How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

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kb
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby kb » Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:48 pm

cancan64 wrote:Winter has arrived with 6c this morning.. had physio yesterday so used motorbike instead...was a lot warmer with heat off engine and heated grips... something that I laughed at when the salesman sold me the motorbike in Brisbane
26° in Blackburn at 6am. Unusual for mid-Aprll
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HenryCharlie
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby HenryCharlie » Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:37 pm

Solved my creaking bike issues again.

Turns out it was the same issue I've had previously....creaky cleat bolts. I'd recently replaced my shoes and changed pedals to MTB pedals. I removed the cleat bolts and greased them before re-fitting...hey presto...silent bike again. *phew*
I overtook some people going uphill once.

LG
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby LG » Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:23 am

100km/hr head and cross wind this morning. Wall to wall white caps on the ocean and quite a bit of spray being picked up by gusts.

At one stage thought I was going to clip stack when I nearly came to an abrupt halt in a gust while climbing a slight rise. My cross wind descent first thing involved using all of the lane with a fair degree of random wobbling. 20min commute took over 30min, look forward to a fast ride home though.
LG = Low Gear

jasonc
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby jasonc » Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:21 pm

no commute for me today - but i did ride down to the gc to watch the road race. so i got a fair chunk of commuting kms last week. including my biggest backpack ride - 125kms

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find_bruce
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby find_bruce » Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:17 pm

LG wrote:100km/hr head and cross wind this morning. Wall to wall white caps on the ocean and quite a bit of spray being picked up by gusts.

At one stage thought I was going to clip stack when I nearly came to an abrupt halt in a gust while climbing a slight rise. My cross wind descent first thing involved using all of the lane with a fair degree of random wobbling. 20min commute took over 30min, look forward to a fast ride home though.
Dream on - am headwinds either die in the pm or worse, reverse. Or at least seems that way

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Lizzy
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Lizzy » Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:50 pm

Not exactly a speeding bullet but I got there ... and while wearing a set of baggies that I bought a few months ago but were too tight. They sat forlorn, waiting for me to get around to returning them until I randomly tried them on again over the weekend and lo, they're almost too big. Hope this means I'm getting fitter and closer to rejoining the forces of revolution and righteousness ...

Happy Monday one and all :)
“Lexa”: 2012 Trek Lexa S; "Hannelore": 2019 Kalkhoff, "Teal Cecile" Reid traino shuttle

LG
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby LG » Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:16 pm

find_bruce wrote:
LG wrote:100km/hr head and cross wind this morning. Wall to wall white caps on the ocean and quite a bit of spray being picked up by gusts.

At one stage thought I was going to clip stack when I nearly came to an abrupt halt in a gust while climbing a slight rise. My cross wind descent first thing involved using all of the lane with a fair degree of random wobbling. 20min commute took over 30min, look forward to a fast ride home though.
Dream on - am headwinds either die in the pm or worse, reverse. Or at least seems that way
:lol: wind still here but unfortunately I didn't get to reap the benefit, sadly I needed to bring a work car home in order to leave early tomorrow morning for a job.
LG = Low Gear

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cancan64
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby cancan64 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:05 am

Nice weather here at the moment although a bit of a chill in the morning.
Had ultra sound on shoulder yesterday, "God thats a mess" was not what I was hoping to hear, although not confident that ultra sound is the best method to identify damage.
He mentioned that it looks like I have snapped the Tendon and will need surgery and that I should have no strength in my shoulder which a quick test proved that wrong... another appointment tomorrow and then guessing MRI and specialist.
Derailleur hanger turned up Friday so fixed bike and then discovered that my new rear wheel is now out of true so thats in the shop and using my bikepacking rear wheel... I do need to remind myself to take it easy
“Some say he isn’t machine washable, and all his potted plants are called ‘Steve’.

RobertL
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby RobertL » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:30 am

Autumn may have finally, FINALLY, arrived in Brisbane.

jasonc
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby jasonc » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:44 pm

RobertL wrote:Autumn may have finally, FINALLY, arrived in Brisbane.
Hmmm. Maybe

AdelaidePeter
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby AdelaidePeter » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:32 pm

Just about the perfect night for riding home in Adelaide tonight. Cool, dry, and completely still, but not cold enough yet to need gloves. I don't have a speedo or timer, but I was in top gear most of the way so I suspect if I had a record I would've come close to breaking it.

b4igo
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby b4igo » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:03 pm

First commute in 5+ years! I’d forgotten how stop/start it is through the cbd :D

markinsydney2017
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby markinsydney2017 » Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:06 am

First post on here (long time lurker)

Just a perfect ride in this morning - M2 has been cleared of most debris, Traffic all behaving and even the Epping road climbs didn't feel so bad.
Other commuters were friendly and had a chance to briefly chat to an old boy on an old bike with some speed left in him.

Temperature perfect.

Feeling pretty damn good about life for the next couple of hours....

RobertL
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby RobertL » Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:26 am

jasonc wrote:
RobertL wrote:Autumn may have finally, FINALLY, arrived in Brisbane.
Hmmm. Maybe
Spoke (typed?) too soon. Humid, damp and warm again this morning.

AdelaidePeter
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby AdelaidePeter » Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:33 am

markinsydney2017 wrote:First post on here (long time lurker)

Just a perfect ride in this morning - M2 has been cleared of most debris, Traffic all behaving and even the Epping road climbs didn't feel so bad.
Other commuters were friendly and had a chance to briefly chat to an old boy on an old bike with some speed left in him.

Temperature perfect.

Feeling pretty damn good about life for the next couple of hours....
Welcome!
It seems a few of us are enjoying the autumn conditions.

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MichaelB
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby MichaelB » Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:09 am

Watched Fleche Wallone last night and was a great race.

So, on my commute this morning, went via Adelaide's own version of the Mur de Huy (not quite as long or steep, but still hard work with your work bag in tow)

https://www.strava.com/segments/699769

4 sec off a PB, so not too bad :D

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Lizzy
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Lizzy » Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:39 pm

Winter is coming, I'm up before the chooks on ride-in day now :|

Two burnt-out scooters along my route in as many days, this is how I can tell it's School Holidays.
“Lexa”: 2012 Trek Lexa S; "Hannelore": 2019 Kalkhoff, "Teal Cecile" Reid traino shuttle

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Mububban
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Mububban » Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:28 pm

Missed a KOM by 1 second....

Definitely getting darker and colder. Lucky I'm lit up like a Christmas tree :D
When you are driving your car, you are not stuck IN traffic - you ARE the traffic!!!

Cyclophiliac
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Cyclophiliac » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:57 am

Another idiot in a car overtook me between chicanes on my descent of Craig Rd Donvale, just near the start of my ride to work in Melbourne. They insist on doing this, even though I can go down Craig Rd as fast as any of them, because it's steep. Then, as I was about to cross Yarra Bend Rd where the MYT crosses it in Fairfield, another idiot sped over the crossing in a car, even though there was also another cyclist on the other side of the road waiting to cross.

Australian motorists must be among the worst in the world, and I've had a gutful of the selfish, self-entitled morons.

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find_bruce
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby find_bruce » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:40 am

Morons seem come in 3s -first was the bus driver who felt the need to get on the horn as he was impatient to drive the extra 20m until he stopped to pick up passengers

2nd was so thick he must have been a politician, on the horn waving at the path to the left of the road, despite the road being wide enough for him to pass me safely with well over a meter. Just 3 problems (1) it is illegal to ride on the footpath (2) there is a 1.2m concrete barrier between me & that path & (3) that particular footpath starts and ends with about 50 steps :roll:

Third thought that "share the road" meant that his truck could share the same physical space as me.

Still that's my quota for the month so next 10 days should be peaceful.

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cancan64
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby cancan64 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:44 am

Cyclophiliac wrote:Australian motorists must be among the worst in the world, and I've had a gutful of the selfish, self-entitled morons.
You have obviously not been to Auckland... In Brisbane I commuted up and down Wynnum Rd and was hit once, Have been in Auckland 23 months and have been hit in 19 of those with a close call nearly everyday... You dont get as many aggressive drivers here but there are a lot of dumb ones, a lot that cant drive and with very little policing mobile phone use, red light running and ignoring stop signs is rampant, plus a lot of foreign drivers who struggle to work out which lane you should be on and then you have all the 15 and 16yr olds that drive unlicensed or on there own when on there learners... At the physio the other week and when asked how I got my injuries I replied hit by a car as I was cycling... there response was ' gee another one, we get a lot of cyclists".
“Some say he isn’t machine washable, and all his potted plants are called ‘Steve’.

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Tequestra
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Tequestra » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:01 pm

Hello again all. It has been a long time between commutes, contrary to my plans ten days ago. Possibly a good thing because it was only yesterday afternoon that I had a good look at the back struts of the rear rack that 'half-broke' at the top front mountings two weeks ago. That part being repaired, I was just having a quick test wobble of the rear cargo box yesterday afternoon, and noticed something that might have been quite destructive down a hill with a 20kg load onboard this morning:

Image

It goes here:

Image

If that cheap AliExpress aluminium (recycled alfoil) rack-strut had snapped and fallen inward onto the spokes down The Big Hill on the way home this morning, chances are I would not have been here type this now. It could have been rather a nasty end to my electric bike dreams, even if it was just a few snapped spokes because I would not feel right rebuilding half a wheel. It's bodgy, but then again, so was my quick fix yesterday afternoon, in a hurry. Ideally, the whole rear rack should be removed and rebuilt from scratch with the correct tensions and wisely applied loctite. Even that won't fix it permanently because aluminium is not strong enough to handle heavy loads over 20kg on Perth roads. I need to replace the whole thing with a good, strong, steel rack, like the typical ten-speed racer style racks that are found in abundance along the verges before the council roadside collections. Our next roadside collection is not for another few months yet, so I might have to invent something to suffice in the mean time.

It is good to be able to import cheap parts from China, and get motivated on an affordable budget, but when safety is compromised, it is not wise economics.

O-\/-O

It was a perfectly uneventful Long Ride (<10km) this morning. Not a single little-black car bothered me at all this morning. In fact, there were very few cars on the road today. Most of the trip into town and back, I had the whole road to myself Apparently from what I was told by my mate at the health food shop on the way home, the school kids who are too lazy to ride their bikes to school anymore are also too lazy to go to school this week.

I *passed one cyclist on the way into town, which I know is unfair because he had no motor and I did, but I still had to work hard to catch him, and then when I went past, I was in the proverbial deep end, because when an electric bike passes another cyclist, you better keep on going, boy, because it does open the way for a friendly challenge. I kept on pedalling when my lungs and legs were telling me to ease off a little, and was saved by an orange light - he missed it by 'that' much, to quote Maxwell Smart.

On the way home, in town, I caught up with a woman on another electric bike, and we had little bit of a chat through town, riding double-file for a while because there are very few cars around in town this week. I have good mirrors so I can see anything coming up behind from 50m or more back down the road. I couldn't help it. When the light went green, I blitzed her too, and the overall workout this morning has definitely made up for these past ten days of inactivity.

There is getting to be better harmony between cars, trucks, buses and bikes, (AND pedestrians) around town this year, and this morning was the best yet. It is like we are all brothers and sisters in one big happy family.

I thank this forum because I do believe that a small part of this improving harmony is in my head - it is the result of my reading the threads of this forum that has helped me to better get along with other heavy metal vehicles (AND pedestrians) because I realise now that if I piss someone off on my bike, then that does not just reflect badly upon myself in their eyes, but on all of us. If car drivers like me, then they will like you too. That is the theory behind it.

Have a Happy Friday and a fine-weathered weekend, my fellow carbon-friendly commuters.

* This is a tough one. I was just thinking over the Cyclists Passing Cyclists thread and how audible warnings are courteous when passing another cyclist on the road. This is because cars are noisy and bikes are quiet. The one thing I have noticed that scares pedestrians into anger in these last seven months is if I have passed them quickly without warning, and so I have learned to call out or maybe a toot on the horns if I need the oxygen in my lungs for other things.

The same goes for passing cyclists though, because even though cars pass by all the time, we can hear them coming. Electric bicycles don't make any noise, and that is probably why they can be surprising and also alarming. I'll keep this in mind when passing other cyclists in future. Make a noise so that they know I'm coming.
Viva le Tour Electrique' !!!

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Tequestra
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Tequestra » Sat Apr 21, 2018 12:52 pm

Uh oh! Back to back commutes to bump the thread. I hope I did not disuade anyone from their daily traffic reports yesterday.

Yesterday I forgot to buy the gluten-free bread, and so last night I ate two days' supply of chocolate and was left with no choice this morning but to ride my bicycle on two days in a row for the first time this year. I know everyone will think this is quite pathetic but I am an old man before my time and can't afford to waste valuable calories without good reason, so it is just pure luck that I forgot the bread yesterday. An excuse for some extra fun today!

Do you know that feeling you get in the top of the calf muscles just a few inches below the back of the knee when you ride up a Big Hill with sore legs from yesterday's ride? It is a most pleasurable kind of pain, and I can vouch that it doesn't happen if you only ride once or twice a week. If I remember from reading years ago, that sort of punishment of sore muscles is the thing that builds them stronger, which seems to defy logic. That was the most memorable aspect of this morning's Short Hop to the shops. The only heavy metal vehicle that passed too close out of the few that passed at all was a St John's ambulance, which then never noticed that the light went green for around 30 seconds as I caught up behind it again at the intersection. I guess they must have had an important phone call and didn't notice me or the green light in the middle of it.

Overall it seems that riding two days in a row is good for the health because I really had a good time up The Big Hill this morning with that nice healthy pain in the legs, and never dropped below 26km/h. This is a hill that I was cresting at 18km/h last year so there's a quantative measure of gradual fitness increase.

For this time of the year, it was the sort of day when it would almost be a crime NOT to ride a bicycle. There are thunderstorms forecast for Perth tomorrow so all the more reason to get in quick while the season lasts. I have to ride again tomorrow come to think about it, so that will make three days riding in a row, but I don't know if I should put that in here because that is not commuting. I am going to visit an old friend tomorrow, and he lives at the top of an even bigger hill than the one near my place. I'll write again if there is anything more interesting than this boring diatribe.

Have a good weekend.
Viva le Tour Electrique' !!!

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Lizzy
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Lizzy » Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:30 am

Last week I actually hit my target KMs for the week! Yay. But getting home on Friday night wasn't fun. The following thoughts just ran in a loop through my head for the last 15km:

I'm TIRED
I'm BORED
I'm HUNGRY
I don't like riding my bike anymore
I just want my couch and my dinner
UGH

Challenging morning today, inhaled a living creature of some kind in Glendalough and kept hacking my lungs up the rest of the way. Forgot my rain-glasses as well and ended up with bugs in my eyes too.

Saw the fellow in front of me at City West lose his ass-saver on the path, and I instinctively stopped to get it for him because that's the type of person I aim to be - of course, doing so on one of the main conduits into the city during peak turns out to be a remarkably oblivious thing to do, so I had to have words with myself :oops: :oops: :oops: fortunately the guy barreling up behind me was a relaxed and calm type and took it in his stride.

Lake Miasma by the narrows dialled the stank up to 11 this morning, or perhaps my gag reflex was still in overdrive from the bug cloud earlier, but that started up the hacking and dry retching again, bor ...

And my almost-new brake pads again, did not work worth beans in the rain. At all. I really have to change them or I'm going to create even more mayhem ... :|
“Lexa”: 2012 Trek Lexa S; "Hannelore": 2019 Kalkhoff, "Teal Cecile" Reid traino shuttle

Milpool
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Milpool » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:46 am

Today was my first foray into autumn commuting. Whole the Gold Coast isn't cold by any stretch (think it was about 15 degrees) I can see I'll reach the limits of my flanno pretty quickly. Not a bad way to start the morning at all though, nice and fresh.

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