locolobo13 

Twice today cyclists pulled in front of me in the bike lane. The first was this morning. He approached from a side street and made the right turn into the bike lane. He never even looked back. He was going way slower than me but I was able to pass him without waiting for too much traffic.

Then on my way home another cyclist approaches from the right. He did see me. I think we both thought h was going to be going faster than m so no biggie. But after he got up to speed he was still slower than me. I had to wait longer for a break in traffic before passing.

Kevin56

Dry weather on the way in this morning but rain on the way home. Got to try out my new poncho. And also experienced my first hit and run. Riding along lit up like a Christmas tree...two red flashing lights on my backpack and another red tail light...two headlights, one in flash mode...and a reflective safety vest and wham! I get sideswiped by a minivan. The vehicle struck my left elbow and my rear view mirror. For a split second I felt the heat of its engine. It slowed down and appeared to be pulling over but then the driver had a change of heart and kept on going. I managed to get only a few numbers off the license plate. Lesson learned there....get the plate number!

mgw4jc

Crazy! But you didn't actually go down? If not, that's probably why he didn't stop. May have figured if you're still going then you're not hurt.

mgw4jc

The lack of clouds allowed for more daylight on my way home last night. It still got dark enough that I turned on my lights.

A bit cooler this morning at 42F instead of low 50s. I still just went with the shorts, short-sleeve shirt and jacket. I did do full finger gloves.

Schools are out for Veterans Day, therefore the traffic was much lighter.

arsprod 

So, what's the weather like in KC? I'm watching you to decide if I ride tomorrow - they're calling for gusts up to 50mph here. Not much would keep me off the bike but that would!

KCBikeCommuter

Wish I had commuted this morning, but the forecast last night made me chicken out. As it turns out, the winds were not that bad and temps are in the lower 60's! They are still calling for thunderstorms and very strong winds for this afternoon (gusts to 45mph), so maybe it was still a wise move to ditch the ride today.

arsprod 

Well you're no help!!

bmthom.gis

What a terrific ride this morning. When I was walking the dogs it was in the 40s, but it had to have hit the 50s by the time I swung my leg over the bike. Since I only had to go 1 way today, I decided I would ride my newly finished Raleigh Sports. I also dressed the part, I suppose, by not wearing any bike specific clothing, except for my Chrome shoes. I was wearing a jacket as I got to get moving, but took it off and stuffed it in my messenger bag.



The ride was 12.5 miles, as I took a detour into a park for a photo op and a short break.



Wooden bridges are indeed slippery when wet, as I had a bit of a knockdown when I braked on this one...it was kind of fun...my messenger bag stopped the fall short and I was moving at a slow speed...kind of made me think of some of the silly mud rides I like to do after a lot of rain.

I need to move the saddle back a bit, but otherwise it was a comfortable ride. I still managed to average 12 MPH, and the only time I had to huff and puff was going up the overpass, otherwise the gearing was just fine. I am quite sore from a hard gym workout yesterday, so an easy, slow spin was just what the doctor ordered.

Dinner with my wife and her old roommate is in town, so will be in her car on the way home. And now my Sports can stay at work, where I intended it to live anyway.

greg3rd48 

@bmthom.gis Very nice Raleigh. Is your commute relatively flat?

I rode my U08 to work this morning at 615. It was lightly raining and the sides of the roads are covered in downed leaves now so my commute time increased by about 7 minutes to account for the increasingly treacherous conditions. My 6 mile commute is very hilly so I am wary once the combination of wet roads and leaves are present.

bmthom.gis

Thanks! Uhm, no I would not call my route flat, per se. It certainly isn't super hilly, but there are a few good ones on it. The dividing line between the city and the county I live in is a river, so I always have to work my way back uphill after crossing it. Strava has me at only 350 feet of climbing, but some of the hills aren't exactly a cake walk (especially the overpass over the highway).

wphamilton

Clear skies again, after weeks (it seems) of dreary rain. It's going to be great riding for the rest of the week. The nice thing about a cool dry spell is that if you want to, you can ride in your work clothes with maybe a slicker or sweats and go easy enough to skip the cleanup and changing. Or choose the regular performance getup and go hard. It's all good.

esmith2039

The wind was impressive tonight! What wasn't impressive was the drivers. I had the highest number of the ones that wouldn't completely pull fully into the other lane today. Wasn't really close enough to consider being buzzed still don't care for it.

Kevin56

I think you're right. That thought came to me today that the driver may have seen in the rear view mirror that I was still upright. I've got one of those mirrors that slides over the hand grip and sticks out to the left. Better that got hit and knocked out of joint rather than the handlebar a few inches to the right.

mgw4jc

Nice morning for a ride, and not too cold. Just under 50 and sunny.

I did have to "honk" at someone though. I was in a left turn lane to leave a main road and enter a neighborhood. There is usually a car or two attempting to turn out of the neighborhood and get on the main road. A white pickup pulled out to go left, crossing my right of way. When she saw me she hesitated. I had seen her nosing out alreay and was far enough back and waved her to go ahead.

But then another guy followed her out. I saw the car pulling out and said to myself, "Hold up, homey." The cool morning makes for foggy windows, so this guy had his front windows down, probably so he could look left and right better. But he somehow looked past me and came on out anyway. Maybe he saw me and figured I was going slowly enough or something. And because I had already slowed for the pickup it wasn't a close call at all. But he definitely should have held up at his stop sign and let me make my turn. If his windows hadn't been down I probably wouldn't have said anything. I hollered out a loud, "HEY!" He then looked directly at me as he continued his turn.

It was exactly the kind of thing where if a driver with the right of way had been cutoff, he would have expressed his annoyance with a honk. I was kind of laughing at myself after. "Nice honk!"

jrickards

Not the kind of day that I like to ride in on, 4C/39F and a bit rainy but not too much otherwise I wouldn't have ridden in (I don't have rain pants and at this temperature, a very rainy 20km/16mi ride would "freeze" me after 50-55 minutes of riding).

I do have a decent rain coat (below) that I'll wear on days like today where the visibility and light are low and it is rainy and cold (I bought it a bit oversized so there's plenty of room for layers underneath).



However, when I arrived at work today, I noticed another fellow come in on his bike, also in raingear but he had taken the opposite approach.



or, maybe he had gone duck hunting on the way in to work. Who knows why he would dress this way?

bmthom.gis

I drove in today, but then hopped on my 3 speed and took a ride to a coffee shop where I randomly ran into one of my coworkers, so we had coffee together. Quite lovely. Taking tomorrow off. Supposed to get up to around 80 today. Go away hot weather, my mind is already made up for sweater weather!

arsprod 

Well that just sucked... fairly warm temps in the upper 40's but the wind is ferocious. I don't have a wind meter but weather app says steady 20 mph with gusts in the upper 40 mph range. Most of my route has some protection but in the parts with fields it just sucked. Did I mention it sucked? Still better than driving

KCBikeCommuter

groovestew

Overall a pleasant commute in temps just below freezing. Riding down a road I heard a funny sound from a car passing me - I could see right away that the rear passenger-side tire was flat. It was a super low-profile tire on a big rim, so I'm not surprised the driver didn't notice. I had a mind to pull up to the driver at the next light and alert him/her, but the light changed and the car pulled away before I reached it.

Later, I passed a guy on a fatbike, me on my skinny-tire fixie. The roads are mainly bare and dry (some frost on the trails), so I don't see the point in riding such a cumbersome beast, but I guess you'd get a good workout. We'll be getting snow soon enough I guess, and then he'll be riding and I won't!

HardyWeinberg

Hi 30s, spitting a bit. Supposed to warm up and blow for the ride home, and pour.

Take it back, not supposed to warm up in the pm, just blow and pour.

Darth Lefty 

Didn't have a day off, but am having an off day. Verrry slow ride in this morning.

RidingMatthew

Commuted today first and only commuting day this week. I was off two days this week. I had a nice recreational ride on my road bike Tuesday.. Felt good to ride fast. Working 2nd job again and have to drive tomorrow. supposed to turn a bit chillier this weekend.

PatrickGSR94

Dentist this morning so no ride, so instead brought my utility bike to work to ride home. Will most likely take my normal commuter road bike back to work in the morning. Supposed to be the coldest morning of the season so far tomorrow morning, around 40 or likely a little below in some areas.

In the past I have always scheduled dentist appointments first thing in the morning, 8 am. For the next one (next May) I scheduled it for the latest time my hygienist has - 3:30 pm. So I will take off that afternoon, go home, then ride my bike to the dentist.

tarwheel 

My first commute of the week today due to heavy rain on Monday, more rain and a dentist appt on Tuesday, and a holiday on Wednesday. Weather was ideal -- clear and cool with temps in the 40s morning and expected about 70 in afternoon. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be nice as well, so I'll salvage two days of commuting out of the week. We are currently running 10 inches above normal on rainfall for the year, and most of that surplus has occurred over the past couple of months. Autumn is supposed to be our dry season, but this is the wettest one that I can remember. I washed my two main commuting bikes yesterday on my day off, and they were filthy from weeks of accumulated grime from riding in the rain.

esmith2039

For some reason I thought the wind was worst today. A lighter but colder wind.. But then again it was out of the NW and right in my direction of travel and I hurt my back today.