Raining cats and dogs this morning, so I ran front and rear blinkies. The fender kept my buns from getting soggy, which was awesome. Wet socks, dry undies and cold hands. It could have been a lot worse...

Commuting to school for me is like sex. Even if it is not a good commute, its still pretty good. My messenger bag was awfully heavy and cumbersome with my laptop, clothing and lunch/dinner. It was too much. I think I am going to lose the laptop. Another good reason to lose it is so I am not typing on BF during class!

My ride in was less than a mile this morning. My wife has jury duty so I threw the bike in the back of the van, we drove to daycare to drop off the kids, she drove to the courthouse, and I rode the 6 blocks to the office. I'm hoping that my wife will get out early and she'll pick up the kids so I can take a nice detour ride home.

Short ride yesterday to all-day meeting near my house (too short to count as commuting according to the rules of the bike commuter contest!). Today, s-l-o-w start, my 6 yr old was going so slow he couldn't climb the curbcuts, his bike would bump into them and tip over.

I took it easy today. My legs are starting to feel the effects of a weekend century and the start of decent commuting weather.

Cool, damp. For some reason everyone I saw was super-friendly this morning. Bus driver tooted & waved, garbage truck guy wished me good morning, car passenger at a light said HeyHowyadoin, other cyclists waved, fella in the elevator wanted to know about my route.

Don't know if it was me or the universe, but everyone sure seemed to be in a good mood! :)

Oh, I forgot to report earlier I saw 4 other commuters over the course of my commute this morning, the most I've ever seen on one ride. Even better, all were riding "safely" (according to my own personal rules of what's "safe"), no threading thru traffic, waiting at traffic signals, stuff like that. Woohoo!

What a difference a day makes
 

Yesterday I skipped my ride to work; forecast said rain and it was raining when I left for work but not when I left work. I had to wake up and make up my mind to ride or not and I wasted too much time thinking about it or I would have taken the bike out in the rain anyway. Today's forecast is rain too but I said heck with it and rode anyway. Haven't left work yet so I'll see if I made the right decision or not then. I sure feel much better when I ride in rather then when I take the car. The air was cool and while I enjoyed it I began thinking how different it will be in a few weeks when the humidity and temperature get high. My ride is only six and some miles so it doesn't take too long. I don't care about getting wet, I'm more concerned about getting hit by some driver who can't see as well in the rain as he can when it's dry. Sorry I haven't anything more interesting to report but I don't mind not seeing any dead human bodies by the road, I see enough animals.

Well I drove to work today, but I was late so they sent me home. Bummer, but I figured I'd make the most of my hump-day day off. I went and bought a helmet, went home and changed clothes and went out on a ride. I wanted to test out my new computer anyways. Kind of a rough ride with NW gusts of 45mph.

Things I noticed:
People in cars suck. I own my lane. Period. If there is a wide shoulder or a bike lane I'll use it and free up the lane, but otherwise I am right in the center of the lane. People pass me and their cars are literally inches away from me. C'mon people, there is a whole other lane that you could use to pass me. Most people in Las Vegas are on the run all time. I had a trucker come up behind me and lay on his horn....scared the hell out of me.

My computer stopped working halfway through my ride. Turns out I didn't have the sensor tight enough to my fork and it slid down away from the magnet. It's a cool computer, but it is secured by zip-ties. I wish it had an actual bracket. Oh well, it does the job and all the different functions are cool.

My rear is killing me. My saddle shifted on me about 5 minutes into my ride and I didn't have a multi tool (I didn't have anything but a water bottle. I'm waiting on an order from Nashbar) I also need to raise my saddle. The seat post is too small of a diameter, so I either need a new post, or a collar from Nasbar.

My tires are slowly losing air. No prob as new tires and tubes are on the way.

I couldn't shift onto my largest chainring. I got home and busted out my repair manual and tried to service it myself, but I'm worse off than I was in the beginning. I can't seem to get the front derailleur dialed in. I had to put it off as my fatherly/husband responsibilities took over. I'm frustrated with it and am considering taking it to my LBS and having them dial in my drive train.

Headwinds suck. Tailwinds are awesome!

I need to learn how to shift better. When I come to a stop I forget to downshift and I have a rough takeoff.

Fun ride all in all, almost 6 miles in all. Feels good!

Can't let this scare you. Annoying as hell, I know, but there is nothing you can do to stop morons from honking, and you don't want to lose control because of it.

Looks like you need a bit more adjustment of your ride. It makes an amazing amount of difference.

All tires are slowly losing air. What matters is how you define "slowly".

Did you buy the bike from the LBS? If so, this tune-up (and several afterwards) should come for free. If not, it's a good idea to have them look over your bike and fix whatever problems it might have (from your description it has a few - might be small, but surely annoying).

Good luck in your commuting adventures. :)

the ride home yesterday was WICKED AWESOME! Left just as it started to ran, extremely dark clouds overhead, thunder rumbling in the distance. Then the rain kept picking up until it was a torrential downpour for a while. However, there were some real idiots out there in the cars. I swear everyone forgets how to drive when it starts raining and storming. Also, when I left downtown the pedestrians all turned crazy and started darting across the road when and where they felt like - it was if they all started flipping out as soon as the rain started - all had this wild-eyed look and frenzied walk - kinda funny actually!

wonderful ride in this morning as well - nice and clear, perfect temps.

planned on the Ride of Silence tonight, but won't be making it - I'll meet up with you some other time B

All tires are slowly losing air. What matters is how you define "slowly".

Slow. I filled them up last weekend to 90 PSI. Today they were down to 45psi.

Did you buy the bike from the LBS? If so, this tune-up (and several afterwards) should come for free. If not, it's a good idea to have them look over your bike and fix whatever problems it might have...
No, it was a Craigslist bike.:)

Something about driving 40+ miles in rush-hour traffic to make a cyclist statement doesn't sit right. I think I'll make just as much of one by riding my bike home tonight.

Today, I raced the t-storms home and I won!

There were a few drops when I left work and the rumbling was following my *** all the way home. I rode harder than usual, but it felt good!

Made it in 23 minutes today! I was just recently able to take up commuting again :thumb:when i got there all the lpn students were in the cafeteria just staring at me walking in in my riding clothes, and listening to the mp3 player:roflmao2: Just smiled and waved:lol: Love being that crazy guy who rides across the field next to the hospital every am!

Today was the 2nd day of riding both ways on my new bike (instead of taking the bus in and riding home). Very nice trip. Got a thumbs-up from one of my neighbors on my old bus when I passed it at a stoplight.

Having the pannier makes a huge difference, as do the other improvements from old bike to new.

Sliced my knee open on my fender stay this morning. Battled an insane headwind on the way home.

The ride in was slow and lazy. I just kind of meandered my way to work. It felt good.

The ride home was epic. The night dispatcher came in an hour early,so I left. I rode 6 miles instead of my usual 3, and went through two parks. The highlight of that whole ride was a pack of kids at one of the parks...seeing packs of kids at the park always makes me happy. Some parents still let their kids go beyond arms' reach! Yay!

Anyway, these kids were playing down by the creek, and they found snakes. They let me pet their snakes, asked me questions about them ("why do they shed?" "will this one bite me?" "are they poisonous?" "where are their fangs?") and were genuinely interested in my little mini-lesson about snakes.

Ride to work was awesome- mid 60's, very light wind, and I just took my time having fun. Riding back home around 9:45PM was also great. Nice clear skies, new headlight working great (Niterider Sol). Had some creature (cat or raccoon) scare the absolute frak out of me as I rode by some tall grass.

As always, a pleasant midnight commute. I wish this weather could stick around longer, but the humidity of impending summer is already starting to creep in.

The Brooklyn Bridge looked awesome from afar tonight, as it was lit up in roating colors and surrounded by spotlights. Unfortunately, beyond the aesthetic aspect, let's just say that I would love the have a word with the fscker that planned the setup and decided to set up giant spotlights in such a way that they look you straight in the face as you're approaching the center of the bridge from either side, effectively almost completely blinding both yourself, as well as the cyclists coming at you from the other direction, creating quite the situation.

~48F/9C nice and clear. Had a pretty nice view of the still pretty fat moon, too. :D

This daylight creeping up earlier and earlier on me is kinda of a drag. I like my pre-dawn ride. Maybe I'll have to ride longer and earlier...

I almost got hit on the way home yesterday....It was big and blue and....flying!! A Great Blue Heron took off from a little marshy patch right next to the left side of the road as I was coming down a hill at ~25 mph. He (it) let out a croak, sounding kind of like a rusty hinge, and then nearly pooped on me as I apparently scared the cr*p out of him too. It was probably never closer than ~10 feet in front of me, but at 25 mph, and at head height, that's pretty dang close. His wingspan was huge! Must have been at least 6 feet. Thankfully both bird and rider remained unscathed and unpooped upon.

Ride in this AM was brisk at ~48F, but otherwise about perfect. I hope this nice cool weather holds out for as long as possible!

My first post here
 

Hello, to all. I used to be a telecommuter but my job description changed and now requires me to commute to the office. Right now I am just a fair weather commuter. I have a seven mile ride and virtually no traffic as my ride takes me through the country of a rural community. Today, a waxing full moon and 50 degrees greeted me. Absent today were the horses and cows I normally see. Made the best time so far, just under 32 minutes. Tomorrow, I get to telecommute.

Commute was great today. 60 degree weather, sunny, no wind :D

The only thing is.... I forgot that our office has a day off today.... Time to suit back up and ride back home :o

No ride today, took the car so I could meet my lady friend at her student's art show tonight out of town. It felt a little strange to be driving in but I was relaxed since I drive through a lot of school zones, mellow drive in with a glass of green tea.
I am going to run in the gym in my building after my day is done and then hit the road.
I hope everyone had a great ride in this morning!

:)