dramiscram

I had the same thought, who's looking stupid now?

daihard 

That looks very formal and professional to me...

groovestew

Man, there's a lot of fast guys out there these days. Had a couple silly commuter races today (I lost) and reeled in another guy, but didn't have the legs to pass. Thermometer on my house showed the needle hovering just above freezing this morning. Cars parked outside had frosty windows. Gorgeous fog coming off the river, but you'll have to take my word for it cuz I didn't take a picture.

noglider 

groovestew reminds me: I've been riding on the Hudson River Greenway, and the crowdeder it gets, the faster I go. I don't get on it saying to myself that I'll take it fast. I just get caught up in it, keeping up at the 95th percentile. I let a few people pass me, but I pass just about everyone else. It's a very tight and crowded course in the day, so it requires very quick reflexes!

There are also lots of joggers on this course. Very fit and attractive joggers, at that. And very nice man-made and natural scenery as well. Gotta take some pictures.

jrickards

Comfortably cool 9C (48F) with little mist. Put on a lighter jacket, no long-sleeved jersey (just a short-sleeved underneath) and no tights and, with the exception of riding through a couple of misty patches, I was fine.

Yesterday afternoon's ride was in beautiful, sunny 22C (72F) weather. I decided to race it home but, because I am not a trained racer, I had to pick and choose my efforts and rode like one of my book authors rides, ease up going up hills and push on downhills and flats. Much of my ride is south and east so I had a slight headwind from the south-east and figured I had no chance at beating my previous record but I tried the author's technique and when I glanced at the clock as I turned off the highway, I noticed I was clearly ahead so I continued to push for the rest of the ride. My previous record was about 49min for the 21km (13mi) but it looked like I might be able to do it in 45 and I did, just under 45min, except when I did the math (I'm currently using my watch as my cyclocomputer is broken), I realized had done it just under 44min, an average speed of 29.2kmh (18.1mph)! Wooohooo!!! That was on my 29er (with 700cx32 tires) laden with panniers, I rode my road bike today and will see if I can beat that time although almost all of the lights were with me yesterday, I can't always count on that.

Today, I encountered a university student who was riding on the sidewalk and then, as I was about to make a right hand turn, he rode on the crosswalk in front of me. I was about to get angry and give him what for but I decided that I had plenty of time today to get angry, no need to waste anger so early in the day.

dramiscram

4° celcius and very foggy morning. little headwind.

RidingMatthew

wasn't sure if it was going to rain or not but really wanted to ride so I loaded up and rode in. VERY VERY humid but started to clear when the sun started coming up.

It was really foggy through a large portion of the ride. Water covered my glasses and I was nervous. I kept hoping my two lights front and rear were making a difference for visiblitys- sake.

ill.clyde

51 and a little light fog at times ... watched the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Probably my favorite mile of the ride

Supposedly there was a meteor that flashed overhead at some point, still trying to find out more on the news, but I never saw it.

And today I go over 300 miles commuting ... doesn't sound like much to some of you, but I'm pretty pleased. Hoping to hit 500 before I pack it in for the weather.

wphamilton

It's been raining for the last couple of days, and cool, so I've had it all to myself. I did see another rider this morning, a retiree not commuter. If the weather stays cool I think the greenway will be quiet again until next spring. Too cold around here means under 60°

The wet gave me a chance to try out my $3 wastebasket fender. It does work (yay) but not as well as a full fender. With the handy velcro strap mounting it only takes a minute to put on so off it comes this evening. I'm easily entertained with simple DIY crafty stuff I guess.

JPinWI

43 degrees and dense fog...took my glasses off and turned off my head lamp just to cut the glare. Nice ride. everything moves a little slower in the fog though. Ride ON!

groovestew

3C/37F, light breeze. Road my Bianchi today...poor thing has been neglected the last several weeks. It's a great riding bike, and I'm conscious that there may not be many more days I can ride it before the snow flies. Pretty quiet on the trails today. Legs weren't working so well - really achy with any significant effort.

jrickards

Hey, my road bike (today's steed) also is a Bianchi, a late 80s Strada LX. I don't ride it much either because it still needs some adjustment and I haven't put aside the time: rear derailleur isn't changing as well as it should and brakes should be a bit closer to the rim (in my opinion). Winter work I guess.

PatrickGSR94

Rode in this morning, nice weather, another beautiful sunrise. Dropped the %$#%$#&^$*^ chain AGAIN on an uphill, tried to shift back up and backpedal a bit, then shift back down and it dropped right off yet again. By that time I had lost all momentum and had to unclip fast to keep from falling over. I have GOT to get some kind of chain catcher or something. It's starting to get dangerous, really.

*edit* oh yeah! Bike just turned over 2,000 miles this morning, just 2 days short of the 1 year anniversary of purchasing the bike!

arsprod 

53F, clear and windless again. I think it's time to stop wearing shorts, though I didn't feel that cold

ill.clyde

Had this thought this morning too ...

daihard 

Are there any long cycling pants that you'd recommend? It's time for me to shop for a pair or two.

arsprod 

yeah, tons - but that's probably better addressed in its own thread in the commuting section. Of the two pairs of I own one is a 15 year old pair of Specializeds and the other (my winter pants) are Novara Headwind

groovestew

Mine is from the early 80's in Celeste - very classic Bianchi look. It didn't get a lot of riding earlier this year because I destroyed the back wheel, and then after that got fixed, the freewheel went haywire. Thankfully, I live in the same city as @Sixty Fiver (from whom I bought the bike in the first place) and he's always happy to welcome it back into his shop to fix the things I broke. It's riding better than ever now, with new hand-built wheels and refreshed drive train.

These past couple months, the Bianchi hasn't been ridden much because I picked up a new fixed gear road bike this summer, and suddenly I had two fair-weather bikes to choose from, and largely due to the novelty of the thing, I've been opting for the fixie most days. The Bianchi is definitely the superior bike, but the fixie has been such a blast to ride.

daihard 

Thanks! I will check out the Novara pants at the local REI.

essiemyra

I was able to commute by bike today, it has been a few weeks and I miss it. Well the ride in was very nice, uneventful ride. The temp was not bad at 53 f degrees when I rode through town. Hopefully life will settle down after this coming up Monday and I will be able to commute by bike more consistently again.

tarwheel 

Took a rest day yesterday, so my legs were fresh this morning. However, I just rode at a moderate pace because it was such a beautiful morning and I didn't feel like rushing the commute. Even tacked on another mile through downtown to see what's going on. My city is hosting the national bluegrass festival/awards this week, and they have blocked off all of our main street for music, food, and other events this weekend. Should be a lot of fun, and I might just ride down there after work.

I have been toying with the notion of taking off work next week and riding a solo tour of the Outer Banks. The weather is looking close to ideal except for a stiff NE wind, but wind is almost always an issue there. My main consternation is riding that far all by myself. It would be about 300+ miles and that is a long way to ride alone -- with nobody to draft behind in the wind either. I've also had a nagging saddle sore lately, and probably won't attempt such a long trip if that doesn't get better soon.

WestMass

Got excited about my road bike, so I rode it to work with my timbuk2 cycling backpack. Excited to save a little time, but got a flat so saved no time. I jinxed myself on bragging about the merits of gatorskins!!

jrickards

Comfortably cool 9C (48F) temperature for today's commute in to work, perfect weather for shorts!!! LOL

I find that, although my legs may be cool to start, they warm up pretty quickly and I'm able to ride in shorts at lower temperatures than I can go with a short-sleeved jersey. I was fine this morning with a light long-sleeved jersey over my short-sleeved jersey but a couple of Celcius degrees less, I'll need something warmer on my upper half.

I was on the paved shoulder of the highway with 2 lanes and a grassy median between me and the car that honked, going in the other direction: what was he trying to tell me? No clue. Yesterday, on the way home, a fellow, stopping before he made his right turn, rolled down his window and called out, "I know you have the right, but why do you do it?" Likely, he was referring to me biking on a busy road and obviously isn't a cyclist.

wphamilton

I reached an impromptu goal: 100 consecutive workdays commuting by bike! Small stuff I know for the truly car-free folks but it's nearly twice as many as I'd done previously and includes some pretty raunchy weather. It's kind of ironic, posting here is about the only place where folks might understand why I'm kind of proud about it - coworkers think I'm nuts to begin with and for family it's just the same old thing.

jrickards

Congrats!!!

Hey, I understand this, I've just achieved a much smaller goal, 20 consecutive workdays commuting by bike, the whole of the month of September. Yes, I know that Monday also is September but I have a meeting out of town that I have to drive to so it doesn't count (in my books).