Commuting - How to turn left on hwy? Climb hills?

Hello again,

Thanks for all your help in the last thread! I've gone over my new prospective route two times and it looks mostly awesome (although I have to ride it, and at peak times, to see if I can do it yet). I'm going to try tomorrow--yes!

So I have some new questions, because of the route change:

1) I'll now have to turn left from the highway, starting on the right-hand shoulder, crossing 2 lanes of 55+mph traffic to get to the turn lane and then turning in front of two more lanes of traffic. There aren't any traffic lights for miles and miles. What's the best way to get across?

2) The new route is on country roads and requires a fair bit of climbing, and I hate climbing (because I am bad at it). I'm a heavy girl and I have a heavy bike. I'm losing weight and that will help, but what else can I do? This route is going to be hard for me, but doable, I think. I'm worried about showing up at work smelly and soaked and exhausted, and late. Did you have a commute that was difficult at first? How long 'til it became less of a challenge? What did you do to de-sweatify? I know about the wet wipes and everything, but I have long hair and if I blow-dry it I think I might just make myself warmer and sweatier. Any tips (for making the commute easier and/or my self less sweaty) would be appreciated! I think I'm forgetting something, but I guess I've probably asked my quota of questions for the day anyway :)

Hello again,

Thanks for all your help in the last thread! I've gone over my new prospective route two times and it looks mostly awesome (although I have to ride it, and at peak times, to see if I can do it yet). I'm going to try tomorrow--yes!

So I have some new questions, because of the route change:

1) I'll now have to turn left from the highway, starting on the right-hand shoulder, crossing 2 lanes of 55+mph traffic to get to the turn lane and then turning in front of two more lanes of traffic. There aren't any traffic lights for miles and miles. What's the best way to get across?

2) The new route is on country roads and requires a fair bit of climbing, and I hate climbing (because I am bad at it). I'm a heavy girl and I have a heavy bike. I'm losing weight and that will help, but what else can I do? This route is going to be hard for me, but doable, I think. I'm worried about showing up at work smelly and soaked and exhausted, and late. Did you have a commute that was difficult at first? How long 'til it became less of a challenge? What did you do to de-sweatify? I know about the wet wipes and everything, but I have long hair and if I blow-dry it I think I might just make myself warmer and sweatier. Any tips (for making the commute easier and/or my self less sweaty) would be appreciated! I think I'm forgetting something, but I guess I've probably asked my quota of questions for the day anyway :)

Is the left turn at a cross road or a T intersection? How busy is the cross street? If you want to use the left hand turn lane like a car, plan your move well in advance, start looking back over your shoulder well in advance, and be ready to sprint hard to get into the left turn lane. If you're at all apprehensive about doing this, or at all uncertain about your bike handling skills or your sprinting ability, don't try it. The easy way out is to cycle across the intersection, dismount, walk/run the bike across like a pedestrian, and then get back on your bike and resume riding. This is a god option if the road is divided, you can go half way across, hang out on the median until the other half of the road is clear, and finish crossing.

On really hot days I've been known to bring in a camp towel, head into a bathroom, and take a complete sink bath before changing into work clothes. This works best if you cycle into work in cycling clothes (or some kind of athletic clothing) and change into your work clothes at work.

Have fun on the commute!

so you think it's better to dismount before i cross? just out of curiosity why is that preferable to riding across? (i have no idea! except that it might take longer to get up to speed if i'm riding. or i might get a ticket :))

the intersection is a T, and the road is mostly pretty low-traffic. in the morning it probably has a little more going on than usual. i'll have to be really careful of people turning right onto that road! or turning left from that road onto the highway. thanks for bringing that up!

do you think crossing the highway is a good idea? is crossing a big road like this dangerous enough to justify taking a different route? it's a pretty busy road, especially at 7:30am or so.

thanks!

Hey, wild animals (I love your username :))! Happy to hear you're sticking to it! Have you ridden your new route yet? How is it (apart from hills)?

markf's advice on left turns is a very good one. The pedestrian option may be the safest one and give your muscles a welcome break from relentless pedalling. :)

There are many things that can be said about climbing hills; here are a few tips that might be helpful:

GEARING & PEDALLING

There are two basic ways to climb a hill: to stand up on the pedals and attack it or to get into an easy gear and spin up it (well, there is also the way of shame, namely next to your bike and not on top of it, but we won't discuss that even though we all have embarassing memories of this sort :D). I find that the first way works best on fairly short and steep climbs - this way they are over very quickly. However if the climb is long, this method is liable to tire you out. So the thing to do, especially for an untrained rider, is to go into the low gear. If you do that, it should not be very difficult to move the pedals, no more difficult than on a flat section (so you'll be spinning the legs, not mashing the pedals). Of course, you will go much slower, but at least you're not going to die from exhaustion in process (well - unless it's a REALLY bad hill :)).

Are you familiar with how gearing works on your bike? If not, feel free to ask - it's a really important thing to know and can be confusing without help.

THE CHALLENGE

You will definitely notice improvement with time: probably some improvement within a week or two, and more the more you ride. A famous racer (LeMond?) once said: "It doesn't get any easier, you just go faster." :) But of course you may choose not to push yourself and go too fast - and at that point it'll certainly get easier. Your muscles will get stronger, you will lose unneeded pounds, you mind will not fear the hills anymore (after you've done them a few dozen times, you'll be confident you can do it again).

ARRIVAL

To make sure you are not ever late for work, test-ride the route (carrying everything you would carry to work to correctly estimate the effect of the load) and note how long it took you. Then add, perhaps, 45 minutes for emergencies such as flat tire and/or "feeling weak" days. This way you will never feel rushed and will have plenty of time to change, cool off and enjoy a coffee/newspaper/chat with collegues/reading bikeforums before work. (If it's one of those days when a flat tire happens - no time for a coffee but still some for clean-up).

As far as clean-up is concerned, I'm lucky: never had to do anything special, just cool off a bit change a shirt. I am not a big sweater, and fresh sweat doesn't stink anyway (the stink is produced by bacteria which take hours to multiply and process the yucky stuff in your sweat to turn it from an odourless into a very odourfull substance).

I am surprised you're mentioning your hair: is your concern that the hear is gonna get soaked with sweat? That usually isn't my experience... As for the rest of the body: you can use wet wipes for "problem areas" or you can wipe your whole upper body with a wet towel in the bathroom... Anyway, others will probably be better advisors in this area.

Good luck! Do tell us how it goes!

so you think it's better to dismount before i cross? just out of curiosity why is that preferable to riding across? (i have no idea! except that it might take longer to get up to speed if i'm riding. or i might get a ticket :))
I think the idea referred to here is to act like a pedestrian when crossing at the sidewalk. The cars on the road don't expect to see someone crossing a road at the sidewalk area at high speed. You are protecting yourself if you accidentally miss seeing a car. The driver should have time to see you and react accordingly.

2) The new route is on country roads and requires a fair bit of climbing, and I hate climbing (because I am bad at it). I'm a heavy girl and I have a heavy bike. I'm losing weight and that will help, but what else can I do? This route is going to be hard for me, but doable, I think. I'm worried about showing up at work smelly and soaked and exhausted, and late. Did you have a commute that was difficult at first? How long 'til it became less of a challenge? What did you do to de-sweatify? I know about the wet wipes and everything, but I have long hair and if I blow-dry it I think I might just make myself warmer and sweatier. Any tips (for making the commute easier and/or my self less sweaty) would be appreciated! I think I'm forgetting something, but I guess I've probably asked my quota of questions for the day anyway :)


Climbing!! ugh!! My commute has a hill that I've nicknamed Mount Morning. When I first started tackling this hill in May - it took about 20 minutes and I had to take a rest break at the top. Today I did Mount Morning in 5 minutes and was not even out of breath at the top. So yea, it will get better. I started just sitting and spinning, sitting and spinning. Once I got comfortable with that and no longer felt I would have to step off and push at any moment, I started using a higher gear as much as possible. Gradually I got to the point where I could even upshift about halfway up the hill. And my stamina has greatly improved. Now I've started standing and attacking the hill for as much as I can. I sit and spin the rest of the way.

As for de-sweatifing ... powder works great for me. Something like a shower to shower kinda powder. Dries me off and prevents that sticky feeling I get after sweating. How about a small fan for the hair? Kinda like a hair dryer without the heat. :shrugs:

Take a shower in the morning and even though you'll be sweaty when you get to work, you won't smell bad. Keep deodorant, baby wipes and a camp towel at the office. Give yourself 10 minutes to cool down, then towel off, wipe down and put on some deodorant.

When you get home you'll probably smell more, but at least you'll have a shower waiting for you.

[e] Climbing never gets easier, you just climb faster.

wild animals, what brand/model of bicycle do you have? It might be feasible to set up the drivetrain with better climbing gears by changing the smallest chainring on the cranks, and/or by changing the rear gear cluster. That doesn't reduce the amount of energy required to go up a hill, but it may help you take it at a more comfortable pace.


but I guess I've probably asked my quota of questions for the day anyway You can have my "ask one, get one FREE" coupon, I don't think I'm going to need it anytime soon :)

An eye glass mounted mirror helps a lot when you want to turn across 2 lanes of fast moving traffic. It lets you see where the gaps in the traffic are well before they get to you, so you can prepare yourself to make the lane changes. Bright rear blinkies might help make the traffic aware of your presence. The advantage of walking across is that you can devote 100% attention to watching the traffic, without worrying about controlling of the bike at low speed. Schedule your ride so the last half mile can be done at a really easy pace - the breeze you generate will help cool you.

Re: climbing. On my commute I am usually either climbing a good-size hill or flying down the other side of the hill. When I first started I was on the very lowest gears I have and barely moving, or occasionally walking. Three months later I'm climbing on the middle ring, something that was unfathomable at the beginning!

So it gets easier. Losing the weight will come naturally - there are stories all over this forum about people who have lost 50+ lbs and are now having to eat more so they don't lose too much. All this just by doing what you have to do anyway, commuting to work!

I agree on the mirror thing. You want a mirror near your eye.
FWIW, I prefer helmet mount mirrors. When I was using eyeglass mirrors, I would forget them sometimes, and my glasses are very lightweight and can't support a mirror without wobbling like crazy.

Also some folks don't wear glasses. Personally I think it's nuts not to have something over your eyes on a bike; if I didn't need glasses I'd get safety glasses, I've had too many pieces of sand and gravel hit me in the face to risk unprotected eyes on the road.

Once I went to helmet mount, I was never without a mirror again.

As far as climbing is concerned, unless you've got spotless technique, standing to climb a hill will probably shoot your heart rate through the roof, and hence increase the quantity of sweating. Sitting, and spinning up it in a REALLY low gear is probably going to be your "best" bet. Beware of pushing yourself too hard in a big gear, especially when sitting - it's a really great way to develop terrible, chronic knee injuries.

No chance of a shower at work? Or, even a health club or gym you could join a few blocks from work (to use their lockers?)

so you think it's better to dismount before i cross? just out of curiosity why is that preferable to riding across? (i have no idea! except that it might take longer to get up to speed if i'm riding. or i might get a ticket :))

the intersection is a T, and the road is mostly pretty low-traffic. in the morning it probably has a little more going on than usual. i'll have to be really careful of people turning right onto that road! or turning left from that road onto the highway. thanks for bringing that up!

do you think crossing the highway is a good idea? is crossing a big road like this dangerous enough to justify taking a different route? it's a pretty busy road, especially at 7:30am or so.

thanks!

Dismounting lets you come to a complete stop and look both ways carefully. After you make sure the road is clear you can walk/run across the intersection quickly, then take your time re-mounting your bike and getting back up to speed.

After you've done this ride a few times and gotten more comfortable on your bike and become familiar with the traffic patterns at this intersection, you can decide whether to negotiate this intersection like a car, changing lanes into the left hand turn lane and making a left turn from there.

Things to consider at this intersection: Where is the sun at this hour? Is it in the eyes of driver's who might hit you? Is it in your eyes? Which way are most cars travelling? Cars coming towards you are easy to see, cars overtaking you are not so easy to see.

I haven't seen the road, so I can't tell you if you should take a different road or not. Is there a different route you can take? Busy roads are not necesarily dangerous if you've got a clean shoulder to ride on, if the road is straight enough for you and motorists to see each other from a reasonable distance, and if there's room for motorists to get around you easily.

I'm not too impressed with the rear view mirrors that cyclists use, I think I get a better picture of whats behind me by looking behind me and by listening for cars coming up behind me.

HTH,
mark

1) I'll now have to turn left from the highway, starting on the right-hand shoulder, crossing 2 lanes of 55+mph traffic to get to the turn lane and then turning in front of two more lanes of traffic. There aren't any traffic lights for miles and miles. What's the best way to get across?

I have a similar turn to make on my commute home every day with the only noteable difference being a 45mph limit (not that anyone's doing 45 as they rush to get on the interstate). I started out riding down the shoulder, looking for gaps in traffic then taking them as they came. This worked maybe 50% of the time and the other times I had to stop at the intersection and wait for a gap or push the crosswalk button.

After a while, I started trying to negotiate my way through the often heavy traffic, again starting from the shoulder. I had read Effective Cycling and the book explained in great detail how to negotiate safely through traffic (signal your intentions, make eye contact with driver, wait for them to slow, them move over, and repeat for the next lane). This worked a lot better as I was often able to get someone to yield for me to move into the right lane and then 100% of the time someone in the left lane would yield. But, still on more than a few occassions I was not able to get someone in the right lane yield. This was annoying as I'd be going 20mph and have to come to a stop at the next intersection and wait for all the traffic to clear to cross.

The third and final step was to fully begin acting like a vehicle that belonged on the road (and not on the shoulder unless I wanted to be there). I got myself an eyeglass mounted mirror and began using the traffic lane for the entire 3/4 mile stretch of this road that I take before the intersection. I was amazed at how easily traffic flowed around me even though I was often going 1/3 of it's speed. Those who didn't change lanes early enough had to wait a few seconds or just had to go at my speed until the intersection where I turned. Less than 1% of people seem to take issue by being slowed down by me. But, the greatest benefit was that I fianlly solved the riddle to negotiating my way across this road. For starters, being in the right lane meant one less lane to negotiate. Second, as I noted earlier, once I had control of the right lane, getting someone to yield in the left lane was cake. Works every time, literally. I feel/am much more efficient and every day other road users get a nice dose of "bikes belong" even on a 45mph two lane highway.

I had read Effective Cycling and the book explained in great detail how to negotiate safely through traffic (signal your intentions Heh, heh - are you sure that was in the book? As far as I remember, Forester insisted on uselessness of traffic signals... :p

hi chephy! thanks! i love your icon. who is that there? nothing like a big cute face to cheer you up : ) i'm going to try to ride the route today. yikes! i have only driven over it twice in the car (the second time we had to go to st helens anyway, so we just went that way instead of the usual way), but not ridden it. from a car it looks like the biggest problem will be the hills and a few places where visibility might be more of a challenge. there isn't a shoulder or anything. also someone mentioned fog on that road, and that worried me a little. it's higher up than the highway, and i bet it's covered in fog a good part of the fall and winter.

i mostly understand the gearing on my bike (it's a nexus 8-speed hub) but i just know a couple of things about "shifting technique," mostly the simple stuff you learn when you're a kid, and to try to keep your cadence up with lower gears, because it's better for your knees. i want a computer w/cadence, but i like the computer i have right now a lot. plus i'm broke :D is there other important stuff about gearing that i should know? do tell! i want to avoid injury and sweat at all costs. hehe.

i feel so encouraged about the hills! thanks a lot for your post. even if i'm hacking and wheezing by the top of the first hill, i'll try to keep your advice in mind. i'll be able to do it eventually, if i don't die first! :) and 45 minutes sounds like just the right amount of time. it does stink though, because i am not a morning person, and the ride could take 60 minutes or so, so i'll have to leave 1:25 earlier than i do with the car! but i'll figure it out--this is what i want to do.

oh and i mention my long hair because i wind it into a knot at my neck, and i'm a "head-sweater," so the little knot and my temples get soaking wet! which is embarrassing. haha. but i think i mostly sweat like that because of heat AND exertion. yesterday it was pretty cool and cloudy, and i rode twice as long as usual, but i was hardly sweating. it's that heat and humidity. i am from cold-weather people : )


trek930: that makes a lot of sense. i'll definitely be walking (running) the bike across. thank you!


dalmore: NICE! 3 months isn't long at all to knock off 3/4 of the time you spend on a hill--wow :o good for you! that's awesome : ) i'm going to go try the ride within the next couple hours unless something comes up. thanks for posting--when i'm up there falling off of my bike i'll think of you and keep going. hehe.
about the cold air: we think alike! i've been meaning to get a blow dryer with "cool shot" to leave at work. i was thinking i could heat-dry my hair and then cool-dry at the end to stop new sweating. haha. i dont know : )

jyossarian: if you take a shower the night before, will you end up stinky after the morning ride? (not you specifically, just any person, generally, hehe.) i don't want to have to blowdry my hair at home in the morning (so i don't freeze on the ride), then blow-dry it again when i get to work. i should just cut my hair, but i don't want it super-short, and medium-length is too short to put it in a pony to keep it out of my face. maybe after 200 hours of blowdrying i'll be ready to cut it really short :) i think having to climb more will be an improving factor for my personality. everything can't be easy! climbing will drive that home. haha.

mechBgon: i have a bianchi milano; it weighs like 30 pounds without a rack or bag or anything on it. i have a pretty low gear on it, but i don't usually climb big hills so i might be one short. then again going down hills i'm one short on the high end, and the gears i do have are too far apart! so i don't know which ones i should change. haha. i was thinking i needed a double chainring in front. or something like that. or maybe i just need bigger muscles! thanks for the coupon, i'm sure i will use it : D

andrewp: i have a helmet-mounted mirror which i love, and i hope i'll learn to use it a little more effectively while commuting. i'm going to try to get an unholy-bright taillight--thanks for reminding me! i want to get a new bag and other things, but the taillight is probably the priority at this point. having more control while walking the bike is another excellent reason to dismount to cross. thanks for pointing that out! i have a tendency to push and push and push myself, so slowing down (for hills, for the last stretch of the ride, and to cross the street) is something i'm going to make a big deal about. thank you!

cooperwx: thank you! it's so good to hear about people progressing. it means i probably will too! haha. that's awesome. and i love that if i ride to and from work each day, i'll get more than twice as much exercise as i usually would, except i don't have to "exercise." i just have to go to work! pretty rad : )

itsjustme: what kind of adhesive do you use on your mirror? mine keeps falling off when i'm not wearing the helmet. i think it's pretty secure when my head holds it in place, but i'd rather set it and forget it, if you know what i mean. i have totally ridiculous safety glasses that i bought for racquetball, but they didn't work out for that. they're great for cycling though, except that i look like even more of a dork with them on. everything on the glasses is totally transparent and colorless though, so that helps : ) i ride on a road where there's lots of construction, so there was always dust in my eyes. i agree--glasses are a must! thanks for your post :)

saabfan: okay, perfect! i don't want to stand up to climb hills anyway. haha. it makes me nervous. so that's good to hear :) i hadn't thought about climbing differently (throughout the ride) to avoid sweating. i have to remember: go slow, go slow, relax! thank you! (oh and no, there's no shower :'( it's a relatively small town so there isn't a health club or anything like that that i know of, either. but that's okay, i'll just have to perfect the sink bath :))

markf: makes perfect sense. i'm definitely going to walk/run the bike across, at least until i know the traffic better. i might be out there early enough that traffic won't be too heavy. i'll try to remember to keep track of where the sun is and whose visibility it might hinder, so i can be careful going in front of them.
how often do you look behind you, if you ride on a highway? i think there will be a pretty consistent stream of traffic behind me, so i'd have to be turned around a lot of the time. do you look when a car sounds "unpredictable"? what makes you look?
i think that the highway is relatively safe to ride on (for a highway at any rate), but crossing it is what i have been worrying about. if i didn't cross the highway, i'd have to keep going straight on it. i guess i was just wondering if crossing many lanes of high-speed traffic has historically been something that's caused a lot of people (esp cyclists) to be smooshed. :) thanks very much for your posts!

joejack951: i would be terrified to do that! i guess partly because i've been a "slow-moving" driver before, stuck behind a slow or stopped truck, and found it impossible to get into the other lane because traffic was so fast, and no one would let me in. people behind me would take the gaps and change lanes, then i couldn't. maybe it's because of the speed difference? i don't know. i don't think i'm ready for that yet. hehe. but maybe after months or ... well, awhile, i would feel brave enough, and people will be used enough to the girl in the fluorescent orange vest that they'll be looking for me so they don't run me over, and i'll be able to change lanes in traffic. i'll keep that in the think-bank! i wouldn't have thought to do that, but now that i know it's possible, i'll look for opportunities for a cyclist to change lanes (even if i don't try it yet:)).

whew! thanks so much, guys. you're a godsend. if i hadn't found bikeforums, i'd probably still be nervous about riding in residential traffic. simple maneuvers can make such a difference, and i wouldn't have had exposure to them without you guys! thanks! :)

hi chephy! thanks! i love your icon. who is that there? nothing like a big cute face to cheer you up : ) It's a mongoose. Or so Google tells me. My nickname with my boyfriend is mongoose, and this is the cutest mongoose picture I could find on the net. :)


from a car it looks like the biggest problem will be the hills and a few places where visibility might be more of a challenge. there isn't a shoulder or anything. But at least traffic is pretty moderate? And how is lane width?


also someone mentioned fog on that road, and that worried me a little. it's higher up than the highway, and i bet it's covered in fog a good part of the fall and winter. Yeah, make sure to run very bright blinkies and wear very bright clothing! If the fog is not too thick and traffic is not too bad, it's actually such a great experience riding in it; almost surreal, fairy-tale-ish. However, if it makes you invisible - perhaps it's better to go back to Hwy 30 (or whatever that main highway number was...) on the fog days (at least it's less foggy and you have a shoulder there).


i mostly understand the gearing on my bike (it's a nexus 8-speed hub) but i just know a couple of things about "shifting technique," mostly the simple stuff you learn when you're a kid, and to try to keep your cadence up with lower gears, because it's better for your knees. i want a computer w/cadence, but i like the computer i have right now a lot. plus i'm broke :D is there other important stuff about gearing that i should know? I think you've got all the basics. Gearing can be trickier to understand when people have gears in both front and back, but you only have gearing in the back anyway, that's pretty simple and linear.


i feel so encouraged about the hills! thanks a lot for your post. even if i'm hacking and wheezing by the top of the first hill, i'll try to keep your advice in mind. i'll be able to do it eventually, if i don't die first! :) I bet you will (be able to do it eventually, I mean, NOT die in process :D)! And even though your bike is heavy and not ideal for climbing... it's not about the bike! :) When you ride the route, give us your impressions of the hills!


and 45 minutes sounds like just the right amount of time. it does stink though, because i am not a morning person, and the ride could take 60 minutes or so, so i'll have to leave 1:25 earlier than i do with the car! Lots of people think that they save time by travelling with a car (as opposed to a bike) but in fact cyclists GAIN time because they combine two useful activities into one: exercise and commuting! So a driver would have to spend, say, fourty minutes a day driving but two hours in the gym (hence 2 h 40 m combined). But a cyclist would spend two hours riding and that will double as exercise time, so the total time he spends on the two activities is only 2 hours - so he actually saves 40 minutes.

I do understand the problem of having to get up early though - it's something I have to deal with myself 'cause I am not a morning person either. However, I am lucky because even if getting up early in the morning is difficult for me, I do love the beauty of early morning: the coolth, the peace and quiet, the magnificent sunsets, the majestic fog (as long as safety isn't compromised :)), the sounds of the wild animals ;) waking up and starting with their daily routines, the birds chirping... This alone is enough motivation for me. I'd so much rather ride through deserted sunset-lit roads than get up an hour later and sit in a stinky traffic jam on a noisy highway or squeeze myself into an overcrowded subway car.


oh and i mention my long hair because i wind it into a knot at my neck, and i'm a "head-sweater," so the little knot and my temples get soaking wet! How about a pony-tail, would that help any?

Anyway, if heat is your main enemy, you probably won't sweat much on your early morning commute (although hills may make you sweat anyway - you gotta try and see).


jyossarian: if you take a shower the night before, will you end up stinky after the morning ride? (not you specifically, just any person, generally, hehe.) i don't want to have to blowdry my hair at home in the morning (so i don't freeze on the ride), then blow-dry it again when i get to work. I think a morning shower works better (one does sweat in one's sleep after all). A kind of obvious suggestion, but why not wear a shower cap in the morning shower to avoid getting your hair wet?


how often do you look behind you, if you ride on a highway? i think there will be a pretty consistent stream of traffic behind me, so i'd have to be turned around a lot of the time. do you look when a car sounds "unpredictable"? what makes you look? That wasn't a question to me, but I might answer it anyway. :) I take a glance behind me every once in a while just to know what is going on around me. If you ride with a mirror, you don't even have to turn your head for that, just look in the mirror occasionally, same as you would when driving a car. (Of course, to change lanes etc. you'll still want to look back, for better view as well as to make eye contact and communicate your intentions.)

Another thing: I always look behind me as I'm getting close to an intersection: I want to know if anybody is going to overtake me right before an intersection, and if so get prepared for that driver to make a sudden right turn in front of me (a common driver mistake is greatly misjudging cyclist's speed and thus cutting him off). That sort of thing occasionally happens even if you are in the centre of a lane: some drivers tried to turn right from the adjacent lane! If I see an overtaking driver slowing down to just the turn speed just before an intersection (few people make turns at 50 mph as long as it's an actual turn and not a "merge" onto a ramp) - red alert!


joejack951: i would be terrified to do that! i guess partly because i've been a "slow-moving" driver before, stuck behind a slow or stopped truck, and found it impossible to get into the other lane because traffic was so fast, and no one would let me in. It's different when you are a cyclist. Most of the time motorists don't know how to deal with cyclists or are even deliberately nasty, but in some situations they treat cyclists better than fellow motorists. One common example is an attempt to wave cyclists through stop signs. Another is being more cooperative when it comes to lane changes (in my opinion anyway). I think part of it is just fear: they see cyclists as unpredictable, and for all they know you're just going to dart left after you throw that left arm out - so a lot of them would slow down and just let you do whatever you want to do. Shows how much they know, but do it doesn't hurt to take advantage of their ignorance when they slow down and let you in. :)


well, awhile, i would feel brave enough, and people will be used enough to the girl in the fluorescent orange vest that they'll be looking for me Yep - when you ride the same route for months you start making "acquaintances" on the road: other commuters who are there at the same time as you. I bet you soon enough many of the "regular" drivers on this road at that hour will start looking for you. :) A cyclist really stands out as an unusual road user (since there are so few around), so they'll remember you.

It's a mongoose. Or so Google tells me. My nickname with my boyfriend is mongoose, and this is the cutest mongoose picture I could find on the net. :)
Do you kill snakes? Or shouldn't we go there? ;) And if "mongoose" is your nickname, what is "chephy"? I always assumed "mongoose" was the brand bike you rode. Inquiring minds want to know! :)

It looks more like a dog to me. Are you sure it's not a dog named "Mongoose"? Maybe he kills snakes... ;)

markf: how often do you look behind you, if you ride on a highway? i think there will be a pretty consistent stream of traffic behind me, so i'd have to be turned around a lot of the time. do you look when a car sounds "unpredictable"? what makes you look?

Not very often. I look when I want to set up for a left turn, or when the car sounds unusual (squealing tires, accelerating hard, sounds like a much bigger vehicle than usual, etc.). If I'm on a narrow road and a car is waiting to pass, I'll look back to let the driver know I'm aware of him, and to get an idea of what size/kind of vehicle it is, so I know what I should do to let him pass (leave the road entirely, hug the right hand edge of the pavement, maintain my position, etc.).

If you take a shower the night before, you'll smell less than fresh after a sweaty ride. If you take one in the morning before you leave for work, you won't smell funky when you get to work. As for the whole hair drying business, I second the showercap idea.

Heh, heh - are you sure that was in the book? As far as I remember, Forester insisted on uselessness of traffic signals... :p

I'll have to look back but you may be right, although he may just be referring to simple turns and not negotiating lane changes. I know his book was the first time I saw a diagram of taking lanes section by section. Maybe I'm just slow but that thought never occurred to me until I saw it there. For lane changes, I always combine shoulder checks and signals.

I also agree with chephy that this is one instance where motorists are easier to deal with than when driving a car and that it really boils down to them being so shocked to see a cyclist out there on the roads.

Do you kill snakes? Or shouldn't we go there? ;) I bravely ride over road snakes on my bikey, so I guess that counts. :p


And if "mongoose" is your nickname, what is "chephy"? chephy is my self-appointed nickname from earlier days when I was in love with chemistry, physics, and the chemistry teacher. :D


I always assumed "mongoose" was the brand bike you rode. Never had a Mongoose bike, and given that the company basically went down the drain, probably ain't going to. My current beast is a 90's Miyata.


It looks more like a dog to me. Are you sure it's not a dog named "Mongoose"? Maybe he kills snakes... ;) Well, maybe it's a cross? :D

For lane changes, I always combine shoulder checks and signals. Same here. Usually it's a check-signal-check routine for me. When I am feeling lazy and the traffic is really light I sometimes omit the second check or sort of combine a check and a signal.

I guess I could actually contribute something useful here, not just have some fun at chephy's expense... :)

Actually, about the only thing I could add to all the useful things already mentioned is to reiterate the usefulness of a mirror. I actually preferred a handlebar-mounted mirror (on the end) for the first few years, but switched to a helmet-mounted one when I got a second bike, to have one always with me regardless of the bike. (Assuming you wear a helmet.) Whatever kind you like best is fine, it doesn't really matter much as long as it works for you.

The point is that a mirror allows you to monitor traffic behind you more easily (some say) than turning your head, and without completely taking your eyes away from the front. If the traffic is light to moderate, you can easily see gaps coming up, to help you decide when to move. Even in extremely heavy traffic with no gaps, at least it helps you monitor what's going on behind you.

It should be said (and maybe has been already) that a head turn is still a good thing to do before you move, because your field of vision will be wider, and it often functions as an additional signal to drivers that you are about to move. (You are signalling as if for a turn, right?) The standard protocol is Look, Signal, Look Again, Move. Assuming at each step of course that it is okay to proceed to the next. That seems to work very well for me.

You should try doing a head turn while not in traffic to make sure you can do it without veering, and practice if you need to. An empty parking lot is good because you can practice riding along a painted line.

Be safe and have fun!

thanks guys! you helped me make it home safe :D

i rode the route yesterday and it was AWFUL! haha. okay not awful, but on the way home i stopped really thinking of anything else except "almost home almost home almost home almost home" and every time i turned a corner, i thought it was the last one before the highway, and i was ALWAYS WRONG (except the 100th or so time, when i actually was there).

i started out fine, and i rode through residential areas to avoid about a mile of highway, then turned onto the highway near the end of the city and rode out from there--for the first time! usually i only ride on the highway at night, even though it's only 35mph through my town. i'd never ridden on the 55mph stretch of highway EVER. so for that part, i was kind of overwhelmed by the speed and the sound, but amazingly at points the shoulder was maybe 15 feet across (!!) so that was really great. there was plenty of room to avoid obstacles (pointy things) without getting too close to traffic. it was still difficult for me to tell exactly where cars were behind me with my mirror, and which direction they were heading. i dont know if it's because i always have my mirror adjusted slightly differently, or because i have some depth-perception issues? i don't know. maybe it's just too much stimulation and i can't concentrate on figuring out where they're going. so my tactic was hoping that they wouldn't run me over (although i tried to be extra careful of crossing well-driven intersections, looking behind me and at one point stopping so a truck could turn in front of me). there were some baby climbs on the highway! you would never notice them from a car. my highway speed was 14.5-16mph, sometimes with a little bit of a grade. after the biggest baby climb, i had to turn left across the highway. i stopped and had a drink, and waited. i realized (well, i hope it was a realization, and not just a fluke!) that cars tend to travel in packs, so while i'm driving to work in the morning, it looks like there is perfect non-stop traffic, it may not actually be that way outside of the pack of cars i'm in. sometimes i think there is a non-stop stream, but i don't think it's that way all the time from 7-9am. what i'm getting at is that i found a good time to cross! i didn't have to stand in the middle of the highway and wait to get to the other side. my legs were a little jello because i was nervous and because i'd been riding at a pretty good clip (for me), but i duck-ran across just fine anyway :)

the street i'd turned onto starts out with a decent hill, and i had to use my asthma inhaler :( so i used it, and then when i was trying to put it back into my vest pocket, i accidentally put my hand through the armhole and dropped the inhaler on the ground, where it broke into its component pieces! while a car was coming, of course. so they gave me a wide berth and i picked up my inhaler, embarrassed. on this road i saw a dead squirrel :( it was a major drag.

after that, there were a series of roads and hills that in my mind have kind of melted into one arduous never-ending trek. there were a few substantial (to me) hills i'd noticed on the recon drives i'd taken, and those were actually not *that* bad! if those were the only grades in the ride i'd probably get there a lot faster. but there are many less-noticeable grades that go for a long time, and unlike with the real hills, i can't ride super-fast down one side and roll 3/4 up the other side with ease. on the way there my speeds were 15, 8, 18, 7, 20.5, 7, 10, 25, up and down the hills. haha. the road quality in some places is REALLY. BAD. unfortunately, one of the worst places is on a steep downhill. i was braking to keep myself going 25mph, and dashing between one crater and another, along with patch-jobs that stuck up a couple of inches, and ridges and valleys in the blacktop. that was kind of scary. the hard part was that the craters were usually right next to each other, so sometimes it was a challenge to pick my way through. experienced pothole-maneuverers probably would find it easy, but it was hard for me! i saw a couple of joggers, but on the backroads i didn't see any other cyclists on the way there. i was wearing a navy blue tshirt with a whale on it, and a fluorescent orange reflective vest that doesn't fit me very well, and red pants with sequins on them, and fluorescent yellow reflective ankle bands, so i looked pretty absurd, and when i was turning a corner at a 3-way stop, the guy across from me in his car had the biggest, most obvious grin on his face. i didn't know whether that was supposed to be a compliment or not. haha.

oh, and there were quite a few cars, but i'd chosen to go at rush-hour, so it was probably similar to 7am traffic, except without buses and cars headed for school. one truck passed so close to me as to make me extremely uncomfortable, but i don't know if it would have scared people who are more used to traffic. they were only a couple feet away from me.

so, after about 11.1 miles and 57 minutes of these hills and grades and potholes, i was at work! i didn't want to hang out in the parking lot of my work (no one is there til next month anyway), so i rode on until i got to the bridge with the ducks under it, and i called my mom. haha. as i was talking to her, a car honked at me and gave me the peace sign. i attract a lot of attention even when i DONT have on the vest, but when i do, people yell at me a lot. (or honk and peace sign me i guess:))

i ate a granola bar, drank gatorade, and turned around and rode back. it was pretty similar except the hills this way are MUCH WORSE. but the smaller grades are better! i did have to stop on one hill to drink a lot of water (and gatorade), then i made it up. after that was a steep drop, which i went down at the same time as two semi trucks on the other side. the wind from the trucks plowed into me and almost blew me off my bike. haha. but on the way back up the other side of the dip, i decided to do the walk of shame, about halfway up. :( it is an insane hill. i think it's the one i was going 25mph down with my hand on the brake half of the time. i forgot to mention that my feet were asleep for most of the ride. when i'd be pulling hard to get up the other side of a dip, sometimes i'd feel really unsteady because i was pushing so hard on my feet, but i couldn't feel where they were very well. that part sucked!

then, more hills and grades, and "almost home almost home almost home" until i finally saw that beautiful, beautiful highway. that feeling was a stark change from when i'd started! when i started i was so glad to get off of that ugly highway with those ugly cars. but it was good to get back on it again, because it's so much more familiar (and flat) to me.

whew!
so, the total time RIDING (i forgot to check the clock when i left, so i only have my computer stats for when i was actually moving the bike) was 1:58, max speed 26.5mph, average 11.8mph, distance 23.31 miles! i usually ride on a nice (flattish!) country road with lots of animals, and i rode twice around it two days ago; the time and distance were almost the same as the commute ride, but the commute ride is SO MUCH HARDER. i guess that is good. hehe.

i took two pictures of a heron i saw right as i was about to turn back onto the highway. this camera isn't very awesome and i had to use a bad photo editor, but here it is anyway, below! those were the only two pictures i took. next time--hills!



so, if anyone is still reading :) a couple of questions: what's the best way to follow a blind corner in a high-speed road? i thought if i looked behind me to make sure no one was coming, then went quickly around the corner (watching the other side for a car veering out of its lane), i could be safely away from the corner by the time anyone came around. any other ideas? what about "blind hills"? where i'm on the other side of a hill from other--faster--traffic?

and how do i keep my feet from falling asleep?!

thank you :D

so, if anyone is still reading :) a couple of questions: what's the best way to follow a blind corner in a high-speed road? i thought if i looked behind me to make sure no one was coming, then went quickly around the corner (watching the other side for a car veering out of its lane), i could be safely away from the corner by the time anyone came around. any other ideas? what about "blind hills"? where i'm on the other side of a hill from other--faster--traffic?

and how do i keep my feet from falling asleep?!

thank you :D


Wow, Quite the report! I'd been figuring we'd hear back once you had tried it.

If you're comfortable, and know there isn't anyone RIGHT behind you in a car (i.e. you turned around and looked, I don't trust mirrors one bit) then sometimes the safest way to take a "blind" area might be right in the middle of the traffic lane, if appropriate. This way, drivers won't try to sneak around you, since they can't.

Your feet will get used to it over time. If you've got room in your footwear, wiggle your toes or flex your feet in whatever way you can every few minutes, even if they don't feel numb. That will help keep the numb feeling from even starting. What are you wearing for shoes and socks? Do you have clipless pedals, toe clips, or plain pedals?

haha i know, i am verbose. i cant believe you read it! ;)

i just have regular (ratty) platform pedals. yesterday i wore my trail runners because it looked like it might rain, and i wanted dry feet. usually i wear cushioned running shoes for everything. or adidas sambas. my feet were much worse this time, though, in the trail shoes. it's hard for me to say if it was the ride or the shoes that caused the numbness, because it's the longest ride i've done yet, in one go, by a mile or so. oh and my socks were just regular flat-knit socks (with a seamed toe).



ps, i said before i was going to get some black reflective tape for my fenders and stuff, and i did! here's what it looks like in a dark room:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/dangerbabies/krecs/reflexdark.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/dangerbabies/krecs/reflexflash.jpg
pretty neat :)

thanks guys! you helped me make it home safe Yay, we hear back from you! You made it!


i rode the route yesterday and it was AWFUL! Hmm... doesn't sound very happy. :) Perhaps the main highway actually is a better route (you don't seem to be intimidated by it any more). Although, while it might be safe and fast, it isn't necessarily very pleasant because of all the noise and exhaust... Or you can try out some other routes that might be longer but flatter (I think some were done up by fellow bf-ers in this thread or another thread you opened - I forget). But you may stick to this route too - it'll likely get better with time.


it was still difficult for me to tell exactly where cars were behind me with my mirror, and which direction they were heading. i dont know if it's because i always have my mirror adjusted slightly differently, or because i have some depth-perception issues? I think one definitely has to get used to using a mirror in different environments. There is a learning curve for sure. I bet you'll get better and better with this every day you ride.


i realized (well, i hope it was a realization, and not just a fluke!) that cars tend to travel in packs, so while i'm driving to work in the morning, it looks like there is perfect non-stop traffic, it may not actually be that way outside of the pack of cars i'm in. It's not a fluke. It's true. :)


the street i'd turned onto starts out with a decent hill, and i had to use my asthma inhaler Ouch, this can make things more complicated. Don't be too hard on yourself! I don't know much about asthma, but I know I pushed somebody with asthma too hard on what I considered a trivial bump and it turned out a very tough climb for her! Of course, she was way out of shape too, which was probably the main factor...


on this road i saw a dead squirrel :( Roadkill is part of life. :( I see dead animals regularly in Toronto and on my tours. I don't really notice them in the car (driving is too fast and doesn not require paying much attention to road surface - and I am usually a passenger anyway) or on foot (I don't look on the road when walking on a sidewalk) but while biking I notice every poor splatted critter. It is sad, but I learned to somewhat desensetize myself to it: if I got down over every dead squirrel, I'd be perpetually grieving. (Note: presence of roadkill doesn't mean the road is dangerous for biking. :))


i was wearing a navy blue tshirt with a whale on it, and a fluorescent orange reflective vest that doesn't fit me very well, and red pants with sequins on them, and fluorescent yellow reflective ankle bands, so i looked pretty absurd, and when i was turning a corner at a 3-way stop, the guy across from me in his car had the biggest, most obvious grin on his face. i didn't know whether that was supposed to be a compliment or not. haha. :D Smiling is a good thing! I say people will start recognizing you very soon if you keep at it. :)


one truck passed so close to me as to make me extremely uncomfortable, but i don't know if it would have scared people who are more used to traffic. they were only a couple feet away from me. :mad: A couple of feet is not enough space. The accepted way to combat close passes is to move further left in the lane when it is unsafe to pass (e.g. there is oncoming traffic and the road is narrow) and to move back to the right when it is safe. But that does require some guts...


but on the way back up the other side of the dip, i decided to do the walk of shame, about halfway up. :( Don't worry, it's just a name, there is no real shame in it. :)


i forgot to mention that my feet were asleep for most of the ride. Hmm, that's weird... What kind of soles did you shoes have? Do you have any shoes with stiffer soles? I'm not saying go out and buy some, cause they might not work, but if you have them already, maybe give them a try? Also make sure you're "spinning" and not "mashing" (you probably are doing that already...

Or, for all I know, cushioned sneakers might work better! Experiment...


so, the total time RIDING (i forgot to check the clock when i left, so i only have my computer stats for when i was actually moving the bike) was 1:58, max speed 26.5mph, average 11.8mph, distance 23.31 miles! i usually ride on a nice (flattish!) country road with lots of animals, and i rode twice around it two days ago; the time and distance were almost the same as the commute ride, but the commute ride is SO MUCH HARDER. Yeah, your stats are not too bad at all given your bike, road condition and hills! Congratulations on making it!

If I could give you one piece of advice about commuting, especially on a route that seems tough, it would be this:

It'll get easier every time you do it!

And, I'll agree with chephy on two points: first, try different shoes, especially something with a stiff sole. Secondly, gear down and spin! I think I said that back on page one of this thread, but it definitely applies to cycling in general - it's probably one of the biggest mistakes new bikers make, they try really hard to push a big gear. Along with being a frustrating struggle, it's also a good way to hurt yourself. Gear down, spin faster, sit back, and relax - it'll get you through any hill. Perhaps not the fastest, but it'll be comfortable at least.

Congratulations on making it :D After two years going to school with the bus/subway i started biking this summer and love it (20km one way to YorkU). :)

Congratulations on making it :D After two years going to school with the bus/subway i started biking this summer and love it (20km one way to YorkU). :) Hey! I used to go 17 km one way to YorkU! :beer: Where are you coming from? What streets do you take? What's your major? :D

so, the total time RIDING (i forgot to check the clock when i left, so i only have my computer stats for when i was actually moving the bike) was 1:58, max speed 26.5mph, average 11.8mph, distance 23.31 miles! i usually ride on a nice (flattish!) country road with lots of animals, and i rode twice around it two days ago; the time and distance were almost the same as the commute ride, but the commute ride is SO MUCH HARDER. i guess that is good. hehe.

i took two pictures of a heron i saw right as i was about to turn back onto the highway. this camera isn't very awesome and i had to use a bad photo editor, but here it is anyway, below! those were the only two pictures i took. next time--hills!



so, if anyone is still reading :) a couple of questions: what's the best way to follow a blind corner in a high-speed road? i thought if i looked behind me to make sure no one was coming, then went quickly around the corner (watching the other side for a car veering out of its lane), i could be safely away from the corner by the time anyone came around. any other ideas? what about "blind hills"? where i'm on the other side of a hill from other--faster--traffic?

and how do i keep my feet from falling asleep?!

thank you :D

23 miles round trip is a respectable distance to commute, most cycle commuters probably do 5-10 miles each way at most (I do 14-15 round trip).

If the high speed road has a good paved shoulder, stay on the shoulder through the blind turn. Otherwise take the lane going into the corner, moving quickly to the right as you exit the corner. Your idea of waiting until noone is around, then going around the corner quickly, sounds like a really good one.

Blind hills: if there's a good shoulder, use it. If the lane is wide enough for you and a car, stay to the right so cars can pass you without leaving the lane. If the lane is narrow, take the lane on your way up, then move to the right after you top out. If you're just below the crest of a hill and descending, there's no way you can make yourself visible to cars on the other side of the crest, and cars have reduced braking and steering control right at the crest of a hill, when the road is going down and the car's momentum is still going up. So stay out of their way and pick up speed as fast as you can.

*Real* cycling shoes have, among other things,stiff soles to spread out the pressure between your feet and the pedals and keep your feet comfortable.

Congrats on doing the commute, it'll get easier as you repeat it.

Hey! I used to go 17 km one way to YorkU! :beer: Where are you coming from? What streets do you take? What's your major? :D
I live on ValleyWoods Rd. (Don Mills and York Mills). I take York Mills and stick with it all the way to Keele, then i take Keele to York. I chose the simplest route because i was afraid to get lost my first time biking there if i had chosen too many streets :p Major is English, i start my third year next week :o

I used to ride for two years from St. Clair and Spadina, going through a somewhat complicated route. Routes are my weakness; I love variety and am looking for new ones all the time. :) The problem is that even though I love connecting A and B on paper, I get easily lost in reality, so on any new route I end up checking the map a dozen of times per hour (almost). (Maybe that's why I have such a love for routes and maps... I'd be hopelessly lost without them.) After a while I eventually memorize the route, but by that point I've ridden it enough times so that it bores me to death. So I start looking for a new one. :D

Good luck with the new school year!

P.S. Former math major. :D

Hills:

There is no shame in walking. I still walk a 100ft section of my morning route because of a combination of it being so steep, that I am unstable and weaving slightly. The road is extremely narrow and traffic is horrible in the morning rush (its a shortcut between two major roads going into town). My bike + bag/equipment also weighs 1/3+ of my entire bodyweight, which contributes to being unstable at such a steep grade and slow speed. I could physically ride the entire hill, but why?... I'm in no rush because I'm trying NOT to exhaust myself going into work.

One method I used to do when I was a kid on hills I couldn't climb is to do circles. It can only be done with no traffic because it requires 2 lanes. You also need to be able to turn sharply. When you get to the point where you need a rest, turn perpendicular to the road, and then turn downhill. Quickly turn back uphill, completing the circle and the momentum from the momentary downhill will give you a nice break and help you up the hill.

You need toe-clips on your pedals! You are only using 1/2 of your power if you don't. With toe-clips, you can power up hills by pushing down with one foot, while pulling up with the other foot OR you can rest a certain set of muscles... for instance, only push down pedaling for a while and when tired, switch to only pulling up with your feet. For killer hills, I start off with the push+pull method and finish off the top of the hill with the push - pull - push - pull method.

I've also noticed that training with weight will help. When I'm not carrying my heavy bag with tools, clothes, lunch food, etc, I sometimes find myself doing wheelies while powering up hills. Makes me feel like strong as an ox. :)

i tried to do it again yesterday, but the wind was so bad i couldn't make it. i knew i wouldn't be able to ride home again if i rode all the way to my work, so i turned around about 9 miles in. on the way out there, i went down one of the crazy hills and i thought "when i come back, i am walking up that hill!" and i did just that. getting myself to get off the bike was a thousand times harder than it would have been to keep pedaling. haha. i had to force myself to stop. then i walked to within 15 feet of the top and hopped back on and wobbled up! once i realized i wasn't going to make it all the way to my work, i didnt have to worry about keeping track of time, so i stopped every few minutes to take pictures or get a drink, and it was so much better than just flogging myself mercilessly. i've noticed that a couple times--if i can get off the bike for 30 seconds i feel refreshed when i start up again.

that's really cool that you stop and walk up that hill, krautfed--it takes character! haha :) i'd never heard of doing circles like that before! i don't know if there's room for that there but if there is, i'll try it. i'd love to get clipless pedals and shoes but they're out of my price range for now. people say that the speedplay x2s are good because they have a lot of float so they protect your knees. do you think i'd need to spend so much ($175 or so) to get knee-protecting pedals?

i recently expanded the under-saddle bag on my bike and put everything in there instead of carrying the pannier (with extra water/gatorade and a sweater and all that) and after i did that i finished my favorite route faster than i ever had before! then yesterday when i tried the commute route again, i brought the pannier with two bottles of gatorade, a camera, a u-lock...maybe that was part of the problem. haha.

i wonder if my feet were asleep on the first dry run because i was nervous? when i get scared or extremely angry sometimes i start shivering because my body cuts off blood to my extremities just in case someone tries to stab me or something. haha. you know, fight-or-flight. my feet didn't fall asleep yesterday, when i wasn't nervous (and was wearing regular cushy running shoes!). i'll try different stuff and see what happens. thanks guys!


i have some more questions. heh :o i hope i'm not trying anyone's patience. don't feel obligated to answer! but thanks a lot if you do :)

the wind in these towns is only going to get worse as the weather cools off, and i'm not a strong enough cyclist yet to be able to go up a 45-degree angle while a heinous headwind is shoving me backwards. if i'd made it to my work yesterday, it would have taken an hour and 20 minutes or so, just riding! not counting stops and waiting to cross the highway. what's the best way to fix this? my bike doesn't have drops or anything, and it's heavy, and it has insufficient gearing (for me at this point). would it be better to buy another bike that's more aerodynamic and has wider gearing? how much of a difference would that make, do you think? if i want to commute within the next two weeks when my work starts up again, i'll have to leave like 2 hours ahead of time in case the wind slows me down. plus my legs are often tired from the day before. i know i need to ride and ride and ride (and recover too) to get good at climbing, but cutting off a half-hour from my total commute will take a long, long time. i don't know if i have the fortitude to take 2 hours riding to work each morning. should i only commute once a week at first? every other day? any advice? i can't afford a nice, new second bike, but i could probably buy a funky old 10-speed from craigslist, if i made it a priority. then i'd have to ask you guys to help me decide if it's worth the money or not ;)

thanks for all your help! it's really made a world of difference. i probably wouldn't even have ridden over there yet if it weren't for you guys!

that's really cool that you stop and walk up that hill, krautfed--it takes character! haha :) i'd never heard of doing circles like that before! i don't know if there's room for that there but if there is, i'll try it. i'd love to get clipless pedals and shoes but they're out of my price range for now. people say that the speedplay x2s are good because they have a lot of float so they protect your knees. do you think i'd need to spend so much ($175 or so) to get knee-protecting pedals?

You definitely don't need to spend that much on pedals. Thousands upon thousands of poeple ride other pedals every day without problems. You should be fine on something well under $100, if you decide you want clipless pedals. You could also just get toe clips (I think that's what the OP was referring to) - the little sheet metal or plastic cages you can attach to standard platform pedals. They cinch down around "regular" shoes with a strap. Not quite the same as clipless pedals, but they will help a bit.


i wonder if my feet were asleep on the first dry run because i was nervous? when i get scared or extremely angry sometimes i start shivering because my body cuts off blood to my extremities just in case someone tries to stab me or something. haha. you know, fight-or-flight. my feet didn't fall asleep yesterday, when i wasn't nervous (and was wearing regular cushy running shoes!). i'll try different stuff and see what happens. thanks guys!

If you had different shoes on, I bet that was it!


would it be better to buy another bike that's more aerodynamic and has wider gearing? how much of a difference would that make, do you think? if i want to commute within the next two weeks when my work starts up again, i'll have to leave like 2 hours ahead of time in case the wind slows me down.

A bike that would let you get in to a more aerodynamic position would be better, but the question is definitely "how much" and "is it worth it." An aerodynamic position is, by far, more important at higher speeds - unless you're talking about a pretty fast road speed against a 20 - 30 mph headwind, I doubt it would really do more than cut a few minutes off your time. Consider this - when triathletes switch from a regular road bike with drops to one with aero bars, they probably save an average of a minute or two over a 40 kilometere course. Granted, going from straight bars to drops is a bigger change in position than that, but it should help put things into perspective.

In other words, I wouldn't worry too much about aerodynamics in your case, since I don't think it'll make a huge difference. If you did want to give it a try, you could probably borrow a bike from someone and ride the route, to see if it did make a difference at all. Depending on how much you're attached to your current bike, you could also likely fit drop handlebars to it. You can also just try to get in to a better position on your bike as you pedal. It can seem cumbersome at first, but over time, you can train yourself to ride more efficiently.

As far as your gearing not being appropriate, that might be really simple to fix - a new casette (the set of cogs on youe rear wheel) could be bought with different ratios, which can totally transform a bike. Depending on what brand and how many gears, that might only be $40 - $50, or it could be twice that.

If you're worried that the commute will take a really long time, just do it a few times a week. It's better than nothing, and before you know it, you'll be flying up hills you used to consider walking. There's a pretty substantial hill (short, but very steep) on my road, just up from my house. The first time I hopped on a bike and tried to ride up it, I stopped halfway up, walked home, and collapsed on the floor ready to die. Now, I sprint up it at least 6 or 7 times a week, and it barely makes me breathe harder. :)

You definitely don't need to spend that much on pedals. Thousands upon thousands of poeple ride other pedals every day without problems. You should be fine on something well under $100, if you decide you want clipless pedals. You could also just get toe clips (I think that's what the OP was referring to) - the little sheet metal or plastic cages you can attach to standard platform pedals. They cinch down around "regular" shoes with a strap. Not quite the same as clipless pedals, but they will help a bit.

haha yeah, i guess that is a pretty practical way to look at it :)
i was thinking about trying those Power Grips straps. they look pretty simple, plus i have a couple pairs of bulky shoes that might not fit in regular cages. have you used those?




If you had different shoes on, I bet that was it!


i think probably so! sometimes my feet get numb regardless of the shoes, though. it's very mysterious, and problematic. hehe. maybe i tie them too tight, sometimes ;)



A bike that would let you get in to a more aerodynamic position would be better, but the question is definitely "how much" and "is it worth it." An aerodynamic position is, by far, more important at higher speeds - unless you're talking about a pretty fast road speed against a 20 - 30 mph headwind, I doubt it would really do more than cut a few minutes off your time. Consider this - when triathletes switch from a regular road bike with drops to one with aero bars, they probably save an average of a minute or two over a 40 kilometere course. Granted, going from straight bars to drops is a bigger change in position than that, but it should help put things into perspective.

In other words, I wouldn't worry too much about aerodynamics in your case, since I don't think it'll make a huge difference. If you did want to give it a try, you could probably borrow a bike from someone and ride the route, to see if it did make a difference at all. Depending on how much you're attached to your current bike, you could also likely fit drop handlebars to it. You can also just try to get in to a better position on your bike as you pedal. It can seem cumbersome at first, but over time, you can train yourself to ride more efficiently.

okay, that's exactly what i needed to know. i hear a lot of people say "don't get a hybrid!" or whatever, because it's too heavy and too slow. so to me that means if you get a lighter, more aero bike then you will go faster within the range of your ability. so when i was being knocked over by wind, i thought "maybe if i were more aerodynamic..!" but i guess that's not really the case! i'm not going to bother with a new bike to save a couple of minutes. thanks :)


As far as your gearing not being appropriate, that might be really simple to fix - a new casette (the set of cogs on youe rear wheel) could be bought with different ratios, which can totally transform a bike. Depending on what brand and how many gears, that might only be $40 - $50, or it could be twice that.

i have an internal hub so i can't change cassettes :''( it'd be totally worth $50 if i could change gearing though!


If you're worried that the commute will take a really long time, just do it a few times a week. It's better than nothing, and before you know it, you'll be flying up hills you used to consider walking. There's a pretty substantial hill (short, but very steep) on my road, just up from my house. The first time I hopped on a bike and tried to ride up it, I stopped halfway up, walked home, and collapsed on the floor ready to die. Now, I sprint up it at least 6 or 7 times a week, and it barely makes me breathe harder. :)

okay, thank you! very reassuring :) i was just kind of frustrated, because it was so unexpected that i couldnt finish, as i'd done it already! so i thought "what if i can't get to work because it's too hard?" and that was terrifying. because then in my mind, my coworkers think bike commuting is unreliable, and my boss thinks my priorities are messed up because i commute even though i can't make it on time! haha. i am good at worrying.

okay! we're just going to do it! if i have to leave 2 hours early then i'll just do it less often until i can leave later. or maybe i'll just have to ride on the highway the other days! :o

thanks a bunch :)

I think I missed your earlier thread - what's the bike you're commuting on now? I didn't know anyone was still making a "mainstream" bike with an internal hub! Besides retro stuff and that weird 7-speed internal, I can't think of anything.

this one! http://bianchiusa.com/06_milano.html it's an 8-speed. it isn't really made for hardcore athletic endeavors, i don't think. haha. but it works and i still love it anyway. :)

this one! http://bianchiusa.com/06_milano.html it's an 8-speed. it isn't really made for hardcore athletic endeavors, i don't think. haha. but it works and i still love it anyway. :)I think you deserve a Bianchi Volpe or a Novara Randonee :) If you could find a Randonee in your size at a local REI store, they come with fenders, a rear rack, and (yay) a full spread of hill-flattening, headwind-defeating gears. And who can resist a bike whose paint color is "Coffee" :D

I WANT ONE OF THOSE BIKES SO BAD!
someone was selling an older randonee on craigslist for 65 bucks! but that was gone in a flash. those are two of my top choices for bikes i could afford but only if i saved up or got a loan. haha. i'd love one of those! and coffee? it's like they asked me what color to paint it!

Wow, nice! That is a pretty cool looking bike, even if it's not the most suitable.

Yeah, it's a funky little beast! I love the look of it. :) Unfortunately, not a hill climber by any stretch of imagination...

wild animals, I admire your determination and attitude. :) I'd suggest a new bike, but I know that's not so easy to do (check craigslist every day... maybe post a WANTED ad? I got my current commuter I love just that way). For now, maybe try to look for new routes? Like ryanparrish (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=391800)'s route?

thanks guys! when i first saw it, i thought it was just what bikes should look like. i didn't think i could get it! but the more i read about it the better it seemed...so i got a loan and bought it :) the internal hub sold me on it. and now the hub is the biggest problem. haha. i love that bike but i wish i had another bike better-suited to riding up and down a lot of hills that are covered (COVERED) in potholes. even if i could just add a few lower gears, that would help immensely. actually even ONE lower gear would make a difference. haha. i've ridden the route a few times now (4 times, but 2 times i stopped a couple miles short and turned around), and sometimes the wind is insane, and sometimes just pleasant and breezy. today i was trying to roll down a hill, and the headwind was blowing against me so hard that i had to pedal my heart out to stay at about 13mph--downhill! haha. it sucked. but the ride is getting easier! today instead of walking up the biggest hill, i rode until i couldn't anymore and then stopped (as usual). but then instead of walking, i sat there and drank gatorade for a minute, and after a break i rode to the top! it wasn't really fun, and i had to use my inhaler, which i hadn't used since the first time i rode the commute route, but i made it :) on the way home i even rode a few miles on the highway when it was pretty dark out. i left too late in the evening, so that and the wind are why i had to turn around. i was tired and i didn't want to get knocked over by a drunken teenager or whoever. i've noticed that it's lots easier and i'm a little faster the day after i take a day off. i think i'm going to start with one commute a week, and as i get rain gear and all that, i'll hopefully be fit enough to ride more often even if it involves gale-force winds :) i can "train" after work, going to rent videos or whatever. just thinking out loud (or with the keyboard i guess). hehe.


wild animals, I admire your determination and attitude.

hey thank you! :) :) that's very nice of you to say. i've been working on my attitude. haha. it used to be pretty bad, but it's getting better. i haven't been avidly cycling for that long, but it has actually made me behave a little differently, which is kind of cool. i love riding my bike!!!(!!!!)

do you have any advice for knowing what a good "climbing" bike should feel like? i haven't ridden road bikes before, really. should i count the teeth of the gears on the cassette, to see how low the gearing is? i don't know a lot about that stuff. i know people say things like "stem shifters--that bike must be cheap!" or "suicide levers?! what were they thinking?!" so are there components i should avoid at all costs? i don't mind having a cheap-ish bike but i don't want one that's going to kill me or be no improvement on the one i have already! the bikes i see on craigslist that i know look good are always $300+ bucks, it seems like. with the less expensive bikes, i can't tell the difference.

and, finally :) : thanks so much, ladies and gentlemen, for your patience and advice. you guys are too nice, and it's rad that you're so passionate about biking that you want to help other people with it!

do you have any advice for knowing what a good "climbing" bike should feel like? i haven't ridden road bikes before, really. should i count the teeth of the gears on the cassette, to see how low the gearing is? i don't know a lot about that stuff. Yes, the number of teeth on cassette cogs and chainring is what determines the gears you have. The formula is (f/b)*d where f is the number of teeth on chainring in front, b the number of teeth on cog in back, and d - the diameter of the wheel in inches. The number you get is the standard way to compare gearing (in fact, what you get is the wheel diameter for which one revolution of pedals in your gear would yield one revolution of the wheel, and if you multiply it by pi (roughly 3.14), you'll get the distance the bike will travel per pedal revolution - but you don't have to worry about this if you don't want to). The smaller the number, the easier the gear.

Now, road bikes have traditionally somewhat high gearing compared to, say, touring or mountain bikes. The reason is that they were built for strong riders who rode hard and carried nothing on their bike at all. So in fact an older racing bike might have a low gear that's just as high as one on your Bianchi!

However, climbing is not all about gears. It's about your position in/out of the saddle, weight of the bike, efficiency of energy transfer (some bikes are stiffer and hence better than the "squishier" ones), and even the type of pedals you have. Here is how I think I would buy a used bike:

0) Find a bike I like the look of, in my price range.

1) Arrange an appointment with the seller and come to it with my Bianchi Milano

2) Inspect the bike:

- size: if you can't clear the top tube, the bike's out - it's unsafe for you
- weight: is it a 50-pound behemoth? :)
- condition of frame: rust, dents?
- condition of wheels: rust on spokes? are wheels true? how is spoke tension? are tires worn/cracked?
- brakes and brake levers: is rear brake capable of locking rear wheel? does applying front brake and pushing the bike forward keep the bike stationary and make the rear wheel lift off the ground?
- bearing adjustments in headset and hub: is the headset too loose/tight? wheels?
- general condition of the rest of the bike: rust on components? loose parts? frayed cables? disintegrating seats? - you get the idea

3) Test-ride the bike and check:

- fit: do you feel cramped/too stretched out? how is the posture? want it more or less upright? feel free to ask the seller to adjust seat height/position - you need to know how the bike fits!
- "feel" of the ride: bumpy? smooth? responsive? sluggish? fast? slow? steady? twitchy?
- mechanical condition: are there noises coming from the bike as you're riding? does anything feel suspiciously loose/weird?
- brakes: is there sufficient braking power? is braking smooth and even? how do levers feel?
- gears: do they shift well? are YOU comfortable with the shifters (it doesn't matter what others say)? go through all the gears (except cross-shifting): is there grinding/skipping in any cog-chainring combo (that means the chain has been stretched and the cassette is worn out)
- gears: what is the range? Go into the lowest gear and spin. If you need to, go back to your bike, put it in lowest gear and compare the effort. If there is a hill nearby - excellent! Ride up it no one bike and then the other: is there any difference? Also go over potholes and rough stretches of road, if there are any: how do the bikes differ?

This inspection would really help you know the difference between the bikes. You will probably have to do several, and with each one you'll get a better feel for different bikes and their effects on riding. You might even want to go to a bike shop and test-ride their bikes, just to have more basis for comparison. If you feel guilty about pretending to be a potential customer, take your repairs to that bike shop afterwards. :)

Here are the types of bikes I would look for on local craigslist:

Older no-suspension mountain bikes: they often make excellent commuters. No suspension to steal energy from each pedal stroke - and MTBs are known for having a lot of low gears for more technical sections of trails! Usually inexpensive too.

Touring bikes: excellent choice. Low gears, relaxed geometry, plenty hand positions, ability to carry large loads - they really make a perfect commuter. Hard to come by though, and often pricey.

Older road bikes (10-speeds, usually): mmm maybe. Gearing might be too high there, lots of people do not like downtube friction shifting (no 1 click = 1 shift; friction shifting means you have to judge how far to move the lever; on the plus side, a lot less adjustment is required). Often tricky to attach racks/fenders. Another thing I noticed is that most of these bikes were built for TALL people: I'm 5'7" and the greatest majority of those bikes advertised on local craigslist would be way too big for me (but the ladies' versions may be ok).

Hybrids: as long as they have no suspension and fairly flat handlebars (so that position isn't too upright), they may do fine. Usually they have quite low gears.

Here are some of the bikes advertised in the last couple of days on Toronto craigslist that would catch my attention:

http://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/204220639.html - touring bikes are great :)
http://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/204796080.html - MTB with no suspension

http://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/204974088.html , http://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/203600415.html - 10-speeds may work.

Or here are some bikes advertised on Portland's craigslist that I'd say are worth looking at:
http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/bik/204993128.html . Looks good. If it were in decent mechanical condition, I'd probably buy it right now if I lived closer! :)

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/bik/204956973.html - Ladies' ten-speeds are not hard to find. :)

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/bik/204875081.html - worth a try if size fits you.

thank you! you're awesome! that should go up as a tutorial someplace, because that's all the stuff i always wanted to know but never knew how to find. i'd heard a lot about "gear inches" and that, but i didn't know how to figure it out. it sounded very esoteric. :)

there's a gear-ratio calculator for nexus hubs (like the one on my bike) on sheldon brown's site--if i figure out what gearing i have on this bike, i could figure out how it compares to another bike that way right? i'm bike-empowered! :D i just found out that i'm not going to get paid again until about october 5th (SURPRISE!) so i am kind of screwed and not sure how to pay my bills, but after that i'm going to try this low gearing thing out. it seems like the more i ride, the lower i need my gears to be. maybe because i'm being kind of strict about keeping my cadence up when i can. anyway thanks again :) now i feel like i know what to do. but after a few months i'm going to be asking a lot more questions about whether i should get the volpe or the fuji touring or something like that. haha.

yay! :D

I don't have time to read evey post but I did scan most of them. I'm a girl, I have the same long hair issue. I think a ponytail would help keep your hair off your neck, more air-flow. The temples, maybe a helmet with more air holes? I just wash my face and run the damp cloth on my temples and do what I can to look presentable after that.

One thing that I noticed is that you carry gatorade and a sweater. Are you biking in the same clothes you are working in? If so, I suggest you get seperate riding clothes and work clothing. I pack my work cloths in a trunk.
There is NO way I would work in the clothes I biked in. My morning commute is mostly uphill and I do sweat and have all the smelly effects of that. Get some wet-wipes, wipe down after the sweating stops, leave deodorant at work (get some girly smelling deodorant) and the power is also a good idea. I also got a rain/cold weather coat with underarm zippers. Those help alot to cool your torso.

Good luck!
Michelle

if i figure out what gearing i have on this bike, i could figure out how it compares to another bike that way right? i'm bike-empowered! :D

And keep in mind that on bikes with a removable rear casette, changing ratios is simple and cheap!