Just not feeling into it this morning.... could've been the vodka, but it's hard to stay mad at the vodka. I'll forgive the vodka, in time. There was one heck of a head/crosswind this morning too, weathernetwork listed it as 20kph but it was totally steady, not gusting. I missed the rain by about 1/2 hour. In fact i have yet to cycle through rain this year, i always seem to miss it or i'm out of town.

cooler ride in, legs felt strong...felt zippy on the fixed bike this morning
saw a couple of other commuters, they seemed to be in the zone and cruising along too fast to see me or wave but i saw them

Well I had been picking up the parts needed to do a fixed gear conversion on my bike. I had a new wheelset cranks, ect. Over the weekend I went on and installed my new front wheel because I broke a spoke in the original one.

Last night I decided to do some checking over my bike. I'm removing the rear derailleur so that I can test fit the rear wheel when for whatever reason the bolt that holds it to the frame broke when I loosened it. gRRRR! I didn't have another bolt so my only choice was to go ahead and convert my bike to a single speed. The rear wheel has a 16t cog and the front is ran on the biggest gear. I was afraid that it would be entirely to hard and I'd be worn out before I got to work. I was surprised even thought it was harder to pedal I think the lightness of the new wheels and the lost weight of the derailler evened it out. It did seem harder to get going but once I got going it wasn't bad at all.

Slow, cool. Still sore from Saturday's singletrack adventure. Attempted to huck a two foot drop, result, epic fail & injury. Ripped up my right leg, saddle nose bruised my left instep, sore right shoulder. Will have to ease up on the commute this week & break out the Tiger Balm.

Pretty quick ride in today, cooler but still pretty humid.

Great! Warm (50sF), blinding sun, fast.

First commute after a week's vacation. Overcast and low 60sF, with a headwind, but not too bad.

No bike commute today. Carpooled with Mrs. Caloso and the Wonder Twins. Just as well. Last week was my first 200 mile week since March.

I forgot, I got cut off on the MUP by a deer. I watched to see if a second one was coming, then followed her for a while, was tickled by the clop-clop-clop of toenails on pavement. Very much like the coconuts in Holy Grail. Then she jumped up the other side to cross the freeway exit ramp.

beutiful morning for commuting :thumb:

snapped a few pics with my mobile phone. Enjoy (Bay Area California)


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paying my dues to the cycling gods
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Hi! I had my first real commute to work today. (Tested it out on Saturday, but didn't have all my stuff with me) Since I'm in southern CA, it was a mild and overcast from the morning ocean fog. Made all the hills OK and took me the same amount of time as with nothing on the bike. Traffic was very light going in, so I'm not too worried about getting smacked by a car.

Of course, now I have to ride home....could be a different story later today. :)

How do pictures of a commute make my mouth water? I'm stuck in an urban commute :(

Celebrated my 2-month commuting anniversary this morning. Perfectly normal commute, and expect the same for the afternoon.

I top 800 miles for the month in a couple hrs. Nothing amazing but odd since I reduced my mileage. Last months 1000 mile month was far more difficult than one would expect for 200 additional miles.

Nice commute this morning. I was running a wee bit behind and slowly made it up as I passed my checkpoints. I have places on my commute that have certain time goals to ensure that I will show up to the train on time. This is the best method I have found to make myself show up on time. My own dorky mini race with myself and father time.

Monday 7/28/08
 

Nice idea for a thread. Our commutes are always different depending on traffic and weather. My commute is 17 miles door to door. As a bonus, after work, I go another 5 miles to my GYM for some upper body weight training, and then finish my day with 22 miles home. I was off last week but kept active, and thought I would try commuting 3 days. I usually only do this 1 or 2 times a week, so 3 will be a major accomplishment.

This morning wasn't bad. Temps in the 60s. We had a lot of rain yesterday though and the street sewers were overflowing and didn't smell good as I got sprayed on the legs. I hope I don't a disease from my water bottle. yuk.

I usually stop for all red lights but today I cheated a little and it worked out OK. I really want to beat a previous record best time of 50 minutes that I did 2 years ago on a mountain bike with slick tires.

I'm ashamed as I haven't commuted via bicycle in about 4 weeks. We had our first big heat wave and it knocked me clean off of my bike. A couple day break turned into a week, then into two weeks, and so on. I swear in this heat, the more days you spend off the bike the easier it gets to stay off of it.:(

Anyways, the morning ride was very nice. My best speed to date. 7 miles in 25 minutes. I was happy, but I really don't worry about the time. I leave a full hour before work starts to ensure enough time if I have a flat or something. I didn't notice the temp, but it wasn't too warm yet. Probably in the high 80's if I had to guess.

The ride home was a gauntlet though. Several drivers passing me way too close, 105* temps, slight headwind...plus I'm just coming off of a month long moment of weakness:D. I actually had to get off of my bike for a minute or two and collect myself to make the last push into the headwind to get home. I started to entertain thoughts of driving the car tomorrow, but I quickly dispelled them. Once I could see my street I knew I was going to be OK. And a super hot shower to wash all of the sweat of, followed by several minutes in the cold water, and I feel completely refreshed. I have the slightest bit of a headache, but nothing an Excedrin won't take care of.


P.S. I need to quit smoking!!! I quit before cold turkey for over a year. But one day I picked up a cigar and that was it. I've been smoking ever since, about 9 months now.:mad:

bayareawheeler, those pictures are awesome. I too wish I had a rural commute!

Tonight was a tough slog. My legs were really sore this morning from the weekend, and it was a bit warm. Nonetheless, I was able to make a decent pace home, and had some surprising power left in the old quads for the last hill.

Tomorrow is a day off, since I have a meeting at another facility tomorrow morning, and then need to drive to my office, and cannot fit another 1.5 hours of biking into the day......well, I shouldn't, that is. We'll see.

Got into the low 80's and overcast, so really nice weather for riding. Both rides were great. On the way home I had a nice tailwind and decided to flog it. Almost a record time for that route home.

I reduced my calories yesterday to 1800 since I was not riding. Then I ate a bit less than I should have today and hammered it into and from work. My goodness I feel like crap. Emergency PB&J to the rescue. You think I would have learned by now. 43 miles on a 1000 calories doesn't seem like it would be too bad. Guess I short changed myself yesterday.

My commute involved our mid summer late day storms. Very chaotic wind directions. Headwind, side wind, tailwind, and then kept switching. At least it was not a straight headwind the entire way. I could have used a bit of rain.

it's just one of those days...

last tuesday, i got a rear flat tire near a local 5 point (5 road) intersection. fixed it and road home, done for the week, no more commutes this week...too hot (?)!

today, 1 week later, i commute through same area (5 points) remembering flat rear from last week. a little later, flat front, what gives? called work, ie: pending lateness, repaired tube, got to work about on time...

today again, prepping to leave work, notice front tire was flat (again). inspection revieled trashed stem and tube wasted. replaced tube, good to go home!

with the wind on my back, crusing through the "5 point" area, there goes my rear tire again, flat. co-worker going same direction, gave lift home (thx!). inspection showed culpret was aluminum staple this time, removed, and tube/tire repaired.

probably will ride tomorrow, but am a little deflated about commuting at this second...

For the most part you guys have great riding weather! Wish I was there...Today here in North Texas it was 110 and pretty dang windy. I still enjoyed the ride, but I am not looking forward to too many more days like this.....

Yeah, I got that too. Somehow missed out on the 'tailwind' part, though. :mad: I got blown back, blown around, nearly knocked over, sprinkled on...but the temperature was nice, and I really appreciated the clouds. Bonus: I was able to ride home in my work clothes instead of changing into shorts and a tank top.

Heh. I was running late for my home leg, so I managed to get it done in a mere 30 compared to the usual 35, even though I had some headwind :D I also went through the entire water bottle which I usually only do in real hot weather.

No working today, but I rode to Auto Zone to get a microfiber towel to keep my new bike looking great. I was pulling up next to the door when an associate comes out and says that they don't have a bike rack, but that I can just bring the bike in. I get some oohs and ahhs from the employees who appreciate the aesthetics as much as I do in about the last place I'd expect a bike admirer.

I got the greatest gut laugh in a long time today on my ride too. I was riding up to a red light, maybe a block away, when some guy sticks his head and shoulders out the window and yells back at me. They get into the narrow left turn lane and he gets mirrored by a car stopped in line at the red light. I split lanes and he is grabbing the back of his head with both hands as if he has the most severe migraine in history. I ruled out brain damage, as there wasn't much brain to be damaged, and told him to have a great day.

Wow. Haven't posted to this thread in a week--had to go back 7 pages to find my last one. Scattered showers this AM, but I missed 'em pretty much. A little wet and ~70F/21C. Kinda' nice...

Yesterday morning I was cruising along the arterial when a large garbage truck pulled over and stopped in the right-hand lane (3-lane each way divided). The driver jumped out and ran around the front of the truck for something. When he came back around I had moved onto the center lane to get by and he was holding out a reflective vest still in its package! "Here ya go man, nobody can see you!" he said. I laughed and kept on up the hill saying (most likely to myself at that point), "Man, if you can't see me then you shouldn't EVEN be driving!"

I run a headlight, two tailights, and an Alert Shirt, and have reflective piping or striping on my Camelbak, saddle, saddlebag, front and rear of my shoes and on my tires! Even so, I was ordering a Japanese brass bell pre-mounted on a 11/8" headset spacer this morning (Velo Orange is moving and so won't be shipping for a week after today), so I tacked on a PB Superflash.

Even a lunatic is capable of a relevant observation--though it doesn't make the lunatic any less of one, neither does it make the observation any less relevant.

Or maybe I just don't wanna get creamed by the next trash truck that thunders by... :D

Mid 60s, no wind. Some sunshine.

I spotted someone riding from my neighborhood so I reeled him in but didn't pass. Reasonably quick commute. 15-17MPH most of the way. He'd bump up to 20 once in a while. I think he works near me, too. I took a slightly different route and got ahead of him, then I saw him riding up to the next office building down the road as I was walking into my building. Hmm.

Edit: I also saw two foxes! The kind with bushy tails and sharp teeth, not the pretty kind in lycra. :)

I woke up to find someone had eaten the last apple. Which is usually what I eat in the morning to get the calories I need for my relatively short commute (8 miles). This meant i had to make something, It took an extra 10 minutes to get breakfast done, and since I cut it pretty close usually anyway, I was scared I would be late for work.

So I booked it all the way here and made it in good time. Had some help with the lights, so I got here with 3 minutes to spare. Not too shabby!

It was supposed to rain this afternoon, but the forecast changed and it's supposed to be sunny with a few clouds. Good news!

Also my Brake levers came in for my conversion to bull horns! Since I commute to work via cycle, I'll be waiting to get it done, but I have the Parts I needed to order, the Ultegra Bar-End shifters and the Paul Components Cross Levers.

They were saying I'd have to mount it on the "flat bar" part of the bull horns, but I think I can actually mount them closer to the shifters, looking at the way the brakes work, I've seen someone do it just the same, and when I rode their bike, it worked great, so I'll ask them again. Anyway. It'll be nice to ge that out of the way over the weekend.

It was late, I was grumpy, I was underdressed...and I forgot a very important undergarment. Not a good morning. But now I have warm clothes (and layers, to minimize my wardrobe malfunction!) and coffee, so it's all good.

Confucius say - he who install folding bead tire on straight-sided aluminum rim have exploding tube. 3.5 miles from home.

Oops. That was Monday. This morning was *brilliant*. Might be the niceset weather of the year. Not a cloud, lower humidity, light, comfortable breeze, a quick pace. Love it.