Good commute this morning. I raised my seat a bit and ultimately shaved a few minutes off my commute and increased my average speed. I guess it's a bit more efficient.

Also, i got a lumbar pack (a.k.a. fanny pack) to use instead of a backpack. Makes a huge difference. so much more comfortable and no added back sweat.

Aren't days like this good? :)
:beer:

(same here)

Biked today but had to carry a load of papers in to work (heavy) and 1/2 of an apple pie with caramel icing on the way home. So used my backpack as originally intended - on my back and the pie on the rack. Everything neat and in its place. Stopped on way home at Walgreens and bought candy for my wife and a birthday card.

I keep meaning to bring a camera along on my commute, but usually rushed somewhat . This morning the sky was beautiful, with a single pink cloud surrounded by some white ones in a pale blue sky. No peacocks, though today.

I didn't eat 20,000 calories today but then to burn the excess 17,000 or so I'd have to work out for 34 hours. But there are only 24 hours in a day, so it just doesn't add up for me a mere mortal. Enjoying the olympics when I can stay up that late.

Almost got doored by a guy getting out of a taxi in the middle of Madison Ave. Nowhere near a curb and he decides to get out in traffic. Except he didn't get out, he just opened the door. So I reached over my handlebars and closed it on him and continued on my way.

Last week the front derailler and ratchet mechanism died on my 1983 10 speed. No parts at the LBS. I'll probably look for a bigger bike anyways. Still I am going through biking withdrawals. :(

fast (er)!

seemed like 30 minutes each way...farfignuggen?

head on passer (suv,m, age 25-30, white) unsafe pass this am, and a bicyclist against traffic this pm (i said 'hi!' and 'wrong way' in passing...)

saw 2 other bikers this am on bmx bikes, heading agaist traffic as well, on the other side of road.

i also had a pedestrian leaving from WAWA (conveniance stores here in nj) walking back to the police station state "you are making good time today!" i responded "i know!" and waved.

temp was 65degF in am, 82f pm, low humidity, wind assisting each way!

for some reason, i felt guilty for the goodness of todays rides, a ying/yang vision?

enjoy the moment!
t

Today I got mooned BIG time! A car full of teens goes by with a butt stuck way out the window. 10 minutes later another car passes slowly by with a dog barking its head off out the window just a few feet from my ear. But it was still a great ride! Weather was perfect!

Nice ride home in the dark after seeing the new Batman*. Surprised how long it took to charge the Li ion battery for the headlight yesterday after not using it since like April.







*holy cow was that one looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong long long movie.

:thumb:

60F, some clouds. No wind.

My ride was pretty quick. Some serious-looking roadie went by me (other direction) shortly after I got on the MUP, and I was worried he might turn around at the end of the MUP and try to get me, so I bumped my cruise speed to 20MPH and pretty much held it for 5 miles except for stop signs. Eventually I caught up to 3 cyclists close to where I leave the MUP so I let them pace me.

Had to wait for a freight train to cross the road, then drafted the minivan I was behind whilst waiting for the train. Easy 20MPH (the speed limit) up an incline. Fun.

Ride was nice today, Didn't try and hammer to work, but made good time. Left a bit earlier too, so less cars, that's a plus.

It's funny, My legs are really, F'ing sore. But they feel fine when I ride, Walking is a nightmare though. I'm not sore from cycling, so maybe the muscles are being used differently. But Man o Man, my legs hurt. It kind of reinforces that "shut up and ride" attitude in the morning. No matter how tired or sore I am, I never regret getting on the bike and riding to work.

Also, when I got my coffee/cinnamon roll, the girl working there was hitting on me a bit, it's a shame I almost fell over when getting on the bike spilling coffee all over the place. Smooth move.

1st rain ride
 

Not today, but yesterday's ride home. Thought I would miss the rain, but at 3:30 it was a downpour, at 4:30, it was a slight drizzle, but the roads were soked. Now I wish I had fenders on the bike. The rack for the trunk does a good job of keeping the water off the back, but the front tire really threw a ton of water at me. It was hard to see at times with all the water dripping off the glasses.

No ride today as I have to leave early and can not get soaked!

Cool, cloudy. Weather sites claim only a 5 mph tailwind, had to have been more. Record commute time. 33 minutes door-to-door. Average (including stops) of 19 mph for the first 98% route. Last 2% takes 5 minutes. No wonder my overall average speed door-to-door is crap (15.5 mph for my record commute today).

Maybe I should get a cyclocomputer...

I keep telling myself to get one, I am interested in what kind of speeds I get. I can work out the average speed, but That's about it.

Another cool morning in NC with temps about 60F. My commute times/speeds have been faster than usual all week due to the cooler weather. Amazing what a shot of adrenalin the cool temps give you after weeks of blazing heat and humidity.

I saw 3 other cyclists while riding to work this morning, which is 3 more than I usually see. Unfortunately, 2 of them were riding on sidewalks and one riding against the traffic (toward me).

Update...got home in 37 minutes :)
10.5 miles in 37 minutes...averaged 17mph. Not bad for my noob self. :D

Not bad last night, though I was loaded down with some stuff I needed to take home from my office. This morning was a bit tough, since I was up a bit late and had a couple beers last night. Still made it in normal time, but it was a bit tiring.

A nice cool 65*. I took the big 8-lane Avenue again. I managed to keep a nice 25-28mph for most of it :)
Except I kept getting red lights and cars making right turns. Defeats the whole purpose of taking a major street.
I got a new high for my average: 25.2kmph=15.65mph :) Maybe I can get higher average if I stopped using side streets...

Lovely, once again. Traffic volume has been moderate on the ride in for the last couple of weeks. I also found this great left-hand turn that is actually a natural berm in the road. Swinging through there every morning is fun... :D

had an enjoyable ride, there was a bus that was sort of a nuisance only because it would stop and i would have to go around and then the bus would pass again...i think he was getting annoyed with me and i him, doesn't happen all the time

they recently paved some areas that really needed it because it was around some rr tracks, they couldn't be smoother now, it's great and it is going to be a peace of cake in the winter

Other than being HOT, it's been a fairly uneventful week... did I mention it's HOT!?

Not really looking forward to the ride home - it's supposed to get to around 106 today!

Oh, yeah. State Fair Weather, baby!

Finally was able to bicycle commute to work today. Came to 23.3 miles on the route I took in. But as expected the worst part of the trip is the last 3-5 miles. The roads get worse, the traffic gets worse, the drivers get worse, the crime potential gets worse, total suck city for the last 3-5 miles. I'm playing with some options to detour around the worst of the worst and go through only marginally worse areas, but will still have a couple of major road construction projects going on that block the two primary route options. And different route options would add 5 or more miles each way.

But up until the final few miles it was a nice ride in. The mirror and my glasses fogged up a bit, arms got dew drops on them, bike has all sorts of road dirt on it kicked up from the wet MUP and roadways. Also ran into one detour on the rail to trail MUP that I wasn't expecting which added 10 minutes to the commute during the first half of the ride in. Clocked in 10 minutes late at work, staying late to make up for it. And now it's raining outside, but hopefully it will dry before I head out. Going to explore a different routing option on the way home, only one report of someone getting robbed with a shotgun in the last year on the different route instead of the three or four on the route I took in today.

Maybe I'll just ride the motorcycle tomorrow. Or just bicycle in again, and when I get within 5 miles of work just pull out the cell phone and call in sick and turn around and head home. ;) It would be a real nice ride then. :).

First time posting here, but anyway.......

I've been commuting now for about 3 weeks. Legs are still doing the sore thing. Mainly just my quads, but not too terribly bad.
I don't have a computer on the bike yet to let ya know speeds or actual distance, but according to Google, it's about 7 miles each way. Not that bad, except for this NorCal heat. 110 yesterday and supposed to be 112 today.
Lots of hills in that 7 miles so I get a good workout going either direction. School starts Monday, so I'm curious as to how that's going to effect my travel. I have to go by 4 schools on the way to work without much way to avoid them.

....... at least tomorrow is friday =)

Hot and sunny and with a headwind. I had meetings early so didn't head to the office until after lunch. Usually the wind has switched from the east to the west by then but not today, full-on headwind all the way. I was just drained from the get-go, can't really explain it. At least, that's how I felt. Computer says avg speed wasn't too different.

It was good. About 10 miles into the commute I saw a blinking red light. The strange part was that I was gaining. As I passed this person in the dark I saw myself about six weeks ago (an out of shape guy working like crazy just to make the bike go down the trail). I smiled and said "morning" and kept on going. It was the first time that I passed someone that was not on a little kids bike or off to the side making a cell call.

Not bad at all-the new gearing on my new crankset is much nicer for my rides.

Delayed commute- a friend gave me a ride home last night since I was completely exhausted, then I went in to work and picked up my bike today. It started pouring halfway through my ride, so I pulled on the sidewalk under a tree, pulled out my rain jacket, and put that on. A little old man watching the rain on his porch yelled out at me that it was good to be prepared, and we need the rain so he's gonna enjoy it. Good for him! Good for me, too, it was a fun ride.

goofing off and being stupid makes for an interesting ride. I was pulling the trailer and cut through a parking lot. I clipped a parking block with the left wheel of the trailer and it bounced and tipped onto it's right side. I dragged it that way a few feet before jerking the bike left to flip it back over. I don't know how that worked but it did. I thought for sure it was going to bring me down. Good thing it wasn't loaded at the time.

I'll try to forget I heard about this maneuver, since my trailer has humans in it.

I rode out to Closter this morning--about halfway to Nyack--and saw an old friend. The left turn off 9W down Closter Dock Road is the best hill I've ever ridden down. Between that, the sore legs from the last three days of bike shenanigans, and the 4 hours of sleep last night, it was nice that I have a folding bike small enough for the friend to drive me back up to the main highway in the afternoon.