Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Bad commute home.

Saw a police car racing up Collins Street towards Parliament.

Got a rear flat tyre somewhere on Collins Street. Managed to get up the Collins Street hill towards Parliament and then realised it was leaking and hopped off. Thought it may have been a slow leak so tried pumping it up with the hand pump but no, no go. So I walked the bike home (only 3km from there).

As I'm walking down Albert Street I see why that police car was racing up Collins Street - a car had hit a cyclist on Albert Street in the bicycle lane I usually take. Not good.

Then when I get home I take the bike to get the puncture repaired and I am crossing at the pedestrian lights near the Hoddle Street bridge (at the ped lights for the slip lane that turns onto Citilink) and a Ms Moron Motorist goes flying through the red light without even looking - 2 seconds after it has gone green for me to walk. Good thing I always check before walking across the road as she would have certainly had to take evasive action. What an idiot.

So I've got blisters on my feet as I was walking in ballet flats (luckily I always carry them as there is no way I'd be walking in cycling shoes) but at least I didn't have too far to walk, didn't have to walk in bare feet, the puncture is repaired and I'm still alive and healthy.

Tomorrow I'm stocking up on a few bicycle repair essentials.

Always handy to carry a spare tube or two while commuting, as you can always do the swap after checking the tyre for what caused the puncture and just repair the tube later. Sorry to hear your feet giving you grief, that is why i've gone for SPD pedals on my road & mtb and eschewed getting road shoes as i do need to walk in the cycling shoes - it isn't like i'll be breaking any cycling records anyway as i'm built for comfort, not speed...

Summernight wrote: As I'm walking down Albert Street I see why that police car was racing up Collins Street - a car had hit a cyclist on Albert Street in the bicycle lane I usually take. Not good.

Those Copenhagen style lanes don't seem to work too well in Melbourne . I've had numerous close encounters with cars exiting driveways or side roads without checking the lanes, taxis squeezing through the poles to park in them, peds stepping into them totally oblivious to their surroundings etc etc. On Albert St, on the downhill run, I'll often just use the road, ironically it feels safer sometimes.

Uneventful ride back yesterday afternoon, a little warm, but bearable.
This morning I encountered a police car standing in the grass just off the Darebin Creek Trail, at one of the bridges near the Heidelberg Heights industrial area. Illuminated by the car's headlights, the cops were examining the burnt remains of what looked like one of those pesky mini trail bikes. Judging by the smell in the air, the bike must have burnt out shortly before.
Pleasant conditions for the ride into the CBD otherwise.

Very pleasant...mostly. Took the typical hour for the 24km into town along the main arterials. Light ENE breeze gave me a bit of headwind. Highlights were:
- An inversion layer over the local sewage treatment plant kept the pond pong close to the ground;
- Nearly hit 50km/h on the only meaningful down hill in the district;
- Most drivers were well behaved on the roundabouts; and
- Adjusted technique of proper lane claiming on the open un shouldered roads (riding in the left wheel 'channel' created by vehicles) meant everyone gave me a decent margin.

Wet, windy, stopped to assist puncture guy, got lots of red lights, smashed a few guys up noble street speed bump, almost cleaned up 'not looking around the corner when I swing onto the north quay ramp' lady. +1. Time for coffee.

wet riverloop with a few mates. called clear for one just before the indooroopilly bridge. it wasn't clear. car comes around the corner none so happy.

we had all weather this morning - sunshine, rain and drizzle.

and comedian - there was a guy this morning on the path behind the grammar schools changing a tube. I offered assistance but he was almost done.

Big_Red wrote:Always handy to carry a spare tube or two while commuting, as you can always do the swap after checking the tyre for what caused the puncture and just repair the tube later. Sorry to hear your feet giving you grief, that is why i've gone for SPD pedals on my road & mtb and eschewed getting road shoes as i do need to walk in the cycling shoes - it isn't like i'll be breaking any cycling records anyway as i'm built for comfort, not speed...

But... but... I love my road shoes and cleats.
It's not the shoes fault - I just have sensitive feet. If I could find a good pair of flats that can be used for walking around the office and for walking a few kms around the CBD and also squish them into my cycling bag without them being wrecked from doing so then I'd be right onto them. I saw a guy last night walking beside the Chandler Highway towards Heidelberg Road just near the Yarra Boulevard with his road shoes in his hands and walking barefoot with his lovely Bianchi rolling along beside. Presumably he too also had a bicycle malfunction of some sort.
I couldn't do the barefoot.

TailWind wrote:

Summernight wrote: As I'm walking down Albert Street I see why that police car was racing up Collins Street - a car had hit a cyclist on Albert Street in the bicycle lane I usually take. Not good.

Those Copenhagen style lanes don't seem to work too well in Melbourne . I've had numerous close encounters with cars exiting driveways or side roads without checking the lanes, taxis squeezing through the poles to park in them, peds stepping into them totally oblivious to their surroundings etc etc. On Albert St, on the downhill run, I'll often just use the road, ironically it feels safer sometimes.

Fully agreed. I also made a written complaint to the City of Melbourne just last week about this exact bicycle lane, although my context was the cars/taxis squeezing through the poles (or not really squeezing because they are so far apart) and doing so without looking.

My commute was uneventful this morning. I was uber paranoid about getting another puncture but all was good. I did notice the blue shirted Super Tuesday counters in Richmond. I might be completely blind or something but I didn't see a single Super Tuesday bicycle counter along my cycling route in the Melbourne CBD. I was thinking there should have been a counter at the corner of Hoddle and Albert, but couldn't see anyone and then didn't see anyone along Albert or in Collins Street. Could someone confirm there were actually people noting my presence in the City of Melbourne or did that council not bother?

Perth:

Ouch - the sit bones are a little tender from the weekend. I rode on my regular gel seat sans spongy sheepskin padding as I have given up (for the time being) my new air seat - it keeps wearing holes in the tube).

Perth:

Glorious commute this morning! It's since rained and so it's a bit muggy now, but it was pleasantly cool and relatively fresh when I left.

Saw a couple of dismounted treadliers with clipboards dotted around UWA - by the looks of it they were collecting data on bicycle traffic. Anyone know anything about that?

Headchecked near UWA to swing across to the Mts Bay Rd path on the river and found myself staring at the steely leader of a stealthy paceline just beginning to pull past me about 1m from my wheel! All very safe and above board - just goes to reiterate (if ever it's needed) the importance of that 1/2 second head check!

While I've commuted to werk on a bike for about three years (and all but daily for the last 1.5 ish), this is the first season I'll have to make a decision about when to swap the gleaming roadie for my old faithful hybrid as the weather turns wintery over the coming months... will be a hard decision after having gotten to know a "proper" bike over this last year... hmm, may be a good opportunity to upgrade my winter commuter...hehe...

Oh and finally, I think I had my first ColinOldncranky sighting a week or two ago, swinging under the northern side of the Narrows in the AM! G'day Colin.

Treadlier

Perth:

I had a stupid cold at the end of last week and over the weekend. I guess I have not recovered properly because my legs felt dead. My commute time was 26 minutes today compared to 22 minutes last wednesday but it felt much longer. Probably having a light headwind didn't help my time

Still, it was an enjoyable commute. I was late for work so I had the shared path pretty much to myself most of the way and I missed the rain

Treadlier wrote:Perth:

Saw a couple of dismounted treadliers with clipboards dotted around UWA - by the looks of it they were collecting data on bicycle traffic. Anyone know anything about that?
...
...

Oh and finally, I think I had my first ColinOldncranky sighting a week or two ago, swinging under the northern side of the Narrows in the AM! G'day Colin.

Treadlier

G'day right back. Yeah, that would have been me, usually between 7:00 and 7:30.

Today is the day of Super tuesday counts in WA and soem other states. It's an annual census and the data is available in due course. It is IMHO a quite poorly designed excercise. Comparability between states on the basis of a single day is worthless as states ebb and flow to different seasonal variations. And as an exercise in comparing just the one states annual progression it depends a lot on things like the falling of public holiday and weather on that day. Last year for example it wa an unseasonally miserable day in perth.

Nevertheless, the bigger the bigger the numbers are, the better it is for funding for the cycing community. And I expect that, as well as counts there is some further info tabulated such as how many turn off at key points and from which direction. And the census points are broader than the permanent system. Goes to regions as well.

http://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/genera ... res/30600/

Perth has a comprehensive and far more valid data set of cyling anyway - taken all day every day throughout the year and able to be scrutinised for where/when/how many right down to the time of day.

I wonder every year how they record me - A bike? A half a bike? Zero bike?

First flat tyre today My lovely husband drove up and swapped with me and he walked my bike the last 1.5k home while I drove. It really does make you feel dejected walking a bike with a flat!

A semblance of a wet season is starting to develop in Cairns so there has been a few wet rides of late. I quite like them for their cooling effect. However, I had to work harder than I would have liked tonight to dodge this mean looking bugger that was approaching my intended route home. Didn't quite make it, but got around the worst of it, and was not fried by any of the lightning that was coming out of it.

Bit disappointed I didn't come past any Super Tuesday counters! Nice ride apart from that, cooled right down and missed the rain by minutes.

Locking up in the bike cage at work, I found myself reminded of Tim Minchin's "I'm in a caaaaage ..." intro to his last lot of vs symphony orchestra concerts. So my internal monologue started riffing it. Except it wasn't my internal monologue, as I realised when a passing colleague snorked at me

wet again
had a chat with a gent I see on a regular basis

oh and we gave a guy on a gazelle the showtimes up a hill. made me feel good anyway. riding buddy didn't appreciate the blasting to 35km/h+ up a hill

Lizzy wrote:Bit disappointed I didn't come past any Super Tuesday counters!

I passed two in Sydney - I'll donate one count to you .........

Warm but uneventful ride back via MYT, Greensborough, Bundoora yesterday afternoon.
Good conditions for the ride into the Melb CBD this morning, felt like I was going to achieve a fast time, but Endomondo showed a different picture...

been great weather here of late. Was a good uneventful ride this morning.

Yesterday my fiancee rode 13 k's of my commute, the last 13 k's of my commute home that is. I asked her what she thought of it, her words " Its a death wish...I dont know how you do it every day" lol....think she has a little bit more appreciation of my ride, not that she didnt already but it certainly is different on a bike compared to being in a car

looked on the radar and there were a few spots. nothing too bad.
opened the garage door to clear skies. got the good bike off the wall, pumped up the tyres and off i went.
of course I got wet.
did a coot-tha commute with Comedian
roads were wet and we got some drizzle/rain.

managed to walk the kids to school in between rain showers, then rode in from there. Very humid at the moment, but much nicer than getting the bus and being sweaty in work clothes.

Saw another muppet on a bike carve up the cars at Baroona Rd & Milton Rd intersection. He came down the left turn lane then cut back into the through lane on the middle of Milton Rd. I was following a car who had to emergency brake to avoid hitting him. I don't get this entitlement mentality. You can't expect cars to give way to you in a situation like that when you've just done an illegal move to jump the queue. Really annoys me as it gives cyclists as a group a bad name.

jasonc wrote:looked on the radar and there were a few spots. nothing too bad.
opened the garage door to clear skies. got the good bike off the wall, pumped up the tyres and off i went.
of course I got wet.
did a coot-tha commute with Comedian
roads were wet and we got some drizzle/rain.

I wondered why you had the good bike. After yesterday I left mine at home.

It was actually surprisingly good fun doing Cootha on the heavier commuter. Equally valid from a training perspective I reckon.

Comedian wrote:

jasonc wrote:looked on the radar and there were a few spots. nothing too bad.
opened the garage door to clear skies. got the good bike off the wall, pumped up the tyres and off i went.
of course I got wet.
did a coot-tha commute with Comedian
roads were wet and we got some drizzle/rain.

I wondered why you had the good bike. After yesterday I left mine at home.

It was actually surprisingly good fun doing Cootha on the heavier commuter. Equally valid from a training perspective I reckon.

absolutely valid, when you're going quicker than you were

Perth:

Still comfortable easy riding in - a touch humid but only so cycilsts would notice, not enough for anyone not actually excercising.

Yesterday it looked a trifle in the late arvo (viewed from inside the train - shame on me). It'll probably be much the same tonight but I have to do some shopping so I won't be riding back anyway.

Feeling OK so decided to go a bit harder. Got delayed being courteous to some pedestrians on the share path, no biggie though. Got to work to check the times and found I'd actually done it quicker yesterday . Seems I'd had a light tailwind yesterday while this morning was a light headwind . Still at the end of the day it felt good to put in an effort instead of just cruising.

Perth:

So 3 punctures in 7 days. Not the best of luck, heaps of glass all over the Bassendean PSP. Stopped and repaired again this morning and on my way.

Looking forward to the 4th on the way home.