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-   -   How was the commute today? Continued. (https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/540761-how-commute-today-continued.html)

EKW in DC 09-16-10 08:14 AM

Nice riding home last night. I remember when low to mid-eighties seemed hot in the late spring. Nowadays a day with those kinds of temps seems quite comfortable.

Noticed some excessive rattling from the the front fender/rack this AM. Thought to myself I needed to tighten the eyelet screw when I get to the office. Well, the screw is gone! So, I tightened down the other side and zip-tied the screwless side. TIme for a stop at the hardware store for a replacement screw... and some Loctite. :)

Amheirchion 09-16-10 09:51 AM

4th day of my new commute today, the last 3 days I've hit the school traffic every morning and each day I've left the house a little earlier to try and avoid it.
Today I succeeded, I left the house at 8am and had the nicest ride in to college so far, no worrying about inattentive parents driving into me, no weaving through cars to make my turnings, it was bliss. It does however mean I get to college really early, so I have more waiting around, but it was worth it for the calm I felt when I got in.
The ride home isn't too bad as I fall nicely between the school traffic and the work traffic so get the same more relaxed experience I had this morning.

I even had a nice White Van Man following me today, coming down the longest road I use I have a nice downhill followed by a flat stretch, I managed to hit 34 on the hill, and sustained about 28 on the flat, the van happily stayed behind me, and even when I finally lost momentum and slowed to about 15 he didn't pass despite me pulling right over to let him which meant I made my next right turn nicely. It was a good time.

HardyWeinberg 09-16-10 11:24 AM

60F, raining. Surprise 8am dentist appt.

making 09-16-10 11:31 AM

69 F and about an hour after rain. The road varied from standing water to dry. Very nice ride in.

Sixty Fiver 09-16-10 11:42 AM

Feels like a Portland winter here today...

Steely Dan 09-16-10 11:45 AM

the skies looked dicey when i woke-up, but i checked the radar and nothing was doing, so i rolled the dice and rode my road bike. sure enough, about 13.5 miles into my 15 mile commute, i get pinched by a downpour. confused, i immediately pulled under a building overhang and whipped out my phone, i checked the radar again and saw that a small little cloud burst was overhead. i waited about 10 minutes for it to pass, and then proceeded to roll slowly the rest of the way because my road bike is not fender equipped and the roads had received a thorough soaking.

i should know better than to roll the dice when the clouds look suspicious, but i foolishly trusted the weather radar and took my road bike because it's just so much more fun to ride than my old fender equipped mountain bike.

puppypilgrim 09-16-10 11:55 AM

Did the 20 km with a slow, relaxed mindset. Took off the Zefal toe clips, mounted a wider saddle and raised the handlebars. Only 2 minutes difference between a racing mindset being chased by zombies and a Gandhi ride. A lot less stress though.

caloso 09-16-10 12:27 PM

Weather here is gorgeous and I'd planned to get out early but that didn't happen because I was up too late last night watching the Giants game. (Beat LA!)

BestSportEver 09-16-10 01:05 PM

Fantastic ride today. Lite sprinkle turned into a downpour. No worries though as I had extra clothes in my pannies and rode the bike with fenders.

I'd rather ride wet than drive any day.

irclean 09-16-10 06:01 PM

How was the commute today?
 
Wet.

nelson249 09-16-10 07:18 PM

I'll second irclean on the commute today being wet. The ride into work on Wednesday was glorious. I rode the Grand River Trail from Glen Morris south of Cambridge, skirted the edge of Paris into downtown Brantford (around 25 km) in about an hour with the Mongoose fully loaded with paniers. Even the sections on the road were great and I was only passed by 3 cars. Saw all sorts of critters including deer, chipmunks etc. It completely made my day.

DirtRoadRunner 09-16-10 07:34 PM

My first week of commuting is nearly over. So far, it is great. I get to work in a much better mood, and find myself in a better mood when I get home, due to the exercise. It is also a LOT more fun than sitting in traffic. I've also been getting lots of comments from people at work that see me roll into the parking garage...I'm the only bike commuter in my building right now (several hundred people).

Weather is great for now too, 60's in the morning and when I lave work (10-11 hr days this week...). I'm sure that will change as fall/winter really rolls around.

daijoubu2k8 09-16-10 09:23 PM

The ride to my sons school was quiet and uneventful. Dropped him off and headed out for a trip downtown on the Central Valley Greenway. It has improved a lot since I last rode it all the way downtown! I'm not a fan of the uncontrolled crossing on Boundary under Hwy 1, but the rest is nice. Picked up a new axle and some advice about checking the alignment of my dropouts from Mighty Riders on Broadway and headed back out to pick my son up. Nearly got hit by a left turn coming off of the road running parallel to the Greenway. My son was playing on the playground with his class when I got back, so I rolled to the Starbucks, grabbed a latte and rolled back to the school with my coffee in hand. Took the short route home with the TAB and I'm still shocked how differently I'm treated with my son on the back. When I signal a left turn, oncoming traffic stops for me... Overall, a nice 2:30 ride in the sun. Rolled out after the roads had dried and made it back before the showers started again.

abracapocus 09-17-10 05:46 AM

Oy, Friday on the way home I almost ended up with a squirrel in my front wheel. Usually I shout out to warn them, but this one blended in with the leaves on the side of the road. Until I got next to him and he darted right for my front wheel. Luckily he turned at the last second and paralleled me for a few sprints then ran back to the side of the road. Whew!

Congrats DirtRoadRunner! I'm also the only one in a similarly sized building that brings their bike to work. One of my office mates rides part of his commute, but takes the train the last leg to the office. Lots of positive support from co-workers & management but no one has joined me yet. :-)

tarwheel 09-17-10 05:57 AM

I really felt like sleeping in this morning and driving, but wanted to make 5 days bike commuting for the week, so I got up. The weather here is still incredibly warm, and it was 74 F when I got up. It was also very windy, which made for a slow commute as it was a headwind most of the way. A cold front is supposed to move through the area today, which means the high tomorrow is only supposed to be 88 rather than 95. Big deal.

ZmanKC 09-17-10 06:06 AM

54° this morning with just a hint of a breeze made for a very pleasnat ride in to the office.

vtjim 09-17-10 06:24 AM

Well yesterday's ride home was soaking wet. Today I had some drizzle in places, but it was pretty dry otherwise. Great tailwind.

51F / 10C. I passed a guy on a commuter rig. He was wearing a winter coat, and gloves. I was wearing shorts & a short-sleeve jersey. :D

A co-worker saw me riding up the steepest part of the street. He said I made it look effortless.
:giver:

Chalupa102 09-17-10 07:07 AM

Looks like everyone's getting rain. Despite getting soaked this morning, it was a great commute. 66F and scattered rain showers with winds from the W @ 7mph.

genel 09-17-10 07:16 AM

Nice ride, a bit chilly 50f but no wind. Heavy traffic through Mundelein but otherwise not bad. I was luckier then the dead fox on the road. Beautiful animal.

JPinWI 09-17-10 07:44 AM

5 for 5 this week...That's 173 miles once I'm back home tonight....exactly 1 hour of pedaling from door to door. No rain but cloudy and cooler. Nice bike commute Today! But aren't they all?

groovestew 09-17-10 08:29 AM

-4C/25F, sunny, calm. Yes, that's 4 degrees Celsius below freezing. Colder in the valley, I think, warmer downtown.

I think I should spend a summer in Houston or Raleigh or some other hot, humid location so that I can learn to appreciate our cooler weather.

Fizzaly 09-17-10 09:24 AM

Still nice and cool temps in the mornings low 50s nothing to complain about. :)

Fizzaly 09-17-10 09:25 AM


Originally Posted by groovestew (Post 11479712)
-4C/25F, sunny, calm. Yes, that's 4 degrees Celsius below freezing. Colder in the valley, I think, warmer downtown.

I think I should spend a summer in Houston or Raleigh or some other hot, humid location so that I can learn to appreciate our cooler weather.

Just move to southern idaho over 100f in the summer 10-20f all winter

HardyWeinberg 09-17-10 09:27 AM

60F and foggy.

I stopped to do some stealth landscaping; there was an area where I enter a MUP where a ~3' wide by 18" tall heap of dirt had sprung up, narrowing the entrance. I moved it to the outside, which I think puts it just uphill of a storm drain, so it should wash away.

It occurred to me as I was doing it that it might have been a deliberate bike-traffic-calming effort by the city crews who were recently up there clearing vines. The location was nothing but inconvenient. But anyway, I guess I will see if the city comes back to rebuild it.

yarb 09-17-10 02:50 PM

On the mtb, so I took trails through Stanley Park yesterday afternoon. Had a beautiful turquoise dragonfly zooming along ahead of me for a short while. Blew by and gave it "the look".

Chalupa102 09-17-10 03:23 PM

Was a challenging commute home with pretty strong headwinds. I'm kinda surprised that the internet says only 9mph, because it felt like it was a lot more. 66F and mostly cloudy with winds from the NNE @ 9mph. Tried a different route home, and I liked it. I'm gonna to take it Monday morning to see how it is with the AM traffic. Does anyone know how to get stop light sensors installed that will detent bikes? I sat at a red light for a while till a car showed up to trigger it.

CptjohnC 09-17-10 04:16 PM

Overall a great day riding, and a great end to a good week. Total miles today, 20. Total miles this week: 90 (Biggest week ever). Rode the Tommaso today because I could afford some 'breakdown time' if anything happened, but she performed flawlessly. However, I have concluded that she's definitely too big for me, though I will probably see if I can't tweak a little bit and make this work -- she's just so pretty! Overall the ride in was uneventful, but on the way home, after exiting the MUP, I had a boneheaded teenager pull out of a parallel parking space without looking (I could see him looking at his buddy in the passenger seat -- had I been a car, there almost certainly would have been a collision). Fortunately, I had allowed a great deal of space, and had room to maneuver around him.

I have to say, though -- my legs are beat. Respect to you guys who do 20 each way each day. I'm still feeling the effects of my 40 mile day!

Old Al 09-17-10 05:37 PM

Dan,
Can you tell me where the distance cycled vs distance came from? I have a friend that I think would like that.
Thanks,

Chalupa102 09-17-10 05:43 PM


Originally Posted by Old Al (Post 11482702)
Dan,
Can you tell me where the distance cycled vs distance came from? I have a friend that I think would like that.
Thanks,

I have an account on ecomodder.com. I created a garage for my car, and that's also where you can find the cycle log that I have. I hope that helps.

HardyWeinberg 09-17-10 06:24 PM


Originally Posted by Chalupa102 (Post 11482096)
Does anyone know how to get stop light sensors installed that will detent bikes? I sat at a red light for a while till a car showed up to trigger it.

You could contact public works for the municipality responsible, maybe they could tweak the settings (I actually just did that, they sent me back a response that they made an adjustment, but I haven't found myself alone at those lights since, to tes). Otherwise, I would treat the signal control as faulty and go when I thought I could make it.


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