How Was Your Commute Today?

[Melalvai]

Cold and windy and rainy right now, and it will freeze tomorrow night! It's fine with a jacket and light gloves. During the day I make several short trips between buildings. On one of these trips today it was raining lightly and as I was unlocking my bike, a woman said, "It's a bad day to ride a bike."

Until that moment I had been internally grumbling about the cold rain. But I go by contraries.

I replied, "Every day is a good day to bike."
She looked at me like I was crazy. "It's wet."
"I'm not made of sugar, I won't melt."
"You'll catch a cold."
I shook my head and rode away.

[carlotta]

A very nice commute this morning (damp and foggy coming home, but still nice)

[Geonz]

My commute is obnoxious - they're repairing railroad crossings on my route, so I have to take busier roads home. Phooey.

[tzvia]

This is the start of the good time of year. Finally, warm but not blistering, breezy but not windy, dark but not cold. That colorful pre-dawn glow as black gives way to purple which gives way to orange promising that another day is just moments away. Clouds dance like feathers in the wind, headlights twinkle like stars and storefronts glow like neon rainbows. I have a few minutes to just look at the color, feel the cool air, listen to the trees rustle. I want to keep going but I pull into the parking lot, and stare out at dull tan buildings. 8 hours in a dull tan room loom. At least I got a few minutes of color on the way there.

In the limbo between summer and winter there is now. My favorite time to ride.

[Melalvai]

tzvia, nice poetry. The trees are turning and one of them, yellow and red and green, looked like a rainbow. I added some color to my office a couple weeks ago. I have a tiny little window that looks out into a white hallway. No one ever comes down here so there's nothing to look at. I made curtains.

[redrhodie]

I finally got back on the bike after 2 weeks off. That's the most time I've taken off since 2009. I felt like I needed to replenish my energy, so I didn't go into the guilt zone that not riding always puts me in. Yay me. But it was enough time off! I lost a bit of fitness already, but the ride was great anyway.

[Melalvai]

I finally got back on the bike after 2 weeks off. That's the most time I've taken off since 2009. I felt like I needed to replenish my energy, so I didn't go into the guilt zone that not riding always puts me in. Yay me. But it was enough time off! I lost a bit of fitness already, but the ride was great anyway.

Getting back on the bike after a break feels SO good. It's worth taking the break just to have that feeling.

I had a little adventure today. I went out to help set up the aid stations for the Trail Half Marathon. Some of them are only accessible by boat. (Or by running many miles, of course, but that's hard to do with chairs, tables, water jugs, cones.) The boat stalled and we were stranded in the middle of the lake for 20 minutes. It was cold and windy. Eventually we got it restarted and we took care not to let it stall again by driving it very slowly. So it took about 4 hours. Toward the end it was misting, a cold wet windy mist. I was underdressed for the conditions and I got SO cold. Hours later, I was huddled in my office with a hat, sweater, and a lab coat, and still shivering! What finally warmed me up was my commute home.

[WindingRoad]

A very nice commute this morning (damp and foggy coming home, but still nice)

Is that Forbidden Drive? Looks so pretty.

[ZenBiker]

had a gorgeous commute today. The morning ride was just before sunrise, and the sky was streaked with red and gold clouds. 34 degrees which really isn't bad at all with wind pants and a jacket. Coming home it was warm and sunny with no wind.

Only down side was a little section of road work I had to get through. There were a few orange cones set out in the shoulder area, but nothing that looked like a barrier. I thought it was just to mark off the section of shoulder where they'd parked some heavy equipment. Then I hit the wet cement that had been poured to fill a 4' x 4' hole. I couldn't have dodged tp the left even if I'd seen it in time because there was quite a bit of traffic just then. I felt bad about the deep rut I left, but also glad I had enough momentum to carry me through it. I still wonder if I should have gone back and tried to fix it - but with what? Bare hands? I guess they'll sort it out tomorrow, after cussing all cyclists.

[Melalvai]

I almost came up with a haiku on yesterday's ride home but I couldn't get the syllables right. It was going to be something like this:
Puckered smoky pumpkin faces
Empty candy wrappers

(also I couldn't come up with a 3rd line... "Halloween is over" seemed too obvious. Also not the right syllables.)

[GLC1968]

Haha! Today was my first commute to work in at least a couple of years. It was AWESOME! I was planning on starting today anyway, but then mother nature blessed me with a brilliantly beautiful morning and I couldn't be more pleased. I did not time it, and I'll need to in the future, but effort-wise, it was just perfect. I chose a route that was slightly longer than 'as the crow flies' so that I could get all right turns. On the way home tonight, I'll be going a different route for the same reason so there will definitely be variety in my day. I can't wait!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that my bike is still there when I leave. I forgot a lock! We are on private property and the rack is right near the busiest door of the building (and on camera), so I am hopeful it'll stay there. My bike is also pretty ugly from an aesthetic perspective (smaller front wheel, stickers on it, loaded up with fenders/pumps, etc), so it should be ok.

[Catrin]

Yayyyy GLC - that is just great! I suppose there isn't any way you can store your bike in your office? I stopped commuting when it got so blasted hot this summer, and my schedule since then has prevented my returning to it. Next spring I will try it again! I did enjoy it when the weather and schedule allowed.

[carlotta]

Is that Forbidden Drive? Looks so pretty.

It's the Wissahickon just below Forbidden Drive, probably my favorite part of the commute. Just got back from vacation and now it's in full winter mode, no leaves, etc. Happy to see not much trail debris from Sandy, it took forever for some of the mud/downed trees to be cleared after Irene and the storm the week after.

Definitely the first cold-weather commute this morning, had to dig out the tights, heavier socks and buff. I'm always amazed how the commuting ranks are decimated once it gets chilly-- I saw a total of four cyclists this morning in a stretch where I usually see 15-20, more once I got into the city but very light traffic on the trail.

[malkin]

First commute in months. Last spring I started piano lessons and morning is the best time for me to practice. Of course, every day I get carried away at piano and sort of forget to pay attention to the time and that I really need to get going. Today was a catch up day at work, so I rode in like a person of leisure after my long piano time, and felt completely lucky. I'm thankful for days like this.

It was windy, strong enough for little surprises (Whoa! That garbage can just tipped over!) but I never felt blown around; it was like a playmate, like nice waves in the ocean.

[ZenBiker]

We're having beautiful riding weather this week, so after missing quite a few days in early November I'm back in the swing of bike commuting. Temps in the high 20s in the morning, low 50s coming home. I only worked a half day, took my panniers along and did my Thanksgiving grocery shopping on the way home. I only need to make a couple things to take to dinner at a friend's house tomorrow, so it's not like I pedaled home with a turkey and all the fixings. But I was still pleased that I didn't really even consider driving because of the shopping I needed to do. In past years, I probably would have opted for the car.

I'm getting better at figuring out layers and such, and barring snowstorms, I plan to keep riding til Christmas. After that, it'll depend on what kind of winter we have. January can be really cold, like -10 F in the morning, Last year that never happened and a couple of my co-workers rode all winter, inspiring me to try to do the same this year.