caloso

Just like old times this morning. I got up at 5:30, had a cup of coffee and a banana, and out the door by 10 to 6. Rode south past Freeport on the River Road as the Sierras reddened in the east. At 6:30 I turned around, got into time trial mode, and flew home. Walked into the house at 7:10 and, amazingly, everyone was still asleep. Hopped in the shower, dressed, changed a couple diapers, and woke my wife. Back out the door and back on the bike at 8:02.

The last 4 miles to work weren't any big deal.

vrkelley

Overslept yesterday (which usually means a cold is coming on) Woke up this morning...sure enough. Great ride in. I feel better after the ride.

HardyWeinberg

False start; rear flat, don't know why, and I used my last 26" tube yesterday. Maybe time to fix the punctured ones hanging in the garage...

Took blue bike instead. Nice ride once I got going, very foggy the whole way though. No extra miles after getting to work, need to leave early today, just no time.

I put a Brooks conquest on my red (mtn) bike a couple wks ago. ~200 miles along, still figuring out what I think of it. Back on the blue (felt) bike, whatever else I think about the rest of it, I do definitely love the seat it came with. Similarly, whatever my final conclusion on the Brooks, it beats the hell out of the Bontrager rusty pyramid thing the red bike came with. But really, the Felt seat felt amazing this morning, like it wasn't even there.

CliftonGK1

Awesome! Glad that you're OK, and didn't actually get hooked. I had something similar happen a few weeks ago (without the right-hook action.) Someone pulled a right turn on red from the straight-only lane because I was taking the entire right-turn-or-straight lane. They got pulled over just as they rounded the corner. hehehe

HardyWeinberg

Woo hoo!

ActionJeans

AWE-SOME ; )

Such instant karma is always delightful to witness.

(this is relative to a commute, so I think it fits, happend about 8 months ago)

I had a delightful chap in a white Ford F250 try and run me over for about 5 minutes on Alpharetta hwy. It was a company vehicle, and apparently, the gentleman was under the assumption that.

A.) Bicycles are not allowed on the road
B.) It is his personally appointed duty to make sure all cyclist, especially me, realize that
C.) That police officers will be understanding when you first admit to trying to run said cyclist over (namely me).

He is mistaken on all points above.
It started because I took a right turn out of a strip mall to head west down Alpharetta (this is a pretty high traffic road, so I am used to close calls, don't really phase me anymore. Except dump trucks... they are really, REALLY big...), and when I took the right, I saw his truck, but he was doing about 10 mph in traffic, and I made sure, like a good cyclist, to hug the inside curb, and in no way was blocking his progress. He honked his horn, I wave, at which point, he gets right beside me, flips me off, and then proceeds to try and smash me between his truck, and the curb.

Now, that's not going to work. I have brakes on my bike, please. So I hit the brakes, and go left to get around him on the other side. He goes left, to block that route. We do this little fandango for about 2 minutes, and then, he decides to go all out redneck on me, and try and BACKUP OVER ME, AND MY BIKE.

Well, that's not going to work either, I hop up on the sidewalk (at this point, I was really going over the fight scenario in my head, but I thought he might have a gun), and pull out my cellphone. Mouth the words "I'm calling the police". Awesome, he pulls his out, rolls his window down, and says "fine, I'm calling them too!". Which I guess is like anti-matter, automatically cancels my call? Whatever.

Anyway, they tell me to pull into the parking lot right behind me, and apparently told him to do the same thing We had a brief exchange of words in the parking lot, one of those exchanges included him saying that he was going to put his foot up my ass, me getting off my bike and throwing my backpack down, and him getting back in the truck (not much without the cage, a?). Anyway, I chilled out by the time the cops got there. They got his take on the story, which was actually 100% accurate. He did leave out the part where he tried to run me over, however. So when they ask me, I mention that part, that yes, this guy was actively trying to run me over. Here's the almost exact transcript of what the police (there were two of them) asked the white truckguy, and his responses:

Officer 1: Is it true what he says, that you were trying to run him over with your vehicle?
White Truckguy: Damn straight I did! He shouldn't be in the f***ing road with that thing! F*** him!
Both Officer 1 & 2: *drop heads and shaking them...
Officer 1: Sir, you just can't do that.
White Truckguy: Incredulous look at me, when he realized he is going to jail.

Hopefully he learned a valuble lesson about cyclist, and their rights on the road. I know he got a ticket for reckless driving, which in this state, is about as bad as a DUI. One year suspended license, have to take a driving course class which you have to pay for, serve 48 hours in jail, insurance goes through the roof, the works.

Lurker1999

Quiet ride in during mid-day traffic. There were still enough puddles on the ground from last night's rain that I'm glad I have fenders and a front mudflap. Unfortunately the more I ride this stretch of road, the more I find I have to take the lane the entire 2 miles without a bike lane to ride at least 3 feet away from the cars that are parked all along the road. That doesn't really work all that well in the middle of rush hour traffic so I've been avoiding rush hour as best I can.

CliftonGK1

Wow. I've often wondered exactly how stupid can someone get without forgetting to breathe; and now we have the answer. White Truckguy wins the top honours.

bikebuddha 

I have to ask, Forsyth County tags?

dalmore

That's a fantasy of mine. I'd pay to see that!!!

dalmore

My money is on Forsyth.

ActionJeans

If I remember correctly, yes. I only remember because I specifically got the guys tag and gave it to the police when I called. It was either Fulton or Forsyth county, but it was awhile ago, so I could be wrong.

chephy

Oh man, this is just hilarious. This is just... *goes into uncontrollable laughter convulsions on the floor*

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Of course what he should really get is several years in jail for assault with a weapon...

CliftonGK1

20 lashes... With a Park chain whip.

vrkelley

GreenAnvil

Great commute home. Nice afternoon, about 48F. Some wind gusts every now and then that my panniers would act like parachutes on and almost stop me dead on my tracks. But overall my commute route is so nice and beautiful that I don't mind that much.

Need to go out and get a rain/wind breaker and some middle layers. Some snow expected this weekend.

Ah! About my morning commute, all the weight on my bike is on the seat (me) and the panniers (both sides) and trunk (about 20-30 lbs of laptop, clothes, food, and other stuff), so the front of the bike is very light in comparison... so there's not a lot of traction on the front tire. I doubt if I will ever endo; my back is just too heavy. My bike has Nimbus Armadillos 700x38 and I'm concerned about their handling in cold/wet roads. My bike (Gary Fischer Kaitai 29") has a front suspension fork so I can't put a front rack and panniers to add some weight. Is it time to put stud tires? What should I do?

GreenAnvil

nukemm

Didn't get a commute this morning, as yesterday was a 24 hour duty day, but today was awesome. I had my PRT (physical readyness test) for the Navy at noon today, and passed with flying colors (first time I've passed in 3 years!), running 1.5 miles in 10:36. Not bad for a guy of near 200lbs who runs only 3 miles a year.

The weather was incredible today for mid-October in Western Washington. 75 degrees & sunshine. Yesterday I was bored at work and I looked up a few different routes to work (all with bike lanes, yay!) and took a new route home that added about 4 miles to the trip, so 11.5 miles instead 7.2ish. I stopped at my LBS and picked up a new mobile pump (my other one I think has bad seals, it's been around for 25 years or so, used to be my dad's) and a set of Mr. Tuffy liners to carry with me tomorrow, just in case, or to put in on Saturday morning. Hopefully I won't have to do it until Saturday, because I really don't want a flat tomorrow morning. So far, so good on my patch job from yesterday. I got home and my front & rear were still @ 65psi. Not bad for my first time.

I got faster today, mainly because this route had only 2 traffic lights, and I caught both of them green. Averaged almost 15MPH (on a MTB with a lot of hills in my route). Not bad for only my third commute!

livewirerc

Great commute there, not as good commute back but I made it. This was my first time riding to work on a fixed gear, but I've been commuting on a single-speed (Motobecane Messenger with a flip-flop hub) for the past week and a half (2-3 days a week). I rode the mile to the North Lamar Transit center and took a bus to the capital building. That's where the fixed gear adventure really began. There were two pretty decent hills on the way there and I was able get up them both, riding all the way from the Texas State Capital building to my work (AMD @ 71 and 183) in under half an hour, maintaining an average pace of just over 16.5mph. The first hill was steep but somewhat short and I was able to get up it while standing and mashing, going about 15mph. The second was a little less steep but was a series of two long rises and a short plateau inbetween. I made it up the first and was pretty winded. By the time I was at the top of the second I was struggling to maintain 10mph. I'm getting better at my track stand, and I was actually able to ride the entire way without touching down once.

The ride back was a little more eventful as it started pouring rain just as I was passing the guard post at work. I turned around and used the cover of the guard station to bag all my books and electronics (I was carrying a messenger bag with all my gear and a change of clothes) and then continued on. Within a mile the rain had started to heavily pool on the road and severely cut down visibility. I was really glad for the rear fender I bought yesterday. I almost had an accident on the way back when I was going through a pool of water and I guess I hit a pothole. I started to get thrown over the bars (fixed is unforgiving) but I held on to the handlebars and was able to pull up and kinda skip up onto the curb. I had a foot free so I was able to catch myself without going over and I'd locked up the back wheel so I didn't go anywhere. After regaining my composure and making sure I didn't lose anything I got back on my way. Nothing else very eventful happened on the way back except for breaking my personal speed max on the fixed on the way down the steep hill. Going 32+ mph down a steep hill passing cars and spinning like mad while barely being able to see through my glasses is harrowing. I made it downtown in one piece and I rode the rest of the way home with my wife (I'd asked her to bring the bike carrier that morning).

My average speed on the way back had dropped to 15.8mph and I rode a total of 17 miles roundtrip. Alltogether it didn't kill me as much as I was expecting it to and since work pays for a bus pass I think I'm going to be trying to commute via bike and bus 3-4 days a week. I'll still be driving at least one to bring new clothes and towels, but I'm liking this riding bidness.

Jason

MSCDcommuter

Woohoo!!!

vtjim

Interesting ride home today. There were 5 or 6 large coach buses lined up trying to get down to the Burlington waterfront for some reason. They were all backed up because there wasn't enough room for them. I passed them all on the right, squeezing between them and parked cars, (slowly!) and got to the MUP. Glad I wasn't stuck in a car!

But... At an intersection being tied up by the bus convoy, I saw an older guy stopped talking to a kid who looked to be in his teens, and they were standing next to an MTB. The kid was holding up his arm and I saw it had fresh road rash on it. A saw a mini van parked very close to the intersection and the corner of its back bumper was pushed in. Not sure if it was related, but the kid had definitely hit the ground before I arrived. I kept wondering if I should turn around and go back, but the old dude wasn't yelling at the kid, so I figured things were under control. Maybe he was just a witness to the fall and offering some help. Neither of them looked very happy though.

I wound up following a cute female most of the way on the MUP. Her MTB was way too big for her but she was moving along okay.

tokolosh

see yesterday's post. subtract most of the part about klutziness. however, i woke up this morning with joints full of cold, sludgy, sour oatmeal, so i think yesterday is explained now. i'm clearly in a more-bodacious-than-usual arthritic flare. strange thing is that once the stiffness and inflammation take hold, i always seem to get much less clumsy. it's the period while it's still gearing up that things seem to take on a sort of aquarium-lighted delirium tinge.

bit trepidatious about riding today, considering, but since the car's still toes-up there weren't many alternatives. i took it easy, because i wasn't sure how it would work out. works out as a pretty weird feeling: muscles acting like they're at their last gasp, and heart/breathing rate still completely normal. at least i knew a) there was a problem, and b) what the problem was. i kept adjusting downwards for what i could deal with, and it got easier. in the end it only took 10% longer than my usual time, and i felt pretty good on arrival and on my way home. but i'm sure glad that tomorrow's friday. still very very gorgeous weather out there.

redden

Working different hours yesterday so I was commuting during high traffic hours. Pleasantly surprised at several cuteous encounters with drivers. Also surprised at several cars that did not go when their light was green because they expected me to run my red light. Are there that many of us that run lights in front of cars? Not that I've never run a light but it's during off hour with no traffic, also realize it's illegal and if I get run over it's my own damn fault.
I choose a hillier route so the total route there and back was 41 miles with 4300 feet of climbing. Overall very nice.

vtjim

Morning ride in the low 30sF. I think it's the first 30s ride I've done this season but I can't remember. You southern people will love this: I was wearing shorts, no gloves, no head covering (other than helmet and riding glasses) and a cycling jersey under my high viz nylon jacket. I was very comfortable.

The sky is a brilliant blue and the sun was lighting up the Adirondacks. It looked like Whiteface Mountain had snow on the slopes.

I wasn't feeling very fast today though. I didn't break any speed records!

GTcommuter

Slightly chilly this morning. I couldn't find any high-tech riding gear so I just grabbed a flannel shirt figuring that would be warm enough. But I should have grabbed a vest also. Brought the trailer in this morning to run by the hardware store, groceries, and pharmacy on the way home. This was my first ride with my new semi-homemade trailer hitch and it worked great! I'm very proud.

dalmore

holy longjohns, batman - was that a 52 on the thermometer this morning? Winter is coming! Winter is coming!

It's been so many years since I spent appreciable amounts of time outdoors below 60 that I'm going to need some adjustment time ....