The UN General Assembly's got traffic all whacked out which actually worked in my favor. Had some clear streets to myself and the president's motorcade which was waiting out front of the Waldorf Astoria.

Incident-free, just the way I like it. I really need to wash my biking jacket. It stinks!

Suddenly much cooler today. I need to find some leg warmers or some such.

Damp. Love the Cascadia fenders! Otherwise fine. I'm suffering from headlight inadequacy, possibly just perceived. Maybe just a flasher to accompany the steady halo will suffice.

Oh yes, today was the maiden voyage of the 1W LED headlight and superflash tail light for my son's 16" bike (his commuter, 4 blocks to school). Big hit.

Cooler this morning, so it was a nice ride in. Supposed to reach about 90 again this afternoon, another hot ride home. I almost ran over some kids who ran out in front of me on my way home. They came running down their driveway and didn't stop crossing the street, I had to brake hard to avoid them.

Didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning or like cycling to work. My wife told me I was being a wuss, so I rode in. I felt better after a few miles and was glad I rode today.

Took some work to get out of the nice warm bed and get onto the bike this am. 42F is starting to be pretty cool in the mornings. First day of leg warmers, fleece cap, and long sleve tshirt under the windbreaker. When it gets to 36F or so it will be windproof tights.

Once I actually get on the bike, I'm always glad I did...It was such a nice morning for a ride.

Time to replace the battery in the outdoor temp sensor for my thermometer. Can't really rely on morning weather report for accurate temperature for some reason. They must be getting readings from another county or something.

Another perfect day to ride a bike. Cool, clear, and calm.

Knee cap is recovering steadily and I road 24miles round trip today. Very tired on the return ride.

ugh..................I'm so happy I'm off Thurs & Fri......I got a snoot full of exhaust and an earful of police car siren all the way up 6th ave. tonight.....this was after getting stopped on my normal route home last night (up 1st ave past the UN......I'd hoped the day's business woulda been over by 6.....)

great weather lately. it's going to be really warm tomorrow. feels like summer weather.

nice ride home today met my wife part way home and we did the ride together. nice.

I Hate High Heahwind For 9 Miles!!!!

Today I decided I wanted to go fast. I put a larger seatbag and lights on my Merckx AX and left my commuter bike in the garage. It was a great morning for fast ride, with temps in the mid-60s and no threat of rain. I actually saw another bike commuter for the first time as I was leaving me neighborhood, but he turned off another way before I could catch him. I was hoping to talk to him as I'm one of the few lonely souls bike commuting in my part of the city. Kept a fast pace all the way to work, despite catching the usual red lights, and finished my 10-mile morning leg about 3 mph and 6 minutes faster than usual. That was fun, and I think I'll stretch out my afternoon commute to 20 miles or so.

I tuned my derailers and lubed the chain and pumped up the tires last night and it ran like a new bike. I really should do that more often than once every 3 months.

Coming home yesterday, I got held up by another motorcade for some other bigwigs. The cops stopped traffic so the motorcade could make a U-turn and block up the street. The secret service agents and foreign security agents wandered around keeping an eye on things while the delegation from wherever took their time getting to their cars. I was tempted to just slip through til I saw the cops blocking pedestrians from crossing.

This morning another motorcade was hanging around the Waldorf so I guess the prez is still in town. With all the cops hanging around, it made running reds easier because drivers were on their best behavior.

On yesterday's evening commute i drafted behind a backhoe. It was awesome because i was riding into a strong headwind, i was struggling to do 20kph (slow). The backhoe was wheeled and was doing 40kph. Drafting behind a vehicle like that is better than any tail wind because your usually riding faster than a tail wind anyway... it was awesome. (Although you have to have a death grip on the brakes).

Now this morning's commute introduced a new road hazard: Politicians, or their supporters anyway. I ride through a small town in the midst of a heated mayoral campain and they're taking to the streets, or rather the shoulders to wave at the passing cages. Something else to dodge i guess.

The CBC lied about the temperature this morning. +8C my ass! My fingers were frozen before I go to the halfway mark on my ride. It's supposed to be sunny and warm the rest of the day, so I'll extend my ride on the way home.

Unseasonably warm this morning. This was probably my last "Summer" morning ride.

Wearing only bike shorts and reflective vest – feeling almost naked – riding in the dark towards a big, full, yellow moon. I could hear the deer rustling in the surrounding woods.

Life is good!

Overdressed and managed to hit every single red light on my route in today.

Last few commutes have been fairly incident free. On the way home from my daughters last night, had a *very* close call with a door...

I had no time to think, I just reacted instinctively (slight eye closure, body tensed, I naturally shifted left away, hit the brakes HARD (I only know because I remember feeling the back wheel locking), yelled a frightened and shocked scream) and found I was OK all in the space of about 2 seconds. It happened so fast that I didn't even have time to get angry, I just carried on - it was crazy.

My camera didn't even pick out the door, as I was already too close to it when it opened on me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3sFA6syGyY

I have a video uploading for my 'scenic' route which I took this morning, I'll post once done.

Short. Just out to Thing 1's grade school (4 blocks) and back, to wait for contractors.

there's a right-turn on red that I have to hit every time on my way to work and I had to stop because a tanker truck, taking up the entire right turn lane, needed to wait for a green before it could get the necessary clearance to make the turn.

First time in three years on this route that I've had to stop at that light. Proceeded to get snagged by every single red between home and work.

In the plus column, I started my ride by pacing then passing this young lady on a hybrid with basket panniers. We split paths after a couple of blocks, then two miles later, she joined my route a few blocks ahead of me. I caught up to her and said, "obviously I don't know all the shortcuts yet" and she was very happy to describe this nifty little back route that had no stop signs or lights. So, hooray for friendly neighbors!

I havent ridden into work all week because I got fired. I start at a new place on Friday though. Its a little closer and they seem to be cool with my commuting choices, so thats good.

I left early and got a photo of the moon at 6:23 AM this morning. First cool ride in this season.

It was pretty good except for the part where the bird flew into me and scared me half to death on the MUP this morning. He came from the field on my left, missed my left leg, flew through the triangle of the bike knocking my water bottle half out of the cage and then bounced off the inside of my right leg into the corn field on my right.

I think both of us came out of it unscathed but certainly freaked out. lol

Ride home was actually one of the best I have had in a long time. I ride so much better when the temp drops into the 70ies.