Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

To the impatient motorist on my commute, thank you for your kind invitation but I will not be riding in the car door zone so that you can pass dangerously close to me along a narrow street. Yes I do think that 10 seconds of your time is less valuable than my life.

Unseasonably warm is an understatement! Started off with a rain jacket and tights with a view to the rain, which in the end held off so I stripped off to my shorts and short-sleeved top.

Rather amazing for the coldest week of the year (statistically).

1.5 celsius in Perth according to my sources. I think my winter gloves have scuttled away somewhere to die, my fingers hurt the entire way.

And it's disheartening to remember how much condition I lose from just two weeks off the bike [/whinge]

Yup, warm warm warm. And humid. It felt like a summer morning.

Seems the morons are on the Melbourne roads again.

I decided to be nice to the little car that was effectively tailgating me on Albert St (they clearly didn't want to change lanes because the cars in the lane beside weren't going any faster than me).

So a gap opened up in the parked cars to my left so I thought 'I'll get this tailgater off my tail and let them pass'. So I move left into the parking lane and the car goes past. Then I indicate to move back into the left through lane and get honked by the car that was behind the car I let pass. This second car clearly decided that since I had moved left out of the car in front of him's way that he was going to accelerate to pass me as well and wasn't going to let me back in.

That's the last time I'm Miss Nice Cyclist on that stretch. Lane will be claimed the whole way.

And then on Macarthur St I watched a bus start cutting off the bicycle lane... With a hapless cyclist in said bike lane. I don't think it was deliberate by the bus but he clearly had room on his right to stay in his lane and the cut into the bike lane was unnecessary. He scared the cyclist he was cutting off because I had a quick chat to that cyclist afterwards (there was a gutter too so it wasn't as if the cyclist could move any further left)- he hadn't known what to do - brake or hit the side of the bus. I personally don't think hitting the side of the bus will do anything.

And my camera ran out of battery (which I thought it might) so this morning's ride wasn't on tape. Oh well.

The stars were out this morning so this meant it was going to be a nice clear ride but with fog early...no rain, but clear skies usually mean a coldish ride...which it was but not so cold that I could audition for a brass monkeys place

Took my time, was in no rush and again just wanted to enjoy the ride..which I did

Summer/spring is nearly here.....can't wait

Lizzy- at least you have condition to lose... Rather chilly this morning- still saw our local cycling celebrity Hairy Bike Man out and about without a shirt on. on that note does anyone know anything more about him.. have chatted a few times with him in the evenings at lights and appears to be a pleasant enough bloke..

CXCommuter wrote:Lizzy- at least you have condition to lose...

::snork:: I should perhaps have added "it's all relative" in there somewhere...

Went on the shared path due to the weather, had one puncture (State of origin last night), shredded some dog poo and pissed off some joggers by being a bit faster than them , never going onto the shared path again

vortex1018 wrote:Went on the shared path due to the weather, had one puncture (State of origin last night), shredded some dog poo and pissed off some joggers by being a bit faster than them , never going onto the shared path again

Welcome to the Road Club where we prefer to fight with cars than dog poo and joggers.

Worse part was changing the tube with dog poo on the tyre

Tailwind for the first few kms heading in
Smacked all over the place by all corners gusts for the rest of the way
Missed the rain going home but more wind found me.

Ah well, they were still more fun than the 10 hours in between.

made it in this morning before the rain hit

Wild commute back yesterday afternoon. The storm front moving over greater Melbourne hit me as I reached the gravel section on th MYT near Burke Rd. Spent another 20km battling almost horizontal rain and howling winds. Got thoroughly soaked, the water in my boots squelching between my toes with each pedal stroke. Made it back ok, although pretty slow.

The paths this morning were in good shape despite the storm, with most of the debris only consisting of twigs and leaves.
My lights picked up a shirtless dude walking on the wrong side of the path on the Darebin Creek Trail at around 4:30am, right at an intersection in the path that I needed to turn at. What are the odds of that?! Although I must say I'm pretty much primed to expect anything these days, even an alien encounter wouldn't surprise me.
Tailwind assist into the CBD again this morning - the northerly is still around...hope it dies down a bit this afternoon.

Happy Friday!

well i've got back into riding this week, after going on holidays and taking my bike on a 6k round trip from darwin to sunshine coast and back, I road once as it was so cold and not used to that,

so this week i've been riding to and from work, I've been riding my honzo 29's for shits and giggles, Ive decided not the bike for commuiting, as it adds nearly 20mins on to my commute to work and home each way (respect to guys on 29'r mtb's) so i'll stick to the roadie, hopefully get close to 250km's by saturday, and keep training for the santos race in august we have up here

I didn't ride yesterday evening as I walked to my mother's place instead with the trusty bike trundling along beside me. Had to pull off something I thought was a 10cm long piece of chewing gum from the front tyre that I must have picked up on the pavement. It didn't feel substantial enough to be chewing gum though when I pulled it off so I really don't want to know what I touched...

This morning my legs were definitely Friday legs and when the headwind gusts hit I was not overly enjoying the grind. Still better than being in a car though.

wicked ride in, got 6th over all on one of the leg's to work, managed to over take a heap of cars and sit on 45 - 47 over 3km's bit scary when the truck with double trailers went past, but he gave me an added boost

poohkies wrote:wicked ride in, got 6th over all on one of the leg's to work,

Left leg or right leg?

My first full week back on the bike commuting to work . I have experienced all the weather Singapore has to offer - hot, dry and humid (not so dry when I finish) and hot, wet and humid in the rain. Not much change when the forecast is 25 to 33 everyday with a possible thuderstorm somewhere over the island.

Nothing else to report other than feeling tired this morning, oh and being honked a few times. It hasn't happened much but it was wet and I wanted avoid the slippery yellow lines on the side of the road so I was further into the lane. I just waved as he went by. No big deal, though I was tempted at the next set of lights to filter up in front of him, but didn't need the agro that early in the day.

kb wrote:

poohkies wrote:wicked ride in, got 6th over all on one of the leg's to work,

Left leg or right leg?

little bit of both

Only one word for this afternoon's commute in Melbourne: wet. I got soaked and my shoes are still not reomotely dry.

DS

DavidS wrote:Only one word for this afternoon's commute in Melbourne: wet. I got soaked and my shoes are still not reomotely dry.

DS

Me too, David!
The only good thing about it - I got to wear my new rain jacket. I arrived home soaking from thighs downwards but dry above.
It's my first Prenda's purchase and won't be the last... Very impressed!
Andrew

Yeah my jacket, a Cannondale with removable sleeves, did well in the rain. Recently bought some leather shoes from Same Same but Different and they were saturated. Little worried about them and the insole seems a bit worse for wear but, given they were getting water from both the inside and the outside as my socks were absorbing water and were soaking, they seem to have survived well.

DS

Breaking a spoke on a Saturday night = no riding on sunday and taking a bus on Monday if you don't have tools
what could be worse: LBS mechanic has monday off too

vortex1018 wrote:Breaking a spoke on a Saturday night = no riding on sunday and taking a bus on Monday if you don't have tools
what could be worse: LBS mechanic has monday off too

you only have 1 set of wheels/ 1 bike?

vortex1018 wrote:Breaking a spoke on a Saturday night = no riding on sunday and taking a bus on Monday if you don't have tools
what could be worse: LBS mechanic has monday off too

A few weeks back I broke 9 spokes in one go when I threw the chain into the rear wheel. My own fault for not checking the limit screws are putting on a new cassette and chain.

Had lots of fun replacing them all, but I had spokes on hand and all the required tools.
I have all the parts for a new wheel set but have not yet had the time to build them, but I do have a second bike if my commuter bike is out if action for any reason (which was a broken shifter Ladt time....now I have a pair of spare shifters too!)