Missed the rain (and discovered the wonders of weather radar; watched a rain cloud pass before setting off), but still felt like I was biking under water, and yet again arrived looking like a drowned rat. I'm done with humidity.

Hadn't ridden in a week, but made it in without getting off the bike. I did meet another cyclist; he was in spandex gear and passed me as I was pausing for a drink. We said hi and went our separate ways.

i had 14 miles of wonderful weather and then i got to the 15th and final mile of my daily commute. it started as a light mist, then a drizzle, then building into regular rain, and then for the last 100 yards or so, a full blown downpour. i was wet, but not as soaked as i would have been had i left 5 minutes later and ridden through a deluge like that for 5 minutes. i call that mostly a victory in terms of outrunning a storm.

I was up early this morning and bored so i took a 20km route instead of the usual 13km one. was a nice crisp temp. still got to work early

+1 - I felt like I was riding through a solid this morning it was so humid.

First day of the fall semester so I was carrying a bunch of extra weight. Pretty decent speed but not having the daily sprints has slowed me a bit.

I recently got a Brooks B17 for my touring bike, so I'll be riding that bike most days to break in the saddle. I'll probably swap saddles when the snow arrives.

Glorious. 57F and calm. A bit more traffic with folks returning to work and Sac City USD back in school, but not too bad at all.

Today was the first hard rain I have bicycle commuted in, and it felt good, both during the ride and after I got to work and felt some victory over the elements for today.

I actually saw one other bicyclist out in the downpour. It was a guy on a bicycle that looked like an imitation motorcycle chopper (don't know how else to describe it). I did a double-take, wondering if I was imagining it, and if it was to be followed by purple unicorns or something. Just some guy biking in the rain on a chopper-looking bike. On the sidewalk. Weird....

Changing out of wet clothes in the bathroom stall was less pleasant than usual, but can be done. Overall, a great commute.

Dark, and about 53 degrees on the ride into town this morning. It was nice. I did get passed by a log truck coming off the mountain right after I left Falls City, on the main road and before my turn off to go the back way to Dallas. Man that truck was shedding a lot of dust. Other than that, no traffic for the next 7 or 8 miles.

It was a decent ride home as well, though in the 80s I think. I passed a purple plum tree and had to stop and pig out, much like I did yesterday on blackberries whilst running. It's hard for me to get a good workout this time of year when God keeps throwing food at me like that.

I got passed by 5 cars on the gravel parts of my ride home today, which is probably a record. That's a lot of dust to eat. Usually I get passed by zero in the morning and maybe one or two in the evening.

Locking my bike in the bus yard seems to work fine, as opposed to lugging it around on the different buses I ride.

I had an accident :(. I ride a little over 5 miles on Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago to get back and forth from the loop to home (in west Logan Square). Today, traffic was stopped and I was coming down the side. Not very slowly but it didn't seem excessively fast either. A silver Mercedes in the stopped traffic decided to pull into the bike lane in front of me as he was going to try to squeeze down the side to make a right. I took out his mirror with my handle bars and left thigh and then went down. New back rim from Velomine (27" CR18) bent badly along with handle bars and rear rack. My Ortlieb Downtown Commuter got hit on the corner and it seems like the plastic inside may have broke. Thankfully, I'm okay but still unsure how to handle this in the future. Going slower is definitely one consideration as is keeping even more of an eagle eye on stopped cars.

As I was getting up, the people in the vehicle in front of the Mercedes said he was being impatient and passing people for a while. They kept on going before the police officer stopped (happened to be driving by). He wrote up an accident report and was extremely nice -- gave me a ride to two bike shops (first closed) and didn't automatically assume I was in the wrong. I had both back and front lights on in daylight and it didn't help this time.

Still annoyed by the whole experience but I'm not ready to give up commuting by bike. The past couple months have been a lot of fun and I'm loosing weight and getting stronger (long term recovery from back injury).

Glad you're okay. Let us know how you manage to make the Merc pay for damages.

It was chilly this morning (low 50s), but nice and clear. It's just getting to the point where I have to decide in the morning if it's light enough for the sunglasses (and strobe front), or yellow glasses and steady light.

So for you year round commuters, at what temps do you find yourself needing the long johns, warm gloves with at least fingers, and long sleeve tops? My limit seems to be around 53 or so, but if my ride was a little longer, I might be able to push that down as I could get warmed up a bit more.

excellent!

I'm glad you're OK. Most of us here you couldn't force us to quit but it's an individual judgment, and there's no shame in deciding it's too dangerous.

Well I've got a police report with his insurance information. I just realized though that the office did not write a ticket for a moving violation to the driver. I've got a quote from the bike shop to send to his insurance and I guess I should replace my helmet and possible my pannier. The thing that sucks is I'm left with a very painful/swollen thigh and the driver walks away with a broken mirror.

Have them replace anything damaged - rack, rear wheel, helmet, saddle, clothes that may have been torn in the accident... If he damaged it he is responsible for replacing it. Don't lie or exaggerate about anything, but be sure you get everything replaced that was damaged. THe insurance company likely won't blink as you are talking about a few hundred $$, but they are used to hundred thousands of $$.

Had a nice ride home this afternoon. Stopped at traffic light near Tidal Basin when a fellow commuter complimented me on my Surly LHT. He was on a Surly Troll... Nice to share the Surly love. If that was one of you (seemed like a likely BFer), nice talking to ya.

Enjoyed the rest of the ride...

Tried to do a set of intervals on the way home but was pressed for time so I didn't get a proper warm up. It just wasn't happening so I rode home. Training fail. But I did manage to hold a super-still trackstand through an entire stoplight cycle, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

commute from princeton to princeton junction station at west windsor down washington.
cool (i like it) yet not notably damp until I am sitting on the platform. weird. was tired through the three day weekend. cycle commuted tuesday. slept late arrived late no cycle commite wednesday. felt good but not amped on the way over today. riding the nyc century this sunday sooo leaning towards more rest than less. good commuting everyone!

Frightening... phone company van ran a red light which he didn't notice because he was talking on his cell and panic-braked a couple of inches from my right foot. He didn't even notice the stop-light, let alone that it was red, which kinda gets me thinking of all the close encounters that could have turned into serious accident.

A pleasant ride today at 75f (24c). It is not as muggy as it has been. There is still rain in the forecast, but this should be the last of it for a couple days.

It was a beautiful ride in this morning. I am leaving the house while it is still dark and getting to watch some of the sunrise as it comes over the lake. The temp was a mild 61f. I loved my ride in this morning.

Seems like we all need to take extra care these days. Last night on the way home I found myslef squeezed between a bus and a car (weird contruction traffic pattern I try to avoid when at all possible), came withinn inches of both.

Ride in today was much better but humid.

last day for a while as I'm off into the Austrian and Hungarian countryside for 10 days.

63F/17C & dry. No wind. Uneventful.