'm glad I checked...)

I made most of the lights, rode hard, and was hyper quick in the locker room, so I still got to work on time. (Okay, I cheated, I didn't break out the electric razor until I had a spare moment at my desk, but nobody noticed.):rolleyes:

Not a bad commute, but the roads definitely suffered over the winter, they're rather rougher than they were last fall.

I'm really looking forward to the ride home, which is on a MUP for most of the way. (I don't take the MUP in the morning because it's longer, but I don't ride the streets going home because there's more traffic at 5:30 PM than at 5:30 AM.)

Anyway, a good ride to be the first one since turning 48.