groovestew

It's a good thing I had already swallowed my mouthful of coffee before I read that.

groovestew

Is it considered a commute if you don't actually go to work, but the ride is peripherally related to work?

On Monday, because I don't have anything better to do on a holiday than go to my boss's house to help his kid with his computer, I hopped on my bike for the trip. What a beautiful day, and a great ride through the city's river valley. Edmonton is a real gem when it comes to its park areas. Not so much in the winter.

On Tuesday, I took a day off, but rode my commute route to downtown anyway to check out the Tour of Alberta festivities. Put a few extra kms to check out the prologue route and just poot around because I had time to kill. Another great day to be on a bike.

Today I'm working from home and didn't ride. I'm staring out the window a blue skies and no discernible wind. *sigh*

wisaunders

Have you tried those nylon straps? Whatever you do, don't change your pants.

jrickards

Related: Is it a commute if you go to work but don't do any work?

ill.clyde

If not MANY of my BF Commuting miles are fradulent!

Squeeze

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

squegeeboo

Almost got hurt on the ride home. Under 1 mile from work, crushing down a hill. About to pass a guy walking, and a pickup truck shoots past me, slams on the brakes and swerves over directly in front of me. I lock up the brakes, go all squirrelly on both wheels, manage to not eat it. End up directly along his passenger door, about 6 inches from a ditch. Start screaming at him, nothing polite. He won't roll down the window and just waves me on.

Passes me a bit later, turns out he was picking up the walker. I don't think he even realized how close he came to making me crash. Just saw a friend and decided to pick him up.

daihard 

Glad you are okay!

For me, it was a pretty eventless commute home. There were a couple of close calls, but that's nothing new.

squegeeboo

Thanks for the concern! In 7 years of commuting, tonight was a top 5 for OMG WTF moments.

Squeeze

Scary! I had to read that twice to get the picture straight. I think a lot of drivers just don't see bikers.

I would have gotten crushed myself today if I hadn't seen it coming well before I got near the girl on her cell phone who glanced ever-so-quickly in my direction before running a stop sign and turning left out of a parking lot. If I had kept going the speed I had when she glanced, I would have been right in front of her when she punched the throttle.

The weight continues to melt off me (I'm not obese at 6'2" and 210 lbs but could stand to lose 20 or so pounds more) and my endurance is getting so much better. Tonight on the way home, I passed my usual turn-off going uphill and continued for probably two more miles uphill just for the fun of it before turning around and taking a long and windy way home from there.

noglider 

I still don't have a job, but yesterday, I had an audition, and today, I had a lunch date. My small news is that the audition went great, and I got the part. The big news is that I just moved back to the city and am enjoying the heck out of riding here. It is invigorating, to say the least. It requires quick wits and tons of energy, and I have to muster them up somehow, but so far, so good.

essiemyra

The ride to work was very nice this am, though it sprinkled the last three miles to work. My clothes are drying by the heater under my desk. Anyway, I am just glad to be riding instead of taking the car like I did yesterday.

FenderTL5

Good ride, weather good - but where did all of these cars come from?
On one side street that I normally blow through all by my lonesome - I had to stop at two 4 way stops.. one had cars in every direction, with three in line on my left.
Weirdness.

dcb23

Great story!

Another early Fall nice ride in...a record four guys in the office locker room this morning, all bike commuters, yes!

arsprod 

actually, yeah... really!

jrickards

Decided that since my work clothes were at work, my lunch (uneaten from yesterday because we had a office BBQ lunch) was at work, that I could go to work backpack- and pannier-free so I took the road bike in. Not used to it so I am still a little jarred up but it was a lot of fun, decent speed too, 25.8kmh (16.0mph).

Cool though, 7C (45F) but I dressed for it. However, although it was nice to have a clear sky, that meant that there were lots of instances when I was riding right into the low-lying sun and my view was obscured. Fortunately, I was on quiet residential streets at the time so I wasn't too worried.

droy45

Glad to hear you got that part. Keep the faith you'll land something solid soon. I just started a new job too and still modifying my commute route. I made a few more changes yesterday afternoon in an effort to avoid dangerous and busy left turn intersections (I hate those). Its working out well going through residential streets but its also increasing my mileage. My knees started aching on the last stretch going home last night. I guess I'm still trying to get used to the daily increase. I drove this morning as my knees needed a rest and I had to drive for a work assignment anyway.

ill.clyde

+1!!!!!

wphamilton

Cool morning, clear skies and no one on the path except a few runners, deer, and us cyclists. Easy riding, didn't break a sweat until I rolled in. It doesn't get much better than this.

arsprod 

Great story, see what civilians miss by driving cars!

My wife and I were riding Saturday and a guy in a Honda Civic starts squeezing me over to the right. I see he's talking on the phone so know my bell, yelling, etc won't help. So I start banging on his trunk - nothing. He turns right into a McD's and I followed (my wife's hanging way back). He pulls into the drive through and I come up behind and start yelling for him to pay attention. He STILL doesn't see or hear me, he's ordering like nothing's unusual. I gave up - some people are just too stupid.

No commute today, living vicariously through you all

RidingMatthew

Riding home yesterday I pass a guy on the greenway. He is in lycra on a nice looking cyclocross with fairly smooth tires but no helmet. I am cruising along but I have panniers on both sides of my Motobecane I say to him passing on your left and move on by him. I see in my mirror that he is working to stay with me. I say lets have some fun, I drop one gear and start pulling up more on the backstroke and bye bye dude. You got passed and dropped by a guy carrying a coffee thermos, lunch bag and and a pair of pants w/ Panniers on his bike. I usually say hi to most people as I see them riding and did to him as I passed but it was kinda fun. I averaged 16.9 miles on the way home. So I guess I was really moving.
It was only about 85 degrees and less humidity too. It felt good to ride yesterday.

The rides in yesterday and this morning were nice as well. 64 degrees today, a little more humidity than yesterday, but still a nice ride in. Thought I broke my record this morning but then realized I forgot to restart my watch when I stopped to pull off my arm warmers. That was a bummer.

ill.clyde

No ride today. I've got a cold/allergy/sinus thing going on ... fighting it because the first CX race of the season is this Saturday and it's going to suck if I'm sick for it.

dramiscram

Sunny but cold morning at 9°celcius, little headwind.

groovestew

Cool at 13C/55F, light winds. Stopped to offer help to a fellow cyclist in distress (flat tire, broken pump), but he had already activated his Plan B (wife on the way) so he sent me along. Very nice ride in.

MikeM21

Beautiful morning, low 60s, no wind to speak of. Lots of traffic! Very slow on the roads to the MUP. Great ride on the MUP until I hit a bump and my Topeak MTX trunk bag/panniers fell off on the path. Put them back on and cruised up until my turn off for work.

Long line to turn into our lot as traffic on the other side was backed up. I patiently waited my turn in line and as I got to the front I slowed for a car coming the other way. Lady in an SUV (go figure) decides she HAS to go around me. Since she has to wait for the other car as well, I pulled myself right in front of her and took my turn. As she passed me on the way in I asked her (loudly) where she thought she was going. Completely ignored me of course and shot off into the parking lot. I thought about chasing her down, then thought better of it. She did have a sticker on her car for her side business, so she may be getting a call tonight to educate her on cycling/car laws and etiquette.