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

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

Old 11-20-19, 12:41 PM
  #1751  
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Yesterday morning, I was dragging. Not the brakes (I checked), just me. Must have been the leftover Halloween candy -- yesterday morning I was Betty White, last night, after the Snickers bar, was just different. I felt like it was all downhill (except for the two -- no, three -- hills that I crushed!). This morning was a return to normal, halfway between those extremes.

@OmegaWolf, glad to hear you're going to be all right.
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Old 11-20-19, 09:55 PM
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Lucked out today. On the way in there was rain to the west and east of my path but it barely drizzled on me. On the way home I could see rain to the west. But it was dry with a tailwind. The last part of the drive home it was coming down pretty good.
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Old 11-21-19, 08:22 AM
  #1753  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 849:

Cold and windy pretty much sums it up. Temp was 33, and the humidity was very high which made it feel extra chilly. Had a 25 mph head wind, which meant I averaged about 7-8 mph the whole way to the office. Glad I left the house a little early, as I arrived at my desk at 7:58.

It rained during the night and stopped about an hour before I left for work. There were warnings about icy roads, but thankfully I didn't experience any slick spots. I thought about riding the fat bike in case traction was an issue, but decided in addition to the wind I didn't want to be also slowed by those big tires. I rode the hybrid, which turned out to be fine. I probably could have ridden the road bike, which probably would have gained me a couple of mph.

The wind is supposed to die down a little by 5 PM, but isn't supposed to change direction so at least I'll get a bit of a push home.
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Old 11-21-19, 09:00 AM
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Decent ride this morning. Cool at about 36F. Glad to see it is Thursday as I'm ready for the weekend!
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Old 11-21-19, 12:19 PM
  #1755  
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This commercial from 3 years ago is pretty funny.
https://vimeo.com/189543396
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Old 11-22-19, 08:10 AM
  #1756  
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Evening Commute 11/21/19 56°F - got the bike back from the shop, yay.

Morning Commute 11/22/19 43°F Rain - I like big bars and I cannot lie - you other bikers can't deny ....

Ok, so far I'm really liking the Jones Bar



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Old 11-25-19, 08:21 AM
  #1757  
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Just under freezing temp this morning, but I dressed for it and felt fine coming in. I use a Garmin watch to track my mileage, but forgot to start it until about 3.3 miles in this morning's ride. Oh well. I could probably override or correct the mileage, but not really worth figuring it out.
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Old 11-25-19, 09:07 AM
  #1758  
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Evening commute 11/22/19 40°F - nothing of note other than a few crappy drivers straddle passing a bit to close.

Morning commute 11/25/19 36°F - Just nice, crisp clear day. Made this morning's commute enjoyable, even if I do have major stroads most of the way.
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Old 11-25-19, 04:16 PM
  #1759  
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For just a moment I imagined I had an oil leak
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Old 11-26-19, 05:49 AM
  #1760  
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The commute this am was pleasant with the temp at 33 f degrees and darkness all around.
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Old 11-26-19, 08:15 AM
  #1761  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 852:

32F this morning with a 15 mph head wind. I rode the fat bike because we're supposed to get 5"-7" of snow starting this morning, and the winds are supposed to increase to 40+ mph.

I'm at a client's office this morning, but I have to ride across town at noon to our company's location. Then I have to ride home against that wind. Between that and the snow it looks like it might be an interesting journey home. I'll also be carrying our Thanksgiving turkey in one of my saddlebags.

Coming down a big hill this morning I managed to hit 21mph on my fat bike. With those big knobby tires it sounded like I was being chased by a swarm of bees.
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Old 11-26-19, 08:21 AM
  #1762  
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37F and pretty calm. We're under a high wind advisory starting today - tomorrow expected winds up to 50mph. I hate wind
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Old 11-26-19, 08:26 AM
  #1763  
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Forecast for the morning was a low of 36F, but the phone app said it was 31F out, so I bundled up as I did for yesterday's sub-freezing ride. Then I left about 10 minutes late and decided to take my shorter route. It was much busier traffic wise than I like, which is why I don't normally take it. I played leap frog with a city bus for about 3 of his stops. Then finally made it to the MUP that leads to my office. It is quite leaf covered now and I take it a bit slower and watch closely for hiding branches and debris.
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Old 11-26-19, 09:20 AM
  #1764  
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Evening Commute - 11/25/19 57° - since I had ridden in in my office clothes and a jacket that morning, I started riding home that way with the jacket open. That had to come off after about a mile, and I was kicking myself for not having packed shorts.

Morning Commute - 11/26/19 41°F - light wind, but not bad. They're calling for strong winds and rain later today, so the new rain gear should get a decent testing on the way home. Still need to spring for fenders at some point, but I need to replace the tires first.
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Old 11-26-19, 09:38 AM
  #1765  
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The front that came through late last week blew almost all the leaves off almost all the trees. Made for a hard weekend (so I drove the car in yesterday), but back on the bike today. It wasn't just my leaves that fell, apparently; few left and the wind (and yesterday's runners) cleared the MUP pretty well.

A little rose color in the west as I started, glimpses of light from the east, and half an hour after starting the sun came out from behind the clouds. A nice, if chilly, ride in.
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Old 11-26-19, 10:13 AM
  #1766  
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I rode yesterday I saw mid 20's on the way in and DARKNESS on the way home. Left work later than usual. I got on the Greenway aka MUP and it pitch black out. Except for me, I cranked the lights and got home fairly quickly. 850+980lumens on the front and 400+150 on the back. My wife said she saw my lights outside the house as i was pulling up. There was less traffic yesterday both directions yesterday than this mornings commute in. I saw the hi 20's on the way. Supposed to rain tomorrow but I am debating riding anyway i might be able to beat it.

Knee has felt weird since 65.5 mile gravel ride November 16. i think i mashed it instead of spinning and knee isn't happy about it... still... #gettingoldstinks
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Old 11-26-19, 01:06 PM
  #1767  
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Originally Posted by RidingMatthew
I rode yesterday I saw mid 20's on the way in and DARKNESS on the way home. Left work later than usual. I got on the Greenway aka MUP and it pitch black out. Except for me, I cranked the lights and got home fairly quickly. 850+980lumens on the front and 400+150 on the back. My wife said she saw my lights outside the house as i was pulling up. There was less traffic yesterday both directions yesterday than this mornings commute in. I saw the hi 20's on the way. Supposed to rain tomorrow but I am debating riding anyway i might be able to beat it.

Knee has felt weird since 65.5 mile gravel ride November 16. i think i mashed it instead of spinning and knee isn't happy about it... still... #gettingoldstinks
Why would gettin' gold stink?
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Old 11-26-19, 03:36 PM
  #1768  
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When I got to my office building at 6:20 yesterday and prompt got my morning coffee and donuts, and then discovered my key card wouldn't open the door. Ugh. So I stood in the cold and drank my coffee, waiting for someone else to open the door. Another person arrived and couldn't open the door. And a third. Didn't get in for over an hour.

On the ride home I saw the beaver that lives in the canal. This beaver is really slow, never hears me, doesn't see my headlight, so there he was, just sitting there. This is suburban NJ, a hundred yards from a busy road. I've ridden all over rural Pennsylvania, New York State, lots of places where beavers live, but I've never seen one out in the countryside.

Anyway, this morning my key card still wouldn't open the door, but I hadn't made the mistake of getting my coffee yet. I went for a walk.
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Old 11-27-19, 08:03 AM
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Yesterday's wind alert turned into today's wind warning. 50F with steady 25-35mph head/cross winds. I cheated and rode the ebike. I need to time my ride home to catch the mostly southerly winds before they shift to mostly west. Gusts are supposed to be 50+. I hate wind. Happy Thanksgiving
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Old 11-27-19, 08:15 AM
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Evening Commute - 11/26/19 56°F light rain - it was raining just enough to break out the new rain cape and shoe covers. (Note I don't use clipless pedals.) They worked well, the cape was actually warmer than I would thought it would be for an over sized poncho. Thumb loops to help hold it over the handle bars would have been nice, but just holding onto it was no big deal for my short (5 mile) commute. Had an incident where my pannier got clipped by a road cone, I thought I had given myself more room, but alas, almost lost dinner, but the food survived.

Morning Commute - 11/27/19 59°F - Rain cleared up, but the wind was picking up, it was about 6 mph when I left the house, and closer to 20 mph as I was turning the last couple of corners into work. The Maxxis ignitor tires that were on the bike when I bought it really like to kick up ground water and debris. I'll be quite happy when I can finally afford to replace them.
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Old 11-27-19, 09:13 AM
  #1771  
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yesterday was all rain, rain, rain. i got a flat on my ride home.

few things in this world are more fun that fixing a flat on a dark chilly november night in the rain. yee-haw.




today is all wind, wind, wind. 30 mph gusting to 45 mph for my ride in.

when i got to downtown, the extremely strong vortices and downdrafts coming off the tall buildings were straight-up dangerous trying to stay upright on my bike.

at least it was fairly warm, 45°.

and no flat tire this ride!!!


it's the little things....
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Old 11-27-19, 10:58 AM
  #1772  
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The forecast for this evening is partly raincloudy with thunderbolts, with a 50% chance of .01 inches of rain... which to me means there's likely going to be nothing. But SWMBO has dark fantasies about me being struck by lightning right in the pacemaker, so she forbade me to ride. Also, we need bog roll. So I drove. :-/
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Old 11-27-19, 11:32 AM
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 853:

The snow storm predicted to start yesterday morning didn't arrive until about 4 PM. As a result, by the time I rode home last night there was only about an inch of snow on the ground. The wind, however, was as brutal as they predicted. It took me an hour and 15 minutes to ride the 8 miles home straight into it.




This morning the temp was 30F. We only received about 3 inches of snow (compared to the 5-7" they were predicting.) I got up early to snowblow the driveway. Headed out on the bike a few minutes early as well because I knew the unplowed streets and MUP would slow me down a bit.

Today was the first time I really got to use the fat bike for what it was intended. It really smoothed out the frozen ruts left in the snow from tire tracks and foot traffic. There were a few stretches where I knew from past experience that my old winter bike would only be able to go 4-5 mph, and I looked down and the fat bike was doing 7 mph. Still pathetically slow, but a good percentage faster.

I probably could have ridden even faster, but the brutal wind was still there and once again I was heading straight into it. A couple gusts brought me to a complete stop and forced me to put a foot down to keep from falling over. I arrived at my desk at 7:59 so I left at about the perfect time for the conditions.


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Old 11-27-19, 12:48 PM
  #1774  
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Well. so much for that forecast that said the rain in SoCal was going to move in on Wednesday afternoon. By the time I woke up and looked at the radar one big band had already passed through, and another was on the way. Could not time it right and had to get to work, so ended up going out into the rain. I don't mind getting caught in the rain, or having to ride home in it ... but going out into the rain is somehow mentally different.

It wasn't too bad, and I think I had a tailwind for most of it. The old rain coat is now pretty much just a coat - my teen-age son says, "I've literally never seen you wear that, Dad." "It never rains in California, son."

But it pours. Man, it pours. Hopefully, everything or at least most of it will have moved through by this evening. Otherwise it's gonna be cold, dark, wet, and windy. And traffic-y.
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Old 11-27-19, 03:05 PM
  #1775  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
The forecast for this evening is partly raincloudy with thunderbolts, with a 50% chance of .01 inches of rain... which to me means there's likely going to be nothing. But SWMBO has dark fantasies about me being struck by lightning right in the pacemaker, so she forbade me to ride. Also, we need bog roll. So I drove. :-/
1pm: downgraded to "mostly cloudy"

:-/
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