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

[TailWind]

Cooler in Melbourne yesterday afternoon and a good ride back via MYT etc.
Headwind into the Melbourne CBD this morning, cooler this morning was well.

[Summernight]

Was almost knocked off by a guy riding his bicycle the wrong way down the Albert St copenhagen bicycle lane near the hospital. Luckily I was going uphill (which I cannot do so was really slow) and saw him in plenty of time as he was sitting in the middle of the bicycle lane, fiddling with something on his bike and pointing the bicycle in the wrong direction in the lane. I didn't want to enter the car lane to pass him so went right around him in the lane. But he decided to move off (in the wrong direction, mind you) just as I went past him and he did the wobblies and clipped my backpack. He apologised and I think I can forgive him because he had an exotic accent. No harm done.

Before that little incident I managed to get up to 40kph on the flat from a stop at the Hoddle Street lights, which I was very happy about, especially after already having jogged 7km this morning. I think the muscle tiredness kicks in on the uphills. At least, that'll be my excuse.

[Comedian]

Woke up in bne to cool clear skies and thought "Say What???". Rallied a couple of mates and did a couple of late Cootha laps. Awesome start to the day.

[jasonc]

Rallied a couple of mates and did a couple of late Cootha laps.

I know who my mates are now

[Hamster]

Rode home last night and got wet through again. There is possibly a bacteriologist somewhere that would find my shoes a fascinating research project.
This morning was absolutely beautiful. Even the traffic was well behaved and I have found a slightly different route that avoids a flood prone cycling path and replaces it with a lovely wide smooth and very quiet section of road.

[Dan]

Rode home last night and got wet through again. There is possibly a bacteriologist somewhere that would find my shoes a fascinating research project.
This morning was absolutely beautiful. Even the traffic was well behaved and I have found a slightly different route that avoids a flood prone cycling path and replaces it with a lovely wide smooth and very quiet section of road.

I could've written this post Hamster. Lovely morning, wasn't it!

[Baalzamon]

2nd day this week I've cycled to work. 2 clowns, one in a 4wd ute overtakes another car on a blind hill across double white lines and car that overtook me had to take evasive action. Thankfully I wasn't next to him! 50m and I would have been.... Yep on video. Then there was the clown on a bike who decided that by overtaking a slower cyclist he would save a few seconds. I held my line and he got a bit of a wobble going cutting back in.
Came across a cyclist pushing his bike, he had double flats and no spare ubes. Did my good deed and gave him a spare of mine.

[simonn]

it has lasted close to 9000 k's or so

What tyres? I would not be happy to ride on 23-25mm road tyres with that much distance on them.

he said:

Have a new marathon plus tyre so decide to put it on.

That's the "new" tyre. gretaboy made no statement as to what the old tyre was.

[jasonc]

That's the "new" tyre. gretaboy made no statement as to what the old tyre was.

old tyre was the same. he went to them after having punctures last year

[poohkies]

That's the "new" tyre. gretaboy made no statement as to what the old tyre was.

i dont' get how u get 7000km's out of a tyre, i know i'm fat, and i have my tyres at 120psi all the time, but have now put 4 tries on the bike in 3600 km's, that includes the 2 that where on the bike, and i'm wearing them down, the 2 orginals i road till the tyres popped as canvis came through, then the tube! i've run the durano plus and i like them, no punctures, wasnt' able to get another one of those, so i've go the Bontrager tyre on the back now!

[98octane]

Near PB on my ride this morning on the MYT. Averaged 35.7kph to Fed Square, then reduced speed along the Yarra north bank, resulting in an overall average of 34kph. And that was despite gusting wind along Yarra Blvd. My ride is ~9.5km.

[simonn]

That's the "new" tyre. gretaboy made no statement as to what the old tyre was.

i dont' get how u get 7000km's out of a tyre, i know i'm fat, and i have my tyres at 120psi all the time, but have now put 4 tries on the bike in 3600 km's, that includes the 2 that where on the bike, and i'm wearing them down, the 2 orginals i road till the tyres popped as canvis came through, then the tube! i've run the durano plus and i like them, no punctures, wasnt' able to get another one of those, so i've go the Bontrager tyre on the back now!

I wouldn't recommend it. It blew and I stacked.

23mm gatorskins seem to get 5000km no worries. 28mm gatorskin hardshells go even better.

[InTheWoods]

That's the "new" tyre. gretaboy made no statement as to what the old tyre was.

i dont' get how u get 7000km's out of a tyre, i know i'm fat, and i have my tyres at 120psi all the time, but have now put 4 tries on the bike in 3600 km's, that includes the 2 that where on the bike, and i'm wearing them down, the 2 orginals i road till the tyres popped as canvis came through, then the tube! i've run the durano plus and i like them, no punctures, wasnt' able to get another one of those, so i've go the Bontrager tyre on the back now!

The marathon pluses last a long time. I've got a pair that are at 6000km, and the rear is just starting to show little patches of the blue protection layer. No flats in that time either.

[jasonc]

That's the "new" tyre. gretaboy made no statement as to what the old tyre was.

i dont' get how u get 7000km's out of a tyre, i know i'm fat, and i have my tyres at 120psi all the time, but have now put 4 tries on the bike in 3600 km's, that includes the 2 that where on the bike, and i'm wearing them down, the 2 orginals i road till the tyres popped as canvis came through, then the tube! i've run the durano plus and i like them, no punctures, wasnt' able to get another one of those, so i've go the Bontrager tyre on the back now!

The marathon pluses last a long time. I've got a pair that are at 6000km, and the rear is just starting to show little patches of the blue protection layer. No flats in that time either.

+1 - you're looking at the difference between a <250gram tyre vs a ~550gram tyre. one is a lot chunkier

[marinmomma]

Lovely morning, wasn't it!

A spectular morning, the best bit was all that the roads were quiet, no hordes of cyclists on the RL and the coffee shop was even quieter as the Tri people stayed in bed too

Got some good pb's this morning and no waiting for coffee at the end....

[TigerFilly]

It was a bit hazy in Adelaide this morning, but a nice ride otherwise. The only brief annoyance was having to screech to a halt for a driver who didn't indicate on a roundabout. I had a job interview today for a higher position at work, so I feel like today was some sort of proof that I can ride even on 'big event' days.

[TailWind]

Nice afternoon in Melbourne, and I duly pit-stopped at my old watering hole in Eaglemont. Completed the ride back re-energised
Pretty standard commute into the CBD this morning, no probs.

[gretaboy]

Well the weatherman has predicted big rain for the east coast of NSW...really thought that my ride this morning was going to be a very wet one. Turned out to be a cracker of a morning. Really enjoyed the ride...again.

Mornings are getting cooler so have been putting the long sleeved compression top on, but then it warms up halfway through...should get arm warmers only I guess..buts what a little bit of sweat.

As to my tyres...I had a really bad run of flats last year, tried all sorts of tyres. Went to marathon plus 700x25 tyres and reduced my flats dramatically. I got around 7000 k's on the rear. My initial rear got a huge cut from some brown glass so moved it to the front...this is the one that has lasted well over 7500 k's and had so much tread that I reckon I could have got another 4-5000 k's out of it...but due to the huge cut and having a new marathon plus tyre ready I decided not to tempt fate and replaced it.

I would recommend the marathon plus tyre to anyone. I am 97 kilos so am not light, plus my backpack and the roads I ride (crap galore) yet this tyre has held up so well.

[Dan]

Left half an hour later and picked up pedestrians, ducks, ibii, dogs, kids and traffic, where yesterday there was none.
And a morning sou'wester to boot - who ever heard of that in February? Some PBs as well, despite (or more likely, on account of) the headwind.

I would recommend the marathon plus tyre to anyone.

I've heard good things, too.



Edit: typos....

[InTheWoods]

Commute via Cootha and Riverloop this morning.

Saw a guy around the back of Cootha on a CityCycle, he had a union jack (I think) jersey on and polkadot knicks. Not sure if it was a dare, or he'd had a mechanical on the way and wasn't going to let that stop him from completing his ride

In recent commutes...
Saw a big carpet snake going across the enoggera creek bikeway.

A ute overtook me (MGIF) but failed to notice I was almost keeping up with the traffic in front, and then locked up his wheels and got sideways (wet road) trying not to run into the back of them...

Waited in line behind cars turning right from the left lane (allowed) at a red light. Light goes green but car in front of me continue to sit there and shrugged when I gave up and went past (along with all the other traffic queued behind). Is it possible to break down yet your right indicators work (and both your left ones don't)?

[jasonc]

Saw a guy around the back of Cootha on a CityCycle

He'd be getting in training before the coot-tha challenge. A few did it on those BSO last year

[FuzzyDropbear]

Bit annoyed this morning, last ride home I got a puncture, so repaired it over the weekend and went to put the wheel back on the bike this morning and realised that I'd forgotten that every time i remove the front wheel, I need to re-adjust the front brake because the rotor rubs on the pads. Oh, and the last commute I did, I also managed to snap a gear off the rear cassette, it's still there, it's just not attached to the cassette anymore, and it was gear 5 I think, so now I have to cruise around at a max speed of 24 km/hr until I get time to go to the shops.

Haven't been able to figure it out why the brake moves everytime I remove the wheel as it won't move as long as the wheel is in the bike. But this morning I didn't have the time to adjust everything to get it back in line, so had to drive in I curse that evil BB7 brake everytime So now I'm in a crappy mood because I couldn't ride in.

[Summernight]

This morning was uneventful, except for the construction in Elizabeth Street, Richmond (the continuation of Albert Street, East Melbourne). The workers had shut both sides of the road down and were only letting through one side of the street at a time once the bobcat had finished its job in the middle of the road. The construction man with the traffic stop sign told the cyclists waiting (there were about 4 of us) to use the footpath for the 20metre stretch as the construction was going to hold up the car queue for a LONG while (in both directions). I love my bike. Clear road on the other side of that queue too as the cars hadn't been allowed through for a little bit.

Yesterday afternoon's commute home was interesting - the motorists along Hoddle Street decided to block the Albert Street intersection and not keep it clear (which the numpties who drive cars do regularly). So Albert Street crossing over Hoddle Street was blocked for a full light sequence... To cars.. Bikes could squeeze through the car gaps. One gruff, older (50s/60s) male cyclist decided to be very vocal in his displeasure of the car (black BMW) who kept pushing forwards when they should have remained still. This cyclist had a legitimate concern as the car driver wasn't watching for bicycles crossing the intersection on the green but the way this cyclist shouted I couldn't understand a thing he was saying and I was right behind him. All the peds were looking at the cyclist as if he'd lost his marbles and I certainly know that the black BMW who caused the shouting didn't even hear this guy. The voice was just too deep.

Further up in Baker Street this same cyclist also shouted at a car doing a reverse park, although I don't know why as the car wasn't going to dart out into the road. Once again his gruff voice was unintelligible and sounded extremely aggressive.

May I suggest that if this cyclist reads this forum that he invest in an AirZound for such warning purposes as no-one could understand anything he was saying and he just sounded and looked like a grumpy old man and from what I saw his shouting achieved absolutely nothing.

Just my two cents.

And there was an icky gusty head/side wind too that was unpleasant yesterday afternoon.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the same cyclist above tried to overtake on the left of a left indicating and turning vehicle at Church St, Richmond. Not smart.

[FuzzyDropbear]

It's amazing isn't it? How often people think safety is only a one-way street and that cars need to look out for cyclists (or everyone should look out for them). If everyone just keeps their cool and takes their time, then the road would be a lot safer for everyone. But I don't want to turn this into another car vs. bike topic and I hate people that enter intersections when they should know that there isn't space for them on other side, it's one of my pet peeves.

Did like your commute this morning, I always love being able to zip around road works while other traffic is held up

[Summernight]

It's amazing isn't it? How often people think safety is only a one-way street and that cars need to look out for cyclists (or everyone should look out for them). If everyone just keeps their cool and takes their time, then the road would be a lot safer for everyone. But I don't want to turn this into another car vs. bike topic and I hate people that enter intersections when they should know that there isn't space for them on other side, it's one of my pet peeves.

Did like your commute this morning, I always love being able to zip around road works while other traffic is held up

It is a pet peeve of mine too (vehicles blocking an intersection). There was one time where a police car and two officers just set up camp at the corner of Bourke Street and Elizabeth Street (this is technically a T-intersection as the Bourke Street Mall is blocked to car traffic, but not trams) and these police just picked off all the cars that blocked that intersection (there were a few). They would have reached their quota that day.