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 (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.
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.

I slept right through my alarm this morning - by an hour and 22 minutes. Still, I went from being in bed to being at my desk in 41 minutes, so I was only an hour late. It was sooooo beautiful on the ride in, I was thinking that I could just keep riding until the pub opened at 11:00!

Do your clothes fit differently? Even w/ my 15# bump (close to 10%), my waist remains 2" smaller than last summer.

An effortless ride in today. Broke a record on one of the longer climbs and passed over riders with ease. Could have pushed it even harder but just enjoyed the ride instead.

Some head wind on the way home. Around 90 degree temperature too. People at work were asking me how I was going to ride in the heat, but they don't understand that you stay fairly cool as you go.

For the first time in a LONG time I had someone yell at me from a truck
"GET ON THE SIDEWALK A-HOLE". Man, I wasn't even holding up traffic but there are people like that all over. Cool thing was I had to go ride to the mechanic to pick up my wife's car and passed a 4 foot snake that had been run over by a car, boy was it big. Wouldn't have seen that in a car!

Seems like just yesterday people at work were asking me how I was going to ride in the cold. Now it's summer and they can't understand how I can ride in the heat. In the fall they'll ask how I ride in the rain....

Hahahah! Speaking of rain, I got caught in a DOWNPOUR on the way home from work last week. SOAKING WET!s But man it was fun. At least it was pretty hot out so it felt great.

And no, I didnt have any rain gear on me either.

I had a fairly strong ride home. Working on staying in the drops and even with a decent breeze I was able to pull 17 mph for a long time.

I tend to enjoy finishing strong with a sprint to my house. About a half mile away from home I felt drained. Slowly pedaled home. It was not a bonk. Just no energy. Oh well. There is always tomorrow.

87F "too hot" for most commuters so the return ride as pretty deserted

Good ride, and found this email when I got home:

Hi Scott,
I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to let you know of an exciting
event we are hosting for the Bike Commuter of the Year award recipients next
Friday, June 8th from 12-2PM. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission
(MTC) in Oakland will be hosting an awards ceremony/press conference to
honor you, the other 8 recipients of the Bike Commuter of the Year Award,
and the Team Bike Challenge winning team. Many of the Commissioners
(elected officials) from MTC will be present. We will serve lunch and good
cheer. A more formal invite will follow and family members and close
friends are welcome to attend. Stay tuned for more information but mark
your calendar for now!

Fondly,
Cole


Nice! I think I'll take the kids. They get a kick out of my riding.

Commuted to summer school this morning at the university. It was raining when I left, and drizzled the whole way in. Not a bad ride. No one said anything because they all had their windows up. A 9:40 class also meant the roads were deserted at 8:30 when I left. Knee feels much better, but is still not 100%.