Woke up this morning and for the first time since Monday it wasn't storming. Heck, the driveway was even dry.

I didn't even bother to look at the radar on my phone, I just grabbed my bag and left. Vaguelty remember the GF saying something like, "you're going to ride in the rain?" Overcast, 60 degrees, little wind.

Got downtown and it started raining a little, plus there was a mist/fog in the air. I stopped once to put my rain cover over my backpack and kept going. And for some reason my Endomondo was acting up this morning. Started it as I left the house, got to roughly mile 8 and it announced, "One mile in 34 minutes, blah blah blah ..." :crash: Uh ... what? After that it worked fine the rest of the ride.

First 90F ride home yesterday made the going slow. The cheap sunrace front derailleur the shop installed on my new frame is not down shifting reliably. Stopped by the Ky river for a bit which was nice except for the 1.5 mile climb. 18 miles.

Warm 70F this morning this morning. Beautiful sunrise. I was dripping with sweat by the time I arrived at work. 14 miles.

I've heard that you can't easily chase them out. I have no experience so this is second or third hand but I'm told that the key is to somehow induce them to channel to the neighbor's yard.

I think I overdid it a little this morning after waking up with a painful leg cramp. I spotted a rider catching me early on, and sometimes after I'm passed and then I get warmed up then it's awkward when I catch up if they want to hold their "lead". So I picked up the pace right away, and then again after a mile or two when he was still back there (not exactly high speeds :rolleyes:). Now I'm paying a price for it. I should leave the "silly commuter racing" to the young strong guys.

This morning I managed to film it holding the camera with my right hand, pointing at my face. I forgot the USB cable to download the video so I'll have to wait until tonight before I can share it with you. I'll try to film it again tonight because last night the bird tried for the first time at night.

Beside the bird attack the morning ride was nice but with a big headwind.

I will look forward to seeing it. I almost got a crow in the face the other day. It was chasing a butterfly and it swooped around a cube van and almost collided with my face. My son thought it was hilarious.

I occasionally have birds and bees come up to my hair (it is curly and red and can start to look like a fro after a while) since it looks like a nectar source at times.
[MENTION=227213]wphamilton[/MENTION] I have been feeling fatigued this week and the more hardcore summer riders are out. I have had a few pass me and it has been hard work to keep with them. But I always remind myself my son is on the back feeding me dried fruit, better than gel in jersey pockets. Last night my son's daycare was clearing out surplus yoghurt and I had two flats of yoghurt carefully packed in my pannier, making it extra difficult to keep up. Darn silly commuter racing.

Today, after a week and a half of weather, illness and work reasons that have kept me in the car, I finally able to get back on my bike.

It was fabulous to see the sun coming up behind the mountains. It appears as though a lot of glass botlles died sometime yesterday though, All along on stretch of road, reported it to mtce department at the City. They are usually pretty good about getting out to clean up.

Hit 67 KMH on one stretch of downhill this morning which was fun. Watching the clouds roll in for the afternoon wind and rain storms.

I ran over a dead rat by accident. It was as flat as a pancake, which is why I didn't see it until too late. Anyway, it's just part of riding in the city. Hope to take the long way home tonight, if it is not storming.

Very light sprinkle this morning on the way in. Saw a lovely, enormous bird flying low over the Stony Brook before touching down on a rock maybe 30 yards away. It had a long neck and gray body but I'm going to have to check birds of North America to identify. Hoping to dash home between showers this evening.

Great Blue Heron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_blue_heron

I missed his post until today. I got attacked by one of those back when I was in college (1986?) and riding on a nice path running north out of Monmouth, OR. He came down and was scrabbling around in my hair. Weird. He didn't hurt me, nor even make me wreck. It never happened again, though.

Their song sure is pretty, but I don't trust them to this day.

Very hot on the way home. I rode my fastest time though as I was trying to outrun a storm. I had a couple birds fly at me this afternoon except they were of the middle finger type.:D:D

I am thankful I have not seen one of those in a while. I do miss the eagle I used to go by on my old commute. Now along the urban road I mainly see starlings and crows; gulls and pigeons a few times a week. I was going to bike down to a bird sanctuary a few weeks ago, but I got lazy and did not want to deal with a special bus to cross the tunnel.

I was just kidding and being funny. I haven't seen one of those since last year.

First commute of the year! Just purchased my Giant Escape 0 a couple days ago

Had to snap a pic pre-commute :)

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=388259

I was almost taken down by a rollerblader. He was trying to pass a bicycle coming towards me, and since it was around a corner and not something I see often - or ever- I didn't realize it until we were fairly close. Fortunately I was going slow and moved way over. There seemed to be plenty of room, until he suddenly kind of stumbled, his shoulder down and barreling at me. Flashback to a blocking running back, brace for impact! Somehow he caught himself, recovered without hitting the ground, me or the other cyclist. Thank goodness he had skills and exceptional coordination, but for a split second that was dicey!

Gosh, that's it. I could have guessed someone named joeyduck would be an authority on birds!

Anyway, it was large and graceful and I was close, so it was a kind of breathtaking moment.

They are gorgeous birds. Loud though, we live not far from a rookery of herons. Noisy and ammonia laden feces. Eagles love their young though.

The joeyduck name was long before my interest in birds, which is deep, my knowledge is limited. But I love learning about them and watching them.

I had a nice commute home, I just beat the rain, not that I would mind.

I did not have to get my son but I had to stop at the VW dealer and get a part. Felt a bit weird picking up car parts on a bike. I did run across an old physio from ten years ago, whom I meet in random locations; street corners, coffee shops, community center showers (that was a bit awkward).

72F 22C back in the saddle after a few days of training. Nice ride in. Runners in the bike lane.

The commute in today was very nice with the temp at 56f degrees and sunny blue sky.

Cool 10C/49F, mostly clear with a slight breeze from the NE but not strong enough to be responsible for the long slow slog this morning's commute ended up being, it felt like I was swimming upstream. I did, however, hit more red lights this morning than I do in a normal week, that didn't help, and there was a blockage in traffic at one point too that I couldn't avoid. To bed early tonight, turn off the alarms and get a good night's sleep, that should help.

Having a string of bad luck this week - almost ran over another rat (different location), only this one was still fresh and fat. Yuck! I've seen hawks in the city catching them, but I think the hawks can't keep up. Speaking of birds, there is a dead tree on my route and it is usually full of cormorants. I call it a cormorant tree. :)

Another nice ride in. Much cooler today, but a stiff headwind still made me sweat.

On a related side-note: glueless patches are worthless.

I've had mixed luck with them, the first ones I purchased (a cheap CCM brand) were awful but the Park ones were good. A few months ago, I was conversing with a bike tourist who had been riding down the west of Africa and generally had good luck with glueless patches except in Africa, apparently, the heat made them come unstuck.