groovestew

A little hazy this morning, could definitely smell smoke. Got away a bit earlier, so I stopped to snap a couple pictures of my bike.




This second picture overlooks a road that was designed to someday be a freeway, but a few years ago the city said, "screw it, that's too expensive" and just decided to widen it instead. This road is normally part of my commute, but I don't ride the part directly under where this picture is taken. I would jump on at the intersection past the intersection that's barely visible in the photo. That's all been torn up and redesigned, and I'm not sure there's going to be a shoulder there anymore to ride on. That said, I'm still cautiously optimistic because part of the plan for this road is a separate shared path running parallel the whole length of the road. I drove home through the construction yesterday (it was raining in the morning so I didn't ride), and I can see where the path is going. I doubt it will be finished before the snow flies, but maybe next summer?

Long weekend for me, and I think for my American friends too, right? Have a great long weekend, if that applies to you.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1727:

The last few weeks have been unusually warm, with temps most days pushing or even breaking 100°F. That's pretty unusual for South Dakota in late August/early September. Today the high is supposed to be a more reasonable 85°F with the next week's forecast looking more typical for our area. Hopefully the extreme heat has passed.

I have an afternoon of heart tests scheduled. I have to take the afternoon off and ride my bike from the office over to the hospital. One of the tests involves mild sedation, so hopefully I'll be awake enough to ride my bike home afterwards.

pdlamb

I almost felt like I rode in this morning while I was on "pause." Goofy the Garmin was, well, goofy -- no sensors registering. Did the long reboot/reset after I got to work, so maybe that'll clear up going home. Got out of the house late, so traffic was light. Mostly overcast, with thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon. Not sure I want to push "play" in that going home!

Highlight of the morning was mother pulling two tots in a wagon. The older one stared at me, then waved and called "Hi!" I responded in kind and called "good morning" to mom when she turned around and saw me.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1729:

Our heat wave has officially broke. It was actually a bit cool this morning at 48°F. I wore a sweatshirt and was still a bit chilly. The humidity being at 90% probably didn't help.

It's supposed to top out at 77°F today. That should make for a pleasant ride home.

I was supposed to do a split-commute today, riding to a client location over lunch. I had a meeting scheduled this afternoon requiring that I remain at our office. So I'm going to stay here all day. Traffic on this end of town at 5 PM is a bit hairy, so that's the downside to staying at our office all day.

cat0020

Can anyone confirm this?
Swedish Trains do not allow bikes at all on the trains. They are ok with plastic bags though!

locolobo13 

https://cykelframjandet.se/informati...wedish-trains/

Looks like some trains will, some won't unless packed in "travel" bags.

jaxy357

Full multi-modal commute this morning, as in I wasn't lazy and actually rode to the train station instead of driving (go me!). Stopped at the gym on campus and showered, got in right on time. Light sprinkle of rain as I rode the last leg to my office but nothing I can't handle. (P.S. part of my motivation to ride is that my car registration expired on Saturday and I can't get to the DMV until tomorrow). I do have to drive somewhere tonight so hopefully the police don't catch me "riding dirty".

pdlamb

Yesterday was a routine commute, until I got within a half mile of home. My state apparently issues driver's licenses to the north end of a south-bound horse, and one of them drives a large pickup. Said pickup pulled out right in front of me, stopped in the middle of the lane so the horse could check for traffic, and then proceeded 20 yards to the traffic light. After slamming on my brakes, I followed the truck, hopped on the sidewalk, and pushed the Walk light button. Normally I'd follow the traffic through, but after he was in such a hurry, I thought it only fair he sat waiting for another 35 seconds so I could cross the intersection and get out of his way. Fun little bit of passive-aggression, the cager won't ever know if it was malicious payback or just the way I normally ride.

This morning I heard the train coming as I hopped on the bike. There's a different intersection a mile into the ride where all roads are stopped for the track crossing both roads close to the light, so I hustled as much as I can with a couple panniers and got there while the train was still blocking the streets. Across two lanes, down the turn lane, left turn and I've got a clear road. And talk about timing -- the train had cleared the next street in time for all the stopped traffic to get out of my way!

I was a bit surprised to see a tree swallow near the field where I usually see bluebirds in the spring. I didn't think there were that many mosquitoes to eat in the field!

pdlamb

Beat the rain home yesterday -- not hard, since it missed us.

Only had about a mile of sunshine this morning, then a high overcast blew in. Kind of cool at 70F, I guess fall's coming.

Bike path had a dog walker this morning who, thankfully, stepped off the path to let me ride by. He was on his side, I was riding right toward a monster ragweed. When did ragweed start growing 8' high?

macattack71

A little cool, 55F this morning, went with a cheap long sleeve tech shirt. Need to evaluate my cold weather gear. Fingers also were a little cold for first half of ride. Should be in the mid to high 70's for the ride home, perfect 12 miles. The only issue is I forgot my Garmin Edge 510. Used the mapmyride app in, it wouldn't find the HR monitor, and didn't record it as a workout.
Ride home, fairly warm to start, though didn't want to be in the dark. Rear taillight ran out of juice, luckily, I also had a helmet light.

locolobo13 

Chilly this morning. Low 70s, high 60s.

pdlamb

May have been slow getting out, but the 54F my phone showed while eating breakfast was 61F on Goofy (the Garmin) when I was on the road. I was comfortable for the entire ride, though I may have been pedaling a bit more and coast less than usual.

Beautiful morning. Early fall, crisp, early leaves like sumac just thinking about turning, blue sky. Then I got to work.

macattack71

Cool morning, 57F to start, went with yellow shell PI jacket. Gamechanger for the high-speed descent on my ride to work. 85F at start of ride home, south wind directly in my face made for slower going. Need to find my UA fingered gloves, or maybe get some new padded ones.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1739:

Got up this morning and was getting ready. Opened the curtains and... wait... did I just see lightning?

Waited a few seconds and saw it again. Yep. Definitely lightning. That was weird. There was no rain in the forecast for today. Was supposed to be 85°F and sunny.

It wasn't raining yet. I hopped on the internet to look at the radar and saw a huge storm heading for the city from the west. West was the same direction I needed to head to get to the office. Checked the forecast again and it was still saying 85°F and sunny.

I had packed for the road bike. I briefly considered moving everything into my waterproof panniers and taking the hybrid bike with fenders, but I really don't like riding that bike if I don't have to. Instead, I decided to try and beat the storm to the office.

Hit the road as fast as I could. Wound up leaving the house five minutes earlier than usual. Hammered hard and rode the eight miles to the office and arrived 15 minutes earlier than normal. Did the eight miles in a hair less than 30 minutes. But most importantly I beat the rain.

Well, as it turns out I didn't have to ride so hard as it didn't start raining for another hour. But then it rained all morning. Looks like it's stopped for the day, though.

I notice now that the weather forecast has changed to 73°F and cloudy.

jaxy357

Happy International Car Free Day! I rode my bike to the train station (~3 miles) in the dark this morning and managed to drop my chain along the way. Thank goodness for the cell phone light or I'd probably still be fumbling with it on the side of a 50 mph road. Then when I got off the train at work I noticed my front tire was flat on my other bike. After two attempts on two different tire pumps, I figured out that I must have a pinch flat or something. Still managed to get to the gym to shower and get to work on time (in fact my boss was walking behind me from her parking lot) but it was an adventurous morning to say the least. I ended up leaving my bike chained up at the gym and am hoping I can get a lunchtime appointment at my local Bike shop to get it fixed. They're still moving into their new location so...fingers crossed.

groovestew

Somewhere around 5C/41F when I left the house this morning, but I dressed appropriately so I wasn’t cold at all, even with bare legs between my shorts and socks.

Early in my commute, I came to a stop at a red light. It’s a pretty long light. I waited for cross traffic to clear, then when I determined that (1) there was no danger to myself and (2) there was no way I would inconvenience anyone else, I crossed against the red. A guy stopped across the intersection from me, driving a late model heavy-duty pickup truck pulling a fancy boat, hollered out his open window, “You’re an a*****e!”, to which I hollered back, “So are you!”. No one has ever complimented me on having a quick wit.

After having some time to contemplate the incident, I concluded that (grade-school playground comeback aside) if someone is so entitled as to call me out on an infraction that affected him and anyone else in no way whatsoever, then he probably really is an a******e, and that he would probably do the same thing were he in my shoes. I’m convinced his insult was borne out of jealousy rather than a desire to remind me the rule of law.

A little while later, I was hefting my sorry carcass out of the valley, when I heard a ding!, and what appeared to be an older woman riding an e-bike cruised past me. Naturally, my first instinct was to holler, “You’re an a*****e!” at her. Just kidding. My REAL first instinct was to smugly think to myself that if I WAS an a*****e like the guy in the pickup truck, THEN my first instinct would be to hurl insults. But I’m not an a*****e… right?

I’ve spent far too much time thinking about this. On a happier note, I stopped to take the annual obligatory Edmonton’s River Valley Enshrouded in Fog photo. Enjoy! Have a great day everyone.

SkinGriz

I thought Canadians are so polite that they wait till you’re gone to talk **** about you.
At least A*****e guy was honest about his feelings.

I have a carpool dummy. A do-gooder friend of mine asked how the rest of the freeway would feel about it.
I don’t care, but I explained they should actually be happy about it and told him to think about why.
“Because there is one less car adding to congestion on their side of the freeway?”
”Yep, that’s how they should see it.”

BTW, if you were an *******, you would have crossed walking your bike as a pedestrian, moving so slow that you were still impeding traffic when the lights changed.

Most people are stupid, crabs in a bucket.

locolobo13 

Ran over some glass on the way in. Not paying enuff attention. Cost me 15 min. All part of the adventure.

Darth Lefty 

We got back from our European vacation and took our 6yo boy twin right to the hospital without stopping at home. It’s really serious though I don’t really feel like details yet or maybe ever.

There were changes in Europe about bike commuting since my honeymoon trip 10 years ago. Maybe I’ll write about that later. But as far as me riding bikes it’s not a priority right now.

jaxy357

I'm so sorry to hear this, will keep him in my prayers.

Tundra_Man 

Hey Darth Lefty, sorry to hear about your son. I will pray your family.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1747:

Originally it was supposed to rain all day today. When I got up this morning, everything was dry and the forecast had changed to where it didn't look like it would rain until about 6 PM. I had a split-commute today where I worked in the morning at our company office, then worked at a client's office in the afternoon. The wind was blowing hard, and I really didn't want to try to push my hybrid bike against it. I decided to gamble and took the road bike.

An hour after I arrived at work it started pouring rain. I thought maybe I would have a squishy ride across town at lunch, but then the skies cleared up and the sun came out. However, the forecast had changed where the chances for rain increased around 3 PM, and by 5 PM was 100%.

My route to the client's office passed about 1.25 miles from my house. I decided to take a short detour and go home and swap bikes for the hybrid with fenders. I haven't ridden anything but my road bike since 7/5 so it felt a bit unfamiliar. Fighting the 30 mph wind and rain on the way home tonight won't be much fun, but I guess it comes with the territory.

The last four days the temps have been in the 90s, and we've set records each day for the warmest it's ever been on the corresponding days in September/October. Today it has cooled down to 83°F. Even with the cooler temp I still arrived at the client's office a sweaty mess. The fact that I gorged myself at lunch during our annual office chili contest probably didn't help that fact.

Got my flu shot this morning. As I type this it feels like someone gave me a Hurts Donut in my left arm.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1749:

54°F and a medium headwind for the ride to the office this morning. I should get a nice push for the ride across town at noon. Temp is getting closer to more normal October weather with a high today around 65°F.

My wife is flying to visit her family next week, so we'll have an extra car available. I'm seizing the opportunity and scheduling vehicle service. Already made an appointment for next Wed to have her car's transmission serviced. I'm going to stop on my way across town and talk to a shop about new tires and struts for my truck that my son usually drives. I'll have that service done on a different day and he can drive my wife's car. For all appointments I'll throw my bike in the back of the vehicle, drive to the shop to drop off the car, then ride to work from there. Then after work I'll reverse the process.

Now that morning commutes are dark again all the ninjas are out. Encountered a whole bunch of people with no lights and wearing all black clothing out on the MUP. Came close to running down a lady jogging towards me as she suddenly appeared in my headlight and I veered out of the way at the last second. I'm not sure why people think that it's a good idea to make yourself as invisible as possible. But then again I also don't understand the recent trend of people wearing thick black hoodies in 100° heat. I guess I'm just getting old. GET OFF MY LAWN!

jaxy357

Good morning all, today I realized it's officially gloves season...being able to see my breath and riding in the dark to the train station. I'm thankful for my spoke lights but can see that I should upgrade my headlight and tail light since I'm riding on the shoulder of a 50 mile per hour road (which thankfully has rumble strips at least). The sun rising over the river was beautiful and one of these days I won't be rushing and will stop to snap a picture. Also, should have checked the train status before hustling out the door since my train was about 12 minutes late. When I got to campus, I walked the mile to my office and had to keep rubbing my hands together or trying to push my hands up into my sleeves. I started using Lume deodorant in the problematic areas and this in combination with the cooler temps meant I wasn't stinky when arriving to the office. Sidenote: my campus bike is out of commission until the local bike co-op reopens and I can get a new tube and tire. The bike cost $10 originally and I'm nearly tempted to sell it to someone else who can give it the attention it needs (saddle bolt is also stripped). Once the new train station opens up near my house, I'll be able to roll my "home" bike on and off and won't have to maintain as many bikes hopefully. That's supposed to be next month but I've not really seen any press releases, etc. so I'm kind of skeptical.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1751:

My wife flew to Ohio to visit her family on Saturday, so I'm a bachelor for the week. My son is keeping me extra busy now that there's not two of us around to entertain him.

I decided to take advantage of the fact that my wife isn't going to need her car and scheduled services on our vehicles this week. This morning I dropped off my old truck that my son drives to have new tires and struts put on it. Five years ago I may have said that it's not worth sinking that kind of money into a 20 year old truck, but as insane as vehicle prices have gotten, it now makes more sense to spend the money to keep an old car roadworthy.

After I dropped off the truck, I rode from the service center to the client's office. If I went straight there it would be about 2.5 miles, but I decided to take the long way and rode a mile in the opposite direction, then caught the MUP and followed the river downtown. It was about a 7.5 mile ride.

The client is closed for Native American Day*, so I'm sitting in their building alone. I like it. It's quiet and I can get work done without distractions.

*I just discovered that it's Native American Day only in South Dakota and Oklahoma. In Alabama it's American Indian Heritage Day. In the other 47 US states it's Indigenous People's Day. However the Federal Government still officially recognizes it as Columbus Day. So there's your trivia for today.

The temp this morning was 36°F, but thankfully there was no wind. This was the first morning of the season where I rode wearing long pants instead of shorts. Usually I try to not wear pants until the temps hit freezing, but I notice I'm getting older and feel the cold more. I really didn't see any reason to wear shorts in these temps except to tell the world I wore shorts, and they don't care anyway. So out came the long pants.

jaxy357

Bungee cord FAIL. I carry a few bungee cords on the bike in case anything needs extra security. Wasn't paying enough attention and they got loose from my Wald baskets. One got extremely stuck on my rear axle as I was climbing the overpass and I almost called hubby to come help me... but that would be admitting defeat. Used my multi tool first to no avail then figured out maybe I needed to roll the bike backwards. It bent the hooks up pretty badly and hopefully I didn't get my wheel out of true as a result. But victory was mine and I continued home after a few minutes of amused frustration. 😄

Red bungee messsss
Lol my bolt situation is pretty dumb, too, but working for now