every silver lining has a cloud
 

i fortunately live close to where i work as a welder in west yorkshire, uk. 2.3 miles so i ride most days. as i leave the house i have a nice stretch of level road so get the old sturmey archer aw into 3rd and cruise at 17mph then freewheel down the hill with some speed bumps, brooks b66 saddle to thank going over these! then its onto the B6136, a fast road with some hills which had a lovely smooth surface till it was resurfaced with that horrible grit, every time a car speeds by its like being shot with a blunderbuss! when will councils realise the coarse gravel they use lessens the surface contact and actually decreases grip? don't see formula 1 tracks with that surface! the road takes a sweeping downhill bend which is good for 30mph on a still day followed by a small uphill section under the motorway bridge, into 1st and a nice climb then it levels off but slightly downhill around ferrybridge power station and goes back to a smooth surface, hit the power again! now it takes a gamble to get a gap in the traffic to get on the opposite path as running the gauntlet of the A162 turn on further ahead is no junction for the cyclist! before the deadly junction is a railway bridge where you can't see the path under it because of a slight rise in the path. my hopes rise, is he going to be there? i power on then see him under the bridge, same place every morning- that ******* with the dog! the ignorant sod gives a look of defiance and walks in the middle of the path and glares at me even though i slow down. swear he has a key in his back, every morning, same time same place, the bottleneck just before the railway underpass, like clockwork, if i set off earlier hes at the worse bottleneck around the waste recycling site after the bridge by the side of the A162 slip road junction near work. an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, the dark cloud to my silver lining of a morning commute. maybe the dark mornings coming in will make him walk the dog later, otherwise something must give, i won't change careers, he seems healthy for his age, how many years has the dog got left?

matt

Today was my first commute on my new Long Haul Trucker, so I'll have to try very hard to describe it without resorting to 'OMG OMG OMG!! *squeeee!!*'

It was so nice to ride a bike that's fast and quiet and strong! The saddle fits me perfectly, the bike is completely silent, the ride is smooth, and it's just plain awesome.

It was a good ride, warmer than usual and hardly any traffic. I saw another bike commuter, so I rang my brand new Hello Kitty bell at her. I got a ring back.

For the last leg of the trip, a straight shot from the state highway to my building, I decided to get down in the drops and sprint. WHEEEE!!! I know that the Trucker isn't built to be fast or meant to be a racing bike, but compared to my old hybrid, it's a rocket! No wonder my Trucker-riding brother always dropped me like a bad habit whenever we tried to ride together!

Anyway, just imagine me doing the happy dance and counting down the hours until I can ride home (11 hrs. 40 min.!).

WOW I guess you like it huh? :love: Congratulations on the new bike.

This week I commuted on both weekends. It actually was really great because there was much less traffic to deal with.

What make/model was the hybrid? I'm just curious because I'm also considering moving from a hybrid to something else.

It was a K2 T-Nine Crosswind, $400 from REI. Very good entry-level bike...not so good daily commuter and weekend trailer-puller.

The ride home was much more relaxed than the ride in. I was trying to get a feel for my new Serious Bike (that's its name, I guess, since I've been referring to it as Serious Bike since I picked it up), trying out hand positions and fiddling with the bar end shifters. I spent a good portion of the ride down in the drops. I've never had a bike with drop bars before, and being in the drops is surprisingly comfortable for me!

The only downside to the ride was the darkness creeping in. This is probably going to be my last week commuting on the MUP...after that, it'll be all street and all dark both ways.

Woo Hoo ...28,000th post!

*drats, 27,990*

Congrats on the new bike, girljen.

Took it easy on the ride in this morning; I took the plunge at the weekend and converted the SS to a fixie. I'm still not completely comfortable riding it, I guess it takes a while to get used to it. It definitely makes for smoother pedaling though.

I love my commute and today was no different than most days.

I jump on my bike at home and ride approximately 1.5 km to the bus stop at Mount Coolum. Fold up the Dahon and get on the bus which takes me to Noosa Heads. Unfold the bike, and ride allong the Noosa River for about 8 km to Tewantin.

Picture a bloke dressed ready for the office riding a bright red Dahon Curve, passing all the would-be fitness freaks dressed as if they're European professional cycle racers panting and weazing on their new Canondalswho have only ridden about as far as what I have. Money can't buy you happiness like that look on there face when you say good morning.

Got to work after a nice quiet ride - love riding in for 5:30. Hardly any traffic and quiet. Saw three rabbits.

Lunchroom smells like the night cleaning crew were smoking inside and tried to cover it with spray.

Check the schedule to see who else is working... 12:30-9:00 Seven hours early for my shift. The other supervisor who is on apologised to me? said I could work a split shift. Heck with that, had a nice quiet ride home as well.

Oh well, only 6km each way and I didn't do too much on the weekend.

Temperature reading on my computer held between 20F and 23F the whole ride here, plus, a winchill on top of that.

I was really starting to wonder if my fingers would still be attached to my hands when I got to work.

I got a surprise: Nice weather!

The weather report was threatening 30s and showers, but when I got outside, I found 45 degrees and cloud cover. Yes! It was just humid enough for me to feel, which is a nice change from either completely dry or raining. I made good time, too...good enough to make coffee (first priority) and put on makeup (which I only do if I have time after making coffee).

Coldest morning (36F) so far in NC this fall, and my first ride in the 30s since last spring. It felt great as I judged my clothing just right. It's easy to overdress when the temperatures start dropping, but I got it just right and hardly broke a sweat. My main problem was my glasses fogging up, and I am gonna have to come up with a fix for that.

I had to pull over to the curb for a fire truck responding to a call, the first time that has happened. Then I had to wait for another fire truck returning to the station later on in my commute.

For the full effect you should wear a bowler hat and carry a rolled-up umbrella!:D

There was a light drizzle on the way home tonight; I ride home late on a Monay after an evening rehearsal. It's kind of nice to have the city streets pretty much to yourself. Summer is also coming; it's still 15C at 11pm even with the rain.

Well, the weather is starting to get cooler. It was around 40 this morning, wasn't too bad. Just threw on a wind breaker over my regular clothes and made the ride into work.

I'm just about ready to tackle the real cold weather, just need to get a nice hat, and scarf. I'm trying to not look super fred-like, tying to avoid the balaclava. But we'll see.

This morning's ride was nice. No fatigue or hard work, just the 8 mile stroll to the office.

High 30s and dark on the way in. I was cold, but not freezing.

Definitely going to need some pants soon.

It was in the low 30s this morning. I'm not having any pain in my ankle/achilles, but I wanted to go easy on it, so I drove part of the way, and rode the remaining 3.75 miles on my hybrid.

I wore jeans, t-shirt, long-sleeve shirt, gloves, and a beanie under my helmet. I was plenty warm.

I had one guy in a pickup show off his new air horn while behind me at a red light. That wasn't cool.

Other than that the ride was good. I thinking riding about two miles away for lunch to add a little more distance to the ride.

Great weather, no traffic problems and my legs felt good.

First day back after 2 weeks + 1 day vacation. :( Temps in the high 20sF. Very light headwind.

Only saw one cyclist heading the other way. I did see two tire tracks in some frost on the MUP though. One skinny tire and one fat tire.

Temp was about 40F when I left the house. I am not ready for these cooler temps...I miss summer.

Another windy one, 1/2 headwind, 1/2 tailwind so i guess it all works out.

First commute under 50F today... it was 41F. Prepared for it by buying a base layer this weekend, worked out fine. First mile was cool/cold but the rest was OK! :thumb:

Chilly! Two wool layers on top worked great. Cotton pants, not so much. Cold quads.

chilly this morning, i had to pull out the balaclava for the first time and i am glad i did, i was pretty cozy for the most part but my toes were a bit cold when i arrived at work, some of the frosted over fields were really pretty and the steam rising up off the river was a nice sight also...so glad to be out enjoying the temperature changes loving the commute

rainy and cold. Auspicious single speed maiden voyage

Repeating what tarwheel reported, first cold commute since spring. Not bad, and I judged the clothing correctly (3 years of experience helps!). My fingertips were cold, but that's normal. It's time for my annual search for warm gloves--I've been reading the "Warmest winter gloves" thread to get ideas.

Another commuter was in the locker room this morning too. He's as lean as I am (maybe even more so, which is rare). As he came out of the steaming shower he was still blowing on his hands. We chatted about cold commutes; it turns out he couldn't find his gloves this morning so he rode beare-handed. :( Ouch!

Finally, my closest friend (besides my wife) also commuted today. This is her first year commuting and she misjudged the temps. I plan to provide her with my clothing chart for different conditions (based on a chart I saw posted here on BF a while ago).

32 and cozy. Felt fresh. Gotta love it!

It was dark this morning - not too surprising given that the sun wasn't up. :) I am so glad that I have flagrantly bright lights on my bike. There was lots of traffic on the way down the big hill, and most of the streetlights were off for some reason. Once we got past that bit it was smooth sailing.

Haven't been commuting very long, about 2 months. Wow, it was chilly! 38ºF, when I left and frost everywhere. I dressed warm enough, but boy, my eyes were watering something fierce. All in all, it was fun and for me, beats pedaling in the heat of Summer.