Darth Lefty 

Nothing of note besides a small new grass fire burn scar between MUP and Folsom Blvd near 50.

My "no special effort" pace on the plus bike is about the same speed as my "try hard" pace was on the trike.

groovestew

I don't want to start an argument here or diss recumbents...I find this comment interesting. A number of years ago, I went on a casual, friendly group ride, and one rider had a trike (tadpole) equipped with a motor, but he said he wouldn't need it because he would be so much faster than the rest of us anyway. Made all these claims about how the recumbent posture gave him so much more power, and it was so much more aerodynamic. He fell behind pretty quick, turned around, and went home. Maybe it wasn't such a friendly ride. Anyway, it's interesting that you make the exact opposite claim.

I'm back after a week's vacation. Cool and humid this morning. I didn't know it was possible to sweat that much in 12C/54F temps.

Darth Lefty 

I am certain that a recumbent can be quick. But my trike wasn't one of those. It had small wheels with tough tires, posture about like an Adirondack chair, weighed plenty, might have had steering out of alignment, and it was a trike not a bike. If you wanted to compare it to a regular bike, a Bike Friday Haul-A-Day might be about right.

Darth Lefty 

I took an extended bike ride after work. I need to start putting my bike shorts in my bike bag. My morning ride is not really a far enough to need them, but if I am going to do 10 or 15 miles after work, I really should have them.

beachball42

Nice ride in this morning but I'm realizing quickly that my little light I have isn't going to work as it get's darker in the morning. It does enough for people to see me but not powerful enough for me to see well enough so looks like I have a new purchase to make later today if I want to keep riding. This wasn't an issue last year as my riding season was cut short due to road construction but that's not an issue now.

HQQKEM

Forgot my socks and my bike lock.

pdlamb

Nice early morning ride, felt like another recovery ride (I needed one of those). Cool but overcast. How come the light in all those fancy pictures of famous places looks golden, but overcast light here looks gray?


@HQQKEM, I can see forgetting the bike lock (although I leave mine locked to the rack at work), but how'd you get out without noticing no socks?

Tundra_Man 

I'm guessing he forgot to pack dress socks with his work clothes. Been there.

pdlamb

Ah. Yeah. Is the feeling everyone's staring at your athletic socks all day worse than walking around in damp sweaty socks?

HQQKEM

mandates dress socks. I wore the water sandals sans socks for the ride in. Could have sworn that I stuffed a sock roll into the other dress shoe last night. The belt was in the other shoe. Wife works from home and came to the rescue. Bike is secure and feet are now comfy.

groovestew

Nice and sunny, still a bit on the cool side.

Darth Lefty 

My wife is having Lasic this morning, so I am watching the kids in the park while they shoot her eyeballs. I’ll be going in to work later.

Here in the park is a Go Go Thomas the tank engine 12” kids bike. It’s sort of horrifying. The top tube is the boiler and the head badge is his dead gray face

mgw4jc

Funny story. Seems he would have at least engaged the motor. Three wheels and a motor have to add to the weight of that ride too. Evidently enough to negate the power and aerodynamics. And really the three wheels alone give additional rolling friction and width enough to negate the aerodynamics I would guess.

I used to ride with a guy who sometimes rode his 2 wheel recumbent. He had no problem keeping up with regular roadies, even coasting down hills faster.

No bike commute for me again today. Same kid taxi issue. Hope to ride tomorrow though.

mgw4jc

I rode my bike to work for the first time this week. Yay! Comfortable temps.

I was going to leave at 6 and get to work early, but realized it isn't really light outside then and my bike lights were not charged. So I walked the dog for about 20 minutes instead and took my time getting ready. And found my lights so that I could charge them up.

Phil_gretz

I finally had the maiden ride on the carbon superbike that I've been building over the past several months. I chose a mid-week commute day, since I can get two short 9-mile rides and sort out any mechanical issues between rides. All parts were sourced directly from China, with an open mold frame. Shimano R8000 mechanical throughout, rim brakes and DT Swiss 240 hubs laced to high profile carbon rims.

And the verdict? Well, the bike was swift and climbed well. I felt some lateral flex in the front wheel on a few descending hard turns, but the bike tracked my chosen line well. I'd say that this has been a success.

Oh, and the engine sucks...

pdlamb

You need to talk to Darth Lefty about Thomas.

Nice ride in again today. Rain that was threatening yesterday hit about 10:00 last night and was gone long before dawn, so another lightly overcast, cool morning. Another startling occurrence this morning: nearing the top of the hill near work, over on the shoulder, the pickup driver waited for me to crest the hill and take the lane so I could make the left, while he went straight. These outbreaks of politeness are delightful; I'll be so disappointed if I get used to them.

groovestew

Foggy and chilly. As soon as I hit the road, I wished I had gloves and long sleeves. When I got to work, I noticed some water droplets clinging to arm hairs (from the damp air, not sweat).

It's still July, right?

mgw4jc

Good ride in this first day of August. Tomorrow morning I have an early airport run and won't be driving to work. Then next week I am off and won't be going to work. So my month will have a slow start but should then get back to normal.

July ended up being my highest mileage month this year with 529 total commuting miles.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 780:

Beautiful morning. I took the road bike the 8 miles to the office and managed to arrive in a hair under 32 minutes. That's pretty fast for an old fat guy with a bionic heart.

Riding 9 miles to a client location over the lunch hour. Brought my dad's old transistor radio with me so while I ride I can catch part of the Twins@Marlins baseball game that starts at noon. Daytime baseball games are decidedly inconvenient for those of us in the work force.

Yesterday on a local cycling Facebook group that I'm active in, another rider called me the "Tony Hawk of Sioux Falls bicycle commuting." That made me laugh.

Darth Lefty 

At least you’re not the Tony the tiger.

Last night my sticky link made itself a nuisance in every gear. I had forgotten about this, even though I posted about it last winter before my surgery. This morning, before anyone else got up, I pulled out a new chain that was intended for a different project, and installed it. Fixing the old chain would have entailed two more quick links, and that just seems like tempting fate. When I first shortened the chain out of the package, I made it one link longer than the chain that came off the bike, thinking that maybe someday I will put on a 46 tooth cassette. However, this made the derailer have almost no tension at all. It seems like Salsa put a chain as long as possible on it, not as short as possible like I assumed they would have. Thank you for thinking ahead and not being stingy, Salsa.

Tundra_Man 

Or Tony Little.

groovestew

Finally, some...heat? Can we call 15C/59F heat? Warmest ride in for a while, anyway. Edmonton is normally a reasonably dry city but we're pretty soggy this year. Supposed to be mighty humid for the ride home.

pdlamb

Yesterday I left late to let the third shower of the afternoon blow through. (Still made it home dry!)

So I left the house a bit late this morning, and found as bad a traffic jam as "downtown" here gets, short of a road race or parade. I haven't seen so many people staring fixedly at the taillights in front of them since the last time I was on a California freeway. Finally figured out it was the annual "biggest business in the area annual symposium."

After leaving downtown, it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Cool if humid (temperature and dewpoint were both 72F), but mostly clear with some interesting wispy cloud formations. I notice the old-timey crape myrtles were blooming, which left me wondering why all the fancy new varieties (white, purple, and bright red) bloomed early last month?

Darth Lefty 

I took BIL's road bike on the shortest route this morning. I felt like I was really flying...

...13.1 mph downhill in the morning and 12.9 mph uphill in the evening. Twenty, here I come!

beachball42

First ride this morning with my new light. What a difference it made. At its lowest setting it is 600 lumens which is what I had it on except for one small stretch of path where I used the middle setting of 1200, its max is 2400. I'm also noticing traffic is starting to pick up in the morning as our schools are starting to go back in session. My D's HS starts next Tuesday so some of the staff and teachers are starting to come in and get ready. I go right by the HS on my morning route so may need to alter my route some for a few weeks.