Commuting - Extreme Commuter Club: Last Week!

Extreme commute club: Last week!

Well, it is spring here without dispute. I have seen robins and redwinged blackbirds. And a great blue heron. With spring, it no longer seems like our commutes can be considered "extreme" any more. So next week, let's switch to the Very Long Commute Club again. That means, of course, that I will have to start riding the long miles again.

With the change of seasons upon us, are any of you prepping your bikes? I am going to put on a new chain and brake pads. I'm hoping that the cogset is still ok.


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any kind of weather, any time of day

Mars Could not post. So I post this for him.

I have a link to the video for the test ride of the Hornet. it is here- http://www.savefile.com/files3.php?fid=2640082

Enjoy

Test

Ok, looks like I can post again. For some reason, I couldn't post a new thread or write anything on the old one. Thanks CigTech for starting the thread!

I checked out your video, your recumbent rocks! You have a really aero position by the looks of it. Does it seem fast to you?

I think I may have declred spring a little early. NOw they are calling for a snow strom for the next few days....

When I'm on the Hornet, it does not feel like I'm seating at that low of a angle. But when I seen the video, the frist thing I said was "Man I'm seating really low." Also when I was running the bike today I did not feel like I was going that fast. My mother-n-law said I was doing about 15 mph. I was just keeping the cranks moving. I had the front gear on the 48 tooth and the back I was on the 15 tooth gear. I had no problems taking off with it in the top gear. I did notice that I could start off better if I sat up and then laid back after getting going.

I did notice that the feel of the hornet changes if I seat up. When I seat up it feels more like a up right bike. when I lay back then I feel every little turn of the handle bars. It feels like it leans more when in a turn. But after watching the video I see that it leans less then a up right bike.

Mars, how many teeth does your bent have on the front gears? Oh, and how are your BOXES comming? LOL

I shoot the video with that Camera I found. That's the best thing I found so far. I did get a video of the Hornet thoughing the chain. It did a back wheel high wheely when the chain got locked up. :crash: I'll have to post the blopers at a later data. I all so got nutted when I tried my first U-turn, that's going to leave a mark. and I did not think about the tire turning out under my feet. So I got a tire burn on the back of my anckle, and that did leave a make.:eek:

Just got back from my cycling vacation last evening and I had a great time. I am going to take a couple of days off from cycling and then back to commuting this Wednesday. I can sum of the week pretty easily, wind, sun and more wind. I flew into Tucson Arizona a couple of days early so that I could be well rested for the ride, which worked out perfectly. I also settled into a group of 5 people who went out to dinner every night, which made for a nice time. In the group were 2 people from Seattle, Washington, 1 person from Spokane Washington, 1 person from Sharon Wisconsin and 1 person from Lancaster County Pa. Overall it was an interesting group of riders as there was one person from Australia and 4 from Canada, while the rest were from various parts of the United States.

Pre ride: Did a quick 30 miles to stretch out the legs and make sure that my bike was in working condition. I had to do this ride as I saw the baggage handlers throw my bike case 4 feet onto the luggage ramp. Boy was I not a happy camper.

Day 1 Tucson to Sierra Vista 87 miles: The day started off a cool sunny 55 degrees and steady headwinds from the South. The first day usually people ride quite hard as their adrenaline is pumping. However, I decided to ride an even moderate pace for the day, which meant that I rode alone. The route has a net 2500 feet of elevation gain, as I rode from the Arizona low desert to the Arizona high desert. The elevation was definitely affecting me as my heart rate was 20 bpm more than usual.

Day 2 Sierra Vista to Douglas 74 miles: The weather was a duplicate of Monday, started off cool and had a high in the mid 60s with steady winds. The ride went in a Southeastern direction which meant that I had a quartering head wind for the day. The highlight of the day was to climb Mule pass which tops out at 6030 feet above sea level and then a nice descent into the town of Bisbee. Bisbee is mostly an artist community with a great coffee and pastry shop. Douglas is a Mexican border town. Some of the people went into Mexico, but I decided against it. Most of the people who went there getting a lot of cat calls due to the lycra bound legs.

Day 3 Douglas to Loursdburg 99 miles: As the tour headed Northeast, I had a quartering tail wind for the day. The route was mostly flat with a few easy mountain passes throw in for good measure. I had an incredible day of solo riding as I did the 99 miles in 4:38.

Day 4 Lourdsburg to Safford, New Mexico 91 miles: The tour headed back southwest to Arizona and had a few small mountain passes and a strong steady head wind for the day. I rode most of the day with a person from Wisconsin. The company was nice for a change.

Day 5 Safford to Wilcox 89 miles: The tours continued southwest into the steady headwind. The day was punctuated by an 8 mile climb into a 20 mph head wind. The headwind caused a 13 mile down hill to be quite painful, as at some point of the downhill, I was pedaling like crazy and was only going 11 mph, as the head wind was gusting to 40mph. The last 18 miles wind shifted to a quartering tail wind and I jumped into a group of racers and we managed to hold the last 18 miles between 27 and 33 mph. It felt quite good to ride hard and not go anaerobic.

Day 6 Wilcox to Sierra Vista 103 miles: Again the day was warm with strong winds. I rode the first 20 miles of the day with two people and then a group of racers came by and I jumped in with them. The group was doing around 22 mph into a 20mph head wind. The echeloned pace line continued for 30 miles and then one person cranked it up to 28mph I decided to ride my own pace. The ride stopped in Tombstone and got my kids a couple of t-shirts. The last 18 miles was tortuous as I was riding into a steady 25 mph wind. At one point

Day 7 Sierra Vista to Tucson 97 miles: This was the warmest day of the tour as the tour headed from the high desert to the low desert of Arizona. The day had a net elevation loss of 2,500 feet, so even though the winds were strong it was one of the easier days. I felt quite strong on the bike and had a 30 mile stretch with a pace in the low 20s.

Very nice Tidikefor2, Sounds like you had a very good time. Whised I could have been there too.

Tibike -- sounds like a great trip. We won't mention that it would probably kill most of us. Since you're not riding today you'll miss our gusty winds, but I guess you've paid your dues.

Very uneventful riding today. Although over the weekend I did find the source of a grinding noise coming from my drivetrain. I was worried it was the BB, but while cleaning the chain and checking things I found I had cracked a pedal. The central plastic housing around the spindle had split far enough for some (or all) of the bearings to fall out. Fortunately, I had spare old pedal around, so my bike is still ridable until I can get to the LBS. This morning thankfully the grinding noise was gone. I'd much rather replace a pedal than pay the LBS to replace a BB!

Tibike: wow what a great trip. It looks awesome, I hope it ws a fun as it looks like it was. The forecast is calling for snow ans rain all week long. I guess my commute is going ot be extreme for thi slast week after all...

CigTech, I'll get back to you on that gear question. Just running out the door right now.

Ok, Here is the updated Video. http://www.streamload.com/Deliver/9/CBC0EEBB-F9C8-4072-BAAB-1295E4191B22/Playlist.asx. Enjoy

I finally have something to post.
My entire commute is 60 miles RT by bike alone.
I take a bus about halfway most of the time. 3 times a week I ride straight in or back.
Now our transit system is on strike. :(
My plan of stepping into a 60 mile RT 4 days a week (I drive my clothes in on Monday) has been short circuited. Do you think I am going to drive more? Heck no. I'm giving a go of increasing my riding from 170 miles weekly to 240. Last week I increased from 130 to 170 and lost 5 lbs. I still have about 10lbs to loose but am concerned about dropping too much too fast. I can see a distinct possibility of having an issue with keeping weight on sometime in the future.
Thank god I purchased a new touring bike.

My plan:
1) Pace myself. I'm not trying to win any races. While I adapt I am simply trying to make it to and from work.
2) Eat. Eat. Eat
3) New bib shorts and a new jersey.
4) Rack trunk to increase my aero. Wind resistance with panniers is a bit on the high side.

I picked up butt'r yesterday to assist in my occasional saddle sore (even with cycling shorts). After one trip it seems to be working quite well. I have also removed everything I think as unnecessary in my pannier and went down to one pannier.

Wish me luck. I'm a tad nervous with this increase in distance.

Wow datajunkie, that is a huge leap! Sounds like you've taken some reasonable steps though.

Yesterday out of necessity I drove my suburban to work (scheduling- didn't have time to ride in) and today I wimped out and brought the car. I've been ill and I don't want to push myself back on the bike too quick and then get worse. Its a cold that's going around. Fever, sore throat etc. No fun! Killed me on Friday and Saturday.

This is indeed the VLCC, thanks to DataJunkie! I don't think I qualify anymore, although I am riding RT these days now that it's lighter later (but only 28 miles RT...I think I'll have to move to West Virginia or something!)

Today's commute was a good one. I've developed some new routes...one straight down Rhode Island Avenue to downtown DC to the 14th Street bridge to Virginia. This route is the fastest, but also the most harrowing. Lots of traffic on RI Avenue, and lots of dump trucks and busses. If I leave early enough, it's okay, though. My other routes take me through neighborhoods to avoid the traffic, but the rides are slower because of the circuitous route, stopsigns, and the like

Today I came up with a hybrid, and it worked out great. I do the neighborhood ride first and catch RI Avenue just east of North Capitol Street. My time was 1:08 to Alexandria...that's a good 15 minutes faster than the slow route, and only 4 minutes slower than the fast route (and alot less time with the dump trucks).

Funny, though, I almost crashed from my track stand at a light. That would have been a bit embarassing. I recovered, although I think I had my face all twisted up with concentration.

DataJunkie: good luck with your new, longer commute. It sounds like you have a good plan in place.

Velogirl: a 28 mile round trip is a very respectable VLC! You were doing a track stand? do you ride a fixie?

Miserable, miserable commute today. Driving mix of freezing rain and snow. I got soaked to the skin on my short (16 mile round trip) commute. I had a drivetrain problem about a mile from work, so I had to walk it. More rain and snow in the forecast for the rest of the week. >:(

Thanks all :)

Day one: the morning was good. I cut 20 minutes off of my commute. However, the afternoon was a bit painful. A stiff wind caused me to take a bit longer.
Plus, I think I ate almost everything in the house after I finished my trip. :p
That and the hot tub was nice on the sore muscles. Time to break out the heating pad.

I only have 3 commuting days this week due to my birthday. Lets see how I feel on Friday. At least I can recuperate on Thursday.
Also, my conclusion regarding butt'r is that it is awesome stuff. It actually helped me heal while riding the 60 miles.

If I can reduce my time by 15 or 20 minutes, I will tie the time it takes when I use the bus part way.
I sure hope this works out. Using mass transit is very inconvenient, especially when they are on strike. :p
Everytime I bump it up a notch my body feels like it is falling apart and later it adjusts. I remember when I went to the 30 mile RT route it felt like my back was splitting in two and my legs were sore as heck.

DataJunkie: If you keep riding the 30 mile RT, then rest of us well have to move out of the VLCC. If you do keep it up then you well be able to cut the 15 to 20 min. off the ride.

I thought that I was just getting slow or some. My times where slowly get slower and slower. But Yesterdat I put a new tire on the back wheel and this morning I had a great RT. my ride time was 59 min. for the 16.87 miles. That's a avage ride time speed of 17.16 mph. and on the way home I hade a Avage ride time speed of 16.09. Note to self "keep a good tire on the back tire."

I have to go eat everything now... LOL

It's 30 each way :p

I'm going to die. Today was the first day I have ever rode this commute consecutive days. My feet, all leg muscles, a groin muscle, my lower back, my neck, and probably a few other muscles hate me.
I will give it a couple of weeks and see how well it is going before I decide to try something different.

I'm not going to bother with my times since they were horrible this morning. At least I made it to work.

Datajunkie -- that is a very impressive commute! It sounds like you're working up to it the right way. If you keep up that kind of riding you'll be able to do a cross country tour in no time at all. I'll remember your commute next time I'm complaining about a headwind! Maybe we should rename our thread the "VLCC + Datajunkie"

Velo -- Congrats on the new routes and speed. I used to live off of RI Ave. just south of Howard U. and I would not want to ride it during rush hour. Even when there is a building slump in DC, RI Ave has a lot of dump trucks and such.

I had an interesting commute. During the first half mile I rode through my first sleet storm. I don't think my son was that impressed with the experience as we rode to school. Sleet with strong winds really stings the face! We stopped under a bridge and buttoned up tighter befoer finishing the ride. A few miles further along I passed a small park where the winds had blown off a lot of the cherry blossoms. So the ground was covered with what looked like a slightly pink hued snow -- very cool. Now I can only hope that the wind stays from the same direction so I will have a tailwind on the way home.

You were doing a track stand? do you ride a fixie?

No, I do not ride a fixie, although I would like to someday. It is possible to do a track stand with a regular bike. It takes a bit of practice. I guess I somehow use my brakes (hand brakes) in the mix. I don't quite know how it works, but somehow I do it, these days with panniers. I just don't think about it; now I will think about it and probably not be able to do it...THANKS, MARS!:rolleyes:

You were doing a track stand? do you ride a fixie?

No, I do not ride a fixie, although I would like to someday. It is possible to do a track stand with a regular bike. It takes a bit of practice. I guess I somehow use my brakes (hand brakes) in the mix. I don't quite know how it works, but somehow I do it, these days with panniers. I just don't think about it; now I will think about it and probably not be able to do it...THANKS, MARS!:rolleyes:

You were doing a track stand? do you ride a fixie?

No, I do not ride a fixie, although I would like to someday. I don't quite know how it works, but somehow I do it, these days with panniers. I just don't think about it; now I will think about it and probably not be able to do it...THANKS, MARS!:rolleyes:

I'm glad to see we're all still having problems with the response time of the server. Probably about 1 out of 5 threads I try to open time out and I have to make a second attempt. That's an improvement from a few days ago when almost nothing worked. Looking forward to a nippy and windy ride home -- although far from the temps of our northern brethren.

I'm glad to see we're all still having problems with the response time of the server. Probably about 1 out of 5 threads I try to open time out and I have to make a second attempt. That's an improvement from a few days ago when almost nothing worked. Looking forward to a nippy and windy ride home -- although far from the temps of our northern brethren.


Man oh man, I am having some major issues with this server!:mad: I can't get on the server about half the time and haven't been able to post quite often as well. Twice in the past week, I have typed a message in only tohave it dumped into cyberspace somewhere and lost.

I'm starting to increase the pace of my riding lately. I found that my heartrate has not been in the aerobic zone for most of my rides for weeks now. It sure cuts through the BS to wear a heartrate monitor. You can't lie to yourself and makes you ride to the level your goals dictate. I want to lose weight and increase my aerobic capacity. To do so, I need to ride in my aerobic zone at least 3 times a week for usstained periods of time. That pace is very fast, and is uncomfortable. Anyone else wear one of these things?

Nice ride in today. I had to make a detour to L'Enfant Promenade to take some site photos for a project, and then had to explain to a guard why I was taking photos of government buildings...sheesh.

But I had a slightly different commute to Bannaker overlook in SW DC, over the Case bridge to East Potomac Park, and then on to Virginia. Even with the delay for photos, explanations, and detour, my time was 1:26.

No, I do not ride a fixie, although I would like to someday. I don't quite know how it works, but somehow I do it, these days with panniers. I just don't think about it; now I will think about it and probably not be able to do it...THANKS, MARS!:rolleyes:

Now now, I have no idea how you can track stand on a regular bike, but you obviously have some superior skills going on there. I little question from me surely won't disrupt that. :)

Now now, I have no idea how you can track stand on a regular bike, but you obviously have some superior skills going on there. I little question from me surely won't disrupt that. :)

Well, I paid attention today, and I just balance, use my brakes some, and hope the light changes fast. I dunno, I thought everybody did it. I mean, I don't do it for long stretches of time or anything, just enough for the light to change or the car to go through the stopsign. I take it it's easier on a fixie because you can backpedal an make your bike go backwards?

Maybe I do more of a pause in forward momentum than an all-out track stand. I hover, or something.

Velo -- Hover? What a unique superpower!

For unknown reasons I could not open this thread until this afternoon. Frustrating. I had a fast pleasant ride this morning among an increasing crowd of bikes. My ride ended with a Hitchcockian sight. There are two large sycamores hanging over the river and this morning on almost every branch perched one or more cormorants drying off after fishing in the river. Seeing a couple at a time is kind of weird, but seeing a couple of dozen was very weird. Thankfully the winds have finally died down.

nice ride home, even had to stop to take off my jacket. No track stands, though.

I couldn't get on Bike Forums all day. Stupid new server.

I can sort of hover, as long as I am moving forward at least a bit. I certainly can't come to a stop and balance. On a fixie (in case you don't know) you turn your front wheel at a 45 degree angle as you come to a stop. You pedal forward to balance one way, ad then backwards to balnce the other. I can trackstand on my fixe maybe 20 seconds, but no more.

Rode the long miles today, no rain. But tomorrow, no way Jose. 100% probabilty of rain. Hate rain this time of year.

I trackstand on the Techtra. I just give it break and put a little froce on the padle. I can hold it for about 30 sec.

Nothing special today about the ride. I was getting leg cramps this morning. But it was a little chilly at 61. the wind was only 5mph headwind. Made the ride in 65min. I did get a sunset picture on the ride home, but not from the bridge. Here it is.

I'm off tomorrow, so I'll be working on the Hornet. I should have it fiberglassed next week. I need to get some fast tires for it. Any one know of good fast tires for a 26"x1.95" and 24"x1.95" MTB Tires.

Nothing like a nice consistent rain to clear the MUP for us hard core nuts. Raincoat, goretex gloves, rain pants and goretex socks left me warm and dry in a 50 degree rain. Thank goodness for nice Christmas presents! Other than the rain it was a tiotally unremarkable ride this morning, I hope I can say the same this evening. One of those days where depending upon which forecast you follow, its either thunderstorms or possibly scattered light showers. Only time will tell. Hopefully I'll get a training ride in this weekend to start prepping for my summer charity ride. Other than that it should be an uneventful weekend.

I couldn't get on Bike Forums all day. Stupid new server.

I can sort of hover, as long as I am moving forward at least a bit. I certainly can't come to a stop and balance. On a fixie (in case you don't know) you turn your front wheel at a 45 degree angle as you come to a stop. You pedal forward to balance one way, ad then backwards to balnce the other. I can trackstand on my fixe maybe 20 seconds, but no more.

Rode the long miles today, no rain. But tomorrow, no way Jose. 100% probabilty of rain. Hate rain this time of year.


Yep, that's what I do, except I use my brakes (hand brakes) to keep from moving forward. I guess no one ever told me that it could not be done. Funny how that works.

Yep, that's what I do, except I use my brakes (hand brakes) to keep from moving forward. I guess no one ever told me that it could not be done. Funny how that works.

Sort of like the coyote who runs off the cliff but keeps running through the air until the roadrunner points out what he is doing. Then, when he realizes he is supneded in midair, falls. Except you aren't falling :D .

Now, if I remember correctly, you also don't sweat, being a lady from the south. You glow instead. That must be quite a sight at the stoplight, a woman cyclist balancing on her bike, glowing. :)

data junkie,

what time of the day do you do that commute?

Im going to start commuting 50 - 60 miles round trip myself once I have my lighting situation worked out. I have to be at work by 7 so I need to leave around 4:30 - 5am to make the 25 to 31 mile ride in time. I am a little nervous about riding in straight up dakrness for almost 2 hours.

I start around 5am. Technically, if I was to show up at work on time I should leave around 4:30. :p
Our hours are nice and flexible.

It starts getting light enough to turn off my main light in the 6 am hr. That depends on cloud cover.

The darkest part of my commute is on an unlit MUP. Deserted and a bit creepy. I love it when I hit civilization again. You will get used to it. The more I ride my route the easier it gets. Still, rodents running away from me still get me a tad jumpy.

most of my route will be on well travelled roads if I take the short route, The long route is almost all trail but its near a major road so I hope I dont see to many rodents. I got a bad phobia.

I have no long or short route. My only route involves using a MUP until I hit the middle of Denver.. It has the occasional fox, coyote, dear, mice, and something I swear looked like a rat. Oh and a possible sighting of a dead carp in the middle of the trail. Strange since the little river is 40 feet down and 50 feet to the west. yuck

I hope it works out for you. Imagine your fitness level when you become used to that level of exercise. I keep imagining that I am training for a tour of some kind :p

I could take other routes but they are either significantly out of my way or very dangerous.

Where is everybody today? Out taking the long way home. Maybe stoped for dinner on the way home. LOL

I see Datajunkie had a nice ride home (check his other post).

Well I did not get much done today. My legs feel thight today. I must have pushed the legs to hard over the last 4 days.

Hopefully they recover before tomorrows ride to work. I don't have to be to work till 10:00 am tomorrow, so that will help. Plus I don't have so much traffic on the weekends as during the week.

I hate fridays on a bike, in a car, in a plane, on a train, ........something about green eggs and ham.

LOL, I know what you mean. But just think He'll never mess with you again.

CigTech: to answer your earlier question. My large chain ring has 56 teeth and my smallest cog 11. I have three chainrings on my bike. I use the granny for the really steep mountain roads. Ihad to buy the 56 tooth cog seperately when I found the 54 which came with the bike wasn't fast enough.

either that or ..."god. What a wackjob."

data junkie,

what time of the day do you do that commute?

Im going to start commuting 50 - 60 miles round trip myself once I have my lighting situation worked out. I have to be at work by 7 so I need to leave around 4:30 - 5am to make the 25 to 31 mile ride in time. I am a little nervous about riding in straight up dakrness for almost 2 hours.

It's no big deal really, once you get used to it. I do 60 miles a day and often work late so I go home in 100% darkenss, heck I've gone home at midnight!

All you need is a 12v-7Ah SLA battery and charger, a 12v-20watt halogen downlight lamp, an on/off switch rated to 12v-3A, some cable, and some way of mounting the whole thing on your bike.... that's the fun part ;) I have the battery in my Topeak trunk bag, I mounted the bulb in a cheapie battery operated light, I gutted it and used the plastic housing to mount the bulb and the on/off switch.

I've been running this setup for a couple of years now, the whole lot cost me under $50 Aussie, maybe $35 US. puts out plenty of light for 20mph cruising in pitch black darkness, and will run for 3+ hours on one charge. It's a heck of a lot of light for your $$ and you have the added bonus of adding about 5 or 6 pounds to your bike which will make you a stronger rider, especially if you have a decent climb or two on your commute. :D

So far I love it. My body is already adjusting and my endurance is increasing. I can't wait until I fully adapt to it. I weigh 170+ lbs. Going to have a problem staying above 160 soon.

Looks like the winds are going to hit 22 MPH today mid day. good thing I'll be out work then. I'll have a 12mph head wind for 1/3 of the ride this morning. and then a head wind all the way home tonight. Man I got to get the Hornet finished.

Man The head wind home was a bear. I could not even keep to up passed 17mph for the first 9.5 miles. They was a guy on the bridge that does 50 miles every day on the bridge. He asked if he could draft me across the bridge, I said sure and off we went at 16.2 into a 18 mph head wind for the 2 mile ride across. He was on a MTB and at the end of the bridge he ride along side me to the main ride. He said that for a older huffy that I was doing better then two other guys with $2.000 bikes that could only run 13 and 14 across the bridge. I told him what I paid for the Huffy and he just laughed. Then said just goes to show you they knew how to build bikes back in the day. Then he wished me luck and turned back to the bridge.

So with a inflated ego I took off down Gandy at anout 17 mph for about 2 miles. Then the wind took my ego back down. LOL I hate the wind when it's not helping.

I did on the way to work break my speed time record. I made it to work in 56 min for the 16.94 mile commute. That gave me a ARTS of 18.15 mph. Lot to love the go fast.