This morning was sweet. Temps in the low-mid 70's. It rained hard last night, so this morning the air was still and cool.

On the way in I met an older fellow (looked to be late 50's/early 60's) who was riding what looked to be an old 70's bike. I said "hullo" as I passed and noticed he was on an old Peugeot. I stopped. He turned around and we had a bit of a conversation on the road. It turns out that he has had some surgery on his knees recently and he's trying to build up some strength without beating the heck out of them. He was riding his son's old Peugeot. I have no idea what the model number was. It was an old 12 speed.

He had taken the bike into a bike shop and one of the guys that worked there tried to convince him that the bike wasn't worth a damn, and that he should sell the bike to the guy at the shop and buy a new one for himself. Guys like that give honest bike shop people a bad name.

All in all a great commute today.

I worked an early shift today... had to be in at 6:45 am. Did the same yesterday but there'd been a massive storm the night before which kept me up, so I wound up flaking out on the bike commute and drove in favor of a little extra sleep. I wasn't going to let that happen today so I made sure to leave by 5:30 to make sure I got to work on time. For me, that is pretty damn difficult. I didn't get that much sleep either. But once I was out it was great riding with the rising sun. The lack of sleep put a bit of a hamper on my energy level but it wasn't too grievous. It's probably a good thing I didn't ride yesterday because the trails were still in bad shape because of the storm... the underpasses looked like they had been submerged underwater. But it was passable this morning. I got to work at about 6:20 after a 10.5 mile ride in.

Pretty nice ride in this morning, sunny and not too windy, though I felt a little underdressed for the 8C/46F or so temperature. Used panniers instead of a backpack for the first time today - it was fine for the ride, but not so fine carrying them around off the bike.

Couldn't resist a little commuter race after a guy on a cyclocross bike got the jump on me going up a hill. I managed to get past him, but he was pretty strong and was never far behind. He turned off somewhere before the top of the hill - good thing, because I didn't want him to hear how hard I was breathing!

50F, clammy, sunbreaky, took the roadbike

Swell, minus the fact that there was a "bike path closed" sign (been there for weeks, but the path has been usable) which went ignored. About a mile later, found myself backtracking because the trail was actually closed. Wound up on an unfamiliar part of one of the most busy streets in the state, during morning rush hour for about 15 blocks. Claimed the lane, no honking, no yelling, no problems, cagers gave plenty of room...a great ride.

I patched my tube before leaving. On the way back home, I went down a rather short, steep descent 10% grade maybe?, and that light always turns red before I get a chance to go through it. Always. Well, I was in a high gear, and I thought I was going to make it, but the light starts changing at the worse possible time, so I just brake without even having a chance to downshift. Knowing the light was going to take forever to change and that a few cars would end up behind me, I dismounted my bike and manually downshifted with my hands. I gotta wonder if anyone else even does that.

Found a new route to work that is just super. Also, I fixed my fender.

Good day.

Rode the heavy hauler. Stopped on the way home for my son's end of little league season BBQ. Great bunch of kids and parents. Way too many hot dogs, but what are you gonna do? Be rude?

stopped at a local street market and bought: 5 marinated steaks (10€ which is a great price), 2x 0.2L prosecco rossini, 200g Roquefort, 200g some other goat cheese (which was quite nice), one freshly baked baguette, and a gift for the people hosting the BBQ (a nice serving tray and two glasses!)

You're welcome to my BBQ's anytime...

There are other places than Texas where they claim to do BBQ? I guess.....but callin' a chicken a Porsche doesn't make it a Porsche...........



The commute today was about perfect. Slight tailwind the whole way. Mid-70's. Clear sky.

Near the end of the commute I was approaching a traffic signal (the same one where I almost caught the right hook the other day). There was a guy on a road bike waiting for the red light to change to green. When I was about 10 yards behind him the signal changed and he took off.

He was riding some kind of road bike. I never got next to him so I have no idea what it was he was riding. He had all the gear on. I stayed behind him for a bit, figuring that maybe I can learn something. It was pretty obvious that he had been at it a while. His calves were extremely well defined. Not an ounce of fat on them at all. His cadence wasn't particularly fast, but he was making good time - enough that I had to push myself a bit to keep up on my hybrid.

About .25 miles down the road there was a tree that had fallen across the road during the night. He looked over his shoulder to make sure it was clear for him to dive over two lanes to the left to avoid the hazard and that's when he noticed me.

I never head him shift gears, although I don't know if I was close enough to have heard it if he did. It looked to me like he added about two ounces worth of effort to the easy lope he was maintaining to that point.

He dropped me like a hot rock.

All in all it was a good commute this a.m.

93 degrees in the afternoon shift.

Sprint-slow-sprint-slow ... I have to do a test run on the road bike to see if I have improved any.

Yesterday was my first time riding my 16km/10mi commute two consecutive days. My ride in to work was great - a personal best time - but the ride home was a SLOW, hard slog into the wind. Was 8 minutes slower than my best time home. Hoping to get three consecutive days next week... :0

Very nice morning yesterday, saw 5 other bikers out (I think that's a record!). Got the dust blown off me by a guy on a road bike, and I thought I was moving at a pretty good clip (for me anyway) at around 19 mph. We said our good mornings, nice enough bloke. Ride home was quick with a nice tailwind

Good commute today and did an extra 25km because the weather was really nice. Also, took in a nice Sunday brunch next to the river!

The funny thing is that these guys made me "Schwenkmeister" (Schwenker Grill Master) because they knew I lived in Texas for 7 years ... lol

Also, it was the first time I ever cooked on a Schwenker ... looks like this ... it's an interesting concept.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwenker

Strong STRONG headwind on the way home, and the wind couldn't decide what way it was going. About 18mph with gusts up to thirty. Going over the pedestrian paths were brutal. On the plus side, I saw a deer on the way in to work today. It was pretty cool that it didn't run seeing me pass by it on the side of the road.

A beautiful warm morning at 66f (19C). The warm nights are good for me and my tomatoes. It was a nice ride in, although my short cut was taken away by some early road work at the entrance to a college where I cut through. I was able to go cross country to a parking lot, then back on
track. Hopefully, they finish up today. There is nothing like an early morning surprise.

Oh man, nice warm, wet and late. I leave one hour late on Monday mornings in the summer because I have to stop on the way to work before 6am. But the traffic was light, it was raining, just ahead of me. Close enough to cause tire spray, but not enough to cover my glasses. Smelled great, it hasnt rained here for a while. beautiful ride in.

A very nice ride in today, the temp was cool but I did not take a coat as I want no extra stuff in my bag on the way home. This is the first time I have ridden in a week due to being sick last week and also a lot of pain in my hip area. I am not sure what that is from. Anyway I was very happy to be back on my bike this morning and riding in to work.

It was so warm and humid this morning that I hardly noticed the rain when it started halfway on my commute to work -- I was already soaked with sweat. Took it easy because this is my 9th straight day riding, including 125 miles of loaded touring over the weekend, so my legs were a bit tired. Tomorrow is an off day because I have a dentist appt.

73F/23C, sunny, a bit humid. A sad ride for me. We had to let our 16 year-old dog go yesterday morning. Just getting out of the house felt good. There are reminders of the old girl everywhere there.

Wasn't raining when I got out of bed, but was raining before I started riding, and had a nice light rain all the way in. No wind. Golly, do disc brakes ever squeal when they're wet!

My condolences.

About 80 in the morning. It is light out at 5:55 am... No need for my strong lights!! Bike parked in the cube next to me, waiting for the return leg home..

Life is dam sweet!!

58F and sunny, very nice.

Gonna be a hot one on the way home.