caloso

Nice this morning, but OMG will it be hot on the way home tonight! Summertime in Sacramento (City motto: "But it's a dry heat.")

Kodama

Nice ride in this mornign, big fluffy clouds, reasonable warm, and a light wind that blew from all directions (so it wasn't that bad) My legs felt a bit of the monday morning blues on the hills, but all in all a nice ride in.

bikeman

I finally completed my new commute after changing jobs in November. My old commute of 10 years was 5 miles of very quiet suburban side streets. My new commute is MUCH different. Longer, more climbing, more traffic, more speeding, etc. I was a little hesitant to tell the truth. I'd been driving a lot to work simply because it was cold, wet and a simply miserable winter/spring in Ohio. I drove and re-drove the route many times at different times of the morning to get a feel for the traffice flow and patterns. Well last Thursday I did the commute to work (partly because of my car being in the shop). The ride "to work" was great and easier than I thought it would be. I ended up getting a ride from a co-worker to the car repair shop so didn't end up riding home at rush hour.

Today was chilly, but sunny and I thought I'd do the whole ride. Morning "to work" went well and I made it in 1 hour 15 minutes for a distance of an estimated 16 miles. Lots of intersections, cars going 35-50 on two lane roads, but I felt safe.

At 5:00 it was time to venture home. How different it was. Tons of cars all "hell-bent" on going somewhere is a big dam_ hurry, although overall despite the speeding and road rage (against other drivers - not me), it went well. Mixing it up at a major intersection with three lanes (two turning right and left and me in the middle going straight) was "interesting" to say the least. I had to negotiate a large traffic circle with 7 roads coming and going into that hub and that was my only real confrontation. As I made my way around the loop, I saw a woman coming real fast up to her stop sign. I slowed, gave her a direct eye contact and she waited. "Good" I thought. I heard a horn beep behind me, thinking it was drivers getting on each other about pulling up in traffic. But noooooo! It was a woman in an Audi A4 on by a**. Guess I wasn't moving fast enough for her. As I made my exit out of the traffic loop and onto the straight, I suddenly was completely shocked to see this Audi about one foot from my left hip and coming at me to push me into the curbing. In over 10 years of commuting I've never had this happen. It was very obvious what she was up to. "I'll show him that freak on a bike that is holding me up from my oh so important drive home" There was not other traffic on the road and plent of room for her to go around me. I yelled at her partly in fear and partly in rage "Hey watch out you A**hole, what's your f***** problem". She pulled out before she nailed me and kept on driving. I didn't get her tag number. But you know what?? If she is a regular. I'll see her again. It was too hilly to chase her down so I just tried to not think about it and headed home. Unbelievable!!!!!! What is going on in the mind of a person, who is obviously wealthy, educated (probably) and a licensed driver? I'd love to have stopped her and asked (nicely of course), just what she thought she was doing. I'll guess I'll never understand.

I will not be deterred. I plan on riding on Friday again (plans during the week prohibit Tuesday, Wed, Thurs.) I'll have my eyes open for more jerks. I'm considering having a shirt printed up that says something like...: "Hit me and I'll own you and everything you love, jerk".

All for now. I will say that it is nice to commute again.

bikeman

Inkwolf

Yow! Scary ride home, bikeman! Be careful out there...

Chris L

Overcast, "winter" morning - that means temperatures in the low-mid 20's Celcuis (I kid you not). What was the deal with all those buses this morning. I reckon at one stage I must have passed four of them in just 5km. That probably means nobody else will get a bus here all day!

antonius

Today is the first day of Bike Month and I plan on cycling to work as much as possible this month. As my commute is 52 km round trip, I haven't worked up to 4 or 5 days per week yet. Not as young as I used to be. But my goal this week is to cycle in every day. Especially with this week's forecast calling for sunshine every day. And temps reaching 29 C by Friday.

This morning left at 6:30, the sun was up, the wind was blowing in from the west northwest, very nice tailwind. Made it to work in one hour. Doing mostly 32 km/hr with relative ease. Felt awesome.

Much warmer on the way home, slight headwind, not too bad, was able to get up to 28 to 30 km/hr for some stretches.

Within less than 1 km from home, nearly encountered a nearly full cola cup with lid and straw that was thrown at me from a car passing by. Caught up to the car, slowed up by a bus, and gave the passenger a blast of words, teenager, who gave the look "like what's the big deal". I gave him a few more words. The car carried on past me. As I was nearing the intersection to make my right turn to home, I merged into the right turn lane from the bike lane (the bike lane ends and then either go into the through lane or enter the right turn lane) and a different vehicle begins to merge from my left and begins to force me off the road. I recall staring down at the front bumper inches from my left leg and the driver continued not allowing me to carry on. I swerved to not get under the front wheel and pulled in behind and nearly slammed into the rear bumper as the driver came to a sudden stop as there was the bus in front, which stopped at the red light and was also making a right turn. I pulled to the driver's side and hit the rear window and pulled up to the driver's window. It was slightly open and I gave the driver a few more words. She seemed to not care what she was doing.

I continued on, made my hand signal to turn right and started to make my right turn, and passed the first car of teens, the ones who threw the cup at me, and gave the passenger a little more talking to. He responds with..."It didn't hit you, so what's the big deal?" I responded with "Well, that's a stupid answer." And a few more choice words. As if missing me made it not so bad. As I carried on home, fuming, and thought, well if that cup had hit my front wheel, what would've happened? Nothing? Stupid nit.

So, my whole commute was great up until the last two minutes. I was annoyed at losing my cool, but not as annoyed as I used to be. I just thought how close I was to two dangerous moves by people in their cars. Trouble is, as I'm trying to get a few words out, attempting to do so in a nice manner, I'm trying to catch my breath. And I'm huffing and puffing and the driver is shrugging me off. And then I blow my chance at a learning opportunity. And say several choice words as I'm dumbfounded to see their stupified looks and their, so what's?

Just like Bikeman says, I'll never understand.

Will be another great day tomorrow. So, here's happy commuting. On the bike.

mrfix

beautiful sunny day, rode the bridgestone, took the long way into work,

Szpirit

A lovely ride in to work. Slightly cool and cloudy. Rain in the forecast again for the rest of the week so no commuting for me. Used one of my new panniers. What a pleasure to just hook and unhook rather than lashing down my backpack with bungee cords. Can't believe how much weight I carry in my bag. Good practice for, hopefully, a tour some day.

mjw16

Great ride this morning. Fairly clear with temps in the mid 50's. I felt a little better than yesterday but still decided to spin most of the way in, giving my legs a rest. I picked it up a little as I crossed a windy 14th street bridge and started to encounter other riders (the most I've seen, as I'm on the trail pretty early). It was cool, 3-5 of us zipping into the city and waiting for green lights, all branching off and going in seperate directions. Looks like rain will be rolling in this afternoon (big surprise) making for a wet ride home.

Ed Holland

Hi Folks,

Antonius - Thats a real bummer to end your daily ride. Sometimes these thigs happen, and others do not think their actions were "a big deal". It is a case of them not understanding the vulnerablity of a cyclist whilst sat comfortably in a car. It is hard not to be infuriated.

My commutes are excellent at the moment. The new route is much more of a ride, and is pushing me more despite the slight (about 0.5 mile) shorter distance. Two things seem to help. Firstly the ride is much less interrupted by traffic lights and junctions, allowing me to set a continuous pace with no rest stops. Secondly there is a bit of hill to give a good helping of extra required effort. Average speed is beginning to increase already, but I have yet to establish benchmark figures. I'm hoping for somewhere around 19mph or better.... It is also a very attractive ride. Perhaps I'll be able to post some pictures soon.

Cheers,

Ed

pinerider

Nice ride in this morning, 25 minutes for the 7.5 mile (12 km) trip for 18 mph average. Been pushing it a bit the last week or so, since I checked the scales - looks like I've found about 10 of the 15 pounds I lost last year! Last year was biking + sensible eating, this year has been biking + eat like a pig.

chewa

The river was like a millpond. No wind, great ride in.

Mine'sAPint

Perfect weather this morning here in the Seattle area. Must be 60 right about now going up to mid 70s later in the day, the forecast called for "Abundant Sunshine" which just sounds fantastic to me . It's supposed to be like this all week, with highs getting up into the 80s later. Just beautiful.

tchazzard

Warm but strong head wind this morning. The wind has picked up significantly, but it will be a tail wind, so looking for a very quick ride home. Temps are hovering around 70 F.

Paul L.

Lets see, I pushed really hard, saw another bike commuter all decked out and thought I would pass him easily, iImagine my surprise when he sped up! Well, I was determined to stay at the same speed, I may not catch him but I wouldn't let him get further ahead! I matched speed with him at around 28 mph. We held that for a mile and he made a right turn (which I was glad he did as 28 was a tad for me but made for a good interval). So I rested, but then came across a police closure of the street I normally use as there was a dead person lying on the side of the road (glad I didn't get up an hour earlier! That would stink to be first person on the scene). So I backtracked and rode an extra mile. All in all it was a pretty wierd commute, I never see commuters, and thankfully never see the other oddity either.

Kodama

Great morning today, not a cloud in the sky. Wind blowing all around again, but mostly from behind and the side. Lots of bikers out, may need to mix up my time a bit. Last night riding home was out of control. Must. get. off. trail.

Jean Beetham Smith 

Cool this morning in just shorts & a Coolmax Tee, but sunny, such a pleasant change. Roads were finally dry so I could take my road bike, only the third time this spring. It had clouded some this evening, but it was still nice. A great day to appreciate my low stress, low traffic route.

antonius

That's right, Ed, yesterday's ride ended with a bummer.

But I forgot to mention that half way on my ride home yesterday, I was passed by two young ladies in a white VW Golf convertible. The young lady in the driver's seat turned, smiling and waving and the young lady in the passenger seat leaning a bit out over the door was waving and yelling...HI DAD. Yes, my oldest daughter. Can you imagine her saying, as they approached from behind and finally notice that the cyclist up ahead was her dad, in those spandex shorts...Oh my God, its my Dad. Have'nt seen her in two days and she still lives at home. Hmmm.

Anyways, another great ride today. Feel real good afterwards. Sunny and warm in the morning, headwind on the way home. Nice workout.

Sailguy

I had a great ride in this morning. This eve had very strong headwinds. It was quite a bit of work, but I was looking forward to the second half of the ride where I should have had tailwinds. Noooo.... The mountains blocked the wind, and had it scoop around, so I had a slight headwind the rest of the way home.

The weather couldn't be beat today!

Inkwolf

Totally uneventful ride, though pleasant weather.

Chris L

A nice enough ride in this morning. Still in short sleeves despite the onset of "winter". Had a crap day at work, so I rode home like a demon. I needed a sticker for my helmet that said "Caution: Rider doesn't give a s**t anymore". Cranked up one hell of a pace though. Didn't even slow down for the usual rednecks careering out of control down the wrong side of the road in Surfers Paradise. I felt better after that!

mrfix

I started early, rained all the way to work, the air was warm so I just took my time, my LL bean gore-tex kept me dry. the forcast is rain for the day so I'll be doing it again on the way home. Come on summer, where are you.

brennser

with apologies to the late Patrick Kavanagh

"O stony grey skies of Washington,

you burgled my bank of Spring"

yet another atrocious day here in DC - with steady rain as I biked in - hard to believe its June 4

Ed Holland

Hi Folks,
Good ride in today, despite feeling really tired and sluggish at the start. Unfortunately my bike computer locked up and was reading zero mph all the way. Luckily this was fixed without needing to take out the battery and reset everything... odd though.

Can't wait for the ride home,

Cheers,

Ed

SteveE

I'm doing only 3 roundtrips this week -- Tues. PM, Wed., Thurs., Fri. AM). My legs were shot on Monday after 56 miles on Saturday and 111 miles for the Sequoia Century on Sunday (riding to the start added an extra 10 miles).

Brought my clothing to the office on Tues. and biked home. Weather was nice with the usual breezes off the bay which make the first 1/3 of the ride harder than I'd like. Once I make the turn southward I get a tailwind but I still have to zig-zag from northeast to southwest to get home.

The ride in this morning was great. Overcast and cool at the start with the clouds dissipating as I approached the office.

SteveE