Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hows that? -1 on the Garmin this morning. Last year, 1/6/17.... -1 Both first sub 0 day of the year for me. Warmer this year due to extra insulation

I commute with 2 lights - one on my handlebar (xeccon 600), the other on my helmet (azur 1000). Whilst riding home on the M2 last night, *both* lights suddenly switched off within seconds apart plunging me into instant darkness. It was a bizarre Twilight Zone moment. After toggling the switches, I finally managed to get the Azur light back on and completed the remaining 5km of commute with a single light at minimum brightness. I had fully-charged the Xeccon at work and had regularly used it the past few weeks so it was really baffling.

Can't wait to re-solder the Solar Storm battery pack. Note to self - never pull the battery pack by its cable.


And then this morning, coming to a stop, I failed to unclip on time and went crashing down. Shocked to find the MTB cleat twisted and 1 (of the 2 screws) missing. No wonder I was not able to twist the shoe free from the pedal. Note to self - check and tighten screws at the start of each calendar year.

Backpack full of rain gear for wet commute tonight.

A little drizzle on the way in this morning. I do love how drivers give me more space in the wet - I suspect they don't want to get too close o the crazy person

Heavy fog this morning, but no real dramas.

Wet roads this morning. Started with a bit of drizzle. I didn't see another bike for around 12kms which is surprising

jasonc wrote:Wet roads this morning. Started with a bit of drizzle. I didn't see another bike for around 12kms which is surprising

Yeah, light drizzle and wet roads for me, coming in from the north-east.

I didn't see as many bikes as usual, or as many cars - which I find surprising. This is exactly the sort of weather that encourages people to give up their public transport and drive, thus clogging the roads. I used to notice that a lot when I caught the train to work.

Auckland winter is here ... cold and wet but at least we dont get snow although that could be fun

Very soggy this morning, cold too ... I dressed for it, and about 3km in with no rain - found myself thinking: I really CBA stopping and taking off my rainjacket so I'm going to need it to start raining soon ... Almost immediately and continuously for the next 25km I got my wish.

Since my near-miss in the wet a couple of months ago I'm feeling much less confident in the wet and ergo even slower than normal. Really not happy with my brake pads and think I will change them (this trouble started with this set being installed, I've ridden in the rain plenty before quite happily). I thought settling some wear into them might help but it's probably a good few hundred ks in and not really helping. Who can recommend me some new ones that are proven trustworthy in the wet? I can't remember what the old ones I liked were

Oh and I stuck my low-light glasses in my pocket because they kept getting too steamy, and lost them somewhere, boo ...

cancan64 wrote:Auckland winter is here ... cold and wet but at least we dont get snow although that could be fun

Is this the excuse you need for a fat bike?

Lizzy wrote:Very soggy this morning, cold too ... I dressed for it, and about 3km in with no rain - found myself thinking: I really CBA stopping and taking off my rainjacket so I'm going to need it to start raining soon ... Almost immediately and continuously for the next 25km I got my wish.

Since my near-miss in the wet a couple of months ago I'm feeling much less confident in the wet and ergo even slower than normal. Really not happy with my brake pads and think I will change them (this trouble started with this set being installed, I've ridden in the rain plenty before quite happily). I thought settling some wear into them might help but it's probably a good few hundred ks in and not really helping. Who can recommend me some new ones that are proven trustworthy in the wet? I can't remember what the old ones I liked were

Oh and I stuck my low-light glasses in my pocket because they kept getting too steamy, and lost them somewhere, boo ...

What sort of wheels are you using? I'm guessing you aren't using disc brakes because those always work all the time, or so we are told...

On normal road bike alloy wheels (eg, Bontrager Paradigm Elite) I use the blue Swisstop pads. They work perfectly.

Afternoon commute was nice enough, not too cold so I did an extra 10km.

Wet roads this morning

ugh, finally decided to stop being lazy and ride into work today after putting it off all week - Didn't realise it rained last night. Roads nice and wet and as usual was the first ride since I washed my bike so its now filthy haha- Also realised I may need to invest in some sort of ass-saver Lucky I don't ride in my work clothes!

g-boaf wrote:What sort of wheels are you using? I'm guessing you aren't using disc brakes because those always work all the time, or so we are told...

On normal road bike alloy wheels (eg, Bontrager Paradigm Elite) I use the blue Swisstop pads. They work perfectly.

Afternoon commute was nice enough, not too cold so I did an extra 10km.

Yep I'm on plain old nothing-special wheels-that-came-with-the-bike. Thanks for the recommendation

Crap commute this morning ... cold strong headwinds and heaps of rain... 10 day forecast has 1 dryish day... but the forecast here is normally only accurate for 30min

Fairly cool this morning, lost feeling in my fingers after a while. But good, and tonight on the way home I did an extra 10km - set a new PR for average speed too.

yeah ... coldest commute morning of the year.
just my luck, i had a pinch flat. surprisingly i was quite warmed-up by then therefore didn't feel the cold when changing the tube.

this morning was 7C. just a few degrees warmer but you can feel the stark difference.

Chilly in Perth these past couple of days. Cold and dark run home, had the worst-case fleece jersey on and didn't overheat.

Was treated to a brief owl sighting at Stirling which was pretty cool - it didn't hang around long, but long enough for me to stop to try to get a closer look ... 1/3 of the way up the steep approach to the freeway overpass, in entirely the wrong gear to start up again

Was a beautiful white-faced barn owl, although it took off the second I stopped, leaving me to trudge up the rest of the hill like a dork ... thanks also to the kindly fellow commuter who checked on my welfare as a result

More wildlife further north - nice fresh looking dead rat near the drainage sump in Gwelup - hope my barn owl found it!

Just past the Bulleen Rd intersection, I got drafted by another cyclist on the Koonung Creek Trail while riding home. Since I don't like being drafted (and I'm not alone in that), I slowly decelerated and completely stopped, only to find the other cyclist had also stopped right behind me, still with stuff-all clearance. He then had a go at me for "stopping in the middle of the road" (his words). Some people really don't realise that drafting other cyclists without their consent is rude and also a bit risky.

Wet!

DS

caneye wrote:yeah ... coldest commute morning of the year.
just my luck, i had a pinch flat. surprisingly i was quite warmed-up by then therefore didn't feel the cold when changing the tube.

this morning was 7C. just a few degrees warmer but you can feel the stark difference.

Yes, the difference was pretty huge in temperature. I was too warm this morning after a while.

I did have to hurry a bit, left a bit late and then got stuck behind a council truck on the local cycleway. I normally do 40km/h on there, he was going 20, but rightly so. Got to work just on time.

Left later tonight, just made it home before dark.

I'm loving not using public transport now. Absolutely fantastic.

Thought my luck had changed this year as I had only been hit once for the first 6 months of the year compared to once every month last year but that seems to have changed now with being hit twice in a week.
Last Friday I was going down hill and noticed a car stopped across the wrong side of the road facing the street that I was turning down... I indicated that I was turning down the street so the car decided to enter my lane and then stopped again in front of me... I nearly managed to stop in time when I hit them at which point they took off down the street but driving on the wrong side of the road only getting on the correct side when a car came towards them.. I followed them for a while and they struggled to turn into streets and sit in there lane... I presumed they were foreigners and not used to driving on our side...or driving at all. There was 1 day that I encountered 3 drivers on the wrong side of the wrong side of the road so it is a common occurrence here.
This morning I was coming up to a red light, 2 lanes in my direction with my lane turning left when a car decided they wanted to be in my lane... but there was not enough road to pass me plus the red light so they just pulled into me ... my most common way of being hit. I had no where to go but they do stop quickly when they hear the bang of hitting me . also this morning a car (with bike carriers on there roof racks) pulled out of a driveway and just stopped before they hit the cyclists in front of me and also had a taxi try and pass me on a corner which had an island between the lanes so no room for both of us... fortunately he braked at the last moment as I couldnt get out of his way.
Also on Monday I watched a car take off through a red light at a busy cross road... how he missed the cars going through the intersection I dont know.. you see red light runners at nearly every intersection but normally just after the lights go red... you learn quickly not to take off at the lights.
Looking forward to moving back to Oz

and following on last post, hit again yesterday, didnt save this one so now bike is in the shop with a broken brifter and wheel out of true and I am home with some bruising and missing bark..not happy and partner has had enough of me cycling with a car driving through the middle of the group ride on Friday morning, dont know how anyone wasnt hurt in that one

Does rule #9 still apply if you ride to work when it is bucketing down & lightening all around but somehow you dodge every drop of rain and arrive at work dry ?

find_bruce wrote:Does rule #9 still apply if you ride to work when it is bucketing down & lightening all around but somehow you dodge every drop of rain and arrive at work dry ?

Was it cold?

cancan64 wrote:and following on last post, hit again yesterday, didnt save this one so now bike is in the shop with a broken brifter and wheel out of true and I am home with some bruising and missing bark..not happy and partner has had enough of me cycling with a car driving through the middle of the group ride on Friday morning, dont know how anyone wasnt hurt in that one

You need to move back here! :O