foible

I wasn't going to ride today either, I have places to be after work and time is tight, but when I got up I just wanted to be outside in the elements. It really makes a great way to wake up.

I started off trying to enjoy the wind and rain, the forcast is for another week of this at least so I don't want to dread it. Sure enough, with the right attitude I could find the good parts of bad weather. I started comparing the little islands of light the streetlignts make in the remaining leaves. Whisps of fog blew through the drier stretches of my ride.

It seemed like I was working harder than usual when I was climbing the first hill. When I had to peddle on the downside I knew something was wrong. I stopped and found I had my first flat tire! Rather than mess with a rear tire in the rain and dark I just walked the last mile to work. I'll deal with the tire later.

jyossarian

Telecommuted
it's a beautiful day out
too nice for working

DataJunkie

Yesterdays commute home was rather annoying for the first 15 miles. Nice strong winds.
After the bus dropped me off up north I went the opposite direction. The strong headwind became a tailwind. Boy did I ever make good time.

This morning:
I was suprised to discover that my energy level was very low. It seemed much higher at home. Anyhow, paid the extra dollar and took the bus to within 2 miles of my work rather than the usual 15. I sure hope I have more energy later today. I would like to ride the 35 miles home. It all depends on my energy level and my sore back.

10ch

How was the commute today, you ask? Why it was GREAT!

I rode in on my new (to me) Gary Fisher and even with knobbies it was scads better than my old mtn bike. (Have to get presta valve tubes for my flak jackets, I thought rims took both?)

I haven't even had the chance to clean the bike up yet and it's still shifting smoother and riding faster and the OH and the AH... brag brag gush gush gush.

TGIF, ya'll.

Eggplant Jeff

Wow tokolosh that's awesome. That's how I always feel riding in a storm. I have this maniac grin on my face the whole time. Storms are just so awesome, the huge grey clouds, wind, rain pounding down, and you're out there EXPERIENCING it all.

My ride was ok today, a little cold. I tuned up the bike yesterday. MAN what a difference oiling the chain made! Holy cow I had no idea the bike could be that quiet! I guess it was overdue . And it's nice to have brakes that work before the brake levers touch the handlebars . Disc brakes stop good but they need adjustment all the darn time.

Although it was so quiet now that I noticed a creaking noise. It sounds like it's coming from the front but I think that's incorrect, because the only way I could make it happen was to stand up then sit on the saddle again. I think the saddle is creaking and the sound is being transmitted along the frame. When I got to work I played with the saddle... it looks like my @#$(*@( suspension seatpost is coming apart. There's an o-ring that looks out of place, and a threaded part that looks like it's unthreading (I could tighten it with a pipe wrench but I don't have any tools here at work that would do the job). The saddle wobbles about 1/8 or 1/4 inch forward and back when I push on it... the wobble is from the piston part of the seatpost, not the rail clamp.

Boy am I glad I bought a new seatpost (solid) on ebay... now if it would just hurry up and get here.

truman

Beauty, eh? Left on my normal schedule, allowing 45 minutes for a 41 minute average ride to the train station. Caught a tailwind for most of the way and I was feeling frisky, so when I flatted myself on a sloppy curb-hop (d'Oh!), I was able to change out the tube, pump it up, and get moving again in enough time to still make my train with 4 minutes to spare.

Unseasonably warm morning, in the low 60's with a stunning sunrise. What could be better?

MikeM21

Interesting week of commuting I had.

Changed my chain and cassette over the weekend and the bike felt like new. Monday evening I came around a corner on the path through the woods and there was a deer staring at me before she jumped into the woods.

Tuesday had to chauffer the kids around in the afternoon so I had to drive-BLEH!

Wednesday I knew I had an eye dr appt. in the afternoon and should have driven, but I couldn't do that two days in a row so I rode in and rode to the eye dr. I just pulled my fleece pants over my dress slacks, stuck my dress shoes in the panniers and rode in my dress shirt, tie and slacks. At the eye dr. she decided I needed to be dilated so the ride back to work and then home in the dark was particularly interesting.

For some reason I like to try to ride over leaves this time of year. I pick out individual leaves in the road and try to crush them. One of the leaves yesterday turned out to be a rock! Pinch flat! First flat ever on the road. It happened close to the office so I walked the bike the rest of the way and changed it at the gym. No more leaf crushing.

Last night on the way home my headlights ran out of juice and then the helmet light quit on the unlit trail. Fortunately the helmet light was only a loose connection and it got me home.

Today seems to be normal (knock wood).

Thanks for listening,

Mike

egonlou

Perfect Week!!! Five for Five on commuting. Going back through my log, this is only the third time that has happened this year, once in July and once in August. Didn't even happen in Sept when I was 16 for 21 for the month.

Its getting a little windy- Wed night on the ride home, I had a beast of a wind coming at me. I was riding like 14-15 mph on the greenway and it took me about an hour and twenty minutes getting home. (16 miles)

Last night, I had the same wind with me and I was flying. I was doing almost 10 mph faster than the day before, 23-25 mph. I got home in 56 minutes. I was really making time on the traffic on the West Side Highway.

Lets see how next week goes.

vtjim

Yesterday, I had a vicious headwind. Figured I'd have a killer tailwind on the way home. No such luck. It was hitting me on the side instead. I can't win!

No wind at all this morning. Tonight I'm going out with some mates to the pub, meeting my wife (who's delivering my headlight), having dinner, and then riding home.

The bad news is that my mother in law is visiting for the weekend, so you can understand my reluctance to get home quickly.

peregrine

today's weather forecast

Rain / Thunder / Wind
High 52°F
Overnight Low 43°F
Precipitation 100%
Max. Humidity: 83%
Sunrise: 6:55 AM PT Sunset: 4:53 PM PT

how do you think my commute was today?

truman

No wind? Lucky!

chephy

Yesterday I biked 60 km, swept a tennis court thickly covered with leaves (with my biking jacket, for the lack of better implements!) and played tennis for two hours. Walking in the morning was painful... but biking wasn't! I thought I'd take it slowly but ended up really punching it and posting one of the better rolling averages!

Beautiful weather. +17 C yesterday, same today. Didn't need my jacket!

bikebuddha 

Great commute today. I couldn't resist attacking some hills. I think tomorrow me and my youngest will head over to the silver comet trail for a ride. She's turning into a real cyclist, this summer we got caught in a deluge and she pedaled through it.

TxBiker

Today's commute was awesome. Hot...but awesome. Started at 58 degrees and is now hovering just above 80.

Cute story from yesterday's commute from work. I met my family at a deli shop for dinner. While eating, my 7 year old son says, "Dad, when I grow up, I want to ride my bike to work just like you." One proud papa!!!

Chris

truman

Nice! My 9 year old girl thinks I'm weird, but she likes ot go riding, anyway.

On my way home today, going through a neighborhood to avoid the wind along the river route, I passed a guy raking leaves in his yard, with his 7 or 8 year old daughter out with him. As I rolled by, I heard her say, "Daddy - He's FAST!"

No such thing, but it's nice she thinks so, anyway.

ollo_ollo

39F, partly cloudy @ 5:45 AM today & enjoyed seeing the stars on my commute in but all that changed by lunch time. Torrents of rain and a gusty headwind made me struggle to maintain even 14 MPH & some of that rain found its way inside my rain gear. Spent part of my lunch hour changing into dry clothes & hanging everything around the garage to dry.then drove back for the afternoon as I had to pickup a 40# bag of food for my dogs. Weatherman says more of the same is on the way all next week...have a nice weekend.

tokolosh

yesterday's weather was in today's paper. gusts 'up to 55kph', although i don't know if they measured them up on that bridge with no city to slow the wind down. apparently the power was out in parts of the city as well that morning. yeah! officially ugly weather, and was i not undaunted by it? ima give myself a little private 'hardcore' badge for this month on the strength of it, anyway.

today much more laid-back, as far as weather. still raining and cold and windy, but pretty ordinary by comparison. started a tiny bit late because this was one of my kid's late-start fridays, and it's just impossible not to get a slight feeling of sleep-in festival creeping all through the house on those days. nothing eventful happened except i dodged a mid-block left hook from a semi over on the flat side. the driver was waiting to make his turn into one of the accursed strip malls, so i at first i thought he'd seen me, but i was watching him anyway as i went through. and sure enough, he went into the turn as if i hadn't been there. i deked slightly to get clear of his fenders, so no loss - but i got a bit of body language through his driver-side window that gave me the impression he had seen me after all, and had been expecting me to make room for him. wtf back atcha, buddy. my right of way.

paid for yesterday's ride on the way home. i had planned to drive and use the car, and thusly also to be all efficient and custodial parent and bring home a fridgeful of milk for next week. but because i rode, i didn't do that - and one of the reasons i thought i could afford to go with the ride was because i deked a look into the fridge and saw three one-gallon jugs. i thought we were good to the weekend, so off i went. but this morning i discovered that my kid's been doing his drifty absent-minded squirrel-genes act again, and none of those jugs had more than two cups in them. so long detour to the grocery store to fetch a subsistence gallon on the way home. half an hour after i brought it home, there it was in the fridge - looking half empty along with the other three. my kid cracks me up. NOT a linear thinker, he's not.

i tell myself that tomorrow i'm going to go get a 'how to give your bike the gears' book and whatever tools it takes to adjust deraillers. i'd better make sure i bring milk home with me.

FBKS-AK

-24F (-31C) and mostly clear last night. The snow on the trails is getting packed
down pretty good around here. I just got to stay away from the bumpy parts.

scottmorrison99

A perfect 48 degrees on the way to work, with the usual headwind making it a bit of work getting to work. I decided to take it easy and make up for it on the ride home. On the ride home I made good time and hit almost every light on the green. On one of the red lights a woman decided to lecture me. "You should wear glow in the dark clothes". Gee, Where would I get those?" I replied " I must need them if my dual headlights,flashing lights, reflective equipment, and white clothing aren't enough for drivers to see me on a well lit street". She laughed when she realized I was right. It was a nice 58 degrees, and as always, fighting the headwind. No rude drivers, just cruising along. It's getting addictive riding to work. I'm finding ways to avoid driving just so I can ride.

RonH

Hooray! Back from R&R and ready for the Monday morning ride.
Temps are supposed to be in the mid/hi 70s (~24C) later today.
The ride in should be great with lots of sunshine and temps in the hi 50s (14C).
Sure has been a warm fall, but I'm not complaining.

luckysnafu

Wow, what a great ride in this morning. Sunny and in the low 50's. I was pumped up for some reason and ready for more riding by the time I got to work, wish I could have just kept riding and riding. Temps going to be in the mid 70's this afternoon for the ride home

chipcom 

Nice ride in this morning, lower 40s and little wind...as compared to the 40-60mph gusts we were getting yesterday. Of course there always has to be a fly in the ointment - some idiot flying by me hollering 'GET OFF THE ROAD!'. A-holes do vex me.

GTcommuter

Expected to hit 'near record highs' today, with a potential to get into the mid 80's. I was way overdressed this morning with tights and long-sleeve shirt. I'll be putting on shorts for the ride home this evening.

SaskCyclist

Excellent commute with -3C with no wind. My legs are real tight today after doing a 10K turkey trot yesterday. The bike to work was probably the best thing I could have done.

I am looking forward to a few cm of snow tonight and tomorrow.

billallbritten

Another beautiful morning in Western Kentucky. We were south of the terrible tornados that hit Henderson, KY, and Evansville, IN. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those folks. Upper 50's, high today around 70. Love that Brooks Team Pro, as comfy with slacks as padded shorts. I'll be out riding at lunch. Here's a pic of the haze rising off the fields on the way. Sony-Ericsson cell phone camera.