Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Commuting
Reload this Page >

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

Notices
Commuting Bicycle commuting is easier than you think, before you know it, you'll be hooked. Learn the tips, hints, equipment, safety requirements for safely riding your bike to work.

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

Old 02-21-19, 12:00 PM
  #426  
OhLylo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: North of LA, CA
Posts: 119

Bikes: FX3 Frankenbike, Emonda SL5

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 48 Post(s)
Liked 6 Times in 6 Posts
35 and pleasant. My fenders did work keeping me dry in some puddles this morning. It started to snow ever so slightly when I got to work, but it's not gonna be an issue. Also, my Cycliq died despite being at full charge when I left. Weird. I need to troubleshoot that tonight.
OhLylo is offline  
Old 02-21-19, 12:05 PM
  #427  
Steely Dan
born again cyclist
 
Steely Dan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Chicago
Posts: 2,402

Bikes: I have five of brikes

Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 201 Post(s)
Liked 78 Times in 31 Posts
we got a hard freeze last night (down into the teens) and all of the gloppy/slushy/sleety/snowy mess on the path last night was a complete ice festival this morning.

i got to have a little schadenfreude moment. as i was chugging along on my studded-tire winter beast, another commuter on a lean and mean road bike with what looked like 18s on his wheels passed me up.

about 50 yards past me he encountered an especially bad section of rutted ice and went down. i rolled confidently up to him to ask if he was ok. he was already up and checking out his bike and said everything looked good, so i rolled on.

studded tires are slow. but they work.,
Steely Dan is offline  
Old 02-21-19, 12:10 PM
  #428  
rhm
multimodal commuter
 
rhm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NJ, NYC, LI
Posts: 19,852

Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...

Mentioned: 584 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1907 Post(s)
Liked 572 Times in 338 Posts
A bunch of snow fell on us yesterday. I could have made it to work, but getting home would have been trouble, so I stayed home.

By this morning it had turned pretty much to slush. No black ice or anything, but there were puddles.
__________________
www.rhmsaddles.com.
rhm is offline  
Old 02-21-19, 12:13 PM
  #429  
OhLylo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: North of LA, CA
Posts: 119

Bikes: FX3 Frankenbike, Emonda SL5

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 48 Post(s)
Liked 6 Times in 6 Posts
Originally Posted by liampboyle
It's getting to the sun directly in my eyes in the morning due to heading directly east time of year again.
Relatable. I got sick of swapping my clear lenses for my sunglass lenses so I've just been rolling with clear, but I came in later today and was moderately annoyed by sun in my face. Bleh.
OhLylo is offline  
Old 02-21-19, 06:33 PM
  #430  
liampboyle
Senior Member
 
liampboyle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Louisville, Ky US
Posts: 185

Bikes: 2007 Kona Caldera

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 42 Post(s)
Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by OhLylo
Relatable. I got sick of swapping my clear lenses for my sunglass lenses so I've just been rolling with clear, but I came in later today and was moderately annoyed by sun in my face. Bleh.
I wear prescription eyeballs and I have the transitions lenses so it's not so bad once they adapt.

Evening Commute 44°F, calm winds, clear - didn't bother with the gloves or changing into my cycling gear, just rode home in the office clothes. Stopped at my LBS and picked up one of those park tool cyclone chain cleaner things since I'm way over due to clean and relube my chain. I replaced the chain during the fall tune-up but winter weather and the city salting the roads for every little weather incident has taken its toll. I'm already seeing rust, so I'll need to attend to that this weekend.
liampboyle is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 08:37 AM
  #431  
RidingMatthew
Let's Ride!
 
RidingMatthew's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Triad, NC USA
Posts: 2,569

Bikes: --2010 Jamis 650b1-- 2016 Cervelo R2-- 2018 Salsa Journeyman 650B

Mentioned: 22 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 327 Post(s)
Liked 37 Times in 24 Posts
Massive amounts of rain again today. This week has been terrible. The sun came out yesterday and I was debating riding today but good thing I did not. It poured and traffic was a mess. I would have been soaked plus visibility was poor. I have enjoyed my rental Jeep. the rain has washed it off for me too. a ford f 150 ran over the front of my car in a parking lot.



after a good weekend camping


Reason for the rental


Well when you have a Jeep you have to drive it in the woods!
RidingMatthew is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 08:50 AM
  #432  
arsprod 
Senior Member
 
arsprod's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Indianapolis
Posts: 2,043

Bikes: Fairdale Weekender Drop, Motobecane 29LTD, Cannondale H400, Basso Coral

Mentioned: 25 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 183 Post(s)
Liked 17 Times in 14 Posts
Originally Posted by Steely Dan
i got to have a little schadenfreude moment. as i was chugging along on my studded-tire winter beast, another commuter on a lean and mean road bike with what looked like 18s on his wheels passed me up.

about 50 yards past me he encountered an especially bad section of rutted ice and went down. i rolled confidently up to him to ask if he was ok. he was already up and checking out his bike and said everything looked good, so i rolled on.

studded tires are slow. but they work.,
Heehee! Pleasantly boring 28F, roads and trails finally clear, and it's getting lighter, sooner. C'mon spring
__________________
I'm slow, go around
arsprod is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 10:39 AM
  #433  
HardyWeinberg
GATC
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: south Puget Sound
Posts: 8,728
Mentioned: 29 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 464 Post(s)
Liked 49 Times in 27 Posts
34F, wintry mix
HardyWeinberg is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 12:09 PM
  #434  
mgw4jc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)
Posts: 2,306

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Mentioned: 43 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 255 Post(s)
Liked 22 Times in 18 Posts
Got to ride home last night between rainy days. Raining again this morning, plus I had to make a run to the airport at lunch. I brought by bike in hopes to ride home this afternoon.

The airport run was to pick up my sister-in-law who is staying for a few days. I picked her up and drove her back as far as my office and then she took the car from there, leaving me with my bike. Depending on how bad the rain is I'll either bike home or someone will rescue me at 5pm.

I was approaching and hoping to hit 500 miles for February, despite the shorter month. That is not likely to happen after missing so much this week. I hear next week will be much drier.
mgw4jc is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 07:13 PM
  #435  
liampboyle
Senior Member
 
liampboyle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Louisville, Ky US
Posts: 185

Bikes: 2007 Kona Caldera

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 42 Post(s)
Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts
Morning Commute: 38°F, 9 mph wind, cloudy

Evening Commute: 45°F, 6 mph wind, cloudy

Hit the grocery store on the way home and picked up the next three nights dinners. I'm thinking I need to replace my panniers. I have these: Bushwhacker Omaha - Bicycle Grocery Pannier but after a year they're starting to wear out and not holding onto the rack very well when loaded. I need something that can hold up to regularly carrying a week's worth if groceries for a family of four and I don't have anywhere to store a cargo trailer. Recommendations appreciated.
liampboyle is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 08:14 PM
  #436  
HardyWeinberg
GATC
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: south Puget Sound
Posts: 8,728
Mentioned: 29 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 464 Post(s)
Liked 49 Times in 27 Posts
Rode home in pelting sleet. Had a 2 hour meeting staring out the window at beautiful flakes falling from the sky, w/ deer frolicing in the woods. Then when it was time to leave, sleet the whole way.
HardyWeinberg is offline  
Old 02-22-19, 09:13 PM
  #437  
Darth Lefty 
Disco Infiltrator
 
Darth Lefty's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Folsom CA
Posts: 13,775

Bikes: Stormchaser, Paramount, Tilt, Samba tandem

Mentioned: 72 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3124 Post(s)
Liked 2,101 Times in 1,366 Posts
Day off - last day off before my short term disability, technically. Rode the tandem with the 4yo to lunch and back. Then washed the commuter bike and put it and the tandem in the back of the garage. The Chariot too, wife doesn't use it. I suppose that's it for a few months and that's it for those bikes specifically at least until autumn. You guys in the frozen North can laugh at me for putting my bikes away now that spring is here.

In the afternoon a fellow dad was letting his kids run amok on their sidewalk bikes and mine joined them. The 5yos were much impressed with my 4yo's 16er and no training wheels, and their dad used the chance to get the two oldest to try without them. Success! And my kid is an influencer!
__________________
Genesis 49:16-17
Darth Lefty is offline  
Old 02-23-19, 10:28 AM
  #438  
noglider 
aka Tom Reingold
 
noglider's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Posts: 40,639

Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem

Mentioned: 507 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7251 Post(s)
Liked 2,322 Times in 1,357 Posts
Wednesday night, I went to a monthly sight-singing party some friends have. It was in the middle of a horrific ice storm coming down. We had just had about two inches of snow. On the snow was an inch layer of slush, and the ice was forming on top of that. I hadn't ridden enough lately, and I decided it was time for an adventure. I bundled up and took a risk that I would be overdressed. I wore my ski helmet which is extra warm and my extra warm lobster claw gloves. I grabbed a Citi Bike bike. These bikes weigh 50 pounds and put the rider in an upright position, which improves traction. The tires are wide. The bikes have drum brakes, impervious to weather.

The river path was pretty empty because the conditions were so awful. My glasses were covered in rain, though my rear view mirror on my glasses was somehow unaffected. The texture of the surface covering changed often, so it required frequent adjustment to my pedaling technique. The bike slid and fishtailed quite a bit. Anticipating a fall, I imagined myself wiping out and landing on my hip and shoulder, just in case it started to happen. As luck had it, I never did fall. Rain kept falling and forming ice on everything, including the bike, my gloves, my jacket, and my glasses. But since I was overdressed, I was quite warm, and the ice didn't bother me. My average speed for the 6 mile ride was only 7 mph, but I was working pretty hard.

There were a couple of steep climbs, and the rear wheel spun out, so as the bike started to fall to the side, I jumped off and pushed it up the hill.

I got to the party, and the folks who had made it there said that even just walking on the street was treacherous. They had to walk very slowly. The folks who normally come to the party from New Jersey wisely decided not to make the trip.

That was enough adventure for the night for me, and I walked with a couple of the folks from the party to the subway. The surface was so slippery that at some points, we didn't pick our feet up while walking; instead we slid our feet along the ground.






​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​
__________________
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author

Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
noglider is offline  
Old 02-24-19, 06:50 PM
  #439  
Ky_Rider
Senior Member
 
Ky_Rider's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 185

Bikes: Trek Verve Ebike and Surly Wednesday

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
Day off - last day off before my short term disability, technically. Rode the tandem with the 4yo to lunch and back. Then washed the commuter bike and put it and the tandem in the back of the garage. The Chariot too, wife doesn't use it. I suppose that's it for a few months and that's it for those bikes specifically at least until autumn. You guys in the frozen North can laugh at me for putting my bikes away now that spring is here.

In the afternoon a fellow dad was letting his kids run amok on their sidewalk bikes and mine joined them. The 5yos were much impressed with my 4yo's 16er and no training wheels, and their dad used the chance to get the two oldest to try without them. Success! And my kid is an influencer!
Hope all goes well and you’re pedaling again soon.
Ky_Rider is offline  
Old 02-25-19, 07:40 AM
  #440  
mgw4jc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)
Posts: 2,306

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Mentioned: 43 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 255 Post(s)
Liked 22 Times in 18 Posts
Sunshine! We haven't seen clear skies for about 10 days I think. I left home at about 6:10am and was surprised to see dawn breaking that early. All the cloudy mornings have kept it dark until after 7am. The temp said 30F when I woke up, but it felt warmer than that except for the short downhill where the wind was pretty cold.

I went to the gym for a bit before work. Then saw a friend arriving at his office and stopped to say hello. It was quite nice out and I could have kept riding all morning.
mgw4jc is offline  
Old 02-25-19, 09:52 AM
  #441  
pdlamb
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: northern Deep South
Posts: 8,826

Bikes: Fuji Touring, Novara Randonee

Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2568 Post(s)
Liked 1,889 Times in 1,185 Posts
Like mgw4jc said, Sunshine! I got a new pair of prescription cycling sunglasses a week ago Friday, and on the days when I could ride, it was too dark for them -- until yesterday! Unsolicited plug: very nice job by SportRx.

No flooding on my route, although there's a couple roads within a few miles that are closed. Even though most of the creeks are down substantially from Friday night and Saturday morning, there's more than a few wet spots on the road; the ditches are still full, so water coming down to the road flows out of the storm drains to the ditches and into the road. Chilly compared to last week, and there's still a north wind blowing from the front that blew through Friday night, but that was a tailwind this morning.

And a couple pairs of bluebirds made it north to the field across from my office this morning!
pdlamb is offline  
Old 02-25-19, 11:12 AM
  #442  
HardyWeinberg
GATC
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: south Puget Sound
Posts: 8,728
Mentioned: 29 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 464 Post(s)
Liked 49 Times in 27 Posts
31F sunny
HardyWeinberg is offline  
Old 02-25-19, 03:23 PM
  #443  
timvan_78
Senior Member
 
timvan_78's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 498

Bikes: Trek Fuel EX8, Caad10, Marin BearValley, WTP BMX, Norco Tandem

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 25 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I'm stupidly going to go out an a limb here and say we're done with snow for the season. It was just below freezing this AM, but sunny, which was nice. My bike could use some spring cleaning, which always reminds me of this Calvin and Hobbes comic:
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/04/10
timvan_78 is offline  
Old 02-25-19, 06:36 PM
  #444  
liampboyle
Senior Member
 
liampboyle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Louisville, Ky US
Posts: 185

Bikes: 2007 Kona Caldera

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 42 Post(s)
Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts
Morning Commute 27°F, 9 mph wind, sunny.

Evening Commute 41°F, 2 mph wind, clear

nothing really notable, although I did manage to clean and relube the chain yesterday so it did make my ride easier, much less annoying squeaks.
liampboyle is offline  
Old 02-25-19, 06:37 PM
  #445  
RidingMatthew
Let's Ride!
 
RidingMatthew's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Triad, NC USA
Posts: 2,569

Bikes: --2010 Jamis 650b1-- 2016 Cervelo R2-- 2018 Salsa Journeyman 650B

Mentioned: 22 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 327 Post(s)
Liked 37 Times in 24 Posts
Originally Posted by mgw4jc
Sunshine! We haven't seen clear skies for about 10 days I think. I left home at about 6:10am and was surprised to see dawn breaking that early. All the cloudy mornings have kept it dark until after 7am. The temp said 30F when I woke up, but it felt warmer than that except for the short downhill where the wind was pretty cold. I went to the gym for a bit before work. Then saw a friend arriving at his office and stopped to say hello. It was quite nice out and I could have kept riding all morning.
I feel the same way. I saw that we got 4.5" of rain last week. It was so pleasant riding in the sunshine to and from work today. I left a little later than I wanted but stayed a touch later so it worked out okay. Traffic home people seemed intense for some reason but I survived the winds...

had a coworker ask me why I rode when I have a rental car..
RidingMatthew is offline  
Old 02-26-19, 09:12 AM
  #446  
Tundra_Man 
The Fat Guy In The Back
 
Tundra_Man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Posts: 2,524

Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk

Mentioned: 89 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 319 Post(s)
Liked 161 Times in 108 Posts
Today was my first ride to work in a week (my first time going to work in a week, for that matter) because I wound up in the hospital for six days due to a heart infection. I'm out and feeling better than I was prior to going in. I'm going to be on IV antibiotics for 4-6 weeks. My cardiologist has informed me that I've taken my original defective heart valve as far as it's going to go, so they will schedule the replacement once the infection is resolved.

When they were releasing me from the hospital and I was talking to the Dr. about my timeline to go back to work, I explained to him how I'm a full-time bicycle commuter and asked if I could resume riding to work at the same time. He was emphatic that I should continue to keep doing what I've been doing, as outside of the infection and the valve he says my heart was in better shape than any other cardiac patient he has. He said the best thing I can do for my heart is to keep riding. So, this morning as I was planning on going back to work I just made my usual plans to ride.

Turns out it was a challenging morning waiting for me. -3F with a 15 mph wind making for a -18F wind chill. The worst part, though, was that the MUP hadn't been plowed from the snows over the weekend. Had I known this I would have taken a different route to work, but by the time I discovered it I was pretty much committed to this route. I originally was supposed to go to our office 8 miles from home, but I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. I didn't have it in me physically, and I was moving so slow through the unplowed snow that I would have been pathetically late. So I made the decision to rearrange my work day and head to a client's office instead that was about 4.5 miles from home.

The temps had made the snow rock hard, so there was no plowing through it. I wound up carrying my 50 lbs bike for at least 1/4 of the way to the clients office. It took almost an hour to get there, and my heart rate was pegged the entire time. I'm wearing a heart monitor so I had to write an entry in the diary explaining the reason for my abnormally high pulse during this time. It really wasn't much fun this morning. Hopefully they get the MUP plowed for the ride home. If not, I'm going to backtrack and ride the streets home even though it is a much longer route and has a ton more hills.

__________________
Visit me at the Tundra Man Workshop
Tundra_Man is offline  
Old 02-26-19, 09:19 AM
  #447  
acidfast7
Banned
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: England / CPH
Posts: 8,543

Bikes: 2010 Cube Acid / 2013 Mango FGSS

Mentioned: 42 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1053 Post(s)
Liked 41 Times in 36 Posts
Excellent and warm in the sun.

Cycling over to my favourite pub right now!

acidfast7 is offline  
Old 02-26-19, 09:41 AM
  #448  
mgw4jc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Mooresville, NC (Charlotte suburb)
Posts: 2,306

Bikes: Cannondale Synapse, Trek 5000 TCT, Giant OCR

Mentioned: 43 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 255 Post(s)
Liked 22 Times in 18 Posts
Although it was almost 60F yesterday afternoon, the wind made it feel colder. I didn't wear gloves and my hands were pretty chilled at the end.

Nice ride in this morning. Cool but not cold. 13 miles.
mgw4jc is offline  
Old 02-26-19, 10:10 AM
  #449  
noglider 
aka Tom Reingold
 
noglider's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Posts: 40,639

Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem

Mentioned: 507 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7251 Post(s)
Liked 2,322 Times in 1,357 Posts
Gee, @Tundra_Man, I'm really sorry to read that. What defect do you have?
__________________
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author

Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
noglider is offline  
Old 02-26-19, 10:30 AM
  #450  
pdlamb
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: northern Deep South
Posts: 8,826

Bikes: Fuji Touring, Novara Randonee

Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2568 Post(s)
Liked 1,889 Times in 1,185 Posts
Some more sunshine, but the clouds are moving back in. One through road still flooded near my office, will the creek recede before the next round of rain hits?

Got luck this morning, a train came through and blocked traffic for me at the three intersections where it could. Love it when there is NO oncoming traffic to watch for!

According to the thermometer, it was in the 40s on the ride in. I felt cooler with the jacket this morning than I did yesterday without.
pdlamb is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.