Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Commuting
Reload this Page >

2016! how was your commute today?

Search
Notices
Commuting Bicycle commuting is easier than you think, before you know it, you'll be hooked. Learn the tips, hints, equipment, safety requirements for safely riding your bike to work.

2016! how was your commute today?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 10-31-16 | 10:14 AM
  #2826  
Senior Member
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,943
Likes: 23
From: Thornton, CO

Bikes: 2003 Orbea Orca, 2003 Bianchi Imola, ? Waterford

Originally Posted by noglider
Today is Halloween, and a couple of blocks before I arrived at work, a black cat ran across the street in front of me. I can scarcely believe this. I'm not superstitious. I just think it's funny.


Meeow! Any trick or treating? My wife is going with my son later on after day care.
ptempel is offline  
Old 10-31-16 | 10:15 AM
  #2827  
JReade's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,597
Likes: 4
From: Oregon City, OR
Originally Posted by mgw4jc
A bit cool for just a short-sleeve shirt this morning, but I did it anyway. 56F to start. I'm ready for the time change which will make it light again for most of my ride in for at least another 3 or 4 weeks.

Schools were out today so much less traffic. I think they schedule a teacher work day on Halloween because they can't actually call it a holiday.
First day commuting to my new office (From Downtown Charlotte to the Northlake Mall Region), I did a light jacket, since I'm a recent transplant from Florida and haven't mastered the cool weather yet.
JReade is offline  
Old 10-31-16 | 10:19 AM
  #2828  
noglider's Avatar
aka Tom Reingold
Titanium Club Membership
15 Anniversary
Community Builder
Community Influencer
 
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 44,180
Likes: 6,418
From: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA

Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem

Originally Posted by ptempel


Meeow! Any trick or treating? My wife is going with my son later on after day care.
My chicks fledged a few years ago. We live in an apartment building with only 12 apartments, and only two of the apartments have kids. I guess I should bring home a little candy on the low probability they will knock on our door.

We used to live in Maplewood, NJ which looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. It was such a great place for trick-or-treating that parents from bad neighborhoods would drive their kids to ours, which I thought was a nice thing.
__________________
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author

Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
noglider is offline  
Old 10-31-16 | 11:58 AM
  #2829  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 22
From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Originally Posted by JReade
First day commuting to my new office (From Downtown Charlotte to the Northlake Mall Region), I did a light jacket, since I'm a recent transplant from Florida and haven't mastered the cool weather yet.
Hey - a Charlotte person. Welcome!

I tend to under dress compared to all other riders I see. But I travel light and don't have much storage for shedding layers. I'm fine being a little cold to start off as I'll inevitably warm up as the miles go by.
mgw4jc is offline  
Old 10-31-16 | 12:41 PM
  #2830  
JReade's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,597
Likes: 4
From: Oregon City, OR
Originally Posted by mgw4jc
Hey - a Charlotte person. Welcome!

I tend to under dress compared to all other riders I see. But I travel light and don't have much storage for shedding layers. I'm fine being a little cold to start off as I'll inevitably warm up as the miles go by.
I bring my whole outfit for work with me, two panniers, so I have room to stash, that's for sure. I was up in your neck of the woods over the weekend, looked like lots of good riding that way.
JReade is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 04:45 AM
  #2831  
Senior Member
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,649
Likes: 1,470
From: Merrimac , MA
A very nice uneventful commute in the dark with the temp at 29f degrees.
essiemyra is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 06:25 AM
  #2832  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 22
From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

I had to do some trick-or-treater dodging on the way home last night. Nothing crazy, but definitely slowed down a bit as they looked like they could dart across the street at any moment.

This morning I rode to the gym, worked out a bit, then rode to work. It was overcast and mild for the first ride. Then at 7:30 it was misting and felt cooler out. I wasn't expecting that. But I made it to work fine and even stopped to deposit some checks on the way.

And now, I'm hungry.
mgw4jc is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 07:21 AM
  #2833  
jrickards's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,647
Likes: 6
From: Sudbury, ON, CA

Bikes: 2012 Kona Sutra, 2002 Look AL 384, 2018 Moose Fat bike

Nice ride in this morning, comfortably cool, 5C/41F, but with a headwind at parts and a little bit of wet spray in the air. MBT shorts with knee-high wool socks, thin, long-sleeved merino base layer under a fleece jacket, Buff folded as a beanie under my helmet and medium weight long-fingered gloves: altogether, nice and warm although with the backpack on my back, my back was sweaty. I left at about 6:30am and rode in the dark the whole way including an unlit dirt road which was fun with my nice MEC light on bright setting.
jrickards is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 07:36 AM
  #2834  
tarwheel's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 8,896
Likes: 7
From: Raleigh, NC

Bikes: Waterford RST-22, Bob Jackson World Tour, Ritchey Breakaway Cross, Soma Saga, De Bernardi SL, Specialized Sequoia

Trick-or-treaters all over the place on my ride home last night, even before it got dark. Took it easy so I wouldn't run over any kids and rang my bell a lot.

Legs were tired this morning, probably from riding four days in a row, so my pace was slower than usual. It's dark enough now during my morning commute that my front light is essential for the first half of the ride, but that will change this weekend with the end of daylight savings time. My morning ride will return to daylight and the afternoon ride will be mostly in the dark. I would rather have the extra daylight in afternoons because the traffic is much heavier then, but more importantly I wish "they" would just settle on one time and stick to it year round. I hate readjusting to the time changes every spring and fall.
tarwheel is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 07:40 AM
  #2835  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 107
Likes: 0

Bikes: R4000si, 2013 CAADX

Did not ride this morning but on my way back home yesterday I almost caught up between railroad crossing. While I was passing RR crossing the bell started to ring so I was in hurry to pass quickly and my front wheel got parallel to the rail track gap and bike fell. I quickly walked out with bike out of tracks safely. I did not fell with bike and I don't think nothing broken but it was bit scary. I shouldn't be too hurry on RR crossing next time as I would still have time to cross.
kim43235 is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 08:02 AM
  #2836  
TheNormanRider's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
From: Norman, OK

Bikes: IZip E3 Path+, Specialized Diverge A1, GMC Denali, Roadmaster Quarry Ridge

63F this morning, and dark as always. Lots of gravel or some crap in the bike lane; not sure where it's coming from but it gets worse every week. Had to go through a red light after I waited on it for a long while and it just wouldn't turn green. Very strange since I can normally trigger other lights but this particular one tends to give me grief. Other than that the ride in to work was uneventful. I've been out of the saddle for a week or so now, and it feels great to be riding again.
TheNormanRider is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 08:21 AM
  #2837  
rhm's Avatar
rhm
multimodal commuter
 
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,810
Likes: 597
From: NJ, NYC, LI

Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...

Seasonally appropriate cold ride today, which was nice, with bright stars above me. But the train was not heated. It's kinda bizarre, actually, I think the heat was on on the train when I first got on, but it got steadily colder. Unpleasant.
__________________
www.rhmsaddles.com.
rhm is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 08:38 AM
  #2838  
KCBikeCommuter's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 514
Likes: 1
From: Kansas City, MO

Bikes: Klein Quantum Race; Cannondale Supersix EVO Di2; Trek Crossrip LTD; Trek Boone 9 Disc

Did the Bike/Bus commute this morning... so only 1-mile to the bus stop and then 1-mile after I get off the bus to the office.

As I was still in my neighborhood, a lady coming off a side street pulled right out in front of me. I'm hyper-sensitive to cars approaching from side streets since that seems to be where I've had my closest calls. She got close enough that I could see she wasn't looking in my direction at all. I yelled 'HEY!' to get her attention as I was slamming on my brakes. It worked. She stopped, apologized and we all went on our way... and hopefully she is a little more careful in the future.
KCBikeCommuter is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 09:21 AM
  #2839  
baron von trail's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,509
Likes: 2
From: SW Ohio

Bikes: 3 good used ones

Yep to the danger mentoned above about side streets crossing the main road on which we are pedaling. They are, without a doubt, the roads from which come my worst automobile encounters.

Nice ride this morning. I had to leave a half hour early to be here for a meeting. It resulted in a much better traffic pattern than when I aim for 8AM arrival. Tomorrow will require about the same thing as I have a customer coming in who will be here at 8. The only downside is that it is dark the whole way in. But, that's not a problem, IMO.
baron von trail is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 09:21 AM
  #2840  
bmthom.gis's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,977
Likes: 5
From: Columbia, SC

Bikes: 2014 Cannondale Synapse Carbon 4 Rival; 2014 Cannondale Trail 7 29; 1972 Schwinn Suburban, 1996 Proflex 756, 1987(?) Peugeot, Dahon Speed P8; 1979 Raleigh Competition GS; 1995 Stumpjumper M2 FS, 1978 Raleigh Sports, Schwinn Prologue

Yesterday and today! I was going to drive in today, but had a lot of pancakes last night for dinner, so I figured I may as well burn calories today. I thought I found a bit of a shortcut, and it certainly felt shorter, but distance ended up being the same. It was a good ride though. It's humid/overcast and pretty sure I had a bit of a tailwind this morning.

On the ride home yesterday I had a rare traffic backup at a light and was able to cruise past everyone in the bike lane. I love it when that happens.
bmthom.gis is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 10:46 AM
  #2841  
GATC
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,840
Likes: 186
From: south Puget Sound
Supposed to get another inch of rain today after yesteday's inch-and-a-quarter but it actually stopped just as I got my bike out of the garage (but not in time for my kids heading to their schools). It was still plenty wet from all directions. Our October had already been the rainiest on record before this weekend and yesterday.

Yesterday's 1.25" came in 3 bursts basically: while I was riding in, while I was riding home, and while I was out trick-or-treating w/ my daughter and her friend. I'm amazed her hot glue job kept the feathers on her outfit all night.
HardyWeinberg is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 11:56 AM
  #2842  
arsprod's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,043
Likes: 17
From: Indianapolis

Bikes: Fairdale Weekender Drop, Motobecane 29LTD, Cannondale H400, Basso Coral

55F this morning and supposed to be 79 this evening. So much for the first of November!
arsprod is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 12:43 PM
  #2843  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 223
Likes: 10
From: NW, WI

Bikes: Salsa Fargo, Surly Disc Trucker, Surly ECR, Cannondale Cujo, Rocky Mountain Blizzard

woke up to 50 degrees. Warmer than yesterday's high temp. Shorts and long sleeve shirt was it. Roads were still wet from last nights rain so it was a bit messy riding my Anyroad without fenders. Had a very nice tailwind. Came around a corner to a busy multi-line rail crossing to find they had road closed barricades up and an engine parked there idling. That forced a detour with an extra mile but with the tailwind it was a pleasant ride anyway. Be battling that same wind on the way home but the sun is out and it's pretty warm for a November day.
Wolfhaven is offline  
Old 11-01-16 | 05:32 PM
  #2844  
Junior Member
 
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Raytown MO

Bikes: Specialized Allez 2007,Specialized Roubaix 2013, Schwinn Le Tour 4 (78'),Schwinn Temp (87'), Batavus Champion (yr?), Surly CrossCheck,Specialized Stumpjumper, Focus cayo Evo 4

bright flashing and bicycles seem to be invisible in KC. The temperature has been un-seasonably warm here - a little strange.
Commuter_42 is offline  
Old 11-02-16 | 04:52 AM
  #2845  
Senior Member
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,649
Likes: 1,470
From: Merrimac , MA
The ride in was a nice ride except for my being warm. I was overdressed for the 48f degree temperature this morning. And I lost my hat last night on my way home as I had it tucked under the strap of my trunk bag. It must have fallen off. Hopefully I will see it the next time I ride that route, which will not be before Friday.
essiemyra is offline  
Old 11-02-16 | 06:25 AM
  #2846  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 2,306
Likes: 22
From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Super foggy morning. I was glad I was wearing my reflective suspenders deal. Riding down one hill was kinda scary fun as I couldn't see anything beyond 25 feet in front of me.

This image was taken at a parking lot I cut through about 1 mile from my house. It looked cooler than it shows here.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
fog.jpg (95.2 KB, 33 views)
mgw4jc is offline  
Old 11-02-16 | 08:13 AM
  #2847  
kellichou's Avatar
Pedal Stompin'
5 Anniversary
 
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 181
Likes: 15
From: Denver, CO

Bikes: 2014 Metrofiets w/EBO e-assist; 2007 Trek 7300; 1986 Peugeot road bike w/downtube shifters

This morning it was about 47F, I was very comfortable for the ride with layers.

Because yesterday I met a coyote who stopped and let me get uncomfortably close on the trail before I started yelling and scared it away, this morning I tried getting off the trail earlier, and took some surface streets through residential areas to work. It was very nice.

As I've said before, the coyotes around here are HUGE--not sure if it's from hybridization with dogs, or just cause of great food sources (bunnies). They don't seem skittish, they're pretty bold. As an adult bicycle rider, I probably don't have anything to worry about, but it makes me nervous. Especially cause I encountered 2 together a couple of mornings ago.

Of course, you could say that I am the one encroaching on their territory, because greenways often are highways for wildlife to pass through, in, and among sub/urban areas.
kellichou is offline  
Old 11-02-16 | 08:26 AM
  #2848  
dailycommute's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 753
Likes: 6
From: RiverRoad, ME
Gray, cloudy, upper 30s, not too bad. Only 2 full days left for daylight savings commuting here in the far north so I take what I can get. Winding it down the last few weeks with the full tourer (t700), a great bike for this time of year with lights, pannier, fenders, wide tires. Tough to see the end of the line for 2016 commute season.
dailycommute is offline  
Old 11-02-16 | 08:27 AM
  #2849  
arsprod's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,043
Likes: 17
From: Indianapolis

Bikes: Fairdale Weekender Drop, Motobecane 29LTD, Cannondale H400, Basso Coral

I think today is the last of the unseasonably warm weather so I'm going to enjoy it! Got called a f@#$%ing a-hole on the ride home yesterday. I pulled into an intersection with a car coming up on the left - I saw him coming and knew I could make it across though he was going way too fast and wasn't paying attention to the flashing light that signaled the trail crossing (or anything else for that matter). I probably deserved his curses but I know I scared the crap out of the guy so it was worth it!
arsprod is offline  
Old 11-02-16 | 08:30 AM
  #2850  
Senior Member
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,943
Likes: 23
From: Thornton, CO

Bikes: 2003 Orbea Orca, 2003 Bianchi Imola, ? Waterford

Originally Posted by noglider
My chicks fledged a few years ago. We live in an apartment building with only 12 apartments, and only two of the apartments have kids. I guess I should bring home a little candy on the low probability they will knock on our door.

We used to live in Maplewood, NJ which looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. It was such a great place for trick-or-treating that parents from bad neighborhoods would drive their kids to ours, which I thought was a nice thing.
I heard that some apartment buildings in the city handed out a list of participating apartments to the kids. Sounded like a nice idea and speeds up the process a bit. Maplewood is a nice town. Have been to the movie theater there once or twice if I recall. It was a nice one that showed limited distribution movies like the Clairidge theater in Montclair. We did not get a lot of trick or treaters this year. Maybe 15 or so? Typical for our neighborhood for many years so far. My son had a nice time and filled up his bucket and could not carry it. He also mentioned that he had too much candy! I thought that there was no such thing for trick or treaters.

Back on topic: It was a nice commute this morning at around 54F. I put on the knee warmers but am looking forward to shed them this afternoon. Today and tomorrow might be the last shorts wearing days left for this season. It will be ~69F this afternoon and up to 71F tomorrow afternoon.

Edit: Don't know what the story was but there was another traffic jam from the GWB all the way to Lenonia/Teaneck exit on Rt 95 again. Also trafficky on Ft Lee Rd and uptown Manhattan as well.

Last edited by ptempel; 11-02-16 at 08:52 AM.
ptempel is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.