Mother Nature isn't playing fair!!!!!!

This week hasn't been a good week to commute at all. I've only gotten to ride to & from work only once this week & that was on Monday. On Tuesday it was raining, so that day was shot. Today it was a bit on the windy side. The wind was from the NW at 20 mph with gusts to 32 mph according to weather.com. Tomorrow isn't looking that great either. The temp around the time I have to leave will be below 25 degrees. I can handle the weather up to about 35 degrees, but after that it's just not worth the effort to ride as far as I have to. The early forecast for next week is looking much better for commuting. There are a couple of days that might be a bit iffy, but it can't be as bad as this week has been. I thought Mother Nature would smile upon me, seeing as I'm taking one car off the roads, but I guess she's still waiting to see how committed I am to this adventure. I'm going to prove to her that I'm serious about this. That's about all for this week.

No doubt it's Monday

Today certainly was Monday!!!! Things started out great, a bit on the cold side, but no rain in the forecast. I headed out to work, and noticed that my legs felt a bit heavy. I've rode my road bike the past couple of days, but didn't think that my legs were that tired. I just downshifted a gear & it felt much better. I just continued to pedal towards work, when I neared an intersection where there is a nice downhill section. I just figured I'd put it in the big ring & use the momentum from the downhill to get up the smaller hill. I tried shifting to the big ring, but it didn't seem to shift, that's when I noticed that I was already in the big ring. It had been that way since the start of the ride & that's why my legs felt the way they did at the start. Well a bit further down the road, I noticed that my front fender was loose & ready to fall off. I stopped for a few minutes & tried to re-install it, but I quickly gave up that idea & got back on the bike towards work. Upon re-installing the front wheel, it seemed that the brake pads didn't line up correctly, so it was rubbing on one side the rest of the commute. I re-installed the front fender during a break at work. Once work was done, the commute home was pretty much uneventful. The only problem on the way home was the headwind the entire way. The forecast says there's an 80% chance of rain tomorrow, so I'm going to play it safe & drive to work tomorrow. The early forecast for the rest of the week looks good to commute. Stay tuned.....

Rain today

The forcast called for a 50% chance of rain. I woke up this morning & it wasn't raining, so I decided to get things together & ride into work. I was surprised how my legs felt after all the riding I did yesterday. After I felt warmed up, I put it in a bigger gear & pushed it a bit. I actually put it in the biggest gear on the bike & just kept up a good cadence. I actually made it to work faster than the other days I rode in. During the day the rain came in, so needless to say I didn't get to ride home. The forcast for tomorrow calls for a 70% chance of rain. I guess I'm driving to work. I need to look into getting some good rain gear, so I have one less excuse for not riding to work. I'm hoping to get to ride all next week, but we'll just have to see.

Day two, surviving so far

The commute to work today was pretty much the same as yesterday. The temp was 39 degrees with not much of a wind to mention. My legs felt good on the way in. It was pretty much an uneventful ride in today, just the kind of ride I like. After work, on the way home, I decided to try a different route home. This route was a bit shorter, but it was much hillier. I certainly had to work on this route home. My legs certainly felt the hills, especially with everything I was carrying in my panniers. The forcast calls for a 50% chance of rain tomorrow, if it's not raining when I get up & ready to leave, I'm riding. If it's raining, I guess I'm driving. I'm hoping for no rain till after I get home after work. We'll see what happens........

Day one, no problems!!!!!

Today was the first day that I left the car at home & rode to work. The weather this morning was a bit on the cool side, only 42 degrees, but there wasn't much of a wind, so it wasn't that bad. I felt good on the way in, warmed up nicely & there wasn't much traffic on the way in. It felt good being on the bike that early in the morning, the darkness made it a bit more interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Once I was finished with work, the real adventure began. I left work & headed home, know that part of the way home was going to be a bear dealing with the wind. I had a headwind the last part of the ride & it made for some hard riding. Traffic really wasn't much of a help either. I seemed to have more semi-trucks going in the opposite direction I was than ones going my way. Oh well, that's just the way it goes sometimes. All in all it was a great day to ride to & from work, looking forward to the rest of the week if the weather holds out.

Today was not to be.

I was hoping to start commuting to work today, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Last night there were some bad storms in the area & there was a tornado that touched down in Crawford County not too far from here. I was hoping the weather would move through & be dry enough to ride this morning, but alas I was wrong. About 3 am I was woken up by a flash of lightning through my bedroom window. After seeing that I decided not to even attempt riding into work today. I reset my alarm & woke up @ 5 am for work. I'm planning on riding to work on Tuesday morning, the weather forcast is much better, at least no rain. I can handle the cold, but cold & rain isn't much fun. I'll let anyone who reads this know what happens.

A new adventure begins!!!!!

Welcome everyone to my blog. I just purchased a brand new Trek 3700 mountain bike. This mission of this bike is to commute to & from work mainly. I will also use it to make short trips to the store & other places nearby. I swapped the knobby tires for slicks, installed a rear rack, added a front fender, installed Egg Beater pedals, & installed both front & rear lights so I can be seen. The reason I chose the Egg Beaters is that I have a set of Crank Bros. Quattro pedals on my road bike. I can use the same shoes on both bikes. I have an older set of panniers to put on the bike over the weekend. I plan to start commuting to work on Monday morning. I have a 17 mile ride each way. The route is mainly just rollers, not too hard, but not flat either. I have to be at work by 6:30 am, so I figure I'll leave my house by about 5 am so I have time to clean up once arriving at work. Today was the shakedown ride with the Trek. I used a loop I've ridden several times when I need an easy ride. Everything worked out great on the bike. The bike shifted perfectly & I am getting used to riding in a more upright position. I'm usually on my road bike tucked in a more aero position, so it will take a few rides to get used to being a bit more upright. I just figured it was time to start saving some money by riding instead of spending it all on gasoline. The only time I probably won't ride to work is when it's raining. I'm looking forward to Monday & the start of my new adventure.