81 degrees at 7:30AM should say enough about my morning commute. It is now 96, but at least breezy. Gonna be a grueling ride home for sure, but I will take it easy. My cyclocomputer did better this morning after sitting out on the balcony all weekend. It was only off by about half a mile instead of 4-5 like last week.

Utterly sucky this morning due to the unbelievable uselessness of First Great Western and their inabilty to run a train on time. 1/2 hour late, and i'm on half hour lunchbreaks anyway, so bye bye lunchtime.

Ride home 7 miles from inland to the cornish coast, utterly blissful. Fast as a fast thing, mostly downhill, rural lanes (occasional car but none tried to kill me), actually dry for the first time since June...

I'm almost happy my car died. Almost, Ask me again in October...

I took the 4 mile route this morning because I overslept a bit, but I took the 6.5 mile route on the way home. I'll take my digital camera with me and post pics. The only interesting part, however, is when I get close to the ocean and I'm presented with the vista of Nantucket Sound.

First commute since vacation. The time off motivated me to kick into high gear. I felt great!!! ... and hurt myself in a good way.

And today was the first day I have ever stopped at a store for supplies on the way in. My batteries were low for my front light and thankfully this store was open at 6am and had just what I needed. The gent running the place was super nice. I will keep that in mind when I need something else.

yes ... I should have been prepared. But the batteries I had in my bag were old too and I forgot that I switched them out without buying new ones. Sorry, it won't happen again.

Dry today. No wind. Temps in the mid 60sF. Lots of cyclists out today. Reeled in and passed 3, and reeled in but stayed behind the fastest one, cruising on our MTBs around 17-18MPH. Loads of people going the other way too.

There's a creperie (makes crepes) along my commute route as I enter the city. One of these mornings I should fuel up there.

Not a bad ride in - kinda hazy and muggy. Supposed to rain tonight - thunderstorms going into tomorrow.

But hey, I wouldn't mind if it rained on me on the way home --- it'd feel great!

Warm today, glad I don't have to commute in the mid-day - yesterday was a holiday here and it was brutal to ride in that heat - first time I've ever actually felt close to being on the dangerous slope of overheating while riding (PS. towing a loaded trailer doesn't help ). Thanks to my military days, I know myself fairly well in those situations and made sure I threw back lots of water and just ended up taking it easy for a good while.

Rode in via the roads this morning, really seemed to screw myself cardio wise, I still feel the ride in my chest/lungs, despite it only being 11 minutes - this is the first time I've really pushed to work - despite the fact I got here in the same time as ever (damn lights). Could be fall out from yesterday, too. I wasn't feeling too great for a long time after getting in (no AC either, yay).

It was nearly 80 degrees yesterday when I headed to work at 6:30 a.m. The temperature was up to 97 by early afternoon, but a thunderstorm knocked down the heat a few degrees by the time I left work. I'm not sure the rain did me any favors, however, because the humidity was incredible. It was like riding in a steam bath, and I was sweating like crazy. I car-pooled today, so I'll avoid having to ride in the expected 100-degree high. However, I'll probably be back on the saddle tomorrow and it's supposed to hit 102. I'll be glad when the temperatures start cooling off again.

Pumped my rear tire from 60 to 100 psi, which made a lot of diffference to my speed on the way in. Still, I'm pretty tired after a weeknd of mtn biking in Fernie...

cool, misty, fast

Plenty hot. Supposed to get hotter.

Just a couple random thoughts about my commute last evening and this morning....as I stare vacuously at my monitor....

Rode home from work last night, 27.3 miles (according to my Garmin).....then rode back in this morning, same route......yesterdays ride home was semi-brutal at 96 degrees... I only have one water bottle cage on my old Proteus frame....so I had to stretch out 24oz of Gatorade to last 1:45....

This morning was a good bit faster and cooler (74) and I had tailwind for about 1/2 the ride.....I must clarify, my commute is mostly on decent road with bike paths on roughly 7/8ths of it.....hardly saw any glass on the ground....and very few cars until I hit Rt.11 just north of Greencastle, Pa.

Yesterday, I raced a couple of farm dogs letting them close in on me within 20' or so before hammering away from them at around 32mph....slightly downhill .... had to wait for a train in Maugansville for about 5 minutes....I've found that I MUST wear gloves to wipe the sweat off my brow....I usually don't like wearing them as they tend to make my left hand a bit numb....wiping sweat with my hands absolutely sucks........I'll do the double commute again on Friday/Monday......starting to find a nice pattern here....I like commuting!

Prepared my new cross bike with fenders last night in anticipation of a rainy morning. To my surprise it was clear and crisp. 54 degrees. I took my road bike instead and screamed into work along the trail system. I had to wear my headlight today for the firsrt time this summer (oops it's fall here already).

Made my way along the trail passing a first set of cow moose and calf safely, then another set right in the middle of the trail. I could not get the cow moose to move off the trail and there is aboslutely no way around without major bushwacking. Steep hills on either side of the trail filled w/ devils club are not that inviting when wearing bike shorts. Finally after I backed off for a few minutes, the cow moose wandered off the trail just enough to squeeze through!

Adrenaline, 20 miles of gorgeous commute (Denali is out today) and a bowl of oatmeal have set me straight this morning. Can't wait for the ride home. My wife is riding also, so we'll meet on the trail home Life's a trip!

Unseasonably cool again. It was 54F when I left the house at 6:45; usually it's 15 or 20 degrees warmer. I had to swing by the office to leave my backpack and grab my helmet (forgot it here last night because I took my bike into the LBS and carpooled home with Mrs. Caloso).

Then out on the American River Bike Path for a little out and back TT. Nice and fast. And it's nice to feel fast.

Arcticbiker, I am extremely jealous. I did a hiking trip to Denali 9 years ago and would love to get back to Alaska sometime soon. To be able to commute within sight of The Mountain would be exquisite (for a few months of the year anyway).

Commute stuff: didn't ride yesterday as I worked from home. Took a different route today as my wife forgot to bring cereal for the baby to day care. Although the route was longer, it sure felt like I was moving faster, and my computer seems to back that up--raised my average speed from 17.5 to 17.7 in just that one trip.

From school to district office.

Time: 44min.
Mileage: 5.3mi round trip
Average (adjusted): 11.2mph
Temperature: 103-109F!@!@! of South Carolina Heat

I went to my new school ready to get things ready. However, they are waxing the floor and the school is closed down. Well, but I got the bike on the rack, so there we go.

It's mostly residential neighborhood and the ride is very pleasant. In fact, I happened to stop by a decently good-looking co-worker cladded in full bikini at her house.

Beside the heat, it was a good commute.

This was yesterdays commute...




...which is pretty much what it looked like this morning as well. But, I got better (grippier) pedals so it was cool.

I had a 20+ mph headwind on the way home tonight, in fact evey night this week and it doesn't half make it hard work, especially with hills to climb. I don't think I'm very aerodynamic.

Every time you think you have it tough, someone comes along with a tougher story. I can't think of a bigger obstacle than a bull Moose blocking a trail, unless it was an Alaskan brown bear.

Fortunately, the only animals I have to contend with on my commute is squirrels, but they have been like Kamikazis lately. I can't believe I haven't hit one yet.

The forecasted high today is 103 with a heat index over 110. It was 81 degrees at my house at 6 a.m. Despite my better judgment, I decided to bike to work today anyway. I'm curious to see what riding in that kind of heat will be like. I've ridden in temperatures close to 100 before, but not over. I'll take it slow and easy.

Coming to work this morning the roads were wet about half the route. Apparently a little thunderstorm came through during the night. I just put some Raceblade fenders on my bike the other day, so this was the first time they've gotten any use. They seemed to keep my feet dry, but I was totally soaked from sweat by the time I was halfway to work anyway.

Nice.

My commute today was the Tour de Champlain. Less than a mile from home, a guy on a hybrid turned in front of me at an intersection (3-way stop, no hazard), we exchanged hellos, and then I started following him. Almost immediately after, someone else came out of another side street on a road bike and took off at a good clip.

We entered the MUP shortly after that, and it was on! I stayed several yards behind the hybrid at 17-18MPH while the roadie was pretty much dropping us. After 2 miles, I saw the roadie pull off onto a street. However, when we got to the intersection, he was waiting there. We kept going, and the roadie pulled out behind us. I thought he was going to try to catch us, but we dropped him handily. Maybe he blew up.

Hybrid guy made a u-turn about a mile after that, so I was all alone again. By that point I was so energized that I reeled in a trail regular, passed her, then reeled in some other guy and passed him up a hill before a red light.

The commute was...Fast...

Yesterday, on the ride home, some guy on a roadie with aero bars pulled out behind me and tried to reel me in. I denied him. I only had 3/4 of a mile to go, so I poured the coal on and never let him get closer. We were cruising over 20MPH. He was down in the drops bouncing trying to catch me. It was all pretty funny, because my knobby tires were singing away and my trunk bag was full. Hopefully he was suitably impressed.

There was a cargie today that i was forced to blast. It was unfortunate. There aren't tons of bike commuter in Nashville yet, but there are some. I was here, where bike lanes give way to a high velocity roundabout for bit. There was hardly any traffic, so when another cyclist pulled beside me to converse, I took one of 2 southbound lanes. Some chump in a ugly 1990s t-bird pulls up behind me, honks, and as i get over (which I shouldn't have), he points out the bike lane to me. (Clearly a former if not present segregationist.) I oblige him with 100dB of gratitude and remind him that he is driving on a public road.

Ah, the serenity of a wonderful morning commute.

Got to work today and checked the bike computer.

Trip Distance = 16.00
Ride Time = 1:00:00

Weird. When people ask about my commute, I tell them its about 16 miles and about an hour, but never did I expect to hit those numbers down to the second an hundreth of a mile.

Time to go buy lottery tickets.

Yesterday on the way home it was hottttttttt. The boys and I were passed by a rough looking guy on a BMX.

This morning it had rained and it was cooler. There is a chance for more rain and T-storms the rest of the day, we need the rain. If we don't get more rain, I figure it'll be hot and humid by the time I get off work.

I fell today. It started raining while I was riding and I hit a flat smooth manhole cover while I was turning left and I went down, right in the middle of an intersection. Some scrapes on my knee and shins and my hand really hurts but otherwise I'm OK.

I think I'll have to go to the walk in clinic in the mall and get a splint.

Winter76, sorry to hear about the fall. I'm happy to say that wet manhole covers are one of the (many) dangers BF alerted me to before I learned the hard way. Heal well.

As reported by tarwheel, today's NC commute was hot and humid. Even better...after my commute home tonight I have Ultimate frisbee practice. Hydrate or die.