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2019! The “How was your commute?” thread!

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2019! The “How was your commute?” thread!

Old 08-12-19, 10:59 AM
  #1376  
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Yesterday I, my wife, and my 5yo fell ill with a stomach bug. Today is supposed to be his first day of kindergarten. I didn't feel up to riding yet and my wife needs to decide in the next half hour if he's going to school or not. I was going to pick him up this afternoon on the tandem bike for the 1/2 mile ride home... I guess it all depends.
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Old 08-13-19, 07:19 AM
  #1377  
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Back on the bike after a week plus (off work and airport trips for kids). Hot this morning at 76F and 72 dew point. One of my more sweaty rides this summer, but good to get the miles in again.

I got into a bit of poison ivy or something last Friday morning pulling some weeds. No symptoms hit until Sunday morning. Now I have red splotches and such in various places on my body, arms and legs. I feel mostly fine, just a bit of itching.
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Old 08-13-19, 01:17 PM
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I saw a trash bag that I've been seeing for a week and looped back to pick it up and take it to a can in a nearby park. I can tell why no one has touched it... it had a "PLEASE" cardboard sign next to it. As if to mock me for looping back, though, there was also a Sterilite bin with a tarp cached under the boughs of the next pine, and further on I found a few kids books and magazines along with a filthy torn tote bag. Had a way to carry neither.
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Old 08-14-19, 07:38 AM
  #1379  
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I stayed at work a little longer last night watching a storm cell pass on the radar. After it appeared to have passed, I headed home. Halfway there, it started raining. Nothing heavy, but I did hear a couple of thunder rumbles.

Decent ride in this morning. Saw a couple of other riders out too.
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Old 08-14-19, 11:22 AM
  #1380  
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I've really fallen off the wagon here recently, but finally rode again today. Nice and sunny for a change, nary a cloud in the sky. Chilly though; the thermometer on my house read 9C/48F, so I put on long sleeves, but couldn't find my gloves.

There was a decent-sized tree fallen over 2/3 of a wide trail through a ravine. I assume it was the work of industrious beavers, but I didn't take a closer look. All I know is that the tree looked too big for my skinny cyclist arms to move myself.
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Old 08-14-19, 08:02 PM
  #1381  
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First day back from vacation, aargh, dept. scheduled an all-staff meeting FIRST THING; mild AM scramble. Actually hit the road a few minutes EARLY, didn't even get to the end of my block, when... dude on the side of the road, generic new-ish commuter (Trek? Spec? Giant? whatevah) flipped over, tugging at his chain. Fah, this'll probably make me late... "Need anything?"

Chain was stuck between two of the chainrings. Whipped out my Leatherman, grabbed it with the pliers, tug here, tug there, dude was on his way, and I JUST made the meeting on time, albeit looking a bit conspicuous still carrying my big-@$$ pink helmet and hi-viz vest.

Commute home was a slog through "hippie Christmas" - moving day in Madison, the day MOST leases expire. Crap piled on the terraces, moving trucks all over, area n00bs all confounded by the one-way streets, etc. Dragged home the hulk of a '90s Hard Rock Sport; it's on the fence between a parts donor and a fixer-upper.
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Old 08-15-19, 05:43 AM
  #1382  
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Rode on Monday and then again today. Schools back in session but I leave early enough that I didn't run into any issues going by the school. Had a full moon out when starting but that went behind the horizon pretty quickly but it was nice while it lasted. The one thing I'm running into that I hadn't before is all the bugs in the morning. There are two spots I go by near some water and now that its darker in the morning when I go by I keep running into hundreds of little flying insects. I wear glasses and keep my mouth closed so no big deal but this morning a few made it through the openings in my helmet and I could feel them in my hair. Didn't really like that feeling so quick stop to take off the helmet and shake out the bugs then when I got to work I spent a little extra time rinsing out my hair in the shower. Not that I have a lot anymore but still, bugs in the hair are just a little creepy for me.
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Old 08-15-19, 07:34 AM
  #1383  
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^^^^^ Gnats, probably. If it's not too hot/restrictive, try a bandana under your helmet.
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Old 08-15-19, 09:16 AM
  #1384  
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Seen the moon while walking my dogs early but it was gone before I headed out. Cool enough for a long sleeve and gloves. Strips of fog in some low areas along the hay fields. Only spotted two deer along the gravel section. Had some rain since my last commute in which has helped settle the freshly graded gravel some. Traffic was fairly light too. Focused more on spinning over power. Was a nice commute overall.
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Old 08-15-19, 11:31 AM
  #1385  
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rode home after a nice sized storm moved through the area Tuesday pm. It was dry all the way home and only 73F which was nice because before the storm it was 96F+

rode in this morning but might not get to ride tomorrow... picking up our CR-V that was fixed and painted and now repainted to hopefully match the rest of the car. fingers crossed. School starts next week not looking forward to that change.
@Wolfhaven what kind of temps are you talking about?
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Old 08-15-19, 12:56 PM
  #1386  
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This morning it was 54. So not too bad. Probably be dropping into high 40's for lows next week. Afternoon rides home have been in the 70's lately. Perfect temp for me.
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Old 08-16-19, 05:42 AM
  #1387  
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Perfect and in the upper 60's. Storm just blew in so no wind! Got my new turn signal/rear light combo put on last night. The turn signals worked better than I expected. Leaving the old tail light on still it completely dies.. you can probably see me for miles lol
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Old 08-16-19, 08:53 AM
  #1388  
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Originally Posted by esmith2039
Perfect and in the upper 60's. Storm just blew in so no wind! Got my new turn signal/rear light combo put on last night. The turn signals worked better than I expected. Leaving the old tail light on still it completely dies.. you can probably see me for miles lol
My goal is that satellites see me from space! Which light did you get with turn signals? Today was coolest day of the season - 63F. It's nice and I'm trying not to jump to thoughts of 20's and 30's
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Old 08-16-19, 10:26 AM
  #1389  
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This summer I've been able to ride my bike more and more days, for July it was pretty much every day. But now we have a new wrinkle. Thursday and my every other working Friday, my wife wants me to pick up kiddo at kindergarten because the 2.5yo's are (nominally) asleep. I guess she is going to work something out with the nanny MTW, which are her work days.

That is a 30-40 minute round trip in the truck and it's about all the extra time in the day that I would have spent on the bike. I don't think this will persist but it's the plan as of this week. :/ This week the temps are over 100 so I'm not that sad to skip the afternoon leg, but I'm sure it's going to chafe here pretty soon.
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Old 08-16-19, 04:39 PM
  #1390  
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Originally Posted by arsprod
My goal is that satellites see me from space! Which light did you get with turn signals? Today was coolest day of the season - 63F. It's nice and I'm trying not to jump to thoughts of 20's and 30's
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The only problem is it's wider than my seat and does rub on my legs. Usually only when stopped though.
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Old 08-18-19, 05:43 PM
  #1391  
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I feel like sometimes I complain a bit much about my family here and how they take me away from doing what I want. It's not all bad
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Old 08-19-19, 05:47 AM
  #1392  
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Darth Lefty, nice family pic, love that you are all biking.

It was a pleasant uneventful commute in this am. There is quite a bit of humidity this am. The weather people say most of this week will be humid. I can not feed into what they say. It makes me not want to do anything.
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Old 08-19-19, 07:03 AM
  #1393  
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Back to the Monday. I only rode 2 days last week for various family reasons. While I missed riding, it was kind of nice not having to ride in the 90+ degrees and full sun on the way home.

But I rode today and it was a good morning ride. The sun didn't get above the trees until about 2/3 of the way to work.
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Old 08-19-19, 07:22 AM
  #1394  
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Wet from overnight thunderstorms. We really need the rain - leaves are already starting to fall because it's so dry. At a road crossing an older guy stopped and waved me across. I motioned for him to go because his lane had a green light at the intersection a few yards ahead. He was insistent - I wasn't moving. He finally went and I could see him screaming at me in his car. One of these days I'm actually going to chase down one of these folks and explain to them that they're "kindness" can get me killed.
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Old 08-19-19, 11:32 PM
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This morning I picked up some trash on the trail that had been there over the weekend. It looked like a homeless had maybe traded up their tote bag for a backpack. Some kid's Yosemite homework, and a book about redwoods. No last name or school name. Feel sorry for the kid, some effort had gone into it.

I grabbed the handlebar of my bike to head home and psssssshhh. Yeah, after all our discussions about tubeless, I let the sealant dry out. The hole wasn't big enough for a plug that might not hold without sealant anyhow, and I really, really didn't want to wrestle in the tube, the beads on these tires are a pain. So I glued a patch on the outside and reinforced/covered it with a cuff strap that I had in my bag. Just to add insult to injury the Presta adapter was missing from my pump and I had to go around to see if any of my fellow bike commuters were still around and had a pump. Fortunately yes... This arrangement got me home, though I could feel it squirming near the end. The cuff strap survived the 3.7 miles and is merely dirty. After putting the kids to bed I put some sealant in and also tried to figure out why the chain is skipping in 7th. I let out two clicks on the adjuster.

The time I spent patching and finding a pump was the time I intended to dispose of the kiddie bike, so that will have to wait for tomorrow again. I don't know why I'm feeling this bug to clean up the trail.
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Old 08-20-19, 04:48 AM
  #1396  
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A very pleasant yet uneventful ride in this am with a little less humidity than yesterday.

I left work 10 minutes early cause the radar showed bad thunderstorms in in the local area showing up in 30-40 minutes so I was trying to out run them. The rain never materialized. I was hearing thunder when I left work, but I lucked out.
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Old 08-20-19, 07:20 AM
  #1397  
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It rained pretty good from about 3:30 to 5pm yesterday afternoon. It was still raining, but ending when I left work. I rained lightly / sprinkled on me for about the first 2 miles, then stopped. After mile 6 even the streets looked like it had not rained at all. The best part of this was that the temperature went from 93F to 72F during that. It was humid, but a pleasant ride home.

This morning I encountered a treeffic jam on the MUP. I was able to pick my way through, but it made me a little late for work. Mainly because I pulled out the phone to take pictures.



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Old 08-20-19, 07:43 AM
  #1398  
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Consecutive bicycle commute number 792:

Had a 21 mile route planned for today so I wanted to take the road bike. Forecast was for sunny skies and no rain. When I opened the garage door and wheeled the bike out I looked down and saw wet pavement. It was really warm and humid, and was drizzling. I checked the radar and it looked clear, so I took off down the road hoping the moisture would quickly pass.

About a 1/2 mile from home the drizzle seemed to be getting a little heavier. I was debating on whether or not to go back home and get the hybrid with fenders. I then remembered how much work I'd recently done on my road bike to get the bottom bracket fixed (BB30 - ugh) and that I really didn't want to get any moisture in the bearing if I could avoid it.

So I turned around and rode back home, transferred my clothes from the backpack to the waterproof panniers and then took the hybrid. The rain never really got heavier, but it drizzled constantly the whole way to work. Between that and the temp/humidity I arrived quite drenched. It turns out I probably made the right decision to switch bikes.

Yesterday I took a newly opened spur of the MUP that had been under reconstruction since early spring. It was very nice, especially when compared with how bad the old trail had gotten. The old trail was so bumpy and pot-holed that I pretty much avoided it even when it would have been more convenient. The repaved spur was smooth as silk. Until this morning when it was discovered that it was closed again because they tore up a chunk of it with a backhoe. Not sure why they had to do that.

Last night we had our monthly bicycle committee meeting. This is the second one I've attended since I was asked to join this advisory board for the city council. We gave our input on some future MUP expansion plans, along with offering ideas on improving cyclist/pedestrian access to some new schools that are being built. We also adopted a vision statement for cycling in our city: "Be the best city in the Midwest for bicyclists and pedestrians." I'm usually more of a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy and don't put a lot of weight on vision statements, but I actually thought that one was pretty good.
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Old 08-20-19, 11:09 AM
  #1399  
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Originally Posted by Tundra_Man
The repaved spur was smooth as silk. Until this morning when it was discovered that it was closed again because they tore up a chunk of it with a backhoe. Not sure why they had to do that.
Sounds like the public construction philosophy in my city. Why do things right the first time, when you can do it wrong and then fix it?

We're in for a couple more days of summer...I think that makes about 4 or 5 this year so far. Seriously, there are puddles on the paved trails that have been there since June. I'm hoping the next 36 hours are precipitation-free, and then maybe I'll be able to take my alternate route home on a dirt trail (currently mud).

When I have been riding over the past few weeks (which is not much), I've been riding one of my multi-geared bikes instead of my fixed gear. I seem to have forgotten what to do with the gears though. Rode the whole way into work today in one gear, which was a bit high riding into the breeze. I'm sure my cadence was down in the 60's. Yes, there is a simple solution to the problem.
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Old 08-20-19, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by groovestew
Sounds like the public construction philosophy in my city. Why do things right the first time, when you can do it wrong and then fix it?
My grandmother used to have a sign hanging in her kitchen that said, "Why is there never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over?"
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