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-   -   2017! The how was your commute thread! (https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/1093311-2017-how-your-commute-thread.html)

noglider 09-25-17 02:02 PM

[MENTION=468175]Skipjacks[/MENTION], those are some stories! Deep breaths! I'm glad today is better.

This morning, I felt awfully sore after yesterday's murderous ride, so I rode the subway. On the ride, I started to feel much, much better, and once again, I regret not riding to work. Well, it's good that I feel better. I have been eating since the ride ended yesterday, taking breaks only in the bathroom and in bed. I have been eating since I got up this morning and haven't stopped at my desk all day.

Steely Dan 09-25-17 02:24 PM


Originally Posted by jrickards (Post 19885334)
Are others experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures these last 10 days or so?

yes. chicago is currently experiencing an unprecedented heat wave.

we've now had 6 days in a row of all-time heat records being broken.

never before in recorded history has chicago had this much heat this late in the summer season.

tomorrow might be another record-breaker too; that'd make it a full week's worth of record setting heat.

jrickards 09-25-17 03:29 PM


Originally Posted by Steely Dan (Post 19886339)
yes. chicago is currently experiencing an unprecedented heat wave.

we've now had 6 days in a row of all-time heat records being broken.

never before in recorded history has chicago had this much heat this late in the summer season.

tomorrow might be another record-breaker too; that'd make it a full week's worth of record setting heat.

I haven't checked to see if any of these recent days have had record-breaking temperatures but they certainly are hot.

Darth Lefty 09-25-17 06:16 PM

Wow, what a stressful Friday everyone had!

iphone 6 still going strong. Every time I've bought a best-new-phone it's lasted beyond contract up until destruction or loss, whereas cheaper ones are lucky to eke out the two years without becoming clunkers

acidfast7 09-25-17 10:08 PM


Originally Posted by Darth Lefty (Post 19886974)
Wow, what a stressful Friday everyone had!

iphone 6 still going strong. Every time I've bought a best-new-phone it's lasted beyond contract up until destruction or loss, whereas cheaper ones are lucky to eke out the two years without becoming clunkers

I buy my phones contract-less and SIM-less.

Bought a 1+1 from OnePlus in 2014 and still-running it on a £15/mo global usage plan from 3, runs all of the newest software and no reason to upgrade. Was £249 when I picked it up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnePlus

Darth Lefty 09-26-17 02:44 AM

I still don't have my new MTB back together. I traded rims with a guy in So Cal in order that we both have a matching set (some Diamondbacks come with one black and one color rim). My first go at tensioning the wheel was totally unsatisfactory so I let it all loose and wound it up again with more care. The rim is fine now but the tubeless setup is evading me. I fought with it for an hour and got three of the four beads set but the last one just won't go. I think I'll have to re-tape the rim. I figured I was being a bad neighbor running my dinky compressor over and over at midnight., and I called it off. So no MTB ride for me tomorrow.

I came inside so frustrated I could barely think so I sat down with a snack to level out. It's helping.

But now I'm listening to the boy twin coughing on the baby monitor. It seems like he's had some kind of cold or congestion for his entire 8mos of life. He doesn't wake up or cry any more about it, just coughs into his mattress, which lets us sleep but breaks my heart. He's such a happy goof when he's awake, he lights up when he sees me, grabs my nose and giggles, likes being tossed around, eats like a horse - and coughs and wheezes. The doctor seems to think it's just a combination of his undeveloped windpipe and his sheer size... he was tested for hydrocephalus around 3mo because his head is so big, and he's now in 12mo clothes. The sister is very serious and 2/3 his size.

Don't know if I'll sleep but will definitely ride today. The road bike, meh.

As I finish writing this, seems like he's settled down.

rhm 09-26-17 06:20 AM

PITA commute home last night!

Rear tire was low... pumped it up before leaving the station. Then a hundred yards later my cog popped off my three speed hub (doh!). Had to take the wheel off to get it back on. A mile or two later, my tire was flat (yes, flat; not just low). I pumped up and rode away but didn't get far. Tube was not holding air at all now. Went for the tool kit... and no tool kit. wtf! I guess I moved it to another bike and not having had any maintenance issues on this bike since December, I forgot all about it. I had to call my wife to come pick me up, which was a first in fifteen years of bike commuting.

When I got to fixing the flat, I found the cause was right at the edge of a patch I'd done in December, so I'd call it a failed patch... but it took a good long time for the patch to fail.

I also found a broken spoke, which I fixed.

And this morning, the cog popped off the driver again. That's really not supposed to happen, and it's surprising that it's happening now, after I've had this hub in use for several years. I removed a spacer so the circlip fits the driver better, so now the cog is a little loose on the driver, but the circlip is seated where it's supposed to be.

mgw4jc 09-26-17 06:38 AM


Originally Posted by arsprod (Post 19885211)
I know this isn't a weather forum but it's hard not to focus on it. 60F on the ride in - forecast is for 90 this afternoon. That's a 30 degree change in one day.

I don't mind seeing the weather posts from different parts of the country and/or world. Yours especially interests me because it is usually what I'm going to see about 24 hours later.


Originally Posted by jrickards (Post 19885334)
Are others experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures these last 10 days or so?

Yep, we have a forecast high of 89 for two days this week. Definitely high for late Sept. But Saturday's high should only be 71, so getting back to fall temps.

I saw two deer run off as I rounded a bend this morning. Later on I noticed traffic on one highway I cross was backed up more than normal. This usually means the interstate that runs parallel is backed up too. A couple of employees were late to work because of the mess.

jrickards 09-26-17 06:46 AM

In my smallish city of 90,000 (regional population is 160,000), it is not common to see fancy cars: there's a Ferrari in town and an a Austin Martin as well but a fair number of Porsches. However, last night, on the commute home, I was passed by a Bentley, it was pretty nice.

Warm (28C/82F) commute home but it felt drier, not so humid. I decided to go for a longer commute into work this morning, stretch my legs a bit after the 400km (over 4 days) charity ride I did 10 or so days ago so I went for a 46.1km/28.6mi loop that ended at work and I was able to complete it at an average rate of 27.4kmh/17.0mph which I think is the fastest I've ridden this route to date: yay, my legs are still good! I knew that I was going to start in the dark, at 6:10am but I had hoped that the sky would be brighter by 6:30 but I wasn't comfortable turning my front light from beam to flashing until nearly 7am. As good as I feel about this ride, I have to ride on too many unlit streets and paved shoulder of the highway for too long to feel really comfortable so this loop will have to be done after work or on a weekend if I want to ride it again this year.

It was a comfortable 17C/63F ride in this morning but it, again, it going to be warm this afternoon with a forecasted 27C/81F temperature and a humidex of 34C/93F. However, it appears that tonight it will cool down to seasonal averages of daily highs in the high-teens (18C=64F) and overnight lows in the high single digits (9C=48F).

Have a great day everyone!

wphamilton 09-26-17 07:12 AM

Easy ride this morning, only hard enough to warm up which took me just under 29 minutes. I can do it about 4 minutes faster if I try really hard, but it never seems worthwhile in the morning - that's what I like about this time of year. Those lazy morning rides.

Tundra_Man 09-26-17 07:20 AM

Four of us from my company are leaving at 3 PM this afternoon for a three day conference in Des Moines. We're taking the company car and meeting at the office parking lot. It would have been really tempting to just drive to work today.

Instead, I packed up my panniers with everything I'll need for the trip and loaded up my bike. This morning I rode to a client's office (51 degrees with a moderate head wind, wet roads but no rain falling.) Later on I'll ride across town to the office, lock my bike to the rack and we'll load up the company car and head out of town. I'm just going to use my Ortlieb City Roller bags as my luggage for the trip. Late Friday night when we return to town I'll just pop my panniers onto the bike and ride home.

I figure that way I can keep my consecutive bicycle work commute streak going, which as of today is 377.

arsprod 09-26-17 07:29 AM


Originally Posted by mgw4jc (Post 19887709)
I don't mind seeing the weather posts from different parts of the country and/or world. Yours especially interests me because it is usually what I'm going to see about 24 hours later.

Thanks for that! So tomorrow you'll see the same as today and yesterday - hot! Had a guy on a scooter yell at me for not stopping long enough at a crossing. I just thought it was funny

PatrickGSR94 09-26-17 09:23 AM

Yeah we've had crazy ridiculous hot weather in Memphis for late September. It was around 90 degrees both days over the weekend. Upper 80's so far this week, but finally supposed to cool off tomorrow.

Pretty uneventful e-bike commute yesterday, and regular road bike commute this morning. Been feeling pretty good and strong on the road bike lately, although not any faster than usual. 12.8 MPH moving average this morning across 15 miles.

noglider 09-26-17 09:45 AM

I don't mind the weather! It's warmer than normal, so I sweated a lot coming into work today, but it's fine. I wore my wool jersey, which is pretty fantastic in the way it handles sweat. No smell, either.

I took a day off the bike yesterday and rode in today. I felt extremely strong, probably from Sunday's big ride and also some vigorous dead lifts I did in the morning. It's a nice feeling.

ridewithgps keeps track of how I do on various so-called segments. I tried to reach my record for the steep hill climb, which is 40 seconds, but I did it in 50 seconds. I really don't see how I ever did it in 40 seconds. I wonder if it was a measurement error or something.

There was almost no wind today, and that helped, too. The wind map shows that I had a slight headwind, but the leaves on the tree were showing that I had a slight tail wind.

HardyWeinberg 09-26-17 09:51 AM

1 Attachment(s)
55F, overcast but no precip

no motor? 09-26-17 11:00 AM

I too am dealing with record heat. It's surprising that it's not only this hot, but this hot for this long at this time of year. I wasn't able to ride for about a week and it feels good to be back up on 2 wheels again, even if it is so hot.

PatrickGSR94 09-26-17 11:06 AM


Originally Posted by noglider (Post 19888192)
ridewithgps keeps track of how I do on various so-called segments. I tried to reach my record for the steep hill climb, which is 40 seconds, but I did it in 50 seconds. I really don't see how I ever did it in 40 seconds. I wonder if it was a measurement error or something.

There was almost no wind today, and that helped, too. The wind map shows that I had a slight headwind, but the leaves on the tree were showing that I had a slight tail wind.

That's why I usually put temperature and wind direction and speed in the Notes section for my Strava rides. So for whatever segment I can go to the ride with my best time, and then I can see if maybe there was a big tail wind that day that may have helped me along.

noglider 09-26-17 11:15 AM

A tail wind would explain short travel times over my whole route but not a quick climb on a steep hill.

PatrickGSR94 09-26-17 11:21 AM

Well who knows. Sometimes you just feel stronger some days more so than other days. I know that some of my fastest hill segment times have been on days when there was a strong tail wind.

Darth Lefty 09-26-17 01:31 PM

The comedy of errors continued unabated. I put a different tire on and it was tighter (thanks Continental) so I got it to seat. Then I put in the sealant and knocked over the jug with my toe, coating my shoe. I rinsed it off but by then it was 9 and my shoe was squishy and I was late already without even setting off. So I took the truck. MTB tomorrow finally

mgw4jc 09-27-17 06:27 AM

Crazy mom in her SUV just had to make her left turn in front of me this morning. And there was a car coming up on the road she was turning into. She basically tried to short-cut her left turn so she wouldn't have to wait on me. I wasn't going too fast anyway, but had to brake quickly. I raised my hand up and said, "HELLO!?" She looked at me but offered no apology. The car on the adjacent road just about had her front bumper taken off. After crazy soccer mom was past us she looked at me with an open mouth in disbelief.

A good ride otherwise. Still plenty warm, but not as humid as July and August anway.

scottsmith 09-27-17 07:33 AM

Good ride this morning! Great weather & pretty peaceful traffic with no close passes.

Won't get many more mornings this nice until spring!

arsprod 09-27-17 08:07 AM


Originally Posted by Darth Lefty (Post 19888780)
The comedy of errors continued unabated. I put a different tire on and it was tighter (thanks Continental) so I got it to seat. Then I put in the sealant and knocked over the jug with my toe, coating my shoe. I rinsed it off but by then it was 9 and my shoe was squishy and I was late already without even setting off. So I took the truck. MTB tomorrow finally

^ One of the reasons I'm reluctant to make the move to tubeless - that stuff is nasty! Warmer this morning at 67F but the summer temps are over - high today supposed to top out at 80 and cooler tomorrow. With the cooler temps the wind is back - it's been almost windless for days. Most unfortunate is it'll be a headwind going home... I'd rather have 90+temps

pdlamb 09-27-17 08:58 AM

Cool clear morning today, beautiful day for a ride. I was running a bit late, but that just made the security line shorter. 70F after a long summer made it harder to stop when I got to the office, though. :)

HardyWeinberg 09-27-17 09:24 AM

50F, blinding sun, very nice


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