pdlamb

Nice ride this morning after the storm blew itself out last night.


Half a mile from the house, the wind had blown an old, big tree over the street. It was supported by four utility wires: the trunk up top, and three branches lower down. I was tempted to stay and wait for the work crew to show up and cut it down, but headed on in to work (gotta love grid streets!). Seems to me if you cut off any one branch or trunk, you'd risk loading the remaining wires up to the point they might break. I'll have to check the clocks in the house when I get home . . .


Oh, yes, about the wind. I was riding across a bunch of beautiful white petals on the last hill before I got to work. Then I saw some of those white petals still attached to a twig, with locust leaves on it. I sure hope I didn't pick up any thorns!

HardyWeinberg

40F, blinding sun

noglider 

Oh, another thing I saw this morning was a young-ish guy on a very old Raleigh. The frame was the Tourist, i.e. that ancient model made for 28" wheels. The North Road handlebars were in the "drop" orientation, so I want to call them South Road handlebars. The bike had a drum brake front hub and a drum brake and three-speed rear hub. He had rear panniers on the bike. And he was going like a bat out of hell. I trailed him for a while without drafting him, and then I let him get away. With all that weight and wind resistance, he was putting out a lot more power than I was, but I just didn't want to put in the effort required to keep up with him. He was wearing tights, and his legs looked, well, amazing.

no motor?

The perpetual headwind is still here, but the weather has improved enough to where I should be back to riding to work again. Yeah!

surak

Amazing day, sunny and nearly 60F. Of course I had a pinch flat 6 miles in when I did a very awkward manual over a curb around a car blocking a ramp on the stretch of sidewalk right before the bridge trail. Then I punctured my spare tube with a tire lever because I thought I could seat the tire with my bare hands and didn't have my tire bead jack (I bought the jack when I couldn't seat the tire before, but that was prior to learning that it was supposedly easier to seat the tire into the center channel, which I discovered it wasn't).

Luckily I was only two blocks away from an express bus stop, and it was still a gorgeous day for just walking alongside my bike.

essiemyra

Another nice uneventful commute in this am with the temp at 37 f degrees and blue and pink skies. I was able to extend the ride again this morning. I am at 8.8 miles for the am ride I would like to make it an even 10. I will continue to explore my world.

Tundra_Man 

I just was looking at my spreadsheet after riding to work and noticed that I passed 1,000 commuting miles for 2018 on my way home yesterday. Three days later than I reached the same milestone last year.

This morning was overcast, but an incredible 46°F. This was the warmest morning we've had since about October. I didn't know what to do with myself. I wore shorts because I could.

It's supposed to start raining later this morning. I have to ride to a client's office this afternoon, so I'll likely get wet before I finish my projected 21 miles for today. But that's OK, because it's not snowing.

pdlamb

I waited out the rain last night, but the road spray was enough to dampen my shoes, even around the fenders. I need to put a fender extension on the front of that bike.


Dull, gray, overcast morning ride. Not quite warm enough for the short sleeves I was wearing.


I got curious and checked out the fallen tree from yesterday. The city and/or utilities left a 10' trunk attached to the root ball holding the sidewalk up at a strange angle. They did move the utility lines. I can't help but wonder if that was before or after they cut a few branches and the whole thing came down.

noglider 

I forgot my keys today! I couldn't lock my bike. I brought it into the building and into the freight elevator which only goes up to 11. I carried it up to 12. My cow-orker has a spare key to my office. There is no one there to tell me I can't bring it in. I wonder how many times I can bring it in without getting in trouble.

Oh jeez, I just found my keys in my backpack where I don't normally keep them. The question of the bike in the building remains. They say it's easier to get forgiveness than to get permission.

wphamilton

My wife tried to tempt me to drive today, since she has the day off from her part-time job. Still raining, creek flooded ... I'm not sure why it was all that different from the last 500 or 600 commutes, but I was actually tempted for a moment. But then I remembered that traffic is worse in worse weather, and that I really dislike driving in it, so I gave it a pass.

groovestew

Hey everyone, I'm back, first ride since October. I feel old. Rode my heavy bike with fenders and platform pedals. Got a late start because I made the decision to ride just this morning and had nothing prepared. Still managed to be the first in the office. Anyway, it's a beautiful day...I think we went straight from winter to summer here in Edmonton.

surak

Fixed my flat properly last night (as in, without puncturing the new tube), so it felt great to be pedaling again. Mostly sunny and upper 50s to 60F this morning. I busted out the sun sleeves I bought on clearance over the winter for the first time. It'll be around 68F in the evening.

HardyWeinberg

Worked at home today so no commute; but I did find time between pushing the kids out the door and my 1st appointment to do my usual 24 mile roundtrip in one fell swoop, just w/o stopping at the office... 40F and blinding sun. 70F right now!!

KCBikeCommuter

It was nice having 2 sunny days in the 70's (Mon-Tues) for commuting this week. It's raining today, but it still looks like 4 out of the 5 work-week days are going to be awesome. This may be the best week we've had in 5 months!!!

Tundra_Man 

I woke this morning to a loud "bang." At first I thought my son was up early doing something, so I didn't pay it any attention. When I walked out the garage door I saw a good sized pheasant laying in front of the living room window. He was still alive, but still stunned. I hope he survives, but he wasn't looking too good and I have a feeling when I get home from work I'll have to dispose of a dead pheasant. Second bird that window will have killed this week.

34F this morning, but similar to Monday the sun was out and the headwind was light. I got out the door a few minutes early, so I tacked on an extra mile just for the fun of it.

I rode my fixed gear again today. As I was riding up to the building I unclipped, but then wasn't paying attention and managed to get my left angle caught between the pedal and the chainstay. Suddenly I felt a bolt of pain and the bike started skidding. At first I was worried that I'd either really damaged my ankle, or bent the chainstay or even worse, both. To my amazement, once I walked around for a few minutes my ankle felt fine, and my chainstay only needed some black marks left from my shoe to be rubbed off.

While the bike was hanging from the wall rack and I was cleaning the chainstay, I went around and wiped down the rest of it to remove the little splatters of mud and dirt that quickly collect after a couple of rides. I had completely detailed the bike over the winter so it's still in that "I don't want any dirt on it" stage.

Then I noticed my chain was a little loose so I pulled out my wrench and did a little adjustment. I learned that the kind of wall rack where the bike is suspended by the rear wheel really works well to tighten a fixed gear chain. I just loosened the axle bolts slightly and the weight of the bike pulled the chain tight. Then I just tightened them up again.

All that and I still walked into the office a few minutes early.

noglider 

Heavy rain today, so I used my first world privilege and rode the subway.

I suspect everyone here in the Commuting section commutes by bike out of choice, i.e. it's not because it's all we can afford.

wphamilton

Speaking for myself, it hasn't always been the case that it was strictly by choice. Necessity became habit, which was the genesis of unexpected benefits, which engendered the choice. I'm not a fanatic about it either, but I seldom have a strong enough reason to not commute by bike any more.

Today was another all-streets day since the creek is still almost 3 feet above the banks, which would be almost hip deep in places along the path. I don't really mind because I enjoy the smoother road and the straight-line speeds, but I'm missing the early morning peacefulness of the Greenway.

arsprod 

Day 3 in a row of Spring-like weather, 50F this morning. I heard the forecast is for "normal" temps... whatever that is

pdlamb

I waited out the shower last night, only to get caught halfway home by yet another dark cloud with hard rain. That only lasted 4 miles, so the last mile home it had stopped raining.


This morning was a dark overcast (four days in a row now, what is this, the midwest!?) and though it wasn't raining, there were little droplets of water still suspended in the air for me to run into.


Blergh!

HardyWeinberg

55F, blinding sun

RidingMatthew

I have driven every day this week. It has rained everyday this week. I sorta see some sun peeking out here and there but still mostly cloudy. I have worn out rear derailleur pulleys and have been limping along until the new ones come in... I really don't want to wash the lube out because the squeaking drives me crazy. So I have driven and will probably drive the entire week. I will not make my mileage goal for april either. kinda bummed

joeyduck

I hate when I do that. I was searching my house for my lunch bag the last two days. I found it this morning. In my office, arghh.

Ahywho, riding has been fine, the weather has finally made the final turn towards summer I think. I need to tighten my rear hub on one of my bikes and get a new thumb screw on the rear derailleur; my other bike need the trailer hitch repaired and the cables are in need of adjustment.

Otherwise, I have been craving more rides but I am not sure how long I will have until my surgery happens. I am awaiting a surgery date, essentially any day before the end of June.

My daughter scared us the other week, she went ripping on the push bike down the hill. She crashed into the back of a parked golf cart, luckily she veered and didn't hurt herself,=; just scared herself, the guy driving, and my poor wife was really upset.

noglider 

Good luck, @joeyduck.

ptempel

I did the same albeit NJ Transit and 2/3 subway train in my case. I ride by choice. Simple reason is that I would never get bike time if I didn't do it on the weekday commute. Sad but true. But I also leave the weekend to spend with the family so there's also that priority.

noglider 

I gotta say, I'm draggingly tired today, from lack of riding.

If you have small kids, I urge you to figure out how to ride (and do other soul work) on weekends. I regret that I didn't do a great job when my kids were little.