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How was the commute today? 2011 Edition.

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How was the commute today? 2011 Edition.

Old 08-26-11, 08:25 PM
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Found and picked up $10.00 and it was a very nice ride.
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Old 08-26-11, 09:09 PM
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Yesterday I rode only to the next town over to the new bike co-op. Halfway there, there's a toddler wandering into the road. Another cyclist and I stopped and walked the toddler back down to his family who ran out the back door looking for him as we were walking him down the hill.

Today, on the way in to work, I was riding on the MUP next to a roadway in front of an apartment complex. There were 20-30 students waiting for the school bus standing around on the MUP. I rang my new bike bell multiple times and some moved. I started using my stage voice to say, "Excuse me!" several times and all but one moved. I slowed, noticed that the last student-obstacle had in earphones and whistled as loud as I possibly could within 10 feet of him. Still no movement. I stop short, hop on my left foot with my right still clipped in until I can reach him with my arm, and tap him on the shoulder. The look of surprise on his face surprised me. I said "excuse me" and he kept looking at me with the same surprised expression. I was totally flabbergasted that he didn't move until I used a stern tone to say, "You need to move. You're blocking the path" and made a shooing motion. I had just started rolling again and was locking into my left pedal when a member of the peanut gallery spoke up and said to me, "No need to get an attitude with him." All I could do was shake my head and keep riding away, still not believing what had just happened.

The other rides have been fairly normal with average speeds, high temperatures, and a few close passes.

Last edited by dygituljunky; 08-27-11 at 03:58 PM. Reason: grammatical error
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Old 08-26-11, 09:35 PM
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I had a great commute today. Rode my road bike and by the time I got home I was totally drenched with sweat.
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Old 08-27-11, 04:01 PM
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Today was a nice ride in. I think the headwind I fought with was from the very edges of Hurricane Irene.

That makes roughly 142.5 km (88.5 mi) over the course of the last week. Not too shabby.
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Old 08-27-11, 04:14 PM
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Hot.
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Old 08-27-11, 04:42 PM
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Riding through Greek Week recruitment is like trying to ride without hitting any oxygen...
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Old 08-27-11, 05:39 PM
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Got caught in the outer bands of Hurricane Irene on my commute home Friday afternoon. I got soaked but the wind wasn't too bad yet. Not riding today as we had heavy rain and much higher winds. This photo shows the storm clouds in outer bands just before I got dumped on.
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Old 08-27-11, 10:53 PM
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Excellent weather here in Sunny San Diego!
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Old 08-28-11, 08:02 PM
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Irene just tore through here, so tomorrow will be the first day on the MUP following the storm. I'm curious about what i'll find on the path. Probably a lot of road debris, so planning to take my MTB commuter. Update to follow.
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Old 08-29-11, 04:17 AM
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I seen two animals this morning. not a real big deal around here, but...The first one I seen run accross the road in front of me in a very dark section of road. I could barely make out the form but it appeared to be a very light colored small deer, maybe a first year fawn. The other was a large rat, no, not management, a real rat sitting on a curb. Right by the jail downtown.
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Old 08-29-11, 04:37 AM
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Still sections without power, except for the few with generators. As I was drivng back here in the industrial park, most of the buildings that are usually lit up were dark, so I got my hopes up, but as soon as turned on to the street where I work, it was all lit up. A nice cool ride at 62f (17c). There was a police presence in the darker areas, but since I was all lit up, they left me alone.
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Old 08-29-11, 06:09 AM
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55F/13C with a bit of a quartering tailwind. Sunny and pleasant, overall.

What happened last night? I think we had some kind of storm or something. I hadn't heard anything about it. Must have been pretty localized.

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Old 08-29-11, 06:19 AM
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63f Nice morning, hurt my back last week so took it easy and slow on the 3speed this morning.
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Old 08-29-11, 06:27 AM
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86 degrees for a start might be my cut off point. I'll give it 30 more minutes to drop below that but it looks like I drive today. It can only be 110/112 for so many days. Doesn't most of the world get cabin fever in the winter?
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Old 08-29-11, 06:31 AM
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Cooler and fast. 48 minutes compared to my usual 53-55. For the first time since I went back to the bike nearly full time, I'm outpacing a coworker (who rides the same route) on some of the uphills and most of the downhills... As a clydesdale, that's a nice accomplishment.

Originally Posted by Supernose
On a side note, I think I'm gonna pass my neighborhood on the way home and finish out my first 100 miles since I started riding. It's not much, but it's definitely sort of milestone for me. At the rate of 100 miles per week, won't take me long to hit 1000, and holy crap is that a bigger number than it thought I'd ever hit.
Congrats!

Originally Posted by vtjim
What happened last night? I think we had some kind of storm or something. I hadn't heard anything about it. Must have been pretty localized.
It was just a squirrel sneeze.

Last edited by dygituljunky; 08-29-11 at 06:34 AM. Reason: combined another post with this one.
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Old 08-29-11, 07:21 AM
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Had a nice ride this morning once I warmed up. 8 or 9C felt really chilly today, I guess it was a little damp. For the first 5km, I was pretty cold, but turning back home for a coat and long pants when I'd already left late would have meant driving so that was a no go, time to HTFU (a little)! Warmed up soon enough and got to enjoying the ride.

Not a particularly fast commute today but the pace felt right and I didn't think at all last year that I'd even hit 64 minutes, let alone that I'd consider it just ok.

Today's ride has put my total 2011 mileage just above 1500km and has me thinking I maybe can hit 2000 this year. That felt like a big goal after I rode 1275km last year. My fall-back goal (consolation prize?) was 1000 miles which is only about 60 miles away.

Cheers!
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Old 08-29-11, 08:14 AM
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Ride in was good. Felt a lot better having my 80PSI tires pumped up to 80PSI instead of 40 and below. Silly noob here didn't realize that after you take the cap off the stem, there's another part you have to unscrew to be able to inflate the tires, so I haven't been actually pumping my tires. GO ME! Almost ate it while on base too. Tried to dip into a parking lot real quick to get off the road, and there's a small 1-2 inch raise to get there, silly me didn't hit it right and the front tire just jerked around and slid around following it. Almost threw me for a ride. Somehow I saved it though and finished up my ride hitting it real hard. Probably trying to make my face REALLY red to cover up the fact that it was red from embarassment.

Other than that, good ride :-D
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Old 08-29-11, 08:54 AM
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Another beautiful summer morning here. 12C, sunny, breezy. Saw a dead porcupine. Otherwise uneventful.
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Old 08-29-11, 08:54 AM
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Cool morning ride thru the damage left by Hurricane/ T.S. Irene. Lots of leaves and small branches in the road. Plenty of trees leaning into powerlines and into the road. No flooding along my route. Took it slow to avoid road hazards, but enjoyed the cool, sunny morning.
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Old 08-29-11, 09:13 AM
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On Sunday i go out and took a long ride(149km), but got a flat tire by a glass bottle about 10 km from the start.







After fix the problem i continue my ride till finish, and found this today on Panaracer Pasela.(Not TG version.)



Didn't found it in the first place, maybe it slowly torn apart while i riding.
Well, at least it able to endure till i got back home.GJ!
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Old 08-29-11, 11:39 AM
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I carry a 2" piece of an old tire, just for that kind of damage. Of course I've never had to use it since the incident that prompted me to start carrying it.

FWIW I've never had much luck with Panaracers for commuting.
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Old 08-29-11, 11:51 AM
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Nice morning a bit cool at the start, no wind and sunny. Traffic unusually heavy, with a quarter mile backup at one point. Should be a nice ride home.

I was having problems shifting, careful examination found that the cable was frayed inside the casing, right at the bar. Considering how hard it was to get out I'm surprised the rear deraileur worked at all.

Reworked some of the connections on my rear lights on my commuter bike. Next project is to upgrade the front. To paraphrase an old quip, "What this country needs is a good 14V 7 Watt/hour LiPo battery for under $10".
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Old 08-29-11, 01:54 PM
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Gorgeous weather here, post Irene. Temps in the 60s starting out, and the high is only supposed to hit 79? Lots of debris, but props to whoever cleared the major stuff from the MUP. Biggest hassle was the one MUP crossing light was out, so we all had to run that (not even blinking!).

I'm back to multi-modal commuting most days now that school has started, Or until my daughter gets her license, I guess).
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Old 08-29-11, 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by vtjim
55F/13C with a bit of a quartering tailwind. Sunny and pleasant, overall.

What happened last night? I think we had some kind of storm or something. I hadn't heard anything about it. Must have been pretty localized.


Sasquatch
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Old 08-29-11, 03:52 PM
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Originally Posted by vtjim
55F/13C with a bit of a quartering tailwind. Sunny and pleasant, overall.

What happened last night? I think we had some kind of storm or something. I hadn't heard anything about it. Must have been pretty localized.

That looks like my MUP. Glad to have the option of riding a MTB commuter until the path gets cleared. It was fun smashing through the debris!
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