Left Bristow, VA at 5:00 with temp around 68 degrees; arrived in Chantilly at 6:15. Only 18 miles but I was drenched with sweat due to humidity.

The good news is we have a shower at the office; the bad news is no hot water right now!

I'll still take it over a car any day.

I sure hope you were wearing your helmet. ;)

Al

Managed to keep the rubber side down today so everything else was gravy.

This morning I rode in my latest project, my '86 Gazelle Champion Mondial. Eventually, I'd like to do a period-correct restoration, either first generation Chorus or Suntour Superbe Pro. In the meantime, I wanted to get it out on the road to get a feel for the ride so last night I threw on the fixed wheelset, post and saddle, handlebars and brake. Praise Eddy, is the ride nice! Now I know why people love that Reynolds 531c so much....

Fine commute today. Had a dentist appt. at 7:30, stopped there on my way in. Then rode the last 1/2 mile of the commute with my coworker down the hall.

Yesterday's afternoon commute had one incident. I was in the only bike lane on my route, approaching an intersection where I turn right. I signalled my right turn and felt a van approach me from behind, slowing. "Uh oh", I thought. Sure enough, the shmuck passes me just before the intersection and turns right. Now, he did swing a little wide, but it was still completely unnecessary.

I yelled, "WTF are you doing?". He moved further left and then waved at me (I don't know what that was meant to tell me. Sorry? Move over?).

Here's the amusing part. The car behind the van passed me a second or two later. On the back of the car was a huge bumper sticker that read, "SEE BICYCLES!" I was tempted to ask the car's driver to catch the van and educate him. :(

Today I felt much better. No more burning lungs, although I was breathing hard. Had a 19.3mph average today and didn't need to sit down to recover when I got to work. I also felt my comfort zone coming back, feeling right on the bike vs. being perched on a tippy stool like it felt like the first mile yesterday.

Still its strange to be riding ~5mph slower, but feeling worse than I did when going faster, even for much further distances. It is a reminder that when I get back to that space, that to get beyond it I need to feel as bad I as I do riding now.

Al

Al, your previous average commute speed was 24 mph? Impressive!

Commuted with my brand spankin' new panniers today. What a feeling of freedom it is to have my back free of weight.

No, it was ~21mph. But to gain a 2mph average I need to ride ~5mph faster between lights.

Al

Today was the first commute with the brooks saddle. So far i like how it forces you on your sit bones, but since my commut eis only about 1.8 miles it wasn't a thorough testing period. after work today i will probably go for a longer ride to test it out.

All this week I have asked the city to clear a side walk that I and other commuters take for their rides. Yesterday the dirt and sand was removed but it rained last night and filled up the sidewalk again, so I had another morning ride in the mud. I am different than most of you commuters as I don't use the streets to commute, unless it is a side street. So the sidewalks and bikeways are my commute everyday. Look at my videos and see what I mean.

I only ride 2.6 miles to work and most of it is on a hike and bike trail at an average of 10 mph. Nice rides most everyday, and today it was good. A few puddles and some mud to get the bike dirty again but it was all good.

"May the traffic be with you all"

It was dark this morning when I left. My boyfriend came with me for the first part of my commute. I had a headlight, taillight, reflective vest, and helmet on. He had headlight, taillight, and helmet. We always ride single-file with me in front. We get to a stop sign and there's a bus coming from the cross direction, so I came to a stop and then went after the bus. About halfway through the intersection I saw something I couldn't believe. A woman was coming from the right on a black road bike, dressed all in black, without a helmet, and without any lights (or even any reflectors that I could see)! My boyfriend nearly collided with her because HE COULDN'T SEE HER (duh). And she had the audacity to come to a screeching halt and glare at him like he was the idiot who almost caused the near-accident. :eek:
All I can figure is that she must want to be hit. I can't imagine many stupider things...

Yay! have job again! First "commute" in almost 2 months. Have been riding, but you can't call it a commute if you're not going to work, right?

New commute is about 17.5 km, I have an earlier start than I'm used to and with todays sudden taste of impending Autumn weather, the 5C/40F was a little bit of a supprise too.

About 2/3 is along pathways along the Nose Creek and Bow River, the road sections are not the best from a bicycle perspective, but the timing is such that there is not a lot of traffic to contend with. The job seems OK as well. Bonus! Fridays they buy lunch in for us and as it was one of the girls birthday there was ice cream cake as well! :D

Got buzzed by a garbage truck on the way home. No reason for it. He just didn't want to get over. Plus it was hot, sunny and humid. That kind of weather really slows me down.

Today was a good day. A pick up was going slow, and I going at about 45km/h passed it. At the next light the window rolled down. I was expecting some kind of JAM comment, but the two guys smiled and said I must have broke some land speed record. We made some small talk and I went on my way. It was my first conversation with an NJAM (not JAM).

Lots of rain around here lately. On the ride in one of my roads was closed off because of flooding. I rode through anyway. A motorist going the other direction dropped his window and asked me if I he could get through. I said yes but later realized I should have said "only if you're on a bike". haha

On the ride home I seen a baby turtle slowly crossing the road. I quickly stopped to take her(?) to safety. A large SUV almost turned her into turtle pizza right before I got there. She stopped and pulled her head in just in time! Yeah!!! One more happy turtle in the world!

Then after crossing a bridge over a stream in a state park on the ride home, I had to ride through the water that overflowed onto the trail. While riding through 8 inches of water, I seen a Black Bullhead swimming next to my front wheel! Way cool.

Way cool indeed! GJ with the turtle, now don't forget to re-lube everything that got soaked. :)

Only significant event yesterday was that a yellow jacket flew inside my glasses and stung me under the eye... I squashed it but not before the bug stung me right over the eyebrow as well. After that I looked like a boxer after a fight... Other than that, all was well. :D

Oh, and today I almost swallowed another one... hit me hard on the upper lip as I was moving along at about 20mph. Maybe I need one of those fencing masks? LOL!

GreenAnvil

Hello everyone!

Lovely commute today - beautiful sunny weather here in Sydney, not too hot - makes a nice change from the recent rain.

Even better was that the traffic was quite snarled up on the freeway - makes being on the bike even more sweet when you can cruise past the drivers getting sweaty and agitated in their metal cages whilst enjoying the lovely weather!

I agree. Nothing like starting the day off already having achieved a significant accomplishment!

Forgot to mention Tuesday morning's ride. My buddy from NYC was in town and he came along for the ride. At mid-point, a buck with large antlers slowly ambled across the bike path. On the way back near the end of our ride, a young fawn stood on the trailside and watched us ride by. In three years, the first two deer I spot on the trail, and both on the same ride a couple of hours and just 15 or so miles apart. This in metro Sacramento.

Cool!

Interesting commute...very early.
Suffering from insomnia today, so after 2 hours of tossing and turning and trying to get back to sleep, I decided to go ahead an come into the office. Took the long way which includes about 4 or 5 miles on the Alpharetta Greenway (a MUP). Bunnies everywhere! and half of them wanted to commit suicide by running in front of a bicycle. I mean these things were everywhere and fearless too.
Other than that, an uneventful commute.

We finally got some rain yesterday afternoon after the hottest and nearly driest August on record. So the temperature was a little cooler this morning but it was also extremely humid. My eyeglasses were totally covered in sweat by the halfway point on my commute. School starts today, so the traffic was heavier and schoolbuses back on the road. The bus drivers are maintaining their reputation as the rudest drivers toward cyclists as one of them made a left turn right in front of me, causing me to hit the brakes to avoid hitting it broadside. I guess he was trying to give the kiddies some entertainment. The days are definitely getting shorter, and I started using a white LED blinky on the front of my bike last week. I'll probably install the old Cygolite before my next commute as the LED went out for some reason during my ride this morning even though the batteries are fine.

First commute for me since last Tuesday. I was in DC on a mini-vacation while my wife was doing work things. I gotta hand it to you DC riders. Saturday I saw 101(!) degrees. And the humidity! OMG. Got back to Vermont yesterday and it was 68. What a relief.

Nice ride today. 60F, no wind. Blue sky. No other riders out and about. :(

Friday's ride home was pretty neat. I was getting hungry so I stopped at a park bench to down a Clif Bar. Another commuter was stopping at the same time. It was my first conversation with another commuter ever. This guy was full time, 10 miles each way. He told me that he's lost 100 lbs cycle commuting. I offered my hand in a congratulatory handshake. When I got home, I got off my road bike and went immediately for a family ride on the mountain bike. It was a weird transition and I was quite uncomfortable for the first mile or so. Great ride, just beat home a major thunderstorm and cracked 1,000 miles for the season on that ride.

This morning was good. Rode the 29'R. Saw some deer. The heat did'nt hit until I rolled up to the front of the office.