Cold, Wet, and Awesome!

Dropped my chain again on the way in because I was too lazy to fix it last night. Mea culpa. Less than a block from work, I got cut off hard by some guy and we yelled at each other. Sigh. I don't like being mad at people. :(

It was great ! Conquered a dreaded hill that I have only walked till today with one stop :) Got hornked only once. Very enjoyable. I m loving this bike commute more and more !!

This morning, my version of the overly aggressive driver was the guy in a Bentley or Maserati, one of those expensive 4 door sporty looking sedans. He pulled into my lane with me in it right next to me. I veered right, stared at him as he got stuck in more traffic and left him behind. In all, he went from 5 mph to 30 mph to 0 mph in the space of 50 feet. I wonder if it made him feel better.

Nice and fast, nothing exciting (always a plus). Same temp as yesterday, didn't feel as cold.

20 mph pollen-filled headwind this morning. Sux.

oh yeah, one thing, it must finally be spring (despite rumors of snow this weekend): I inhaled my 1st bug.

3rd day in a row - I love not having to travel!

+1 on the bugs though - they've been really thick this week.
I'm with HardyWeinberg - the ones you swallow ain't so bad, the ones you inhale are murder.....

Very odd commute, riding into D.C. today just before the Pope's visit. I got caught in a procession of guitar-playing worshipers, carrying a cross at the front. I started getting caught up in the whole thing--like a pilgrim to Jerusalem. But I had to get to work and passed them. Never a dull commute around here!!

I think I'm back in the game... it's been more than a year since I commuted consistently, but after the rides this week I can't begin to imagine why I stopped. Since I stopped, though, I've put on 20 pounds, so it was a bad call!

Decided around Christmastime that a new bike would certainly help me get motivated, so I convinced dw that I needed one, and ended up with this:http://lh5.ggpht.com/todd.pickett/SA...4/IMG00047.jpg

It's a CrossCheck Complete, upgraded with SRAM Rival (gifted by a very generous friend from work) and some free street/commuting tires gifted by the manager of the shop where I bought it (they came from his personal collection, also very generous!) So, got the new bike, rode a few times to get back in shape, commuted once, and then weather and life got in the way. It's taken me a while to get the motivation to start back, but I finally did.

Started last week with 2 days of half-commutes (drive, park, ride, reverse...) Drove yesterday with the bik e in the truck and rode the full 15 miles home last night, and then back in this morning, and it feels great. Weather is beautiful when it's not storming here in N. Texas, and the wind this morning actually worked with me for a change. Trying a new route since I last did this regularly, and I love it - farms, rolling hills, nice curvy road, and not much traffic for a good half of the ride. Up the hills not so fun yet, but the ride down the other side is awesome.

It was absolutely gorgeous! Light winds and bright sunny skies here in NYC, can't complain.

It was great. 65 degrees and extremely light winds in Cleveland Ohio. I own a heavy Raleigh Sojourn and with such light winds i felt like i was flying.

Today was one of those days when I wished I had a horn. I have a bell, but I wanted a car horn. A nice, loud, deep horn. As I rode home, a sloooow moving livery cab got in my way, forcing me to slow way down. True, traffic in front of him was moving slow around the illegally double parked car he was going around, but still, he slowed me down and my first instinct was to honk the horn to get him to hustle out of my way. An Air Zounds would probably just confused him.

Signs of spring: saw commuters on rollerblades, push scooters, skateboards, bikes and one on a trike powered by a motorcycle engine with a wide car tire in the rear and two thinner motorcycle tires up front. Looked cool, but i couldn't look too long, he was moving too slow. :D

Glad my day ends at 2:30. Hit the road for the 12 miles home. Catch about 5 minutes of snow mid way through and arrive home about 3:50. Now one hour later there's an inch of snow on the ground.
Really glad for an early day.

The weather was way too nice, tons of people clogging up the MUP.

Beautiful here. My first "long" ride in a very long time. 5 miles in, 5 out. Great ride. although coming back was noticeable longer. Need to get in better shape.

My commute is about 10km each way, downhill in, uphill back. I use a mix of streets with dedicated bike shoulders, and regular roads with not much room for bikes but they're fast so I just get in there and go. I am moving house at the end of the month and will try a new route, down the Don Valley on the MUP almost the entire way to work, should be a nice change from the traffic.

The weather has been awesome this week. Coolish temps and warm sun. I like it better than the middle of summer for commuting, the sweat factor going into work is not as bad. Which is good because we have no shower or good change area at the office! I can't stand that, but that's the price you have to pay to enjoy your commute.

Odds and ends:
- I have not taken the subway once this month, woohoo! Was doing it out of sheer necessity with the snow we had in Toronto. No more elbows, delayed trains and cranky people
- I got my fall of the year out of the way (I hope) last week. Was swinging my leg over to dismount while moving, hit ice and went down on hands and knees onto my bike. Bent chainring with my knee, did not feel good!
- Flying down a narrow shoulder past gridlocked cars, while fun, still has it's hazards, as shown when I nearly ended up on the hood of a car going left through a gap across my path. Learning to slow it down a little around cars, you just never know.

The ride in was dark and quiet and beautiful. I love riding to work in the morning before the sun comes up.

Unfortunately, the ride home was cancelled due to snow. The roads were slick, and I finally decided not to push it. One of my coworkers gave me (and my bike!) a ride home.

37F/~3C and calm. With forcast highs in the mid-70s for this afternoon, I stubbornly wore shorts this morning. A little chilly at first, but warmed up nicely. :D

Great ride this morning. Low 40s, sunny, light headwind. I wore a long-sleeved poly top under a Canadiens t-shirt. :p

And yeah, the New Year's Resolutionaries are out in force now that it's getting warmer. Happens every spring... :rolleyes: They'll go back to couch surfing and bon bons soon enough.

another great morning for being on the bike
felt relaxed on the ride in, on my way home last night it seemed that everyone was out to get me, seems as the weather warms up a bit people start driving worse than they were before when the streets were bordered with snow

looking forward to the ride home, thinking about doing some short rides on my lunch break just to break up the day and get some fresh air

i am off from work next week so any rides i take will be just to wander or run an errand so that will be nice

i hate to say it but i think the singlespeed is going to the basement for a while
:)

Another chilly morning in NC, but it's supposed to hit the mid-70s F this afternoon. Spring is definitely here. My commute route is normally very boring through the suburbs, but everything is colorful now with the dogwoods, azaleas, tulips and other flowers blooming. The only downside is the pollen, which has caused to me have a sore throat for weeks. Drank a milkshake last night and it was the first time in 3 weeks that my throat didn't hurt. I might have to make temporary routine out of that.

Yet another great morning to ride in here, temps a little warmer in the low 40s. Saw something interesting this morning I have never seen before. While riding on a back road, I saw a mouse scurrying across the road screaming while a hawk/bird came swooping down trying to get it. The bird tried twice to get the mouse in its claws but did not succeed and was scared away by me since I was getting too close. I am looking forward to the afternoon ride home, temps in the low 70s.

It was a very nice ride home yesterday, I took a different route with some steeper climbing but lest total feet of climbing (same elevation change, just all at once). It was 3 miles shorter and much nicer over all. It will be my standard route.

Today is my first back-to-back commute day. The ride in was excellent. The temps were in the mid to upper 40's, a good 12-15 degrees warmer than yesterday. I did have to loop around town a little to avoid a train parked at my standard crossing point. It added a 1/2 mile so no big deal.

A balmy +4C for the ride in! No balaclava, no mittens, no leg warmers, no winter shoes! Wheeeeeee! :D

It's going to snow this weekend... :cry: