My commute was terrible! (Yes, I'll have some cheese with my whine thank you!) In spite of the knowledge shared by the elders of this forum, I took the bait and bought a cheap schwinn Letour roadbike. I wanted a cheap commuter and found this on craigs list. Good grief! Those things should be outlawed. Give me my mtb anytime.
I rode my regular 21 mile commute that I do each weekend and I thought I was gonna die. I'm taking that bike back to the seller and GIVE it back to him if need be. He did say he would be willing to work with me if I didn't like the bike for a few days. He is a seller on craigs list and has a small wearhouse full of bikes.
Ernest

I just got back from tech training in the States and was really interested in seeing how my goodies I bought would work out. I purchased the Topeak Explorer disc rear rack and two Detours toocan grocery style bags to on my Kona Blast. The bags made it easy to transport my uniform, boots, and lunch for the week; it was a snap picking up groceries after work from the commisary.

Well, I finally did it - two rides into work in the same week. Really tired. Not sure why I made it home in almost the same time as I made it in, even though I felt bad, bad, bad on the way home. Kinda nice to leave the computer at work for the long week and not have to haul it home.

Traffic in was busier than normal, even though I left at the same time. Weird - wonder what it's going to be like once school's back in.

If I can figure out how to do this w/o being ravenous for two days following the ride, I'd do it more!

I've been negligent in properly maintaining my bike... I think both wheels are slowly going out of true, probably need to overhaul and repack hubs. Some worrying noises on the ride in today :(

First ride in a week. A busted spoke and rains from TS Fay kept me off the road last week. The ride in today was very nice though ~60F, low humidity and no cager encounters

I never have any problems. Are you maybe just a bigger dude riding on a weak wheelset?

Sounds like your LBS thinks a new wheel is gonna help, which likely it will.

My ride in was a bit ridiculous this morning. I got sucked into one of those "I ride a fast bike so obviously I'm racing everyone when I'm on the road" races. Some doofus kept passing me and then slowing down, then speeding up again when I tried to pass him. At one point I was passing him and he almost cut into me going around another cyclist on his right. I decided at this point I'd take the bait and full on make it a race so I said to him "dude, you need to check before pulling out if you're going to be riding so damn slow" and started mashing the pedals. Dude was quick too, I kept slowly pulling away from him the rest of the ride but he never got really far behind.

I did get to work five minutes earlier than normal though, haha ;)

The ride home yesterday was hot and sunny and slow. It was pleasant, though.

The ride in this morning was chilly! It was only about 45 degrees out! After talking to my brother last night about cadence and gearing and other stuff that I'm just now figuring out, I decided to switch to the big chain ring and slow down my cadence a little. I ended up going really fast and feeling good.

First commute after vacation. :mad:
Really nice weather. :thumb:

Saw 2 or 3 cyclists going the other way. Passed a woman on a cool cherry red comfort bike with fenders and a basket.

Suicidal squirrels are back. Be careful out there.

Today was my first commute to work on a bicycle. It wasn't bad, the roads I take are pretty bike-friendly (large shoulder, or bike lane). However, it's incredibly uncomfortable changing into business attire while still hot and sweaty.

Tough commute, a bit nauseous. Spicy curry for dinner, then an early morning 20 mile commute don't mix apparently.

Who knew???

Today was an odd commute. Saw one bike commuter at my halfway point with nothing reflective/lighting except for a little arm band with a few blinking LEDs. I don't think I would have even seem them except I was waving my helmet light about watching for bunnies. Probably headed off to school and I hate to say this but I was actually thinking they probably should have been up in the bike path 2ft away which leads all the way to school with only 3-4 intersections (no driveways). Later at about the 3/4 point I looked in my left rear view and saw what I thought was a bike coming up from behind.
I was doing a pretty good 24 at the time and they were keeping about even but they were between the left tire mark and the middle of the lane while I was in the right tire mark. Kind of like how motorcycles travel when they are close except we were at least 100ft apart *shrug* I hit the overpass which heads over 635 pretty hard and they stayed with me. Everytime I looked back though it seemed they weren't pedaling. I kept my eye on my mirror for a bit and they weren't pedaling at all. I turned off after they had been following me for a few miles and looked back as they passed by and no pedaling motion? It was pretty dark so I couldn't make much out perhaps someone got an electric or really quite gas assist. Either that or the best coasting bike ever!
I made it in 1:25 which is really good for me. I averaged a heart rate of 104 on the ride so I wasn't pushing it but everything seemed to flow really well.

Very humid this morning, but wasn't too warm yet. However, It's probably going to be hella hot for the ride home... What a way to kick off september.

:-(

Good ride in today. It was chilly, but not too bad and I made it to work on time, even though I left a bit late.

Great commute in this morning. First one on the new Brooks B17. SOOOO much more comfy than the pos I was using.

I was grumpy all the way in. First day back after an awesome weekend camping trip, and I'm expecting a not-fun day today.

"Winterized" the bike this weekend. That includes: mounting fenders, lights, bottle cages (to hold battery for light), general cleaning, application of WD-40 to all bolt heads as rust preventative, and brake adjustment. I also clean/lube chain and check the tires for wear. I'll ride my slicks until snow is predicted then change to CX tires, I'll also probably have to replace chainring/chain/cassette in the Spring.

Other than that, it was a nice ride in this morning. Cool and dry with tons of energy (I've actually been getting to bed on time), was at work by 6:07. Just ordered a hitch for our new suv and will soon order the rack. Soon I will ride directly to the car in the afternoons, throw the bike on the rack, and head out to pick up our son who'll soon be at the babysitter. I don't see why I won't be able to continue commuting.

Nice cool weather this morning, and I get the sunrise view on the lake now that winter is fast approaching. Excellent time going into a headwind.

Of course, its supposed to be 90 degrees this afternoon. :wtf: :eek:

Not too bad. Humidity was down for Houston. LOTS of bugs along the bayou/mup today! I didn't eat any of them, though!

Not too humid today in North Carolina.

I can't get the hang of this new helmet-mounted mirror. I don't see what possible advantage it can bring me. Not sure how patient with it I'm going to be.

Great ride coming back off the long weekend. My back was sore from all the labour my wife had me doing this weekend and i think the ride really loosened it up and made it feel better.

Gah! 3C today on the way in. I had to wear a jacket. Boooooo!

Yeah, those electric bikes can go pretty fast and they are quiet. I keep flirting with the idea of getting a conversion kit for one of my bikes just to try them out but more than likely no. That would defeat the whole purpose of why I started bicycling in the first place which is to exercise and lose weight. They do look like fun though!
Ernest

Bah, tail light is gone (Cateye LD1000). Must have fallen off Thursday night; the L bracket it was screwed to fractured from all the vibration on the gravel roads I ride. I'll look out for it on the way home. If it's not along the road, time to buy a 2nd SuperFlash and build a rack for them.

It was a nice ride this morning, about 60*F (perfect). First day of school craziness was going on, plus bridge construction had traffic only going one way (not my way) and there was enough traffic that I didn't want to try to sneak across the bridge. So I had to go on the 2.5 mile detour, then go to the grocery store and back, going by an intersection the cops were controlling due to all the extra traffic from the school and detour traffic coming together on one intersection.

Anyway, no problems, just extra miles, and that's a good thing on a morning like this.

Will probably be a very long day today so I brought my lights and blinkies. Sigh.

Other than that, a very pleasant ride in to work.

Got about 5 miles into my 15 mile commute to lower downtown Denver and noticed a clanking sound when I would hit bumps on the trail. Looked back and noticed that I had either lost weight bearing bolt or it had sheared off. Either way, with >25lbs of load on, I had to turn back & drive in. :( GRRR!!!

Cold (low 40s) and foggy. Had to wipe my glasses around the halfway point. School starts tomorrow, ams will then include riding w/ 7yr old on his new 20" rig to his school.

The beginning of my 10th full week of commuting, today was a beautiful way to start the new week:

1) I made it to the gym in 15 minutes rather than the "usual" 17+ minutes.
2) I swam 30 laps in the pool, up from 20 last week.
3) Weighed one pound less than I did last week. (I am losing about 1.25 lbs/week. 12 overall)
4) My average speed was up nearly 1 full MPH.

Life is good.

Ride safe.

Was dreading the return of the general studentry to campus and the surrounding area and the beginning of schools in the area as I rode in this AM. I left a bit later than normal so I missed much of the traffic but still noticed a significant increase in both the quantity and temperament of the cars passing me.
Was my first commute on my Jamis Aurora which made the ride much more pleasant than my Trek 7300FX but will still require a bit of getting used to. Beautiful day, enjoyable ride, so far, so good!

Today marks the second time I ran a red in a cop's presence. Maybe I'm just lucky or the cops don't care...

Unbelievably good weather! Warm temps, low humidity.