That is the unvarnished truth. I try to counter the pull by DIY as much as I can and making my own accessories as I'm able. I currently have home-brew fenders, phone mount, commuting frame bag, brake light and riding a Nashbar frame with a jumble of parts. Even so it creeps up on you, extra lights, wheels, spokes, bags, it's impossible to maintain discipline for long.

My commute this morning was perfect btw, almost tranquil with the only disruption a charge by a chipmunk. It was a lazy feint, he was never in any real danger.

Today was my first commute to work ever. Rode from Queens to midtown Manhattan over the Williamsburg Bridge,which is not a direct route. I decided on this route to avoid traffic. Loved the ride in and had plenty of energy as I sat down at my desk. I can definitely see myself doing this more often.

Congrats and welcome to the fun!

Thanks. Not to mention it only took me an extra 10 minutes to get to work and my building has bike storage. Should have done this sooner!

edit: and I'm already looking at more durable tires and fenders. I can see that the money I'm probably going to save riding in is going to go right out the window.

Eh ... once you shake things out it's not that bad. Definitely more durable tires though ... I commute on a CX bike, and commuted the first couple of times on the stock knobbies ... had a flat within a week or so.

Once I swapped out the tires, I haven't really spent much more. I don't run fenders, though I've consider a clamp on for the rear.

Ride home = 20 mph head wind on the hilly portion and rain. Brutal.

Wet ride in to work this morning, had to chase the geese off the trail. Dry ride home this evening with a bonus of having the wife and 4 boys meet me on the trail to finish the ride home.

Pretty decent commute yesterday. I always like my Saturday commutes because the traffic is lighter. The only thing that ticked me off was the moron who decided to turn left in front of me when I was going through the intersection. It wasn't like he couldn't see me, he was trying to stare me down the whole time. I hate dealing with people like that.

Pretty good. It was only 10 miles and the weather was nice. What more can you ask!

Do you have to wear sunglasses when it rains? I ask because I rode only once in the rain and riding towards the rain actually impaired my vision a bit.

I bout some new shoes for my girl this weekend. I got gator skins for my bike. I can't wait to try them out in the morning.

I am in the process of gluing up a new set of Gatorskins for my commuter bike as well.

They ride great. I rode my second fastest time this morning.

Awesome and congrats and welcome!

74F/23C high humidity, smooth ride in...July 4 week let's have a mellow week in the office please.

Yeah, it does a little but I think it's still preferable to not wearing them especially if you're in traffic and cars are spraying you as the go by.

Nice ride with big tailwind. a bit of rain just to keep me cool, low traffic as a lot of people have today off for Canada day which in fact is tomorrow.

Personally I'm off tomorrow so I which every canadian on this forum a nice Canada day.

Glorious!

Sunny, 73 and humid. I think it's the first time this year I've been able to commute in just a t-shirt, without a long sleeve shirt underneath or a fleece over the top. Wicked sidewind from the west, but I still averaged over 15mph for the ride. Didn't really expect that because I had a long ride yesterday too.

Beautiful weather for commuting this morning, but my legs were very tired from riding a fast metric century yesterday. I might have taken a rest day but need to "make hay while the sun shines" because the season's first tropical storm appears to be brewing along the Atlantic Coast.

Great ride this morning. Temperatures in the low 70s, light traffic, and generally pleasant conditions allowed me to shave 2 minutes off my best time for the route I took this morning. Came in from the ride with a big dumb grin on my face.

Congrats and welcome to the addiction! Great username!!

Muggy and slow today. When I got to the office I discovered I hadn't packed underwear, tshirt or socks. It's a good thing I keep spare sets of those things at the office, except last time I forgot each of them I didn't restock. Hope this isn't a glimpse of the week to come

Gonna be a hot one.

Hot and humid and getting hotter. I'm perspiring here at my desk.

Memorable encounter on the way home last night: In a bike lane with a fellow rider, this sh*tbox car coming at us, lady wants to take a left in front of us, sees us, swerves back...then just starts waving her hands for us to speed up and yells at us out the window. More humorous than anything.

The commute in today was nice.

Cooler and fast thanks to a big tailwind. Averaged nearly 19 mph. I expect this afternoon's ride to be far slower.

My day started out great as I finally caught the mouse who has been stealing my granola bars for months. I kept hearing a funny rustling sound while I was packing my seat bag, and found the mouse in the bottom of the empty trash can that I keep by my bike gear. It was jumping up and down, but couldn't quit get high enough to escape. I let him out in the storm drain down my street.

I had been in the habit of storing cycling food in the garage, handy to all of my gear, until my Clif Shot Blox started disappearing. Dang mouse ruined about 5 packages of Shot Blox, then he started on my granola bars. I quit storing food out there a while ago, but occasionally would forget and leave a granola bar out there, and then find the empty package later.