How Was Your Commute Today?

Nice morning commute, and I brought Madei along for the ride. She must have been tired from her travel to Tucson, because she slept in the backpack on the way in, but enjoyed a good view from the mesh side pocket on the way back.

I never seem to overlap with anyone else doing the bike commute, but today just as I thought about stopping to refill my bottle with ice to cool off a little, a guy passed me on a bike. So I didn't turn into the convenience store, but caught up with him. He actually wasn't commuting, just getting in an afternoon ride, but it was nice to have company for a few miles.

Today was my 2nd commute ever. I am regretting having not tried this sooner. I am more focused at work and seem to have more energy (without any caffeine). This morning's ride was cool but pleasant. This evening I experienced the pleasure of having a high visibility jacket with removable sleeves as the temps really warmed up. Only oops was finding two half-finger gloves that were for the same hand and having to wear the full finger ones from this morning home...a tad warm.

Dressing right for the day is a challenge when conditions can be quite a bit different riding in than riding home. Glad you are enjoying it!

I was rained on this morning for 2 miles and beautifully shone on by the sun this afternoon for 4 miles. :) It's all about balance right?

I decided to take the "hilly" route this morning. As I am coming up one of the long hills I see red flashing school bus lights.....and more driveways with kids...I thought I was safe, it was like 6:30 and I did not think buses picked anyone up before 7 am...guess times have changed. Anyway the bus driver finished picking up the first group of kids, slowed way down and did not put the lights on again until I was just passed her...she made my day...that hill was something and I really do not think I would have had enought steam left to get the bike going again. After having been doing this for only two weeks my co-workers are expecting me to bike in everyday. I got to buck 14 mph winds in 84 degree temps on my ride home. It made me very glad that my route is full of twists and turns so that I got a break from the wind. I almost forgot my car keys when I left work at the end of the day, put my wallet in my bike bag and left the keys laying on my desk. Lucky for me I got a phone call just before leaving and spotted the keys...makes me think I should seperate my work keys from my car key and keep the car key in the bag. That would have just not made for a good Friday night...tripple the traffic, the miles and that wind.

Yesterday, I biked to work twice because I left my business clothes home. Ugh lol well, it increased my miles by four. It was chilly in the am and breezy in the afternoon.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of my DH's company on the commute. He came down to do a presentation for my classes. The morning ride in was good, almost no wind, and although we had a stiff headwind to start our trip home, on the northbound final 5 miles we got a boost from the wind that kept us going over 20-22 mph, sometimes 25! Whee!

I was out of town on a work trip during bike to work week, but I took my bike along and chose my hotel based on access to a multi use path that would get me close to the office I was visiting. Worked great for a couple days, then on the actual Bike To Work Day we had thunderstorms and wind - I gave in and drove. But my bike was on the car and maybe provided some advertising as it sat in the parking lot. :rolleyes:

SO FRUSTRATED, here, have this tl;dr

Orange bike had the drops measured to fit, since I had them replace the flat bars. Drops on the orange bike are more comfortable than my custom-to-fit soma drops. I ask the soma builder, he confirms the drops he put on were too big to give me "stability" over comfort. Never mind that I didn't ask for that, but whatever. He'll replace them for free.

I get them replaced, and they knocked the front fender so hard it was beyond my ability to bend back into place.
I take the bike back to get the fender fixed, they fix it, I take it home.

Except they did a **** job fixing it, and today as I'm just finishing the first mile of my commute, the fender fails again, big time. So how was my commute today?

Alternatively pedaling as hard as I could, then coasting for as long as I was able with my right foot pushed up against the front fender so it wouldn't rub the tire raw. My commute was angry.

I. Hate. That "bike shop". So friggin much.

I am sorry to hear that your LBS sucks. :( That is so sad.

I had a tough day. 84 degree heat, super sunny and 20mph winds. I went 12 miles total in three different commutes. Painful.

I have expanded my route to 14 miles from the necessary 9.5. It looks like it will be realistic for me to commute 2-3 days a week. Today was a one way commute with both my bike and I catching a ride back to my car from a co-worker - due to winds in excess of 30 mph and threat of late afternoon thunder storms. At the end of my refreshing ride in this moring I got chased by a dog just after taking my lane for a left turn. I was able to out peddle the dog and it managed not to get plucked off by the garbage truck behind us and the oncoming traffic. I have been getting up at 4:40 so that I can get not only the commute in, but also some extra miles. I have been arriving at work 45 minutes before start time and am amazed at the energy I have. Sleeping like a rock at night too. I work on a Reservation with lots of forest and keep thinking that one of these mornings I am going to see a bear. Last spring one waddled across the road about 100 feet ahead of me.

Putting this ride under commuting, since for me, it's a utility ride. While I have two clients I can ride to, I've only ridden to one of them, a couple of times.
So, I decided to ride to the gym for my circuit training class, which starts at 5:30 AM. I generally get up very early at this time f the year, but I set the alarm for 4:20, in case.
OK, the gym is really only about 3.5- 4 miles from my house, but the route includes a traffic circle that is the most notorious in the state. While I probably could do it at 4:50 AM, I really don't feel like getting t-boned by some half awake motorist. I am entering and exiting the 2 "local road" streets, which no one pays attention to. So, my route to the gym by bike is 6.8 miles, through Concord center, and across the highway, into West Concord, where the gym is. It's a gorgeous morning, about 64 when I left. It was still a little dark, so I had my lights. When I got to the highway, I realized that my bike would not trigger the signal and there were no cars coming from my direction. So I actually rode across to the median (absolutely no cars, although there is a walk signal) and pressed the walk button on the median, which stopped the steady stream of cars heading into Boston. Wasted a couple of minutes there, but now I know I have to do this. Got to the gym about 5:20, which allowed me to change my shoes, etc. Brought my bike inside, since the rack on my bike made it impossible to fit in the bike rack. I had worn my new Terry Liberty shorts, which are long, tight on the top, baggy on the bottom shorts (kinda like a cross between road and mtb shorts), and my normal gym tank, with a LS jersey over it. The shorts are a little weird on me, possibly too big, but I think they will shrink in the laundry.
The class is getting progressively filled with more and more cardio intervals, so I took it a little easy (not too easy). I brought my bolero to wear over my gym top on the way home, which was perfect. And, I had a little taste of nasty commuting. The train was stopped in West Concord, and there was a long line of cars stopped. I was able to zip up to the front, in the parking lane, but after that the cars were being very aggressive; I got in the lane and they were still squeezing me right, so it kind of made me turn aggressive! I stuck my left arm out and shook it at the car behind me a couple of times, and I decided to turn left and cross the highway at a calmer intersection, since it was late enough for there to be cars to trigger the light. It was a good thing I didn't come this way, though, since there's no walk signal.
Saw my DH riding to work when I was about 2.5 miles from home. I will do this again, since it's a good option for utility cycling. I had a total of 15.5 miles.

I did something different today. Instead of loading my basket and wearing a throw bag on my back, I put everything into an actual backpack with wide straps. It was so much more comfortable for both me and the bike weight. The only negative was the weight of it on my back during the heat. I can't wait to get panniers. I hope they even out the clunkiness of my commuting. I want to get it to where I don't have to overload the basket (affecting the steering) or overload my back (makes me hot).

Edit: 8.20 miles on the way home! Would have made 10 but I ran out of water and it's too hot to press the issue.

Rode in today with a friend and co-worker who wants to get into bike commuting and wants to lose some weight. So, as I often do with newbie cyclists, I was really careful about signalling and calling out turns, obstacles, stopping at stop signs, not sprinting for lights, waiting at the top of hills, stuff like that. Last year she had done a multi-day tour with friends and this morning was telling how they frequently commented about the importance of calling out "slowing" and "stopping" when doing so - as a few times, they didn't, and the cyclist in the rear would run up the rear wheel of the biker in front, and of course, the last cyclist is the one that goes down.

So, we got to about our split point this evening on the ride home, and we're chit-chatting about my route to my house vs. her route to her place, going about 4 mph, when she says "Oh, this is the road I need to turn at." So, I say "Here?" and stop. And - D'oh! - I broke the cardinal rule -- I didn't tell her I was stopping (after two trips of non-stop hand signalling and calling out turns), and BAM! she ran right into my rear wheel and did a slow-speed topple to her right - onto the sidewalk, unable to clip out of her pedals. Bloody knee. I felt so badly! She'll live. She laughed about it, with blood trickling down her shin.

Hopefully, she'll join me again - but I'll be sure to remember to call out "Stopping!" :rolleyes:

I seem to be more nervous at the thought with riding with others around traffic than solo. This is kind of strange considering my lack of experience in traffic, but there you go. Tomorrow I plan to ride on a "regular" day, depending on how I feel in the morning. My usual commuting day is Friday, and I only work 4 hours on Friday so I've not yet had the full experience of riding home in the evening. I've not ridden to work for almost 2 weeks due to my work schedule so I need to get back out there before I get nervous about it again ;)

My recreational riding is still taking me places where I wouldn't have ridden even a month ago, so good things are coming about from commuting :cool: