Hyperbole

Rainy. Was only supposed to be overcast today but 10 minutes into my ride it started raining. I wasn't prepared, I don't run fenders and my backpack and blinky lights aren't water proof...

Anyway, I took it slow and made it a little later than normal. A warm shower at the gym was VERY welcome today. My work clothes got a little wet though and I have my blinkies drying on my desk.

mgw4jc

Plenty muggy still here and 70F for the ride in. Fall is somewhat in the air, but summer still has a grip. I think a cool down happens tonight, but we are definitely behind the northern folks.

I had a stupid fall this morning. At a stop sign I waited for a van in front of me to go with my left foot on the ground. I then scooted forward, but somehow got to leaning to the right. I couldn't unclip my right foot in time and down I went. No one was behind me, but I'm sure a few cars passing by saw the whole thing.

My right hand and right knee absorbed most of the fall. Both are a bit sore now. To unclip from that position I always have to turn my heel inward since outward is the ground. I was able to hop back up pretty quickly. Annoying.

arsprod 

There's a guy that runs on my route in the mornings that I see probably once a week who's shirtless almost all year round. I saw him yesterday when I was bundled - it hurts me every time I see him! 54F this morning and very wet from rain yesterday. The temps never got about mid 50's yesterday even though forecast for upper 60's because of rain which was steady.

Here's a good one - some guy tried to steal my bike yesterday. My bike is parked inside our offices at a non public back door. It is visible to people that walk by. This walked in our front door, on the other side of the building. The receptionist asked if he needed help, he said no, just getting my bike, walked all the way through the offices and to the back door. The receptionist followed him and he was just pushing the bar to open the door. She asked what he was doing and he repeated, getting my bike. She said "no you're not," and he left. The level of balls it takes to do that is unimaginable to me and I'm no shrinking violet. Fortunately, neither is our receptionist and she's a big girl to boot. I now have to install a wall hook and lock my bike inside. Bizarre!

mgw4jc

Bizarre indeed! I think you owe the receptionist a lunch or something. Good thing he just left. Most likely he tried the backdoor first and then decided to try his luck passing through.

dramiscram

No bike this morning, I had to take the minivan back to the shop because they forgot to plug the MAF sensor last thursday

they won't refund me for the gaz I burned and the bike ride I skipped but as I work here I'll probably end up shuting the f*** up

I brought the bike in the van so I'll leave the van here until the end of the week for the ride home.

caloso

Took the long way in this morning in order to get 80' of tempo. Warm enough that I was sweating pretty well, but cool and humid enough that nothing evaporated, and of course I forgot my halo headband, which meant rivers of sweat cascading down my glasses. Other than that, no worries. Today a new 3-foot passing law went into effect and I think it may have a good effect. No close passes, in fact a couple of cars took the entire other lane to pass. Love that! And made sure to give a friendly wave of thanks.

MikeRides

Wet and dark morning(4am) but I didn't care. 7am my daughter calls me in a panic because she couldn't find her math text book. "Uh, it's in my bag... I'll meet you in front of the school," I said. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I was tired last night, math was never my strong subject in school, so I've been staying up late refreshing my memory on the next chapter in her book before I can help her with her homework. That said, I thought my bike seemed heavier than usual today...

Uneventful, warmer ride home this afternoon. It's too bad I was expecting company otherwise I would have extended my commute. Oh well.

jrickards

Cool 6C/43F but not as cool as it was forecast (3C/37F). I put on a Underarmour sweat beanie (the ones that you see football players wear under their helmets) to add a bit of warmth to my head but I probably didn't need it, it was full of sweat when I arrived. Forecast for 0C/32F tomorrow morning, let's see if that forecast holds up.

Heading off to Niagara-on-the-Lake on Friday, a town in our wine region, for a weekend of wine testing: never done that before, looking forward to it.

mgw4jc

A pretty good thunderstorm was brewing near my home at the end of the day yesterday. I thought I may be able to ride slow enough that it would pass before I got close. I started out skirting the southern end of it, but realized that I was about to turn into it and could see lightning off in the distance.

While riding on a low traffic road, I called my wife. She had already offered to come pick me up, so I just asked her to head toward me and she said okay. It started raining and I decided to head for some cover under which I could wait for her. This turned out to be a good idea as it came down pretty hard and the the thunder was booming all around. Here's I pic I took while waiting for my wife. It's on a MUP going under a bridge.


She got there, I put the bike in the minivan - love being able to fold down the back seats - and we headed home. The rain stopped pretty soon after I was loaded up. I would have been fine waiting it out and then riding home, but it's hard to tell how long a storm is going to last.

Normal, dry ride in this morning.

ill.clyde

There's nothing like the sound of screaching tires behind and to your right to get your attention.

Last night, about a mile from home, I'm riding down a slight downhill, toward a stoplight that is red, so I'm coasting. There's an intersection a little before the stop light, for a fairly lightly used residential street. I see a car approaching the intersection but he's a ways off, so I don't think much of it. I'm halfway through that intersection when I hear the tires screeching. I look to my right and here's that car, slamming on his brakes to avoid clipping my rear wheel. I scream an F-bomb because I had no idea what else to say at that point, and continue on, not jawing at the guy, nothing. It appears he's getting an earful from the woman in the passenger seat anyway. As I near the intersection the guy pulls alongside me and offers an apology. I just waved. It's probably the closest I've ever been to getting hit, but it was still not that close. Sure as hell got my attention though.

And what's with people lately? Do they get dumber as the temps get cooler? On the first half of my ride home last night, on the MUP, it was like a minefield of stupid, topped off by a couple of teen girls, salmoning toward me on longboards. One of them is holding a dog leash and letting the dog pull her. She's also either looking down at her phone or her dog, I'm not sure which. In addition to them coming toward me, there is traffic on the left, where they should be, so I squeeze them and give them an earful too. UGH ... I don't understand the salmon mentality. They're everywhere.

Today's commute was nice, albeit a little chilly. 49 degrees, slight wind, sunny after I reached downtown.

arsprod 

41F and dense fog - that was not excuse for the asswipe who almost took me out. 4-way stop, I pull out, he's on my right slowing and then starts going through the intersection without stopping. It drove me into the curb but he missed me. When I turned to look at him he was looking away, didn't even have the courtesy or guts to look at me. I'm going to remount the 50 caliber

jrickards

Don't you mean, "Today's commute was boring".

You had excitement I can live without (but it is entertaining reading, as long as no one gets hurt).

ill.clyde

Touche

dramiscram

I did two diferent tour in the pas few years and I had a great time on both tours. It's big big fun even for a guy like me who knows nothing about wine. It was great to speak directly with very passionate people about their wine.

My morning ride was a bit longer: there's roadwork on the road 231 so all traffic is detoured on the St-Simon road and the road 116. A total of 38.5 kms instead of my usual 27.4 kms. At night the roadwork site is closed so I walk the bike across . 11 kms detour for 150 meters of roadwork. I guess it will be like that for a few days. Anyway I don't mind more bike time, I just have to leave 25 min. earlier.

wphamilton

Today is a little closer to perfect than yesterday. Great weather, a relaxing ride through the forest by the creek followed by calm traffic with mostly laid-back drivers.

Even the park maintenance guy was out of his little buggy, snapping a photograph of a doe standing about 10 feet away, calmly watching him. Must be a newbie to the MUP work.

Hyperbole

Great weather on the ride in. Nice and cool. However, I think I'm coming down with a cold. I was debating whether to make it in to work today. But, as soon as I jumped on the bike I felt better...I may regret that decision later today though.

tarwheel 

You owe your receptionist some flowers, lunch or at least a thank-you card!

arsprod 

Damn, you're the second guy to say that - she's normally a major pain in the ass... but I'll do the right thing, she did save MY ass!

spivonious

Ha, I lost this thread because it was made a sticky.

The weather has been fantastic all week. Low 50s in the morning, low 70s in the afternoon, and no wind.

caloso

Here we have a long dry season so during the first big rain of the year, people just lose their minds and forget everything they knew about driving in the rain. I usually skip bike commuting that day.

joeyduck

We had some rain this morning during the commute. Even though it is the rain forest people still drive like idiots all winter when there is a hint of liquid falling. I avoid going anywhere if it snows here, chaos and mayhem from ill skilled drivers.

I was worried about the rain this morning since it started about 7:30 am, not too heavy but enough to get the roads wet. I actually stayed dry and I took it easy since I was worried about oil seepage. The commute was fairly nice and uneventful.

There was an accident right when I got to work though, a car and van had a meet up. It is a traffic laden area and there was substantial damage to the front of the caviler and both air bags deployed and the e350 hit a telephone poll. All occupants looked okay and people had been called, so I kept on my way.

I took yesterday off to take care of stuff, and I missed riding. But we went out to a mexican place we had not been and it was good. we treated our friends who just got back from a 2 week camping trip to an anniversary dinner. We missed them and it was nice they were back.

Edit: I forgot. I did something a little stupid. I decided to avoid the normal congested car access to the bridge I take and decided to use the bike lane controlled access. So I went a block past turned right to the bike street to pull the u-turn to use the traffic light to cross the road. I signaled and turned right then went up swung right to pull a wide left u-turn, but a car was behind me and was going to try to overtake me as I was turning. It was all low speed and no real danger. I had not checked well enough and thought no one turns their car onto this street. But it does seems that I recall that happening previously.

Hyperbole

With my commute it seems to have correlated with kids going back to school. Parents, perhaps getting up earlier than normal dropping their kids off at school and not really paying attention. Packs of pre-teens crossing the street and walking off the curb without looking, etc etc

edit: and this happened last year along my commute Five Students Hurt When SUV Hops Curb Near Queens School - Maspeth - DNAinfo.com New York

timvan_78

got rained on a bit this morning. It stopped just as i got to work, of course. It is just a reminder of the rainy season that is coming!! It hasn't really rained in quite some time, Van has driest summers in Canada but in the winter it will rain (at least a little bit) on most days.

Some moron in a pickup truck tried to drive through a construction zone (closed road) this AM. I was biking along the same road in a makeshift MUP (delineators spaced at 20ft). When he realized that the flagging woman wasn't having any of his shenanigans, he decided on a violent 3-point turn right into the makeshift MUP. I gave him a WTF and the flipped bird and kept going. Poor guy had to drive all the way around the block!

ill.clyde

And here's my other current irritant ... cross country teams using the MUP. Listen, I'm all for people using the MUP and I think it's great that young people are active, but their coaches, who turn their teams loose on the MUP with NO instruction or supervision should be slapped.

My first experience was with, what I believe was the Marquette University team ... who were running four and five abreast in the same direction I was going, so it was difficult to pass them. Worst, their coach was trailing them on a bike! And never once said anything about condensing. I barked at them, as I was passing, "You guys can't run single file? Or two up?"

After that, it's been with a high school that's located along the MUP. Again, it's great they're active, but the coach NEEDS to tell them not to salmon, and NOT to run three or four up. Hell, half the time I roll through them (as they come toward me) there's kids on my left and kids on my right.

Last night, as I was going down the MUP a hoard of kids turned onto the path heading the same direction as me. To her credit, their coach (also on a bike) was yelling at them about bikes and traffic and staying on the correct side of the path.

joeyduck

Silly people. I just missed the rain it seems. I biked along 18th and there is a fairly thick canopy that keeps me dry. After that it did not seem to bad and must have only lasted for a short while. I did not even notice it on the glasses. But I am ready for the rain, I enjoy it in a sick kind of way. I have been dropping full season riding hints to my wife, who would have none of it in Burnaby. Now I am half the distance and on much better roads than Marine and the meandering through Burnaby/NW. Other than ice I see no reason I can not keep the three driving days since April up!