All I can say is "Wow!" The wind in N Texas has been unreal for the last week or so... a calm day is 20 MPH, and this morning it was closer to 30 with gusts higher than that. Predicting that for the rest of the day and into tomorrow morning. Weatherman says it will slow down tomorrow - right about the time the thunderstorms roll in

Fortunately I was riding with the wind for half the ride in this morning, and across it the rest of the ride - I did have a couple issues with being literally blown into the middle of the lane, but no traffic so no problem.

If the weatherman is right, I'm thinking I'll cry "uncle" and invite the wife to come pick me up with the kids after work so we can go out to dinner. Don't have any desire at this point to labor into a 30 MPH head wind for 7 miles...

On the commute last night a driver pulled up beside me on a rural road and unrolled the window. He then drove along side of me and peppered me with questions about bicycle commuting. Now that's a sign of the times.

Saw two deer this morning.

Wussed out this morning, thunder and lightning and when I opened the window to look outside, the orange color of the sky was wrong...the way it looks when filtered through large cumulonimbus clouds. Rode the Port Authority bus for the first time in about three months, got to start reading "Phule's Company", but miss the burn on my quads.

Folks wimped out because of rain so I had the MUP all to myself!

Hoping she's OK. No streetcar tracks here, thank God, but when I ride my alternate commute I have to cross some train tracks, usually with a car right on my tail. Having read many stories like this on BF over the years, I'm awlays a tad nervous going over them.

Wow. I don't want to assume too much from one case, but maybe people are seeing the light.

Uneventful commute today. Forgot to post yesterday that there was a 2-car collision right in front of the entrance to my building. I arrived after the fact, but it looked like a car got left-hooked by someone trying to turn into my bldg.'s driveway. 2 cop cars, 3 or 4 company security vehicles, plus the 2 vehicles involved all stopped in the 2-lane driveway. I threaded the cops, security guys, drivers, broken glass and plastic and went on my way with several of them staring at me like they'd never seen a guy on a bike before. Meh.

Almost no-jacket weather, but not quite. I'm off to Colorado tomorrow to ride the front range trails [yes, all of them]. No commuting for a week, but I'll live.

Me=Wimp

Drove the gas sucking pig.. it sucked

I work from home on Tues and Thursday. It is nice that the bad weather happened on one of those days.
Lucky me. I need a recovery day.

Wind, Wind and more Wind down here in the DFW area. We are talking about 35 mph headwind on the way home! I'll just have to remember how easy the ride in was with a tailwind.

I'll have to defend All Star on that one. Would you rather go to a bike shop that ignores safety issues? For one, they could get sued if they install a product that ends up hurting you or your daughter. Two, what if it's not safe and your daughter gets hurt?

Frankly, I appreciate a bike shop that watches out for stuff like that. Even if you don't agree with them, it's no reason to quit shopping there.

Left early yesterday to stop at REI and pick up some stuff for a camping trip me and my son are doing this weekend. On the way there i saw at least 4 other commuters - apparently where I live and the route home is not a popular one for bike commuters! Spoke with one of the guys who was riding the sidewalk - asked me if I used my fenders much. Of course I said, why else would I have them! Also came across some guy who was riding the left side of the left lane - couldn't figure out why he was doing so - there were no obvious LH turns ahead and he rode there for quite some time
A little further down the road, my brand new SuperFlash came loose and bounced all over the road after I hit a few bumps. Part of it bounced into my shin and gave me a nice laceration. I recovered the light and it still works! This afternoon before I left for work, I ziptied the light onto the mount. Eventually I will get a rear rack and mount it on that.
Overall, it was a tough ride yesterday - with the new route - a couple of good hills encountered (Lassiter Mill Rd), carried my laptop in my bag, extra items purchased from REI and my shoes - with the heat it just really taxed me - usually don't carry any water because of my short commute, but had to stop at the grocery store before heading home from REI - wasn't feeling too good
Looking forward to a nice ride home this evening

Today was the first warm, humid day of the year. Cool enough in the morning but I needed a towel for my face when I got home.

Also, a motorist slowed beside me and said "stop sign!" after I rolled through one on a neighborhood street. First time that's happened. Interestingly, he did a rolling stop on the next one.

did i use enough smilies???...JEEZ!

Seriously pizzed...my L knee started giving me problems 2/3 into the ride to work yesterday. By the time I got there, it was somewhat swollen. Didn't have any ice handy, but the swelling went down during the day. Got a ride home and got X-rays this morning. Had to bring the bike home from work in the car this afternoon - somewhat humiliating. Still hurts a little, but ice is my friend.

I'm gonna schedule a fitting at the LBS - I've had this bike for 14 years and never had a problem like this. Might need to adjust those new clipless pedals. In any case, I'm off the bike for awhile...

This morning was so incredibly gorgeous--blue skies, calm, cool, perfect. I was committed to wave to as many fellow cyclists as I could and to allow myself to be drafted or passed by the fredliest of Freds.

And then I stopped at a bakery in Midtown and picked up a coffee cake for the office. If you want to get smiles and thumbs-ups from motorists, carry a pink box on your bike.

I think they're ganging up on us. Kinda like bike commuters (more and more all the time ).

Worked from home today, but it was such a gorgeous day that I took a leisurely lunch hour and rode to the bank & the grocery store & the (far away) coffee store. Haven't accomplished much work-wise today, but at least I got outside for a while!

I'd say that most, if not all shops around here wouldn't install anything for unintended or unsafe purposes. I think the catch here is that it sounded like he was looking to install the stem himself. That takes the liability out the shop's hands.

Agreed.

Commute home = hot, hot, and windy hot. 2.5 Litres of water on the way home today. I used part of the American Tobacco Trail this afternoon and found out: 1> Yes, there is plenty of shade. 2> With the tree coverage on either side, the ATT can become a wind tunnel .... a HEAD-WIND tunnel. Ugh!

Rain. I abandoned my bike at my office
Hopefully the weather forecast is wrong and I can bike it home tomorrow...
What's up with all the rain this week???

Humid, headwind, hangover.

So when I left the house this morning I shoved a granola bar in my pocket for breakfast. After about 10 minutes when I heard something fall. It was the granola bar which I left in my unzipped pocket. While I was turning around to get it a car came around the corner and crushed my poor granola bar. Tasty.

Granola bar hit and run! I hope you got his number...

Ordinary ride in today. had an embvarassing incident being unable to get clipped in on a hill start (I've been making a point of leading with my other leg, both to improve my unclipping on the 'other' side, and because I had a few twinges in my 'leading' knee). Kind of struggled a few times with traffic was queued up behind me before pulling over to the side whilst simultaneously kind of half falling / half getting off my bike.

I of couse made a big show of seemingly adjusting something on my pedal / drive train, in case anyone was watching...

That said, my cleats are shot. I've been meaning to get some replacements for weeks. Perhaps that's the problem. No, I'm kidding myself. It was just a dorky moment.

Oh man, the storms coming look like the nastiest I've had to deal with yet. I'm ready to go, but if they don't hurry up and pass within the hour, I'll be driving.

swapping between night and day shifts. I have had a whole stinking 2 hours of sleep since 11am yesterday. ARGGH!

anyway, the ride will perk me up for a couple of hours then I'll have to keep moving or risk snoring where I stand!

Don't know how you people who steer desks keep from passing out every stinkin' day....