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2018! The ?How was your commute?? thread!

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2018! The “How was your commute?” thread!

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Old 06-20-18 | 06:28 AM
  #1201  
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From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Hot afternoon ride home. One neighborhood I ride through is getting some streets redone. Yesterday they simply removed all the asphalt from a couple of streets so they were dirt and gravel. Luckily I could hop onto the sidewalk as my road bike would not have handled that well. I avoided that neighborhood this morning and probably will the rest of the week.

Lovely, sweaty ride in this morning. I've explored a couple of different route options this week. One I thought would be shorter than it was. Another that was shorter than I thought it would be.
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Old 06-20-18 | 07:06 AM
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Another cool ride in 63F and cloudy. Which is nice. There is construction signs popping up on my route with markings that makes it seem I'm going to lose a little bit of the trail I'm using for repair. Guess I'll have to wait and see what MNdot has planned.
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Old 06-20-18 | 07:39 AM
  #1203  
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Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk

Woke up to steady rain falling. Looks like it's supposed to be that way all day and through tomorrow noon. 60 degrees with a brisk headwind made my hands a little chilly.

MUP was pretty much empty due to the rain, except for three guys I came up behind. Two had bicycles and one was on a recumbent trike. They were going really slow, with the two guys on bikes just walking. I thought that was odd, so as I came by I slowed and asked if everything was OK. Turns out one of the guys had a brand new X-Mart fat bike that had lost the left pedal. We looked and the threads were completely gone from inside of the crank, so there was nothing for the pedal threads to bite on when we tried to screw it back into place. I apologized for not being able to fix his bike, wished them well and continued on my way to work.

Arrived at the office soaking wet. When I pulled up a guy was walking through the parking ramp looking at me funny so I said, "See! I told people I'm not the Wicked Witch of the West! This is proof!" He looked at me even funnier after that.

My back still hurts pretty bad, but I think it might be a little better than it was on Monday.
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Old 06-20-18 | 09:06 AM
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I went out yesterday to buy lunch, and the heat and humidity had dropped. That's highly unusual here. I rode downtown from work to Fraunces Tavern Museum, where Washington said farewell to his soldiers, at the southern tip of Manhattan. Friends from Florida are visiting, and we agreed to see the museum there. It didn't seem terribly humid, but I did sweat a lot. I sweated so much that I thought I ought to drink a Gatorade, so I bought one. It went into me like lotion goes on hands, and I craved another. I drank a second!

After the museum, we rode the ferry to Staten Island and back. The view of the harbor from the ferry is pretty spectacular, especially at sunset.

This morning is slightly cooler than yesterday. The dog days of summer haven't started yet, mercifully.

On the way to work, I stopped to fix a flat for a newbie cyclist. He had no idea how to do it, so I supplied him with my spare tube and told him what equipment he ought to carry with him.

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Old 06-20-18 | 09:42 AM
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Originally Posted by zacster
It was very hot and humid in NYC today, worse than yesterday. Thought about taking the subway but figured hot and humid on a bike beats hot and humid down below even if the trains themselves have AC. The ride home will be the same as yesterday, slow and easy.
I had a great ride yesterday, despite the heat, both ways. And then I got to work and read about all the subway issues and felt really good about myself for riding every day.
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Old 06-21-18 | 05:13 AM
  #1206  
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It was a very nice uneventful commute this am with partly cloudy skies.
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Old 06-21-18 | 06:26 AM
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From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

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It's looking like I will commute all 5 days this week, something I've only done twice so far this year, once in January and once in February. And it has been hot.

I chased a squirrel for a few yards when he thought going straight down the MUP was his best escape route. After about two seconds of that he faked left and broke right to get me off his tail.
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Old 06-21-18 | 07:35 AM
  #1208  
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I had a nice ride in. The forecast called for scattered showers in the morning but not the afternoon. I packed a rain jacket with the intention of using it only in unforeseen circumstances. I wore shorts and a thin wool t-shirt. It was cool, and the rain was very light. In fact, the whole ride was extremely comfortable. I hadn't worn this t-shirt since the weather was cold. I think I might wear it more.

The path I take is normally extremely busy, and it was less busy today because of the threatening weather. People missed out on a really nice ride.
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Old 06-21-18 | 07:46 AM
  #1209  
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From: Sioux Falls, SD

Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk

Rain, rain, rain. Started raining yesterday morning before I got up for work. Yesterday's rides to and from the office were very soggy. Still raining this morning. Not supposed to let up until around noon, but may continue on through the day. As of 6 AM this morning we'd gotten somewhere between 8"-12" in the previous 24 hours. Everything is extremely soggy.

So this morning I headed out the door fully intending to get good and wet before I got to the office, so I rode the hybrid with fenders and dressed appropriately. My work clothes were safe in my waterproof bag. Temp was 60F and there was a pretty stout 20 mph headwind.

As it turned out, I had to get creative with my route to work as I kept running into flooded areas. So I arrived at work about 15 minutes late, but there are some people in cars who weren't even able to make it in because of flooding.




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Old 06-21-18 | 09:29 AM
  #1210  
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From: Indianapolis

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

First and only ride this week - been recovering from a mild case of food poisoning. Today is wet and rainy but I'll take that over driving
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Old 06-21-18 | 12:01 PM
  #1211  
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From: Thornton, CO

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Originally Posted by noglider
On the way to work, I stopped to fix a flat for a newbie cyclist. He had no idea how to do it, so I supplied him with my spare tube and told him what equipment he ought to carry with him.
Good on you, Tom. Good juju will come your way. I wished someone did that for me time before last. But it was in Ft Lee, NJ so a little less cycling traffic there. I ended up walking the bike about a mile down Ft Lee Rd hill to my car. My mini-pump was not working as well as I wanted it to. Replaced it with a Cannondale model and it seems to work ok so far.

Today's commute was a-ok. Just missed the morning rain. So only had wet roads. This afternoon should be glorious. Good days for riding! Just replaced my brake shoes with some new Kool-Stop salmon ones. Now have a little more piece of mind now that the brake pads are about twice a thick as they were...
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Old 06-21-18 | 12:06 PM
  #1212  
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I usually commute on a 1974 Raleigh International. Last night on the way home, I passed a guy on an International of similar vintage, and it had the original paint job on it. I was tempted to tell him I was on the same bike, but it seems normal etiquette around here is not to strike up conversations, so I let it go. The bike path is extremely busy, especially in good weather.
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Old 06-21-18 | 02:23 PM
  #1213  
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Bikes: Stormchaser, Paramount, Tilt, Samba tandem

Forgot to post these yesterday from the MTB portion of my commute. Left path goes to paved MUP, right to dry wash. What’s that white mark?
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Old 06-22-18 | 06:28 AM
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From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Warm and humid this morning. Overcast, but only stray showers are forecast. I would have welcomed a shower on my ride home any day this week.

I left an hour early today and had a layover at the gym. Quiet there today and pretty low traffic for the ride from there to work too.
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Old 06-22-18 | 07:03 AM
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From: Windham, NH

Bikes: Bianchi Campione, Specialized Diverge Comp E5

I seem to have hit a purple patch in my commutes this week. 3rd day of my commute and each ride I have hit PRs, averaging more than 18.5 mph and even cross 19 couple of times!
I dont think I can keep this up much longer, of course!
Next week I am going to try and stretch my commute to 4 days. That will take me to my all time high monthly mileage of 800+
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Old 06-22-18 | 07:53 AM
  #1216  
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Weather these last 2 days have been great. Cool mornings, comfortable evenings. Hoping it will continue. Wasn't a fan of the humid commutes last week.
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Old 06-22-18 | 08:20 AM
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From: Sioux Falls, SD

Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk

Still lots of flooding in the area so I had to get creative with my ride home last night and my ride in again this morning. I'm guessing the river won't recede in time to open up my usual route home, so I'll probably have to take an alternate route again. However now that I've done this a couple times I think this morning's route is the best of the various options I've tried so I'll probably just go that way rather than experimenting again.
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Old 06-22-18 | 11:01 AM
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Cool-ish and breezy. Extremely pleasant. I'm going upstate this evening, going from work to the bus terminal, where I won't leave my bike. I rode Citi Bike to work. I managed to get a good bike with a NuVinci hub, but still, those bikes are 50-pound tanks. I did OK until the steep hill at the end of the ride. I managed to pedal up it, but man, that's work.
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Old 06-22-18 | 02:16 PM
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Was *really* nice this morning. Could still wear short sleeve and shorts but with a little bit of AC the whole way. Lovin' every minute of it. I saw a cyclist talking to a cop on 127th street and St Nicholas Ave. I suspect that he was pulled over for running a red light but I didn't want to ask. Watch those lights folks!
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Old 06-25-18 | 04:48 AM
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Well here I am again at another Monday morning. It was a very nice uneventful commute in this am but I have been taking the direct route to work. I am extending my hours during the week so I leave at half a day on Friday.'s (grandma gets to babysit or as I like to think of it spend time with my granddaughter)
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Old 06-25-18 | 06:57 AM
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From: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)

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A nice, not too humid ride this morning. Possible rain or maybe even thunderstorms this afternoon. Oh well, que sera will be.
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Old 06-25-18 | 07:03 AM
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Milestone today, 30,000 commuting miles logged to my current job. Other than that, just a typical and uneventful ride.
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Old 06-25-18 | 07:26 AM
  #1223  
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Congrats [MENTION=227213]wphamilton[/MENTION]!

Flood waters here have receded enough that I was able to take my normal route to the client's office without any detours. We're supposed to get rain every day this week, so that may change as the river is still pretty high and I doubt it would take much additional moisture to bring it back over the banks.

Speaking of rain, (and I was,) last night before bed Google told me it would be raining this morning during my commute. So I packed my work clothes into my pannier and set out the clothes I wear for rain riding. This morning when I got up my wife had all the shades pulled, so I just put on the rain clothes that I had set aside. When I got out of the bedroom and was able to look out the windows I saw that it wasn't raining. I decided that I'd rather change into my work clothes in my own kitchen than a bathroom stall at a client's office, so that's what I did.

I did bring my rain clothes that I can change into for my ride home if the forecast proves accurate.
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Old 06-25-18 | 08:56 AM
  #1224  
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We've been sitting under a front doing a little dance for the last few days -- a shimmy north, with thundershowers, and shake south, with severe thunderstorms. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend ride; it was down to 68F, the coolest it's been here in three weeks. Then I was drenched twice on the way home. :/

Front went north, so sticky warm this morning from the Gulf moisture. I had a sheen of sweat just from pumping the tires up. Taking it easy meant the head wind kept the sweat down until I hit the bike shelter at work, where I started just dripping. I'm guessing that south wind will pump even more moist air up this way. At least it wasn't raining this morning...
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Old 06-25-18 | 09:01 AM
  #1225  
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We are back to spring weather, and I love it. It's slightly warm, but the breeze was so strong this morning that it felt cool. This is the kind of strong headwind that sometimes demoralizes me, but it didn't today. It kept me cool. I didn't notice I was sweating until I stopped at work. The wind was very shifty, too, but it was a headwind the vast majority of the way. I hope the direction doesn't change at midday.

I feel I've been very lucky the last few months. It's been a very long time since the weather dissuaded me from riding to work. Well maybe I'm tougher than I used to be, but not much.
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