No bike ride today. My legs could use a day off anyway....

Easy ride this morning, cooler now and I'm back in the swing of riding again, after taking a break to telecommute whilst my wife and I welcome our first child. He'll be trailered soon, thanks to craigslist.
Lit myself up like a christmas tree..reflectors and double lights front and rear, hi vis vest and ankle straps too.. guess I have even more reason to be seen now, though it seems to be a target to a few. Feels good to be back on two wheels and great to be a father.
Ride on.

My commute was awesome because I didn't have one and took my friend on her first off road ride... we had a blast as the day could not have been any nicer.

Great commute. Some poor soul tried to pass me on the left and I nearly pinned him to the curb. Didn't see him. Don't think he'll do that again!

Good commute Sunday even though I haven't been sleeping well and felt like a wrung-out dishrag at the start. I love it how I ALWAYS feel better once I'm on the bike. Mid to high 80's on the way in, moderate traffic once I got into town. Seemed a bit congested. Don't they ever stay home and watch the game?
Four hours later and I'm on the road again, low 80's, less traffic and I'm feeling livelier. Managed to push a bit harder on the way home. 13 miles in 46 min. with a fair amount of challenging terrain, honked on the shorter rollers. I love riding the bike to and from work. Makes me "feel strong like bull."
I may be changing jobs soon and will have to either figure out a non-hazardous route into downtown Nashville or give up bike commuting. I think I'll start searching for a bike-friendly route.

Had a blast this morning. Weather was super nice, and I left home a bit earlier than I usually do. Averaged 30 kms per hour, and arrived half an hour early, which means I can leave work a bit earlier as well if workload permits. Very nice.

Very nice ride in this AM. Hopefully today will be the last of the hot weather for the year-supposed to get up to 94F (34.4C). Saw an exceptionally thin sliver of moon rising just as I was arriving at work-very nice!!

Nice. Low 40s. Long sleeves. Shorts. ;) Not quite jacket weather yet.

So this guy comes out onto the MUP, walking his road bike, from a dirt path. He starts running with the bike. Then he flings himself onto it, clumsily gets his toes into his clips, then gets out of the saddle and starts sprinting. I thought he might give me a workout chasing him, but he never went that fast. Maybe 18-19MPH tops, and most of the time he was on the saddle at 15 or so. Once he looked back to see where I was. 50 feet behind him. :o He sprinted a few times but never went fast. I passed him when he dismounted to walk around standing water from the rain yesterday, then I didn't see him again.

I think he was coming up the hill behind me when I was at a red light but when the light turned green, I dropped whoever it was.

It is certainly hard to complain about the weather in NC with regards to bike commuting. (With regards to the drought, lawns, farms, water supply and everything else -- it's just plain terrible.) The temperature was right at 70 degrees riding to work and humidity relatively low. It's dark almost all the way to work now, and I like the added security I get from my lights. We set a record high yesterday and another record is expected today. This is the latest in the year Raleigh has ever had 90-degree temps, as long as they've been keeping records. Despite the heat, my ride home yesterday felt nice because the humidity was low and 90 degrees feels cool compared the 100s we were having in August. The morning lows are supposed to be down in the low 40s or high 30s later in the week, so that will be a real shock to the system.

Lovin the cooler weather - I feel more inspired to ride in it. High 50's this morning and overcast ... and with

<cue Jaws music>

... with full knowledge that when I leave here this afternoon - and thru Friday it will be all rain. Not bad today, but it will be Thursday & Friday that the weather will colder too.

So I dug out the rain/wind gear - and a bigger backpack so I'm ready!

Very nice. I actually overdressed with my l/s base layer. I was cold yesterday with the short sleeve and hot to day with the l/s. What to do. . . What to do.

I've really been slacking on my commuting this year, but I decided to take it back with a vengence today.

I left a little later than I am used to (left my house around 7 am; when riding i usually am at WORK by that time) which changed the traffic patterns, of course. No issues with drivers. However, due to being a little later, I encountered a lot of Wicker Park riders coming down Milwaukee. And frankly, they annoyed the hell out of me. Blowing red lights in front of traffic, doing the "five corners cross" (which doesn't help, but some people seem to think it saves them time. It doesn't), and at Chicago/Milwaukee, actually congregating in the middle of the intersection, against the light, as they waited for the light to change.

People like that really irritate me. As I've said before - just because you're on a bike doesn't mean you're any less of a ******.

But I still had a good ride in this morning :)

Felt like I was dragging an anchor behind me. The only change to my bike were the fenders I put on last night. I checked for tire rub and didn't notice any, so maybe it's my heavier than usual backpack.

Back after a week off the bike, and feeling good! My new commuter is coming together nicely, and I should have it done by the end of the week. It's pretty dark in the morning, so I really need to get my new light built up soon. For the moment a blinkie and quick reflexes will have to do... :(

Took a bunch of time off over the weekend, rode only about 20k with the trailer, which felt like a massive drag yesterday. Today felt like a breeze, even on my heavy MTB. Rain posed a nice change, and thanks once again to my fenders, kept me a LOT drier than I would've been (not to mention, it was just pure fun flying through puddles :D)

Oh yeah, this mornings ride was from the East (I took my daughter into preschool) and at 25 minutes, stands to be my PB from that area into work. Woo.

I got the battery pack for my homebrew lights, so I'm hoping to get that finished just in time (I need to figure a way of mounting the fixtures to the space-arm I have.. then I'm set!).

Picked up a radio flyer trike (with the 'helper' handle) yesterday off CL for my daughter, I'm psyched :D - She wasn't 'getting' pedalling with her current bike w/coaster brake, so I think the "fixed" nature of the trike will work way better.

Hurrah for riding.

Nice fall morning. Almost dry enough for leaves to crunch (but they didn't). Will probably be raining again soon...

"I will do today what others will not so that I can do tomorrow what others cannot"

-Author unknown

Is that a great quote or what?


Love it! Copied it and I'll live my life by that quote. Okay, so I'm a bit tongue-in-cheek here but I really do appreciate the thought. It will be a great motivator for me on those days I don't feel like getting on the bike.

I'll put in the hours to continue building a level of fitness so high that I will ride my brother-in-law into the ground when he comes out to punish me. The very asphalt will quiver in fear of the blistering it will receive. Birds will take flight, animals will run and hide. The very sight of my cut torso, heavily-muscled thighs and rip-corded calves will make women swoon and strong men quake.

Utter and complete domination. I will crush all who dare to ride in my presence. Begone, puny mortal!

YOU have created a monster.

Thanks for sharing.

On my morning commute, there is one long hill where my speed gets as high as 35 mph. Yesterday as I neared the bottom, I heard a snort. There was a deer standing on the shoulder. I'm not sure if it just crossed the road or was getting ready to cross. I took that hill slower today. I don't know what would happen if I hit a deer going 30+ mph, but it wouldn't be pretty.

Nice and cool.

Morning commute was nice and chilly at start, but eventually warmed up.
The after work commute was windy, 20 mph winds in my face the whole way, gaaah. I also had an encounter with a reckless driver yay.

Weather was great for riding. It was supposed to rain, but it was clear and beautiful. I just bought some new panniers from REI, and I could really tell they were heavier than the old ones. I think if I pack smarter I can get away with only one pannier. I only had to yell "*******!" to a driver once today, which is good. I still see too many cyclists on the wrong side of the road. I feel bad for them. I paid a high price for doing that, and I wish they would just use the correct side of the road and avoid some potential pain. Still need to get some decent rain gear. Bought a Schwinn Super Sport DBX off ebay last week, and I am impatiently awaiting its arrival.

Nice and cool this morning--perfect t-shirt and shorts weather--but for the ride home the temperature must have dropped 10 degrees from the morning and the wind was blowing pretty hard. As I left the work parking lot, several coworkers shook their heads in disbelief, and one lady even yelled that I need to wear long pants and a sweater tomorrow. Luckily, I get warm really fast (must be this walrus suit I grew over the last 4 years. . .)

It's been said that whales and other sea mammals once left the ocean to live once again on land. Sounds like you and I are both living proof of that!

Gah! Had a slow speed tip over when my foot overlapped w/ the front fender, jamming it into the front wheel and bringing me to an abrupt halt. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground and feeling stupid. Some peds came over to help, but I told them I was fine and the only thing I hurt was my pride. Then I yanked the fender back into place and rode home wondering if keeping my pants clean was worth the overlap.

Transcendant.

I caught the mother of all tailwinds on the way home which made me forget about the morning from hell and at many times I could have sworn I was flying.