Ever have one of those commutes where you wonder where the traffic went? Well, today was one of those days. Wierd, the lack of traffic.

Overall, the 20 mile trek on the Trek 520 was pretty much the same as always -- excellent, fun and rewarding. I did have a bit of a close call with the classic cut-off-the-bike-lane-while-turning-right maneuver. The guy never saw me, and I have a strobe light in the front, a jacket that radiates energy and colorful helmet. And he had passed me just seconds before!!!

Nevertheless, the sixth sense we bike-commuters develop kicked in. I saw an infinitesimal twitch of the front wheels and I kicked in the brakes in plenty of time.

Arrived safe and sound. I dropped a few more pounds, to 218 (was 228 a couple weeks ago).

Wow, Andy, this must be bad driver week. I just about got hit head on yesterday morning. I was waiting to turn right when a guy in a utility van turned left, cutting the corner. He stopped a couple of feet in front of me. I was staring into his front grill. What's more crazy is the guy pulled around me, stared me down, and didn't even stop to apologize. A lady I work with was coming the opposite way and witnessed the whole thing. She stopped and asked "Was that as close as it looked?".

We were two miles from work. I beat her to work I was so angry!

This morning at 5am it was cool and damp, with a steady wind blowing at a 45 degree angle to the road (headwind.) It was a nice ride in.

The temperature climbed into the upper 90's, though, and everyone came into the store complaining about the heat. 45 minutes before heading for home, I bought a Gatorade and stuck it in the deep freeze. It was slush when I headed out.

The ride home wasn't as bad as I feared, though. The wind hadn't changed, and in addition to giving me a push, it made a refreshing cross breeze. :) The only bad part was on the initial uphill (I start my trip near a big climb, both directions) I had sweat pouring into my eyes and couldn't see.

Whoever started this thread deserves applause!

Looks like it was Gus Riley. Yay, Gus!

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

Mornin all, what a beautiful morning in new england, the weather is just about perfect, not too cool, not too warm, the air is still and the sky is clear. I took the long way to work, totalled 27 miles, I didn't see much for wildlife and all of the patches in the road seamed to smooth out over the weekend. I can't wait for the ride home.

Had a new one last week - a guy at a stop light yelled at me out the passenger window of his car "bicycles can go on a red light". His passenger translated that for me as I could not understand what he was saying. My reply was "Thanks, but I don't think the other cars at this light would agree with you.".

The guy was not nasty or anything. He actually had good intentions (unless he intended to run me down when the road went to a single lane a 100 yards up from us!).

I did my first night commute. I get off work at 11 pm last Sunday and it was dark (No moon to speak of).

I have a single LED light on the front and two blinkies on the rear.

I took off into the cool night. The urban part of my ride was great. No traffic, plenty of light. Not a bad ride at all.

I had one really dark run, through a city park. It was un-lit and a bit rough. No problems seeing, I just took it slow.

Then I was back into the urban areas. My rear wheel began rubbing against the brake. I tried to find the middle, and rode off. 2 miles later, I can hear that howl from the brake rubbing again. I adjust once again, but now losing hope.

Then, the bike trail takes me into the rural/farm areas. Let me tell you how spectacular the fireflies are at night. It is like flying through stars.

I made it home, but it was a long slow ride. I am not sure I will do a night ride again. Maybe with a full moon.

Oh, and my back wheel rubbing... ...broken axel and bent skewer. No wonder the ride was such work.

Here in Tokyo this morning it was as humid as hell and as it is the rainy season the clouds are always threatening. My bike and I (it deserves some credit too) ran into a headwind from the start which kind of slowed things down a bit but we still managed the 17 k at an average of 23.5 which is not too bad. A rather too close Near Door Experience (NDE) as this silly woman opened the taxi door ( which I adjusted to go around) and then ran straight into the middle of the road like the back seat was on fire. This I did not adjust to that well and missed her by a cigarette paper. Her satisfying scream of fear only reached me when I was quite a bit past her.

I shall remain at DEFCON 4 on the way home lest the same occurs.

I tend to deal with this by holding a consistent line wide enough to avoid suddenly opening car doors. My old commute ran through Surfers Paradise, which can be very scary during the tourist season.

Today I got the most beautiful sea-breeze in the world. Danm I love Queensland winters! :love:

Another beautiful day in new england, warm and a little on the humid side. I rode in on a newly paved road this morning, not one bump or crack, it was a fast easy ride. It will be a hot ride home this evening but I can't wait, weather should be like this year round.

Commute was good. I had been away for a couple days. Last time I had ridden at all was Friday morning so I was a little anxious to get back on the Green Monster (my name for my Trek 520).

I had a minor almost-close-call today. I was at a right-turn yield and there was a line of cars waiting to make the turn. They were waiting for traffic to clear. Usually in this case I would wait in line as (a) there is little room to the right of the waiting cars and (b) I knew they'd be focused not on me but on the traffic flowing from their left.

But for some reason this morning I was a bonehead, and I squeezed my way along between the line of cars and the curb, up until the front of the line, stopping only when I reached the front -- plainly in view of the lead car. But ... I knew then and I know now that this person was focused on the traffic to the left. Not the brightly-colored biker to his right.

When the traffic cleared and the lead car proceeded with the right yield, he was startled -- I mean he jumped !!! -- when he saw me. We never got that close ... but it could've been close.

I suppose some in this forum would blame the driver had I been squished like a bug on that road. But then again, some people in this forum always blame drivers.

I caused this problem by pushing a limit, even though I was totally within my rights. I should have waited in line given the circumstances.

I won't do this again.

I've often heard Californians say this, citing the legality of lane-splitting in that state.

One wonders whether you might have been cited for unsafe passing, however.

In practical terms, one of the things I try to avoid is passing the same car over and over by virtue of lane-splitting (which is illegal in PA anyway). This tends to make drivers' blood boil, and I can understand why. Passing a bike is a severe challenge to the skill of the average driver, and making them do it multiple times is cruel.

RichC

Agreed on all counts. However, whether I could have been cited or not is, to me, incidental. I practiced unsafe cycling. The SUV could have squished me like a bug ... and I was the cause for this potential.

You could use the same argument about cycling generally if you wanted to take it to extremes.

I commuted today for the sixth time since I started my job last Tuesday(I haven't used a car yet, yay!!!). Today I did 25 miles with one good hill and 2 miles of motorpacing on the way, with no wind to speak of and no verbal abuse/close encounters from cars. I don't know what the ride home has in store;)

I'm at work now, but it's quiet at the library, so I think I'll post now, since I had such a good ride in. :D

It's still in the 90's, but the humidity feels like it's gone way down, and that awful haze is gone, leaving the scenery looking fresh and clear. I took the Camelbak and decided to take the long road to work and enjoy the trafficless country back roads.

A bright red deer crossed the road a way ahead of me--the first one I've seen from the bike! :) It kept turning to look my way, like it wasn't sure what I was. When I came up to the pond where it had crossed, it was standing by the side of the road watching me, and showed no sign of fear, even when I looked it right in the eye from 10 feet away. In my rear-view mirror I saw it cross back behind me.

Once I got to town, I didn't want to get off the bike yet, so I pedalled up to the post office to check my PO box. Just at the post office driveway, there was an open fire hydrant spewing water across the street. If I had been feeling mature I would have stopped and walked the bike behind it, but I decided to risk the far end of the flow. As soon as the water hit my tires, it splashed up and splattered me from head to foot with icy water! Felt good, on a hot day. :p

The ride home will probably not be nearly so much fun.

Well, this morning was just too damn weird! It was only 7 degrees C this morning (in itself a rarity), but felt like summer in every other respect. I was sure I could almost smell summer toward the end of it. That could be very ominous for September onwards.

This morning is a hot and heavy day, I took the long way in and did some of the best rose smelling I've ever done. It was a peaceful ride with very little traffic, I just rolled through the hill side and enjoyed the sum as it came up.

Great ride in this morning. Only did 10 or so miles, but rode hard the whole way. It was cool and clear this morning, a nice break from the hot humid norm.

Wet! But great otherwise. Not much traffic.

yesterday was interesting - got an early start before the heat kicked in but my path was blocked by a fallen tree

on the way home, the heat and humidity were oppressive - by the time I got home I felt awful - I also had my first jogger collision - I'm always careful to holler on your left before I get to them but this woman moved right into my path as I was about to pass her - there was no time to react but I managed to 'only' hit her on the arm/side - thankfully she was ok

Today's ride in was cool, fast (tailwind), and generally uneventful.

Last night's ride home was unusual in one respect. For whatever reason I wasn't "into" riding. Nothing physical. Not an attitude thing. No mind-wandering or anything like that. Just an odd feeling that maybe I shouldn't be "out here". A feeling that maybe I'm getting a little too old for this. Where normally I couldn't care less what people think and view cars merely as objects to track with precision, I started wondering what people in those cars thought of a non-teenager dodging traffic on downtown streets.

With this unsettling feeling came a reduction of the edge we bike-commuters maintain -- the aggressive-yet-safe riding, the level of confidence you require to stare down buses, take lanes, and such. Again, I wasn't riding in an unsafe manner and I was focused on the task, although not as much as normal perhaps, but it was unsettling.

I get this feeling every so often. But today I had no trace of it.

Yesterday's ride home was great. I was a bit concerned due to the heat and all, but pre-hydrated well and set off.

It was much more pleasant that the same ride in the same "heat index" last week, and there can only be one reason: much less traffic. A lot of people have headed down to the shore for vacation this week, I guess.

There was also a nice fresh southwesterly breeze. Never mind that that's a headwind on my homeward leg; felt nice anyway. So despite the 100+ heat index, I felt downright invigorated when I got home. (Of course, I had to stand on newspapers in the kitchen until I got done pouring sweat!)

This morning was great, too. A little thick and hazy (the air, not me... well, me, too, actually). No wind. Been wearing my new sleeveless Zoic jerseys the last couple of days, which is really pleasant. Combined with cycling shorts and SPD sandals, it's about as "not there" as clothing can be.

RichC

Quite hot today in Washington, DC -- 97 F / 36 C. This is about the warmest it has felt all year. Still, it was quite enjoyable -- I could see the 4 of July preparations, along with the Silk Road at the Folklife Festival. The real heat stress came when I entered the parking garage beneath the building -- maybe 110 F of humid, moisture.

Brennser brought up a good point about joggers/pedestrians. I have yet to encounter one who correctly understood "on your left" or "on your right". Their usual response it to jump abruptly in the wrong direction.

Paul

Left work a bit early. Stopped by the LBS to pick up my long awaited NiteRider rear blinkers. Now I have flashing strobe in the front in addition to a new powerful blinker in the back.

Went to visit some friends. Then went home. Total of 28 miles.

Weather: mild, low 80s. Mostly tailwind but some cross as I stairstepped across Santa Clara to my friend's house.

Finally got a decent headwind tonight! :D :thumbup: :)

I just wish it would bloody rain occasionally.

I DROVE today!

Does that count as, "junk miles?"

We have a questionnaire that pops up on our computer screens at work when we sign on to CICS that asks, "How did you get to work today?" Option #5 is "Bike."

Today I avoided the questionnaire. Couldn't bring myself to select Option #1--"Drove to work alone."

:cry:

First, was there an option #6?
Second, at least you had an option labelled "Bike".
Third, I didn't know CICS was still in use!!!

Andy

I really want to use a bike to commute to work, but my wife won't let me.

SHE SAYS I HAVE TO WALK!!!

It is over 25 feet from the bedroom to my office, and it is all upstairs, in the same house and it does get black marks on the carpet, so I guess that I will just have to keep walking to work.:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: