I'm doing the Michigan MS bike tour this weekend (double Century) so I planned to just take it easy today on the commute. 16 miles against a real stiff headwind killed those plans.

Good ride though. Every ride is a good ride.

What a great day
 

Yesterday's storms really cleared out the heat and humidity. Terrific ride in this morning. Saw lots of cyclists and commuters on my way in. Wish I could have kept riding but work awaits...

It is hot here, but not as bad as after work.... The heat must be making drivers grumpy, I got cut off turning a corner. Oh well - no damage done.

Even better, I ran into my boyfriend riding the other way to his work. Kind of a nice surprise. :)

Slow this morning - I have a case of lead legs and was forced to sort of meander along. Oh well, meant I had a very short cool down period on arrival. I don't know why I'm so tired, but my appetite's been off so maybe it's a simple case of fuel shortage.

The air felt... soft this morning on the way in. Higher than average humidity I think. It's going to be a scorcher, but I'll be at my company's beer - I mean golf - tournament. Whee!

Overslept this morning so rather than having a nice long 30 mile "detour" as I'd planned, I had to settle for 10. Still better than nothing.

Drivers were well behaved but I nearly collided with a wrong-way numbskull on a road that has "BIKE ROUTE" painted on it. Didn't he think it was odd that it was painted upside down to him?

Ahhhhh.... so cool this morning. Humidity is up but we had thunderstorms with rain last night. The air was so cool rushing by as I rode in to work. I actually rode slower just to increase my time outside. :D

Unfortunately the air conditioning is still dead at work so the office is really a sweat shop.

Quick, easy and painless today, because it was only about 13k instead of my usual 23...stayed at a friend's place last night after going to the beach. Which was good, because I had to be up just after five to do a live morning show radio interview for work.

It was nice to have an easy morning, after getting a flat on the way to the beach from work yesterday.

Nice ride today. Cool! Double digits, anyway, that feels pretty cool right now.

commute
 

Just bought an 85 univega maxima sport 10 speed. oh so nice. This lady had it in her garage this whole time. Mint condition. sorry wrong forum. I used to ride an aluminum 91 trek road bike. I would hit a bump on that thing and ouch! I would take all the impact. I decided to ride the univega which has a frame of a combination of high tinsile and chromoly. And boy the difference is amazing. The steel absorbed so much of the ride. I do a 17 mile commute one way so comfort is priority. It did take more out of my legs because its weight, but i didn't have to concentrate on the road and look for little lifts and tiny trenches on the pavement.

My commute was so pleasant today that I rode home at lunch just so I could commute twice:D

Actually I'm trying to log as many miles as I can squeeze in this week, so I did ride home and back during lunch. Traffic wasn't bad on any of the three trip legs I've made so far. The lunch ride was a little hot, but managable.

I'm all for the steel frames. As you say, the ride quality makes up for the weight on a commute. I figure that having to concentrate hard looking for tiny little bumps would be tiring in itself anyway! I'm a lightweight rider so aluminum bounces me all over the place.

(My commuter is a 1984 Raleigh - lugged chromoly steel and it just *glides*. I love it. Just picked up a mid 80s Japanese steel frame - cromoly frame and manganese-alloy fork - to build up for randonneuring. I commuted on it a couple of days ago but I don't like to be on drop bars in traffic).

Last year I was Lusting after newer components again. I sold my Early 80's Chromo and got a New
Aluminum frame with the new components I hoped for--All I noticed was how light the bike was on the daily commute and how my MPH Average went up right away. I did not notice a change in the bump-on- the-butt factor at all. I have heard lots of riders say they notice that sort of thing, but I did not.

I ride my roadbike (aluminum frame) to work, because I like to go fast. Ideally I'd buy/build a cross bike for communting - but alas, I have yet to plant a money tree in my yard.

I think it's a really individual thing. One rider's springy responsive bike is another's twitchy nightmare ride - and my dignified gliding Raleigh is probably a sluggish tank to someone else! :) (Vibration through the handlebars is what gets me the most...)

If anyone finds any money tree seeds, send me some please. Even sticking to vintage frames at under $50 each, this hobby is getting expensive!

Riding home yesterday, stopped at a red light. Hear a very loud BANG! echoing off the buildings and coming from the ground right near my rear tire.

Well, that could be a problem. Change the tube, pump it up, notice a big hole in the sidewall of my tire. Found out the dollar bill inside the tire does work pretty well. Rode to a LBS to get new rubber.

He handed me my dollar back and said that he's heard of that but never seen anyone actually do it.

I'm a little upset though. Got charged $10.00 each to install new tires. Had I known that in advance, I would have done my own install in the parking lot.

Woke up to thunder at 5:30AM. :rolleyes: Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time I left. Temps in the upper 50Fs. Not a bad ride. Caught & passed one guy on a bike. I see him once in a while. Saw some other cyclists going the other way.

Great weather, fast commute! It's such a nice day I'm headed over to Post Office Park at lunchtime for the free concert.

Dear Cyclist Who Passed on My Right on Brighton Ave,
Hey, good to see another commuter out and about! While I usually stick to the traffic lane, sometimes I too will filter past some cars when it makes sense/preserves momentum. In such cases I would be surprised to find a bike going by on my right (though of course I do try and check), so a little "hey" or something as you pass would be appreciated. Or, passing on the left would be a lot less surprising in general if you can manage.

I flew up to the East side last night on my mountain bike, holding speeds of 25-27mph (hit 28mph max. I think) across the Bloor viaduct - most surprising, I didn't at first understand, but figure I'll steal someone elses line from here "it's not the bike", heh! 29 minutes, a minute slower than my PB on the roadie - both with platforms to boot.

Got the back wheel from the shop yesterday, all true and fixed. Strapped it to the rack, rode east, rode west to home and fitted it ready for today. Must've been the worlds slowest tyre/tube and wheel fitting, I seemed to be in a fog and just bumbled around for about an hour :p

Rode in on the roadie, holding some nicer speeds on better tyre pressure this time around (low pressures may've been a culprit in my rear wheel damage I suspect) - still got to work in about the same cycling time (16mins).

My (rec) ride to Niagara Falls won't be until tomorrow now, so I get an extra nights rest for my legs (thankful, too - they're starting to feel heavy).

The pannier bungee is still attracted to that road bike back wheel though, so I'm going to have to bungee the bungee away from there.

No rain last night but I did lose another rear blinky light. The mount broke off as I went through an intersection and it flew apart upon hitting the road. I went back and picked up what was left, mostly I just wanted my rechargeable batteries back, and I found both of them.

Ride in this morning was nice and cool (for this time of year anyway). I moved my seat up and I think I put it too high since my legs were burning when I got to work. I will adjust it when I get home tonight since I don't have the correct wrench here to do it.

Still out with a knee injury. Unglorified fall walking on an island :(

W&OD was super busy in both directions today- commuters, rec riders, etc. Perfect weather. Hoping to get out early enough today to ride further on the way home and pick up some dinner.

T minus 11 weeks til my move, and commute goes from 13mi R/T to 22mi R/T

Good ride. Low humidity-very nice. Taking it easy today since I plan on 50-60 miles tomorrow.

I woke up late and didn't feel like it today. But I hustled and was out the door only 5 min. late. I was going faster than normal to try and make up that 5 min. But 10 min. in I got stuck waiting for a train.

Now I"m really huffing and puffing trying to make up time. I was doing 2-3 mph faster than I normal. I was now ahead of my normal schedule because the cute oriental chick I see when I pass a certain bus stop was half a block away. Then I hit another train. 20 min. later my muscles are cold, I"m yawning and thinking of back tracking a block and getting on the bus. Doh... not enough money on me for the bus.

So I got going again and finally warmed up and made great time on the home stretch. 30 min. later than I like, but I feel good. Better than yesterday when I was seriously thinking of quitting the whole commute thing and buying a bus pass.

No commute for me today. Got a head/throat cold from my kid (day care: a government program to innoculate America's youth against biological warfare), plus feeling extremely sore from Ultimate tryouts held Wednesday night. Why IS the second day always worse?