:roflmao: Damn those beerhounds!!!

Nah, not enough belly to be beerhounds. ;)

47F/8C, clear & beautiful this morning. Chris L, we had the same temps! No special sunrise or set for me though. I did startle a deer today, which is unusual, they usually just stand and watch me go by. If I stop we can get into a staring game, but I don't like to make them feel threatened. Anyway this one ran across the road with all the grace, and hoof clattering, of a moose.

We're in way different parts of the continent, but that moonrise was just sensational. In Hobat's case, the moon looked like a huge cheesewheel rising up over the hills -- 20 or 30 times its normal size. No red sky, though. And I spotted an aircraft with all lights blazing "hovering" in the middle distance ready to land at our aiport. Another awesome sight. Last Sunday it was an F-111 fighter jet that roared overhead (we don't get many defence aircraft down here -- we're not worth defending!).

I really do wonder if the "cardines" ever appreciate what they are missing out on.

The wind picked up a bit last night (and I had a front-tyre flat), and was stronger again this morning. Driving home tonight :eek: and back to work tomorrow morning in an office pool car because of a meeting way out of town (so, yes I do have a dark side).

R

I've had two really nice commute days here, with weather in the mid-80s F. Very nice weather for the Portland area. Yesterday afternoon I was also able to show the City of Hillsboro the place where their path grabbed my front wheel, and threw me for a header (in slow motion, as I was not going fast). He said that they would fix that, and that he would talk to the City about my front rim being bent too.

John

Riding to work yesterday morning, my commuting buddy and I were heading along one of our major roads doing about 30 clicks (km/h) when we noticed a car starting to pull out of a local motor inn. :o

Initially it appeared the car had seen us so no dramas until... @#$%# !!!. Double near miss no sauce. My commuting comrade then pointed out to me that I had frightened two innocent foot users nearby half to death with my somewhat exaggerated yelping.

We followed the car up to the next set of traffic lights and it became clear the Mr. Passenger was suffering severe embarrassment as a direct result of Mrs. Drivers' decision making prowess.

About six minutes later we noted a beep from a car passing us - lo and behold Mr. Passenger has become Mr. Driver. Best apology from a car I've ever had.:beer:

Hey Jaimie65

What was that bright-light UFO that followed you home last night?

Yeah, but it's summer over there? This morning it was about 12 deg C - officially the perfect riding temperature. Actually, it was the same on my pre-dawn ride this morning. For some reason, Surfers Paradise was unusually quiet this morning. Maybe they were in fear. Today I dragged out an old bike that I'd recently had fixed up after having a spanky one stolen from work not so long ago. Gave a very different ride, but I flew!

Last few weeks of commuting have been good, but the constant headwind going home all last week was replaced by no wind or a slight helper on Monday, but back to headwind last night.

I snapped a powerlink on my new chain on the way home last night. it sounded like a rifle shot, but luckily did not break both sides so limped on until I could stop.

Of course, my chain tool was at home (don't need one with a powerlink - right) but my riding companion had his..

Took out a couple of links. Riveted the chain and got home. then reinstated a few links.

Boy was I oily, and that on a chain less than a month old with less than 400 miles on it. I think I must have overstressed it when removing links to fit with no excessive slack.

This morning was first morning of commuting for me this week--so much rain, so little willpower. (Previous two years of consistent commuting were drought years. We're having record rain levels this year, and I'm finding it harder to get on the bike. It's a willpower thing. I'm working on it.)

It was just a little foggy this morning, but roads were still wet from last night's rain. In preparation for going to a single speed commuter (less parts to get wet), I did most of my ride this morning in a 42/16 gear (MTB, city tires). Worked the legs a little at times, but it felt good, and I was a couple mintues faster than usual.

Left the house this morning under heavy cloud cover and 50 degrees F, pushed a slight head wind the whole ride, it started to rain lightly about half way in and kept raining for the remainder of the ride. The rain was cool but light and kind of enjoyable, makes for interesting situations on the metal bridges. Where's summer? I've been waiting, it should be in full swing by now.

Nice ride in this morning. Overcast and warm (about 17 C and) and very humid (97% humidity)...and that's at 7 am..phew... what's it going to be like tonite? I doubt tonite's heat will slow me down though, as I think I'll be home in record time -- I'm leaving immediately after work for a 4 day canoe trip, and I'm super excitied...

I'm back to ignoring the speedometer again. I'm also into a solid pattern of 20-milers to and from work with hills. This once was about my limit on a regular basis but now I can do it fairly easily. The trick is hill climbing, something I've done more and more of recently. I treat the commute itself as nothing but a giant sprint.

Anyway the SJ area is very cool once again -- we'll be lucky to hit 80 today. Traffic's noticably lighter recently and the traffic lights were generally favorable today, making for a pretty fast ride in.

It is a nicer commute -- whether in the car or on the bike -- in the summer months when school's out and people start taking their vacations. Quite a noticeable drop-off in the number of cars on the road in the AM.

I agree, SteveE, it is nice with less traffic. It seems that this year there has been a bigger drop off than prior years. Or maybe I've been paying more attention.

The downside of fewer cars on my commute is that there are more trucks back-to-back to contend with. Oh well !!

didn't get out of work till 9 last night and cycled home in a downpour

this morning had me cycling in light rain and through the mud and puddles of the previous night

in a word, miserable

Ah, life in New England....two nice days after two days of rain...now back into the rain. I wore a light weight rain coat for the ride in to find out it really is not a rain coat. I got soaked. I have been using my ceramic heater to dry things out for what looks to be an even wetter ride home.

Damn wind ... I hate wind ... it's been frickin windy here every day I've ridden.

I had wind, too. A massive tailwind that scooped me up at work and dropped me off at home. I sprinted nonetheless and still got quite a workout.

Oh man, That's something I never get tired of! This morning I watched the waves roll in from the clouds out to sea. The different light tones they made on the ocean looked almost biblical. I must have seen it thousands of times, and It always manages to catch my attention. Just marvellous!

Wet ride home last night, it was warm so I left my rain suit in the bag and rode in the jersey and shorts, after all, you only get so wet.

Two firsts for me today. (1) My front derailleur must be out of adjustment because it overshifted and threw the chain off of the inner chain ring (triple setup). Fortunately I was able to get the chain back on without having to stop and do it by hand.

(2) I had a pack of dogs come out and greet me. I suspect these are the watch dogs for a junkyard that I pass. All they did was bark a bit and I just rode right on by.

Oh, I also thought of a name for my bike today. "Victory" While I may never ride my bike to the top position on the podium I do achive minor victories on it such as losing 20+ pounds since I started riding again, riding 300+ miles per month on it, etc.

Zack

Wet. Very, very, VERY wet.

Good commute. Didn't care much for the 15mph (gusts to 23!) headwind, but otherwise a good ride. Not too cold, not too hot.

49 minutes
13.25 miles
16.32 average speed
57F

I left work earlier than Brennser did :) so I got to ride in sunshine for the first time since since...hmm -- not sure when. Great ride -- I guess timing really is everything.

This morning, I left the raingear on the rack and let the long fenders keep me dry. Felt great! The one problem was that there were some low-hanging, rain-sodden tree branches that I had to butt my way through.

Paul

My commute was a fast one this morning. I had a 15 mph (gusts up to 25) tailwind on the ride in. It made for a fast ride in but unless I can appease the biking gods and get them to shift the wind it will be a slow ride home.

You are right there. My elcheapo Performance Bike gear soaked through due to the constant down pour. I got to work on installing a rear fender on my new bent after I got home. Low and behold, the roads were dry this morning. Oh well..may be wet again this afternoon for the ride home.

Short and sharp ride home last night and felt brilliant for it. Frost on the ground this morning -- the first one of the season. Bright, blue sky, almost no wind. A bit cold on the hands, though.

I'm on a rostered day (RDO) off today, but still had to come in for a meeting (and check out BF). But I'm off soon on a 130-150km ride with hills, then staying overnight with a mate in the country to talk about a 1200km Audax ride over the Giro Tasmania route we are planning next year. BMB and PBP won't hold a candle to this one!

Tomorrow is another long ride, and Sunday I'm sailing. Life is good.

See y'all Monday.

R

i start commuting on July 1st!.. as i am temp homeless til my place is ready.. i get to live with my sister!! oh joy. :)
my first commute will be to the CHIN picnic crit on Canada Day july 1st and it should really be a test.. they average over 150,000 ppl a day during that festival.

I'm back! :) The foot's still a bit funny, but i couldn't stand any more time off the bike! I actually rode in last night, too. Scattered heavy showers. I got rained on a bit. Funny thing was, the water that splashed up from the puddles was almost hot, after cooling down the sunbaked roads. It was dry on the way home, and i saw some fireflies.

Today was perfect. :) Beautiful weather with a tailwind in. I didn't have the usual fun of whipping down Cemetery Hill at unbelievable speeds, because there were a car and farm wagon ahead of me, and anyway, they slowed down because there were a bunch of kids around the road. I don't know what they were doing there, there were about fifteen of them, they were all about 12ish, wore red jerseys over their shirts, and a few were carrying buckets. (Maybe they were picking up golf balls?) Anyway, several of them called out stuff like, "Hi, Biker Woman!" and that was fun, too. :p I even ran onto one of the library patrons on his bike at the grocery store, where I stopped to buy lunch, and we had a nice chat.

On the way home, the wind had died, and it was cool and...perfect. This time of year I'm never really biking in the dark, and today it was almost daylight when I got started home. In a field, I saw a brown mound, and I rang my bell at it to see if it was a raccoon. It was. :) Later , when it was darker and I was near home, I saw a whitetail deer go bounding away from the road. And the fireflies were back!