How Was Your Commute Today?

[azfiddle]

Thanks for the support and suggestions! I was hoping to ride Thursday as Friday is a day off, but it's going to be raining. I'm not that committed at this point. I might try for Weds if it's not too windy.

How much time do you regular commuters leave in case you have a flat??
Sharon

[ginny]

if I have a flat, I pick up my bike and go home or walk to work... I suppose if I was commuting farther, things would be different.

[HillSlugger]

Thanks for the support and suggestions! I was hoping to ride Thursday as Friday is a day off, but it's going to be raining. I'm not that committed at this point. I might try for Weds if it's not too windy.

How much time do you regular commuters leave in case you have a flat??
Sharon

I have what I need to repair a flat, but I don't plan in any extra time. I, however, have very flexible hours so it doesn't matter much.

[azfiddle]

I have everything to fix a flat.. though it might take me a good 10 minutes or more as I'm not very fast at it. I am supposed to be in my classroom by 7:30 but if I was 10 or 15 minutes late it would be okay...

Sharon

[lph]

Commuting today was lovely Took a look at my good bike (the purdy white one my dh got me for my 40th birthday) about a week ago and the disc brakes needed bleeding, they were all mushy. So I got a bleeder kit and figured out how to do that this weekend - spending 3 hours on the first wheel and 20 minutes on the second - and yay! today I got to ride in to work on summer tires for the first time!

Celebrated by taking the long way in, and going home I celebrated some more by riding up my hill repeat hill once as well. I had to pop by the gas station each way since the ride was longer than I'm used to, for a tired banana on the way in and smoothie on the way back, but I got home without feeling too wobbly.

(And I'm home alone because dh and son are off at the inlaws cabin, so I get to mess around all I like and eat what I want for dinner when I want. Tomorrow I plan on bringing my road bike indoors and working on it in the kitchen )

[Melalvai]

Really nice weather! I actually commuted three times today: two trips to campus, and one trip to the bank. My daughter joined me for the bank trip. I love it when she bikes with me. Her bike is my old bike, and therefore has one, and only one, toe clip, on the right. She forgot not to take her foot out, her shoe got stuck, and she fell over at the stop sign. Her leg is lightly scraped.

[katherine]

lph- how difficult/messy was it bleed your brakes? I've been thinking of trying to do mine, but the guys at my LBS, who obviously make money doing it for me, tell me I wouldn't want to try it at home.

I'm looking forward to my commute today, especially becasue Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to ride my son to preschool, and Thursday it's suppossed to snow! The humanity! So this is it for the two of us this week.

[Fredwina]

I got to the station and found that I had left the padlock for the equipment locker at home(Have a U - lock for the bike). got everything in my panniers for the train trip

[Atlas]

Since I got a job in town I've been commuting every day to work (3 days a week) as well as going downtown to see my partner at work on my day off. It's so wonderful to be back on my bike and to feel myself getting stronger each day. No longer completely winded when I get to work, and I've started sprinting the last stretch of road before our house. I have so much fun I might add longer routes (which is possible because I don't go to work until the afternoon).

[pfunk12]

I really enjoyed my commute this morning. There was a slight chill in the air and it was very, very windy. It was trying to rain but it never amounted to anything other than a sprinkle here and there. But the rain drops that pelted me in the face because of the strong winds? Ouch. Got to the Tidal Basin around 6:50. The Cherry Blossoms were gorgeous. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home but I will pack it tonight so I can take some photos tomorrow. So nice when the tourists aren't there.

[lph]

lph- how difficult/messy was it bleed your brakes? I've been thinking of trying to do mine, but the guys at my LBS, who obviously make money doing it for me, tell me I wouldn't want to try it at home.

That is BS. Excuse me, but it is

It could get messy, but doesn't have to be. I set up my whole work stand in the kitchen on top of a wax cloth covered with newspapers (I had to do a lot of other stuff as well), and I had several rags handy to catch spills. You don't want to get brake fluid on your bike because it strips paint (not that anyone would notice on my bikes) but it comes out in dribbles and droplets, not gushes. I wrapped a small rag around the bleed screw at the brake lever which was handy for picking up small spills.

The instructions with the bleed set were a little confusing, but I found a useful video on youtube showing my brakes (Hayes Stoker). Yours may be bled another way, but basically all I did was attach a bottle full of brake fluid to the bleed screw at the caliper (if this falls off it does get messy) and a spill bottle by a hose from the bleed screw at the lever (ditto if this one falls off). Then I just squeezed and released until all the bubbles were out and the system was full of clear fluid.

(My mistake on the first wheel was being overzealous about rotating the caliper to let all the trapped bubbles escape. I rotated it above the hose several times, letting all the air in the hose into the caliper... )

[katherine]

Thanks lph! I am headed straight to youtube to search for my brakes, I will be careful about the screws. If mine bleed like yours it really doesn't sound bad at all. Totally something that could be done in the garage. Damn do I hate the boys at all of our local shops some days, I always seem to wonder do they do this becasue I'm a customer, or because I'm a female customer. GRRRRRR. But again, Thank you!

[lph]

Have fun The more stuff I do on my bike, the more I realize that time and patience are more important than knowing how to do it beforehand. Which the mechanics at my lbs do not have a lot of in peak season. Not that they don't do their stuff well, it's just that they are much more likely to just swap out a part, or just make a decision without asking me, where I would sit and doodle and figure it out and tailor the final result to my bike, and then re-adust a few days later if it didn't work out. To fix a bike well I feel it really helps to be the one riding it! With apologies to all of you excellent mechanics out there.