Gorgeous sunny morning, 50sF. Fast ride.

I only have computers on my road bikes. Neither the Fuji nor the BD have one and it's kinda nice to not know and not care about speed during the commute. I don't need to know distance...that data should be etched in one's brain for anything but a brand new route. Same goes for time...it's gonna be close to the same every day unless something happens like a flat...and knowing how late you are doesn't make you any less late. ;)

Saw the same guy sleeping on the bench this morning. Took it easy on the way in, didn't see any other commuters.

Raining here... took the car to the bus today... I miss the bike today.

Right now, I'm one of those riders. Stretching it, I'm 5'10" and yesterday weighed in at 213 (that's down from 225+). I have another 40+ pounds to go.

I was a bit tired this morning. I rode 53 miles yesterday (17 on the commute, 36 on a group ride). Went to bed late, couldn't get up at my normal early time ... left at about 7:00. That meant more traffic than normal. 69 degrees and humid, legs took a bit to loosen up.

last nights commute home was great... met a fellow commuter at a light and chatted/rode with him for about 6 miles... we parted ways and i pushed the pace a bit since my legs felt a lot better. still think i am going to regear the ss to 44:16 since 46:16 is a tough gear with all the hills and crap... sucks pedaling into the headwind all the time as well

Wow, some of you guys are hard core. An inspiration. After changing my tube this morning I moved stuff in my bag and had to put my banana in a side pocket, needless to say when I got to work I discovered I lost my banana ... is that a straight line or what.

Regarding time, my watch was buried and I was concerned due to the flat so I asked someone waiting at a bus stop, without missing a stride he was able to give me the time, and I was able to say thank you. I was going slowly up a grade.

Hey, has anyone ever put a sign on the back of their bike showing town of origination and destination ...? You know like: "Boston or Bust" or for me: "Maynard / Brighton". Do you think motorists would give us more respect if they had a friggin CLUE what we were doing?

Anybody ever hear of elliptical gears for the crank? I remember reading that they gave you more leverage and the down stroke without costing more in energy consumption, or something like that. The gear was wider at the point where the pedals were.

Ugh, I was a lame duck coming in to work today. I did a single speed century and a half on saturday and haven't really given myself time to recover. I still made good time this morning, but my legs just felt shot. Weak and achey. Funny thing is that they've been fine for 30+ miles a day since Sunday, just today they act up. I gotta start getting more than 4 1/2 hours of sleep a night...

I was tired and slow this morning. A bus almost ran me over. I counted 30 other cyclists on my strange, neighborhood route.

shimano used to make some called biospace but they never really caught on.. another company has been making something similar..

http://www.rotorusa.com/s1-q-rings.shtml

Ya, I read on the sheldon brown site that they are bad for your knees. There is also biopace (shimano) which is similair in idea but seems to have more testing to back it up and actually is "opposite" of elliptical chainwheels. My roommate's '91 rockhopper has biopace.

Edit: tkblazer beat me too it!!!!

I have q-rings from rotorcrank on my recumbent and they are great. I don't know if they give you more leverage but they reduce the dead spot in the pedal stroke to allow you to spin smoothly. On a recumbent you spin up hills since you can't stand and mash.

There are a number of recumbent riders that I know of online that use q-rings or the actual rotor cranks and love them and other that say they make no difference. For me it meant no tearing feeling on top of my kneecap early in the morning which is a big +++ for me.

Nodded hello to a couple of CHiPs on bikes this morning. They were keeping an eye on an early-morning protest rally. I made sure to come to a complete stop at the light....

I know stop means stop but I've been wondering/rationalizing lately whether if I brake and stop pedaling and coast I spend more time behind the stop line than a lot of cars do, even if I never stop moving.

It's just not fair.

:D

I did a track stand. But yes, it would seem that your method would be as safe or even safer than sailing up to the line, screeching to a halt, and then going. And with a traffic light, if you coast to the intersection slowly and time it just right, you'll never have to actually stop.

I find I don't want to be the first one through the intersection. They're all gonna pass me anyway. So now when I stop I stop almost a car or two back from the light.

I also had a close encounter with the 5-0 today. I was merging into the left turn lane. I was about 20 cars deep and I knew that I would never make it to the light before it turned red (normally I own my lane and stay in my spot in line, but if I'm going to miss the light I usually just squeak up to the front. Then I ride wide right in the lane to allow the cars that were in front of me to pass, then I megre back into the flow).
Normally I would have made my way up front. Just as I was about to weave on through, I realize that there was a black and white car next to me with two cops inside.:o


The rest of the route was pretty normal. 105*, and 15 mph headwinds on the way home, but not too bad.

Back from vacation, and back on the bike. I have been taking it easy for the last week while we all recovered from jet lag. Now I seem to be back up to speed on my usual commute (and I'm no longer passing out at 6:30 PM). So I decided to mix it up - over the weekend I reclaimed my old hybrid from the neighbor I lent it to 2 years ago (she had ridden it exactly ONCE). Cleaned & lubed, and rode it to work today, 8 miles through the canyon preserve.

Such a pretty ride! But man, that bike is a LOT heavier than my regular commuter.

talleymonster - you're an animal! 105*?? Holy crap!

SDBluefish - I just bought an old LeTour and am not using my hybrid. My 44 miles round trip is enough of a workout. I miss the better hardware though. Someday I'll get a new road bike.

My commute home 22 miles from Brighton MA to Maynard was OK. I stopped a couple of times. I even ate a snickers bar and drank a Coke soda, OMG! Glad t be home. I'm skipping tomorrow and doing it again Friday.

Yikes. I went way up past the University of Vermont (uphill) and met a bunch of friends before they went hashing (running for beer). When they took off, I bombed back down the hill and my front derailleur was shifting all weird. Eventually I looked at the cable and it's all frayed near the point where it's bolted to the derailleur, so it's majorly loose. I decided to leave it in the big ring all the way home. Get it replaced tomorrow.

I'd had some beers, so I was riding slow on the MUP and watching this dude reeling me in from way back. He finally caught and passed me with about 3/4 of a mile of MUP left. I let him go, then decided to reel him in, which I did, but then he stopped. :o

I got home and realized it's pretty humid. Blech. I think I'm going into a bad mood now. :mad: Maybe I need some limoncello.

14 mile round trip. Downhill and dark on the way to work at 3:30am, Uphill and sunny on the way home at 1:00pm

I just keep thinking of a hot-then-cold shower when I get home. It's what drives me!:lol:

I went weeks with no problems, no honks, no one buzzing or yelling at me. For the last week or so there have been dumb asses everywhere. Why is that? It is always on the ride home. Mornings are beautiful still. hah, there is always tommorrw.

ugh. 75 & 75 at 5:15 AM (75F/24C and 75% humidity). PU

Air was so heavy on the way home yesterday afternoon I felt like I suffocating from all the crap in the air. Some bonehead the other day was telling me he doesn't buy all this "climate change crap." My response was unreproducable here (this is a family show, after all)...

Nice ride in today. Kinda warm and humid, but still nice.

Uggha, It was a bit warm today and for some reason I felt like I was cycling through mud. Maybe I was bonking, but I just felt like such hard work this morning. There was a headwind, more than usual, but nothing outlandish. vOv

Good news is I saw EIGHT other cyclists on the road this morning. EIGHT! 4 going in the same direction! WOW!

I managed to pass all the ones going in the same direction as me, so I must not have been going THAT slow.

Eitherway. pretty warm. around 70, with about 90% humidity. Which probably also made it feel slow.

Had my first flat while commuting the other day in 16 months of bike commuting. I've had a couple of other flats during that time that were slow leaks that happened while my bike was sitting in the garage overnight, but never during a ride.

Decided to drive today because I was really dragging on my commute yesterday. I had ridden 8 out of the past 9 days and my legs were feeling tired and my energy levels low. It's also been very hot and humid, so I guess my body just needs some recovery time. Good excuse to go kayaking tonight after work! I've started paddling this summer, and it seems to be the perfect recovery exercise. It gets my heart rate up, but uses a very different set of muscles than cycling. It's also a very pleasant thing to do on a hot summer day.

I thought I was going to get soaked, but the rain stopped shortly before I left. Had to ride in my outer ring due to a frayed, barely serviceable front derailleur cable. I didn't want to snap it and have to ride in the granny gear. :rolleyes:

I caught the guy from my town again. I didn't know he was ahead of me. He just sort of materialized at an intersection. We exchanged nods. Then I rode around in a couple of circles trying to get into my middle ring so I could do a hill climb without crossing the chain. Success.

Having the LBS put a new cable on today.
:commute:

this morning I found out that a neighbor also bikes to work, but is recovering from a broken elbow, so I haven't seen him since I moved to my new place. I was almost doored by a cop getting out of his car without looking. He yelled at me when I swerved to go around. Then I got to work and found my building actually put in a bike rack! There are only two of us biking in right now, but hopefully this encourages more to try it