How Was Your Commute Today?

[malkin]

Tested out a new route that goes the 'other way round' and avoids downtown and the University. It took 45 minutes; the hills are all rollers, not the crazy verticals going the old way.

[Atlas]

I bought (well committed to buy) a new winter commuter! Long story short my old winter bike came back to me with a bent fork and no rear wheel so I've been looking for a new one. A really nice used Cannondale Bad Boy came into the shop and my partner (who works there) told me I really needed to test ride it. Like I can test ride something and say no? We need to tweak some things, get some fenders, and some better tires and it's ready for some snow! Which we better get a lot of this year. Now I have to decide if I just want new tires or if I should spring for studded.

[Devold]

I was WET

The rain came pouring down from the sky on my commute this morning. But did I take the train or the bus, nooo It was a good commute, there were no people in the streets. I love silence in the morning on my way to work

[Melalvai]

Tomorrow I turn the rental in. I've enjoyed trying out a single speed. Single speed did not make my wish list of bicycles to own one day.

I've been using it the 3 or so blocks to get to the lab. It seems silly to bike such a short distance, but it really helps, in terms of conserving my energy in this heat so that I can focus on the lab work, since I'm only here for 2 weeks and I want to get as much done as possible. It was lovely to have the bike to make a couple trips to the grocery store. I also used it for a 20 mile round trip to visit a friend in the suburbs, and that was nice, at least the return trip when it was dark and not quite as hot was.

Yesterday I went to Tempe to meet a couple friends. The first 8 miles was ok then I got overheated. I stopped in a patch of shade--Phoenix just has NO shade-- and drank water, took off my helmet. When I put my helmet back on I thought I was going to throw up. I hated to do it but I biked the last 2 miles with no helmet. I took the train to go back! The station is a few blocks from my hotel so it was nice to have the bike for that. Phoenix makes me super nervous with crime and I'm really uncomfortable walking around here in the dark, but I don't mind biking. (That's a bit silly, but it's about risk perception not actual risk.)

My own bike back home is being used by my daughter while we wait for a new shifter. She called me and said "The back wheel makes a funny thump thump thump." When our mechanic (who makes house calls!) had come by to see what was up with her shifting, he had put my new rear wheel on. I figured the brakes needed adjusted. I texted him and he stopped by to check it out. It had a flat tire. She had never had a flat tire before and didn't know what it feels like!

I will remind her about the ABC Quick Check, which would have caught it. But I'm glad she now knows what it feels like when your tire goes flat.

Coincidentally, at the time her shifter went out, the car was (and still is) at the auto mechanic getting a new transmission & clutch. Her shifter is a heck of a lot cheaper than the car's.

[ShadyLady]

The president was in town yesterday and on my commute home in the evening I was stopped by the police to allow his motorcade to go through. Got to see Mr. President in his limo and he waved in my general direction!

Not my typical commute home for sure!

[malkin]

Fun stories everyone.

Love my new route. This afternoon the whole university area is a gigantic parking lot because of football. I ended up walking about half a block because of people doing stupid things with their cars amid throngs of pedestrians.

[Melalvai]

Not long ago we learned the car needed a new transmission. Cheaper than a new car if not as exciting, so into the shop it went. Our car is discontinued so they had to order a used transmission, which turned out to be junk. So we were car free while they ordered another. I was in Phoenix during this for 2 weeks on business. My husband & daughter got by ok. The grocery store is a half-mile walk and she bikes to school. Then the shifter on her bike broke. Our mechanic makes house calls...he ordered another shifter for her, and adjusted my bike for her. He also put the new wheel on my bike (I got it shortly before my trip and hadn't had time to put it on. The rim on the old wheel was worn through, after 10K miles!)

The next day she rode my bike, and complained about the "thump thump" sound the rear wheel made. I figured he needed adjust the brakes so we called him back. She had a flat tire! I guess I keep our bikes in such good repair she's never had a flat tire...clearly she didn't do her ABC Quick Check that day though. They found a patched tube I'd left in the shed, and put that on. That worked for a day. It was flat by the end of the day. (That is my experience with 100% of the tubes I have ever patched. This one was patched with supervision and I thought it might be different.)

Fortunately that was the same day the car was done. So we were back to 1 operational vehicle. I got home and put the other spare tube on my bike. She was driven to school; I biked to work Tuesday evening. Her shifter arrived yesterday and he put it on last night.

So now we are back to 3 operational vehicles, 2 bikes and a car.

Actually we have one other bike, my husband's that he doesn't use, which we can use in a pinch. I should probably get it out, air up the tires, take it for a spin, and do that once a month, so that it'll be ready when we need it, no surprises.

The bike repairs cost 2% of the car repair. The car repair cost 2% of a new car. The car repair also means I'm not getting a tandem which I had been hoping for. But overall I'm happy with the outcome because a car means we can visit our family and it really is more important than a tandem. Probably.

[Catrin]

You ladies are making me feel guilty - I stopped commuting when it got so gawd-awful hot this summer. Now the projected afternoon thunderstorms are keeping me in the car on the one day I like to ride on...hoping to get back to this on Fridays I don't go mountain biking after work.

Melalvai - how cool is it that your bike mechanic makes house calls Is there a chance you can still get the tandem for spring?

[Giulianna23]

Not commuting since Wednesday of last week . First because of the weather and then the days not raining I had things to do and had to take the car. Looking forward to start commuting next Monday if the weather makes it possible. Been tryig to compensate with some Mountain biking here and there after work.

[redrhodie]

Yesterday's commute was good. I took the long way in the morning, and rode hard at night. Had a guy pass me who said he was really trying hard to catch me, and that I inspired him to go faster. That was cool. I also passed and dropped a couple of other people. Not that big a deal, but kind of seems like the old me.

[carlotta]

I love fall commutes, and today felt like fall! :)

Cool, almost cold when I left home (jacket, short sleeves and shorts, but could've used a little knee covering and gloves) and crisp all the way to work....

I only had to yell at one driver (texting/playing with her phone and suddenly deciding that the right turn lane wasn't where she wanted to be, I was even with her driver's door and yelled something to the effect of 'put down the d*mn phone' which startled her. Not close, and I was in the lane, so nobody to my left, but still got me riled up). I wonder sometimes if my coworkers (several of whom think I'm a bit nuts for a) riding to work and b) riding in traffic) would even recognize me/my persona on the bike. I'm pretty calm at work but I definitely ride much more aggressively.

[redrhodie]

I really had to force myself to ride today. It was drizzling this morning, and I had readied the wrong bike for rain. I also had a few errands I needed to run before work. But I knew the wind was going to be from the south this afternoon, and that means tailwind, baby! I won't miss a tailwind for nothin'. I got the errands done in no time, didn't get too wet, and got my easy ride home after work. Glad I didn't give in to that moment of doubt.

[Serendipity]

Fall is just the BEST time of year for those commutes. Cool/refreshing in the morning and warming up quite nicely in the afternoon. Ummm-hmmm!

The ride in this morning reminds me that (for me) the commuting season is just about over. Temperature was right around 0 (Celsius) this morning. A couple of degrees colder is okay but not much more than that. Hope to stretch it out until mid to late October. Maybe someday I will be one of those who rides well into the winter but not yet! I am in awe of those of you who do that - through snow, sleet, ice and so on.

Been a fabulous year for commuting. Most weeks I was able to ride 2 or 3 times a week, round trip about 35k. Can hardly wait until spring.

[tzvia]

Finally starting to feel like fall. Last week, between having to drive downtown to get my GSA ID (required as I will have access to GSA IT in my job), and hot weather, 105f hot, and early morning 7am meetings, I drove all week. Yesterday, again another 7am meeting and over 100f too so took the truck again. Finally today, took my commuter to work yahoo! It was cool with a slight breeze, really nice this morning. I'm so used to riding in the dark now that I actually like it. It's fun to turn on all the lights; yea I went nuts with the lights and reflectors, I get a kick out of watching people on the bus pointing at me LOL. Makes me smile.

The ride home was quite a surprise. It was supposed to be 95f, but it was maybe 87f. Like the heat just petered out. We had an onshore flow and slight breeze, and even though I was riding into the wind, it was cool from the ocean, not hot from the interior so I did not mind. This was the first ride home in months where it was not over 95f. It was great until some bozo about a mile from home decided to not look up while using a leaf blower and blew the dirt all over me. That's twice now in front of that house. Anyway, it was the best commute I've had in months, and the best part is that the weather all this week and well into next week is going to be just like this. WOW. Can't wait to ride in the local mountains for a change this weekend!

[Melalvai]

Cold and windy and rainy right now, and it will freeze tomorrow night! It's fine with a jacket and light gloves. During the day I make several short trips between buildings. On one of these trips today it was raining lightly and as I was unlocking my bike, a woman said, "It's a bad day to ride a bike."

Until that moment I had been internally grumbling about the cold rain. But I go by contraries.

I replied, "Every day is a good day to bike."
She looked at me like I was crazy. "It's wet."
"I'm not made of sugar, I won't melt."
"You'll catch a cold."
I shook my head and rode away.