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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:23 am
by Lizzy
Did a parental stop-off on the way home last night, papa bear was having a birthday. My riding gear was hella stanky so I just stuffed it back in my trunkbag and took off in my work dress and leggings. For some reason it made me want to let my hair down and go like the clappers.

Nice cool cloudy morning today, glassy river ... With the train shutdown messing with my usual system of getting up to the BF's place a little way north of civilization after work tonight, I'm charging up my headlight & going to try and ride it ... wish me luck :shock:

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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:27 am
by Summernight
Good luck for tonight, Lizzy!!

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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:55 am
by Boognoss
Summernight wrote:Good luck for tonight, Lizzy!!
+1, can't have enough luck :)

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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:10 pm
by gretaboy
Lizzy wrote:Did a parental stop-off on the way home last night, papa bear was having a birthday. My riding gear was hella stanky so I just stuffed it back in my trunkbag and took off in my work dress and leggings. For some reason it made me want to let my hair down and go like the clappers.

Nice cool cloudy morning today, glassy river ... With the train shutdown messing with my usual system of getting up to the BF's place a little way north of civilization after work tonight, I'm charging up my headlight & going to try and ride it ... wish me luck :shock:

as the saying goes ...."go girl" or "go you good thing" ....just mind over body/soreness

so whats the distance??

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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:44 pm
by Lizzy
Thanks all :) Going to be about 48km all up ... small beans to many here I'm sure (and I have done it before, just not after work or without ice-cream / Chinese food breaks ... )

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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:58 pm
by jasonc
Lizzy wrote:Going to be about 48km all up
That's an awesome commute Lizzy. you'll smash it.

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

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:23 pm
by TailWind
Summernight wrote:
TailWind wrote:Your condition must be contagious, I was showing similar symptoms this morning and my ride in was fairly sluggish too.
Did that have something to do with the wind or did you ride in prior to that hitting?
* * * *

The wind was behind me and I still sucked...ah well, one of those days. Very gusty though once in the city canyons...

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:06 am
by TailWind
Managed to miss the rain on Friday afternoon for my multi-hop commute back - it bucketed down not 5 minutes after I arrived at my brother's place.
Damp/wet patches in some areas this morning, but no rain on the way in. There's a fairly strong northerly, which will apparently increase in strength during the afternoon, looks like there are a couple of wet and windy days ahead..

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:24 am
by gretaboy
My friday commute home was against some decent headwinds again...but on the up side it was friday arvo and I was in no rush and the sun was out...so took my time and just enjoyed the ride

This morning was coldish, I think I had the wind with me and all up no issues. Took the body a while to get into cycling mode tho.

Had stripped the bike down over the weekend to clean all the gunk off and lube it up...this morning was a rush job from all the "little" things that I forgot to do..put lights back on, pump tyres up, get new garmin mount set properly...I obviously didnt follow the 5P method.

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:29 am
by jasonc
a few slow coot-thas with a friend. helping her out on what to concentrate on
cold but beautiful morning in brissy

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:42 am
by Lizzy
jasonc wrote:
Lizzy wrote:Going to be about 48km all up
That's an awesome commute Lizzy. you'll smash it.
Was actually 43km direct, forgot to excise the detour to/from my place, got it done in 1:59:36, not sure if that counts as smashing it, maybe more of a firm nudge :P

Nice cool morning again today, quite a bit of rain overnight so got the bike filthy again straight after spending Sunday arvo cleaning her up after the last few times ... Murphy's Law??

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:16 pm
by jasonc
Lizzy wrote:
jasonc wrote:
Lizzy wrote:Going to be about 48km all up
That's an awesome commute Lizzy. you'll smash it.
Was actually 43km direct, forgot to excise the detour to/from my place, got it done in 1:59:36, not sure if that counts as smashing it, maybe more of a firm nudge :P

Nice cool morning again today, quite a bit of rain overnight so got the bike filthy again straight after spending Sunday arvo cleaning her up after the last few times ... Murphy's Law??
just found out a mate of mine came off her bike this morning in Perth. Don't know the details yet.

"Just waiting in the emergency dept for Kel. She came off on the wet roads near home this morning. Tooth chip and through lip shes been in shock and I have not really gotten to see her yet"

will find out more later.

btw - any distance at any speed on the bike is smashing it

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:36 pm
by Lizzy
jasonc wrote:btw - any distance at any speed on the bike is smashing it
:lol: Handy to know!

And erk, hope your friend patches up OK, that sounds profoundly unpleasant.

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:36 pm
by eldavo
Bummer for fallen rider.

I've had a polar opposite experience, riding a massive high right now.
Half-rested last week on electric bike following Achilles strain again getting worse over the ride on regular bikes.
Coming off a long weekend with an RDO Friday, needing to make good time to get to desk on time this morning, riding my nice but heavy cruiser with panniers, consolation slight tail wind at times.
Great fun ride, felt great, find myself singing "love is in the air" in my head and it's not due to a lucky shag =P
Lots of fair weather train outage riders seem to be out because I was passing heaps of people on types of bikes that I wouldn't normally do on any other week with this rig =D

Trip home is exciting too, I'm expecting some goodies from Torpedo7 to arrive today including a 42 inch (107cm) longboard, brought a car ratchet strap for some serious cargo biking to outdo my last effort with only a 22 inch board in this box. I'm guessing this may be my longest vehicle length cycle tonight.

edit: turns out the trains outage is over so the extra passes were fair =P and no super cargo arrival today so save the excitement for another day.

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

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:00 pm
by Summernight
Friday on the way home I felt great and absolutely loved the ride home.
This morning I had Friday legs so clearly my legs cannot tell the correct day of the week. :( Or maybe it takes a whole week to warm the legs up???

Today the vehicle category to watch out for was taxis - one squeezed the cyclist in front of me into the gutter by failing to check before moving left and parking on Collins St between Exhibition and Russell Streets.

Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX0fVSOTWg4 (Also in MM thread)
(She rides a bit faster that I am comfortable riding down that gutter bike lane/ dooring zone/ squeeze-fest)

Then had a Maxi-taxi do an illegal u-turn over the tram tracks on Collins between Swanston and Elizabeth, fail to give way to the car in front of me, and then further up ahead do another illegal u-turn to go back in the same direction, only to then head off back to where he was later on. And in the same section there was a dark black tradie ute who did the same thing (illegal u-turn over the tram tracks failing to give way to the car right in front of me). It was the day for u-turns I presume.

On a good note - I said good morning to a cyclist using those cargo bike thingies to transport his two kids to school. They said morning back and I waved at them as I passed. They were really cute. And the car in front of me was really careful about passing them too, which was nice to see.

Image

Oh, and the wattle trees clearly think it is spring as they are blooming on the MYT - one had snapped a branch right over the Walmer St bridge in Kew requiring people to only use one half-side of the bridge.

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 8:38 am
by gretaboy
Was a real street fight on the way home yesterday...the fight was with the wind only so all good :) At different points it was like a battering ram hitting me. The wind chill factor also made the ride a cold one, was stuffed but glad when I finally got home.

I got the benefits of the wind behind me this morning. The issue I have is this: why is the wind never as strong in the morning as it is in the afternoons :( It always picks up during the day so when I go home I am working hard...such is life I guess.

Guess my life cant be too bad if all I have got to complain about is the direction and strength of the wind.

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 9:24 am
by jasonc
gretaboy wrote:Guess my life cant be too bad if all I have got to complain about is the direction and strength of the wind.
+1

riverloop commute this morning. One of the crew snapped a spoke. It mega put the wheel out of true so a recon vehicle was called.

cold this morning definitely noticed it after stopping for 5 mins.

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:05 am
by TailWind
One of those busy commutes home yesterday, with lots of traffic on roads and paths.
Had some out of control dogs lunge at me on the Darebin Creek Trail, the owner holding on to one of them and telling me to wait while his partner ran to try to restrain the other one. Didn't work and the thing came flying at me, but then ducked past me as I accelerated away. I'm sure I've seen them before, with similar mayhem ensuing.
This one lunged and hit my pannier.
Image
This one charged.
Image

This morning was wet - a rain band had just swept over, and the was a pretty fierce wind throughout the night, so I opted not to use the lower part of the Darebin Creek Trail because of the potential debris, fallen trees etc. that make riding in the dark hours a little scary. The rain eased as I neared the Melbourne CBD and by the time I got to work, I was only slightly damp.

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:14 am
by familyguy
EDIT: my dog story not as serious as that one, those things look like pure hatred on legs.

I had a good casual ride in. I sometimes go past a yappy little fluffball dog who gets out between the bars of the fence at his house and chases bikes. He's smart, not like some dogs who make it clear they're going to chase you. He waits, more or less ignoring you until you're right in line with him, then bolts out and goes for you. The owner doesn't seem to give a rats (ironically, given this dog looks rather rat-like). I thought I'd get the bottle ready this morning when I saw him sitting on the footpath. Sure enough, he burst out, yapping maniacally, until the first squirt hit him fair between the eyes. His reaction showed that nobody has done that to him before. He made a second effort, but you could tell he wasn't sure about it. It was either that or the frame pump, but I was on the wrong bike.

Jim

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:36 am
by bychosis
Can't seem to get a run at commutes lately, but out there this morning. Light headwind, but in my non-bike-fitness state it wasn't great. Hopefully the same wind sticks around for this arvo, but not further up the valley for you gretaboy.

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:44 am
by gretaboy
bychosis wrote:Can't seem to get a run at commutes lately, but out there this morning. Light headwind, but in my non-bike-fitness state it wasn't great. Hopefully the same wind sticks around for this arvo, but not further up the valley for you gretaboy.

too late it seems...newcastle headwind currently 41 k...closer to home headwind running at 31 k

just got to hope it settles down as the day goes on

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 11:58 am
by Summernight
Nice work on the water spray on the dog, Familyguy. I'd probably fall off trying to squirt the little thing.

I strolled down to my bike to take it home last night, only to pull it off the rack and... FLAT TYRE!!! NOOOO!!!

Lucky it was the front wheel so I decided I'd be a handywoman and actually try to do the change myself this time as I now had all the tools and the spare tube so didn't have an excuse. I wasn't having any luck getting the tyre off the rim even with the tyre levers and then the lovely lady who rides the pink Pinarello (who I've chatted to before) came down to head home and she helped me get the tyre over the rim and helped me with changing the tube.

I was thinking that my lovely puncture resistant tyres had failed me somewhere on the ride into work, but a quick pump up of the old tube revealed that there was a leak right at the valve so that was reassuring to know that my tyres hadn't failed me this time and that there wasn't a piece of glass sitting just ready to puncture the next tube. This old tube has caused me issues in the past (when you pressed the valve to let out air it would still keep letting out air even after you'd stopped pressing it) and it has only been on the bike since my last puncture earlier in the year so I'm thinking it was defective.

I changed the tube over, thinking I'd probably stuff the change up somehow and the Pinarello lady and I managed to get the tyre back over the rim and pump it up. All good. Got home through the headwind and crosswinds (not that pleasant) and used the floor pump to put the pressure back at 100psi. I love my floor pump!

Tyre was at full pressure this morning which was a huge relief and the ride in was really nice - traffic was banked back on Albert Street so I had a smile on my face as I'm riding past them. Maybe something had happened as I heard sirens and there was practically no traffic on Collins Street.

I rode about 4 blocks of Collins Street in the vehicle lane instead of the gutter bike lane. So much nicer without banked up cars. :)

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:27 pm
by CXCommuter
Summernight- hate the stealthy flat- over 50% of my flats are observed overnight or at the end of the day...

Challenging conditions here in Perth for those NOR particularly, if it isn't raining it is a solid headwind (or both). Last night was a solid headwind with aspects of cross wind, this morning it rained so hard (about 3 in the morning) that I expected to see a cartoon hand emptying a bucket over our suburb ala Monty Python style. Hence wet roads and dark horizons on the ride in, got about 7km from work and the skies opened up again and got drenched. Looking forward to donning wet clothes, socks and shes this arvo for the ride home. Got to work and the sun promptly popped its head out...

Wind to pick up today also (headwind of course) and the next 7 days on BOM looks like much of the same :!:

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

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 1:23 pm
by eldavo
Sounds familiar CX, I worked later yesterday so only saw very few riders around the CBD, and one opposite direction with the wind on my 23km northbound.
I don't mind the wind as it's forced resistance to get huffing and puffing where I would cruise. I like the solitude and the weather keeping away the fair weather mob.
The current tyres/mud guards/weather have been giving me some gravel shooters in the headlights like I had seen on Yehuda Moon comic strip humour, that was part of the solitary entertainment.

Up early this morning the weather was solid/constant rain on my patch so I took the time to have a cup of muesli for breakfast and look at a couple parts before setting off as soon as it stopped, fine 6:30-7:30 and a nice cool down sprinkle along Mounts Bay/Riverside Drive for last ten minutes. Trip time was 10% slower last night, but about average this morning when usually morning is slower, so can't complain.

PS: for slow flat tyres I check my bike at lunch or afternoon tea so I have time to deal with it in case I need to be anywhere on time. Seems to have kept all slow flats at bay, same as carrying pump and tools has kept any other flat away (touch wood)

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

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:50 am
by vortex1018
Had two punctures on my way home last night, had to change the tubes in the dark.A magpie attacked me on southport nerang road. Not my luckiest day