Originally Posted by
tarwheel
This ^^^^ ... Also, with friends like that, who needs enemies!
Commuting is whole different beast than recreational riding. It's almost like loaded touring. The loads aren't as heavy but you are doing a lot more starting and stopping. I have become a much stronger rider since I started commuting. I was already riding a lot recreationally when I started commuting, but it still wore me out. One thing I found out very quickly is that I had to slow down my pace. I was wearing myself out trying to ride as fast as I do on recreational rides with no loads, drafting other riders and not getting caught by so many red lights.
this really hit home with me. Going into work, I was cranking along as I would on a normal weekend ride, pushing myself a bit to keep to a faster pace. Going 22 miles at that pace wasn't bad, and I did feel great all day at work. I really was looking forward to the ride home. I also made the mistake of not drinking enough or eating enough throughout the day, I think that contributed to hitting a wall about 2 miles into the ride back home. It was just painful from that point on. Then, when the saddle failed and I got to walk the rest of the way home, it just finished me off. I bit off more than I could chew for the first commute, and that experience was made worse by the actions of the stupid co-worker. btw....he wasn't trying to be malicious, he's just a moron who doesn't equate a bike with transportation, like a car is. To him a bike is a recreational toy. He never considered for one second that I could have been hurt or killed if that seat had failed on the portion of the trip that wasn't on the rail trail, where I'm riding 4 feet from cars going 45 mph.
thanks again!