Mid-November in SoCal, and it's still so warm; 73 deg F at 9 in the morning. So I get to continue to bike in shorts.

I did a stupid thing today. I overstuffed my messenger bag with too much weight. When I was approaching the entrance of my office I unclipped my right foot and my overweight messenger bag shifted left causing my bike to lean left. Oops, can't put my right foot down. Struggling to unclip left foot with chance that I can recover from the fall. Failure. The outcome was a slow speed drop resulting in a few scuffs on my knees and elbows; no blood though.

I guess the good part was that no one in the office saw my embarrassing accident. At least no one came out to ask me about it.

:( My first scuffs on my bike though. Levers and rear tire quick release.

And my new rack comes in tomorrow from the Brown Santa Claus. Aiy! It's a sign.

My regular commuter bike had a flat tire this morning, so I rode a back up bike. It was cold about 23 deg but has warmed up to 45 or so. Not very windy today, just a slight breeze. I will have to pedal fast home tonight because the bike I rode today has no headlight.

bit cold as per usual. Had the right number of breathable layers on. There was a very thin layer of ice coating everything this morning so there were a few 'white knuckle' moments but obviously it all turned out okay. Great to be back on the bike after working out of town for over a week.

Weather is still beautiful in North CA. Perfect for riding. I wear a light long sleeve shirt and a light coat in the morning and a t shirt on the ride home. I'm trying hard to lose weight, and I've managed to lose 8 pounds over the last 2 weeks, thanks in part to the bike rides. 2 months ago when I started riding again, I was ALWAYS the slowest bike on the road. Today, I blitzed past three different riders! Wahoo!! I"m still a turtle, just not the slowest turtle!

Had a close call with another cyclist. I was riding on the sidewalk, as there is no bike lane, the right lane is too narrow to share, and the cars are doing about 45 mph. Also, there is almost no ped traffic in this area. So I"m on a downhill stretch, going fairly fast, when this guy drops down from some dirt path to the right of the sidwalk and pulls right in front of me, going about half as fast as I am. I had to slam on the brakes. I don't think he ever even looked to clear himself. It was close.

Later on, I was again riding downhill at a decent clip (for me) and I was on the road, in the right hand portion of the right lane. There is a wide right turn coming up, and this pickup truck pulls up to my left, matches my speed and starts to make the right hand turn! I give the guy a WTF look and he slows down so I can go past. I guess I should have taken more of the lane, but it's not a right turn only lane. Oh well.

once again a hot morning and things got off to a great start, pleasant weather and an even more pleasing ride, loving the riding so much and the new bike is also proving to be a great commuter, the feeling off not having to be so careful on the roadie is awesome

strangely warm this morning and then a sudden rain. I was running late so I took Comm Ave., which is a nightmare lately with construction. Had to go from my office to another location today just as the rain hit hard- the drivers were insane.

I got a scary phone call from my wife who had been riding along Soldier's Field Road on the bike path by the Harvard Boat house when a car went out of control on the roadway and 360'd into the guardrail right next to her. I checked out the scene tonight and it did a number on the guardrail. I can't even think about how dire the consequences could have been. Can't even go there. She was fine but really freaked out by it.

I am ever thankful for that guardian angel of a guard rail. I hope they fix it soon because it will provide little or no resistance the next time it gets creamed.

great weather on the way home today as well, 33 degrees and a few errands to run giving me 40 odd k for the return trip all in all a very satisfying day

Cold out there today. Some icy spots are starting to appear. I think I will finally go get that bike I've been talking about and be ready to put the studded tires on.

As someone mentioned pogies above, I'm thinking that it can't be that hard to make a pair. I'll get the bike first and then see about getting some material to make a pair. I'll let you know how it goes.

Great ride in this morning. A cold front came through NC yesterday so it is much colder and windy today, but not as cold as last week. Temps were in the high 30s when I left home, which I find very comfortable for riding. I had a tailwind at my back most of the way, so it was a piece of cake. Hopefully the wind will die down by the time I head home this afternoon. Tomorrow's ride will be much more challenging. The low is supposed be down in the upper 20s, and I'm going on a 50+ mile ride with friends starting about 9 a.m.

getting real cold, I can't pedal as fast... now I have more cars honking at me from behind because I am slower. Kinda bugs me.

Cold and windy. I'm beat up this morning.

Cold (41F windchill 30F) and very windy. The weather site I check said gusts of 25mph. Sloooow going. I was warm though, I wore tights with gym capris over them, a technical tee and my windproof jacket. My toes still got cold even though I have thick wool socks on. What can I do about that?

Also I did this last night haha. Have no idea how but I'm always whacking the back of my legs with my pedals when I stop so I'm not surprised. It looked so dramatic when I got home. The actual sized wound is so wimpy. Ha.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/...f1f2ecfed5.jpg

Was not as bad as I thought it would be !! Check weather last night, showed pretty windy and almost below freezing 40 degreesF, feels like 32 degrees F ! Was gonna chicken out if I saw any frozen icy stuff on the side of the roads because I still have thin tires and didn't want to fall ! But wasn't bad. Except that my f'in shoe laces came off so I had to take a break, get my gloves off, tie the shoe lace, and then putting the gloves back on !


Very lucky though because the minute I reached here, it got extremely windy !!! I could barely walk :)

37F and windy. Dressed about right this time - T-shirt, long-sleeved T-shirt, and fleece-lined windproof jacket. Wool hat and gloves. Hot coffee in a thermos in the water bottle cage.


Must not have had a headwind, because my commute (which ranges from 30-40 minutes, always taking a little longer in the morning for some reason) was only 35 minutes.

I had a rear rack installed on my Pake SS commuter by my favorite mechanic in my favorite LBS yesterday :) I also got myself a Jandd Duffel Rack Pack and a Delta Metro Elite Pannier. This morning, I loaded up the duffel pack with my camera equipment (SLR body, a couple of lenses, flash, batteries, etc.) and some cloths for a gallery opening this evening. I didn't use the pannier because of the windy forecast. I threw the pack on the rack and off I went. No more heavy messenger bags! The bike handled a bit less nimble but no biggie. It's a pretty tame commute. Got cut off while riding on the bike lane once. Two cars made illegal U turns in front of me caused me to stop. One car used the bike lane to pass the cars waiting for the light then blew through the red. Just the usual stuff. No one honked at me and everyone who passed me gave me plenty of space.

No balaclava or headband today, but I did enjoy the mittens. I love warm hands. Project Pogie gets started tomorrow. Hopefully I can get 'er done for under $60.

Saw snow coming down this morning out of the window, knew it wasn't too cold yet though.

Starting out was chilly, even on my legs, but I soon got my bodyheat up - was nice, though I should've had a bandana or thin hat on for ideal comfort.

Snow stopped a while ago and wasn't anything serious anyway - so might just be a cooler run tonight. Still enjoying the colder weather commutes so far.

Yesterday's commute pretty exciting. Lots of cars cut me off, some dangerously, some just stupidly. One thing I really hate is the morons who pass you on a street with parking and streetcar tracks to immediately parallel-park in a space that's now behind them. Of course they can't do that because they just passed me, so I am behind them. And a lot of the time I can't move either because I need to go between the tracks to pass them, and have to do it pretty carefully to avoid catching the tire in one of them, so I can't merge into that lane if any traffic is coming, I have to wait for a gap... *sigh* It would've been much faster for these morons to wait for less than a second behind me and then park all they want. Amazing turkeys.

I also forgot my gloves (ouch) but managed to draft a bus for a while. Being close to a warm bus warmed me up so much that I didn't even need gloves for the rest of the way.

I had an encounter with a JAM this morning at the usual trouble spot, where a series of right-turn-only lanes form from straight-thru lanes. I was taking one of these lanes since I need to go straight and don't want to be to the right of a right-turn-only. JAM behind me honked a couple of times for me to get over and I ignored him. Then he gunned it to pass me on my right, using the RTOL. Of course, he turned right into a parking lot just a few seconds later, and I followed him. Words ensued. :)

Among the high points, both quotes from him:

"I just moved here. I read the law and passed a driver's test. It says cyclists have to be all the way to the right." Uh, no. When I told him what the law DOES say, he admitted it and changed tactics.

"Your life isn't worth 3 seconds of my time." He said this while holding his son (old enough to understand what we were saying) being dropped off at day care. Frankly this one stupified me and I failed to respond intelligently.

Nice weather today, up into the low 60's. I was too lazy to fix the flat tire on my commuter bike last night, so I rode the back up one again today. Have a great weekend everyone.

After 1 1/2 years of commuting I figure I'm now worthy to post here.

Had my first little glimpse of snow today. A light rain snow/mix. Otherwise we continue to have substantially above average temps. I'm not complaining.

Good God. I don't think there IS an intelligent response to that. I think I might switch my attention to the kid in the hopes that something might get through there, but sadly he'll probably grow up absorbing the same ME ME ME ME ME attitude from Daddy dearest.

My left pedal snapped off at the 5 block mark of my 5 mile ride home. My right leg feels. . .tingly . . .and strangely powerful.

Had a nice ride home Friday, although it's getting warm here. Was about 27C (80F), so quite sticky.

Went to the LBS today to talk single-speeds with them. Hmmm. Seems the best option might be to convert the 80's bike I'm currently riding, and buy a new roadie. I had been thinking about that option. Need to check the bank account...

Also my knee was been aching a bit this week, which is annoying. Don't know why. Hopefully it will sort itself out. I don't notice it when riding, but do at other times when walking. I hope it's not cycling related, and that cycling won't stop it from sorting itself out.

And hello daredevil. I would say 1.5 years or commuting makes you a veteran, and well able to contribute here!

4:30am 36f winds were calm, nice ridin' weather. Picked up a pair of gloves at the local Sporting Goods. $15, 40gr Thinsulate with reflective striping on the top of the hand. They did the job at those temps. Ride home was 45f. I wanted to try out my SportHill jacket(Traveler) all by itself. WOW! It's rated for below 40f, so I got too warm as the ride progressed, but I'm confident that it will live up to its billing when the temps drop into the 20's and 30's.