20 miles in, 20 miles back. Dark in the morning, drivers going nuts in the afternoon. Life is good.

Been back to my usual ways lately, commuted on my bike everyday. Beautiful weather lately...Just got my freddy fenders today but don't think they'll be more for looks than function as it never rains no more in NC...The more I ride my Motobecane Jubillee Sport, the more I love her...

Loved my commute today. Leg burn is fading! I'm having alot of fun! I broke 20mph today!

the ride home got me a little upset. I was cut off before a narrow section of road where there is barely room for one car let alone one car and a bicycle. I wouldn't have minded except for the way that he waited till the last second to try and pass me and he came dangerously close to me. I yelled something like, "watch out, I have the right of way here" and I might have included an expletive in my moment of heightened adrenaline. He instantly slams on his brakes right in front of me, and I swerve around his car on the right side (luckily the road had widened slightly by this point to allow room for me on the right) and he keeps rolling next to me for a minute, pulling his cell phone away from his ear to start yelling at me (keep in mind that it is illegal in NY to use a cell phone and drive unless it is a hands-free device, which it wasn't).

jerk in car on cell phone -"What?! am I not supposed to pass you?!" (expletives deleted)

me - "You're too close, I need some room!" (expletives deleted)

Something along those lines, the exact dialogue escapes me at this point. Soon after this exchange he came up on a long line of cars waiting behind a car turning left, and had to stop. I passed him and he yelled something else at me. I kept going along the side and I got pretty far away. As I was coming up to my street, I signaled a turn and took it. He had finally caught up to me (undoubtedly by speeding as fast as he could to catch up) and took his last opportunity to yell something at me, "nice signal!" (expletive deleted).

It took me about an hour after I got home to calm down. I was upset first that I almost got hit twice by him, then because he had been such a jerk afterwards, and then because I realized that I had escalated the situation by yelling at him, by just trying to make a statement in defense of my right to the road. I am feeling better now, I just wish I had been able to clearly state to him, "it wasn't safe for you to pass me like that, and you endangered my life, which I do not appreciate. Please be more careful in the future, and do not pass if there isn't room. Thank you and have a nice day." How do you get that across in a couple seconds?

anyway, I am done venting, I am sure you all have similar incidents, and it's something I can look forward to happening again. But other than that, I had a great ride today.

Getting dark around 7PM so my commute home is getting interesting at 7:15. Been using my road bike a lot and seeing the road surface is a little sketchy, even with my NightSun helmet light. I also own 30 watts of handle bar NightSun but resist hanging that from my dropped bars. Style man style!

had a bad driver interaction tonight. wish I'd used my cell phone to catch a photo of him flipping me off from his SUV would have loved to post it in here with a picture of his license plate. Warning other Boston Cyclists to watch for this arrogant JAM. This guy bordered on using his vehicle as a weapon- jamming on his brakes at one point and throwing the vehicle in reverse in an attempt to frighten me. I never quite figured out what he was so PO'd about as I had passed him on the inside lane, stopped at the light and then went on green. Somehow this prompted him to lean on his horn, gun his engine and flip me the bird.WTF?

Nevertheless managed to have a pleasant ride home after that.

Lovely albeit chilly weather this morning. Little traffic, no wind. Commuted by bike 5 out of 5 days this week. 156 miles. Surely feels good, although a weekend's rest is welcome for some recovery.

It was foggy riding into work today, and I had to remove my glasses about half way in so I could see. Almost hit a jogger wearing dark clothes with no lights or reflective gear. The guy was running right toward me in the road with no street lights. Fortunately I have a good light system and was paying attention. I saw about 5-6 joggers on the ride in this morning and none of them were wearing bright clothes, lights or reflective gear. Guess I need to get a bell.

This morning's was another one of those rides where all the planets seem lined up and everything is right with the world. It's Friday, for one thing. No wind. No clouds. Some haze in the air. The sun coming up over the Green Mountains was lighting up the Adirondacks with a red glow. The air was cool (50-ish). I ran into (not literally) a woman on an MTB with panniers at an intersection and followed her for a couple miles, then passed. We exchanged friendly comments about what a nice morning it is. Lots of geese floating in the lake.

Then a cop was driving his car northbound on the MUP for some reason. I darted off onto the dirt shoulder and he moved to his right. I waved as I scooted past him. Not sure what he was up to.

Just before I got to work I smelled bacon. Mmmmmm.

My usual traffic just wasn't there this morning. I mean it was like a ghost town! I'm guessing it was because of the late night college football game in town last night. When I cycled through campus this morning, I had to ring my bell a lot - the students were everywhere and not paying the least bit of attention to their surroundings.

No ride today, actually this will be the first week in a while that won't be an "all ride week" for me. The bike is on top of the car and we'll be leaving for the Eastern shore and the Seagull Century around 1 this afternoon. I wanted to give my legs a day off in preparation. I also changed out my 35's for 28's, stripped the bike of fenders and lights so the last couple of commutes have been fast and nearly effortless. I'll change it back to commuter mode on Monday for next week.

Sorry to hear about your altercation. It's so hard not to get angry and lash out. I've learned the hard way to keep my mouth shut, though. I've found out that people that scream at strangers on bikes ARE insane. At the risk of starting a war, I would advise taking the lane to prevent this situation. I do it on short narrow bridges and I haven't gotten any complaints.

No ride for me either today--Regional Championships for Ultimate Frisbee are tomorrow in DE. I wanted to give my legs one day of rest, and have to run several errands before I get on the road.

How addictive is commuting? I'd planned to take 3 days off the bike to rest my legs. Then it was 2. But I just couldn't give up the chances to ride.

Commute was WET! this morning. My manager and friend at the LBS gave me his HID to use until my TriNewt comes in and I commented that every time I upgrade my safety/visibility equipment, I have a close call. Sure enough, I had some guy in a van nearly run me over this morning merging lanes. I looked back at the van, stuck my arm out and started to merge over and the next thing I know he's right beside me in the lane inches away from me and the traffic in the next lane. I know he saw me because I have a flashing 15 Watt halogen on my helmet. Here in the dirty South, drivers are accustomed to speeding up and bridging the gap when they see somebody turn on their turn signal. I guess he figured I would just wait there with my arm stuck out like a scarecrow while he sped past me. I did get a little angry and stuck my arm out three times in front of him like a turn signal when he finally put on the brakes. He hollared something short out the window when he passed and I just ignored him but the adrenaline was pumping hard!

I was covered in road grit when I got in and so I hosed off the bike and got into the shower bike clothes and all. Amazingly, it all rinsed out.

Not much commuting this week. Things have gotten VERY slow at the bike shop. I rode to work Monday and Tuesday but didn't work Wednesday, Thursday, or today.
No work = No commuting = Smaller paycheck.
And with this crappy off and on rain we've had for the last few days I haven't even gone out for an enjoyable ride on my road bike.

Humid but fun.

Got honked at by someone when I took the lane and refused to let them right-hook me. I'll take a honk over a hook every day.

Most of my ride was great. The weather is a little warmer, I stopped and removed my windbreaker. The fog they were talking about on the TV was not around and the traffic was light. I was almost to work and I just needed to cross Mound Road at 17 mile. I was in the right lane and the turn lane was full of cars, some bozo in a SUV comes around my left side and cuts me off to get into the turn lane. What, he could not wait 5 seconds for me to pass and then pull into a stopped line of cars for the red light???I did not hit him, but I did give my disc brakes a workout. I was hoping that he would pull into GDLS and I could talk to him, but he was not a fellow employee.

took the cruiser this morning. After my harrowing ride home last night I decided it would be more fun to slowly roll in, sticking to the sidewalks (the only time I can justify riding on the sidewalks is when I am rolling on a rusty old single speed cruiser). It's much less stressful than being on the road with crazy rochester drivers, and I can wear my fun vintage driving cap to match my vintage bike.

Nice ride in today. No trailer to daycare, just co-bike w/ 6 yr old to his school, so less traffic. My tension level w/ traffic had been building all week, good to get a break.

Another really fine day! 65f, no wind, clear. A bit of fog in low spots, but not on the road. Quite scenic really looking down from the slightly higher road over the top of the fog. Forecast is for mid 80's this afternoon with a tail wind.

Traffic was a bit heavy for friday, but I was a little early and was just hitting the school traffic.

Weather's been cooling off a bit here. Due to that and a co-worker's interest in bike commuting, I was finally motivated to ride twice this week, my first bike commutes in a few weeks (getting a motor scooter was a big setback there - hard to beat for efficiency and ease of commute!). Wednesday I rode my 1965 Czech-made Velamos 3 speed. The commute (14 miles R/T) is the longest ride I've ever taken it on and made me realize just how hard its seat is and just how much I need more than 3 gears. Still great for a quick trip to the corner store though. Decided to nickname it "Tenbukthree," reflecting what I paid for it and how many speeds it has.

Today I rode the much more efficient "550buk7" (a reformed 1986 Trek). What a joy to ride! Whew!

Next week it's creeping back up to the 90s, so I'll probably wuss out and go back to the scooter for the week.

Yesterday was great. Real cold in the morning so I put my 25 year old irreplaceable silk balaclava over my bald head. About 2/3 of the way there, I stopped at a red light, removed it and put it in my jersey pocket...I thought. Turns out I put in between the pocket and the hip belt on my backpack. I didn't realize it was gone till 5pm when I went out again. Looked for it all the way and Found It about 5 feet from where I dropped it.

I also found a real good $20.00 Purby 3" paint brush.

Third day this week I was able to meet up with my old riding buddy for an out-and-back tempo ride. Which means it's Friday and I already have 120 miles for the week. Awesome.

*** Nothing more to say other than we've been there. Especially the NY, CT area drivers. I've had cans thrown at me, cirgarette butts flicked at me, screamed at, drivers try to get within inches of me. Only consolation I can think of is ... glad I'm not them!. Ride on!

Today was my first wet riding on my road bike. I really didn't mind at all, albiet, it was warm and only slightly drizzling but still wet. I am 3/5 commuting this week. I feel so damn good when I get to work that I am really starting to dig it. I also believed that I wouldn't commute unless I left the house by 6 due to the traffic but I got my latest start today and all the cars were fine! I will say that the earlier the better though. I like the solitude of the earl morning commute. I've got this Monday off but my legs will see plenty of miles by my road and mountain bike.