Denvertoad

First time posting, short time lurker, long time commuter. I thought it about time to chime in with a few words.

Started commuting back in 2002 to save money. At the time I lived two miles from work and it was ALL-downhill from the house to front door. Using greenbelt paths, alleyways and trails I could ride to work without stopping and get there faster then if by car. Moved to a new home further away, again, if I choose my route judiciously and avoid stoplights and intersections I can come within five/ten minutes of my best car times. Denver weather is accommodating, excepting a few winter snow days, and I love leaving the days stress and problems behind me on the trail. When I started cycle commuting it was on a Stumpjumper with a backpack. Today I ride a Cannondale CAD9 5 compact and still carry a backpack. Over the years I’ve saved untold money on gas, seen the best and worst of weather, and love my commute more with each passing day. Yeah, there are some days it’s harder to motivate then others. My knees don’t tolerate the cold as well as they used to, but that’s just the way it goes. Today, the pride, enjoyment, freedom, and emotive rewards far outweigh the creaky knees.

Today’s commute… a bit brisk and gusty on the way in. Saw a blue heron in the creek with the biggest bullfrog I’ve ever seen hanging from its beak. Made my morning. It’s clouding up as I write this, may get a bit damp on the way home. It’s all good though. Be well friends, blessings, peace and shiny side up. Toadster in Denver

making

It does not sound like you really need us, but hang around, we might need to ask you some stuff.

HardyWeinberg

45F and sunny, very pleasant

caloso

Today is our local Bike To Work Day. As I rolled up to the Capitol a TV cameraman started shooting me, for the B-roll I assume. I was feeling a little smartassy so I said "Hey look! It's a guy! On a bike! Riding to work! That's newsworthy...."

Doohickie

Barely 60 degrees, no wind to speak of. I went with shorts and a t-shirt. For the first mile or two it wasn't really enough, but then I got warmed up and it was just perfect. This would have been a good week for me to ride all five days, but I let off-site meetings and errands after work dissuade me, which is too bad. I did get back on the bike today though and assuming I ride tomorrow that'll be 3 out of 5 work days on the bike.

habernac

cold this morning, but dry. Lots of fog in the river valley, but the sun is blazing now. Looking forward to the ride home.

buzzman

beautiful weather but HOT! Warmest day of the year thus far and guess what?- I didn't ride! At all!

I may run an errand on my bike in a few minutes, which will mean I"ll get a mile or two in but this is the first day in ages that I haven't ridden at all.

I was working from home all day.

Feels strange not to have ridden- but just had to post anyway.

Big Ron

Took the road bike this AM and averaged 17.7mph - not too shabby for a fat old man with bad knees riding a hilly route with a lot of stop lights.
Saw a fox crossing the road (no chickens in sight though :-)

Have a fine weekend all.

tarwheel 

This week was my first 5-bagger in a while. Great weather all week. It was chilly from Mon-Weds, but very warm the past two mornings. Yesterday I had one of my fastest commutes, averaging 17 mph on my single speed. This morning I averaged 16.5 mph on my touring bike, the fastest on that particular bike. My red-light curse also seems to have lifted, at least for a day, as I only got caught by one today and it wasn't a very long wait.

rumrunn6

Fast except my handlebars got loose due to new hardware and bumps. had to stop 2/3 the way there to tighten them. a stop lasting only 3 minutes I think.

I took a lane through a busy section but was too far right to keep it and big SUV blasted through. What an idiot.

Last night a lady went clear over into incoming traffic to pass me. And another did the same this morning. All I can do is shake my head.

JoeSoMD

What a beautiful day... With gas prices creeping it's nice to be on a bike.

vtjim

Hot! Low 60s! The air is somewhat dry, too. Very comfortable, actually. Several pretty women out running. Most of them even returned my hellos.

My wife is riding in to town after work for a date (yes, with me) to begin the 3-day weekend, then we're riding home together. Life: Good.

Methods

It was good for me as well. Beautiful weather, 65 degrees, took the route through UVA campus and checked out the lovely female graduates jogging before going to work in the real world at the hospital... Pretty nice day. I cut my commute time from 25 minutes (~5-6 miles) to 21 minutes. In just 2 weeks. Working on getting a little bit faster, by the end of the summer I'd like to be at around 15-16 minutes on days I don't hit red lights.

mangosalsa

Tired morning, post hockey night (Go Pens!) recovery ride. Split the commute with the bus today, as we have a half-day and can ride all afternoon. Have a great weekend.

making

Up late last night, had intended to drive the jeep in cause I overslept. Went outside and the weather was so nice I rode my bike in anyway. I dont think anyone even noticed. Glad I rode my bike.

Pig_Chaser

Welcome to the forums!

Last nights commute was in a word "fast". I was aided by a 41kph tail wind so I was quite literally flying. I was hitting and maintaining speeds in the 50kph range.
This morning was even colder at -4C. I was actually cold yesterday and so I dressed warmer today. Too warm as it turns out because I was sweaty when I arrived at work.

kgriffioen

Went 5 for 5 this week. Temps were great all week, am's in the high 50's low 60's and pm's in the high 70's low 80's with lots of sun. Bad part was that with nice warm temps in May they are always joined by blustery southwest winds. My times were down all week but still it was a treat to be out in only a short sleeve shirt, shorts and the hi-vis vest!

Going to the inlaws for the weekend so I will have a 45 mile ride after I close up shop this afternoon. Looking forward to the nice long ride.

Doohickie

Broke in a new bike this morning. Well, not new exactly, since this particular Schwinn Varsity (that I rescued from the city dump) was built in 1973. I've started calling it The Great Pumpkin I put a pair of Wald baskets on the back, and some lights, and it's ready to go. The bike is perfectly functional, but kind of scary to ride. I'm quite sure I got over 30 mph coming down a hill; that was fun.

duckbill

Temperatures back down closer to normal for this time of year so after walking outside in just a jersey / shorts, I went back inside and put on another layer. Overcast with a head wind and 12 degrees C. Clouding over means I my get wet going home. To the cyclist stopped on Krug talking on a cell phone, sorry I didn't stop to check on your situation but I was running a bit late. I hope you were just answering your phone.

harpdog

50F and headwind - but very pleasant. Saw another bike commuter, which is rare at my 5am ride. Also saw someone on a slow ride in high gear - I think she was aiming for exercise, but I would have a different approach - oh well.

6 day work week this time - tomorrow will make 4 for 6 days.

making

knees are sooo overrated.

HardyWeinberg

50F and sunny. Too warm for jacket over t-shirt. Nobody's here at work.

AD-SLE

Well, I used to live on this forum when I lived in Memphis and commuted 10 miles each way every day, year round. I was such an adict of the daily ride to and from work that when I moved to NH I bought a house close enough so I could ride my bike......

Long story short, roads narrow and crumbling in NH. Winter...no bikes when the snow banks are 5 feet high. Job was a complete stress out turn around that did not happen and I got laid off after one year of killing myself. Replacement job now 40 miles from home. Same stress out fix up with the added fun of managing mfg which is 3 shifts! Work never stops.....

But, TODAY! I took control and parked my car 9 miles away and rode my heavy commuter bike the rest of the way. https://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=51809 Wimpy by most standards but it was great to get back on a bike.

Excitement for the ride....had one wide load truck with steamroller hanging over the edge of the trailer go by...swung out around me only to have another car pop over the curved hill causing the truck to yank back into my path. Good news, he had just past me. If I had seen what was about to happen I would have been in a panic. It all just happened so fast that it was over before I could process it. Afterwards....it just shook my head about commuting on NH roads. For whatever reason big trucks are always on the tiny curvey back roads. I noted two comming in the opposite direction for a total of 3 wide load earth moving equpment trailers. What's with that?

Otherwise, it was an uneventful ride with some good hills. If you check my map and see the summary you will see it is an uphill ride going home with the last 4 miles being 600 ft of ascent....give me some whine with my cheese!

Wonder who has the biggest commute ascent? My NH partial commute is 830 ft. My Memphis commute was 325 but that is the aggregate of a bunch of little ups and downs.

rhm

Just before I get to my office I ride near an open air concert space in Central Park. This was at about 7:30 this morning. Big police presence, and a loud sound that sounded like... well, it sounded like live music... a lot like Green Day, not to put too fine a point on it. I asked a policeman what was up, and he replied "Green Day." On closer inspection, I could have walked right in and watched the sound check, but I didn't have a lock for my bike... silly me.

I was going to post this in the "strangest thing you ever saw on your commute" thread, but I didn't see it, only heard it.

Still... cool, huh?

Doohickie

There's a TV in our break room and yeah, one of the morning shows (Good Morning America maybe) had some live band on today, and it looked like maybe Central Park. As to who it was, I have no clue.