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

[jools]

You can always go around the tide. That water there is salty in some occations.

I've done that loop a few times until I noticed other riders taking the plunge and rolling through the overflow so I decided to do the same. It's probably not the best for the old steelies I'm riding, but I always hose the bike off and wipe it dry when I get home so that the salty water (and whatever other unsavoury contaminants are in the water) isn't eating into the frame for too long.

[alkhoo]

^
Welcome back alkoo!
Sobering story, and it's great to hear that it all worked out ok despite the initial prognosis!
Ease back into it and enjoy!

+1 and post some photos in the bike pictures thread of your new toy

Thanks guys. Will do on all accounts. I'll take some pics on Sat but will put one up of the "old" roadie first.

[TailWind]

I have a Brooks mudflap on the front, got it at a bike shop in Brunswick but they are available various places and online. I just drilled a couple of holes in the SKS mudguards and bolted it on. Just use a bolt with a very flat head and put the nuts on the outside of the mudguard. The nuts I used came loose so I have 2 nuts on each bolt. You can improvise with a cut up milk bottle but I like the leather Brooks mudflap.
Nice and cool this morning eh?

Thanks David, I'll check it out! And yes, it's not exactly balmy right now. Brrr.
Double socks and 4 layers again this morning, 1.5C at around 4am. Unventful ride into the Melbourne CBD, unlike yesterday afternoon (MM thread).
Was a good ride back until I was almost home. Right in my neighbourhood. Damn.

[jasonc]

wet commute with drizzle. just strolled in. saw 9 other bikes. here's the unfortunately breakdown

6 - had lights on. tick for them
1 - had lights but they weren't on. yes it was still dark
2 - no lights. no brains.

[Sparx]

Darkest commute of the year today! It gets lighter every day from here on in.

Today marks 6 months of commuting for me. In that time I've done just under 5000km. I have probably missed about 10 days in that time and overall it's been brilliant. Love riding my bike!

[gretaboy]

Couldnt be bothered riding yesterday...hint of rain scared me off.

Today it was on. Was a good ride, wasnt too cool, plenty of grey cloud and I felt good. Put the old crud racer front mudguard on last night and it is tight, very tight but shouldnt give me too much resistance. How tight you ask...well so tight that I couldnt put the front piece of the mudguard on, wheel wouldnt turn if I did. Of course no rain or wet roads this morning.

An aside to the riding but crucial to my riding. I have found during the year that at times I have bugger all energy and am very tired. I eat lots and some days I find that I simply dont have enough lunch(es) to give my body enough energy and my ride home is a slow one due to the "bonking" feeling. I also find that on a lot of days my legs are sore. I get up from the desk at work and I am groaning and moaning like an old man. Well the wife was out the other day and popped into a supplement shop, you know the ones that carry all the body building powders and so forth. She had a good chat with them about what I do and these blokes were supposedly a little shocked at what I wasnt putting into my body. They reckoned that at my age and with what I am doing, I need to be careful to not get chronic fatigue syndrome. They of course suggested some supplements and the good wife, caring about me, bought them. This was Tuesday. I had a protein drink waiting for me when I got home Tuesday night, then had all the "gear" ready for the Wednesday commute. Head noise or not, I must say even in one day of taking this stuff, my body felt so much better. I didnt take anything yesterday due to not riding, but am back on it today. I found on Wednesday and this morning, I have a lot more spring in my riding, again is it just head noise, compared to the last month or so.

It will be interesting to see over time how much, if at all, I improve in my riding due to this stuff.

[Hamster]

My new hard Tannus rear tyre seems to performing well. Really I cannot notice the difference from the previous soft one. Let’s hope that this one doesn’t meet “The Rock from Hell”.
My repairs to the rear carrier seem to have been a success. Cheap Chinese alloy carriers just aren’t worth the effort. Next time I’ll go for something far better.
I’ve bought myself a fair of silk under gloves, it will be a week or so before they arrive but with a little luck they’ll keep my fingers nice and warm. My air zound should arrive soon, there have been a few cages of late that need a wake-up blast.
This morning was cold and wet but there were a few bikes about. My shoes are stuffed full of newspaper and should be dry by this evening just in time to get soaked again.

[Chris249]

A nice balmy -3.5 about the time I rolled out the door this morning. Put on bib knicks, skins, woolen socks, shoe covers, jersey, light merino long sleeved top, windproof top, inner gloves, outer gloves, buff, ear cover and beanie and then realised I had to go to the loo.

Took off beanie, ear cover, buff, outer gloves, inner gloves, windproof top, long sleeved top, jersey and then put them all back on. Memo to self - don't use bib knicks for commuting in cold weather!

Took it fairly easy on the way to work (asthma, sinusitis, antibiotics and fast riding don't go well together) but was warm and sweaty by the time I got in. The ride proved that the gear I have will be enough even when the weather gets cold.

Riding in Canberra is great. The roads and paths are fantastic, the scenery is beautiful, drivers are respectful, and you get to feel very smug when you read guys from other cities complaining about the cold!

[Xplora]

3 weeks since my bike fit at Hoggwarts Castle, so it's time for power again HEHEHEHEHE >:D

Had a quick run in, so many people on the path!!! Early morning Fridays is definitely the time to see cycling culture in action in your local area if you are not interested in bunch riding, seems like lots of people will commute on Fridays...

[Summernight]

A nice balmy -3.5 about the time I rolled out the door this morning. Put on bib knicks, skins, woolen socks, shoe covers, jersey, light merino long sleeved top, windproof top, inner gloves, outer gloves, buff, ear cover and beanie and then realised I had to go to the loo.

Took off beanie, ear cover, buff, outer gloves, inner gloves, windproof top, long sleeved top, jersey and then put them all back on. Memo to self - don't use bib knicks for commuting in cold weather!

Sorry to hear of your MM incident, TailWind.

This morning on my dawn run it was noticeably cold - you couldn't miss the frost-covered paddocks and parks nor could you miss the slippery bridges on the MYT and near the Collingwood Children's Farm - they all turned a lovely shade of frost white. A bit of the Gipps St bridge had so much frost on it that it was about 1 cm in depth and when people walked over it it would crunch and the sole prints of their shoes would take out bits of frost and plonk them further up the path (like what happens when you wear snow-shoes on snow and then stomp them on a non-snowy bit and all the snow caught in the indentations comes out).

My calves and thighs were ice-cold when I got home and I did not want to get out of the hot hot shower. But I kitted up in the cold weather gear and actually had quite a good ride into work - everything was working to keep me warm (except for the toes, but they weren't hurting).

The vehicular traffic was really banked up on Albert St, East Melbourne (which turns into Lonsdale St) - they slowed me down (as no way am I going to filter between parked cars at 30kph). Cars slowing me down? Impossible!!!

Speaking of cars slowing me down, a Mercedes was slowing me down yesterday evening - because of speed humps he was going less than 30kph - well, he would accelerate after the speed hump to whatever speed and then quickly decelerate to like 10kph coming up to the next speed hump giving him an average gained distance of absolutely zero or in fact negative (as I was going a constant speed and had to cruise behind him instead of pushing it like I usually do). The world has gone mad!!!

[Big_Red]

Summernight, what you have witnessed on the section of road with the merc and the speed humps is classic case of MGIF. I see exactly the same thing in the estate I live in which is full of these diabolical speed humps the council put in to reduce hooning. Except now instead of the tools doing a quick zoom up the street and they are away, now it's a series of accelerate/deceleration manoeuvres which is even worse. Fun to race the cars along those sections though as I can maintain a constant 40kph+ through it all and i've even stravafied one section...

[eldavo]

Perth has been cool and relatively dry, so much so I have not used my new winter bike in a few weeks. Previously taking it easier with injuries, 10% slower trip speed, resting a stab pain rib cage, just as that was OK an Achilles twinge came on that got worse over the ride, but OK off the bike/rest of life, getting worse on bike so took it easier on electric bike for a couple weeks. Dry weather and no pains gave a new chance to take out some bike projects in the background. What started out idly looking for a 26” geared hub for my single speed stretch cruiser, I found this bargain Felt MP cruiser complete that was too good to pass up. Got it home 10:30pm, did some prep on it, took some photos (more on bike in cruisers forum), out commuting on it 6:30am, same trip speed as my 700c winter commuter, though probably more effort on fresh legs was less noticeable.

[optiumcarbon]

Freezing commute to and from work today in Melbourne, frost on the grass when i got up and left. luckly i had just stocked up on some new rapha winter gear so kept quite warm. Perfect weather for the ride home though, nice and sunny

[rheicel]

I miss the saddle. I have been out for 2 days now!

[TigerFilly]

Not much motivation to head to work at the moment (I've been told my position is going to be made redundant in a few weeks - job hunting, oh joy of joys ), although I do love riding the bike so I guess doing the commute itself is the motivation.

That is bad luck, I hope you find something good.
I have nothing to contribute, I am a slack arse and stayed in my warm bed for an extra hour each morning this week rather than get up and leave on the bike in the dark in 2 degree temperatures. Maybe next week

[Lizzy]

I miss the saddle. I have been out for 2 days now!

2 weeks here. Back has been out plus ... (TMI Alert) women's trouble.

Been either sitting in traffic like a mug or sealing myself in a tube full of other people, ::squick::. I've been such an unhappy bunny. I'm starting back on the bike next week irregardless of my back still being a bit munty because all other ways of getting to work suck and I can't afford to retire yet.

[rheicel]

Take it easy Lizzy. Better make sure your back is OK before starting on your bike again.

[bychosis]

I miss the saddle. I have been out for 2 days now!

2 weeks here. Back has been out plus ...

2weeks for me too. Every time I go out I the cool air I start to cough up a lung again. Sucks to not ride.

[Hamster]

My Airzound arrived yesterday. While unpacking it I gave the lever a little squeeze I really hope that the carpet cleaners get that really nasty stain out.

I'll need to keep the bell on the bike as the airzound will scare the wits out of the pedestrians.

[Boognoss]

My Airzound arrived yesterday. While unpacking it I gave the lever a little squeeze I really hope that the carpet cleaners get that really nasty stain out.

I'll need to keep the bell on the bike as the airzound will scare the wits out of the pedestrians.

LOL I did that too when I first received mine but I was in my office at work. The others didn't appreciate it.

[jasonc]

mine az has borked it. i think one of the 2 crashes didnt help. am back to a bell....for now

[VRE]

My AirZound has been going well for about 3 years now, so I guess I got lucky . The biggest problem with these is finding the best spot to mount the air bottle. I eventually mounted a bidon cage below the down tube, putting the AirZound bottle in that. Then, because the bottle was touching my front clip-on mudguards, I had to put several washers on the lower bolt of that bidon cage, to move the top of the AirZound bottle backwards a bit . Also, because my tourer/commuter has one of those stupid aero bars* with an odd cross section, I had to mount the AirZound body to the handlebar/stem intersection using a few cable ties, and it's stayed put for some time, now.

* why the hell would you want aero bars on a tourer??

[TailWind]

Thankfully uneventful ride back on Friday. Got home, picked up the material to take through to the police, jumped onto the cargo bike, which seems to attract less aggro behaviour by motorists in my area, and lodged my complaint.
Freezing again this morning (literally, Alphington temp display showed 0C at 5:15am).
Big bright moon illuminated the paths, and the trees cast deep shadows in the moonlight. There were patches of frost on the path, could see the ice crystals glittering in my lights and could feel it crunching under the wheels, so was extra careful through the corners.
Wore boots today due to the possibility of rain in Melbourne this afternoon, so the toes were in good shape when I arrived in the CBD.

Edit: spelling.

[rheicel]

Wet morning ride to work. I am fully equipped today, so there is no problem riding in wet. I only saw one cyclist though
Where are the others?
It is only hard on my first step outside. Once I have stepped onto the pedals, adrenalin kicked in and there is "no stopping me" after that. Went straight to the hot shower at work after the commute.

Here is the short video of my commute...

[Summernight]

Foggy and cold this morning, although there wasn't as much frost on the grass this morning as Friday morning so possibly not as cold as Friday. Still cold, but once in the saddle all was good apart from needing to get the fingers to warm up.

Fairly uneventful ride apart from the right hand hook turners on the corner of Collins and Elizabeth who decided to start turning on the just-turned-yellow without looking (people are still going through then, not to mention that the road rules say you do not turn until the light turns green!!!). The cyclist in front of me apologised to me for swearing at the drivers (no need to apologise, Mr Cyclist, as I was thinking the same thing ).