A few minutes in to my commute this morning I realized my front brake was completely disengaged. Talk about something to get your heart rate going! I had taken the wheel off yesterday to change a flat and I guess I just didn't connect the brake properly afterward. Seems to be fine now. the roads were still wet from yesterday so you can imagine what braking with only the rear brake was like!

Another thing: normally for commutes I will wear some sort of athletic shirt and mountain bike shorts, along with my bike shoes for the clipless pedals. But I've been watching a lot of youtube videos lately on dutch commutes / riding style. I guess there is something about just getting on the bike and riding without much fuss that appeals to me. So today I just work jeans, a button up casual shirt and running shoes. No meetings today so I figured I could pull that off at work today. My pedals are the kind that have platform style on the reverse side and clips on the others.

Big mistake! For one thing, even though it wasn't raining, my pedals were a little wet from yesterday's rain and from the bottom of my shoes. They slipped off the pedals more than once, which was annoying. Can't imagine what it would have been like if I'd tried wearing dress shoes with slick soles, ala The Netherlands. For me I guess clipless is the way to go, even in the city. I never have much trouble getting in and out of them quickly anyway, and I learned today that I like the stability. I guess I'll go back to keeping a nice pair of shoes at work so I don't have to carry them.

Then there is the weather factor. It was a very cool morning, and I have a reasonably short ride of about 4 miles each way. So my thinking was that if I took it easy I wouldn't get very sweaty and would be fine without a change of clothes. I hadn't thought about how hilly it is here. I guess I never realized that until I tried riding and not sweating in non-bike clothes! I will just make good use of my panniers next time! Quite a few lessons learned today. I'm just getting back into commuting, or biking at all, very recently. So it's like I have to learn this all over again. haha.