As I was pedalling slowly up a hill on the way home I noticed a disgusting odor. Shortly thereafter I came upon a small pile of intestines in the moddle of the road. No sign of a carcass. Just a pile of smelly guts.

I forgot to tell the tale of my ride home yesterday. :o I stopped in a little area off the MUP to fiddle with my seat rails. As I was putting away my hex wrench, a guy I've seen a lot comes in. I think he's homeless or at least hard up for cash. He's always riding his old bike with a plastic garbage bag full of empty cans & bottles.

He says to me, "That sure is a nice bike. I'll never have a bike that nice. I bet it's expensive. How much is it? Two hundred dollars?"

(This is the '05 Trek Liquid 25... 4-figure MSRP.)

I said, "It's a little more than that!" :D

He repeated how nice it was and I said it is nice and it does everything I want it to do. Then we said our goodbyes and off I went.

Saw him again today, but I don't think he recognizes me even though I see him daily-ish. Seems like a nice guy. I always wonder what his deal is.

Crash!
 

Well today's commute went terrible... actually come to think of it my day went terrible. On the way to work my back blinkie light fell off and smashed into a million pieces. Then at coffee break I bit into a nectarine, my front tooth glanced off the pit and snap, I chipped my tooth pretty badly. After that on the way home I took the same route, 50 % road 45% bike path and 5% dirt trail...Well on the way down the steep dirt trail (I was going too fast) I happened to catch my front wheel in a rut and went and pulled a header. Rolled in the hard pack dirt and got some scrapes on my forearm, elbow and a quarter of my back. Luckily my helmet was on because when I rolled my head was driven into the dirt. Well the helmet has a tiny hole in it from a small rock, my handebars were bent around, the rear derailler didn't work anymore...this all happened .25 of the way home. I recently put slicks on my bike and I think these didn't help my situation...So I called my Wife, said I would be late and limped home on my damaged 1982 Norco Pinnacle. I got home, took the bike apart, checked it over tightened everything, took the rear derailler apart, cleaned it, lubed it and put everything back together. The old clunker still runs! Yay! I can't afford a new bike right now. Incidentally, fenders are great in the rain but in this situation I swear they did not help and perhaps caused more trouble than anything. They got all caught up in the wheel in the rutt...well the fenders didn't break but I am not sure if I want them back on my bike. Only if I ride in the rain.

Bad things happen in three's and today I had three...so I should be okay for a while.

I am anxious to get back on the old clunker Tuesday and commute again but this time slower.

Re: headlight...
 

I found a fantastic headlight at Mountain Equipment Coop...it is a MEC Shark One Watt LED that and a Blinkie Planet Bike "Super Flash" for the back. Man they are super bright...got both for around $25...well worth it so traffic can see me now.

First day back in the saddle. Nice commute, Tons of traffic. 18 miles round trip, a little longer commute than i thought. No turning back now.

I love reading people's commute stories in the morning. Good days, bad days; we all have 'em.

Nice ride in for me this morning. I haven't changed gear for over a week now. I think I'm starting to get a singlespeed fetish. Hmmmm..!

Another nice ride. Had a driver almost sideswipe me as he took a right turn in front of me (not a right hook, but him turning right into my lane of travel). I anticpated his move though, so no problem. He tried to pass me on the right only to realize that there was no lane there, so then he had to slam his brakes on and pass me on the left....bonehead. I actually saw another bike commuter out in the darkness too. On a recumbent no less!! It's unusual for me to see any other cyclist at ~6:00, but to see a 'bent isextremely rare, probably only the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen one on my commute in ~ 7 years.

Great ride in this morning. Had a personal best time of 37 minutes for 8.7 miles (14.1 mph). No drawbridge today. I hope the ride home is just as fast.

Nice ride this morning. Sunny, mid 50sF, tailwind. I was cruisin over 20MPH on the Liquid, not working hard at all. :eek: I tuned up the bike yesterday. Tweaked the front der and lubed up the chain with a new bottle of ProLink. The bike rides super-quiet now. Just the hiss of the tires and the wind in my ears.

Another cool morning commute. Yesterday was by far the coolest morning in a long time, I actually wore a short sleeved shirt instead of my sleeveless jersey. Traffic was back to normal this morning, it was very nice yesterday with hardly any traffic out. I extended my ride home last night from 8 to 12 miles, just enjoying the nice weather. Heat comes back today and the rest of the week though, into the mid 90s.

Very nice commute in. The temperature here has finally begun moderating from the 100+ degrees we had through most of August. Traffic seemed backed up on my usual route across I-20 so I took an alternate route.

I had a good ride in today. It was my first commute on the new bike.

This is my first hybrid (I normally use a road bike) so it felt a little odd (not bad just odd).


Took about 2 minutes longer than usual (around 39 minute instead of 37). I think I need to raise the seat about an inch and the rear shifting was a little off. ( I will stop by the LBS on the way home to adjust the rear derailleur ).

All in all though, a good maiden voyage.

Nice ride this morning; short but the weather was wonderful. I hope to be back to my regular schedule after battling allergies and tiredness the last couple of weeks.

GreenAnvil

Crappy ride. Was dropped off at work in the car. I don't know how car people do it. At one point two lanes had to merge into one due to construction - what a mess. On the bike it would have been smooth sailing all the way up to the front.

I'm glad I ride in while most of these people (suckers) are still sleeping, nice quiet roads... and now with school starting the idiots are going to all come out of the woodwork at once (where have they been hiding?) so we'll have to be extra careful out there.

Nice ride in today. Only my 3rd commute in last 5 weeks, since I was out of town on business/training for most of August, and I'm slowly getting back in shape. What is it about September? A ton of riders out this morning -- there were 10 of us stopped at one traffic light. I noticed this last year too. Was it too hot for them in August or did everyone get a new bike on Labor Day? Interesting...

I rode 108 miles on Saturday using my Tarmac. 8000+ feet of elevation gain and some gnarly descents.
So, I make it all of 12 miles out of 28 this morning on my touring bike and my rear tire's casing completely failed. Tried to boot it and blew out my spare tube. Then walked a few miles to the light rail station. Oh well. Such is life.
Going to take my tires off of the Tarmac and use them instead. Time for the next Tarmac upgrade I had planned.

The ride was fine this morning, maybe a little cool, I had one person beep at me. But it seemed more a I am here beep than a full blast on the horn. I waved and continued to ride to work. Tha is when all the problems started. I normaly keep my work clothes at work. But I used my last pants last week. I did remember to bring in some, but they turned out to be my sons! Too short in length by 2 " and to small in the waist by 4" I did have some jeans at work, so I am staying in my office all day if I can.....

Warm this morning but a nice tail wind. Traffic not as heavy as I expected, but I was a bit later then usual.

90's forecast for the ride home.

From yesterday's ride (I was in the cage today).

Dead Skunk
( Loudon Wainwright III )

Crossin' the highway late last night
He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right
He didn't see the station wagon car
The skunk got squashed and there you are!

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Take a whiff on me, that ain't no rose!
Roll up yer window and hold yer nose
You don't have to look and you don't have to see
'Cause you can feel it in your olfactory

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Yeah you got yer dead cat and you got yer dead dog
On a moonlight night you got yer dead toad frog
Got yer dead rabbit and yer dead raccoon
The blood and the guts they're gonna make you swoon!
You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

C'mon stink!

You got it!
It's dead, it's in the middle
Dead skunk in the middle!
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high heaven!
All over the road, technicolor man!
Oh, you got pollution
It's dead, it's in the middle
And it's stinkin' to high, high Heaven!

I had a very strange start to my ride. Just 200 meters from home is a 4 way stop. I make a left turn there. This morning I arrived at the intersection at the same time as two cars, one on my right and one facing me. I was hovering, with my left hand out to indicate my direction. Both drivers kindly waved me through. I was just turning into the left side of the road when driver in front took off, making me swerve right to save my skin. As he went by he was flipping me the bird and laughing! I'm very happy that I don't know this mutt but I feel sorry for everybody who does.

Took the commuter out for a fairly long ride to and from practice yesterday. This morning I pulled her off the hanger in the garage and knew immediately something was wrong. Yep. Flat tire (rear, of course). Despite not having changed a tire in a while--and never having changed one on the new commuter--it went quick and painless, about 10 minutes.

The delay sucked because I was already running late, and now ran into the long line of cars waiting for the light near my development. After having nearly been right-hooked filtering there once before, I don't filter there anymore. It took me about 5 minutes to go the 1/4 mile to the light. The rest of the ride was uneventful.

A woman in an older Lexus honked and yelled at me. At the light, I rode up to the passenger window and said "I'm sorry. I didn't hear you."

She said, "You were right on the line." The bike lane line, I assumed.

I said, "Yes, I was. Thanks for noticing. I ride there to keep out of the door zone."

Silence.

He probably lives near you. If you're one to hold a grudge you could break off his mirrors tonight and ride off laughing :)

Stupid to do that in the 'hood where you live.

Such a beautiful biking day today! Gorgeous cool weather. The traffic was amazing: very light in some places and so heavy in others that it was basically stopped and I could do lane-splitting, woo-hoo! Both are great. :)

Fortunately I was not in an irritated mood today.
I booted my trashed tire and rode to the light rail and from the light rail to REI. Nice and slow.
Picked up and installed new tire.

On the way home I was tore up by a 50 something dude in lycra on an upright MTB. Maybe doing something like 25 mpg. Anyhow, my front tire flatted shortly after that and I was riding in normal clothes in a wind storm. I could use those excuses but in reality he handed it to me. Gives me hope for my future.
Now to find a new front tire this weekend. :rolleyes:
Worthless worn out specialized tires.