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

[Ozkaban]

Forgot to mention...had my biggest week ever last commuting...total of 521 k's for the week.

Congrats on the big week!

Though

It was strange, my legs actually felt like they were getting stronger as the week went on...I thought they would be totally shagged by Thurs/Fri

might be related to...

This morning was a hurtful one, my legs were really hurting for some strange reason. Apart from that it was an ok ride.

[gretaboy]

Though

It was strange, my legs actually felt like they were getting stronger as the week went on...I thought they would be totally shagged by Thurs/Fri

might be related to...

This morning was a hurtful one, my legs were really hurting for some strange reason. Apart from that it was an ok ride.

yeah it may be..but I also did a session of "boxercise" on saturday morning for an hour and a half and that had leg stuff too...so maybe a combination of both. My calf muscles are very sore and normally I dont get soreness there so am thinking it is sat morning related

have got "boxercise" again tonite...after I get home from my commute...am I stoopid or what hahahaha

[goneriding]

Nervous commute this morning as I did my first cluster and chain replacement over the weekend. Everything seemed to go ok, apart from having to add a link back onto the chain (that's a real PITA!) and I managed to get everything reasonably well tuned.

On the way in I started to hear a rattling sound which made me think something was starting to come apart. Turns out that I'd broken a spoke on a wheel I'd just got back from the LBS for a spoke replacement due to a broken spoke! Grrrrrr!

[jasonc]

Turns out that I'd broken a spoke on a wheel I'd just got back from the LBS for a spoke replacement due to a broken spoke! Grrrrrr!

rebuild/replacement time
honourable reasons thread for me today - have to do an airport run
got up at 5 to go for a spin but it was raining

[johnny99]

Fantastic

I am working at a different workplace for the next couple of weeks which means my commute changes from a road based commute through residential and industrial areas to a a nice ride along the Perth to Bayswater shared path and then around Burswood and along the South Perth bike path. A longer ride and much better scenery make for a much better commute.

[TailWind]

My commute was....cut short, literally, by a piece of metal.
I was exiting a traffic circle, heard a metallic clang, accompanied by instantaneous deflation of the rear tyre.
Jumped off, shone the light on the tyre to see a gash across the entire width of the tread, all the way through the puncture protection. Scanned around briefly, but couldn't find the culprit.
Cue a 5km walk back...
Off to the LBS, they didn't have Marathon Plus tyres in stock, so on went some Vittoria Randonneurs, front and back. Even the rim tape needed replacing - this was sliced through too
Bit of a shaky start for my commute year...especially compared to gretaboy's mileage - well done gretaboy on the big effort last week, by the way!

[gretaboy]

My commute was....cut short, literally, by a piece of metal.
I was exiting a traffic circle, heard a metallic clang, accompanied by instantaneous deflation of the rear tyre.
Jumped off, shone the light on the tyre to see a gash across the entire width of the tread, all the way through the puncture protection. Scanned around briefly, but couldn't find the culprit.
Cue a 5km walk back...
Off to the LBS, they didn't have Marathon Plus tyres in stock, so on went some Vittoria Randonneurs, front and back. Even the rim tape needed replacing - this was sliced through too
Bit of a shaky start for my commute year...especially compared to gretaboy's mileage - well done gretaboy on the big effort last week, by the way!

TW - not good mate, sorry to hear it. Hope the "old" tyre wasnt a newish one

[TailWind]

TW - not good mate, sorry to hear it. Hope the "old" tyre wasnt a newish one

The tyre had about 5000km or thereabouts on it, hardly any tread left and it was squaring off quite badly already. Was thinking about replacing it this week, but under my own terms

[gretaboy]

The tyre had about 5000km or thereabouts on it, hardly any tread left and it was squaring off quite badly already. Was thinking about replacing it this week, but under my own terms

wow thats not many k's...I actually replaced my rear marathon plus on the weekend..the blue puncture strip was showing in many places and the tyre was very square also. I got about 7500 k's out of it. When pulling it off I saw a glint of metal and with a bit of digging around pulled a nice sliver of metal out, wasnt even pushing through the underside but was big enough that any other tyre and I would have had a puncture for sure.

Am really liking the marathon plus as a commute tyre.

[higdawg]

Another fine morning in WA today, felt really tired and lethargic when I woke up because I was up late last night.
Then once I started riding I felt great, higher gear than normal, big ring the whole way and did my fastest time getting to work.

[TailWind]

The tyre had about 5000km or thereabouts on it, hardly any tread left and it was squaring off quite badly already. Was thinking about replacing it this week, but under my own terms

wow thats not many k's...I actually replaced my rear marathon plus on the weekend..the blue puncture strip was showing in many places and the tyre was very square also. I got about 7500 k's out of it. When pulling it off I saw a glint of metal and with a bit of digging around pulled a nice sliver of metal out, wasnt even pushing through the underside but was big enough that any other tyre and I would have had a puncture for sure.

Am really liking the marathon plus as a commute tyre.

Ok correction...went back and had a look. I had the tyres put on the now-deceased Merida, and rode that for just over 3 months leading up to the crash. The wheels then went onto the Soma, which I've been riding since mid-November, so about 5 1/2 months in total. Looking at my rides during that period, I come to just over 6000km. The blue puncture strip was just starting to peek through in a couple of spots, so maybe another 500km would have been possible...
I do like the Marathon Plus as well, was quite a pleasant ride. It'll be interesting to see how the Randonneurs feel in comparison...I still have them on my other commuter, and was quite impressed with them as well.
At worst, I'll only be stuck on them for a few months

[jasonc]

It'll be interesting to see how the Randonneurs feel in comparison...I still have them on my other commuter, and was quite impressed with them as well.
At worst, I'll only be stuck on them for a few months

I was getting a max of about 3.5k out of a rear randonneur. Up to about 5k on a rear marathon plus. and the marathon plus tyres feel more grippy

[expatkiwi]

Newbie to the site (and cycling on a whole), loving it, endless knowledge!

Fastest commute ever for me - 10km (Braddon to Deakin West along the bike path around the lake, about a km past the Calvary Hospital for any Canberra locals) in just under 25 mins, on my fixie (sorry about the bike..). Cut short on the way home by a puncture (3rd in 2 days with my new "puncture resistant" Maxxis Re-Fuse tyres ), followed by a walk for the last few kms. 5/10.

[InTheWoods]

Newbie to the site (and cycling on a whole), loving it, endless knowledge!

Fastest commute ever for me - 10km (Braddon to Deakin West along the bike path around the lake, about a km past the Calvary Hospital for any Canberra locals) in just under 25 mins, on my fixie (sorry about the bike..). Cut short on the way home by a puncture (3rd in 2 days with my new "puncture resistant" Maxxis Re-Fuse tyres ), followed by a walk for the last few kms. 5/10.

Welcome Marathon Pluses for the win 5500km on mine so far - 0 flats.

[Xplora]

I'm starting to see the wisdom behind "bunch riders stay off the shared paths" because some paths struggle to cope with the extra. Old mate was leading his two mates through the chicane near the Ermington boat ramp, and nearly had a head on with me... only reason he missed was that I saw how quick they were going, knew that they couldn't make the turn without cutting the corner, and yelled rider up a couple times. He still had the double jerk on the handlebars and considered trying the inside. WAY too fast for a blind corner when you don't know exactly what is coming. No KOMs won from hospital

Does make me wonder why they haven't done a bit more to sort out the blind corners on the bike paths? Bikes can close on each other at 70kmh easily...

[TailWind]

It'll be interesting to see how the Randonneurs feel in comparison...I still have them on my other commuter, and was quite impressed with them as well.
At worst, I'll only be stuck on them for a few months

I was getting a max of about 3.5k out of a rear randonneur. Up to about 5k on a rear marathon plus. and the marathon plus tyres feel more grippy

First commute in on the Soma shod with Randonneurs. First impressions:
- Ride quality in terms of comfort is acceptable and smooth, maybe a little harsher over rough surfaces than the Marathon Plus
- Cornering feels more responsive and confident, none of the "hissing" or "roaring" exhibited by the Marathon Plus. Could be because the fresh tyres are still nice and round
- Although the tyres are 700x28, they appear narrower than the Marathon Plus 700x25 - weird.

On the flatbar commuter the Randonneurs lasted about 6.5k on the rear - let's see what they do on the CX.

Commute this morning was uneventful, scanned the fateful traffic circle for debris, but it was clear...
SW headwind riding into the Melbourne CBD, but nothing too dramatic.

Edit: spelling...

[gretaboy]

no commute for me today...again the flexibility of my work to allow me to work from home has me being at home waiting for an electrician to turn up

[find_bruce]

no commute for me today...again the flexibility of my work to allow me to work from home has me being at home waiting for an electrician to turn up

So time for a 60 km ride before he or she shows up

[gretaboy]

no commute for me today...again the flexibility of my work to allow me to work from home has me being at home waiting for an electrician to turn up

So time for a 60 km ride before he or she shows up

haha was going to do a "lazy" 30 k ride, well that was my plan, until I was rung at 3am by work over an issue that was supposedly super critical

[clydesmcdale]

Took pleasure in a couple of wet commutes. Last night and a little this morning. Been a good while since riding in the rain. It was a bit of a novelty.

[harry.major]

Swapped my commute by bike for a commute to the local post office with a shopping trolley to collect 3 boxes filled with 8 Swift Industries panniers and 2 handle bar bags for my partner and I's new touring bikes. Big smiles all round this morning.

Living the car-free life makes trips like this morning much more of a challenge and an adventure, much more rewarding.

[Xplora]

Wanted to whine about my commute yesterday - dropped the bike, killed my knicks, scuffed my new shoes and lost half a square foot of skin. It's pretty shallow, just weeping weeping weeping. Lost grip through a corner on the Ermington bike path... quite disturbing because it was definitely unexpected.

It was heartening to see 6 people climbing up to the Tway at Constitution Hill though, definitely a record number of commuters... actually saw a truckload of people inbound as well. Good day for cycling, bad day for me.

Train today

[gretaboy]

Xplora....not good news...those weeping grazes are the worst I reckon, painful, sticky and seem to take forever to heal

My commute this morning was a struggle, seemed to have a good headwind against me all the way and then around halfway the wind seemed to go up a notch. Checked the BOM as soon as I got to work and it was saying 37 k/h winds...no wonder I was struggling. Was a hard ride but most probably needed after a day off the bike.

Sort of glad I didnt ride yesterday. We got a good electrical storm in the afternoon with some pretty fierce winds....I would have still been out on the road with just over half an hour to go when it started hitting...was sitting at home on the deck thinking...mmmm am I lucky whilst watching the light show

[TailWind]

Good day for cycling, bad day for me.
Train today

Sorry to hear, Xplora...hope you're back on the bike soon.

I too seem to be getting all the issues for the year out of the way this week (I hope!)
1. Cut tyre Monday
2. Indexing on rear derailleur messed up yesterday, me fiddling with it made it worse
3. Bought some new cycling shoes - haven't had time to fit cleats etc due to above - wonder what's in store for me there

My commutes were rather unusual due to point 2. above...tried to rectify the issue during my ride back yesterday afternoon along the MYT and Banyule trails....ended up with only 3 functional gears near the middle of the cassette. Made for some strenuous riding up one or two steep hills, and spinning myself into oblivion on straights and downhills..
Struggled for a few hours last night trying to fix this, but didn't get it right, so the commute this morning was with the crippled gearing as well. Southerly headwind, so the range that I had was ok.
Off to LBS on the way back this afternoon to see if they can figure it out.

[hannos]

Yay I missed teh thunderstorms in sydney yesterday
sluggish ride to work, quite a good ride home though!