RidingMatthew

First ride this week. Rain and I hurt m ribcage over the weekd.. My ribcage did not hurt too bad today on the ride. I did some calculations and if I take the long way home I can make it to 4000 miles for the year.

GovernorSilver

Beautiful morning commute. Perfect weather, riding past monuments and through National Mall, etc.

Evening commute was more of a cheat - rode to one of the Smithsonian museums for an evening concert, then rode to the Metro station.

Darth Lefty 

Weird thing on the way home. A chalk body outline on the pedestrian overpass over US 50. Done in sidewalk chalk or something, a joke? graffiti? protest?

bendoza

not bad. night time commutes are pretty nice. started to rain once i got home.

essiemyra

This morning's commute was very nice and uneventful. It was a warm 47f degrees under clear starry skies. Though it is Friday!! YaY!! I am thinking of leaving early today and taking a long ride home.

dcb23

50F/10C, slight breeze.

Lesson learned: pay attention to the red warning light on my Volt 300. I lost my headlamp about 5 miles in of my 11 mile inbound commute. On a windy, tree-lined path this was kinda scary...even rolled off into the grass a couple of times.

On the pokus side, last night on the ride home there was a bike light give away on the trail.

arsprod 

Ditto for my headlight - started to dim in the first couple miles of my 11 mile commute. Made me ride a lot faster - luckily there was enough sunlight to see when it finally died. 42F, dry, and most importantly the winds have died down

Allycat24

Today was so gorgeous that I'm planning to extend my bike commuting at least one more week. Normally, I stop biking to work when the time changes BUT the weather is supposed to be so nice next week that I plan to FINALLY mount the strong headlight on my bike. So, I may just get over this fear of the dark issue afterall.

RidingMatthew

Yesterday I was riding home and the rear tire felt low. I looked down and it was squishing out more than it should. I was going to ride extra but low air pressure made the gravel trail around the lake horrible. Nevermind the stupid gnats. I tried to pump it up with my old MTB bike pump. It is ineffective for pumping up road tires or pretty much anything.

@essiemyra it was 48F here in NC this morning and fairly clear. I wish that I could leave work early today and riding the long way home. I had a great ride in this morning. I did a good job on picking out the right things to wear for the ride and comfortable the whole way.

@arsprod I actually used my headlight on the steady beam above the steady pulse setting this morning. It really puts a lot of light on the road and is not as distracting with the flash while riding in the dark.

I made it *****4009***** miles for the year and that is not including the miles home tonight!

caloso

Didn't think I would need my gloves this morning. But I was wrong. Oh well, I've had cold hands before and will surely again. Otherwise comfortably dressed with windvest, armwarmers, and leg warmers. Really a beautiful day here in NorCal. (But we do need rain!)

velocity

Wind and heavy rain but I was 100 percent commute rate for the last 8 months.

garzanium

Well..first commute to work went well on the way...made it safe and quick.

On my way back home,my handlebar pivoted all the way forward..so I couldn't safely steer. Walked to a bike store a few blocks away to borrow an Allen.left my set in a different bag..

Fixed that, shop also inflated my rear tire..drove away and my tire exploded...lol

I called my wife to pick me up.

Darth Lefty 

@garzanium growing pains! Don't let it get you down. Was it an old tire? That's a nice hybrid but not a new one.

Rain here today means wet ground tomorrow means install fenders tonight.

Phil_gretz

Well, the bike I had planned to ride was flat in front, so I grabbed the normal commuter, shuffled gear around and headed in. I guess that the additional light is pleasant upon arrival, but it'll be dusky as I get home. My wife will only be able to meet me to ride part way home for a few days longer, as cold and darkness will keep her away. I'm grieving that a bit, as I really enjoyed those ride home sessions, where she could share my world. Oh well...

mgw4jc

I took off work Friday for my daughter's birthday. Today I wimped out due to rain. It is just steady enough that I don't feel it is worth it. On the plus side, instead of having my wife bring me in, I took the car. But this means I'll have to take off early to get my son to his gymnastics practice.

Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow. So far I'm on track for 5,000 commute miles for the year, but can't let up now.

baron von trail 

What a difference an hour makes. I left in the predawn gloom, but had enough natural light to see the misty fog draping the fields as I rode through the green space between my village and the next town over. By the time I reached the commuter trail, it was already daylight. It's the first time I saw the sun during my morning commute in at least a month.

The ride home should be pretty cool. I'll get out of here as the sun begins to fall. Most of my ride home will be in twilight. I anticipate about half an hour of it to be in the dark.

arsprod 

42F this morning but felt warmer because it was light - yeah I know, that's nuts! Warm up this week - works for me

SloButWide 

DST's end made more of a difference than I expected. Nice to be out of twilight for a 7 AM ride. I'll enjoy it for another month, then be back in deep twilight. Low 40's didn't clear the trail, the same half dozen school kids, 4 joggers, dog walker, and one fellow cyclist I see every morning.

wphamilton

Big Creek swelled up overnight to about two feet over the official flood level, which makes it impassible. Not knowing that it was that bad I started that way anyway. By a trick of the morning light the way up ahead looked like wet pavement but it was really under water, and when it got over my bottom bracket I gave up and turned around to take the surface streets. Traffic was heavy, slow and impatient and so was I, even taking to the sidewalk at times to pass blocks of stalled traffic.

It is still raining and the water will continue to rise for the next couple of days - and we expect more rain after that as well. It's going to be another soggy week. On the bright side I've got this year's version of my fairing bike trimmed up, and I'll add some light plastic sheeting on the open top if it really starts to get to me.

SloButWide 

If at first you don't succeed ...

skydiving is not your sport.


I had a day almost that bad my first week of commuting. Tire got mushy about halfway to work, and I realized I hadn't packed my pump or patches. Walked the bike a half mile to a Home Depot, bought a pump, and pumped up the tire enough to ride to a store where I could buy a tube and a multitool. Changed the tube, breaking the multitool in the process. Returned the multitool, rode to work, and had a story to tell. Reminded me of the saying "Judgment comes from experience; experience comes from the lack of judgment!".

Fortunately, the ride home was uneventful.

SloButWide 

How much rain is required before pontoons sound like a good idea?

wphamilton

It's tempting.

noglider 

This morning, I took Citibike to the post office and then to the subway. Total riding was 1.0 mile. I try to go every week to pick up mail for my non-profit singing ensemble.

I left my Lemond at my office on Thursday morning, and I plan to ride it home this evening.

HardyWeinberg

wet wet wet. No rain though, just lots of standing water from the weekend's deluge. Dropped off ballots on the way in.

KCBikeCommuter

I had my first major fall since I started biking seriously 6-years ago. I wasn't commuting; I was just out on a Saturday morning ride around town. The streets were still wet but it wasn't raining, so I was riding my full-fender commuter bike. The roads felt a little greasy, and I was taking it very easy around corners and round-a-bouts. However, where I fell... the road was completely flat and straight. I had just had a drink from my water bottle and was placing it back in the cage... and BAM!! Down I went. I'm not even exactly sure what I did because it happened so quickly. Not sure if I turned the handlebar a little bit while putting the bottle away, or if I hit a bump, but something sure went wrong.

The front tire shot off to the right and I went down hard on my left side. I missed my shoulder and collar bone, but have a deeply bruised or cracked rib. I cracked my helmet, but the road rash isn’t bad at all. I’m guessing this is because the roads were wet. It was a pretty good yard sale of parts and equipment lying in the road. There were bottles, lights, batteries, etc. strewn around. Luckily, there was no traffic, so I just collected my stuff and moved to the side of the road to assess health and damage. The bike was unrideable with a bent rear derailleur.

I called a friend to come get me. I’m probably off the bike for a few days at least.