Cruddy, LittlePixel :(

Had a fairly crappy headwind on the way home, good ride though - no drama, very short and sweet other than nearly falling down due to an unclip panic again :) Introducing a new instinct/habit is pretty tough when it's so fundamental as taking a foot off the pedal :p

I cracked a rib last year in an unclip panic / cow-tipping moment at the lights. You be careful now y'hear! :)

No commute today. My daughter's college roomate's (for next semester) showed up with a UHaul to take some of my daughter's furniture to the new apartment.
I did strip down a nice Schwinn Traveler frame (no braze-ons) and offered it up to the craigslist community. The small profit financed some cute CHAPAK panniers and trunk Nashbar priced at $30 shipped.

Had a flat in my 'self-sealing' rear tire... At least the goo oozing out made it easy to find the leak, however I always have a spare and a patch kit on me... The spare (brand new - straight from it's box) wouldn't take air. Either I punctured it putting it on, or it was defective to start with. So, I pull everything apart again and patched the first one since I knew exactly where the leak was on it. It held up the rest of the way to work and back with only one extra inflation on the way back... Basically 40km total.

The past week has reinforced my efforts to always pack a first aid kit, tire tools, a pump and patches. Today the multiple flats, on the weekend my girlfriend had a pretty solid wipe out - needed some basic first aid. I'm very glad I always have these things.

Another nice ride this morning. I hope the weather keeps holding up.

Afternoon ride was nice. Decided to do some climbing and took a longer route home up Flying W since I needed to stop at the pharmacy on the way home (Walgreens). Hit 40mph on the way down, that's a first for me. :D

I started riding at the end of last summer and my goal was to ride at least 250 miles before the end of the year; 1200 miles later I feel like I'm just starting to hit a sweet spot; on the last leg of my commute today from the pharmacy I decided to go a little faster and I was able to maintain about 20-22mph for a couple of miles and I wasn't even maxing out. I'm feeling good on the sadle. I might start getting into some speed and climb training but it's not a priority; all I want to do is ride and have fun.

GreenAnvil

Pretty good ride today, aside from a lady backing out not looking and almost hitting me. Causing me to swerve into oncoming traffic and then back again. That really gets the blood flowing. :)

Amazing what you do without thinking about it sometimes.

Good ride today. The morning was nice and cool which made for an easy going, minimum sweat ride. The evening ride home was pretty warm but still nice. I had some good Karma returned to me by two drivers extending a little courtesy by waiting a few seconds longer until I passed by before making their turns.

Restarted commuting once again last week after a few weeks of driving in and replacing the bike commute with daily group laps in the park and almost forgot how great it feels; although it's taken a bit of a toll on my after-work rides. Buying panniers has also added a whole new aspect to riding the hybrid. Another great, though rather eventless, commute today.

Yesterday, on the other hand, I was going into Manhattan to go shopping and have lunch with a friend and riding down Clinton St. towards the bridge when a Taxi cab decided to pull half-way into the bike lane a few cars before the light. As I slowly squeezed through, the driver noticed me and yelled out a loud "ARRRGGGHHHH!!!". I pulled over and asked "What?".

"Why can't you take the damn train?", the guy yells.
"Why don't you?"
"This is a business!"
"So you want me to pay 2 bucks and suffer when I can be doing this for free?"

After about 30 seconds of going back and fourth, though calm and courteous, the guy says "Well, I guess it's better then being in the car." I really felt bad for the dude; traffic sucks on that street mid-day. Still, you don't usually see frustration displayed in such raw and vulnerable manner as opposed to the usual aggression. The more I ride, the more I find myself trying to avoid having to drive.

Nice ride in today... I've been mixing up my routes, and decided to try following a guy on a Kronan for a while. He took a nice route through a park, which I think I'll do more often. Was buzzed by a businessman in a BMW 5-series, who then slowed down to turn right. I passed him on the left and let my fingers slide in a passive-aggressive way on the hood of his car. Probably not a smart thing to do, but it felt good :)

Yeah yeah yeah...I drove in today. :( I'm still pretty beat from yesterday.

Note to all fellow bike commuters...if you have to go 36 miles roundtrip, DON'T do it on 4 hours of sleep. I, like a total fool, did that yesterday. Oh yeah...don't forget to hydrate yourself in the heat either.

That is all.

2.5 mile hike to the bus this morning. No bike ride. Wife picking me up after work. Going out for dinner. 10th anniversary. :eek: :) Gotta get flowers.

Yesterday I was playing cat & mouse with a guy who came onto the MUP behind me. He was all decked out in MTB gear, including leg armor. I dropped him, then let him get a little closer, then pulled away. Did this a few times. Felt silly but it was a fast ride into a headwind.

Almost didn't do it. Then it started to rain. WOOHOO. 11 miles in a nice little drizzle. Tried to wear my ugly rain jacket but that only lasted two miles. Too dang hot don't know why I have that thing.
Nice ride and I met the new bicycle commute today. So now there are two of us :) course he wears his work cloths and no helmet and uses a cable lock I could cut with a pair of nail clippers but he commutes by bike and that is what counts.

Congrats vtjim :)

I was tired this morning, still rode in just took it easy (or so I thought) - arrived in the same time though.

Cool morning and fast ride to work. Traffic was still backed up, but they left me some room to lanesplit and get around them.

Yesterday at lunch, I noticed a guy eyeing my bike. When I went to unlock, he started asking me about fixed gear bikes and I gave him a quick lowdown (fun, makes you strong like bull, simple). I was a little surprised because this guy was probably in his 50's. Hope we got another convert.

Congrats vtjim! :beer:

My commute:


Fender $16
Awesome yellow tinted glasses $20

....

Miniature hairdryer and Paul Mitchel "Quick Slip" styling cream ... PRICELESS!



Oh yeah - got caught in a nice downpour! Nothing like walking out of the house, setting your helmet into a puddle on the picnic table and load up the now wet bike. :)

hehe, even better is to go through a street that's under construction and ride through what you think are just puddles - and then realize as you lurch forward that it is a deep giant hole just filled with water. I luve my mtb!

Nothing too unusual this morning - great weather, great ride.

Yesterday getting home though was interesting. The traffic was backed up for maybe 1/2 mile. I had to use the sidewalk for a bit as a school bus was blocking the entire lane right to the curb in front of me. Got back on the road and passed several dozen cars :). Stopped at a red light and helped a lost cager with directions (didn't even have to roll down my window). After the red light, zooming down hill (about 40k just coasting) a recycle truck decided to put his wheel on the white line seperating MY lane from everyone else. Guess where that put HIS mirror? Yep, right in the middle of my lane at about head level. Bastid. Getting an air horn soon. A couple dozen more cars passed and we come to the source of the problem (for drivers anyway). Two cars decided to bump into each other on a busy on/off ramp. Had to ride over some bits of plastic (hoping for no flat) as I flew by them. After that it was back to normal.

Someone told me about that stretch of road about an hour later, how it's backed up and hardly moving, with people doing u turns to get away from it... guess what I saw was just the beginning... silly drivers. Would have been even better if I got there a little later. I would have passed hundreds of stopped cars. I'll be sure to whistle a merry little tune next time :D

Apparently, I ride a lot faster than I think I do. My wife had her bike computer going today, and clocked us at 34 km/h on the flats, just cruising along. Coasting down the hill, she says we hit 68, but I doubt it. I think 48 is more realistic. I took a reading one time with my Garmin Edge, so I'll check that. Other than that, the ride in was a balmy 12C and calm with brilliant sunshine. Nice.

Another "great weather, great ride" here. The air had that impossibly clear look this morning. I'm a morning person anyway, which is not to say that I'm perky, but I just find it to be a very beautiful, enjoyable time of the day. I think I gotta go by the lbs, though, and get a fit opinion -- I'm starting to get a little soreness at the point where the sartorius muscle attaches on the inside of my left knee, and it's definitely biking that does it. Maybe more quad stretching is in order -- quad stretches should help with that.

First wet ride, woohoo! Wishing I had extra shoes though, live and learn. Went to an eye check-up first, arrived soaked lol. The eye Doc, who was a fit and healthy kinda guy, says he won't ride a bike after the people he sees day to day. He says people who couldn't see you sitting in that chair will get up out of his office and against his recommendation get in their cars and drive off.

Rode to work with pupils dilated from the check-up, forgot sunglasses, so it was a squinty ride. :D At least the rain stopped.

Hot and windy on the way home yesterday - I felt like a raisin by the time I got home! Definitely should have stowed an extra water bottle somewhere.

This morning was beautiful. Lots of other commuters out on the paths, and when I got to work, was greeted by TWO co-workers who had biked in for the first time ever :)

Flowers, good point! 11 for us tomorrow. Grill at home, no babysitter available. Go out Saturday. Congrats vtj!

Wife drove today, so took kids, I sprinted the whole way (best I can, which is not as well as 2 months ago before travel and injury started chipping away at me).

Another b-e-a-u-tiful commute here too. And, as an added bonus, I met another commuter this morning. He was even going my way! We chatted waiting for a light, then we both took off. Different riding styles for us though--I ride an mtb, he was on a roadie; I take the lane for parts of the stretch we did together, while he rode the fog line; I stop at red lights and (generally) wait in line with traffic, he stopped at the red and went when it was clear. Still it was very cool to ride with someone for a little bit.

Raced a whitetail buck this morning.
 

A little white-tail buck ran next to me for about 500 yards. I think he wanted to get over into the woods, but I was between him and the woods, riding on the MUP. So he started running to get in front of me. He would veer towards me to within about 20 feet, but I was going fast enough to keep up. Eventually, he stepped it up a notch to try to pull ahead to pass in front of me, and I was like, “OK boy, let’s see whatcha got under the antlers!” I kicked the ol’ Diablo bike into the big chain ring and started hammering on my pedals. The deer was right there with me, but not really pulling ahead. His mouth was open and his tongue started hangin’ out as he bounded along beside me. Finally, he stopped and watched me roll by on the ol’ Diablo bike with his tongue lolling out (laughing, or just hot?). I think we both enjoyed the race.

(ol' Diablo is a 1988 Jamis Diablo Mt. Bike with knobbie tires, fenders, rack, panniers, etc. The trip is 12.5 miles and passes through a state park)

Wonderful ride this morning. Heavier cage traffic than normal, but most everyone was polite.

Nice 25 mile run in this Am. It was especially significant since It'll be my last ride into this company.
I start a new job Monday, but the commute will not change much -- just turn right instead of left at the trails end -- though I probably won't ride in during the first few days on new job.
Solstice means the sunlight I've relied on at 6:30 AM will be going away soon. I dread the upcoming need to run with head lights, yuck!!!!
b