Last night was my first "twilight" ride. Yay blinkies! No problems a-tall, except the shades. I wear Smith sliders, and I use the yellow lens for low-light conditions. I did the same (the sun had just set when I started out), and they were...okay, but it seemed like headlights were a lot brighter, and by the end of the ride things were getting pretty dim. Of course, when I took the shades off, they were pretty dim, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't pick up something with a clear lens. I also have an orange lens for the sliders, but I haven't tried them yet. What's better for twilight, yellow or orange?

Ride in this morning was great! At the first intersection I got held up from making my usual quick left by traffic, so I just...kept going straight. Result: a longer (about 15 minutes) but much more interesting and diverse commute: busy streets, quiet neighborhood streets, parks, and two different MUPs. What fun! I can't wait to invent another new route on the way home!

Good weather for the ride in. I've started actual training for some rides within the next month so I was pretty tired this morning. I took the ride easy. I'm looking forward to the weekend when I can ride without being loaded down with work stuff.

38 miles before 7:30!!!! Nice ride...the last 12 were with about 8kts of wind....so they hurt...

I looked at the snow and went "oh fer cryin out loud" - then put on my fleece tights and rode anyway :D Actually it was great, roads were wet but nothing worse, and I was just the right temperature in my layered clothes (some of which still smell like campfire smoke from the weekend, heh). My only complaint was cold wet feet. I may do the baggies-over-socks thing on the way home.

Had to do one detour because of downed branches on the MUP, so I rode in traffic. Drivers were very courteous about giving me room (I think they probably thought I was dangerously insane; my co-workers agree).

Saw about 15 other commuters - about a tenth of the usual!

This morning may have been one of the most beautiful mornings i've seen. Weather was cool and clear, everything crisp and clean after yesterday's storm.

Light snow on PikesPeak as well as the foothills.

Finally got enough rain to clean the streets. I believe that they have stopped sweeping the streets here unless you make a request.

Great day to be on the bike :)

Broke another record today! 19mph avg over the 13.3 mile commute! That's door to door including stop lights. To do that, most of the way, I rode about 22-25mph...no tail wind. Some roadies got frustrated and tried to pass (I didn't know they were back there).

They catch up at the light and try to pass between me and the curb nearly crashed 4 bikes. I ream'd em...GO AROUND. So they did...blasting through the red light. One of them got a flat...so they just left the guy in the middle of nohwere. We all stop at the next light. The doof turns and says "he got a flat...No thanks!"

I shook my head and took off...you don't 'drop a guy' on the way into work....unless he's got a sag wagon. GEEZE. Wanna race? Go to the velo (less than 2 milies away).

Due to my untrued rear wheel I basically loosened my rear brakes so they are not usable. I will go out tonight and get the correct size spoke wrench. However, it made me realize how little I actually use my rear brake.

It was a beautiful morning here in Colorado. Had a commuter in front of me that I could keep up with but not manage to pass. I guess my normal 400 watts wasn't cutting it this morning.

Was stuck at work late last night. I'd had forewarning so I'd dug out my light. Too bad I didn't charge up the battery. D'oh! I got about 4 blocks from the office before it quit on me. Luckily most of my ride home is pretty well lit by street lights and there was very little traffic on the road.

First thing I did when I got home was to hook up the charger.

It sounds like we're riding the same route. I take a left at Independence, though, and head over to Foggy Bottom. I occasionally see lots of riders waiting at the Tidal Basin--I'm usually there around 7:20am or so. Pretty nice ride in this morning.

I dialed it up to 25 watts and dropped a jazzy today. :p

last night heading home I came across another eBiker that had an identical bike as my old one; a Strong GTS-210. Had a little chat on the bike path as we were both heading in the same direction.

The Bionx is quicker at accelerating and braking for sure. I had to tap the rear brake (engages regen) a few times because I was pulling away from him. We went on a step hillclimb and the Bionx really pulled away from the Strong.

Still, for $1000, about $1000 cheap than my Bionx/bike combo (bike price factored in), the Strong is a good deal.

Once thing that the Strong does have more than the Bionx is presence. It's far more noticeable and as we passed people on the trail I could overhear them say things about the Strong. It is far more noticeable than my mountain bike/Bionx combo.

This morning's commute was very pleasent. of the 20 or so traffic lights I go through, only 3 of them were red. Damn that was a quick commute!

Felt strangely burned out/tired in the leg department this morning, decided to rest due to a long ride scheduled this weekend (well, long for me - 55miles there, 55 back on Sunday). Now it's mid afternoon, I'm in two minds whether I should've ridden - it's hot as hell out there (therefore the air is thick with smog), but man I miss my bike already.

Second day commuting this season, and a fairly decent commute. I'm still new at it, so I'm still experimenting with the route. I realized today that shorter isn't always better, and I added two miles onto my route to favor fast suburban streets. I avoided a nasty hill, and had nicer things to look at. Not a bad tradeoff. So, I have a question - I have a heavy hybrid and a lack of bike training, and so far my average speed is only 10 miles an hour. I am decently in shape and can run 4 miles day, but I feel really out of shape on the bike.

I was curious as to other people's average speed during their commute. I guess I'm trying to ascertain whether or not I should invest in a lighter bike, or stick it out with the Trek 7200 and just train harder...

Congratulations, Minerva! You discovered one of the great open secrets of bike commuting, that shorter isn't necessarily better.

You may want a lighter bike -- it'll certainly make accelerating easier -- but it won't necessarily make your commute much faster depending on your route. For example, on my most direct route to work, I've found it impossible to average any faster than 17mph, whether I'm on my boat-anchor mountain bike or my CF race bike. Or in the car for that matter.

Also, as you're finding out, running fitness helps but it's not the same as cycling fitness.

Congrats and keep it up!

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Windy! Worked hard to go 12mph during a couple of stretches on the way in. Flew home at around 25mph and made near record time. Had an incident on the way in: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=302009

Nice and easy commutes today.
Went mtn biking on my SS yesterday and knew I'd be feeling it later today, so I rode to and from work in the middle ring on my Jake, despite the fact I almost never shift out of the big ring.
Threw the bike right in the trunk when I got home, off to the Shore after work tomorrow, where I get 3 solid days of dead flat roads to haul ass on.

fantastic quick commute over to Cambridge for a night time meeting. I have no idea what the distance was over there- maybe 7 miles and I hauled butt to get there in 22 minutes. It's a drive that I'd be lucky to make in a half an hour in a car- and still have to find a place to park.

Coming home was a little creepy though. Passed some weird kid on a real quiet street who was on a bike- I couldn't quite make out what he said to me. Then came around the corner to see three guys standing on a corner looking down at the ground at what looked at my quick glance like the spent casing of a 9 mm bullet. As I rode down the street several people were anxiously looking down the street in the direction I had just come from and suddenly 3 squad cars came barrelling down the road and one car collided with a car as it turned onto the street I'd just come out of- needless to say I got out of there. I'll watch the news to see if anything gets reported. :eek:

:beer: What choo talk'n about Willis?
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Wwwweeeeeeee!!!!!! :D

Low 60Fs, but humid. Not bad by any means, but it might get up around 90F for the ride home.

What is it with children leaving bicycle tire skid marks on fresh MUP pavement? Is it some sort of territorial thing like a dog marking a tree? "Check this out I left a skid mark here!" :rolleyes:

Beautiful weather, perfect temperature, awsome conditions. Cars were idiots, but had a nice ride anyway.

When I was a kid I had a bike with red tires...I loved leaving red skid marks all over the sidewalk. Then one day I saw part of my tire turning black. Soon after that my tire exploded and got replaced with a normal black one.

with just over a mile to go from the house to work, youd think i'd be pretty safe..... I almost got ran over by the same JackA$$ twice yesterday... He ran a stop sign to get out of the Meijer parking lot, and then made an illegal left turn against a red arrow at the intersection... Going over the speed limit the whole time!

Ya know, having been on the bike for about a month now, I'm looking at drivers in a much different way... Heck I even drive differently now.... Damn cagers....

Billy