pdlamb

Loaded commute this morning -- shoes and snacks (apples) and a 2021 calendar. Haven't been here much since a year ago, now it looks like I may be working here for a while. Funny thing was I didn't really notice the load while I was riding, but the before and after part of the commute felt like weight lifting. Took a few minutes to decide whether short or long sleeves were appropriate for 48F, then I remembered the forecast is for 80 this afternoon.

Ride was crisp and clear, with light traffic.

essiemyra

A very pleasant yet uneventful commute this am. I was hoping to ride with the full pink flower moon but we had cloudy skies this am so no such luck.

Darth Lefty 

Three laps this week, after a longer ride last weekend.

I guess you'd call it late spring here. The rain is mostly over, the wildflowers are drying out and going to seed. But we don't have that brutal windy heat yet that brings the fires.

Darth Lefty 

I just rang up on Strava as a Local Legend for having the most (five) rides up the 0.2 mi / 30ft hill to my house in the last 90 days.

essiemyra

Right back at Monday morning again. It was a very pleasant ride in this morning with the temp at 50f degrees. Just a light jacket needed today. Rain called for most of the remainder of this week except Thursday. I will wait and see how this plays out for my riding.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1186:

I thought perhaps I was done with the winter pants, jacket, and gloves, but this morning's 33°F made me pull them back out of the closet. Sun was out and wind was light, so it really didn't feel too bad.

Supposed to be pushing 60°F for the ride home so I had to pack a 3rd set of clothes (2nd set is my work clothes.) Also had to bring some equipment back to the office so that made my backpack extra heavy today.

Posted my latest bicycle commuting video:

pdlamb

Apparently "working in the office regularly" means "coming in to the office less irregularly than some other people" for me.

So I rode in to get the car yesterday afternoon. The heat felt like summer, only with spring-time winds. But since almost all the traffic was going the other way, it turned out to be a pretty decent ride!

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1187:

Supposed to rain today, so I took the hybrid with fenders. First time I haven't ridden the road bike in almost three weeks. Temp was 43F with a very light wind, but other than a few sprinkles there wasn't rain on the way in. After I arrived at the client the rain started coming down pretty steady.

Yesterday afternoon I had my first goose attack of the year. I was turning onto a trail spur when suddenly a goose came at me hard. I veered back onto the main trail and she just flapped her wings against my arm, but thankfully kept her claws off of me. I decided to change my route rather than turning around and trying the spur again. There was another rider about 100 yards ahead of me that took the trail spur. I'm suspecting he riled up the goose and then when I came along I got the brunt of her anger.

I noticed in my spreadsheet that last Thursday I quietly crossed the 1,000 mile mark for the year, so that's cool.

arsprod 

My second commute to the office this year and since the pandemic started. I don't miss the office but man I really do miss the ride!

Darth Lefty 

Like how many per year do you expect?

Tundra_Man 

I probably average one or two a year.

Canadian geese are made out of pure evil dipped in feathers.

Darth Lefty 

Two laps this week.

There was a fatal stabbing this morning among the homeless near the Folsom city hall, about a quarter mile from my twins’ preschool and a hundred yards from big brother’s afternoon daycare. The cops were on it and found the culprit quickly.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/cr...251252289.html

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1191:

GoPro powered itself on this morning at 5:30 AM. It was sitting on the kitchen counter. I didn't hear it, but it woke my wife up. Then 15 minutes later it beeped again when it powered down once it figured out nobody had summoned it. My wife wasn't happy. GoPros have great picture quality and are nearly indestructible, but I have to say their firmware is complete crap.

32°F this morning. Winter pants, coat and toe warmers all came back out. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those years where we pretty much jump from winter to summer with very little spring.

No wind, to which the weatherman said, "Enjoy it today, because the rest of the week it's going to be blowing." I took the road bike. The sun was out and it was a pretty nice morning overall.

Got to the trail spur I normally take and there was a big road closed barrier and the trail behind it was gone. I then remembered the email I received over the weekend informing me that this section of the trail was going to be repaved this week. Completely slipped my mind. So I wound up taking about a 1 mile detour. Thankfully I left the house a few minutes early.

Was about 3/4 mile from the office when an elderly lady pulled out in front of me. I hit the brakes hard and started to take evasive action to point the bike behind her car. She then saw me and slammed on her brakes and skidded to a stop. I stuck my hand out in my best "what were you thinking?" gesture. She misunderstood my anger as a wave, and smiled and waved back. Then she proceeded on her way. Surprisingly enough, my anger quickly dissipated and I finished my ride to work without further incident.

Darth Lefty 

Two laps this week to do mornings at the office. Maybe a third tomorrow. Getting warm for the midday ride home in pants.

There was something Tuesday morning I wanted to tell you all about but for the life of me can't remember now what it was.

MikeVargo

Sunny and 65F, just a little breezy... does a bike commute get better than that? Not for me!

MikeVargo

We're just getting back to the office more regularly. I completely relate to this sentiment!

essiemyra

Yay for Friday and my first bike commute in 11 days. The ride was pleasant and in full light the whole ride this morning. With any luck(weather and circumstances) I can ride more days next week.

essiemyra

Back at Monday again. It was a pleasant commute to work today.

MikeVargo

This is a gorgeous shot! We were just in Berkeley last week and rode up around Wildcat Canyon. Some impressive climbing, and what a beautiful area!

essiemyra

Another pleasant yet uneventful commute this morning. The temp was 49 f degrees with clear skies.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1196:

60F this morning, which is the warmest morning by far we've had so far this year. Only the 3rd or 4th morning that's been above 50 for that matter. Last week the morning temps were in the 30s so this is a welcome change.

I took the road bike. Halfway to the office it started to rain, which wasn't in the forecast. Thankfully it was more of a mist than a downpour, so I didn't get completely drenched. Just kind of damp.

Saw a wild turkey.

Darth Lefty 

Today was "patch day" for the computer lab at work so I just did a lunch lap of the lake instead.

Bike month here. I saw a couple of interesting contraptions on the trail. The weirdest was an electric 3-wheeler laid out like a preschooler's lean-to-turn scooter, but double size for a grownup. (found it! https://www.cycleboard.com/products/rover) Also saw a Terra Trike tandem, which only seems less weird because I already knew there was such a thing.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1199:

Today is "ride you bike to work day" for everyone else. For me, it's "Friday."

Because of this, our local cycling organization had organized with several businesses to have "recharge stations" to provide treats and coffee to anyone who rides their bike to work today. I got up early and picked out three different stops on my (long) way to the client location. The temp was 64F and kind of windy and humid, but the sun was out so overall it was a pretty nice day.

I got to the first recharge station right at 7 AM. This was at a new bike shop that had announced it will be opening soon, and it's located right at an entrance point to the MUP. Great spot for a bike shop, IMO. I was the first one to roll up, but within five minutes there were at least a dozen riders there. I had a pastry. I was hoping for the custard filled one, but when I bit it I discovered it was the nasty frosting filled one. I ate it anyway.

Then I rode to my usual LBS for the next recharge station. To my surprise, I was the only rider there. I ate another doughnut (non-filled this time) and had a large coffee. I chatted with the two guys working there as they were struggling to route a cable through a bike frame to install a dropper seatpost.

The next stop was a fancy downtown coffee/sandwich shop that I don't frequent very often because it's definitely geared towards people who have more money than sense. But, they were offering a "free treat" to anyone who rode their bike in. I went inside and inquired and the girl behind the counter said, "We've had a few others stop in and say the same thing. I have no idea about that." She went and asked the manager, who also had no idea. The manager went to find the owner. In the meantime, I decided as long as I was getting a free snack I would order a coffee just so I didn't feel like a complete freeloader. The coffee was $8. After a few minutes of seeing the manager walk by a few times doing other things, I decided the free treat wasn't going to happen so I left.

I only had about 3/4ths of a mile to go, so I carefully rode one handed while my other hand held my $8 coffee. I did pretty good until I got to the badge reader at the parking ramp, at which point I spilled the hot $8 coffee all over myself as I fumbled to get my badge out of my pocket and up to the reader. Meanwhile there was a guy in a truck waiting behind me as I was yelping in pain and trying to open the door, keep my bike upright and not spill even more on myself. Then I started rolling down the ramp towards the closed garage door and had to get myself stopped, then gingerly walk backwards up the ramp back to the reader. Finally I got inside. After hanging my bike on the rack I saw the guy I was blocking and apologized. He was pretty cool about the whole thing.

I'm planning on doing something tonight that I don't do very often: join in on a non-commuting group ride. A friend of mine has organized a "light the trail" ride around the entire MUP after dark. The start and end point is about nine miles from my house, so before the end of the day I should have more than 50 miles logged which will be a new personal single-day record.

On Wednesday I participated in the annual "Ride of Silence" where we ride slowly and silently in memory of those cyclists who have been killed by drivers. Before the ride, my friend Michael told the story of how just three days earlier he had been hit head-on by a driver who was looking at his phone while cutting a left turn into Mike's lane. Thankfully, other than getting his toe run over and his bike banged up, he was OK. I recorded his story which I found pretty interesting:

essiemyra

Back at Monday again. The commute was pleasant yet uneventful. Though I was hoping that the temp would not be below 50 it was 47f degrees. Oh well.

Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1202:

Was about 1/2 mile from home last night when I head a "POP!" and then sunk down about an inch in my saddle. Turns out the tensioner bolt on my Brooks saddle sheared in half. I hadn't adjusted this bolt since the saddle was new last June so I doubt it was overtensioned. The saddle has about 2,000 miles on it. From my online research it looks like the bolts from the more recently manufactured saddles are of dubious quality. It's not a normal bolt so I can't just go down to the hardware store and buy another one. The Brooks website says to contact the entity from where you bought the saddle for warranty claims, so I submitted a request via the seller's website in the UK. Frankly I'm half expecting the seller to tell me to contact Brooks, so I may wind up either trying to find a tensioner bolt on my own, or cobbling something together.

In the meantime, I put my old saddle back on the road bike. Two weeks ago my local LBS had a big event where they were buying used gear, and I almost took this old saddle in to trade it for store credit but then got lazy and never made it there. I guess I was fortunate to still have it available to swap back on the bike.

This morning the weather was 53°F and sunny. There was a fairly stiff cross wind, but for the most part it was pleasant. By the time I made it the 8 miles to work I was reminded why I replaced this saddle. It wasn't excruciating, but it definitely wasn't as comfortable as my Brooks. And frankly, the Brooks isn't as comfortable as I was hoping it would be either, but it's better than this one.