Commuting - Very long commute club: week 14

I have been thinking about some of the raging debates that have been on these forums, like helmet use, and vehicular cycling. It seems to me that VLCers will often encounter all kinds of cycling conditions and may have some insights into these issues.

Personally, I wear a helmet, but mostly because I wanted a nice one to race in and my wife told me I could get it only if I wore it all the time. I ride using vehicular cycling techniques and rarely ride any other way.

How about the rest of you? Where do you fall on these issues?

Weather is supposed to be nice this week. Looking forward to lots of pleasant miles :)

I spent an hour this morning tinkering / getting my bike ready to go on a 25 mile run
into a neigboring town and now it looks like the rain that has graced Vermont might be headed here :mad: Oh well.........I think Im still going to risk it.
Before my bicycle commuting I commuted year 'round on motorcycles. The stuff I learned on them applies to bicycle too, but minus the avoidance factor you have on a motorcycle due to having a lot of power at your fingertips as another means of escaping danger. On the bicycle I wear a helmet most of the time but admit I dont sometimes. I would encourage helmet use and do so with my Son so I confess to being a little two-faced on this issue. My own personal bike technique is to keep a low profile and stay out of EVERYONES way. Theoreticly cars and bikes should share the road but it just doesnt work that way in real life. Here in Pa. cars / trucks are openly hostile to motorcycles and bicycles. You will suffer some degree of wrath should you hold a car up. Penna. and New Jersey have the meanest, most dangerous and inconsiderate drivers on the East Coast. To assume you have the right-of-way or that one is not going to cut you off or crowd you off the road is inviting disaster on yourself. We learn to NEVER, EVER, EVER underestimate what a car might do to you. There is no rule of right-of-way legal or implied in dealing with Pa. drivers, only size issues.....you are smaller so you are getting moved out of the way. Period. I use the shoulder, sidewalk, whatever is available to stay out of cars and pedestrians way. I do run stop signs but only if no car is coming, if so I do stop. My morning ride in is very easy because it starts at 4:50 AM. There is very little traffic where I leave from. The PM run home is just the opposite. Very harsh with all the pleasantries we discuss here happening on any given mile ! Car doors opening , getting turned in front of and cut off, peds looking straight at you and stepping in your way....Patience and a hyper state of awareness is neccassary. On the seldom occasion a car is giving me right-of-way or making room for me I always wave and mouth a 'Thank you' because I am genuinely shocked and grateful at any display of respect and courtesy from the 'enemy'.
I hate cars on more than one level and as a survival technique I do everything I can to stay out of their way and not impede thier forward progress. I dont worry about being an 'Ambassador' or anything like that....only getting home, upright.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable week !! :)

Lem in Pa.

I always wear a helmet. In part I wear one as cheap insurance against little things. Many times it has protected my head from low branches and even rocks kicked up by tires. I have yet to fall where my helmet played any role in protecting me in the crash, but it seems like a good idea. Also since I have a young son it is easier to encourage him by example.

Most of my commute is on a MUP, but when I'm riding on the road I ride somewhat vehicularly. Meaning I follow traffic rules, behave like any other vehicle and when necessary take the lane (although most areas I ride have enough shoulder to make it unecessary). Like Lem I also go out of my way to yield to any traffic -- even my rather bulky bicyclist body is no match for a ton or two of car or truck. Since much of my riding is through city traffic I will split the lane to move up between stopped cars when it is safe to do so and poses no impediment to cars. I generally do not run stop signals except on a couple of residential corners where I know traffic is almost nonexistant and I can see any approaching vehicles.

What about the other big questions of our day:

Suspension forks -- devil's work or godsend?
Suspension seatposts -- a step on the slippery slope or a bouncy fun ride?
Brightly colored bike jerseys -- poseur wear or badge of honor among slovenly t- shirt clad wannabes
Messenger bag vs. panniers
Clipless vs platforms?

These are just a few of the other major debates we could address in this thread

I wear a helmet, its the law here and I've come off motorbikes both on and off road enough to know that they do help keep your head in 1 piece.

I ride vehichularly when I have to, and I find that the more aggressive I am with my body language and positioning in the lane the more respect I get from the cagers. I used to be a lot more timid and display a bit of an 'I'm trying to yield to you whenever possible and stay invisible' attitude and they would respond agressively... that's no longer the case now.

Suspension forks, yeh I have them, I don't mind them but they do seem to subliminally encourage me to ride in a more agressive manner at times, like bunny hopping on & off the footpath.... they just inspire a more delinquent style of riding I suppose.

Suspension seatpost, never used one.

I'll leave the brightly colored jersey to the roadies on their carbon/kevlar/unobtainium ligter-than-air bikes, I wear street gear and cycling shorts.

Topeak MTB rack with trunk bag carries all my gear and the battery for my light.

Clipless - I love my SPD clipless setup, even if I'm going 4 blocks to the mall I'll change into my clipless shoes. I don't feel as safe without my feet attached to the pedals, weird eh!

Forgot to add....

I'm really happy with my setup now, it's 'dialled in' perfectly for my commuting & day to day needs including weekend social/club riding mode. I'll post a few pictures of my ride in the relevant thread soon.

Looking forward to tomorrow's commute. Had a great weekend. 60 mile solo hammerfest on Saturday and a 46 mile group hammerfest today! Love riding in groups, and pacelining at high speeds is really, really fun. Learned a few things about myself as well. I'm a very good sprinter. This (I suppose) is becuase I'm constantly starting and stopping at intersections on my VLC, and I'm usually trying to sprint back to full speeds. It impresses my group when I accelerate from a 24mph paceline to a 32mph sprint on an attack. Two, I'm a decent climber. Compared to the other guys on my group ride (B type rides, no As) I was very strong.

SO anyway I always wear a helmet. In Boston I figure better safe than sorry. I have read some information about cyclist riding and my basic philosophy is this "nobody in a car passes me unless I allow them". I ride on some busy numbered routes (2 lanes each direciton) with limited/no shoulder and bad potholes. Lots of lights, minimalls, etc. This means that I'm extremely conscious about communicating with the cars on the road. I look people right in the eye, point in their direction, yell, and I have no problems taking a lane. I would never "shrink over" into the shoulder if I thought it was dangerous, just so somebody could pass me. I obey lane assignments religiously (going straight, left turn only, etc). I try to obey every traffic law except for red lights and stop signs. I always stop, but will proceed if the intersection is clear. Also, I will try to break the speed limit whenever possible, although I assure you this does not happen as much as I would like! :)

Parts of my commute bring me through super, ridiculously heavy city traffic, which stretches for a few miles. The gridlock is astounding, so I have no choice but to pass stopped cars to the front of the line. (the gridlocked cars stretch for miles in each direction and I am obviously not going to wait through 3-4 light cycles to pass through each block). My behaviour in this situation can be described as "messenger style". I basically own the road. It's a much different situation because my bike is SO much faster than the cars. The huge concern is the door zone. So I try to be careful about that.

Yup I wear clipless, bibs, high viz but plain jersey (got two new free jersey's - one for my bike "team" and one for my upcoming MS ride - today!) helmet, shades, gloves with high viz red so that people see my hand signals. No rack, no backpack, just a small saddle bag. I also have been using this stuff Cytomax. I dont' understand technically what it does but essentially it's liquid food. Like Gatorade. It hydrates and provides calories/carbs, etc. I like it.

I am taking today off, as I did 115 miles in the mountains yesterday, which was topped off by my sons taking me to Batman Begins and then out to dinner. Could not aksed for a better father's Day....

I never leave home without a helmet. I know that a helmet has probably saved my life twice. One crash during a road race and then second time going 5mph. Each time I had a headache for three days.

Suspension forks -- I only ride on the road and would never be caught with one, therefore devil's work

Suspension seatposts -- get a good sassle and would not need one. I remember drafting a Tandem on Pactour (www.pactour.com) and the very attractive female stoker (not trying to be sexist) bounced up and down on her suspension seatpost. It made drafting the tandem for the 168 miles quite enjoyable...... ;)

Brightly colored bike jerseys -- Brightly colorored jerseys are great. However, one must be sensitive to theri surroundings. Was on a ride with a guy how had a bright green jersey, when I dropped back to relieve myself, he disappeared into the foliage. Hence, do not wear green when everything is green, etc.

Messenger bag vs. panniers, for commuting I prefer a rack with a trunk bag.

Clipless vs platforms? Do they still make platform pedals? :D

hi all

This is a quick comment on my daily commute, which may be a bit different from you all because it is in TOKYO. Let me say this first of all, it is pretty much just like any other city to commute in however the level of aggression by the ENEMY is way low. No one throwing stuff or insults. However, extremely unpredictable drivers, you simply CANNOT trust them at all. Famous for opeing doors and pulling out and changing lanes with NO WARNING AT ALL. So having ESP and the roadsense of a bat is rather essential.

I enjoy my commutes though, especially when I can get onto the back lanes and ride past ancient temples and shrines and that sort of thing.

NO ONE commutes by bicycle here, it is almost unheard of. Partly because it is dangerous and partly because of the virulent herd mentality here!

thanks for all your interesting messages

Well Father's Day was good to me. I got a new Cat Eye bike computer -- so in a day or two I will have a whole new quantitative sense of my commute. I just have to figure out how to use it!! My wife also gave me a gift certificate from my LBS to buy studded snow tires for winter commuting. She said it was because she knows how much I am enjoying the ride and didn't want me to be stopped by winter (personally I'm going to be checking to see if my life insurance has been increased in the hopes that I'll break my neck and leave her a rich widow). So all in all a great day.

On the downside this morning I managed to fall over in the lamest move ever executed on a bike. Without the benefit of clipless pedals or toe clips to blame it on, I tried to put my foot down on the curb and missed!! I couldn't get my foot up on the curb fast enough and just toppled over on my side. Fans of the old Laugh In series may remember Arte Johnson's tricycle riding old man who fell over whenever he hit anything -- I achieved the perfect imitation this morning. So now I have a nice little patch of road rash with no heroic story to tell.

I was being somewhat facetious when I opened up the other topics of debate, but its good to see this group has opinions on all of these issues.

newbie:

now that you have enetered the wold of too may electronics for the bike, you must remember that you will have good and bad days on the bike. It is much more important to keep track of your perceived effort on the bike than average speed etc. If you get too concerned with average speed, you will drive yourself crazy......

Tbike,

Actually I'm planning on an orgiastic glut of measuring everything about my ride with excessive precision for a few days until my attention wanes and reporting nauseating details here ... just kidding!!

Actually it will be interesting to see how much time I lose at stoplights and other traffic issues. I'm thinking it will be most useful in a couple of flatter stretches where I think I tend to dog it a little bit, so the computer will let me check my laggard tendencies. My biggest challenge seems to be translating the pictures into actual tasks with the computer.

Well Father's Day was good to me. I got a new Cat Eye bike computer -- so in a day or two I will have a whole new quantitative sense of my commute. I just have to figure out how to use it!!


Ha ha...I would have sent you mine ! I got a CatEye Enduro(?) and I just cant
figure out how to use it :mad: I have at least a modicum of intelligence despite
the way it might appear in some of my posts and I am a computer operator by trade,
UNIX even :eek: but I just cant get the little electro-abacus to work the way it says it is
'sposed to so I just use the two functions I can get to work and utilize my own sort of quantum
calculatory methodology to come up with data that will suit whatever lie I am trying to
tell someone about speed or mileage :D

The weather was out-and-out chilly this morning here in Pa. Very refreshing. I really
think I cut a minute or two when the weather is below 60 degrees.....My computer tells
me so :p

Today was a spectacular day for commuting. 37 miles, all fast. Sunny, low humidity, although a stiff headwind the last 6-7 miles heading east towards the ocean. All the yahoos were out today along the Charles River Esplanade, but it's all good.

Ran into 4 friends on my commute. How nice to have real human interaction on my commute.

Somebody broke into our building last night and stole TWO bikes. Thank god mine was not stolen but they got away with my mini pump. GRRR. So I stopped at a LBS (not my usual LBS) on the route home and bought a replacement. I live in a city apartment building from the 1700s with a cavernous basement type of level at the bottom. Somebody apparently got a key, entered the bike room, and took two bikes. For what it's worth, my bike was the nicest one of the lot, by far, adn I'm amazed that the thief took the two beaters instead of my nicer Lemond (low end for the bikeforums.net board tho!)

Lem,

I'm in kind of the same boat, although I refuse to give up (yet)!! Mine's the MC100 with 10 functions and 12 features -- only about half have I identified and actually understand how to access. The directions in 12 languages and pictures are not entirely clear so some things I just experimenting until I get the right combinations.

Today was a glorious riding day in DC. Morning temps in the 60s and afternoon in the 70s, no DC humidity and even partly cloudy skies so you didn't have to pull out the sunglasses. I don't think I had a phenomenal fast ride, but until I fell over it was just an amazingly pleasant ride. It seems that some rides are just very nice even though there is nothing outstanding or remarkable about them. You find yourself at work wondering where the time went and marvelling at how easy it was.

With any luck I will conquer my computer tonight and will get my first stats tomorrow. It seems only fitting since I should pass 1000 miles of commuting on the way home tomorrow.

i've been cranking along just as usual, pulling off the about 60 mile round trip pretty much all of my 4 day work week. i took today off because i rode my commute plus some unplanned roads yesterday to get to a fathers day shindig, tommorow should be a nice after work ride.

i always get a kick out of the customers that know everything about computers but can't figure out the cyclometers. i've programmed so many of them that they are my second language. be careful with what they can do though, i ran one for a few weeks and eventually popped it off- it's still way more fun without one!

I have conquered the computer and was able to have a data filled ride this morning. Actually the only surprises were pleasant ones. I was actually riding a little faster than I thought and some of the spots where I thought I was dogging it were not too bad (of course there are other sections where the news was not so good). It also looks like traffic lights and such add 8 to 10 minutes to my riding time. And my ride is a quarter of a mile longer than my map calculations -- hardly a big deal but interesting.

This morning was fabulous for riding with temps in the 60s, little humidity and no winds. It was sunny and just beautiful. I saw a rabbit, but he veered off the trail before we could start a proper race. I also saw a bird chasing a squirrel -- I guess away from its nest -- all I know is the bird was screeching and flapping over the squirrel while the squirrel ran like crazy across the trail. All in all a very amusing ride. Hope everyone else had a good ride today.

I forgot my GPS and just got my PB over my 22 mile ride into work. I wear a helmet all the time, witnessed a bad crash in London last year, would not wish anyone to endure a serious head injury, I also think good protective eye ware. stones and bits fly like bullets....

When the commute is too technical ya might as well get back into the car....just getting ready for the ride back...

I just wanted to say...go, long commuters, go!
You people rock and I'm glad you are out there eating up the miles!

So yesterday riding home. One of the country roads goes through a small college. It's a beautiful road, and I was doing around 30 on a longish slight downhill to try to look cool behind some stinky SUV that just passed me impatiently.

Come around a turn, see a trooper parked hiding behind some trees. Pointing the radar gun. I was speeding! Wondered what the fine was for doing 30 in a 20 zone on a bike. Anyway I did not get pulled over but would have cracked up laughing if I did.

SUV in front slowed WAAAYYYY down, so I passed him, impatiently.

Ah the joys of commuting. What a riot.

VLC 36 miles (4 miles + train AM, 32 miles bike home).

Not a bad ride today. I think I did my 2nd fastest time, 2:01 for the 32 miler. At least 3 helicopters over the Philadelphia Art Museum at the end of my ride, due to some anti-biotech protest. Earlier on the trail, by a steel mill, there was a police SUV on the trail with flashing lights, and 2 fire trucks about 15 feet above the trail on top of an embankment, and several firefighters hosing down the embankment. I'm guessing one of the passing trains lit the brush on fire? Either that or a chemical spill.

That's probably it for this week; too many commitments the rest of the week.

I just wanted to say...go, long commuters, go!
You people rock and I'm glad you are out there eating up the miles!

Tahnks Lala! It is always so rewarding to get such positive comments. The long miles can get dreary and depressing, especially if the weather is bad. It is nice to read that others think that what we are doing is cool :)

Hot today in Vermont, very nice for riding. I need to focus more on keeping hydrated when it gets hot. anyone have a system that works for them?

hi all,
I'd like to report a commuting milestonedid my first round-trip in one day commute yesterday (66kms roundtrip=41 miles). I usually ride in one day, take the train home, then reverse the process the next day. It's not really a fitness issue, but mostly to give my knees and ITB some rest, but all is feeling well so i went for it. I've had ITB issues (mostly from running, but once they start cycling can be affected) in the past but by slowly building mileage and making sure to give myself 10 minutes to stretch after a ride I've been able to avoid problems. Yeah! It's always nice to see improvement. Also, hooked up with another foreigner here in Japan last weekend for a nice ride in the hills near my house--met the guy right here on bikeforums!

Primeowl where are you in Tokyo? I used to live in Mizonokuchi on the den-en-toshi line near futako-tamagawa. i'm down in kansai now--big as it may be, it's nothing compared to tokyo. i do see a few "real" commuters in the morning here occasionally (you know what i mean) but if you count all the people riding their bikes to their local train station, grocery store, etc. I'd say almost *everybody* is a bike commuter here on some level!

By the way, somebody asked a while back how long i've been in japan (sorry, can't remember who).... 5 years, got a good thing going here so no plans to leave anytime soon. i'll post some countryside photos soon as requested.

No commute tomorrow, supposed to be serious rain. i don't care about getting wet and commute through regular rain, but this is supposed to be sort of dangerous typhoon kind of rain...

Have fun and be safe everyone,
Tom

On the downside this morning I managed to fall over in the lamest move ever executed on a bike. Without the benefit of clipless pedals or toe clips to blame it on, I tried to put my foot down on the curb and missed!! I couldn't get my foot up on the curb fast enough and just toppled over on my side. Fans of the old Laugh In series may remember Arte Johnson's tricycle riding old man who fell over whenever he hit anything -- I achieved the perfect imitation this morning. So now I have a nice little patch of road rash with no heroic story to tell.


You could claim that a certain piece of equipment "Saved My Life!" Some people love those stories.

This morning was a total washout. My first commute ever in the rain. My AM commute is only 5 miles, so although I was soaked, I was not uncomfortable. I don't have fenders. The big issue is that *everything* is now soaked. Hopefully the little fan I've got in my office can dry everything out before the 32 miles home. The sopping wet shoes are the big issue.

I'm enjoying this computer thing. It really is a big help in sections of the ride where I tend to slow down for no good reason. It hasn't really increased my overall speed yet, but I think it will help me make the ride more consistent and eventually faster. I was pleasantly surprised that my trip home last night was faster than I had thought. Having a speedometer definitely helps when I want to slow down on the uphill sections.

It was a nice ride this morning although there was a spattering of large rain drops for about the first mile of my ride -- so much for the weather forecast!! Summer traffic on the MUP has definitely picked up, even in the morning. I figured we hit the max a few weeks ago, but traffic continues to rise and even on the unpaved portion of the trail. I guess I can view all the extra traffic as providing mental exercise along with the physical workout.

Hello VLC members. I'm brand new here. I just acquired a bike a couple weeks ago and it’s my first time on one in a long time. I bought it because I wanted to try the commuting thing. So last week I ventured out on my maiden 18-mile each way voyage. I have done it five times now and must say that I thoroughly enjoy it. I most like the early morning ride into work when it is cool and there is less traffic.

Not having any cycling experience since getting around the college campus a dozen years ago, I have really dove head first into this. It seems there is so much to learn. I have not had a chance to read through the previous 13 weeks of VLC threads, but I will get around to it. I look forward to sharing my commuting experiences here and gaining knowledge from more experienced cyclists.

Welcome aboard hubcap. You'll find a few others on here in a similar situation and several of us have started long commutes in the past few months. There is definitely a learning curve to bike commuting, but fortunately there is also an addiction curve so it equals out. When you get a chance, tell us about your commute (type of riding, terrain, etc). We are a curious group and love to hear about other commuter experiences.

I did it !
Using part inspiration from Maylandnewbie and part humiliation from looking
like an imbecile in a public forum I unfolded the NY Times sized instructional
sheet for the CatEye and actually figured it out. Everything sort of fell
into place when I went into the 'AT' mode. After accessing this new found
plethora of useless information all I could think of was :
...................." Wow.....all this work for an 11mph avg. !?!?" :D.................

I dont know if it was summer-is-here or just the principals of inevietability
but I got my first unprovoked, for no reason horn and verbal assault from a
2o year old mini van today. I knew it had to come eventually but is disconcerting
all the same. The mean streets of Coatesville had a really bad vibe today
so I think I am going to use my new 'look at 'em and laff' attitude toward
hills and go my other longer hill route to take a break from the city part
of the ride. I hope my little computer friend can handle the extra workout :)

Two more days for this week and I feel fine even after a long ride on Sunday.....This
commuting is great stuff !!

VLC 32 Miles today: 5 Miles In, 28 Miles home

Dropped off the bike at the LBS on the way home today and took the T (our subway) home. Bike needs to be tuned for my 150 mile ride this weekend. My bike was a complete disaster because the roads were soaking wet and I dont' have fenders. Although it was sunny, some T-storms had blown through leaving tons of water and puddles everywhere. My shirt, shorts, shoes and socks were again completely soaked and brown. You couldn't see my legs because they were covered with dirt.

Have fun with those computers. They're pretty addictive.

Hey Monument Man !
Dont short change yourself !
33 miles today ! :D :D

150 on top of all that ??
Wow...hurts just thinking about it :eek:

Though my legs didn’t feel as zippy pulling out to of the driveway this morning, it was a pleasant day for a commute. Smooth and relatively uneventful…until I crashed. Yep, crashed.

The route to work that I have started using takes me via a crushed limestone trail for a good 2/3 of my trip. It has been super dry here and the lime dust really coats my bike good. So I reach the point of my commute that I pull off the trail and onto a paved road at an intersection. I start to make the right turn onto the road and whooop! the tires slide out from under me and I go down. I pop back up, the bike seems ok, I seem ok, and I ride on the final few miles to work. A couple small tears in the bar tape, and what I believe is my first case of some road rash on the outside of my upper thigh/hip – no major damage done. Since I was moving pretty slow and didn’t take the turn very sharp, I’m pretty sure it was all the dust still coated on my tires from the path that was the culprit. That’s a lesson learned that I will watch out for next time.

As I mentioned before, I believe my commute is about 18 miles each way. I will probably get a cyclocomputer someday and will know for sure then. It starts out with about three miles of 2-lane road without any real shoulder (not much traffic and it isn’t moving too fast), then about 12 miles of the path, then finishes with three miles of road again (more traffic, higher speeds, but more lanes and/or paved shoulders). I have an alternate route that involves more road riding and cuts a mile or two, but the path is nice.

I need some coffee. More about my commute later.

Lem (pound 'em would be a more accurate transliteration I suppose but takes longer to type), technology is kind of cool. Fortunately, all of my surprises with the computer were happy ones, I had been underestimating my speed by a little bit. I agree that Cat Eye directions require the user to pay great attention to detail.

It was a fabulous morning for a ride: cool, sunny and little humidity. Today is the last day of our good fortune since humidity and heat return tomorrow AM. Got caught in a thunderstorm last night about 4 mi. from home. Since I forgot my raingear at home, nothing to do but pedal on. It was wild when I crossed one major intersection the water running in the gutters was almost bath water warm from running off the hot road and parking lots in the area. I'm set to enjoy a nice ride home.

Monument doesn't it suck being without a bike? Good for you if you have a spare, but if not you have my sympathy.

Hubcap, too bad about the crash, but I'm glad it was minor. At least yours was a real crash, earlier this week I just fell over when I went to put my foot on the curb and missed. Talk about embarassing! Sounds like a nice commute ride you've got. Thanks for the details and enjoy your ride.

Sat in traffic this morning in my car. My car is much less comfortable and in general is worse than my bike. I am fastidious about the cleanliness of my bike (well, I clean it when I can, after yesterday's ride it looked like a used MTB) but my car is filthy and a real city junker. Got to work late due to traffic. Grrr. Maryland you're exactly right, I really miss my bike. I wish I knew how to tune the derailers but I don't 1) have the knowledge and 2) have lots of space in my apartment to tinker with my bike (without the better half blowing a gasket!)

They're forecasting low-to-mid 90s for my 150 miler this weekend. Getting lots of rest and lots of hydration in advance of the ride.

Hey Hubcap, too bad about your spill. Hope you recover. Sounds like you'll be fine. I also have around a 5 mile crushed limestone path I can take on my commute. In the spring it was great becuase there wasn't as much dust. But now that it's somewhat drier, the dust all over my bike and in my drivetrain bothers me. So I typically take an adjacent back country road (very little traffic) so that my bike stays clean. The difference in the amount of traffic is minimal, so avoiding that path is an easy decision. The path is really pretty though, and you'd be amazed you're near Boston.

I rode through the rain that MonumentMan mentioned. It was an absolute downpour - in the span of 20 minutes, I bet we got an inch. The path was absolutely flooded with runoff. In spots, I was riding through a couple of inches of water. It was GLORIIUS.

My panniers stayed completely dry, though, so I reckon that they are just about perfectly waterproof. Good thing, too, since I had a laptop in there.

My handlebar bag didn't do so well - it had a couple of cups of water sloshing around by the time I was done. Good thing I moved my wallet and cellphone to the panniers.

MonumentMan, I live a couple of miles from that path. It's truly amazing and a blast to ride, thgouh I usually don't go that way since it's a touch longer.

Since I envision that this program will be of immense value to all of us on our commute planning I include this TV programming note. The Discovery Channel will air a program titled "The Science of Lance Armstrong" on Monday 6/27 at 8PM. Just in case anyone wants to watch it and take notes to hone their skills for the commute.

Sloth,
I agree there is something perversely fun about riding through a downpour. So far my pannier has always proven to be waterproof so everything packed away arrived home nice and dry unlike the rest of me.

Though my legs didn’t feel as zippy pulling out to of the driveway this morning, it was a pleasant day for a commute. Smooth and relatively uneventful…until I crashed. Yep, crashed.


I need some coffee. More about my commute later.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Hubcap.....
I hope you persevere and keep at it though.
The coffee will help put everything back in perspective ! :D

What kind of bike do you ride ?
Enquiring minds want to know !

hubcap, sorry to hear about the Loss-of-bike casualty. :(

Ok, I am curious. As President of the Road Bike Forum OCP Club, I am curious as to the requirements of being in the VLC Club.

I recently started commuting on my old Centurion. I ride to and from work three days a week. It is 22.5mi each way. So, 6 legs/week gives me 45 mi/day, 135 total miles of commuting per week. Is this kind of what is needed to be in the VLC? Just curious.

So far, it seems to be working out pretty good, as long as I eat enough good food, and always take some good drink with me. Plus, my new CygoLite is in the mail.

Patriot,

135 mi/week would seem like enough distance to join our little band. I do about 121 miles in a week, so you've got me beat. As out fearless instigator, Mars, told the last person who asked about entrance requirements, "if you feel it is a long commute, then its a long commute". So welcome aboard and share your thoughts and experiences on commuting.

It was a nice ride home. Temperature was around 90F. Supposed to be 96F tomorrow. It's funny, but I have not noticed the heat bothering me. I'm also a recreational runner and I can tell you that if I was running in these temps I would be sweating like a pig and definitely noticing the heat. I think it is the air movement around my body quickly evaporating the sweat that is the difference. When I got home and spent a little time in the garage dusting the bike, I started dripping alot.

My bike: I bought a very slightly used Specialized Langster from a nearby owner who's ad I saw in Roadbikereview. Why did I pick this bike for a venture into cycling? I guess the simplicity appealed to me. It's a 48x16 single speed right now. I can flip the rear wheel around to make it fixed, but I want to get my legs under me first. Things are pretty flat around here, so the single gear didn't scare me. I want to learn to maintain it myself, so why start with the complexity of gears if I don't need to?

It has 700x23 slick tires and not much room for bigger ones. I'm sure some people think it's ill-suited to zip down a crushed limestone bike path, but it really hasn't been an issue at all. Well there is that little crash thing, but heck, that happened on pavement.

Oh yea, it was cheap for a almost new, but quality bike. I got it to try commuting, not necessarily to go out on weekend rides with a club. For this reason I couldn't see buying something too expensive to just to see if I liked it.

That's my bike. I can see having two or three of these things though, so don't be suprised to see me posting sometime about picking up another.

Alright, time for bed. Got an easy day tomorrow. 17miles tops round trip. 5 miles in and 12 miles in the PM just to meet a buddy and head to the LBS. Going to take it SLOOOWWWW. They're predicting 98+ degrees on Saturday just in time for my 150 miler. Jeesch.
going to test out a new route in to work tomorrow. fwiw i'm steadily breaking the 20mph average on my sprint into work. my long time nemesis, "the kid", doesn't stand a chance anymore. i'm also toying with the route for the ride home, going to possibly add a mile but try to steer clear of any huge highway stuff.

patriot i dont' care what anybody says, 45 miles + r/t is lots of miles, more than most for sure! if you've got pics be sure to share.

posting and reading this thread helps to keep me motivated to continue to add the miles.