I had to go in for a quick meeting today. Took the long way home and just did a relaxed pace. It is so pretty here in the spring. Summer is on the way, though. Soon I will be writing posts like "tires melted off rims today..."

Oh, puhleeeeze! ;) Isn't summer in San Diego 82F (as opposed to the 72F winter)? Not like Sacramento (City Motto: "But It's A Dry Heat").

Nice day here too. 49F and beautiful blue skies when I left the house at 6:10am. I've been meeting a friend from my building to ride along the bike path before work. It's been postcard-quality all week. Might rain tomorrow but I think I can handle it.

Had to really haul ass in today as I was late getting a package. However that package was my new Arkel Overdesign Pannier! I got the Briefcase model to carry my laptop in, which works great. The sleeve perfectly fits my TiBook and it is suspended in its padded compartment. Excellent design. First commute this year with out the backpack, and I like.

You call that summer? :confused:

Over here, we call that "winter" or something similar I believe.

Oh man you guys are lucky... Being able to commute to work is so cool.
I work from home so it would be a very short trip:D

But I do have one advantage... my time is flexible so if it's one of those "you just gotta ride" kinda days I can take off.:)

I do love reading about your commutes.

It was warm this a.m. in San Jose. About 60, I think, which is 10 or more degrees warmer than usual for these parts. I shed all the winter wear, used open-fingered gloves, a light jacket, one shirt, and wore shorts. The last vestige of winter wear was my little beanie hat under my helmet which keeps my noggin warm and keeps the rain out.

It did rain just a bit for the last couple miles of the commute ... but who cares when you're warm?

I simply can't wait for the warm ride home !! Or, actually, back to my daughter's high school where my cars waits.

Yes it was warm. I only used leg warmers, to make sure my knees stayed warm. It probably was a bit much. I had dry roads and no rain at all. Taking yesterday off was a great thing. This morning I felt like a rocket. I increased my top average speed into work by 1.3mph this morning. (computer is set on Auto-Start-Stop so lights are not a factor (in theory)).

I am definately feeling stronger than I did in January. Bicycle Commuting is a good thing.

We don't consider it warm until it gets over 100. Over 110 is hot. Of course, riding in anything over 100 takes a little planning water wise as you go through a lot of it if you are out for any length of time. Anyway, enough picking on people in cooler climates. Broke another spoke on the way in and the guy in the bike shop (near the end of my commute and just happens to open at 9:00), suggested I take it back to the shop I bought it at a few months ago, after breaking 9 spokes so far, I think I will follow his advice. Otherwise it was a beautiful commute without tailwind and about 1.5 mph faster then normal!

Cold for me today. Cold and windy. Might have to rethink my reluctance to wear anything but shorts. My (only relatively accurate) bike computer thermometer gave 48 degrees as the temp (This jelled ok with weather.com) Big evil clouds, but the wind seemed to have blown them a way, for a mostly clear (and probably colder) ride home.

Another good ride today. I am finally back to riding five days a week. It took me a couple of months to build up.
I will stop complaining about the weather here. Although, it did reach the low 90's once last year.;)

Beautiful again. Mileage is now starting to build up. 130 last week same again probably this week. About 700 since new year, not bad considering I virtually missed all of January and most of February.

Lovely weather here today. Bright, sunny and dry. I'm also happy that my weekend rides are paying off and (nerd that I am) the average speed on the commute in last few days is already promising - Managed 19 mph av. on the way home last night which is good for me

Cheers,

Ed

Just another beautiful day on the bike, I think it's time to shed the studs though although I will miss the buzz.

Last night's ride was uneventful but surprisingly chilly. I had been expecting a warmer ride. Oh well. Soon enough. I did have a nice tailwind though.

No ride again today. Was in working late last night. (yes it was cold) and I had to come in early this morning, so the car allowed me to get a little bit extra sleep.

Ah spring when a young mans (around 16) heart turns to yelling slurs out of his best friend's Dad's pickup at cyclists. Last night was the first time in a long time I ran into this problem. Little coward yelled something like ....aaggggot. Or something like that, I really don't think they understand that whatever they yell gets quickly mangled between the wind the cars and the doppler effect. Anyway, poor kid was trapped in a big shiny pickup when the air outside was in the 80's and the sun was setting and it was just the most beautiful time of day to be outside riding along the road. Took some pictures of my commute this morning will post them as soon as I get them developed and scanned. My commute isn't as beautiful as some but it has a lot of variety!

This past week of work has been very intense, very tiring. The kind where about 4:00pm you want to whine "can I sit down a minute and eat my lunch?" but settle for eating your sandwich while running around doing other things. Better believe I was ready to ride home. The spring peepers are singing and this morning I counted 8 road killed salamanders. The deer are more active. The fields are full of red-wing blackbirds and the flocks of male Robins are here. I just dropped my MTB off for some work on the forks, and picked up my hybrid with her new headset. I'm back onto slick tires, surely it is spring.

Jean, in new england it's beavers I've been seeing on the side of the road, big ones, I've seen 3 this week. Todays ride in was beautiful, I took it slow, there was no wind, clear skys and the temp was mid 30's. My average speed on the way in was just under 15 mph. It was one of those days when you just didn't want the ride to end.

Hi guys...... Love to hear about the local wildlife coming out of their hibernation.
For me it is Hares, "March Hares" I have never seen so many as there are this year .
Out on my ride yesterday I came round a sharp corner and there were two of them in the middle of the road, stood up on their hind legs and sparing each other like boxers, I think its a mating thing they do. Wonderfull to see th`o.
And heard the call of a "Cuckoo" riding in this morning, a real harbinger of spring.

Nasty headwind today. I checked the weather reports last night, saw the "gusting" 10-15 MPH winds, and said "Waa Hoo", anticipating a fine tailwind this a.m. Didn't take notice of the wind direction because, hey, it's San Jose and any wind in the a.m. is from the south and in the p.m. from the north, right? Turns out there was a very unusual morning wind from the north.

I had an early morning mtg and I didn't have a big buffer, so I had to grunt through it. I'm a bit tired now. But the air was clear as a bell and the sun rising was quite a sight.

This was a "First" for me today since my accident. It was my first bicycle ride on a Friday. While not strictly a commute (we're shut down this week), I did need to take my Honda in for some brake work, and decided to bicycle back. I'll also go out and pick it up this afternoon. But, this is the first Friday since last May that I've ridden my bicycle.

John

Add me to the headwind category this morning. But riding with panniers, I always have the "wind resistance" excuse when I get dropped :)

BTW, nice chatting with you yesterday Mr. Orange Bianchi. I saw you in the a.m., then again in the p.m. I couldn't keep up in either case - I've just moved from twice a week, to 5 times a week cycle-commuting and I just don't seem to have the legs in the latter part of the week yet. . . but I'll keep practicing.

John

Good on you for your ride, I imagine that it can take a lot of guts to ride again after an accident.

Hope this is the first of many happy, safe and enjoyable Friday rides for you.

Terry

Felt like a cyclist today Bike forums jersey and shorts. Started to drizzle a bit towards the end of the ride home.

My ego got a massage, as I caught this guy on a flashy looking bike with all the clothing sat behind him for a minute or 2 as he wandered all over the road. Finally decided I didn't want to be behind him anymore so I pulled out and dropped him even with a full (and heavy pannier) :)

This is fun, have a good weekend everyone:beer:

Hants Commuter

Stiff headwind for me too this morning but since I just rode straight into work it wasn't a big deal.

Excited that starting this week I've been able to park my bike in a VERY secure spot. Now when I ride the Trek in to work after a hard early morning workout, I won't feel like I need to go out and check it every 15 minutes.