Shoaling is when someone/several people bunch up and get ahead and pass at a stop sign or intersection; thinking they are faster but then lolly gag and piss you off by going slow.

I have a touring bike with a kids seat and two front panniers everyday. Everyone thinks they are faster than me, they scoot ahead at intersections. Then they go ahead, slowly. I have to negotiate several passes, when I should have been first in line had a straight shot. I only get passed by super fast roadies.

My commute this morning was nice, other than the getting stuck at 5 of 6 lights on the downhill, arghhh. I did another set of 30 on 30 off intervals on the flats, two sets of three. I always feel slow on Thursday mornings so this helped. I also do not have to take the boy to day care on Thursdays, so it is shorter!

He was doing some painting when I left home; he made a clay thing at daycare and mom took the time to get out the paints this morning. He made a rainbow with a pond and grass. I think psychologically that is a good sign of a happy kid!

I have been commuting for years and it is tough some rainy cold mornings to get going. But I now live closer (7 miles vs 15 miles one way) and I have only driven to work three times since the beginning of April and I like that and want to keep it that way as long as possible; so that has been my motivation. I also have found what works the best over the years so I usually feel prepared. So do not feel bad throwing the towel in on wet days. I know that when it freezes I will not ride on ice or snow, so we all have our limits. I have no snow/ice riding equipment and do not want to take the risk in a town where they have problems driving in the sun let alone precipitation; especially frozen stuff. Health and safety is better than forcing the ride I think.

I also have a great work set up.

I have a place to hang clothes, let stuff dry, leave clean clothes, hang stuff to dry. I have a supply of clean undergarments and hooks to hang stuff to dry. I have a full shower behind me in the picture. It makes commuting much easier.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=408347

First commute all week due to work related stress and a series of suspicious overnight flats. A little foggy at 4am, but nice out. 45 degrees and I wore a t-shirt and shorts as always. Same crap different day, nearly missed running over a beaver crossing the road as I was coming down the hill at 35 mph. I actually felt the urge to run the damn thing over but I didn't want to risk having to shell out $300 for a new rim.

Suspicious you say? Are you hinting at sabotage?

I am glad you missed the beaver, that likely would have ended badly, they are tough dense critters. I think a only new rim would be optimistic.

I bought a set of Mavic A719s with Deore LX hubs for a bit more than $300.

Actually, the rim might have been your least concern had you lost control at 35mph.

On Tuesday, I saw a beaver get hit by a car about 15m/yd ahead of me. It wasn't hit badly enough to die (on the spot that is), it limped across the 2-lane highway (away from me) and disappeared over the side of the road. It was rather disconcerting to watch.

Shoaling, salmoning, any other fish-related bike terms? :lol:

There must be. What about when someone sneezes or snots on you, they got you with their blowhole.

The oblivious couple holding hands can be called gill netters.

Ridgin riding suddenly onto the sidewalk can be called breaching.

The roadie doing intervals and you are about to get him when he is on again can be called the angler fish. Lures you in with false hope.

Good ones!

A drafter never taking turns at the front could be called a lamprey.

Drove.

Learned from years of experience to avoid bike commuting during the first rain of the season. The streets are super slick with all the bubbled up oil and the drivers lose their minds. As it turns out, a coworker was rear ended in his car on the way here.

i saw a beaver on tuesday in the bike lane I was glad he did not run in front of me. I was slowing but had been doing 35 as well.

I said hi and passed him.

Very wise. My dad warned us kids about this effect when we were first learning how to drive.

At least with this year's weather, I haven't had to worry about that "first rain of the season" -- we've only had a week at best between sprinkles. :lol:

Yeah, this isn't one of those; it's a big intersection (Westminster/Nelson) on a major truck route where the lights stay green for a long time for all the slow trucks to get through. The problem is it stays that way even at 6 PM when there isn't that much traffic. If I get caught at the red and wait it out, it's a good 90 seconds.

Wha??

I love riding in the first big fall rain, it's guaranteed that traffic will be completely screwed.

I love riding by all the drivers stuck on a rainy day after some idiot messes up traffic.

Remember that "rolling coal" thing from a few weeks ago? Today on the way home, someone pulled up next to me just past a stop sign, in a nice late-model maroon Ford dually. I didn't get a look at the driver. He pulled away slowly from the stop to line me up with his exhaust, and then goosed it. The truck was bone stock and so there was no awful cloud, just a little more than usual diesel exhaust. I'd done nothing so far as I know to provoke it - I'd stopped in my bike lane at the sign, he had stopped too. I could see others in the truck. I guess I got the distinct impression this wouldn't have happened at all if it hadn't gone around lately on Facebook, and he thought it would be a fun thing to try to impress his passengers.

This was on a wide minor artery, single lanes with parking and bike lanes. It is about the same location where last year an Explorer full of teenagers yelled at me, "They went that way Lance!" - despite me being on an old MTB in an old T-shirt.

A very nice uneventful commute this morning, temp 45f degrees and almost clear dark skies.

I have never seen a beaver in 8 years of bike commuting. Are ya'll speaking in code?

This was perhaps my most frustrating commuting week of the year. Expected to ride 4-5 days and only managed twice due to a persistent Nor'Easter that has settled on NC since Tuesday night. Forecasters called for clearing skies every day, yet the rain persisted all week, even setting a record rainfall for the date on Wednesday. I'm just glad to have it over with.

Next week I'll be on a bike tour, riding from the mountains of the NC to the coast. I was hoping our summer-long wet weather pattern would cease by time of the bike tour, but it's looking like we'll have rain on Mon-Tues next week. Hopefully the rain won't stick around the entire week like it did this week. I will be camping most of the time, so any rain could also make it difficult to dry clothes, pack, etc. Fortunately, it is a supported tour, so the organizers (Cycle NC) will carry our gear from town to town. They also have indoor camping on a first-come, first-served basis, so I should be able to snag an indoor spot if we make good time.

Yes, code for Castor canadensis.

Another thick misty morning, 9C/48F, too thick to take the photo I brought my camera along for. The nice warm weather we've been experiencing (in the afternoons that is) will continue to Sunday and next week will be back to seasonal norms, highs in the low teens (50s) and lows in the single digits (40s).

It was rather nice this morning. It was a bit warmer (60 degrees) than earlier this week when I biked in as well, but the fog keep it nice and cool, but not cold. Perfect weather. I hit two records today, fastest ride in (11.12 mph average) and biking it twice this week (yay!). I've just got to figure out how to attach my laptop to my bike to get it home for the weekend.

I prefer summer rains but on the general topic riding in the rain is not a big deal (for me). Get the right gear that makes YOU comfortable (learned from lots of false starts trying to use what others did) and it's just rain. For me it was mostly mental and the stress of worrying about 'will it rain or won't it' was far worse than just riding no matter the weather.

Speaking of which it was beautiful this morning - upper 40's, low 50's and clear and sunny once the sun came up

Today was one of my most frustrating commutes. Today is Rosh Hashana, so I assumed traffic would be at a minimum. Boy, was I wrong. What seemed like every 1/8th of a mile or so I had to go around someone parked or pulling into my bike lane. I was shoaled at almost every single light once I got into Manhattan and then a cab nearly hit me near a construction zone in midtown. I should also point that I took my Go Pro with the intent to make a time-lapse of my trip into work. But, with how angry I was on my ride in I don't even want to watch the video.

We need to come up with something that could quickly and discreetly be stuffed into said exhaust pipe.

Dry ride home last night. A bit humid though.

Wet roads on the way in this morning, but no rain falling. It was pleasant enough.

Some form of quick drying foam

It ended up being nice last night on the ride home and it felt good. I went over a bump too fast and my son lost some of his snack. I think it was more a problem for me, since it is dried fruit and the pieces that fell out were for me.

I got up at 2 this morning to heavy rain (or as the weather reports said light rain). I was not worried it smelled nice and sounded great. By the time I got going it was not raining and a bit damp. It was a nice commute otherwise. Though I got caught in a line of about 6 cars being held up by a cyclist. It is a narrow single file section with no shoulder so I am glad no one passed or tried to pass him. I felt he should have been more in the middle of the lane than the fog lane.

I went past another fellow who had transplanted the sun onto his handle bars without melting them. I told him it was a very bright light but did not get the chance to let him know to point it down.

I got me a set of these to put on this weekend: Rainy Day Biking Plain Jane Reflective Mud Flaps (Set) - Mountain Equipment Co-op. Free Shipping Available

I also installed a proper reflector to be in compliance with the loose red reflector law here. I just need to have a red reflector according to the government overseer, it does not have to be even rear facing since there is no specification in the Motor Vehicle Act and there are no national standards; it just needs to be red and reflect. I could argue my orange pannier reflector is red depending on cutoff of red light; but I thought it would be easier with a proper reflector.

Almost collided with another cyclist today. Idiot was riding on the wrong side of the bike bridge, coming around a blind corner with his eyes closed and headphones in his ears. He never even realized how close we came to a crash. Apart from that, nice ride in ..

Nice and easy commute today.