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-   -   How was the commute today? (https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/7855-how-commute-today.html)

FredOak 04-24-09 10:36 AM

43*F coming in, suppose to be 70's going home.
Had my best time coming in, I really was hitting the lights this morning.

caloso 04-24-09 10:37 AM

Wet streets and wind. Lots of crap in the road: sticks, leaves, blossoms. Rode the FG for the first time in a while. Took it very easy.

EKW in DC 04-24-09 10:50 AM

Best one so far. :thumb: I've been at it going on a month now with a fourteen-mile round trip commute to downtown DC. Weather was near perfect for me - temps in the mid-to-upper 40s, beautiful sun, nary a headwind to slow me down. Feeling stronger and more fit every day, which only adds to the enjoyment as the weather has improved.

Beautiful views across the Potomac of the city. Made me think of my old commute on metro staring at pitch black walls and tired faces. If I didn't have a good podcast on my mp3 player, I was bored out of my mind. :eek: Now I feel excited about the trip in to work, if not about work itself, and arrive full of life and energy! :D

By the time you factor in getting to and from metro stations, commuting that way took twice as long as biking the whole way in does now. Of course, I still metro when the weather's crummy (limited budget to get proper rain gear yet), but at least my metro use is down to one, maybe two days a week now!

Happy trails everyone! :commute:

jasonsstover 04-24-09 10:54 AM

First commute of the year! Beautiful morning, about 50. My wife and I rode together. She works 4 miles away, I am 9. We split at the concrete corn (if any of you know about Dublin Oh, you'll know exactly what I am talking about). Had a fairly steady head wind out of the south which kinda worked my outta shape legs, but if it doesn't change direction or let up, I should have some good coasting on the way home.

bhop 04-24-09 11:30 AM

I was having a nice ride until I saw a ghost bike on my route. I found a story about it:
http://la.streetsblog.org/2009/04/22...-bike-appears/

Got honked at once by a van, so I moved further into the lane, then left him about 2 miles behind me in stuck traffic. Later, a guy yells at me, "Get outta the way freak" while turning right in a lane he had all to himself.. yeah, i wasn't even in his way... makes no sense to me either.. then later still, a guy on a mountain bike behind me growls really loud, Chewbacca style.. makshift horn? dunno.. he might've been growling at the car that was cutting us both off, but later he passed me aggressively, so *shrug*..

All in all, a weird ride compared to usual, but I made it to work alive so it wasn't too bad.

Itsjustb 04-24-09 12:03 PM


Originally Posted by noglider (Post 8792499)
...I time myself from beginning to end. I am not any faster, but it is feeling easier.

This made me laugh. Greg Lemond (first US cyclist to win the Tour de France) has a famous-among-cyclists quote: "It doesn't get easier. You just get faster."

It sounds like you're the exception that proves the rule. ;)

Kotts 04-24-09 12:22 PM

Todays commute was W I N D Y. I'm hoping for the same wind for the ride home...

Catgrrl70 04-24-09 01:05 PM

Crazy commutes the last two days. Riding to work has been uneventful. I leave home early and don't usually end up in traffic. But home is another matter, esp. with baseball season in progress and more traffic that usual (with people coming into the city who don't normally do so) around rush hour.

Saw a bicyclist get hit by a car on Wednesday evening at an intersection I abhore for many reasons. I called 911 and cops/medical showed up w/in minutes. He was ok, just bruised, decided not to press charges since nothing was damaged. Don't know what happened to driver or anything since I was only a witness and wasn't involved in the discussions. Hope the driver was at least ticketed. Cops were super-nice though.

I was agressively buzzed/passed by a crazy angry lady yesterday. She used the left-only turn lane to barely zoooom past me, jerk back into my lane all w/in less than one-half block (a short block so I take the right lane until I can get into a safter position the next block). Of course I caught up to her at the next light and really calmly asked her if she was trying to kill me. Apparently she "gave me plenty of room beoytch" and offered to beat my *ss as well. She was a totally normal-looking person too. Just totally off her rocker and from other comments she made I decided I was not the only cyclist to tell her she did something crazy with her car. I simply shook my head, smiled, and told her (again nicely) good luck driving tomorrow w/out killing someone. Usually I don't talk with drivers unless I am certain I have an "out" and I did. It was just fascinating. Not swearing back at them and remaining totally calm helps.

Then I got cut off by jaywalkers who were oblivious to why I was saying "are you CRAZY?" as they walked in right front of moving traffic with not a care in the world.
And then there was the truck that pulled out of Starbucks and blocked my way.

But it wasn't raining!

HardyWeinberg 04-24-09 02:29 PM

50sF and sunny, very nice. Didn't come in until noon, had other stuff to do earlier.

nmklopper 04-24-09 04:40 PM

Today was the first time I have commuted to my new job.

The commute was a lot quicker than I anticipated. I was expecting the ride to take 30-35 minutes so and because I had never done the ride before I gave myself an extra 10 minutes or so just to be sure. It takes me about 10 minutes to drive and only 20 minutes to ride the bike. I would say that the bike is the way to go!

The commute is mostly flat, however, the first 2-3 kilometers are all uphill with one really steep section. It just so happened that all of the uphill sections were straight into a stiff headwind. :( The hills and wind wouldn't be that much of an issue but I was riding my fixie, which really isn't geared for any sort of hills. The commute home was excellent. I had a nice tailwind and the steep uphill was now a nice downhill sprint.

Didn't have any real issues, which is always nice. For the most part the drivers were respectful minus one group of younger drivers that gave out a scream as they passed. Which by the way, scares the crap out of me every time it happens.

buzzman 04-24-09 06:47 PM

only had to go in for a meeting at 4:30pm so took advantage of the day (warm! sunny!) and did a 41 mile road ride. Got back with barely time to shower and hop onto the commuter bike and ride to the meeting. Nice rides!:p

vtjim 04-25-09 07:13 AM

2 Attachment(s)
Nice ride home yesterday. I wound up riding about 15 miles. (Normal commute is 6.5) :p

It was in the 60sF, and sunny. I didn't want to stop riding. I wound up way up high in Ethan Allen Park, one of (if not the) highest points in Burlington. iPhone-pictured the bicycle with Whiteface Mountain in the background (large and pointy over the bike saddle), and another at the base of the tower.

duckbill 04-25-09 07:20 AM

Just about perfect weather this morning. 16 C with the sunshine and the roads were fairly quiet so what do I do? I road the motorcycle into work. Took the long way which is a big loop following the Grand River that actually takes more time then riding the bicycle through town. I did spend 20 min. spinning on the trainer before I left so that makes it ok right? :rolleyes:

pueblonative 04-25-09 09:05 AM

Back on the road on two wheels again, and I really need to toughen up and ride through the winter cause getting back on is a pain. I also need to buy some studded tires for winter as well, but that's a different story.

Standalone 04-26-09 11:30 AM

I think I'm going to ride out to my chorale concert today. It's going to be 90 out. But I'll be sweating under the lights anyway... Friday's commute was awesome. I had to ride one town further out to pick up my wife's engagement ring and some watches out for repair. I went by way of Seaside park, and had a nice beach ride and exploration of the city before picking the stuff up and hopping on the train to meet the wife and kids for a backyard cocktail hour at a friends house. Perfect weather!

Sixty Fiver 04-26-09 11:56 AM

Went for a little spin to the market this am and with the snow falling it felt right to take the winter bike... :)

MIKEnDC 04-27-09 04:22 AM

After a mid-summer-like weekend, temps PLUNGED this morning to a frosty 61F/16C. :D

Supposed to have a couple of more days with highs around 90F/30+C before getting back to more spring-like temps and scattered showers. I guess I can hang...

Big_e 04-27-09 05:19 AM

Warm and humid this morning. Dark as always. The weatherstation warned of possible thunderstorms and there was very light sprinkles on my way in.
My mornings are dark year around. I couldn't sleep so I started out extra early and stopped by the donut shop. I rode my Flying Pigeon folder and she is a quiet ride. Nothing to report.
Ernest

vtjim 04-27-09 06:17 AM

Overcast this morning. Temps in the 40sF. Reeled in 4 riders. Saw a couple more going the other way. The last guy I came upon was riding a 'bent. First one of the year.

Also slowed up and asked a roadie if he was okay. He was inspecting his front wheel and said he had a wobble. This area isn't very kind to light wheelsets I don't think.

FredOak 04-27-09 06:33 AM

Almost 60*F this morning, felt warmer, suppose to be 85 going home.
Then rest of the week back to normal spring temps and that's OK 40 in the morning and 60 in the afternoon makes for comfortable rides.

Doohickie 04-27-09 06:41 AM

Thunderstorms; I caged it.

tarwheel 04-27-09 07:05 AM

Our weather suddenly leapt from spring to summer this past weekend, with highs in the 90s since last Friday. The humidity has been low, however, so it really hasn't felt that hot. Rode 60 miles on Saturday and paddled my kayak 2-1/2 hours on Sunday. It was a great weekend. The ride to work this morning was also great, with temps in the low 60s F. I had my bike loaded down with food and extra clothes so tomorrow I can ride my single-speed, which isn't equipped to handle as much gear as my main commuter. My good time despite the load and catching every red light on my route.

ban guzzi 04-27-09 07:05 AM

2 Attachment(s)
Frikkin' spring snowstorm! Heavy snow but it is melting fast. Rivers (creeks really) have been riding high for weeks. "Good" flooding potential for the proper spring run off. Bad timing to put slicks back on the MTB. Also blew out my BB on the fixed. Seat tube took some of the BB with it this past weekend.


Time to finish the other projects so I'm not without a back up.

fletchh 04-27-09 07:19 AM

First commute of the year in shorts and tanktop and loving every minute of it. Started off at 60 F
(15 C) and still dark, but getting better 5:20. I saw a few runners around, but no cyclists. Of course
there were cars around; they are always around. I did pass a ladder truck with all its lights flashing, but
no sirens, for which I was very thankful. I will be leaving here today in 80 F (26 C) something degrees
today, and can't wait to enjoy the heat sweat. After 6 months of riding in everything from 0 F
(-17 C) degree weather with cold precipitation that pushes the limits of everything that I am wearing, I
am happy to have the heat.

rumrunn6 04-27-09 07:25 AM

Easy easy but my front derailer is a POS, great to be back in the saddle again

I was a bit overdressed and it took longer to cool off than I am used to.


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