banerjek

You'll find Shakedry significantly more breathable than Active in warmer temps -- and plenty good for cold temps.

I was a tester for both the Active and Shakedry products for years. Shakedry is da bomb. It's susceptible to snags and abrasion, so I don't recommend it for anything except cycling and running. But it's great for those things.

Archwhorides 

Thanks for this recommendation. After my prior post, I found my way to the Shakedry fabric and ordered the C5 jacket, looking forward to trying it out as the thermometer rises. I commute with panniers, so only need to worry about abrasion in extremely annoying circumstances.

Skipjacks

This morning I nearly got hit by another cyclist.

He was riding on the wrong side of the road (in the road...don't start that salmoning nonsense again)

Meanwhile I've got 2 flashing headlights and am screaming at him to pay attention because he's barreling towards me.

Finally I stop so I'm not closing the distance between us as fast.

He doesn't see me until about 4 feet away then slams on the brakes and starts screaming at me for 'being in his way'......on the wrong side of the road.

That was kind of annoying.

I didn't even know how to argue with that level of crazy. Maybe he had the same argument with a car later...

Phil_gretz

^ Wow. Yesterday afternoon as I unlocked my bike, I noticed that the rear tire was flat. No worries, I carry a spare tube, patch kit, and have both a frame pump as well as a floor pump in my office.

I bring the wheel inside to make the swap and ... glue is dried in my patch kit. Okay, I'll just use the spare (which has been patched). Will it hold air? Who knows? But it does, so, good. Then I see the bulge through a sidewall cut on the tire. WHAAAAATTT?

For my boot, of course, I use the foil wrapper from a Lara bar. But the annoying part is that the Conti 4000 s II tire only had about 1500-2000 miles on it. Now, it's toast. I'm moving up to Gatorskins, even though the ride will be "dead" for this road bike from now on.

KraneXL

Dead? I wouldn't call my ride dead. Then again I don't really have anything to compare it to other than the OEM that came with the bike. In that case, the Gatorskins felt like they had a lot less drag. Anyway, I suppose this is one of those cases where ignorance is bliss.

pdlamb

Gatorskins <> dead ride, IMHO.

First off, alleged faster rolling tire doesn't count for much when you're stopped on the side of the road fixing that fast rolling flat.

Second, if you think a Gatorskin is stiff, try a Marathon Supreme, or a Top Contact.

Skipjacks

I have one that's annoying...this happens frequently.

I meet a car at an intersection (coming form different directions) and both the car and I want to go the same way.

The car tries to wave me ahead because the drive is trying to be nice. And I say no, you go first and the driver doesn't want to just go first.

I appreciate the courtesy, but why would I want to be in front of a faster car when I can be safely behind it?

(This is usually on a road without much traffic. So it's not like there is another car behind me anyway)

RubeRad

+1000; related to approaching a 4-way intersection and intentionally slowing to arrive at the stop sign later, and fully stop and put my foot down to visually indicate to the driver, I have stopped, you go and get out of my way; but they stop and wave me through -- totally disrespecting that I sacrificed my momentum in the name of law and order and public respect for cyclists in general.

Skipjacks

Oh I feel you on the 'making it clear I'm not going'

I do that at this much larger intersection that I don't ride through with traffic because I don't like dying. The cross light is long. So the traffic piles up at the light in the direction I'm going. But I don't like to ride with the cars through this intersection because the lanes are wacky and people make strange unpredicted turns A LOT. However if I wait until all the cars go the light typically stays green for another 10 seconds so I can get across the crazy intersection by myself.

So I jump up onto the side of the road, across the sidewalk into the grass, a good 15 feet from the street put my feet down, cross my arms, and look backwards to see when the last car goes through. Everything about me says "Not about to move" and still I get cars stop before turning to wave me ahead of them into the intersection.

Darth Lefty 

I usually put my foot down and cock the handlebar... but shoot, I can't do that on this trike! Will have to consider this.

Skipjacks

I did not read that correctly. I saw the word 'on' in the sentence before 'the handlebar' when I read it.

I was very confused.

But very impressed.

alan s 

Darth Lefty 

RoadKill

I work for a large company on a big campus with numerous streets and stop signs etc. This evening while leaving work I pulled up to a stop sign on a small feeder road and stopped, foot down, hand off the handlebars etc waiting to make a left hand turn. There were 3 cars on the main road approaching from the left, no stop sign. The first one stops and tries to waive me through, I waive him and he finally goes. The second car just goes like he should, the third car having seen all this still stops and waives me through. I try to waive him through and he keeps waiving me through so I finally just went. Really if everybody just did what they were supposed to do I would have waited for all 3 cars and still been out of there quicker than I was. I get that they are trying to be nice, but nice isn't what keeps me safe, everybody playing by the same rules is what gets me home alive.

Skipjacks

This is all I ask of other people.

If you have the right of way, take it.

If we both use the same rule book for the road then we both know who has the right of way. If we both follow the rule book then I always know what you're going to do. If you decide to give up your right of way you make a safe situation where I know what will happen into an unpredictable dangerous one where you are writing new rules as you go along.

I'd rather know you were going to do something dangerous than have no idea how you are trying to be safe. At least I can plan for a known danger.

Daniel4

"If"? We DO have the same rule book. It's the Highway Traffic Act or whatever it's called in your jurisdiction. But some people, including people in Bike Forums argue that it doesn't apply to them because they know how to interpret the law better than others.

Skipjacks

I know that. That's the whole point of the post.

KraneXL

Particularly the road edges where bike are forced to occupy. That's where all the roadway typically begins to decay and all the debris collects.

Archwhorides 

Rainy night, deep water-filled pothole, spine-wrenching jolt, broken spoke

Jim from Boston

What may annoy you when commuting?
Hi fellow Bostonian, @Archwhorides,

When I read your post, I thought it sounded like a haiku (a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world) and I fixed it for you:

Rainy night, rode through
Unseen deep water-filled hole.
Spine-wrenched, broke spoke. Damn!

Not to sound like a “Monday Morning Cyclist," but I do feel your pain, since I had a similar event. I posted about it in 2010 on a now closed thread, and it prompted one of my Safety Aphorisms, even with an amendment:

Archwhorides 

[/QUOTE]

LOL , like what you did here. I follow the “puddle rule” religiously, except when drive lane is too tight with traffic and I have no space, should have avoided this unfamiliar stretch of McGrath, quite nasty.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for your reply. Though most of my weekday cycling is South of Boston, I often ride McGrath Highway north, It does seem hairy around Lechmere, but OK on weekends. I usually ride the overpass northward (earlier in the day), and stay on the surface road southbound.

Archwhorides 

Lechmere is so annoying on weekdays that people literally die to get out of there.

spircix

I am annoyed the most by shoalers, especially those that look slower than me (e.g. women on town bikes, old people). Also, salmoners, cyclists wearing headphones and being oblivious of their surroundings. That's about it.

acidfast7

We have an elbow out policy here. Bikes going the wrong way in the bike lane get an elbow as cyclists going the correct way ride by.