I like bats too. One of my long-neglected projects is to build a bat house. We have a secondary chimney that would be a great mounting spot. I just haven't gotten around to doing it.

My ride today was super-mellow. I've been trying to get into a routine of using my commute for training (Nevada City is coming up fast) and that means some days I ride the race bike and do intervals and other days I ride the FG or beater and go super easy.

Today's commute was happily boring compared to yesterday .

Yesterday I had a flat tire within about a mile of the Metro Station . . . okay, took me about 15 minutes to replace the tube and get back underway. so that means I missed the 6:05AM train (my usual) and had to go with the 6:20 train. No worries right? Wrong.

The Metro Train stopped at the Avalon Blvd. station (people got off, others got on . . . ) and then didn't move for almost 20 minutes. They did come on the intercom, telling us that they had a mechanical problem and that they were tryng a work-around (huh?), and that they'd called Metro for "Trouble-Shooting."

At least the ventalation was working, so we didn't swelter while we waited. Then, eventually . . . the train started moving and all was back to normal.

Never had a stop that long (or any mechanical) on the Metro Train before. They're electric trains, so they should be pretty simple (I would think, maybe I'm wrong).

My commuter bike (DaHon Curve) sat folded up by my feet the whole time and didn't seem to mind the delay !

Rick / OCRR

It was glorious seeing as how I have not even touched my bike since April 30th due to an illness. Felt good to be whipping through the wind on my way to work. Felt weird for the first few minutes. Like it was foreign. After the "reality" set in that I was once again riding to work it was just "like riding a bike". lol

I rode through a pile of gnats or mosquitos so that was pretty gross but I managed. Now I get to hoof it home in a few hours to see how much I lost in terms of stamina over the past 22 days.

Going to be a WET ride home here in Okeechobee, FL. A little rain cell just settled over the office and is dumping rain on the ground. 30 minutes to go before the end of the day, but the three miles alongside the highway will be miserable, even if the rain stops now. I may have to hang out here a little while and wait it out, and wait for the roads to drain before I get on the road home. Local weather radar shows that it's not even raining down at my house 7.8 miles away.... go figure.

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

Pretty good headwind, and warm. Great ride home.

Today was as nice as you could ever hope. Humidity was WAY down to a measly 45% (that's really good for summer in GA) and 80f for the ride home. Wish they would get the MUP done I would have just hopped on for a hour more riding.
Heats coming. suppose to hit 90f Friday.

Killed a robin on my way to work :-(
It flew out from the brush along the guardrail and under my front wheel. Saw it there on my way home - I'd thought he'd made it. Still kind of bummed.

That's two birds and a squirrel that have hurled themselves at/through the wheels of my bike.


The mule deer missed. Thank goodness for that.

Sick of the rain and humidity around here. Felt naked without my cyclocomputer as I had to send it back to the manufacturer. I don't know what time it is, my HR, cadence, speed, direction, and all that. It's horrible.

nice mellow ride in, perfectly still humid morning, temps above 70/20.

A misty ride in, and noticeable mostly going down hill. The whole week has been mostly cloudy with sun here and there. Still warm at 65f (18c). Rain on the radar, and I will see how it all develops.

The temp was 55f when I passed the thermometer going through town. The clouds are breaking up and we should have warm sunshine today. I saw a cop pull someone over but I did notice what the guy had done to get pulled over. It was a nice ride in and should be even nicer going home.

I guess that it must be true that riding in the wind makes you stronger. We have had a very windy winter and spring, almost relentless. Finally we've had a few calm days the past couple of weeks and my commuting speeds have jumped. Had my fastest morning commute ever on my new route last week, with a tailwind that day, and I shattered that record this morning -- without a tailwind. It was warm and very muggy, so I was drenched in sweat when I got to work, but it felt good blowing out the pipes. I wasn't able to ride yesterday, so it also helped that my legs were well rested.

Pretty slow, the end of my week rides generally are. I'm training a bit for a lap race that's coming up, but the end of my weeks are much slower than the beginnings. I probably have to eat more. I think I'm gonna take the 'round towner bike in tomorrow to gather up my clothes etc, and to have a relaxing ride.

61F/16C with a light tailwind. Took the MUP again. Saw more bicyclists than usual.

I have to take my bike into the shop. The bottom bracket is ticking if I put torque on the left pedal. 1,400 miles. Not sure what it could be, but I hate noises coming from my bike, so this must be dealt with.

Almost got side-swiped by a car. It was along a stretch of road that usually gets backed up with cars. There's a bike lane, and I saw the front of a car that was sticking out of an alley, with its bumper in the bike lane. As I approached, I checked to make sure that it wasn't moving, and the cars that were on the street hadn't started moving, so I thought I was good to pass in front of the car coming out of the alley. I did an anticipating swerve out of the bike lane to give myself distance between me and the front of her car, and even though there was no room for her to merge, that was the precise moment that she decided to rev her engine and pull forward. Thank god for that swerve.

I didn't yell at her, but the guy riding behind me did! As he passed me, he wished me a safe ride the rest of the way.

Commute home yesterday was brutal. Very strong headwind. On a 4 mile stretch of -1.0% grade - slight downhill, I was barely able to maintain an 11mph average. Some gusts kept me under 9mph. In the morning, along this same stretch, (going uphill, of course) with no wind, I average around 14.0-14.5mph usually.

I've never actually commuted by bike 2 days in a row, until now. Today my ride to work was a little chilly (low 50's), and I felt sluggish - especially during the first 5 miles - but I made it to work in the exact same amount of time as yesterday - to the second. 49 minutes 0 seconds for a 10.3 mile commute. I've been taking it easy to try to save me knee. My commute is usually around 43-44 minutes.

Haven't been posting much this year, but that doesn't mean I haven't been riding, odometer shows 1800.

After a number of really fine days, today was really windy 20G30 or so. But it was a tailwind! Once I turned North I was moving 20-30 the last half of the ride. Doesn't happen often but what fun when it does.

Been riding on some new tires this year, Conti Touring, so far no flats, I couldn't resist the reflective side walls.

Windy.

I brought the race bike to do a long ride on the way home. Looks like I'm going to head about 10 miles in the opposite direction from my house, just so I can have that sweet, sweet tailwind all the way home.

Big rainstorms moving in meant I had to ride quick! With the rainstorms come big wind! 30 mph peak, large stretches of 25 mph. Stop lights got me down to 18 mph average over 10 miles. Still, so much fun to go that fast.

Hit 87f here but ridiculously low Humidity of 36% it was great to ride in. I'd be quite ok if we didn't have our typical "sultry summer" this year. Hope it stays like this through the weekend.

On vacation next week and a few things I need to drag home from work so looks like I'll be driving. Think I'll take my Convertible. 400+hp under the right foot and a Hurst in the right hand banging gears on the Munci is always a hoot.

Nice ride home, even with a headwind and heavier-than-normal (but well-behaved) traffic.

The LBS gave my Soho a tune-up while I was at work. They've always treated me really well. (North Star Sports in Burlington - I'll give them a plug.)

The ticking sound I thought was coming from my bottom bracket is gone. The mechanic said the belt was a little bit loose so he tightened it. Maybe that was it. They also checked torque on the various bolts around the back of the frame so maybe one of those was the culprit. I don't care. No more ticking means I'm happy.

I also bought a new rain jacket. My old one was some cheap $20 thing I bought about 5 or 6 years ago and it's just a flimsy shell that was falling apart. So I grabbed a Bontrager Commuter Stormshell.

It rained, but I didn't get caught in it. I waited a while until it dried up, so I left late when it was dark. I made a left turn at a traffic intersection and hit a damn pothole. There's no flat as far as I know.

Another fast commute for me. Not sure what is going on, but all of the sudden my average commuting speeds jumped about 1-2 mph over the past week. Yesterday and today I left home 10-15 minutes later than I prefer, but I made it to work about the same time as usual. Will try to take it easy this afternoon to save my legs for the long weekend rides.

My later day, and it is nice out, 74f (23c). No sun yet, but it should be making an appearance some time today. I had a blowout yesterday, but recovered. It tore a hole in the side of my tire, so going home after replacing the tube was gingerly. The last two tires have not even reached a year. I will start looking at better tires.

Picked up a free brat at the Take Your Brat to Work Brat-thru @ Brat Fest in Madison this am...Nothing better than riding past a long line of cars and scoring a free brat for riding my bike to work. Almost made up for the miserable ride home yesterday...30 mph headwind Gusting to 45 mph. At mile 10 of my 17 mile commute I got off my bike a walked for awhile to recover. Hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon. Temps have been great lately. Pedal ON!