Drizzle and 43 degrees, but....

good gear + right bike = good commute in any weather.

Back in the saddle this morning after several days off bike commuting. I caught a cold on Monday (when I did ride), took Tuesday off work, didn't ride Wednesday due to lingering cold, and had a dentist appt Thursday that I had to drive to. Today my cold is much better, and the weather is gorgeous. Clear skies with high this afternoon expected to hit about 80F.

Funny conversation I had a work yesterday. An older guy who is in very bad shape, smokes, and overweight was trying to convince me that the cold I had was from riding my bike in the cool air. This was the first cold I've had in about 3 years, even though I commute and rec ride all winter long. I told him that but he still wasn't convinced. He's a nice guy and a friend, but a heart-attack waiting to happen. He gets short of breath just carrying on conversations, but is often making comments about how dangerous my cycling is. Oh well ...

First ride in since the big snow storm. It was -5C and clear this morning. On the outskirts of the city i encountered Patchy fog. From whispy to pea soup with clear breaks inbetween.
Today was the first time i ever bailed. On one particular stretch of rural road 2 trucks were approaching from behind. The second was following the first very closely. Neither of them moved left and i waited until i was starting to get very nervous and then took the ditch. No biggie, didn't fall or anything, just a bit of a white knuckle moment.

Commuted eight of the last 10 work days, and have done about 175 miles in the last two weeks. That's a lot for me. Legs approaching jelly this morning, but got on anyway and as predicted, was fine after the first few miles.

Sadly, cold rain predicted most of next week. Don't think I'm quite that tough yet.

NICE. First week in a long time that I've commuted 4 days instead of 3.
I actually don't remember a lot of my morning commute, as I was on the phone for most of it.
Made good time; arrived at work energetic. Let's hope I stay that way :D

A little less snow today, so I put on the slicks. I had to take it easy on a couple of corners, but otherwise it was a nice, easy ride in. The snow should be gone by Monday...

No "commute" for me today--working from home. But with a forecast for 84F, I'll definitely be going for a ride later, maybe to the local strip mall. Gotta use that April Barnes and Noble discount coupon before it expires.

oldgimp, welcome to the Happy Healthy Commuting Muthas Club (HHCMF). Despite what your co-workers may say, it's not a cult. Really. But please, do try the Kool-Aid. ;) Soon you will be the envy of your friends and family. Your fitness will improve, your savings account will increase from the gas money you save, and you'll become the object of desire of everyone you meet.

Or so we all like to tell ourselves :D

ya, it so doesn't work that way, at least for me. The hottie upstairs where I work asked me last week when I was riding my bicycle where the Harley was. She said I look hot on the Harley. I rode it to work every day this week
;-)

Went on the weekly Thursday night hammerfest after work yesterday. 45 hard, hard miles (how is it that no matter which way the road went, there was a crosswind?) so my legs were a little heavy today.

But I can't complain. Today should be light, just finishing up a few projects before taking off next week to do some stuff around the house and put in the tomatoes and peppers for the summer.

Life is beautiful.

Nice ride in today. 35F, supposed to hit the 60s later on.

I was the wind's ***** this morning (30 mph headwind the last three miles of my commute over a fairly hilly stretch of road)...but hoping the trend reverses itself for the ride home...as long as those forecasted thunderstorms don't come rolling in! :eek:

I walked. Am I a heretic? :D

4.5 out of 5, 5 being best!

1) sunny, 60 deg f
2) wind shifted mid-day and pushed me both ways
3) doing weight-lifting and building leg strength is paying off
4) saw 2 (two) other bicyclists who were riding with traffic
5) traffic was lite, seemed alert, no "buzz-bys"
6) bike "farfignuggen" (-0.5 due to some minimal drive/train issues) !!

a good week!

Wait. What thread is this? Oh yeah. Distracted by the Biker Planet ad.

Had a good ride home. Not many cyclists out. I think one was behind me, but it never got any closer than glimpses before I went around curves. I had a good head of steam built up. Lots of energy. :)

I saw a bird I'd never seen before. Walking in a dirt parking lot. Like a small goose, but with black and white mottled feathers. Kind of a handsome little critter.

today I commuted downtown, then over to Cambridge/Arlington for a meeting then to BU then home then back downtown for some work related stuff tonight and finally home. didn't realize till I got home and looked at the cyclometer- I ended up with a 52 mile day of commuting! Now I feel it- going to bed.

1st commute for me today. Great, 75 F, slight breeze, very low traffic. Arrived 30 mins early and pumped.

Congrats kache! Sounds like a great day to be out riding...

Rare Saturday morning commute. OMG this is life without cars and it's good!

Easy morning with tailwind @ 10-15mph
Tough evening with headwind @ 23-29mph

There was a big earth day event today. I forget how many organizations were involved, but there were a ton of service projects going on. Rode up to our one bike path for the cleanup with our local biking group. A bit overcast, with patches of sun on the way in. Rained a bit during the project, then got better towards the end of the day.

After spending a good 2-3 hours picking trash up, about 5-6 of us rode about 1/2 mile-mile or so up the road to a local park for the after party.

Wonderful ride home as the sun came out. Hit the downhills just right, which made the ride home much better.

I will say riding through our downtown on weekends is, for the most part, pretty nice. Little to no traffic on the roads. The only problem is not having cars to help trip the lights. I usually just treated the lights as 4 way stops on the side roads. Used the cross walk button for the busier intersections.

Tha first broken chain evah for me today! Thank God I was carrying the toolkit with me this time (I don't always). Due to this delay, I arrived at work with full 15 seconds to spare. :)

a little shorter commute today. But a nice afternoon ride in and beautiful late night ride home with my wife.

It's been cooler here the last two days after having a streak of basically perfect weather (sans wind), but so what! I rode in zero degrees in the winter, so 40s are nothing now. I wore a long-sleeved shirt under my high-vis jacket, and was just dandy. The winds were lesser than usual, too. The only hint of a problem came as a car on my side of the road (which I was on the edge of) moved into the oncoming lane slightly to get around me, at the same time a car was oncoming. There was no collision, but it certainly is irritating. Apparently, it's too much to ask some drivers to WAIT a few seconds. This more than anything else has had me worried lately, and I've been thinking more about taking the center of the lane. I'm gradually getting braver and moving into the lanes more instead of hanging out on the fringe. On part of the highway I do much of the commute on I have been riding in the right lane most of the time, and I started doing this after riding the new bike (more concerned than I was on the MTB about flats from riding in the shoulder). The highway has two lanes in each direction and when I'm riding it the traffic is very light... plenty of room for the few cars I do see in the left lane and me in the right.

I was glad to see that gas is up to $3.65 here, too.

Hurrah! Am finally over a bout of tonsilitis, so rode today for the first time for nearly 2 weeks.

And a lovely day for riding it was too. Felt great to be on the bike. Legs felt OK, but throat / chest still a bit phlegmy from being ill. Very nice ride though.

My old bike is at the LBS at the moment getting an overhaul. I intend to kit it out more as a tourer / utility bike with panniers etc. I was also looking at the extracycle. My LBS was very disparaging, but I kind of like the idea - I think it's the only way I can carry my trombone on the bike. Anyone have an opinion?

Wet, wet, wet. I really need to add fenders. 43 degree F. and raining. Overall, the ride was exhilirating. It was a joy as always to be on the bike. It's supposed to rain here all day, so I'll be riding home in the rain as well, at least in should be in the 50s by then.