beat the rain home. got passed too closely by an audi on the last climb though (and yes i was taking the lane)

It's been about 2 months since my last commute... Good commute today. Kids and I commuted about 1km to school, then I went on the other 8km to work. Perfect weather.

Warm, breezy day... the wind was blowing in the right direction on the way home and I tied my personal best commute time of 35:00 :)

take two.
68 degrees.
I felt strong this first leg. Unusual, I did not or just don't recall looking at the sky. One aspect of being up and ridin so early that I really enjoy is seeing the moon and stars. Maybe it is cloudy?
specific to using this site on an iphone: I tried to post a pic of my bike on the train but the upload interface overlaid awkwardly and appeared to offer only "from computer" or "from url". i suppose my phone should count as "from computer". which reminds me: young writer sat across from me last week writing in several journals. refreshing to see real pen pencil to paper. especially since they were younger.

It was a nice ride in at 19c (67f). It is supposed to be a nice day today, so that is something to look forward to going home. Forgot to pack underwear last evening, and it's not the first time.

Fast ride this morning after a couple days of easy paced commutes. The weather is a little cooler and less humid, so it felt good riding faster but that meant I got just as sweaty as usual. It was also the second commute on my newest bike, a Gunnar Sport. I haven't been able to install fenders yet so didn't ride it the past couple of days due to threat of rain. I just barely made it home yesterday afternoon before our daily thunderstorm hit, with loud thunder rocking my last few miles. Today is the first day the forecasters haven't called for rain in about 3 weeks, but it's supposed to start up again tomorrow and continue through the weekend. We've probably had at least 8" of rain over the past 2-3 weeks.

Nice ride. I've been riding my LHT this week and my knee that was bothering me on my road bike until I raised the seat was bothering me. Today I was back on the road bike and even in the high gears, no knee problem. Not sure I can raise the LHT seat (the cure for my knee on the road bike) but I could switch to shorter cranks.

Not really mentally ready for 45F in mid August like it was this morning.

"Well, that's Montana", they said when I got to work.

I'm still adjusting.

Very foggy and dark this morning, couldn't see farther then 200 m approx.

Passed by an eBike on the way home last night. I normally don't have shut during opinions about the things. Better than the rider being in a car at least. Kind of annoying, though, when you're cruising down the street at 16 under your own power, sweating on a summer afternoon in shirts and a tee shirt, then some guy in full office clothing slowlychases you down and then passes, barely pedaling and with not so much as a drop of sweat on his brow. Even more annoying is that he passed me on the right using a gap in the parked cars to the right of the bike lane to complete the pass. At least have the decency to pass on my left. Oh well...

Great weather for August today. Temp in the low seventies when I left. Usually this time of year, it's already pushing eighty even when not in the midst of a heat wave. Countdown to vacation: t minus one day and counting! :-)

Cool and breezy. Made me wish for my arm warmers for the first half of the ride. It was nice to finally get some extra miles in before work.

Put a Campy Centaur Ultra Torque Compact Crank on my 2001 Bianchi Mega Pro SL yesterday and road into work this morning to try it out! 5.7 miles at 6:30 am so it was quite and I could put the hammer down and ride ( I cheated a little and put my backpack with clothes in a delivery truck around the corner from home because our drivers pick up the trucks and drive them to the warehouse). Was a little warm and humid (this is Austin) but enjoyed the ride anyhow. Now on the other hand it will be 97 and feel like 102 on the way home....

today was my first ride into work with the new tires i got for my hybrid after one of the Continental Sport Contact tires the bike came with was melted by auto exhaust when it was on the car rack. (i replaced both tires because it was close enough to being time to do so anyway).


the old tires were 700x37, which was fine for a foul weather bike, but i wanted something a little narrower without compromising too much on grip for wet weather riding, so i went with the Continental Gatorskin in a 700x32 size. they're supposed to be tough, durable tires that have good puncture protection without being super-piggy beasts like Schwalbe's Marathon Plus.


i took my rain bike today because the radar looked ominous this morning, and boy did i ever get rained on. i got caught in a strong thunderstorm cell about 3.5 miles from work. with lightning flashing all about, i decided to duck under an el train viaduct for cover. i waited out the storm and then continued on my way. the new tires seem like they'll be very suitable candidates for wet weather work.

Another pretty morning at 68f (20c). The last couple of days have been picture perfect riding days. It may all come to an end this afternoon with storms rolling in, but you gotta love 'em when you get 'em.

really tough this morning.

we stayed out late at a street festival (Bahnhofsviertelfest) where live DJs were spinning quite late. Really good vibe, great music/drinks/dancing but I'm exhausted today and one of my knees is quite sore/stiff :(

Two great days in a row...cooler temps in the morning.

Loving my new Gunnar Sport for commuting, but need to identify the source of an annoying creaking sound it is making. I thought it was the frame pump, but it was still creaking this morning after I took it off. My next effort will be to remove the seatpost and see if my LBS greased it up when building the bike. We had slid the seat post in the frame before it was totally built up so I could check all of the measurements for fit, and I suspect that my mechanic forgot to remove and grease it. Could also be the quill stem, for the same reasons.

Who are these criminals?
 

And why do they do this? Why when it's 50F and not when it's 95F?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=267804

Here's a picture for the evidence folder.

scroca, I hear ya. Morning commute of 7 miles in cool 50F (first time in a long time it's been that cool) and get to work and they have all the sprinklers going. Turned into the parking lot and got a more-than-mist full of water sprayed at me. Had to take a warm shower just to get the feeling back! :p

what a waste :(

Same thing here in NC. It has rained here nearly every day for the past month, yet some yahoos are still running their sprinklers every day.

Cool, calm, sunny. Should have worn long sleeves (only 10C/50F). No jam in my legs this morning, so it was slow going.

I'm still getting over a chest cold, and while at a stop light, I coughed up a little phlegm. Not one to make a show out of spitting, I tried to discretely hock my loogie near my front tire, and ended up ****ering on the end of my drop bar. Nice.

cool and cloudy. 62F. supposed to rain pretty hard later, so i wore wicking shirt/shorts and put a backscratcher fender on the Ridley Crossbow sscx conversion.

don't mind the rain, but the 20mph headwinds when i'm on my way home are becoming a trend. i have three long hill climbs on the way in that are fun to attack on the singlespeed, i look forward to doing +/-45mph down them on the way home. but, with the wind, it feels like i'm almost going backwards...

Sunny skies, mid-high 70's, no wind. I'm getting used to my "new" bike ('81 Fuji S12-S Ltd.). I need to get a taller adaptor for the stem, though. I need another three inches or so in height.

Stopped at a freeway underpass to wait for the traffic signal. Sitting in the lane next to me was an older economy car w/ a couple of 50-ish guys in it. The guy in the passenger seat looked at my bike intently, then looked at me and gave the ol' thumbs up.

He has great taste. ;)

A lovely morning with a bit of a tailwind. Cruised along the MUP around 18 mph with little effort. Nice.

I keep forgetting to try to figure a way to fit my bell on my drop handlebars. I'm missing it in the afternoons when there's more traffic on the trail. Calling on your left is only really effective with other cyclists. Peds are oblivious at can't hear me for their headphones. It think the sound of my bell somehow penetrated their bubble. They seemed more aware of my approach. Oh well.

Off next week for a trip to the in-laws in California. Gonna miss the commute and my beloved bike, but it'll be nice to get away for a while.