tarwheel 

Warm and extremely humid this morning, and I was totally soaked by the time I got to work. At least the odds for a thunderstorm are supposed to be lower today, but ramping up again tomorrow. I may go ahead and take my chances riding tomorrow because I am very close to topping 1,000 miles in a month for the first time. (Much of that from a bike tour I rode last week.)

joeyduck

I have had a lot of people seemingly extra courteous recently also. Stopping when they do not need to and waving me through and giving me extra space.

What helmet mirror are you using, I have been pondering that option.

Today was a nice commute, warmer than normal, which is about 70°F. That is about my upper temperature limit in an ideal world. I was rather warm when I got in today.

On the way home last night I realized that I need to train harder. I was going up a few inclines; one of which my strava placing is 300/1400. But i was having a non-labored conversation with my son while eating snacks and passing people. So at dinner I realized I needed to work harder.

Therefore I pushed up some hills, but my legs are tired. They have not had a rest day since Saturday. They get a few days off starting tomorrow. Friday is off for a wedding. Then day off Monday for government stuff and Tuesday is a holiday.

wphamilton

It is the Take a Look eyeglass mirror but I put it on the helmet. There is a compact version which I'd prefer if I had it to do over again.

joeyduck

Is it glasses or helmet mounted? Why would you do the compact version?

PatrickGSR94

I highly recommend some kind of mirror for anyone riding amongst and part of traffic. Helmet mirrors are the best because you can use different eye/sunglasses, and you can turn your head side-to-side to scan and view a wider area behind you.

I had an excellent ride in this morning, a little faster than usual. Except for one part where a medium sized dog came out and started barking, then ran alongside and kept up with me as I was doing 15-16 MPH, still barking. This went on for at least 1,000 feet. I saw a guy way up by his house (way back from road) on the opposite side from where I saw the dog come out. Not sure if it was his but I yelled out "somebody get your dog, gonna get hit by a car!!"

Otherwise good ride. Been having lots of problems with sweat getting in my eyes since it's always so dang humid. I got a Sweat Gutr headband last year but it didn't work for me. Yesterday I received my new Halo skull cap which has a rubber strip inside to keep sweat off my eyes. It worked great so far, for the 15 mile ride this morning. I actually rode the entire way non-stop (all 2 traffic lights were green) instead of stopping 3-4 times to wipe sweat out of my eyes like I've been doing the past few weeks.

HydroG33r 

Great weather (about 20C / 68F), but tempered a bit by a rare argument with a motorist. Was pulling up at a cyclist/pedestrian controlled light on a designated side-road bike route, and a guy in a minivan decided to race me to the light. He cut over right to the curb at the stop line a couple metres in front of me (though there was plenty of room to the left for him to stay). He also rolled past the stop line into the cross walk going perpendicular, and just about hit a few pedestrians.

He was so close to the curb that I couldn't get up to the push button they put at the curb for cyclists to signal for the light to change. I raised my hands in frustration and said "Thanks" fairly loudly. He rolled down the back windows of his minivan and said "If you're going to be on the road, you need to follow the same rules as the cars!". I have no idea where this comment came from because I hadn't done anything wrong, so I responded: "I *AM* following the rules; this is a bike route and you're sitting in a bike lane as evidenced by the painted bicycle on the road that your front tire is on top of. Also, I'm not the one who just about mowed down those pedestrians; how about you start worrying a bit more about yourself and trying not to kill people."

Frustrating that there are ignorant people out there. At least it's rare that I run into them.

RidingMatthew

i think the halo is a great item the only problem i have is when it is so humid that cant evaporate from the band. that is the only time I find is start to drip near my eyes.

wphamilton

Those are designed to clip to glasses but you can zip-tie to a helmet easy enough. It's a matter of preference.

The large one blocks more peripheral vision than I like.

ill.clyde

Had a similar experience last week. Less confrontational, but there was a woman creeping into the bike lane, WELL before a right turn was possible, which put me within "dooring" range of the parked cars to my right. As I rode past I tapped on her truck and then motioned behind me to move over.

She then passed me after making her turn, informing me through an open window and raised voice that she was there because she was "GOING TO TURN RIGHT, YA PR1CK!"

By and large Milwaukee is a bike friendly city, but there's plenty of mouth breathing troglodytes who take up the slack.

joeyduck

Ahh she is just grumpy she doesn't get enough pr1ck of her own.

I regularly do the door/fender slap when getting off the bridge on the exit slip road. Drivers always creep to go right and I just tap the door a few times. It usually scares the sh8t out of them. But I worry they will make me hook my son's seat on their mirror if they keep creeping (he is not in at this point).

With that being said I have had a lot of drivers see me and give me more space in a lot of other pinch points this week. Maybe drivers are more aware since it is now summer and that is when bikes should be on the road. I also think my new day glo green shirt and flashy lights "pop" when they look in the mirror.

I think the radio stations make announcements about being aware of motorcycles; maybe it makes them think of cyclists also.

ill.clyde

I rarely do it ... and if the driver is on the line or something I don't really care, but half of her SUV was in the bike lane, and the right turn was still half a block away. As far as I'm concerned that's still MY lane at that time. That's probably my biggest pet peeve ... intrusions into a bike lane.

joeyduck

I only do it when it is a significant encroachment. On this slip road they are 3/4 to all the way over their white line. Or when there is not enough space for me to get through unencumbered.

It is our lane regardless. They have to merge across it safely. Even if it means waiting for us.

wapiti

Took the long route again this morning. Some hills to climb to make the morning exciting.

woman in a GMC Tahoe takes a right hand corner right behind me, then proceeds to pull out over a double solid yellow line to pass me, in a blind corner, of course there is a car coming the other way so she has to crank the wheel over and pushes me off the road.

she had no idea why I was so pissed at her. None.


I am looking out the window at the sky though and will probably be making a call for this afternoon.

enigmaT120

It was supposed to rain this morning. But it didn't. That counts as good, to me. The gravel was damp, so no dust. I wore contact lenses so the rain I expected wouldn't bug me, so hopefully it did rain enough to knock the pollen out of the air.

PatrickGSR94

Another good ride home this afternoon. I made ALL GREEN lights today morning and afternoon! Although I only went through 3 of them.

Had to motion for a couple of cars to move the hell over and change lanes who were riding behind me on a 5-lane road, but that was it.

PatrickGSR94

I was having that problem like crazy with the pads inside my helmet. So far so good with the Halo, nothing significant in my eyes this afternoon. Keeps my helmet almost totally dry, too.

dcb23

74F / 23C Beautiful morning. On the topic of mirrors, I use a handlebar-mounted large mirror...I love it, especially in city streets traffic.

essiemyra

The commute in this morning was especially nice after having to take the car yesterday. I will be able to take a long route home this evening.

parkersdad

It was a very cool ride in this morning. I just barely beat the moderate rain. I've got this feeling I'm going to get wet this afternoon.

esmith2039

Last night got off work late around 5p.. every food place smelled too good! This morning a bit humid and muggy and my cargo was a bit heavy.. some days don't think I'm going to make it but still do. Will hit the 300 mile mark on the way home tonight.

mgw4jc

Ha! You and I have a different definition of "very cool." 70F was the temp I saw when I woke up at 5am. 72F at the end of my ride at 8am. Very cool would be more like 55F to me. I guess it's just what you're comfortable with. I felt a few rain drops on the way in this morning and, yes, we could see more today.

The dead deer I saw yesterday had been moved from one side of the road in front of a house to the other side into some woods. There were about 15 or so black vultures on either side of the road, about to have breakfast I suppose. Happy Friday!

50voltphantom

I had to run an errand this morning which meant a little bit longer ride and about 1 mile of gravel which I'd never done on skinny road tires before. My saddle sore wasn't a problem this morning but I had a good headwind coming into town and also got caught in the rain on the last 2-3 miles or so but it was manageable. I'm calling it a win.

arsprod 

Part of the commuting addiction is buying stuff... or so how I rationalize my love of cool riding stuff (that and the fact that I'm saving so much money by not driving)

I agree but found a really cool bar mounted mirror this year that I really love - D+D Oberlauda Ultralight. I don't know if you can tell from the pic but it's big and the field of view is amazing.

Great ride home yesterday - mid 80's, not much humidity and little wind. This morning the muggy is back

ill.clyde

Killed it this morning ... not my fastest, but a quick look at the data and it appears to be the second fastest. High 50s, very humid and downtown and near the lake is still socked in with fog. Took a different ride through downtown this morning, looking for an alternate route for my return trip so I can avoid the Summerfest madness. But that route going home would require at least two left turns in downtown traffic and I don't know if that hassle is worth it at this point.

Oddly I didn't even feel like I was pushing hard and putting out more of an effort than usual, plus my legs were still a little tired from Wednesday's ride hom when I really pushed it.

DogBoy

I knew it had rained a lot, but didn't realize quite how much. My usual route was flooded out in two places this morning, causing me to have to cross a 4 lane BUSY arterial without a light or go 2 miles back to the last light. The bridge over the creek was dry, but about 1/2 mile down the trail the river consumed the trail so I had to climb out through someones back yard to get to the streets and then took another major arterial with no bike lane and no shoulder for about a 1/2 mile until I got back to my regular route. I wish I had known about the flooding before I left. I could have avoided a lot of the busy roads. Still, I got to work with only 1.5 miles of detour. The stress of the ride was significantly higher than I typically like though.