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How was your commute today?

3M views 28K replies 753 participants last post by  cyclingdutchman 
#1 ·
Well how was it?

Mine was good... hadn't been able to ride at all for the 10 days leading up to today, so it was a bit harder to get into the groove.

Forgot my battery pack for my big light, so I had to ride the last 5 miles on pothole ridden bikelanes with a little flasher.

Got honked at when I was as far right as I could be without getting doored.

All in all, it was a good commute... I ride alongside two different freeways (on a bike path) and get to see the traffic backed up for miles... People feverishly trying to type out their morning emails on their blackberry or looking ragged from sitting in traffic. Then I break away from the bike path and the traffic, and it all looks like a rat race in my rearview mirror.
 
#18,061 ·
Good ride in this AM. Just topped 3500 miles for the year, so there's that. I also recently looked at my activity history for August since I got my new Fenix 2 watch and have, between cycling and running, logged just a smidge over 29K of climbing. Not too shabby.
I got you beat. I was chasing a silly line in the sand with last month's Strava climbing challenge of 11,000m. I ended up with 39,750 on the bike. I climbed 3 mountains in August that were all in the 1200'+ range so I'm in the 45K range. I climbed to the stratosphere! Definitely above my norm, had to boast.

Took the trails in this morning. They were lovely.
Bicycle tire Automotive tire Crankset Tread Plant
 
#18,062 ·
I set out exploring my new dirt option commute on the way home yesterday... dirt road turned to logging road, turned to old skidder trail, turned to quad trail, turned to non-existant. Missed a critical turn there somewhere, and I was deep enough in the woods that my phone wouldn't load a map . Eventually I popped out on a bald mountain with no trees, and I could see the valley where my new house is, so I bushwhacked it for about a mile and wound up coming down into someone's backyard. Memorable commute.

Cloud Sky Wheel Bicycle Tire
 
#18,063 ·
Riding in my neighborhood about a block from my house and I see an SUV coming down a perpendicular street coming towards where I am riding. They have stop sign, but my mind went straight to "this person isn't going to stop". Sure enough, they blow the stop sign and turn left, now coming towards me. Bad enough the blew the stop without slowing, she cut the turn so hard she is coming at me in my lane.

This was sadly not a surprise at all, so I had my hands full of brakes before she got anywhere near me. The middle age woman driving eventually realizes I am there, swerves back in to her lane and accelerates off as she mouths "sorry".

This is literally a block away from an elementary school that has young kids walking all over the place. Drives me nuts that this is "normal" for people driving in my neighborhood.
 
#18,064 ·
Today was a one way commute. I left the bike at work last night as I had a few errands after work. The ride sucked. Head wind all the way and I blew up completely trying to keep up with a guy on an e-fatty. Moral of the story? Three weeks vacation plus beer every day does nothing for ones fitness...
 
#18,065 ·
So I got a guy at work who keeps telling me he's going to ride his new bike to work. Realize now he's just a talker. His "ideal riding conditions" criteria is so fine tuned to be laughable. I told him that working with his criteria that he might only come across two or three ideal riding days a year. . .and then those might even fall on the weekend.
 
#18,066 ·
This is literally a block away from an elementary school that has young kids walking all over the place. Drives me nuts that this is "normal" for people driving in my neighborhood.
An Indianapolis Middle School Student was hit by a driver who executed a right turn at a stop light without stopping for the red light, today. So makes your point. A friend rode with his boss who was surprised to learn you have to stop if turning right on a red light. Morons. I wonder how many would fail a written driving test let alone a driving test?

Speed concerns raised as 12-year-old cyclists recovers from cras - 13 WTHR Indianapolis
 
#18,068 ·
Hate hearing about all the bad news and close calls. Dang.

Only rode up to the university. Once I got done teaching labs, my brother and I hit the gym and I was not feeling the ride back. Been getting back into running and doing gym exercising again. Sucks but worth it overall I guess.

That said, ride up was very quick. 18.5 mph average. Hot and humid as Hell so I was still wiping off sweat when getting into the lab. We were working with bacteria today. Boo microscopy is boooorrriing.
 
#18,069 ·
Ride yesterday was pretty good. Warm and a mild headwind on the way in. The way home was hot but with a slight tailwind. The squirrels around here have apparently gotten more aggressive in their collection of nuts for winter. I had two dart out in front of me in a bid to get to an acorn that had just fallen from a tree into the middle of the street. Had to slam on my breaks and swerve to not run them over.
 
#18,072 ·
So I got a guy at work who keeps telling me he's going to ride his new bike to work. Realize now he's just a talker. His "ideal riding conditions" criteria is so fine tuned to be laughable. I told him that working with his criteria that he might only come across two or three ideal riding days a year. . .and then those might even fall on the weekend.
I only ride to work on days that end in "y". So I road in yesterday and today but won't be riding in tomorrow. But by then it will be today so I'll be all set.

Speaking of yesterday, it was a beauty! Nice trail ride home, dry trails, warm summer night, NICE! Today was the same but on the road. We've had a week of perfect weather.
 
#18,073 ·
Went down at lunch to monkey with my bike, and the front tire was flat?Turns out it was a tear at the valvestem, which is annoying because the tube was maybe a month old.

And it's funny, because just last week someone was asking me about a valvestem leak, and they were worried that it would happen again. And my advice was don't worry (but you could take a rattail file to the rim if you really want to). But now that it's happened to me I'm totally worried.

Looks like the weather has finally turned - nice enough today, but the high tomorrow is only 50F.
 
#18,075 ·
^^Oh yeah, I'm doing it. I just haven't pulled together my fundraising campaign yet. There's always somebody new getting diagnosed. This year my mother had a re-occurance and my sister-in-law (rollingrunner's sister) had a mastectomy. Both doing well.

If you can't wait, you can donate here: Dempsey Challenge 2015 - Personal Donation Page for Brian Edwards Thanks for asking.

In the meantime, the awesome continues. Nice ride this AM
Font Gas Electric blue Circle Rectangle
 
#18,076 ·
I got you beat. I was chasing a silly line in the sand with last month's Strava climbing challenge of 11,000m. I ended up with 39,750 on the bike. I climbed 3 mountains in August that were all in the 1200'+ range so I'm in the 45K range. I climbed to the stratosphere! Definitely above my norm, had to boast.

Took the trails in this morning. They were lovely.
Nice work. 11000 meters was a tough one.

I've been working this week on getting my fat bike turned into a beach cruiser for vacation next week. Basically just put some flat pedals on and the b17 saddle off my commuter so I can ride in a swimsuit. Oh and strapped the pump to the downtube, but its easy enough to fit that in the bag. Mostly just wanted to be able to do without camelback / bike shoes. Did a test run with it to work today, seems good. My body on the other hand is still pretty broken from wrecking in that race - my right shoulder and knee especially. Luckily they took the impact and not my already gimpy wrist :)

 
#18,080 ·
Waiting behind an SUV to make a right hand turn. I am off to the left so the driver can see me in the side view mirror. He starts backing up a little because he is too far into the crosswalk. Slowly creeping...he is gonna hit me. I hit the rear quarter glass really hard three times. Then he saw me. His window was down. He looked in the mirror, he said nothing.

Fast ride home with a few extra miles. Friday night down by campus is bad. I got hooted and hollered at and called names. I just ignore them and look straight forward at the lights.
 
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