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

[find_bruce]

Had a bogan in a commodore buzz past me 6 inches off the elbow yesterday on the way to work.

So I duly gave him the finger at which point I saw the brake lights flash on briefly.

I was on my tt bike so cranked it up to a touch over 40 on the gradual rise. Thought he had seen my angry face in the mirror and thought better of it. However after letting a couple of cars past he slowed so we could have a discussion.
I informed him that he "needs to leave at least a metre clearance when passing a bike".
His come back was " do you pay rego?'
Me: "Yes on two cars, and I am licenced too"
Him " do you pay rego while you are riding that?"
Me "rego pays for insurance and that is all it pays for." Not quite right but it was my comeback at the time.
Anyway he drove off at this point, and that was that. Hopefully I don't see the turkey again

You sound far more polite than I suspect I would be in similar circumstances. When it has occasionally come up in conversations (not on road), my usual response is along the lines of rego is paid on the vehicle weight, so as a bike weighs about 1/200 of a car, rego for a bike would be about $1

[rheicel]

well morning ride was okies, took it easy kept it at around 30km/h

Wow, 30kph of commuting speed is like a dream!

[jasonc]

well morning ride was okies, took it easy kept it at around 30km/h

Wow, 30kph of commuting speed is like a dream!

+1. best I've done is about 28km/h

left work later after the storms. didn't get wet. roads were dry for most of the ride home. was relatively express too

[poohkies]

morning,

ride was good, pushed a little again decided i'm going to start doing a week of cranking and then the following week of spinning, i cranked last night for the last half of my commute and managed to get a few pb was able to sit on the 37 - 40 mark this morning i tried the same, but burnt out a little early still managed a pb on the section i was trying!

[TailWind]

Rode back via MYT, Banyule Trail etc yesterday afternoon. A little overdressed for the occasion due to lack of kit options - had decided that morning that the forecast was for a coldish day and had only longs with me. Not too bad a ride despite that.
Sub-10C start again this morning, dry and clear for the ride down the Darebin Creek Trail.

[poohkies]

well morning ride was okies, took it easy kept it at around 30km/h

Wow, 30kph of commuting speed is like a dream!

i'm sookie if i'm at 30km best i've got is 34 for the 23km ride to work! i suppose that's only going to happen when all the moons line up, We are going into our Dry session up here, so not sure how i'll go in the colder weather (anything below 25 is cold )

[jasonc]

coot-tha commute this morning. amazing weather in Brissy. legs don't think it was amazing.

[gretaboy]

morning,

ride was good, pushed a little again decided i'm going to start doing a week of cranking and then the following week of spinning, i cranked last night for the last half of my commute and managed to get a few pb was able to sit on the 37 - 40 mark this morning i tried the same, but burnt out a little early still managed a pb on the section i was trying!

why dont you try one day cranking the next day spinning and keep doing that...good luck to try a full week (5 days of to and from work) of cranking

I know I cannot "crank" it for even two days straight. I average 30k usually (depending on head winds) for my daily commute and that buggers me

[gretaboy]

Ride home yesterday was good, weather had fined up and it was rain free...clothes were still damp so made it a little cool until I warmed up

This mornings ride was brilliant..sun was shining, head winds were low and despite the legs not feeling the best was able to get an average of 30.6 for my 50 k ride.

All the sunshine riders have come out today at my work, my bike was the only one in the rack yesterday...there would be 5 others today. People just have to harden up and be bit more stupid...like me lol

[rheicel]

well morning ride was okies, took it easy kept it at around 30km/h

Wow, 30kph of commuting speed is like a dream!

i'm sookie if i'm at 30km best i've got is 34 for the 23km ride to work! i suppose that's only going to happen when all the moons line up, We are going into our Dry session up here, so not sure how i'll go in the colder weather (anything below 25 is cold )

I will wait for that opportunity to get my 30kph commuting average speed. Must be like riding behind a bunch of pro cyclist in one part of an uphill with 40-50kph tail wind and then the other part is all downhill on a smooth paved road.

Commute this morning is good. Average speed is 22kph from North Ryde to Lane Cove, not great but I feel like I am already pushing hard on this ride. Must be because of the old school HP lappy inside the huge Targus backpack.

[Sparx]

Great morning in Sydney, extended my commute out a bit. Love riding to North Head it's so peaceful and awesome views of the city.

I usually average around 22-24kph, riding from Dee Why to North Sydney.

[gretaboy]

Great morning in Sydney, extended my commute out a bit. Love riding to North Head it's so peaceful and awesome views of the city.

I usually average around 22-24kph, riding from Dee Why to North Sydney.

I guess the thing to remember about average speeds is everyone has different routes and obstacles to overcome. Overall my commute is pretty straight and follows a major highway.

For people commuting into cities you may be hitting lots of lights and having to stop lots...this of course will affect you average speed.

For me personally, I know my best commute average, is something like 34.5. My daily average is roughly 30, so I am happy if I get this most days. On the rare day I really push myself I bench mark myself against my best average.

What others get is irrelevant to me as I dont ride their route and they dont ride mine....simply compete against yourself I reckon

[poohkies]

Great morning in Sydney, extended my commute out a bit. Love riding to North Head it's so peaceful and awesome views of the city.

I usually average around 22-24kph, riding from Dee Why to North Sydney.

I guess the thing to remember about average speeds is everyone has different routes and obstacles to overcome. Overall my commute is pretty straight and follows a major highway.

For people commuting into cities you may be hitting lots of lights and having to stop lots...this of course will affect you average speed.

For me personally, I know my best commute average, is something like 34.5. My daily average is roughly 30, so I am happy if I get this most days. On the rare day I really push myself I bench mark myself against my best average.

What others get is irrelevant to me as I dont ride their route and they dont ride mine....simply compete against yourself I reckon

yeap exactly,

I don't mind catching a light, give me a breather

[Comedian]

Great morning in Sydney, extended my commute out a bit. Love riding to North Head it's so peaceful and awesome views of the city.

I usually average around 22-24kph, riding from Dee Why to North Sydney.

I guess the thing to remember about average speeds is everyone has different routes and obstacles to overcome. Overall my commute is pretty straight and follows a major highway.

For people commuting into cities you may be hitting lots of lights and having to stop lots...this of course will affect you average speed.

For me personally, I know my best commute average, is something like 34.5. My daily average is roughly 30, so I am happy if I get this most days. On the rare day I really push myself I bench mark myself against my best average.

What others get is irrelevant to me as I dont ride their route and they dont ride mine....simply compete against yourself I reckon

Yep... On my disjointed commute its barely possible to break 30, and most days its somewhere in the mid 20's.

Having said that if I lived in one of the parts of Brisbane with good bike infrastructure I reckon that would be very doable.

[Walst]

Had a bit of a chuckle seeing at all the UWA students dressed up for Prosh this morning. Will have to pick up a copy on my lunch break. All good fun.

Great conditions for riding in Perth at the moment...mild mornings for this time of year. Looking at the radar that might all change with storms forecast for the arvo/evening.

[jasonc]

Having said that if I lived in one of the parts of Brisbane with good bike infrastructure I reckon that would be very doable.

try mine comedian. with a massive tailwind, I still have no chance AND I have the awesomeness infrastructure.

EDIT: 7500kms on the marathon plus tyres now. still going

[Summernight]

My commute last evening was extremely 'ordinary'. There was considerable traffic down Albert St towards Hoddle Street so a motorcycle decided to hop into the copenhagen bicycle lane right in front of me (I'm not even sure he looked) and drive down that. The only problem being he and his pillion passenger then blocked the bicycle lane for bicycles as he wasn't going fast at all. So I had to hop into the vehicle lane on the left of the waiting cars in order to pass him. I don't know why the motorcycle driver thought he was allowed to ride in the bicycle lane instead of filtering on the left of the cars like I had to do to get around him.

I told him off as I rode past him.

Then just a couple hundred metres down the road and a white car comes out of a driveway and half cut off and then completely cut off the bicycle lane as she crossed it to merge into the standstill traffic without looking for bicycles. Fortunately I was already on my brakes anticipating stupidity. They didn't hear my 'Oi' as they started doing it but the passenger window was down so they certainly heard me telling them off (no swearing though - I just told them in a very grumpy voice that it was a bicycle lane and to look next time) as I went past them.

I must have sounded like a perpetual grump to the cyclists behind me last evening as I was not happy when those incidents occurred.

*sigh*

This morning was a beautiful crisp morning. Uneventful too which was nice. A complete difference to the night before.

[poohkies]

Having said that if I lived in one of the parts of Brisbane with good bike infrastructure I reckon that would be very doable.

try mine comedian. with a massive tailwind, I still have no chance AND I have the awesomeness infrastructure.

EDIT: 7500kms on the marathon plus tyres now. still going

Thats amazing, I have far to many cuts etc in my tyre, best so far is 1800km's out of my front

[gretaboy]

Having said that if I lived in one of the parts of Brisbane with good bike infrastructure I reckon that would be very doable.

try mine comedian. with a massive tailwind, I still have no chance AND I have the awesomeness infrastructure.

EDIT: 7500kms on the marathon plus tyres now. still going

Thats amazing, I have far to many cuts etc in my tyre, best so far is 1800km's out of my front

wrong tyre then...go the 4WD tyre - marathon plus.....it works, trust me

[jasonc]

EDIT: 7500kms on the marathon plus tyres now. still going

Thats amazing, I have far to many cuts etc in my tyre, best so far is 1800km's out of my front

wrong tyre then...go the 4WD tyre - marathon plus.....it works, trust me

+1. there is a weight penality (550g a tyre!) but it's great training for when I swap to my roadie

[Lizzy]

Got in just in time for the first few drops of rain this morning, nice. So far the radar looks clear to get home, fingers crossed as I'm not on my rain rig today ...

Had a bit of a scare in the Transperth bike cage at my South Geraldton base the other morning though, locked up and went to leave the cage only to find that the snib on the inside wouldn't turn. Tried harder. Then, again. And again. I'd heard of people being locked out, but not in. Mouth went dry and I was about to start hollering, then I realised the gate hadn't fully clicked into the latch properly. Gave it a yank, turned the snib again & I was out. Whew ...

[biker jk]

Had a bogan in a commodore buzz past me 6 inches off the elbow yesterday on the way to work.

So I duly gave him the finger at which point I saw the brake lights flash on briefly.

I was on my tt bike so cranked it up to a touch over 40 on the gradual rise. Thought he had seen my angry face in the mirror and thought better of it. However after letting a couple of cars past he slowed so we could have a discussion.
I informed him that he "needs to leave at least a metre clearance when passing a bike".
His come back was " do you pay rego?'
Me: "Yes on two cars, and I am licenced too"
Him " do you pay rego while you are riding that?"
Me "rego pays for insurance and that is all it pays for." Not quite right but it was my comeback at the time.
Anyway he drove off at this point, and that was that. Hopefully I don't see the turkey again

Just say that rego doesn't pay for the roads but income tax and property rates do and most cyclists pay both so have every right to cycle on the road. Then ask the driver if they pay a carbon tax for the pollution coming from their vehicle or a congestion tax for the traffic problems they cause or pay for the $17bn annual cost of motor vehicle accidents. I find this approach most effective.

[Comedian]

Having said that if I lived in one of the parts of Brisbane with good bike infrastructure I reckon that would be very doable.

try mine comedian. with a massive tailwind, I still have no chance AND I have the awesomeness infrastructure.

EDIT: 7500kms on the marathon plus tyres now. still going

I'm pretty sure you're dropping the bucket in the little bit of northside that you have to traverse.

I reckon along the western freeway and into my work and I'd have a good chance of a 35 on the roadie.

[Comedian]

wrong tyre then...go the 4WD tyre - marathon plus.....it works, trust me

[/quote]

If you have a longer commute... a very heavy puncture proof tyre might add a notable amount of time to a commute. You need to weigh up whether that penalty is offset by the number of flats you get.

Personally, if it wasn't for the school pickup I'd go the race tyres...

[Summernight]

Nice ride home today. I had a female passenger in a car yell out to me "That's hot babe!" (or something similar that had 'babe' in it and was directed at me - I'll replay the GoPro tomorrow to confirm ) as I went past them in the gutter bike lane that is Collins Street, Melbourne. I think it was said in jest so I smiled at them and then left them in my dust as they got stuck in traffic.

(Glad to see I can even attract the same sex in my cycling outfit)