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

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

Postby jasonc » Wed May 15, 2013 7:38 am

I'm baaaaacckk! body felt good. took it easy this morning. went and said gday to a few mates at the regatta who were going for a riverloop. I've decided it hurts more to walk than it does it ride - it's the bandages.


Anyway - excuses thread for me tomorrow. Helping out at my daughter's daycare as a volunteer on an excursion

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

Postby oxonabike » Wed May 15, 2013 7:42 am

Yesterday a red fibre flare light arrived from Wiggle, just in time for an early start commute this morning at 4.15 am. I am trialling it on the traffic side seat stay, and I swear the early morning traffic that was around was giving me an extra half a lane clearance (I was in the 'bike lane'), so seems like a good investment.

After last weeks bleat about horrid weather, this week has been delightful, encouraging a couple of 10km extensions on the commute. Hope it keeps up for a while.

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

Postby Sparx » Wed May 15, 2013 7:50 am

I had 2 shockers in a row. Last night some bloke decided to shave me so I gave him the finger (yes not good but it was the second time I'd been shaved in a minute and I was sick of it).
This genius then stops his car in the middle of the road and tries to pick a fight with me but I just go onto the footpath and keep riding. He then pulls up next to me and shouting and swearing ensues. He has his 6 year old kid in the front seat.

This morning again people decide to swerve past me 10cm away only to sit in traffic 50m on.

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

Postby TailWind » Wed May 15, 2013 8:35 am

jasonc wrote:I'm baaaaacckk!
Good stuff - happy to hear all's well again!

Grey and cool yesterday afternoon, and slightly damp. Had a bit of an inspirational ride along Yarra Boulevard from just opposite the Carlton Brewey through to Chandler Highway, when I was overtaken on the downhill by this chap:
Image
Didn't get his name during our conversation, but did a bit of research, and I think it was Stuart Tripp judging by his profile photo.
He was on one of his multiple daily 25km loops in preparation for a championship in Canada in August/September.
He had unbelievable speed on the straights and downhills, so our brief chats took place on the uphills, where I at least had a chance of catching up. Most impressive.

Saw rain approaching on the BoM radar this morning, dressed accordingly, and got hit with light rain about 11km out of the Melbourne CBD, wasn't a bother at all, good ride overall.
Soma Double Cross 2012 - Commuter || Giant CitySpeed (Alfine 8 IGH) - Commuter || Bakfiets Long 2011 - Cargo Bike

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

Postby Summernight » Wed May 15, 2013 9:29 am

gretaboy wrote:
Summernight wrote:Anyone got a spare Crud Roadracer Mk II front mudguard? :P
Now that you ask...yes I do lol :) But you have given me an idea...maybe it could work on my trusty steed.

This weekend will tell
Darn. Would have been handy. I'm going to have to buy another set now. :P

I apologise to my mudguard for thinking it was its fault for the failure last night. It did the right thing. The fault lies with the front brake - the back nut/screw snapped or something flinging the front brake out of the fork when pressure was applied. The mudguard is meant to snap under pressure so as not to monumentally stuff up the bike as it might if it didn't snap.

I rode into work today on one brake - the back one. Which was an extremely interesting experience and went something along the lines of "I can't really stop at all, please don't let anyone do anything stupid in front of me and please don't let the lights change."
I had to hobble down the office basement car park ramp and take the stairs to the 2nd basement level as those ramps are STEEP.

I'm going to go see if the LBSs have spare brake caliper fork nut thingies otherwise I'll have to do a dodgy job and tie the brake onto the fork until I can get a new brake.

Guess I wanted another thing to upgrade (it was a Tektro R538 brake for anyone interested). :roll:

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

Postby familyguy » Wed May 15, 2013 9:30 am

Maiden voyage of the Merida...nothing broke, nothing went wrong. A good result.

But I'm yet to go home.

Jim

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

Postby BrisVegas » Wed May 15, 2013 9:45 am

First ride in a week. Just a commute, but it was on my old MTB, which I've just converted to 1x9 speed. The air shock forks aren't working, but it went ok if I stayed in the seat. Got a puncture halfway to work on a huge nail. Walked to the nearest shop and bought a couple of tubes (at retail price! :shock: ) and borrowed their track pump. I need to buy a mini pump...

Suprisingly, the old bike went pretty well, considering it's been gathering dust under the house for years.
2004 Litespeed Tuscany Ti SRAM Force 2x10 & 2021 Bombtrack Hook EXT SRAM Rival 1x11

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

Postby Marto » Wed May 15, 2013 10:13 am

jasonc wrote:I'm baaaaacckk! body felt good. took it easy this morning. went and said gday to a few mates at the regatta who were going for a riverloop. I've decided it hurts more to walk than it does it ride - it's the bandages.
Good to hear you are back. That counts as a "recovery week"? Funny, I had the same when I broke my toe- it was less painful to ride than to walk.
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jasonc
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby jasonc » Wed May 15, 2013 10:20 am

Marto wrote: That counts as a "recovery week"?
I suppose it was a recover week for me :?

I have had someone tell me that I need to take 2 weeks off cycling once a year. I asked them if I could do it one day at a time?

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

Postby Lizzy » Wed May 15, 2013 10:57 am

First commute in like forever without crossing Leach Hwy, reminded me what a big baby I am about the uphill bits to the south :x :oops:

6.5 celsius at outset, so I packed in my fluffy uggies for surviving winter in my new arctic tundra, oops I mean 'office'. On the bright side, my favourite shower is back in action, after it blew a pipe and caused several weeks of having to sneak into the geo labs one which is a total man-cave and smells like Lynx ...
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Rex
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Rex » Wed May 15, 2013 11:21 am

Yep, the chill has hit Perth. 5C in Jandakot which was exciting for the first few minutes, but the layers did their job not long after.
Went the detour through Dalkeith and hopped onto the back of a reasonly quick small group which was great.

Spewing I forgot to upload my Garmin lastnight so I have to try and split lastnights commute home with thismornings... PITA.

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

Postby CXCommuter » Wed May 15, 2013 12:03 pm

Great ride home last night following (not wheelsucking!!) a younger guy on a TCR. Overtook me when I was cruising at a decent clip then got 100m in front and I thought stuff it caught up after a 1km 99.5% effort then back to cruising at three bike lengths. Did close to a PB average of 31.5km/h as a result with no tailwind.

Rather chilly this morning, the ride down the hill to Warwick Station on the PSP almost elicited a scream from me, as it was I had the runny nose all the way in.
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KonaCommuter
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby KonaCommuter » Wed May 15, 2013 7:11 pm

Great ride in, claimed a CCR scalp but being low light it's not clear on Kona-Cam.

The afternoon ride sort of wasn't cool. I thought that I didn't need my ventolin puffer before I rolled out of work. A few minutes in though I regretted that decision and I was sucking in air so that wasn't fun. Nowhere near as bad as the last couple of weeks but still, not cool dude.



Here's the highlights of today and yesterday.


2012 Oppy A4

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

Postby jasonc » Wed May 15, 2013 8:20 pm

legs feel good. made it home. I found the stick. Brought it home. Will take a pic and upload it.

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

Postby rheicel » Wed May 15, 2013 10:08 pm

jasonc wrote:legs feel good. made it home. I found the stick. Brought it home. Will take a pic and upload it.
Welcome back Jason.

I took the city loop via airport then cooks river cw. Made it home at around 8pm. Just notice that my rear light died with 10km to home. I thought my new knog blinder will at least last for 20 hours on blinking mode but Im wrong. Lucky I have this highly reflective back pack cover.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
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DavidS
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby DavidS » Wed May 15, 2013 11:17 pm

My average speed seems to be going through the floor with the gales we're getting at the moment in Melbourne. Cold northerlies every day so far this week so a slower ride in and going home in the dark on wet roads it isn't really safe to do much more than 30. What a pain, hope the wind stops soon.

Summernight, I work at a Uni and park in an underground car park, I know what you mean by those ramps. Worst thing with the ones I go down is that they are painted concrete, diabolical with wet tyres.

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

Postby TailWind » Thu May 16, 2013 7:55 am

rheicel wrote: I thought my new knog blinder will at least last for 20 hours on blinking mode but Im wrong
Similar experience here - I got about 6 1/2 hours out of it in blinky mode, so went back to the Knog Boomer as my primary rear light with the Blinder as a spare. I charge the Boomer once a week and it lasts me for all the week's morning commutes and any ad-hoc night commutes.

Grey and windy again for yesterday afternoon's ride back. Just as it started raining, I fortuitously happened to be approaching my local in Eaglemont, so promptly stopped there and waited out the rain in comfort and style :mrgreen: .
I was woken up by the rain in the early hours of this morning, then tossed and turned until it was time to get up. The rain had stopped by then, but the roads were still pretty wet with lots of standing water on the paths as well. No rain until I hit Collingwood, thankfully fairly light. Oh, did I mention the wind?
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Hamster
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby Hamster » Thu May 16, 2013 8:57 am

Due to a malfunction in my usual commuter (single-speed Evil) I have been travelling my usual commuting route by bus. I have come to the conclusion that cycling has many drawbacks, cars, pedestrians, dogs, rain, wind, hills, punctures, heat, cold, limited carrying capacity, mechanical failures, sore muscles, all of which and many more spring readily to mind.

However, all of these pale into insignificance to the absolute horror of travelling by bus. These inventions of Satan are noisy, crowded, smelly, uncomfortable, jerky and rough. The sheer gut-wrenching experience of travelling in a rear-facing seat (if you can get one) has to be experienced to be understood :shock: .

Last night I did a couple of minor jobs on my former commuter (the trusty 1986 Repco Olympic 12) and the sheer joy of being free and in the open air is again mine. :D
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.

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

Postby Big_Red » Thu May 16, 2013 9:02 am

Seeing quite a few people on BSO's without any lights on the commutes home after 5pm, going through the botanical gardens (which is hardly lit at all) and the path from the Goodwill bridge along Kangaroo Point cliffs till you get to Story Bridge. Just waiting for one of these ninjas to come a cropper and seriously hurt themselves, another rider or a ped that gets in their way. And speaking of peds, i came across several of them wandering along the bike path that goes along Kangaroo Point cliffs last night (for those not in the know, the bike & ped paths are separated and clearly marked as such) with one young lass after being politely advised to move off the bike path for her own safety, replied with a shut the &%#$ up. Seriously, some people need to grow a brain. :roll:

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

Postby familyguy » Thu May 16, 2013 9:09 am

familyguy wrote:Maiden voyage of the Merida...nothing broke, nothing went wrong. A good result.

But I'm yet to go home.

Jim
Homeward leg, same story. Happy with new build. FD needs a little attention (triple shifter running a double FD and crank).
rheicel wrote: I thought my new knog blinder will at least last for 20 hours on blinking mode but Im wrong. Lucky I have this highly reflective back pack cover.
And backup lights? One aint enough, surely? I notice I'm getting 6-8 hours out of my 4V on blinky modes, which is within the stated claims on Knog's website. I need to get into the habit of charging it more often and it won't switch off on me while I'm riding home. The other 4 rear lights all stayed working though.

Jim

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

Postby InTheWoods » Thu May 16, 2013 9:17 am

Police on Fagan Rd Herston again stopping cyclists for not stopping at the stop sign about 8:30am. They were too busy dealing with 2 cyclists to care about the right turning car that completely failed to give way to me at the same intersection, after I had stopped at the stop sign...

Remains to be seen if I will make it home without my rear derailler cable snapping. It must be hanging by a thread based on the way it was acting today.

Going to do the "A meter matters" ride tomorrow morning along Moggil Road. See http://www.cbdbug.org.au/wp-content/upl ... s-Ride.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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

Postby Summernight » Thu May 16, 2013 9:32 am

DavidS wrote:My average speed seems to be going through the floor with the gales we're getting at the moment in Melbourne. Cold northerlies every day so far this week so a slower ride in and going home in the dark on wet roads it isn't really safe to do much more than 30. What a pain, hope the wind stops soon.

Summernight, I work at a Uni and park in an underground car park, I know what you mean by those ramps. Worst thing with the ones I go down is that they are painted concrete, diabolical with wet tyres.

DS
So that's why I felt slow and sluggish this morning - it must be the wind... :roll:

LBS fixed up the front brake yesterday with a spare nut and spacer from installing brakes on other bikes - apparently you can't buy a spare of what disappeared on mine so I was lucky I didn't end up having to buy a whole new brake.

But the bad news is I seem to have molested my chain and cassette and they apparently both need replacing. Good thing is to replace with what I already have it'll only cost about $50 for both together from Wiggle... And I can get the chain in red to match the bike. :D

Clearly my cleaning routine is diabolical and needs a speedy re-education. Guess that's what happens when you ride rain, hail, shine and on gritty gritty disgustingly dirty CBD roads.

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

Postby rheicel » Thu May 16, 2013 10:07 am

familyguy wrote: And backup lights? One aint enough, surely? I notice I'm getting 6-8 hours out of my 4V on blinky modes, which is within the stated claims on Knog's website. I need to get into the habit of charging it more often and it won't switch off on me while I'm riding home. The other 4 rear lights all stayed working though.

Jim
Yeah Jim, yesterday was one of those days. I have a rear XTech back-up but I left it in my office computer while charging. I only managed to get about 4 hours on my 4V in the blinking mode. I thought I can at least get 6 hours. I believe out of those 4 hours, I even have it at the power save, the last individual led blinking mode. Only mu second charge thou, hopefully this third charge will optimise the battery in its full capacity.
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rdp_au
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Re: How was your commute ... today, yesterday, last week ...

Postby rdp_au » Thu May 16, 2013 10:58 am

Summernight wrote: Anyone got a spare Crud Roadracer Mk II front mudguard? :P
Looks like you can get spares, and they're pretty cheap. Not sure about postage, though.

http://www.crudproducts.com/products/spares

I had a stick flick up into my front wheel, pull the mudguard off and crack the blade nearly all the way across. Fixed it with some epoxy (5min Araldite). Seems to be holding up quite well.

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

Postby TailWind » Thu May 16, 2013 2:26 pm

It's going to be wet this afternoon....
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