How Was Your Commute Today?

[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.

[7rider]

I was late this morning, as I spent WAY too much time, running around the house, looking for my cell phone. It wasn't in any of its usual hiding spots and I had shut it off, so I couldn't track it down by the ringing.
Finally, I checked my jersey's back pocket - yes, the jersey that I was wearing, and honestly, for the third time - and there it was! In the same pocket as my Garmin.
I swear. I have absolutely NO recollection of putting it in there - that morning or even last night when I lay out my clothes.

[WindingRoad]

I got soaked today coming home from the grocery. Fortunately my paniers have rain covers built into them which has saved my butt on countless occasions. I did get home before the hail hit so I felt fortunate. It's always an eerie feeling when you hear the tornado sirens go off and you are still 4 miles from home

[Melalvai]

It's always an eerie feeling when you hear the tornado sirens go off and you are still 4 miles from home

Yikes! That sounds exciting.

I was so thrilled today because I didn't need my jacket even on my early morning ride to visit the rats. Although it would be nice if there was an "in between" stage. It was so humid that although it wasn't super hot yet, I was feeling kind of weird by the time I got back home, and shivered a lot after that. I'd say heat exhaustion but that's ridiculous, it wasn't even 80F.

[Biciclista]

not sleeping well lately.. dragged myself out of bed and onto the bike this morning. It felt pretty good.
strong steady wind for part of the ride, but it's short so I don't mind it.

[WindingRoad]

Biciclista - I feel your pain with not sleeping lately, ugh.

I decided against the commute today, the 40 mph wind gusts explained to me that it wasn't worth it while carrying my new Mac.

[redrhodie]

Fab* commute today! I had tail winds in both directions--lucky me! First ride of the year in shorts!

*did anyone see the tour of Flanders this weekend?

[Jenerator]

Wicked cross winds both ways, but commute seemed faster, having swapped out the snow tires for slicks. Supposed to snow again tonight! May have changed tires a bit too soon

[Melalvai]

Supposed to snow again tonight!

Wow! I'm glad we're not getting any of that.
I tried to go vote, but they weren't at the usual place. I tried the alternate location they used a couple years ago, no luck there either. I went home, re-checked my sample ballot & voter id, nothing listed there. Called the elections official, and found out where to go. Headed back out to vote, and stopped by campus to visit my pregnant rats. Then back home.

Later I had a dentist appointment, and back to campus to meet with students. I ended up biking 25 miles total. The wind was awesome--when I was riding north or east! It was horrible going south and west.

[indigoiis]

Nice commute today - all the way in (taking bus home to truck which I left parked last night at the park and ride - hope it's still there!) RI is slowly recovering from floods and flood damage. My route (South County to Providence) was interrupted only by a spot on New London Turnpike in West Warwick where they were pumping out a side street onto NLT to go over into the retaining pond on the other side of the road. So we had to dismount and walk our bikes through the rushing water. Other than that it was swell!