Right on tar! You've got a great attitude. It can be tough not being angry, car after car whizzing past you. But you know that you are fit and strong and saving money and doing your part to save the planet.

I am about to ride the Townie 21 700c back to the shop. Shifting was all whacked on the ride home last night, so I clamped in my stand in the garage and got it dialed in perfect. From home to the shop is almost all downhill or flat, so I am looking forward to seeing how fast this Townie can fly. It is a gorgeous sunny late Summer day, 56 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade and I off I go!

I wore my light jacket today for the first time this fall. Weather's getting cooler now.

This morning, nice.
Last night, wrecked in a turn at 20+mph. *mental note...don't try and corner a 700c tire like a 26x1.25 slick tire.
Tore off a vintage/original campy brake hood, scuffed my brakes something fierce, ruined a shirt, pair of slacks, and got nasty road rash in several spots. Could have been worse though. A nice runner helped me get it together after.

Yikes!! Careful out there.

First ride this week. Nice and mellow ride in. The only downside was finding my bike locker blocked by a scissors lift. I found the construction supervisor and he was very apologetic and they moved it pretty quickly. Still..... We get no respect, no respect at all!

perfect weather today- I flew in today on a crisp, clear, bright gorgeous day.

I am convinced the biggest jackass bikers in the DC area only ride when the temp is b/w 70F and 80F with low humidity, because 3 of my 4 rides home this week have been annoying as all hell.

1. Stopped at the Gallows Rd crossing at WOD trail, heading east. Kid on a nice road bike there as well. He takes off and I pass him on the uphill to Virginia Ave. He proceeds to then blow past me on the next road crossing once he sees when I can get through it. I pass him again, again he squeaks by me on next crossing, with multiple bike/foot traffic coming the other way. 3 or 4 times of this before I finally peel off and take the roads home.

2. Similar situation, a kid on a road bike blows past me at the Virginia Ave/Shreve crossing tonight, no helmet nothing, he's cranking in his big ring, throwing the bike left and right like an endgame sprint in the TDF. Nect road crossing I'm about 15 feet off his wheel and slowing, and he just blows thru the road (into traffic both ways, at least one of whom had zero intention of stopping.) I stop and let the few cars go through, shrugging my shoulders at the cagers. Next couple crossings- same sh1t! At one point he blows right in front of a car that was definitely not stopping. If my buddy from the other night had been "timing" this kid's crossings, we woulda been roadkill.

3. Numerous, numerous Ipod joggers, clueless bikers, and rollerbladers who cannot understand (or even hear, sometimes) the concept I am broadcasting when I yell passing left.

Ah, well, I guess this is the tradeoff for beautiful crisp morning rides to the office.

Upper 50s, with a 30MPH gusting headwind blowing off Lake Champlain, and some jerk made me work hard to reel him in! The nerve of some people to ride fast! Wound up being a fast ride despite the wind. I finally "caught" him at a red light and we complained about the wind. I rode up the hill with him and peeled off into my building.

Before all that, I went by one of the "trail regulars", an older woman I see out walking every day, and she said, "Was that you riding on College Street yesterday around 4:15?" My first reaction was to scan my memory for anything untoward I might have done to attract attention. Apparently I rode by her apartment.

Perfect ride in this morning. Weather just right. I received my alert shirts so I was a bit more visible, and thus more confident on the busier sections of the ride.

Life is Good.

Drove my Ranger to work today as it was time to stock up supplies and bring home the dirty laundry. I've also been riding a lot lately (300+ miles since Sept. 1), and wanted a recovery day before the long weekend rides. My office feels empty and lonely without my bike. I keep looking for it, but it's not there. Driving to work also feels strange after cycling so much. It actually feels more dangerous to me because I'm moving so much faster in heavier traffic with cars shifting lanes right and left. My bike commute route is mainly on backroads and neighborhood streets with very little traffic, quite the opposite of when I drive.

littlewaywelt - I'll bet the first thing you did was check out your bike. I can just imagine it:
jogger: Are you alright?
littlewaywelt: My bike!
jogger: sir, you're bleeding.
littlewaywelt: My brake lever's bent. Do you have any pliers?
jogger: Huh?

Tar, did any coworkers ask, "Where's your bike?"

Knuck -
Expect everyone to be subhuman idiots, but don't let them get you down. Just ignore them while you skillfully ride with intelligence and compassion. Stupid people can be exasperating, but they can also be amusing.

My ride ... I got air!!! Air out of a speedbump that is.

I cut thru an artsy/restaurant old building's parking lot every morning. Normally I have some Carpet company's vans attempt a 6 mph U-turn in front of me as I'm screaming through there (took the roadbike on a few commutes and noticed I can hit 24 mph before I come to ye old speedbump).

But today - another man was cutting thru the parking lot - he must have had blinders on cause he cut me off twice - idiot. So when he once more blocked my way and slowed to a near halt as he went over the speed bump - I had had it and sprinted by him, hit the speedbump (mtb) and got air - wheee.

hehe, I normally get that on jumps, etc - never a speedbump.

I love a good speedbump!

The ride in today was warmer than yesterday, and with less traffic! So, no problems at all, except bright sun - again.

Tude - you go girl

vtjim - you zoom

me - I'm riding the bruiser to the shop to swap out that front rack for a big milk crate.

^^^ Haha, i love that baseball bat in your photo, I don't think anyone would mess with a bike with that in the basket.

So I'm riding along at a pretty good clip and a I see a cat running along the road at my left... looking over his left shoulder and running right under my wheel. Takes me a little too long to realize he doesn't see me (it's about 5:20 AM, I'm bit groggy, and it's dark, so I figure he sees my headlight). I finally realize we're on a collision course and I hit the brakes and runs smack into my front wheel from the side. I yell "move!" and scoop him out of the way with my left foot. Cat runs away.

After the fact, I realized yelling at the cat, and using my foot, were completely gratuitous. I don't like cats, but I try not to kick them. So now I'm not at all sure why I had to do that; but at the time it seemed appropriate. Close call, though-- I haven't hit a cat since 1981!

I almost hit one this morning, as well. It was a half-grown critter that appeared to have been taking courses in sound decision-making techniques from the the local squirrel populace. No impact, or foot scoopage, required.

Mellow.

I'm just finishing up my first week as a slightly overweight, ex-smoker, 43-year-old bicycle commuter. I live in Beaverton, OR (suburb of Portland). I pretty much cross town for the trip, 6.6 miles each way. Fixed up my 1990 Diamond Back (it was two words back then) Ascent that's basically been sitting unridden for the last 16 years. Lubed the chain, adjusted the brakes and added fenders, a rear rack, front and back lights, a ton of reflective tape. The hills kicked my butt on the first couple of days, but for the last two days I made it up all my hills without using my lowest front gear (chainring?). Did a test run of the route Sunday, so by tonight I'll have 78 miles in for the week.

Best discovery: My commute used to take @20-25 minutes in rush hour traffic. Now takes @30-35 minutes on bike, and my times are going down as I get used to riding on hills again. Basically, I've added 20 minutes to my commute each day and gained an hour of the cardio that I really need.

Second best discovery: Metro publishes a bike map of Portland that is available at local book stores, and also as a free module for Google Earth. It contains all current and planned bike routes, and you can select what you want displayed (multi-use paths, bike lanes, Portland's bike "thoroughfares," lightly traveled streets, etc. You have to have Google Earth (free download) to use it. Once Google Earth is installed, just put the file on the desktop or other convenient place and pick File, Open. It will open to an overhead view of Portland with the map superimposed. The cool part is that it overlays the map on recent satellite images of Portland. The pictures are so detailed and clear that yoiu can actually see the bike lanes, railroad crossings, etc. In my backyard you can see that the hot tub was open and that the grill was out with somebody standing near it!

Third best discovery: the weekly Washington county insert of the Portland Oregonian devoted its cover story to alternative forms of commuting - its not just for Portland anymore!

Yesterday going home there was a car leaving a parking lot - I was in center of outside lane with hi-vis shirt, etc.

The car had a full ~80% transmission window screen mounted on the inside of the driver side window. I couldn't even tell if there was a driver inside, so I prepared for the worst. Sure enough they pulled right in front of me. I had no problem stopping in time as I was prepared, but it was a hard fast stop.

Al

Good situational awareness to keep your self out of harms way.

This morning's commute was great. It was cold and dark as I started and it was beautiful to see the sunrise through my commute. Wonderful.

This morning was freaking cold.

I actually wore 90% of my winter cycling clothes: tights, shorts, base layer, jersey,
winter cycling jacket, half finger gloves (should have been full) and I should have
placed plastic bags over my socked feet as my cycling shoes are geared for summer.

Not sure what temp it was when I left, all I know was on the return leg it was 41
degrees with winds gusting to 28 mph and it was freaking blustery - windchills
were at 34 degrees at the time I concluded the commute so it was definetely
cold. I need to prep my winter cycling booties for sure.

My bike has a bladed front fork and seatpost and the wind grabbed that thing
like a kite, I was riding at an angle to the road and nearly flew up in the air.

Sheesh.

Wow, what a change during the day! Morning commute: bright, hot and sunny. Evening commute: pouring rain with very very cold wind. With the rain on my glasses and the darkness I had trouble seeing some things on the road. A pedestrian scared me: he was wearing black clothes, crossing a dark street looking the direction opposite of where the traffic would be coming from. Yelled at him and startled him, but at least we did not collide. Wake up, dude!

On a separate note, I love the waterproofness of my messenger bag.

Injury time! Overstretched my hamstrings by stretching before a workout to prevent injuries. What irony!

Tried to bike a teensy weensy bit today and it was pretty painful. I had to lower my saddle quite a bit so as to avoid straightening my leg. 'Fraid I'll have to be off the bike for a while... In fact, I might even be confined to the house for the next few days, 'cause I can hardly even walk!

^^part of gettin older chephy. comes and goes, back in no time Nearly hit a cat. Folks in trailer court next to road were laughing. Not sure if at me or kitty. probably both Nokian studs ordered for winter wooHoo!!