I find that drag doesn't really come into play unless there's a headwind or I'm going over 15mph.

I think we need more data before we can say the panniers are slower.

Is it just me, or is the nicer weather bringing about closer passes? I've been semi-buzzed every day this week after going most of the summer without any problems.

Right of center. The right lane splits after the light to two lanes, right lane for right turns only and a left/center lane to continue straight. The lady didn't see me, and when I yelled, she swerved to the left lane and acted as if nothing happened. Definitely made my heart skip a beat.

Heard a twang sound on my ride to office, stopped and looked around. Didn't see anything, but decided that it was a piece of debris flying off. Also noticed that tire pressure was quite low. Unfortunately, I attributed my slow riding to the tire pressure, and reached office (about 1 mile from the twang) before realizing that it was getting harder to cycle. Turns out my rear wheel is severely out of true now, and rubbing against the brakes (and also the fender!)

I'm feeling pretty stupid right now, and annoyed at myself for not noticing this earlier and getting it fixed. Will be taking a shuttle from my office to a train station near my apartment, will walk it from there. Grr.

Treadtread, did you break a spoke?

I had a nice ride, second one this week. I was almost cold by the time I got to the bottom of my first mile which is downhill. Only August and already my morning ride is mostly in the dark! In 9 miles I got passed by one log truck and one car.

yep I did break a spoke. Didn't realize it when I posted earlier .. was just venting at that time!

Another perfect day... This week has been great - warm but not hot, and breezy.

Beautiful weather today - in the low 80s, a little bit windy. 34 mi RT, felt gods and spent. It is the weekend, yay

what a ride in today. I've been off the bike since my last commute on jul 19th recovering from surgery. Today I was back on the horse, and all I can say is "ouch"! It's amazing how much fitness you lose in a couple weeks- wow! That said, the weather was perfect, the streets were calm because it's Saturday, and it felt amazing to be back in the saddle. The ride home is going to be a grind for sure; 1600 feet of climbing; it feels great to be back.

Congrats on getting back to riding! Glad your doing well enough to start again.

This ride was Fri. morning. Storm threatening but I headed out on the bike anyway. About a half mile into the 3.25 mile ride it started to sprinkle. I stayed after it. The sprinkle only lasted about a mile. I rolled into the warehouse, parked my bike, turned on the big fan and heard the rain start. In just a couple of minutes the intensity picked up big time and lasted through my cool down and clean up. I walked in the back door of our office (from the warehouse) just as my assistant came in the front door from the sidewalk. He was carrying an umbrella that had obviously not done the job against the driving rain. His half block walk had left him soaking wet! He knew by my coming in the back door that I had ridden my bike. He just shook his head and I could not help but laugh. (hope relaying this story has not jinxed me!)

I live in a "rough part of town" of Seattle and my commute home at night are quite interesting. Bored teens throwing rubbish as I'm passing by and screaming and howling to try and have me fall. The weekday nights are quiet and peaceful. It's the weekend nights that these events happen.

I rode in a light rain this morning and it was great. I wish it would be a light rain every day!

73F 23 C sun coming up later and later. A big round moon out. And a passing bicyclist in sore need of some chain lube....I don't know about you all, but a grindy chain is like fingernails on a chalk board to me.

It was a very nice commute into work today, uneventful and pleasant.

Rainy ride in today. I believe this is my first commute going *to* work that was mostly rain. My shirt and shorts weren't really all that wet (well, no more than normal sweat and humidity). But my socks and gloves were soaked. And my legs from the knees down were pretty grimy from road grit being slung up and sticking to me. But a couple of extra minutes changing in the bathroom and I am dry and ready to work all the same.

When riding on wet asphalt, I like how it reflects the trees and me. Anyone else noticed this?

Cloudy, damp, 68 degress ... first commute in a week because I was off work all of last week.

I actually rode, albeit shorter distances, four out of five days last week.

Supposed to be significant rain and/or storms tonight after work. Could be an adventure getting home.

Yikes! A friend of mine that rides the same route/mup as I was rousted by 3 teens a few weeks ago. He mistakenly stopped and ended up getting knocked out by one of the kids with a board to the face - needed surgery to repair his cheekbone. Lesson for me - don't stop or fall!

Wet, warm, and very humid. Expecting showers and thunderstorms most of today. The rain might actually make it feel less humid!

Nice sunny morning, no Wind. Very nice ride

It was a nice ride after a weeks vacation. I was a bit out of shape and a little slow.

But on the vacation my son took it upon himself and removed his training wheels himself (I got the wrench attached for him). They were not on too tight so he had no problem unscrewing them. He was so excited and tried bit. We brought the bike home and everyone he saw he stopped and told them he had no training wheels. He was so proud.

So we spent the morning at the park practicing more with no luck and in the first ten minutes he was ready to quit since "it is too hard". I coaxed him to try some more and in the 1 km around the park he was up and going on his own (starting and stopping still sketchy). So we went and played and then he bike with us (walking) to the coffee shop and back. He did an awesome superman down a slight incline into the grass. No blood, a few tears and back on and going. We were so proud of him.

The first thing he asked was if he could ride to daycare with me. I said he needed to work up to the 7 km first, time to get a trail gator.

Congrats to your son, [MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION]. I keep telling my daughter that it's time to take her training wheels off, but she's pretty tentative and insists we wait until next year.

Had a nice pre-work ride this morning. Legs are a bit tired after a couple longish weekend rides, so I took it easy. Beautiful weather - cool, sunny, no wind. Need to track down the cause of some creaking and squeaking in my fixie - it's probably (hopefully) the chain. I don't think I've ever lubricated it!

I turned the corner on my usual commute and saw this (my road bike was not happy)
It was a smooth wide road with a nice bike lane last week. I hope they don't change anything.
I'll be taking the long way to work for a while...

Spotted from the ARBT this morning: Don't mind me, I'm just driving my bulldozer around in the river.


Untitled by Darth Lefty, on Flickr

An update to my post on Friday. Took my bike to the LBS and they fixed the spoke - total cost, $28. I haven't had a chance to try out the wheel yet though - had to drive in today.

The commute in was very nice this morning, with the sun coming up and clear skies.

A little humid this morning. I am soaking wet one hour after my ride. I was about a minute and a half slower than usual but still was a good ride.

Very nice sunny morning, no Wind, I felt great. I had a hard time stopping at work, almost kept going.