The 1/27 Commute.

On Monday I saw that we were going to have one more warm afternoon with temperatures in the 70s so I decided to commute Tuesday morning. I almost hate saying it, but the morning run was routine there really wasn't anything to report. As a first leg of the ride though I was seven minutes off my "average" of an hour and 20 minutes. Like I said before though not bad for being out of practice. I was just glad to get some mileage in before the weather changed.

The ride home was truly wonderful as the temperature was right around 70 and I still had sufficient daylight left when I left the campus. This ride home was probably the most commuter filled I have ever seen to date. I know I saw at least three as I was coming down West Alabama. Two of those based on what they were riding in what they were carrying were true cycle commuters like myself. I even had the rare pleasure of bumping into a female cyclist as I was coming down Wesleyan; however, I did not have an opportunity to speak with her. As I arrived to Wesleyan I started noticing that the clouds were starting to build and the wind was starting to pick up. Consequently, I started picking up my own pace as the last thing I needed was to be caught out in the weather. By the time I got a third of the way down Tanglewood Road the cold front rolled in and announced itself with a nice hard gust against my front wheel and the temperature went from a nice balmy 70° down to 55 in the span of 15 minutes. Once I got onto Chimney Rock I started putting on the coal as it was then I started to lose daylight. I passed under I-10 and onto Wirt (same road as Chimney Rock, but gets renamed north of I-10)and somewhere around Wedgewood Lane I was passed by a southbound commuter who was riding on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, there was no time to really stop and chat, but we didacknowledge each other as we passed. I have no clue why he was on the sidewalk, but I'm guessing he was going to pull a left and did not want to contend with traffic. The remainder of the ride had nothing to report other than being a race against daylight. I did choose to use my NiteRider USB backup light instead of my primary Cyglolite for the ride down Westview. The Cyglolite is a bit of a pain to chargethat it has to be timed exactly to six hours due to a lack of power regulation/smart charging circuitry and I didn't feel like dealing with it when getting home. I found the NiteRider USB to put out sufficient light, but nothing to write home about. I definitely prefer the power of the Cyglolight; consequently that is why I use it as the primary headlight. I made it home right as it was getting completely dark and it felt good to have another 31 miles in for the year. The next couple mornings are to have morning lows in the mid 30s to upper 40s; consequently, I'm not feeling inclined to ride because I still lack good cold weather gear to contend with those temperatures comfortably.

The Monday 11/3 Ride Report

Every once in awhile you get a morning that makes up for every single pre-commute flat tire and a late start and reminds you of the better aspects of cycling. This morning was one of these as I got my tires aired up without ripping any stems and I actually managed to get out of the house a full 30 minutes early. The temperature was around 55° which was rather cold; however, I have been in worse. Although I am a warm weather person I recognize there's an inherent advantage to exercising in a cool environment. Once you warm up and get used to it the temperature is a little bit like having an entire body ice bag so you actually wind up slightly enhancing performance. This was quite true this morning as for most of the way I was averaging around 12.9 mph until I made my turn off onto hazard street. Because the hazard street is such a rabbit warren of intersecting streets I usually have to slow down while passing down it.

I only saw two other cyclists this morning. I saw a recreational rider as I transited through Memorial Park and once I got on the west Alabama I had to do a hard blink as at that point I crossed paths with somebody who was kitted out similarly to myself, a bona fide cycle commuter. The rest of the morning ride was fairly routine.

Breezed in.

It's amazing how 15 minutes can change the nature of a early morning commute. I managed to get out of the house about eight minutes before 5 a.m.; consequently, there was no traffic at all. I basically owned the roads between Conrad Sauer and Texas Southern and it was reflected in the total time of the ride as I made it to work in an hour and 16 minutes and averaged 12.31 miles an hour. Weatherwise it was a beautiful morning it was 58° which was a touch chilly, but not unbearably so. After about 3 miles the temperature was ideal because it kept perspiration to a minimum. I did keep my leg warmers handy to either use as they are intended or as makeshift arm warmers, but they were unneeded.

Quite surprisingly there was a lot of cycling activity this morning. As I made my turn onto Memorial Drive I observed a westbound recreational rider who was using excellent lighting. As I proceeded down Memorial Drive I was buzzed by yet another recreational rider who rapidly took the lead down Shepherd. oddly enough the only thing I remember of him is his tail lights I don't remember seeing if he had a headlight or not. The last cyclist I saw crossed my path as a going down West Alabama. Cyclist was a female and she was riding a mountain bike and she is wearing a backpack. my guess is she was headed towards the medical center.