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

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

Old 10-28-19, 10:05 AM
  #1651  
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Originally Posted by RidingMatthew
nice ride in this AM. I hope to make my goal for mileage for October this week. I should be able to commute 4 or more days this week with a mtn bike ride thrown in for fun. It could be tough but I am feeling optimistic.
I am counting down to my mileage goal for 2019. 5000 miles. depending on weather and life I should be able to make it.
5,000 total miles or 5,000 commuting miles? Either way - a good number for being on a bike! Hopefully the nice weather will continue into November!
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Old 10-28-19, 01:33 PM
  #1652  
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@mgw4jc total miles but majority is commuting miles. I wish there was a way to separate miles on Strava or Garmin Connect.
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Old 10-28-19, 02:40 PM
  #1653  
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Originally Posted by RidingMatthew
@mgw4jc total miles but majority is commuting miles. I wish there was a way to separate miles on Strava or Garmin Connect.
I think Strava has a commute flag. I don't use that, but in Garmin Connect I use the event type. I set commutes to "Transportation" and anything else to Recreational or Fitness.
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Old 10-28-19, 03:28 PM
  #1654  
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In the iphone Strava app it lets you specify a commute. I don't know if that's different for other devices. I'm switching away from Strava due to peevishness about the end of iphone integration with HRM's and some other recent things. I haven't found a way to do it yet on Ride With GPS. It's data for them to sell to cities about who's using bikes and why, and iirc when they started doing it they pitched it two ways. One was an appeal to commuters to let cities know we are out there, the other was so that roadies could throw out their "junk miles"

One way to do it in Ride With GPS would be to add gear that is "commute" and assign it to rides that are commutes.

Seems like that's a paywall feature. hrm
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Old 10-28-19, 06:24 PM
  #1655  
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Originally Posted by mgw4jc
I think Strava has a commute flag. I don't use that, but in Garmin Connect I use the event type. I set commutes to "Transportation" and anything else to Recreational or Fitness.
I update strava and Garmin to but I don't know how to spit out a report telling me how many miles I have commuted vs just rode.
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Old 10-28-19, 11:39 PM
  #1656  
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The “gear” in RWGPS seems to be redundant with “bike,” I can’t assign both. I created a “gear” named “commute tag” and this was the result. So I guess it’s for shoes or canoes or what have you. At least not in the app and-or not for free.

Here’s another weird thing, unrelated. When I select a photo to attach from my phone it will let me choose the image size... but not with screenshots like this.
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Old 10-29-19, 05:10 AM
  #1657  
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Another nice commute this am with wet roads and the temp was a warm 55 f degrees.
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Old 10-29-19, 06:49 AM
  #1658  
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View on the way home


Last night was an interesting ride home... Front derailleur would not shift to the big chainring. so 30T X 11-34 to spin my way home. It was a beautiful ride but very frustrating that the cable snapped after only 435 miles. It never shifted like it did new I think that it was installed incorrectly.
@darth_Lefty and @mgw4jc I don't bother to update my ride with GPS for commute or not but i do on Garmin and Strava. I used to have a spreadsheet but got tired of logging and updating so many places. You would think that strava would make a report since they let you tag it as a commute.

Last edited by RidingMatthew; 10-29-19 at 06:56 AM.
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Old 10-29-19, 07:09 AM
  #1659  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 832:

23F this morning. The balaclava made its first appearance of the season. Thankfully the wind was just a light breeze.

High temps for this week are supposed to be in the 30s with the lows in the 20s. Yesterday it got up to a balmy 34F and today is supposed to be similar. Fall has definitely arrived.

It was still dark after I rode 8 miles and arrived at the office at 7:30. I'm sure that will be different next week after the time change.

Only saw three other people on the MUP: one rider, one runner and one dog walker.

I've been steadily gaining weight this whole summer and need to take steps to curtail that. I actually followed my diet yesterday. This morning I'm hungry enough that I feel like I could gnaw on my arm.
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Old 10-29-19, 07:37 AM
  #1660  
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Originally Posted by RidingMatthew
@mgw4jc total miles but majority is commuting miles. I wish there was a way to separate miles on Strava or Garmin Connect.
Exactly why I still use Endomondo - it has cycling sport and cycling transport! And congrats on 5k - that's a lotta miles. I think I'm on track to hit my usual 4000 commuting miles for the year... that's enough for me!

A little warmer this morning, 54F with a pretty good headwind. Counting on that wind to make the ride home a lot easier!
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Old 10-29-19, 07:48 AM
  #1661  
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Got to see the sun for a couple hours yesterday; first time since Friday, but it's clouded up again today. Turned chilly, too (glad I got out the winter clothes this weekend!). How did we get the Midwest's winter weather??

Saw another bike commuter this morning. He blew by me as I slowed to watch out for a car backing out of the driveway. Well. That's like yelling "Squirrel!" at a dog. I caught him without hardly trying at the next traffic light, then he lit off like a bat out of h... when the light turned. Chased him down and returned the blow-by a few blocks later on -- then I had to turn off because I was going to a different area before he caught up with me again. Take that, you young whippersnapper!
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Old 10-29-19, 08:12 AM
  #1662  
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One of those refreshing effortless commutes, cool enough that I'm in regular clothes and going just hard enough to warm up but no more than that. Shaded forest trail for miles, even the small animals seemingly laid back and unconcerned.
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Old 10-29-19, 09:38 AM
  #1663  
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Overcast morning and quite humid for fall. Left the jacket at home and only wore a short sleeve shirt. Definitely darker longer with the clouds overhead. I'm ready for the clocks to fall back.

There were more squirrels than normal, but they stayed off the road and MUP and managed to not get run over by me at least.
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Old 10-29-19, 10:18 AM
  #1664  
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My commutes have been blessedly uneventful lately. The weather has been unusually warm, in the high 50s and low 60s. Today I brought a jacket I don't expect to need. I wore a t-shirt and a dress shirt over it. I see people wearing winter clothes. Why?

Of course, irritating things do happen. Last week, I was riding uphill around a double-parked truck, and some dude came right towards me, riding against traffic. As we got close, I had no idea if he planned to go left or right, so I nearly stopped dead, and I yelled "Jesus!" He yelled "f*** you" as he passed. Well, I guess he told me. I try to forget this stuff as soon as possible, but I'm still remembering this one.
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Old 10-29-19, 10:43 AM
  #1665  
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Originally Posted by noglider
...and I yelled "Jesus!" He yelled "f*** you"
Well that's not how that's supposed to go
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Old 10-29-19, 11:21 AM
  #1666  
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@arsprod thanks problem is that the cable is not the problem on the bike but the derailleur. They are going to soak and see if it can work better. Good bike but components are not ready for commuting a lot.
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Old 10-30-19, 06:44 AM
  #1667  
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Well the cable was not broken the derailleur was junked up. They put it in the ultrasonic cleaner. It shifted beautifully in the parking best it has shifted in hundreds of miles. I guess too much gravel riding junked it up.
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Old 10-30-19, 07:11 AM
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45F and misty rain. I dressed for real rain and think I'll get that going home. I'll also get a nasty headwind. It seemed really dark this morning as in no ambient light at all. Halloween dark?!
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Old 10-31-19, 07:22 AM
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 834:

17F this morning. The fall didn't give me much opportunity to slowly acclimate to colder temps, so I definitely could feel it. My fingers were going numb at about the 4 mile mark, then oddly enough were warming back up by the time I reached the office at 8 miles.

My toes continually got colder the entire ride. I was on my road bike which uses clipless pedals, and my shoes have vent holes. The vent holes feel nice when it's 90 degrees out, but not so much when the temp is below freezing. Once the snow flies and I switch to my winter bikes I'll be wearing boots with platform pedals and my toes will be good for another 20 degree temp drop before they get really cold.

I switch to goggles at the 20F mark, so today was the first time this season I wore them. Probably should have cleaned them off as once I was heading down the road I realized they were pretty spotted up.

Saw tracks from one other bicycle in the frost on a bridge. When I arrived at work a co-worker had also ridden (he takes a different route so those tracks I saw weren't his.) So I'm not the only nut out there.
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Old 10-31-19, 07:35 AM
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YUCK, 44F and steady rain. Temps are supposed to drop into the mid 30's this afternoon with 20mph winds and possible snow. I'm checking the bus schedule
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Old 10-31-19, 07:48 AM
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Drove the past couple days. because we have received almost 2' of rain in the past 48 hours. It has been unreal!
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Old 10-31-19, 08:37 AM
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So that's what a cold front feels like!

Saw a gap in the rain on weather radar this morning, so I hopped on the bike and took off. 40 minutes and 10 miles later, the cold rain caught me half way to the office, and the temperature had dropped 15 degrees. Receptionist asked me, "Did you pedal enough to stay warm?" Yes, barely. Or almost.

In some 15 years of bike commuting I haven't seen anything quite like this. I've seen thunderstorms drop the temperature 20 degrees for a hour (and I've been forced to take cover because of the hail that comes with it!), and then it pops back up. But I haven't caught the edge of a front, that drops the temperature half way to tomorrow morning's forecast lot, in such a brutal fashion. Have I just been lucky?
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Old 10-31-19, 06:19 PM
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Originally Posted by pdlamb
Have I just been lucky?
Lucky...maybe, or maybe you haven't lived in the right places!

I've lived in quite a few wild weather places, and am quite familiar with the cold front drop. If it even looks like there's one coming on, I pack my bag full of gear (and usually end up missing it, and hence carrying a bunch of stuff around for no reason.)
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Old 11-01-19, 06:55 AM
  #1674  
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The cold front hit my area last night. It was 70F+ at 5pm and 35F at 7am. I drove yesterday and was glad to not be biking when at 5:05pm the wind got strong and the rain got heavy. It was a bit scary driving. And it continued like that for about 1.5 hours. It was messing up all kinds of trick or treating plans in the area. It seemed to be not so bad after 6:30 or so, but still windy.

Clear and no wind this morning, but chilly out as we got below 40 again for the second time this season.

463 miles for October. Almost 4,700 for the year. Another 8-900 miles will put me around 5,500 for 2019. I keep thinking one of these years I'll get closer to 6,000, but between holidays, vacation, weather, and other needs, there are too many days I don't ride.
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Old 11-01-19, 07:37 AM
  #1675  
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Originally Posted by pdlamb
In some 15 years of bike commuting I haven't seen anything quite like this. I've seen thunderstorms drop the temperature 20 degrees for a hour (and I've been forced to take cover because of the hail that comes with it!), and then it pops back up. But I haven't caught the edge of a front, that drops the temperature half way to tomorrow morning's forecast lot, in such a brutal fashion. Have I just been lucky?
Apparently now unlucky! Same here - yesterday morning was 44F and rain, by 4:00 is was low 30's, snowing, and 20mph winds. This morning 25F but at least the winds have abated and the sun is out. Had a first this morning, my rear brake froze on. I've had levels get stuck but this was the brake caliper sticking after pulling. I had to got off and physically push it back. I think it was a combination of rain yesterday, lots of wet leaves, and then 20 degree temp drops. Good thing we have 2 brakes!
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