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

[LM324]

First commute today!
21km each way, going there was pretty good but coming back was slow, there seemed to be a headwind the whole way back home. And it was cold....
Also, the extra weight was killing me on the climbs. I go to school so have to carry textbooks, exercise books, change of clothes etc. which means 10+ kg in the panniers and back pack. Suprisingly though, it took me the same time to get there as it did on my trial runs where I carried nothing.

[bonjour]

Two issues arose in my commute yesterday. About this time pushed off - the rain had stopped and it was dark. I rode up Royal Parade amazed by how many riders obscure their rear lights with backpacks with the flashing lights on the front of the straps or on top of the backpack only visible from the rear when they stopped and stood up and I did the same and completely invisible to cars. This is apart from the guy who has his light on his downtube under his mudguard and the usual suspects with no lights whatsoever. My take is if you've got lights make them visible!

The other issue arose when I took a left turn off Brunswick Rd, at moderate speed, went into a skid and found myself on my side, unclipping and looking at a 4wd coming towards me. The driver stopped, wound down the window and asked me how I felt. I told him that all was fine apart from embarrassment (completely true - later I discovered some grazes). I doubt it was karmic payback for being smug/sanctimonious about the other riders. I'm sure the fact my lights were visible helped the driver to stop in time. However there has got to be a word for my condition/ state of affairs, probably German.

[rangersac]

I'm visiting Perth this week, staying with a mate, and his Norco MTB is my defacto commuting machine for the next few. This is the first time I've been to Perth, and I can say I'm thoroughly impressed with bike park network that exists. The 12km run from Leederville to Kensington is virtually all on separated paths, or on road lanes.

[AndrewBurns]

First commute today!
21km each way, going there was pretty good but coming back was slow, there seemed to be a headwind the whole way back home. And it was cold....
Also, the extra weight was killing me on the climbs. I go to school so have to carry textbooks, exercise books, change of clothes etc. which means 10+ kg in the panniers and back pack. Suprisingly though, it took me the same time to get there as it did on my trial runs where I carried nothing.

Nice work! I've found very little variation in my commutes between heavy and light loads, generally all of my times are within 5% no matter how heavy the bike or how good or bad I felt.

[ray]

Was riding home across the goodwill bridge around 5pm this afternoon. QUT side to Southbank. I think I heard someone have a massive stack as I reached the end of the bridge. Anyone know what happened and if the rider was ok? I hate the fact that even if you go very slow, below the speed limit, some people are so inconsiderate and will not move across to the left even when you ring the bell. I had one women telling me to get f*in off the path along south bank. I rang my bell ahead of time and went left and she had ago at me because she went right (into my path from the other direction). I said perhaps if you kept left as well we wouldn't nearly have an accident!

[TigerFilly]

Well I was very proud this morning - the first time I've a had a colleague say, "you're mad!", (in reference to my decision to risk getting rained on this morning and ride to work). I didn't ride Mon/Tues/Wed as it was very much pouring down, but I figured it looked like it would hold off for half an hour today, and it did. It was pretty cold riding home, so I have just nicked down the shops and have some lovely new gloves for tomorrow.

Catastrophic failure of the front mudguard and/ or the front brake saw my front mudguard snap and the front brake fly off the wheel ( yes, literally completely off the wheel). Luckily the cable held the brake to the bike. I stopped and managed to use my front light to go back and look for parts. Found the front of the guard. Sheared through right under where the brake sits.

That sounds a bit traumatic!

Can you wear uggs in your office, Lizzy? That sounds like a good deal to me.

I can haz lights!
Now I can't wait to try them out, but there is rain forecast tomorrow and the next few days. Bugger!

What is that light?
I'm using Fenix BT-20 which I'm very happy with. However I note that my side on visibility isn't there.

Sigh - why there's not a perfect light I do not know

It's one of these. I've got a red one for the back as well.
http://www.bicycleexpress.com.au/store/ ... Light.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I took the city loop via airport then cooks river cw. Made it home at around 8pm. Just notice that my rear light died with 10km to home. I thought my new knog blinder will at least last for 20 hours on blinking mode but Im wrong. Lucky I have this highly reflective back pack cover.

Do you like the Knog lights, rheicel? I was going to get Knog lights but I needed them kind of urgently or I wouldn't have been able to ride this week, so I had to buy what I could get from my LBS. I still might get some Knog ones too though. I've only got one light each front and back, and while they are bright, it doesn't feel like enough.

[Big_Red]

Going to be a cold one tomorrow morning in Brissie at about 10 deg instead of the 15-16 deg we've been having so rug up for your ride in!

[KonaCommuter]

Going to be a cold one tomorrow morning in Brissie at about 10 deg instead of the 15-16 deg we've been having so rug up for your ride in!

It certainly was a bit chilly this morning. Brrr

[gabrielle260]

Riding home last night along the Yarra;
1. Police were stopping riders and giving warnings about no/poor lighting... Very good to see!
2. The bike path was flooded on the south side by the Botanical Gardens- worst I've seen it for a long time.

[VRE]

While riding along Northbank, near the end of my commute to work, which is at the southwest corner of the CBD, I was waiting to cross the northbound part of William St just where it bends left to head west before bending right to head north again. A 4WD came around the left hand bend on the outside lane, and the driver deliberately swung wide to miss me by a small margin, a deliberate intimidation attempt. I've seen cr@p like this too many times to actually being scared by it, but it didn't help my mood much.

As long as Australian motorists feel free to use their vehicles as weapons of intimidation towards cyclists, knowing that even if they get caught the penalties are pathetic, cycling will never become mainstream in Australia, and Australian cyclists will be using helmet-cameras to protect their rights for decades to come . I haven't yet bought the new helmet-camera with better low light performance, but I was planning to place the online order tomorrow with Highly Tuned Athletes, a Melbourne-based online vendor, so should get it next week.

[TailWind]

Rain, and more rain..most of the way home yesterday. Wasn't as bad as it looked on the BoM radar, and I was relatively happy during the ride.
Rain straight out of the gate this morning, fairly steady for a bit, then eased up during the middle section of the commute. It started spitting again as I neared the Melb CBD, but for the most I had dried out and only the panniers needed a bit of a wipe-down, having collected a fair amount of grit and muck off the roads.
Let's see what this afternoon holds. Been a wet and windy week all in all.
Happy Friday!

[gretaboy]

I have gone a little missing this week with my commuting.

Wednesday I had to organise/print off some documents so needed an early start at work to get it all done before others came into the office. Company has to give me something back . Then I had to go and get them witnessed so I took the car. It allowed me to bring some more clothes into the office as well as some brekkie material.

Thursday I was planning to travel to Sydney to submit the documents and had organised an A/L day, but the better half said why not do it in Newcastle. So I did. Used the bike instead of the car. Total of 113 k's to simply drop some documents off. First 56 k's was fine as I had the wind behind me. Returning home was a battle with 20 k+ headwinds. All up it took me 4 hrs 15 minutes or so as I simply enjoyed the ride both ways and had no intentions of pushing myself. I was happy I just got a ride in.

Today, well off the bike again as I have to pick the documents back up and then I do need to travel to Sydney in the arvo. If it wasnt for the trip to Sydney I would be on the bike.

[jasonc]

First commute today!
21km each way, going there was pretty good but coming back was slow, there seemed to be a headwind the whole way back home. And it was cold....
Also, the extra weight was killing me on the climbs. I go to school so have to carry textbooks, exercise books, change of clothes etc. which means 10+ kg in the panniers and back pack. Suprisingly though, it took me the same time to get there as it did on my trial runs where I carried nothing.

Nice work! I've found very little variation in my commutes between heavy and light loads, generally all of my times are within 5% no matter how heavy the bike or how good or bad I felt.

welcome to the club!

Going to be a cold one tomorrow morning in Brissie at about 10 deg instead of the 15-16 deg we've been having so rug up for your ride in!

It certainly was a bit chilly this morning. Brrr

Definitely cool this morning (garmin said 11 degrees). I dumped the group ride this morning. good choice in the end. the legs felt like jelly.

[bychosis]

Winter chill in the air combined with westerlies have meant morning cycle hasn't been fun into the headwind (except for tailwinding my way to a local segment KOM on a detour). 10-12degrees means a cold start but dressing for the first few minutes sees me cooking for the last, I'm trying to find a balance. Afternoons were still cool, but wind at my back was much more pleasant and got me my best time home this year on Wednesday. In the car today due to school drop offs, but despite the temp and wind would rather be biking it.

[Walst]

Winter chill in the air combined with westerlies have meant morning cycle hasn't been fun into the headwind (except for tailwinding my way to a local segment KOM on a detour). 10-12degrees means a cold start but dressing for the first few minutes sees me cooking for the last, I'm trying to find a balance. Afternoons were still cool, but wind at my back was much more pleasant and got me my best time home this year on Wednesday. In the car today due to school drop offs, but despite the temp and wind would rather be biking it.

I normally just go the shorts and a breathable gore windstopper when it's that sort of temperature. My pegs get a bit chilly but I'm usually ok after 5-10 minutes riding.

[bychosis]

I have a graduated system. Under 15 is long jersey. Under 13 add full finger gloves. under 12 is usually base layer and around 10 is shoe covers and wind (rain) jacket. Always with shorts though. It also doesn't really get that cold around here.

Edit: and if I know it's going to be a cold one in the morning my riding gear (shoes, gloves, helmet) gets brought in from the garage that night and I prepare in the warm house before heading out to the garage to grab the bike.

[Lizzy]

Can you wear uggs in your office, Lizzy? That sounds like a good deal to me.

Well, nobody's tried to stop me I do keep some normal shoes under the desk for the quick swap-out if I need to come out from behind the scenes (I forgot once and pranced into the VC's office, pom-poms a-flying, and got a couple of raised eyebrows).

Nice ride this morning, took a gamble on the weather - didn't even pack a spray jacket, and a shower came over just as I sat down at my desk. Will see if I get to be so smug this arvo though.

And yep, rangersac, for the most part we Perthans do OK I reckon, at least in central/established/riverside burbs.

[Summernight]

Anyone got a spare Crud Roadracer Mk II front mudguard?

Looks like you can get spares, and they're pretty cheap. Not sure about postage, though.

http://www.crudproducts.com/products/spares

I had a stick flick up into my front wheel, pull the mudguard off and crack the blade nearly all the way across. Fixed it with some epoxy (5min Araldite). Seems to be holding up quite well.

Thanks for the epoxy superglue tip. I went to my local OkayMart last night and got a bit of the stuff. Unfortunately it was a bit of a tricky job as the brake had been fixed and the mudguard is fairly flush to the underside of the brake with the cable tie not allowing much room to move and I didn't want to pull the brake off again. The sheared section is literally right under the brake.

So I managed to use a plastic take-away fork and jam it between the brake and the mudguard to move the mudguard away from the brake, placed a baby wipe between the tyre and the mudguard so as not to accidentally superglue my mudguard to my tyre and then gave it a go. I had completely the wrong materials (using the end of a big disposable plastic fork with superglue on the end and trying to stuff it into a tiny gap with precision isn't the easiest thing to do) and ended up using a cotton ear bud stick to try and place the glue on the part under the brake and hoping that when the instructions say 'use a clean surface' that that included a cotton bud.

Got the parts stuck together, left them overnight, pulled the baby wipe off the tyre without any sticking issues (phew!!) and I don't seem to have stuck the mudguard to the brake either. Success!!!

We'll see how it holds up.

Yesterday evening was wet. Spray from the (not-fixed-at-that-time) front tyre was pretty ick. I don't know how I managed without mudguards. I saw a few people this morning riding on the MYT without guards and the poo brown stripe on the back of their pants makes me shudder.

Last night I got honked by a 4WD who didn't know the road rules and that he was crossing a give-way to bicycles line. Although he may have been honking at the car on his right (I was on his left) who was also indicating to move into his lane and may have been pushing.

Delivery van for the new commission flats in Elizabeth St, Richmond was also completely blocking the bicycle lane. That's two that have done this so far. Hope the people move in fast.

This morning was also wet. It was dry for my morning jog and the start of my ride to work but by the time I got into the city it was raining. I've been feeling slow these past couple of days. Maybe the engine has had enough (still haven't quite kicked this cold thing).

On the bright side, with the mudguard back in full operation I no longer had water and ick flying off the top of the tyre onto my forks/brakes and camera. Win!!

[jasonc]

just had an emergency dash home. Mrs JasonC is sick
legs still felt crap and I had a head wind to boot. So I'm knackered. But am now watching Road Runner with my 4.5 year old.

[TailWind]

Multi-hop commute back on Friday, all on-road and pretty busy. Dry for a change, but windy.
Missed the rain this morning, and had a nice northerly to ease me into the Melbourne CBD and into the new week.

[gretaboy]

For me...it was cold this morning. Had the rain jacket over the top of the warm jacket in an effort to cut down on the wind chill. Great ride otherwise. Loving the sunny weather

[Dan]

Cold. Longs made their first appearance, as did my über thermo german cycling gloves. Ability to type taken as evidence of their wind stopping ability.

[jasonc]

Cold. Longs made their first appearance, as did my über thermo german cycling gloves. Ability to type taken as evidence of their wind stopping ability.

Is this where I tell you I'm still in my fingerless gloves, and shorts? I did don the long sleeve jersey today for the first time in a while.
EDIT: had a chat to a nice guy named Heath this morning. Always good to have a chat when cruising to work.

[gretaboy]

Cold. Longs made their first appearance, as did my über thermo german cycling gloves. Ability to type taken as evidence of their wind stopping ability.

Is this where I tell you I'm still in my fingerless gloves, and shorts? I did don the long sleeve jersey today for the first time in a while.
EDIT: had a chat to a nice guy named Heath this morning. Always good to have a chat when cruising to work.

whats that saying...just cant remember...it has something along the lines of brain and pain????? damm just cant put my finger on it hahahahaha

[jasonc]

whats that saying...just cant remember...it has something along the lines of brain and pain????? damm just cant put my finger on it hahahahaha

fooo

garmin said 9.2 degrees. still ok, just.
the problem I have is that with the bark off from the crash 2 weeks ago I can't wear leg warmers anyway as they'll stick to the open wound. And if I cover it up, then I can't bend my knee enough to pedal.