A little chilly this morning (~47º-48º). Fingers went numb after about 8 miles. Overall, a pretty average commute day.

https://app.strava.com/activities/8791680

45F, gray. An even 10 miles w/ a detour to hit a 2nd bike-to-work-day handout.

I skipped out of the house w/o my 'pre-breakfast' but stuffed my usual apples in my bag for 'post-breakfast' after I got to work. Took some detours on my commute and also rode 7 miles to get lunch, down and up a big hill, and every step of the way I was feeling kind of beat. When it was time to pack up and leave I noticed I had forgotten to eat those apples, so it is possible the 13 extra miles of biking w/o breakfast were a bit too far. Anyway, definitely felt justified in massive snacking before dinner, when I got home.

Here in Minnesota they moved bike to work day to sometime in June. I think this is only the second year they've done it. I still enjoyed a perfect bike to work day today.

Around 60 and sunny this morning, and I decided to ride my road bike in, something I've only done once before as I'm not thrilled about riding through traffic clipped in. It went fine, but overall it takes just as long with a road bike even though I can go much faster. The amount of time those short bursts save doesn't nearly make up for time spent waiting which you do on any type of bike. Maybe I saved a minute on the bridge or in the park where you can open it up. Otherwise I'm taking it easy anyway dodging pedestrians, potholes, cars, and other bikers. I stopped at the Transportation Alternatives Bike to Work day stand on the Manhattan Bridge too.

The way home I was expecting 70s, but instead the on-shore breeze had kicked in and it was windy and cool and it was 62 when I got home. I wasn't quite dressed for that as I usually put a thin layer underneath for temps in the lower 60s and I'd left it off.

I struggled on the way home. My speed wa about 5 km/h slower on the way home than on the way in. Ugh.

Last few commutes have been frustrating - it's time for Rhody Days, so in prep for the parade here in town they had a "litter crew" out on the street this week. But they shoveled all the dirt and crap on the sidewalk INTO THE BIKE LANE. It was almost completely unusable for the majority of this week, but they've sent the sweeper out so the bike lane is now clean again. Hooray.

Then last night as I was riding into work, I turned down a residential side street I was fully in the "lane" (no markings on this road, Speed limit is 20 mph) to avoid the door zone. A silver sedan pulled in behind me. I signaled left and just as I was turning they roared past me on the left side. The dude is lucky I'm a better cyclist than he is a driver and I managed to abort my turn before he ran me over. ******canoe.

Rain early in the ride, then nothing and it is warm at 65f (18c). It is supposed to rain most of the day, and week for that matter, but things change regularly.

The weather is still a little cool in the am 44f degrees this am when I left the house. Though the sun is up and the sky blue, with no clouds, and a quiet ride.

I had a nice warm, misty ride in. I'm packing my u-lock inside my Ortlieb these days...the rattling was really disturbing the peace.

Good weather today after a rainy weekend. Around 18 this morning, 25 this afternoon.

Had a flat tire this morning (second in two days) so I decided to change to a new rear tire this evening - the old one was getting up to near 3000km so I guess it was almost time to replace it anyway. Next time I'll be buying something a little tougher, if I can find it - decent 700x28 tires are VERY difficult to find here in Shanghai.

5-21: rainy but warm. I got up and it was pouring. My wife asked if I was riding in and I said no. Sat on the couch, got up, showered and got cycling clothes on. Wife said "thought you were not riding today" I said of course I am riding.

Warm and rainy. Lovely ride in!

Another sunny morning. 65F/18C, no wind.

On Saturday I was out walking and saw a guy riding a beautiful old cruiser bicycle towing a kayak (or some sort of smallish canoe) behind him. He had electric assist, but it was a sweet rig.

Another fast commute this morning with warm temps and no wind for a change. The forecast calls for unsettled weather all week with a chance of rain and thunderstorms every day. Welcome to the thunderstorm roulette season. We've got our first tropical storm of the year already sitting off the coast, which isn't helping the situation.

After seeing all the threads last week about Bike to Work Day, I googled it and realized it was BTW Day/Week in our metro area but I hadn't heard the first thing about it. Apparently there were bike-related events every day but I missed them all. Obviously BTWD is not very well publicized in our area, and I didn't see any other bike commuters all week. The weather didn't help as it was rainy or threatening nearly every day, which is also typical for BTWD around here.

5/17/2012

Wind in my face on the ride home from work today. Hey wind.... _|_ .

I ran over a groundhog around mile 7. Front wheel went over fine but I bent the back wheel to the point where it did a slight rub on the left brake pad each time the bent area came around. I loosened the brakes a bit but it still got the rub. So the other 14 miles were spent riding as if I was tapping the brakes one each time my wheel turned. Rode back in the next morning and took my bike to the LBS and found out I had broken a spoke. Also learned to check for a broken spoke after something like running over a groundhog! They are going to fix my wheel for me and give me a tuneup, won't have the bike back until 5/23/2012.

S....L...O....W......

I just put some "puncture proof" tires on the bike. It was like riding down a freshly tarred road the whole way in. Today I'm stopping at the bike shop and going back to regular ol' tires w/ Mr Tuffy liners.

They were expensive, but they made up for it by being slow.

It was (is) a beautiful morning, mid 70s sunshine. I only encountered one motorist who didn't want to share the road.
This was my first commute into work this year.


my bike (black one) parked in the office garage.


(edit to add)
I rode it to church Sunday also. The challenge there is: I play bass guitar in the band. Lugging all my stuff on a bike can be tricky. I'm gonna have to invest in more ways to carry things than simply strapping on my back.

Mid 50's for the ride in. It will be close to 90 for the ride home. I'm now a Cruiser Commuter!

I've used my Gary Fisher Wingra as my commuting bike for the last several years. It's a great bike, but last week I decided to try my Electra Zarape 3-speed cruiser, which I formerly only used for weekend rides with my lovely bride. I love the cruiser for commuting! At nearly 51, there is much less strain on my wrists, easier on the backside, and it climbs the moderate hills just fine. A crusier won't work for everyone; my ride is a little under 5 miles each way, and my route allows me to avoid tangling with too many cars. My office is about 200 feet lower elevation than my house, so the trip home is definitely more work than coming in, but not so much that it's daunting or exhausting. I don't care about speed, I like to just enjoy the ride, but the crusier is every bit as fast as the Gary Fisher, at least the way I ride.



(Couldn't resist another picture)

55F and raining. Switched back to LHT w/ 2" big apples, they gobble up the construction mayhem like nobody's business.

Beautiful. I left the house at 6 so I could take a 30 mile detour. I love this time of year.

Good thing is they can go from one tire set to the new ones.

Great until someone almost ran me over with their boat trailer. I caught up to the driver, knocked on his window and reminded/told him that he needed to give cyclists 3 feet. He said his boat was wide so I had to just watch out. So it turns out we have a yielding obligation to overtaking traffic.

The weather is at about 70 degrees with lite winds and it's awesome.

A slight drizzle, but a warm morning at 65f (18c). Back on my hybrid as my main commuter. The new wheel runs nice, and hopefully lasts longer than the last one.

24C and super-sunny. in other words, really nice, can't wait for the ride home.

if the weather holds, i'll pop in for a hefeweizen on the way home.