A very nice commute to work this am. The temp was 41f degrees with starry skies. I love riding under the stars.

Anyway, I found a new way to get around the hill at the end of my commute that scares me so much. I am going to have to ride it in the day either by car or bike. I know the way to go but I want to check out the road conditions and what it will look like.

Finally a commuting day with no rain, the first in nearly two weeks. Yesterday was actually a nice day as well, but I had to drive due to an out-of-town meeting. To make matters worse, I didn't get home until nearly midnight and got ticketed for speeding (my first ticket in more than 20 years). Perfect weather today, however, and a very pleasant ride this morning.

Nice cool ride this morning but did encounter one motorist being a jerk on the one busy road that I'm on for about 3/4 of a mile. Normally I can stay off on the shoulder area (even though there tends to be a lot of debris on this stretch) however there is an area of the shoulder that has been cordoned off for a couple weeks for some sort of construction so I have to move out into the lane to avoid it. Prior to moving out I checked behind and signaled and the newest car was at least 50 yards back. He reached me just as I got to the closed shoulder area and started blaring his horn as if he expected me to be off on the shoulder. I just pointed at the blaze orange traffic barrels that he apparently neglected to see. Idiot.

I was having a nice commute until I had a flat tire around mile 11. No problem... I'm used to changing tires on this rig. Got it changed quickly and went to grab the Co2 cartridge to inflate. Ooops... forgot to put a new one back in the seat bag from the last time I had a flat. Ok, I'll just use the mini-pump. Damn... left that on the other bike. I'm sure I had a look on my face of "Well, what am I going to do now???" I finally pulled out my phone and opened the KCATA Bus app and found a route pretty close by. Walked about 1/4-mile and took the bus the rest of the way to work (with one transfer). Not ideal, but it worked. Hopefully I'll pay more attention to my tools/supplies before my next commute. :rolleyes:

First time I have been on a bike since mid week last week. We had a bunch of rainy days, and then the SC Flood happened (we stayed high and dry, thankfully). Finally got out and riding today. Very chilly when I started out...broke out a jacket, but it warmed up quick once the sun got overhead. Still chilly air temps. First time riding on my Raleigh Comp GS for my commute. Just got in my Carradice Barley bag. Works quite well! Fits everything I need. Still tricky water situation here though. My office is still under a boil advisory so I had to bring enough extra from home.
http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/...psdb9c9gsi.jpg

Just curious... what constitutes "very chilly" in SC?

'Twas a balmy 6C (43F) in Edmonton this morning, warm enough for shorts and a long-sleeve shirt (no jacket). I see we were a tad warmer than Merrimac, MA!

Last night, as I was riding home, I looked down at my crank and noticed that two bolts holding the chainring to the crank arm were really loose! As in, just about to fall off loose. The other three looked okay. I finger-tightened the two loose bolts, then wrench-tightened all of them when I got home. Also lubed the chain while I was at it. Fixie is nice and smooth and quiet now!

Until temperatures get normalized with late fall, at the moment anything around 55 or below I classify as chilly. Those temps are still a bit of a shock to the system after summer (mid 90s-low 100s + high humidity). Next month 55 will feel awesome instead of chilly, and surely I'll be comfortable in shorts and a long sleeve jersey as well (or with just arm warmers).

a great ride in and I on the ride home I am cleared for riding extra mileage with my buddy around the lake!

[MENTION=384662]bmthom.gis[/MENTION], that old Raleigh looks great.

I joined a paceline today, making it a three-person paceline. We didn't draft closely, so we were all polite. As I passed one guy, he tried to accelerate, but his chain skipped over his cog. Eventually, the third guy dropped out, probably because he had to turn off the path. The remaining guy and I got to talking. I told him he needs a new chain and freewheel, and he appreciated the advice. He's only had the bike two months, and the gearing is too close-ranged, since it's also an old Raleigh. I told him I have four old Raleighs, and he was amused. He's visiting from Estonia, working or studying at Columbia University.

The paceline was fast, and my pace before meeting it and after it left the route was fast. I feel so alert and alive and active on this new racing bike of mine. I won't want to ride it in inclement weather, but it's great when it's not cold or wet.

Thanks! I have Nitto Randonneuring bars to swap out the originals with, just waiting on my shop to get my Brooks bar tape in before I do it. I love the way it rides and had a very lovely time of it.
I dig your Lemond!

Going home yesterday was curiously faster than usual, despite a light headwind. Only thing different I can think of was a new pair of Bontrager bike shorts I picked up on clearance from the LBS. Up to this point I've only ever used bike shorts bought through Nashbar (LG and Canari). The new ones are definitely comfortable. Perhaps I had a better saddle position and was able to put power down more efficiently or something? I don't know, I just know it was a great ride.

Back on the bike after a couple days sick. Doing a Italian tune up you could say.. and it worked!

6C is not warm enough in my book to wear shorts and ride without a jacket of some sort, especially with no sun shining in the sky.

Today was another nice commute to work though it was a warm 49f degrees when I left the house. I took the short way to work so I would get to work earlier hoping to miss some of the later traffic at the last hill.

Also they are working on another road I have been riding so I could not take it this morning due to the condition I saw it in yesterday on my way home. No sense riding rough conditions in the dark.

Second bike commute of the week, life keeps getting in the way.

I usually leave my office shoes at the office, but had a meeting at the end of the day so the shoes and heavy laptop came home with me. In addition, I was out of dressing, so I reupped this morning. Boy do I feel the extra weight in addition to the already fairly heavy load I carry (2 water bottles, lunch box with salad in one glass container and chicken in another), change of clothes for the day.

Still made decent time on home side, which is good because I walked out the door about 4 minutes later than I like. Made the train by a minute.

Thank goodness work side in the am is mostly slight downhill and I don't have a time crunch on that side.

I haven't ridden since last week - got some nasty bug and have been home sick, really kicked my butt. Been living vicariously through you guys. Today is 6 work days off the bike, 8 days total, the longest I've gone without riding in 3 years. I'm having the cycling DT's - riding tomorrow regardless... well if I can get outta bed that is. Get your flu shots!

@bmthom.gis, glad to hear you didn't get washed away. That was some crazy rain you all got. It only rained here for about 10 hours, and not super heavy.


I was off work yesterday to hang out with the family for my son's 14th birthday. Most importantly I got to eat some ice cream cake. This weekend we are taking him and some of his friends camping.

A great morning for a ride today. I could have just kept on going. One road I sometimes take if I have extra time was just paved. Nice, smooth, black asphalt is so pleasant to ride on.

Goldilocks weather here today and the same is expected tomorrow. Wish I could say the same for the traffic signals, as I've been catching red lights like crazy lately. All of the traffic lights downtown that used to be synced got out of whack last weekend, so you get caught by nearly every one of them. Very frustrating and it might force me to change my route in the mornings.

I've been commuting exclusively on my touring bike since I got a dynamo powered light system and wheel a few weeks ago, but rode one of my other bikes today and enjoyed the faster pace. I also enjoyed using my rechargeable LED light again because it's significantly brighter than the dynamo light. I had misplaced the rechargeable light for several weeks, which is one reason my I've only been riding my touring bike, but finally found the missing light last night. That was a big relief because I didn't want to be restricted to commuting on only one bike all fall and winter.

Had to stay at work late last night, so had an entire ride home in the dark. Not complaining though... it was a fantastic night for a ride with temps in the upper 60's.

Hope you get to feeling better [MENTION=322871]arsprod[/MENTION].

My commute home was painful. Maybe I'm bending over more on this new bike, and my lower back hurt. Also, the tendons between my groin and legs were irritated by the new saddle. Gotta rethink this and probably also gotta strengthen my lower back. Crunches? Situps?

Such a beauty. Well done.

thanks!

Get well soon! Getting mine today, as well as another immunization shot scheduled like 6 months ago. Will be biking to the clinic to get it of course. :)

That's good to hear!

Lovely bike btw, love how the red handlebar tape serves as an accent color.

I have a previous low back/hip injury myself, so when I'm leaning - especially with the backpack on my back - I periodically remind myself to roll my shoulders up, then back. I let my butt stick out too - this and the rolling shoulders thing were influenced by the stretch sitting exercise in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Steps-Pain-Fre...ct_top?ie=UTF8. This helps keep my low back pain free. When people slouch, the "tailbone" is tucked in - the opposite of the butt sticking out - and that's not good for the low back.

I've been training on the parallettes and that's steadily increased my core strength - but I'm not sure about recommending it to everyone, because we all have our unique goals in physical culture. The most accessible exercise in this parallette program for the core is probably the mountain climber, because all you do is get into plank position, bring your knee to your chest, hold it there for at least a second, straighten the leg back into plank, and repeat with other knee. There are other exercises great for the core in this program but they range in difficulty from slightly harder than mountain climber to very difficult (eg. the L-sit).

I have not benefitted much from crunches or situps. Some experts are of the opinion that the hip flexors may pull a bit too much on the spine when one does those exercises. These exercises work the hip flexors just as much as the abs.

As for my own commute, we continue to have goldilocks weather. On the MUP that I ride on all the time, we are now forced to use this detour path by the airport, as work is being done to move the MUP further away from the parkway, as well as straighten it a bit.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attach...1&d=1444168936

Several local cyclists are unhappy with it for various reasons. I personally don't mind walking my bike about 100 ft. It's clearly not safe for passing while pedaling. So even with this bit, still a great morning commute.

Evening should be just as good, as i'll be riding to a bar to watch some friends play in their band.

I've done my second commute in eight months this morning. Tuesday was the first one. They are the fifth and sixth times driving to work since March 2014 I think.

I'm starting on my graduated return to work plan which is two days at two hours a day for this week and next and building from there. Gosh it's taking long to settle into my shortened routine and relearning things. Plus we have an FDA audit soon and I'm trying to get a few things done for that. So at least I knew what I was working on when I got back which had made it easier, though I had planned to do some at home but life got in the way.

[MENTION=365591]50voltphantom[/MENTION] and others, thank you for the compliments.

[MENTION=409376]GovernorSilver[/MENTION], thank you for the book recommendation and telling me about parallettes. I'll buy the book and maybe also a pair of parallettes.

Your welcome! Hope those things help. I changed from the busted office chair at home to one more conducive to stretch sitting and it's made a difference when I sit at home too.

This is the parallettes program I've been following - I also have their Rings One program:
https://gmb.io/p1/

Bravo, way to get back into it! :thumb:

Nice commute for me this morning, uneventful. Still liking these new Bontrager cycling shorts, so far.

I'm amazed by the new Tanger outlet mall in my town that I pass each day. They started construction early this year (open air type mall with probably 12 separate buildings), and it will be FINISHED and open on Nov. 20! Less than one year construction time!

[MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION], I'm glad things keep progressing for you.