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

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

Postby Treadlier » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:44 pm

TailWind wrote:
Treadlier wrote:...seriously, why would you take any other form of transport to work?...Treadlier. :)
Welcome to the commuting thread...nice report too! :)
Thanks TW! Medium term-lurker and really enjoy the site/this thread - good to be here!

Treadlier. :)

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

Postby westab » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:58 pm

Ride in this morning involved dropping off some keys to a friend and then getting smashed riding into a strong headwind. a few spots of rain but nothing realy to worry about.

The good news is the wind has not yet changed direction and hopefully won't - it will make for a fast ride home even on Friday legs.

I hope there is some CCR action with my panniers catching the wind - do they offer an advantage :? :?: :shock:
Not fast, no style, but still get there.

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

Postby TigerFilly » Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:31 pm

I missed my ride today as I had the day off (still got in my 2 for the week). Since I wasn't at work I took a trip to the bike shop and got some gloves, and a water bottle holder for my son, and my partner got some new handlebars as his were bent from a fall. So basically $100 later... Bike shops are dangerous. I'm really quite proud of my callouses on my hands from cycling, but hopefully the gloves will fix that.

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

Postby Dan » Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:03 pm

TailWind wrote: The information page on TGSI I found doesn't mention traction or grip....
http://lgam.wikidot.com/tgsi
They need the specified luminance contrast and dimensions - nothing else from memory. Don't recall a requirement for slip resistance.

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

Postby jasonc » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:29 pm

headwinds suck. tried my camera for the first time. unfortunately it fell off twice and stopped recording after about 10 mins

EDIT: and marinmomma - that's 2000kms for the year. i noticed you're a few kms behind
Last edited by jasonc on Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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

Postby poohkies » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:31 pm

ride home was okies, still not feeling it, really dropped my average buy 3 km/h seriously don't know what's wrong with my mo jo
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Big_Red
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Big_Red » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:20 pm

Broke my chain upon getting to botanical gardens after leaving work for the commute home, so had to walk the bike back to work and now typing this on the train. Arrrrggghhhh!

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

Postby fatdudeonabike » Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:34 pm

My 6th ever commute today - I've been doing it twice a week for the last 3 weeks.

Today I had to take a different route after taking the car in for a service.

Worst. Commute. Ever.

The way there wasn't too bad...

- Bright blue skies at my house when I left. Took the car in - weather looking hairy. 5 minutes into the ride - bucketing with rain.
- Headwind the whole way to work.
- Minding my own business, on the left side of the bike lane - car misses me by less than half a foot. He didnt hit me, but the shock was enough to knock me off anyway.
- Went to the gym on the way to work. Realised I hadnt locked the bike up properly. Then realised that I'd left the keys in the car! Had to leave the bike there in the rain - although I had a second lock, so it was at least locked up properly. And then had to walk the 4 blocks to work, borrow a car, and fang it back to where my car was to get the keys before a meeting. (In positive news the drive, which would ordinarily have taken 20 minutes each way? I did the round trip in 25)

Now, that sucked. But it was positively dreamy compared to the ride home.

- Couldnt take my laptop to work cos I rode - so had to do the ride with my back in agony. (Back problems were why I started riding)
- The route I took was a disaster - long and slow.
- The wind had gotten stronger since this morning - and had also turned around, so another headwind.
- There was something up with my seat. It came loose twice, meaning I had to stop, take the bag off, take the QR rack off, fish out the multi tool and tighten the seat again.
- I didn't quite realise how horrific the last 500 metres was in terms of climbing for a relative noob. 7-10% the whole way - even with a bad back, it's the hardest climb I've succesfully completed. Got to the top - realise my rear tyre had a slow leak and was half flat.

Maybe the ride back doesnt sound as bad - but only if you can't get an appreciation of how bad my back was/is. 5 hours later, I'm still knackered - tomorrows ride is now in danger :(
Last edited by fatdudeonabike on Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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

Postby Summernight » Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:23 pm

Ouchies, fatdudeonabike. What a day.

My trip home summed up in one word: headwind. Bleck

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

Postby Timeonabike » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:16 pm

Positives from the commute today:
Got to ride my bike, and virtually no wind, plus cool enough to not break a real sweat without trying.

Negatives from today:
This'll be 12 straight days of work in a row, and another 12 or so to go after that. Balls. Where's my 38 hour week gone?

Positives from the past 12 days:
Got to ride my bike twice a day, every day...

It aint all that bad,

Cheers

Time

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

Postby TailWind » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:21 am

Made a couple of stops on the way back on Friday to cheer the start of the weekend. Nice day for it too.
Warm in Melbourne for the ride in this morning, little or no wind...pleasant.
Soma Double Cross 2012 - Commuter || Giant CitySpeed (Alfine 8 IGH) - Commuter || Bakfiets Long 2011 - Cargo Bike

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

Postby jasonc » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:09 am

WET. only saw 7 other bikes
3 of them were stopped. One had obviously given up and was waiting for a recover vehicle. One was a worker on the bicentennial bikeway upgrade (i.e. working) the other was stopped at the undercover section at the roma st ramp of the bicentennial bikeway.
along the bicentennial bikeway I only saw one other moving bike - was going the other way.

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

Postby Crawf » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:25 am

Those countless bags under the kitchen sink are useful for something...
Image

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

Postby jasonc » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:26 am

Crawf wrote:Those countless bags under the kitchen sink are useful for something...
Image
not a bad idea - my overshoes only kept my feet dry for around 10 minutes.

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

Postby Crawf » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:36 am

Compared to last week where they still got soaked, today they were 90% dry with the bags on!

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

Postby Hamster » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:06 am

My ride this morning was wet. In the 15 kms I passed 2 walkers and not a single cyclist. The lockers and showers at work were virtually deserted. My shoes are currently stuffed with paper and tonight will be merely damp and ready for another soaking. I find that a low quality newspaper like the Courier-Mail is perfect drying shoes although the local paper is also excellent.
It would not be at all strange if history came to the conclusion that the perfection of the bicycle was the greatest achievement of the nineteenth century.

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

Postby Comedian » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:18 am

Hamster wrote:My ride this morning was wet. In the 15 kms I passed 2 walkers and not a single cyclist. The lockers and showers at work were virtually deserted. My shoes are currently stuffed with paper and tonight will be merely damp and ready for another soaking. I find that a low quality newspaper like the Courier-Mail is perfect drying shoes although the local paper is also excellent.
+1.

Although I saw several hardy soles out there commuting this morning.

The bridge over Kedron brook was about 6 inches from going under so I might have to go the all weather path tonight. Image

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

Postby gretaboy » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:25 am

After a very wet weekend I was very surprised to have a dry ride in this morning...was muggy though. All up a great ride.

Did have a nervous moment going up a minor blip of a hill. It has recently been resurfaced and last week had a lot of loose gravel on top. Heavy rains on the weekend had I found out this morning moved all the loose pebble to the side of the road. At points it was like riding through sand and I nearly came off at one point. At this point of the road I have a very narrow shoulder to work with so combined with 80k traffic it is not the place to come a cropper.
Image

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

Postby jasonc » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:30 pm

so the plastic bags over the socks get me about 30 minutes of dry feet. Problem is my commute in the wet is about an hour....

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

Postby Dan » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:41 pm

jasonc wrote:so the plastic bags over the socks get me about 30 minutes of dry feet. Problem is my commute in the wet is about an hour....
Didn't they teach you to double bag?

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

Postby marinmomma » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:09 pm

jasonc wrote:headwinds suck. tried my camera for the first time. unfortunately it fell off twice and stopped recording after about 10 mins

EDIT: and marinmomma - that's 2000kms for the year. i noticed you're a few kms behind
:oops: yes noticed that, the car has been required for work a lot the past few 10 days which I'm not happy about so I'm missing my commute home k's...and of course this bl@@dy weather has been a factor.

Got 2 century rides in over the weekend which will help, but as you are a hardcore commuter and will ride in the this crapy weather you've made a gain...I'm mindful not to let you get too far away!
Lisa

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

Postby Comedian » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:11 pm

One of my panniers fell off several months ago making a small hole in the tioga pannier. For the first time I noted today that there was so much water that it actually leaked a little. I've just about completed patching it though for tomorrow.

Other than that.. those panniers are awesomely waterproof. :)

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

Postby jasonc » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:13 pm

Dan wrote:
jasonc wrote:so the plastic bags over the socks get me about 30 minutes of dry feet. Problem is my commute in the wet is about an hour....
Didn't they teach you to double bag?
double bag? bloody hell.

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

Postby Mugglechops » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:17 pm

First commute today since I had elbow surgery on the 25th Jan.

After Sunday mornings storm I had to ride down the road pictured.

Image

It was only slightly better.

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

Postby TailWind » Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:07 am

Headed back yesterday afternoon via MYT, then Westgarth, Fairfield etc on to the Darebin Creek Trail at Alphington. Too many soccer moms on narrow residential roads rushing to pick up kids - prefer the Heidelberg Rd route - traffic is more predictable.
Looked at the radar at 3:15am this morning and saw a massive rain front heading south towards Melbourne. Left at 4:30am and put in some extra effort in an attempt to beat the rain into the Melb CBD. Made it as far as Collingwood when the first drops started to come down, but made it to the office only slightly damp 7 or 8 minutes later. It really started bucketing down after that, and still hasn't stopped, so take care out there, fellow wet-weather riders.
Soma Double Cross 2012 - Commuter || Giant CitySpeed (Alfine 8 IGH) - Commuter || Bakfiets Long 2011 - Cargo Bike

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