Took today off after arduous not-holiday weekend. Biked Thing 2 to daycare, then at pickup time, biked Thing 1 down to greet her. After long day (took 44 mile ride to clear brain, glorious!!!), they were both pretty heavy coming uphill. Small price to pay.

I took the road bike again today. Smooth ride in, but coming home I droped the hammer.;) The ride home I hit green lights all the way. I felt fast and wasn't spent when I got home. Next time I'll try to go faster. Fast, fast, fast.

I went in to work early this morning for a project, so I hit a lot more blinking yellow lights or greens. I love the road bike commutes!

Yet Another Nice Day. 55F. No wind. Blue sky. Many cyclists out. I caught one guy on a hybrid who was coming from my town, and rode with him all the way in. We didn't communicate. I just stayed many yards behind him and kept pace at 18-20mph. He kept getting out of his saddle and trying to sprint, then looking in his mirror. I don't know if he was trying to get away from me or not, but he was slowing down when he did that. :o

Soaking......poured from the moment I left to the moment I arrived and it's still pouring so it'll be pouring when I leave and pouring when I arrive home :)

Good old Scottish rain :D

Today was a nice ride in, saw a deer on the greenway, yesterday saw rabbits and squirrels, makes me realize why I'm biking. Also I lost 2 more pounds last week! Looks like the muscles are finally adjusting as the cramps have stopped

Hit every red light this morning. While I was waiting at one, a cab drove past in the other direction. The driver looked at me and yelled "YAAAAAAAARRR" in a pirate-like fashion.

Two things have improved my commute:
1. A computer.
2. Changing gears! I would stay in the same gear for almost the entire ride. Not sure why. But seeing how much my speed decreases at various points in the ride has caused me to down shift in order to maintain some velocity. It took 2 minutes off my ride!

Oh yes, yesterday waiting at an intersection, saw a friend going perpendicular, which I thought I might, time was about right, but also saw an urban deer trotting down the sidewalk then crossing perpendicular, opposite direction to her, at the light, in the crosswalk. Good deer!

Beautiful morning for a ride. It was about 60, light wind at my back, light traffic....I left the house early to get the ride going. My legs have been a bit tired lately, but I'm finding even when I'm tired, I'm still able to continue pushing at a good pace. I guess i'm finally getting conditioned :)

Had a problem on the way in. My Axiom bike rack (for disc brake bikes) kinda seperated on the way in. The bars that connect to the frame are all wrong and they just don't work right. I managed to put it back together but only partially.

So I had to slow down and be very careful on the bumps.

I felt uninspired this morning despite riding the tarmac. The randonee is on the repair stand getting work done (if I ever have time). Averaged all of 14 mph for 28 miles. I just do not want to be here today. Lets see if my coworker the massage therapist remembers to bring her table like she said yesterday. A massage would do the trick.

Beautiful ride in this morning, from Bethesda to WashDC. Temps around 69. The pollen seems to be subsiding and it is not too hot yet, so this is perfect biking weather. Not too many other bike commuters today - perhaps because I was out a bit earlier than usual. Lovely ride in along the Potomac, watching the rowers and kayakers. Wish I didn't have to go to work...

Not a bad ride in, was a little sluggish in my morning routine so I rode the direct road route in favour of time, a whopping 2.74 miles according to my routeslip route. 12 minutes almost seems like cheating, but I get to ride for a bit longer tonight, so that's OK. Loving the roadie, need to raise my seat a touch I think though.

An icy North wind blew hard in my face,
It burned my ears and slowed my pace,
" But that's OK", I laughed inside,
as I rode right past those suckah's that drive.

Took the bus in today, I get to ride my "new" Raleigh home tonight :D (I bought 2 old Raleigh touring bikes from a co-worker, so he brought them in to the office and I'm ferrying them home). Good timing on that purchase as my Norco developed a problem halfway home yesterday - the spring on my rear brake (V-Brake) broke off, leaving the brake shoe to drag. I called for rescue - cars can be handy sometimes :)

I figure that was extremely good timing on purchasing the backup commuting bike...

Very nice and cold ride in this morning. The sky is overcast but made for a nice commute. The streets seem to be back to what it was before during late winter and early spring. Much less bike commuters except for the regulars I see everyday. Oh well, maybe when it gets warmer in the morning again.

My chain jumped off the large front sprocket on the way to work yesterday.... Guess its time to adjust the deraileures..... Took two seconds to pop it back on....no biggie... Just needed to wash the gunk off my hands when I got to work.... Over 100 miles now this month.... Not loosing weight though....???

puff puff... 6th day of regular commuting in 3 wks! (one conference, one surprise trip out of town interrupting things, both featuring LOTS of eating, scant if any exercise, scale finds 15 more # on me today than 2 wks ago yesterday!) Still keeping weekly mileage close to 100, but not even close to uniformly distributed across rides or days... more like poisson dist, maybe lognormal...

Last night I rode a long detour towards Clarksburg, into the wind, just so that I could enjoy a heavy tailwind for 10 miles. This is what you do when you don't have hills to climb.

This morning I was running late so I took the most direct route in. It was fine until a Honda Accord pulled right into my lane. She was stopped at a light (right on red is legal in California), and I looked right at her, thought I made eye contact, and even raised up my hand. Still she pulled out right in front of me. And then I think she realized how fast I was going because she immediately pulled into the gutter. I had plenty of room in the other lane, so I gave her a wide pass and held up my hands in the WTF? gesture.

It takes a while. My body seems attached to my fat. :p
I swear that I can maintain the same exercise \ nutrition and not drop a lb. 1 month later with no changes to my routine I drop a few. I am working on my final 7 lbs. This is taking forever! Want to hit 160 soon.

Yesterday a "popcorn" thunderstorm blew up just as I was getting ready to leave work. I had checked the radar about 15 minutes previously, and the sky was clear. Heard some thunder and rain as I was heading out of my office, looked out the door, and it was literally pouring outside. I went back to my office and rechecked the radar, and a small thunderstorm had come out of nowhere. So I hung around work another 10 minutes, and the rain had just about stopped. Went ahead and left, and the streets were completely dry about 1/2 mile from the office. It was just a very small, localized storm. Heard some more thunder on the way home, but didn't hit any more rain. Too bad, we are having a bad drought in NC and I actually wouldn't have minded getting wet if it meant a good soaking for my yard.

If you are tricky, you can shift back toward middle ring and pedal gently.
It will pop back on without you touching it. I overshift frequently and don't
even slow down to get the chain back on.

[Maybe i should adjust those little screws to prevent overshift eh'.]

Disclaimer: If you die attempting the above trick you will be dead.

Its not the miles its the effort put into it. Nutrition comes into play too. Reduce your calorie intake and fat intake. I'm down to 159 from 175 in 3 months of serious commuting.

Another possibility....you might be replacing fat with muscle. Muscle is denser than fat; it's possible to GAIN weight while improving your "shape" and your conditioning. Some fitness gurus tell their clients not to focus on the scale and instead judge themselves based on how their clothes fit them.

Missed my commute yesterday. The baby was sick all weekend; I had to take her to the doctor, then babysit her all day. Good to be back on the bike today.