How Was Your Commute Today?

[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.

[7rider]

Yesterday, I ran a 5K with my Fitness Center. My first ever running event. From zero running to a 5K in 4 weeks. Okay, so I didn't actually RUN the whole way, but...shock of all shocks, I found out I placed 3rd in my age category! I won a stunning aluminum water bottle with a special sippy-cup top for proper hydration on the treadmill.
So today was "recovery" day. Easy spin. Stay out of the big chainring. Spin the junk out of my legs.
DH calls. "Can I meet you and ride home with you?"
Sure.
So he gets to my locker at 5. "I just saw Dave (a co-worker and mutual friend). He just got back from Qatar. Hasn't been on a bike in 3 weeks and was going into the park to do Mormon Hill (a big LDS church sits on a hill - and the road up it is known locally by cyclists as "Mormon Hill"....I don't think any cyclist knows the real name of the street!). Do you want to go try to catch him?"
Sure.
So off we go, into the park. Me drafting of him. We never caught him at the hill, but saw him coming back. Chatted on the side of the road for a good 20 minutes. Then we headed back home...the hill home seemed a whole lot bigger and slower on my commuter vs. my road bike, not surprisingly.
But...so much for my easy spin home. My legs hurt more now than they did this morning. I'm wondering how I'm going to do my morning ride with a friend that we planned. Ugh.

[Biciclista]

bike commuted wed and thur but today with rain and gale force winds I decided to leave my bike at home. I would have worried all day...

[HillSlugger]

Yesterday was a great day for biking in the DC area. For my ride in, traffic was especially light. The ride home was my first ride this year in shorts and a short sleeve jersey.