In Tuesday's U.S. elections, one of the government's strongest cycling advocates was returned to Congress. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN) is now theranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,putting him in position to become the next chairman thanks to the new Democrat majority. According to the League of American Bicyclists,"Oberstar has been a consistent champion of bicycling issues for thepast 20 years. Bicyclists across the nation can look forward to working with a fellow cycling enthusiast in the years ahead. Other Democratswith a strong bicycling pedigree who may step into leadership positionsin the committee include Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio, both Democrats from Oregon." http://www.bikeleague.org

I've made a solid commitment to riding through the winter after purchasing a set of studded bike tires for the mountain bike.  I mounted them on my bike two days ago and can confirm that I will no longer be sneaking up on anyone with this bike.  After exchanging many emails,  I finally decided on the Nokian Extreme 294.  If you happen to be in the market,  Peter White Cycles has a good webpage on studded tires.  My decision eventually came down to a less aggressive tire, which would require me to ride on the roads and avoid the bike trail when real snow started falling, or something that could handle the ruts and grooves on the bike trail, but keep my average speed down.  Figuring I would rather be safe than fast, I got a really aggressive tire; now I'll just need to slow down and enjoy the snow a bit more.

I drove into work today and now remember why I'm happier riding my bike.  Door to door time in the car this morning was 54 minutes.  I can make it on the bike in about an hour, 50 minutes if I REALLY ride hard!  The ride home will be faster in the car, but it sure is frustrating to sit in traffic, watching the clock and realize it's going to be close as to whether I can beat my cycling time with the car.

I've been nursing an aging chain ring on my bike for a while, hoping it would hold out until the snow starts flying and I switch bikes.  I could have taken my time then and replaced it over the winter.  On my ride home last night, I decided I couldn't wait any longer to replace it; it was impossible to push hard anymore, the chain would just start popping.  I've been trying to figure out how many miles I've put on this chain ring, best guess I can come up with is somewhere in the neighborhood for 20K.

Australia sure has a step up on the US when it comes to treating bicycles as a true mode of transportation.  Check out this website discussing green bicycle lanes and what a nice job they do of clearly marking road ways.  They have even gone to extent of using special paint that is supposed to help tires grip when wet.  I've never seen anything like this in the US!

I joined 1799 of my closest friends for the NBW's TFCE (The Flattest Century in the East) on Sunday.  The weather was perfect, low to mid 60s, all day and just enough sun to keep you from getting chilly.  Once again, the volunteers did a superb job with everything from registration to working at the rest stops.  Don and I finished the ride wth 6 hours and 8 minutes on the bike, rolling in at just over 7 hours total time.  Around the 50 mile mark, we were being passed by a paceline and ended having to ride through a pothole.  Thanks to the 10 pounds of nutritional drink Don was carrying in a water bottle, he actually managed to snap part of a water bottle cage as a result!  The rest of the ride was just nice, until about the 80 mile mark where we turned into a stiff headwind.  We decided to stop for some ice cream at the 90 mile mark and returned to the car feeling good.  We joking discussed making it a 200k, at least I think we were joking, as we road towards the checkpoint.  Another day.  I've posted some pictures.  This is my first attempt at riding with a camera, so you'll have to forgive some of the odd angles.

I passed the 3600 mile mark on Thursday's commute.  This was my total mileage goal for the year, 10% more miles than I put on the bike last year.  I picked up a cheapo digital camera to carry on bike rides, so I'll be posting more pictures along rides.

I've never seen a time trials competition in person, but this video has helped convinced me it's something I want to see first hand.  I just can't imagine how many hours of practice are required to be able to do this on a bike.  I can barely manage a track stand, on a good day.  This video references another time trial video site, which I'll certainly explore when I have more time.

The past two days of commuting have been the wetest on record, at least my records.  Riding home yesterday I managed to get complete drenched for the entire length of the ride.  Fortunately, I had the bike with full fenders, so most everything actually hitting me was relatively clean water.

I completed my 100th day of bike commuting for the year today.  I fell short by only two rides last year, so I'm clearly much farther ahead this year.

I passed the 3000 mile mark today.  It's been wicked hot here recently, at least for Rhode Island that is.  Temperatures have been in the high 80s and low 90s with nearly 100% humidity, at least that's what it feels like.  The weatherguessers say the temperatures, with heat index, are supposed to hit about 107 tomorrow.  Oh joy.