No kiddin, Bluefish. Today was awesome. And it's shaping up to be another beautiful day in paradise. The ride home will be warm, but that's the more down-hill side of the trip for me. [Only 350 ft of climbing, compared to 680 on the way in..]

Today was my first ride with my first wicking t-shirt, bought at Target over the weekend. I definitely "get it" now. I was positively dry when I got to work [other than my head. I think I need a haircut].

Oh, and I need to put my rack and panniers on, if I can stay away from Mountain Biking long enough to make it worth the effort. The backpack is now my weak link.

Double oh.. Today was the first day [of my three days of commuting] that I was able to ride the whole 7.5 miles without a single break. Normally I need two breaks when I'm dealing with the hills, but not today!

Nice easy ride this morning. I had an 80 mile ride with my bike club Saturday and came down with a bug at the end of the ride. Then spent Sunday recovering. I still have a touch of it but I feel relatively fine. Just don't ride behind me due to the fact that my congestion is still clearing up.

I found a way to make my commute seem flatter. Go ride up in the Rockies and find a road where the grade tops out at 23 percent. Wow that was fun.

"Ahhh...so that's what made that noise!" is what I thought when I got to work and discovered the hook was missing from my pannier. Seems that hooking the hook over two bungees that are already hooked to the rack is a good way for the hook to get caught in the spokes and torn off the bag, then caught between the wheel and fender before being lost forever. I had stopped after hearing that racket, did a quick inspection and didn't see the hook was missing. Oh well. At least the sweat on my back was allowed to run freely into my underwear instead of being trapped between my back and my bag like it used to pre-pannier days.

I guess I can't stand being asymmetrical.

I fell last week because I forgot which foot I stop on and unclipped the wrong foot and ended up with a scraped right knee. This morning I fell for some unknown reason...I unclipped my right foot, and am pretty sure I leaned to the right to put the foot down, but ended up falling over to the left, scraping my left knee and loosening the quick release lever on my back wheel. So when I clip my left foot back in to start riding again (yes, without checking the bike out), I promptly fall over again.

Finally figured out why the back wheel would not move (I've learned how to use my eyes) and got back on the road. Had to cut the commute short to make it to work on time. Just glad it wasn't anything worse than a mildly bruised ego.

Even at 5:15AM today, it was in the 70's and humid. The ride home will be in the high 90's with a heat index of 105-107. That'll be fun. Not! I've been drinking water all day and will take it easy on the ride home.

Misty. I am working on my committment to spinning, averaging 12mph, and using the wide unused sidewalk on the 40 mph 5 lane road (that people go 50 on) that is the last leg of my commute.

The wind has finally stopped, at least for the day, and the weather was absolutely amazing. 59F, bright blue sky, and just the wispiest of breezes.

Seemed to be fewer commuters on the bike trail this morning. The freeway fully open this week so perhaps some of our "Big Fix" bike commuters decided to get back in their cars today.

Either that or they came over here. My lord. Just about every street had a couple cyclists on it. I stopped counting after I hit 30. Even my area up north had a few commuters. I usually see one once a week.

Just got home. Flatted on the way home--the tire was flat yesterday but I filled it and it held air overnight. I should have known better than to be lazy. Instead of changing a tire this morning in the (relative) cool of my garage with a floor pump and soap to clean up, I changed it in a gas station parking lot in the heat after pulling over in the middle of heavy traffic, having to use a frame pump and wipe down with the extra shirt I was bringing home from work. It's official. I'm an idiot.

Partly sunny
Temperature: 88°
RealFeel™ Temp: 90°
Humidity: 45%

Supposed to hit 91° on the way home.
Still achy after yesterday's singletrack adventure.
Visibility: 10 mi
Winds: SW 14 mph
Pressure: 29.94 in

Naaahhhhh. A real idiot would have tried to ride home on the flat, sort of like the cagers who insist on driving with the flat going wop, wop, wop - thinking that going slowly won't damage the rim.

I was a little cold this morning. Ride time temp was in the upper 40's with a little headwind. I couldn't get warm and just soft-pedaled in. I forced a couple of intervals on my cold legs and that helped to warm me up. Ride home should be near 80 with a breeze and low humidity.

Pretty humid this morning, and in the 60s. I was a rocket though. Reeled in & passed 4 other cyclists. Someone came onto the MUP behind me but I lost the person pretty easily. Lots of energy for some reason. One rider, and then another, caught me at a red light and we complained about the humidity, then I just rode with them for a block to my office building.

Well, after taking most of the week off last week I started this week off right by commuting. The ride in was great. Temp was in the 70s. No wind. I did have a tire problem, though. I went to the closest gas station to top off the air in my tires. Well their pump is broken so it let out about 20psi from my front tire. The next closest gas station was about a mile the opposite direction so I hauled ass over there to top off and guess what? Their pump was out of order! So I just started my commute, being extra cautious of road hazards and bumps. Filled up about 2 miles later at another gas station.

Coming home my time has gotten better. My computer said the temp was 110. Google says the high today is 98. It sure felt like 110 to me.=) I altered my route a bit. I didn't shave off any miles, nor would I want to. I just eliminated a couple of undesirable roads. It only took me about 40 minutes as opposed to the 45-50 it has taken me previously.

Side note: My computer sucks. I have adjusted and tweaked it a dozen times, but no matter what I do it won't register once I reach speeds over about 18 miles an hour...the screen just goes blank. And then I look at it today when I got home and it says max speed is 40.7mph? I dunno, that seems pretty fast. I do have one good hill that I fly down in the morning, but 40.7mph?
Also my trunk bag slid off of my rack and onto my back tire, burning a nice little hole in it. I've only had it two weeks. I already don't like it though, at least not for the way in which I use it.

Hard work this morning. Dunno why; just seemed a big effort. Someone even went past me on Anzac bridge. Bah. Perhaps it's because I spent the long weekend eanting junk food, not sleeping properly and drinking too much. Makes me sluggish!

With regards to cycle computers, I had the same problem with mine; I fixed by adjusting the magnet so it was closer to the pickup, and also oriented the same way (rather than at an angle). I think the problem is when the wheel is spinning fast, the magnet needs to be closer to actuate the sensor.

Then the whole thing fell apart and I ditched it, freeing my self from the tyranny of the little whirling numbers. But that's another story.

50sF and misty here. 2pm, got The Call to retrieve feverish 6 yr old from grade school. As soon as I left work, skies open, utter downpour all the way home. Happened to be the 1st day in weeks and weeks he didn't bike in so stopped at home for the trail-a-bike. While in the house getting his helmet, got a bag to put on the t-a-b seat so it wouldn't be soaked when I got him out to it (he *hates* that; *completely* OCD about bagging his own bike seat even when 90F and 0% humidity nothing but blue sky). Anyway, he was asleep in the nurse's office when I finally got there. Let him rest, did some other stuff, by the time he woke up the rain had stopped. Whew. Then slow ride home.

Very hot commute but on a nice fast downhill a bee ran into my upper arm and stung me. I guess he was just as surprised as I was.

Took mostly back roads today, but felt a bit lathargic.

But it is nice to have a sunny day in rainy season.

Today was a good day, weather was nice though rather warm, took the regular route, because I was a bit behind schedule. Over lunch when I usually ride about I decided to just stop and just enjoy the moments, and when I look back I am glad that I had the experience and will probably make it a point to continue. Silence can be remarkable, and truly relaxing.

Ordinary ride home. Got loads of red lights, and there were lots of killer pedestrians wandering all over the paths whilst on the phone.

I need to get a lower gear on my SS. My knees are aching a bit again.

Similar conditions to yesterday: 74F/23C and clear. Heading up into the 90s again today. Yesterday's forecast for ~100F I guess was for downtown. My afternoon ride home was (according to BWI airport's readings--about 20-odd miles north) 94F with an 8mph westerly and 46% humidity. A bit hotter than I like it, but not really bad at all (that breeze was a bit cooling and was also a tailwind ).

Oh yes, my "fair weather" remark of yesterday was sparked by an unusual, and likely coincidental, string of encounters I've had lately with people riding towards me in the wrong shoulder/lane. Happy to say I didn't come across any yesterday.

Very hot yesterday afternoon, I think the ambient temp was 96 but the "real feel" temp was over 100. I took it easy, averaging about 16-17 mph, but still got wiped out about halfway home. I concentrated on staying hydrated throughout the day and got right in a cold shower once inside. This morning was cooler but even more humid but I did ok, hopefully we'll get some relief tonight.

An unexpectedly pleasant ride in for me today- the dew point had dropped to 65F overnight, so it was still humid, but not oppressively so. the temp was ~75F. Supposed to be a bit cooler today with a high of ~98F. Hopefully the humidity will stay lower.

Not sure why I bothered, just keeping my mind occupied I guess, but I decided to count cars to see how many times I got passed from behind....71 cars in 47 minutes, over 13 miles. Fewer than I would have guessed, about 1.5 cars per minute. The major reason why I leave home at 5:45AM is to reduce exposure to traffic, and it sure seems to work. The ride home from 3:30-4:15 I would guess has about triple the volume. Still not too bad, but too heavy to bother trying to count.

Huge, red Sunrise this morning ... very nice. I saw no other bikes today, and I usually see at least one. I have noticed a couple of changes this week though. 1) A couple of the bus stops I pass every day have 2-3 times more people at them. 2) The main bus terminal parking lot has been full the past 2 days, and it's NEVER full at 6:45 3) People are asking me questions about riding to work, showing actual interest, instead of the usual "your nuts".

One small addition. I had to buy gas this morning ... ugh. Anyway, the sign at the gas station has $3.blank9 for the price, meaning that the first "9" was missing. I asked the guy about it when I paid for fuel and he said, "we just ran out of nines." This seems like a tragic sign to me.

very nice ride in this morning. Passed by folder bike friend on the way in - I see him every now and then.

I think I need to do a close inspection of my front tire - as I was riding it seems to have a strange 'wave' or 'wobble' to it. I don't feel it, but I can see it. Not that I know much about this but maybe my wheel needs some truing