Haven't posted to (or even read) BF for the last few weeks as work's been crazy. Finally slowed down today and I'm catching back up.

My commutes must not have been too bad as I don't remember anything important. Only thing to report was buying a new helmet Saturday.

Yesterday, while heading to work at about 5:00 am, it was still dark. I was on the Burke Gilman trail in Seattle and I could see something in the middle of it up ahead. As I got closer, I thought it looked human. I started thinking "I hope this isn't a dead person". (That sounds kind of morbid, now that I see that in writing, I know.) When I get right up to it, I see it's a couple of teenagers going at it, making out! I said WTF and they seemed more surprised than I did and scurried off as I pedaled away. Made me laugh!

hey noteon, I think i spotted you this morning around 9am near 96th street, pulled over to the side of the Greenway...was that you? A Xootr bike and a Burly trailer? i would have stopped to introduce, but i was riding like mad to make up for my late start.

Traffic even lighter than usual (and the usual is pretty darn light!) this morning. Saw a couple other cyclists going the other way, grinding uphill as I was sailing down :) Trailed a dump-truck downhill for a bit, felt like I was being sandblasted - note-to-self: lay back from dump-trucks! :rolleyes:

lol

I have been going out of my way to make them less interesting as of late. Apparently the wasp had a different idea in mind. :twitchy:
I need to solve my crashing \ almost getting hit issues before I get hurt again. Plus, I want my first 10,000 mile year next year. That will be a tad difficult if I spend it in the hospital repeatedly.

Had to drive this AM, alas, but threw my beater on the back of the car so I can ride thru the canyon going home. It's a nice perk being able to leave the car in the lot here at work. :p

Today's Commute
 

I had a great commute today - very mild weather for August in Northern Virginia. I installed clipless pedals on the LHT on Saturday and am kicking myself for not having gone clipless sooner.

Nice on the way in nice and wet on the way home.

Today was the first day with the air feeling warm on the way into work. But I still enjoyed it. Today just missed 100. It got up to a high of 99 today. It was 86 at 6Am.

Yeah! That was us! Around 96th, I think we were looking at the black tugboat helping the big black boat. Which person were you?

Or wait... that may have been when I was putting the chain back on.

Either way--how cool!

Commute was great. Nice easy morning ride. 101 in the afternoon, but overcast. It's about to rain now. I'm glad I beat the rain home....I have no rain gear.

My afternoon commute is always harder, but It's getting pretty easy now.

Hot and humid and bit chance for t storms. I have a 20 minute ride to the gym where I swim for 20-30 minutes before heading to the office. My boss is an avid cyclist, so before leaving I sent him a link to the doppler radar showing the front moving in. In short, he said "go for it". Halfway through my swim I could see the sky turn almost black.

To make a long story short, I avoided the storm, but had to wait it out for 20 minutes or so at the gym before the final leg.

A bad day on the bike is better than a good day driving, IMO.

Just ordered some rain gear from Penn Cycle. Good price on decent gear.
http://penncycle.com/itemdetails.cfm...4&catalogId=39

That's really funny. Looked like you were washing something off, i dunno. But i saw those boats too - pretty awesome! I'll definitely try stop next time, now that i'm sure it was you...

In other news, i had a crappy headwind on the way home. Took me an extra 6 minutes.

20.7 miles total, 87 minutes of some of the best part of my day!
had alittle "flash-back" this am of riding in the California Cascades, with cooler temp and smells......
anyway, good day!
thanks for asking!

Baby wipes! No chain grease on the hands.

That's too funny. I was kind of proud of myself for remembering I had some in the trailer with the spare diapers.

It's always a headwind home. I don't understand why. Something to do with looking at the emperor in a former life, I guess.

Fast ride this morning due to a mild tailwind. Hit every green light coming down Clarendon between the Clarendon and Rosslyn metros in Arlington. My 10.8 mi. ride was 38:35. New PR!

Sweaty, uneventful ride in- Dew point of 71F. Code orange ozone alert. Supposed to hit 99F this afternoon....ick. Supposed to get some cooler temps, lower humidity for the weekend though.

Reminds me of my old life. I lived on N. Quincy for a while, ten+ years ago. It sure is different around there now. Did they tear down Dremo's yet? :(

For me: Low 60sF and overcast. No wind. My ride was fast. I pushed a little bit and caught a guy on a road bike. I stayed a respectful distance behind him but he kept turning his head to see where I was. I felt guilty. :o Eventually he left the MUP.

The number of cyclists I'm seeing every day seems to be increasing.

Wet ride in Columbus, OH today.... plus, I'm still tired from my epic ride on Sunday. So, tough one, overall. Good ride though, good time, good speed, just wet and very achy.

Some rides are idyllic, even poetic, tributes to the relationship between human and machine. Last night was NOT one of them. It was dark (left work at 2200 due to a class), there was traffic, and all I could think about was how much sleep I was missing out on.

This morning, though, reminded me why I ride my bike. The weather was perfect. The sun was thinking about coming up but hadn't made its appearance yet. There was no traffic, except for a few conveniently-located cars to trip the lights for me.

my head still feels a bit stuffed up but i had a good ride just the same...getting really good at holding trackstands at lights so i don't have to get back into the clips when i take off
it was a bit cool this morning so i wore a jacket but then i got warm quickly...my chain was quiet and the tension was just right

Walked out of my apartment at 5:50 this morning; pumped up my tires on the bike using my car and electric tire pump (see, cars are good for something :lol:); hit the road at 6:00, my first commute from the apartment rather than a drive/bike combo and with my brand new bucket panniers. Weather was already warm, 82 degrees with 79% humidity (felt like 89), at 6:00am!!! :eek: Rode the new extended route without incident, than on C.T. Switzer, the light bracket of my rack broke off and dropped my tail light, again! :cry: Recovered light and continued. (I should get the reflective sheets for my bucket panniers this week.) I crossed the railroad tracks at Cowan and saw a train coming from the west (beat one train).

I was at the corner of 13th St. and 30th Ave., two left turn lanes; I'm in the right left turn lane, right over the left-side induction wire when a blue pick-up truck pulls up in the left left turn lane. 30th Ave. is a four lane road, so when the light turns green, we both go, the pick-up moves into the right lane (the same lane I'm taking), goes down one block, and pulls into the Exxon station to get gas. I just had to laugh. :lol:

I was on 11th St., getting ready to turn onto 38th Ave. then W. Railroad St. when I heard another train (west bound, this time), crossed the tracks before the lights and gates were activated; second train beat. :D Had a bright yellow Monte Carlo SS pass fairly close to me, but very slowly. Odd, but okay. In all, took me 70 minutes to ride 16 miles, averaging 13.7 MPH (counting stops). Oh, and the bucket panniers rocked. I'll post more about those later. ;)

It was a gorgeous morning at the outset. Typicaly Alberta weather with patches of rain here and there. I started off riding in the sun, then roade into a patch of drizzle which was not even enough to show on the road. Then i rode into some pretty good rain which wasn't a big deal. Not until a car passed me and hit a puddle just right to soak me. It wasn't long before i rode out of the rain and back into the sun though, i was mostly dry by the time i arrived at work.

Good ride in today. 50% humidity, so i was pretty wet when i got to work. Luckily i have my own office to cool down in...

I have no work today and couldn't face the preschool grind, so no commute. We're playing hooky and going to the playground.

Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head...

Oi! Running very late this morning. Traffic wasn't bad, as many folks are away on holiday this week.

Was going to work at home then watch my son's swim class from the balcony before heading in, but sh*t happened and I had to rushrushrush into the office. My wife is driving today so I might still be able to bike over to her place and grab the car to get back for the swim class. Recent speed record anyway!

50%? I checked this morning before leaving the house; we were at 79% humidity! Forecast calls for 99 or 100 this afternoon.

Uneventful ride.

nice ride in this morning - uneventful. will be a sticky ride home - i walked somewhere downtown for lunch today and got drenched just from that!

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup;
And looking up, I noticed I was late.

I was running a little late this morning too, but I was at the office until 10:30 last night so everybody cut me a little slack.

I rode very easily since I was tired and the air was fairly muggy and I didn't want to arrive sweaty.