Oh boy is gonna be hot today. They're saying 100F but it feels like it's going to be hotter.

Today i was riding down the hill towards the office when a taxi starting doing what looked like a U-turn in the middle of the street, which was strange for a one-way. He was perpendicular to the flow of traffic and i was trying to scoot around him, since i was going about 25 mph i didn't want to brake suddenly. The taxi just kept moving and we almost got real close and comfortable. Luckily he had his window down and i yelled something, so finally he stopped moving forward and i made it past.

What really surprised me was the look on the guy's face, it was as if he had seen a ghost. He had no idea i was even there, and that always freaks me out. How can a taxi be pulling whatever this maneuver was without even paying attention to the traffic coming his way?
As cyclists we have to pay attention to everything with no time for our minds drifting, however, we cannot expect the same from drivers, and sometimes i think i forget this fact.

Finally beat the 40mph barrier on my favourite downhill..! Am very chuffed.

The morning dawned coolish and beautiful. Then, off my usual route, I chanced upon the TCU women's cross country team on a training run. Healthy beauties, all.

It was a good morning.

in retrospect I think it must have rained a lot this morning 'cause my socks and gloves never dried out during the workday. Looks drier outside now, at least.

Nice ride home after the weather turned, but this morning's ride was through a very fine drizzle that had me soaked in only a couple of minutes. Ah well, fall is approaching.

Today was --- like I was riding in the clouds .... actually I was. City encased in a misty fog, enough so that motorists had their wipers on the lowest setting - and bet they wished they had lower. Enough to make me damp --- and frizz the hair. Ahh well, such is life of a commuter! (nice ride overall)

Coolest morning in about two weeks this morning due to the rain that came through last night. Gonna get hot again though later on. I am going to get my nice road bike out and give it a workout tomorrow since it's been neglected for about a month.

Nice morning. Really should fire up the headlight, but I only have one more commute day before labor day so I guess it stays shelved 'til Sep. Considered mtn biking it up the railroad grade (tracks removed), I even have a bank errand that would make that 'efficient', route-wise anyway, but also was late for a meeting so took the fast(er) bike up the typical routes. Time enough for usual JAM avoiding extensions though. Nice and peaceful. And fast!

No commute since Thursday last week--travelling Friday, working from home Monday-today. I miss my bike.

Nice easy ride today. It was a bit humid but we didn't get hit with the rain that's been threatening to fall this morning. For some reason I've been commuting on my Karate Monkey 1x9 lately (past week and a half or so), but today I hauled out the Rob Roy commuter fixie and rode it in to work. Definitely noticed the weight difference on my ride. Haven't had any car altercations since going through a windshield a few weeks ago. Trying to make it a habit (not having altercations, that is).

Fast (unofficial PR) and stylish (wore my BF NorCal jersey today).

We hit two detours on the way in this morning, and actually had to backtrack. Traffic volume was up again, but it wasn't horrible.

No commute today, had to go to a customer site for part of the day. Riding in on the subway, though, I got to entertain a little kid who decided that my blinky (permanently attached to my bag) was just the coolest toy he'd ever played with.

I had my second "contact" with a motor vehicle today. I got right-hooked by an idiotic woman on a cell phone and not using her turn signals. I sorta sensed something was up with her vehicle as I was passing stop-and-go car traffic (in the bike lane) at about 18 mph, and she just wasn't going quite as fast as I would expect her to be going. That alone is usually a big warning sign, so I was already on the brakes when she swung the front of her minivan into the bike lane.

I ran into the side of her van, tires locked and skidding. My left arm took the worst of it, hitting her side view mirror hard enough to damage it. (Amazingly, I only have a small bruise.)

As soon as she realized what she did, she stopped, halfway in the traffic lane and blocking the bike lane, and seemed to casually finish her cell phone call. She probably talked for fifteen seconds longer while I banged on her passenger-side window. Finally, she rolled it down, and I just screamed at her to use her turn signals, stop using her cell phone while driving, and watch where she's going.

I didn't call the police, or even get the license plate number. I was just so miffed that I wanted to leave. It certainly gave me an energy boost, though! I finished my 13.6 mile trip with an average speed of over 19 mph.

Yet another reason to dislike bike lanes and cell phones. Oh, and idiots.

- Warren

Warren that had to be some crazy stuff man. 18 mph is fast when you are around women drivers on cell phones. I've had a few of those too. Thank goodness I have never hit them.

Lots of luck on your ride tomorrow.

My ride today was on the edge of getting wet. Hurricane Dean is just a little ways south of me and we are getting some quicky showers at random. Right before the morning commute, it decided to rain. Thank goodness it stopped before the ride. While at my work place it come a down pour for about 20 minutes and left serious puddles for the ride home. Seems I am always cleaning mud from the bike. Lucked out today and didn't get wet, but there is always tomorrow. I figure I will have to deal with the spin off of the hurricane for a few days. Got the rain suit ready though.

Back to the bike-bus-bike eachway to and from work. Met a blind man on the way home who enjoyed tandeming so much he got a Schwinn tandem then went looking for stokers. Good chat on bus ride towards home.

Oink much?

Passing the Korean War monument on the way to work, I saw a large contingent of tourists who looked.....Korean. What would be their impression of this sculpture display of American troops in ponchos fighting in the rain? Assuming they're South Koreans, I'll bet they'd be appreciative. Probably more than Americans. Funny thing, I discussed this war last night with a friend, who said we had won what I had always thought of as a stalemate. The North invaded, we helped the South fight back, and the borders remained essentially what they were at the beginning. That's more than we can say about Vietnam and Iraq.
Mike Doan

Perfect morning temperature today for the morning commute.

Homeless lady shocked me a little when she shouted out, "Aye, little one!" in a voice a little deeper than Gollum's as I rode past her. Usually, she's just talking to herself.

Great commute today, despite about 2 hours of sleep last night. I think the 4 days of rest helped, as my legs felt stronger than they had last week--and I even had practice last night.

Perfect weather too--foggy enough to keep it cool but visibility was good, no wind, and the roads were just damp enough from an early morning rain to give the tires a little less rolling resistance.

True dat...

Going home late along the river last night, I was admiring the lovely fireflies, which have become rare around here since my childhood.

Then I discovered that if a firefly is lit up when it hits you and sticks in the corner of your eye as you ride throught the darkness along a narrow trail bordered by steep riverbank on one side and slightly less deep but equally steep ravine on the other, said damned insect continues to flash, wiggle and make crawling movements with its legs on your cornea in a very distracting fashion until you can get it the heck off you. How it git under my glasses, I don't know.

Nice and calm on the way in today. The construction on my route was cleared, so it was smooth sailing on the way in. I managed to make 5 lights in a row, which basically means sprinting at my top speed for 5 blocks. I honestly wished for gears, cause I totally spun out. Time for a bigger chainring?