genel

47f, coldest day this fall, but no wind. Traffic a bit heavier then usual. Started about 10 min before sunrise. Picked up a new, very thin, balacava, just right for today.

Another flat about a tenth mile from the office, so I walked in. Picked up a piece of glass on bike path. I've got some new kevlar belted tires at home. They'll be going on tonight. Sometimes I thing I need some of the old solid rubber tires.

Skipped a couple days this week, howling winds, rain in the forecast (which didn't materialize) and I wimped out.

zoltani

First commute of the rainy season. I will miss the dry weather, but it wasn't so bad.
At least i only had about 2 miles to ride.
Other than the rain it was a normal commute.

ModoVincere

commute was kind of chilly this morning...did not check the temps before leaving the house...should have worn a skull cap under me helmet...oh well it'll be in the 70's this afternoon, so that's all good.

Pig_Chaser

Brrrr, i was cold this morning. The temperature was reported as 0 (32), which had to be wrong. I've ridden in -3 (28) wearing the same gear and was fine in the past. Other than that the commute was great. Timed it perfectly so that the sun was rising but not breaking the horizon as i was finishing my last leg.

pinkrobe

Back to regular work times, so I slept in for an hour extra compared to yesterday. Traffic was pretty light. I was packing a suit jacket, pants, shoes, shirt and lunch - much more than usual. Acceleration was a problem...

caloso

Arrived a little annoyed with myself. I'd been meaning to reinstall the fenders on the rain bike but have been too busy/distracted/lazy to get around to it. As punishment I arrived with a nice example of the Freshman Stripe.

And I witnessed a nice example of the impatient driver who has to blow past a cyclist at 40 mph just to get in front of the bike. For his prize he won an additional 30 seconds of waiting at the light. I started to get mad, but then thought that that guy probably has more issues than I do and he doesn't get a chance to work them out by enjoying a nice bike ride.

Flimflam

Full fall weather gear on today, was 6C (mid 40s?) this morning and the wind wasn't very polite. Only 'bad' part was my half finger gloves didn't cut the mustard, so I will have to get some interim full fingers before donning my very hot/warm winter gloves when it gets colder.

Gear includes bandana 'skull cap', scarf and lifa vest base layer + regular Tee and fleece pants. Brrr.

Buglady

That's probably the sanest thing I've heard this week! Good on you.

Off to my Abnormal Psychology midterm - this one should be easy, there's nothing like experience for a teacher.

mtnwalker

Rain, rain, and more rain on this morning's commute. My wife told me I was crazy to ride the bike in this morning. I told her I'd be crazy to drive with all the other nuts behind the wheel in this weather. As if on cue car accident reports started coming up on the news and showing how bad the highway traffic are. She had no answer.

Anyways, it was wet and beautiful. I forgot my water bottle so I just left my mouth open to take in the rain. Only witnessed one incident. A car making a right turn from a parking lot, for some idiotic reason, floored his gas pedal while turning right. Because of the wet conditions he then proceeded to spin around uncontrollably. I just rode on.

heywood

I tried MEC but a little pricey and not what I wanted then happened to be in "Marks Work Warehouse" and found exactly what I was looking for at a really good price, they fold into there own pocket too..!

Give them a try..

Cheers

buzzman

gorgeous sunset on the ride home. It looked like a Maxwell Parrish painting- why, oh, why did I not take a picture?- I had my camera with me and yet I did not. my apologies for depriving you all of such splendor

heywood

Yep..*******s come at all ages..

Nice ride in today since it's getting colder and at least you can do something about the cold.

A noticable drop in commuters due to the colder temps. too.. unless of course gas prices zoom back up.. $84.00pb oil today wow! it'll start affecting gas prices soon.. the equivalent highest it's ever been would be approx $90.00pb in the late 1970's early '80's anyone remember that??

Cyclon

Speed Limit: 30 mph
I'm going: 20 mph on my bicycle

Three people underestimated my speed and attempted to j-walk in front of me. I slowed down as I cautiously pass them. As I go by, they yell at me "25 mph buddy!". I looked back at them and noticed that each of the three had a 12 pack box of beer in their hands. Go figure.

pirate

The route I took today was 12 miles roundtrip. My school is at the top of a series of big hills, there is over 750 feet elevation change from my house to where I lock up my bike and change.

It rained today, and I was pretty unprepared. It was only drizzling when I left the door, but 5 minutes in, it started to come down much harder. I was a little hungover, but riding in the rain felt pretty refreshing actually. Until I found out that the waterproofing on my 7 year old snowboarding windbreaker had finally died, that is. By the time I got up the hill, my jacket was dripping, my jeans were pretty wet and my shoes were soaked. I changed into a dry t-shirt, but got all wet from my soggy jacket and mess bag while I was walking to class, so I was wet as hell and cold in class.

The ride down the hill sucked! I was already wet, but I was thouroughly swamped on the ride down. The water had soaked thru my skate shoes and into my socks. I ride fixed gear, so each time I would pull up against my pedals to slow down, the water would squeeze out of my socks and collect in the bottom of my shoes, leaving me with my feet in a puddle. If that wasn't enough, I got 3 flats, all from different pieces of debris. I also found out that my front tire has a crack forming in the sidewall.

Not the best commute, really.

scoatw

Commute starts at 4:30am. Temp at 39d. Had my Showers Pass rainjacket and light cycling jacket with Sporthill XC pants and shoe covers. Thin balaclava and cheap cotton gloves I got for .99. I felt comfortable during my 35min ride in. Afternoon temps were mid 60's. Nice ride home. I took the long way home on the bike path to enjoy the weather. Listened to the football game on my radio that I installed on my bike. Makes riding real nice.

chephy

Beware of advanced greens when turning left... Some moron today almost ran over me. When the light changed to display the left turn arrow for both directions of traffic, some moron in a pick-up truck saw other cars moving thought he could proceed straight, even though the light was clearly red for him. I yelled at him, but from what I saw through the windshield he didn't even hear me and remained oblivious to the whole situation. *sigh*

It was pretty cool out. I was glad I put a lot of layers on today. ... It's still cool in my apartment (there is no way to control the temperature of your unit in this dump of a building). I'm wearing shoes, a turtleneck sweater, a jersey over that, a long-sleeved cotton shirt over that, and a pair of heavy cotton pants just to keep warm.

chephy

3 flats in one ride? You have my sympathy. That was a ****ty commute indeed.

And I know that feeling of puddles in shoes. Ick!

buzzman

Life seldom offers a second chance. Here is tonight's sunset on the ride home:



needless to say but it was a gorgeous ride home tonight.

trombone

Hello again all!

First commute (and ride) today after a 5 week holiday with no cycling. Beautiful day - spring is here, the temperature is lovely, blue skies...

But hard work. Jeez, you wouldn't think 5 weeks off would make such a difference! But good. Nice to be riding again. I left early too (result of jetlag and not being able to sleep), so not much traffic either.

buzzman

Just to keep you all entertained on a quiet commuting Sunday. One more picture of the sky on the late night commute along the Charles River. And people wonder why I ride a bike to work...I'd have barely noticed the sky if I drove to work this week.

swifty

Cool but not cold this morning (6C). No clouds, no fog, no wind. Had a nice time.

hankbrandenburg

A couple of firsts for me this morning:

1 - First chilly commute for me (I started commuting back in July). It was 39F when I left the house this morning. I put on some warm up pants and full-finger gloves, but found my arms and feet were particularly chilly when I was up at speed. After warming up the rest of me was fine. I'll be researching cold weather apparel options on the board today ...

2 - I just upgraded my 4-year old Giant Cypress to a Specialized Sirrus Pro. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Although still a flat bar bike, it is much closer to a roady than the Cypress. Of course lighter frame and narrow tires help a lot. I found myself really crushing the few hills I get to climb on the way to work.

Life is Good!

Big Ron

Good ride in this AM, It felt chillier than 50F (10C), but I warmed up a few miles into it. Seemed atypically dark too, I guess perhaps because there is no moon yet. Nearly ran over a possum as he/she scurried across the road. The first live possum I've seen in quite a while. Lots of dead ones, but hardly ever a living one. Luckily my headlights reflected well off of its eyes, so I had plenty of time to steer around it.

substructure

I did a hard metric century yesterday where I attacked on the steepest climb of the day (+-18%). 1 guy held on and we finished the ride 1&2. It was nice to see that I had it in me ... but I paid dearly this morning (extra gear, backpack, colder temps). So glad my car is here in the shop. Of course I don't know if I can even force my gas pedal down the way I feel right now. All is good though.

vtjim

That's when you yell back, "I'm trying!"

Anyway, I was dumb this morning. Temps in the low 40s. I felt cold so I wore one of my cool-weather long-sleeve tops, my windbreaking high-viz jacket, and gloves. 2 miles into the ride I realized this was a mistake as I began to overheat. Unzipped the jacket and kept riding. Got to work with a very damp shirt, and happy I was wearing shorts, at least.