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2021! The “How was your commute?” thread!

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2021! The “How was your commute?” thread!

Old 07-16-21, 09:56 AM
  #176  
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During a descent this morning, nothing too fast, going maybe 40-45 km/h (~25 mph), some largish flying insect collided with my chin and then bounced off the right side of my chest. Startling, but no biggie. Shortly after, I could hear a buzzing over my left shoulder. It went away after a few seconds, so I didn't worry too much about it, but then it came back, and then whatever it was started stinging. At that point, I uttered an expletive and quickly pulled over, ripped off my backpack, and started whacking and brushing at where the pain was. I never saw what was stinging me, but it was probably a wasp, given that I found 5 distinct puffy marks on my shoulder and back. Was it the same insect that whacked me on the chin? Dunno.

I also had to brake to avoid a right hook later in the ride. Not my favourite commute of the year, but still glad I rode.

Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Old 07-16-21, 10:08 AM
  #177  
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A Nice, Slow, Friday Cruise


My 1984 Dawes Ranger, basking in the morning sun.

I forced myself to complete my 6-mile commute this morning without breaking a sweat. I left home early, and stopped to take a couple pics here and there. Then pedaled leisurely down the trail under the highway and through the park - it was a beautiful ride. I arrived at work in a state of serene contentment. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I never watch the news in the morning.

Happy Friday!

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Old 07-16-21, 12:17 PM
  #178  
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Nice bike DQRider . I really like the look of the fenders. Are they plastic or aluminum? I'd love something like those for my Surly LHT. What make/model are they (if you don't mind me asking)?
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Old 07-16-21, 12:24 PM
  #179  
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Originally Posted by groovestew
Nice bike DQRider . I really like the look of the fenders. Are they plastic or aluminum? I'd love something like those for my Surly LHT. What make/model are they (if you don't mind me asking)?
No mere plastic or aluminum are these. They are Woody's Compound Curved Cherry Wood Fenders with a Wenge and Bloodwood center stripe.

Quality hand made wood bicycle fenders hand made in the USA (woodysfenders.com)

Not cheap, but I had to have them for this build. Nothing else would do.

.
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Old 07-16-21, 01:43 PM
  #180  
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Darn. I should have figured those were boutique fenders - they're way too nice to be anything else. Also way more than I intend to spend. I shall keep looking!
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Old 07-16-21, 10:32 PM
  #181  
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Broke my diet for a big greasy lunch, regretted it. Felt like crap later. Cursor is at work.

Enjoying my prime day Garmin though



I'd share a photo of my bike but a year of Darth Lefty ownership has scratched the hell out of it, I'm reluctant.
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Old 07-19-21, 07:28 AM
  #182  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
Enjoying my prime day Garmin though
You still taking scuba gear for the river crossings?
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Old 07-19-21, 11:04 AM
  #183  
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Today on the ride in, I seemed to hit all the lights, or at least the long ones. It felt great. And also was good because once again I forgot something at home and had to make a second round trip back home to get it and then back to the daycare to start my ride.

Found a garage door opener the same style as ours and with the clip lost also like ours. I don't think it's ours, I can't think how it would have wound up where I found it. But I'll take it home and try it.
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Old 07-19-21, 11:31 AM
  #184  
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Out to Lunch

I didn't have time to shoot any photos this morning, but I had a nice ride during lunch. Here is my Pashley Path Racer underneath the Hwy 494 bridge down by the Mississippi River.


I built this from an old Sovereign Roadster. Single speed, drum brakes, Brooks saddle and grips. Simplicity itself.






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Old 07-19-21, 12:25 PM
  #185  
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@pdlamb Or tunneling machine. Did not check altitude on those gps dropouts, figured they were flying.
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Old 07-19-21, 05:22 PM
  #186  
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This afternoon going from work to daycare I had a flat. A slice that was wide but did not go all the way through. The tubeless sealant seemed to be depleted. I don't think it was dried out, it was still sealing some punctures the last few months, but it's been warm. Either way, the sealant did not take care of it until the pressure was very low, not floppy but riding on the rim. I realized that I had my laptop bag and did not have any tire stuff at all. Home is not far off the path so I babied it home and got another bike. When I got all the small primates settled down at home I investigated. There now seem to be more holes - to be expected considering more than a mile riding on the rim. I added some sealant just to play around with it and took a ride around the driveway to slosh it. It seems to be holding for the moment but I obviously can't trust it. Slices or no, the tread depth tells the same story. Time for a new one. I get to choose commuter tire or gravel tire.

This just adds to the pile. Bikes are going to be expensive for a few months in this house. My wife's bike got stolen, as written elsewhere on this site. We found a direct replacement (in a better color!) but that required (heh) a trip to Incline Village where the seller lives, and so that was a free weekend day spent and a nice but expensive lunch out. She wants a 1x11 conversion again like I did for her stolen one, that's $300, more than we paid for the used bike. I got a cheap pedal to replace the wobbly one on my MTB and when I went to put it on I discovered the crank was also loose. We all know that doesn't get better. So here's my excuse to get a premium crank, but unlooked-for. I torqued it down and I can probably eke it out for a while. The crank on the commuter bike is creaking up a storm too but I believe that's the Cinch chain ring interface dried out of grease or never had any, I'm still hopeful it will be all right.

the first slice


another one found at home, maybe from riding on the rim



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Old 07-20-21, 04:08 AM
  #187  
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A pleasant ride in this morning.
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Old 07-20-21, 07:21 AM
  #188  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1236:

Nice morning. 63 degrees and hardly any wind. Going to get in the 90s today, so my ride across town and then home after work will probably be sweaty ones.

For about a half mile I could hear a train horn in the distance. From the sound I guesstimated I would be reaching the spot where it crosses the MUP about the same time as it would. Turns out I was right, but the train beat me by about 50 yards so I had to stop and wait.

Normally on Tuesdays I ride to our company office for the morning, then ride to a client location for the afternoon. I have a meeting at the office this afternoon, so I'm switching it up today and working at the client in the morning and riding to our office for the afternoon. What can I say, I'm a wild man!

Last night after work we had the first city bicycle committee meeting (advisory board to the city council) that I've attended in person in over a year. Since the beginning of the pandemic the monthly meetings have been virtual, which I really, really dislike, and as a result my attendance has been spotty. I don't like meetings to begin with, but virtual ones are even more painful. Anyway, they're back to having them in person so I went. As a bonus, they ordered pizza and there was a lot more pizza than people, so I wound up eating too much.
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Old 07-22-21, 04:57 AM
  #189  
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This morning was a pleasant yet uneventful commute. There will be an extended ride home today as I have finished my dog walking gig.
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Old 07-23-21, 04:29 AM
  #190  
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TGIF! A very pleasant commute this morning! And I will not be back for a week as I am on vacation next week. I will be cycling in Michigan with my granddaughters.
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Old 07-23-21, 01:35 PM
  #191  
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Left early to swing by the office. Way more bicycle commuters near the hospitals than usual this morning, three other ones! Pleasantly cool, and I was surprised by how light traffic was. Summer, Friday, school hasn't started back -- OK, maybe I shouldn't have been THAT surprised.

Left early and took the long way home. Way long, enough to ride my age. Other than two more concrete plants setting up shop in the middle of nowhere and coating nice rural roads in choking clouds of lime dust, it was a nice ride. Flagman for some utility construction tried to give me a hard time, I had to wait for the OK instead of trying to ride down the right side of all those orange barrels. I told him I was going to wait for him to show me the "slow" sign, because that was obviously for me.
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Old 07-23-21, 01:49 PM
  #192  
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I rode my Specialized Sequoia 650b conversion to work this morning.



This bike was configured during the build as a dedicated commuter, hence the basket and rear rack, fenders, and lights. It rides beautifully with the Deore 3x6 drivetrain. So my commute was extra nice today.

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Old 07-24-21, 06:04 AM
  #193  
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Originally Posted by DQRider
I rode my Specialized Sequoia 650b conversion to work this morning.



This bike was configured during the build as a dedicated commuter, hence the basket and rear rack, fenders, and lights. It rides beautifully with the Deore 3x6 drivetrain. So my commute was extra nice today.

.
I would love to commute on that beauty 😍
What's the basket attachment on the handlebars?
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Old 07-24-21, 08:37 AM
  #194  
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Originally Posted by SapInMyBlood
I would love to commute on that beauty 😍
What's the basket attachment on the handlebars?
Takeout Basket – Portland Design Works (ridepdw.com)

It's very robust, with a hard stop on the bottom, but it does rotate upward if needed for maintenance access. Not cheap, but very high quality.

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Old 07-24-21, 06:41 PM
  #195  
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Originally Posted by DQRider
Takeout Basket – Portland Design Works (ridepdw.com)

It's very robust, with a hard stop on the bottom, but it does rotate upward if needed for maintenance access. Not cheap, but very high quality.

.
That's really neat! I guess it's more suitable for alloy bars than carbon ones haha

And honestly $120 for a basket + bag combo isn't that expensive compared to the other options out there
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Old 07-25-21, 05:59 PM
  #196  
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Rain!

It's been raining pretty hard here in Manila, Philippines. Even if you wear full rain gear, you'll still end up wet. Sometimes, you have no choice but to bike through floods that are almost as deep as the height of your wheels.

My bike is now really yucky but I've been unable to clean because it just wouldn't stop raining until now. Time to repack the bearings!
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Old 07-27-21, 12:09 PM
  #197  
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Riding the MTB yesterday and today. It's slowwww but at least it has some gears. Feeling some twitches from the left crank yesterday... probably psychosomatic but I've brought an 8mm wrench should it wobble loose, and managed to torque it a few degrees this morning.

Tire shopping for the other bike. Torn between wimpy knobby "gravel" tire which are easy to find tubeless and heavy duty slick "commuter" tire which are harder to find tubeless
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Old 07-27-21, 02:18 PM
  #198  
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Got wet on the way in and failed to dry out my jersey and undervest so that they smelled like cats p155 at home time 11 hours later. One mile after leaving work I punctured and had to pull a spike of glass out of my tyre with my teeth. Thankfully, the replacement tube went in OK and I managed to get enough air in with my frame-fit pump. Not my best commuting day.
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Old 07-27-21, 03:21 PM
  #199  
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Originally Posted by Welshboy
Got wet on the way in and failed to dry out my jersey and undervest so that they smelled like cats p155 at home time 11 hours later. One mile after leaving work I punctured and had to pull a spike of glass out of my tyre with my teeth. Thankfully, the replacement tube went in OK and I managed to get enough air in with my frame-fit pump. Not my best commuting day.
That's hardcore!
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Old 07-28-21, 06:42 AM
  #200  
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Conditions yesterday when I left work were a bit extreme:



In this weather, I faced 6 miles of climbing on the shortest route home. Those of you who suffered through that heat-wave in the Pacific NW probably know what I'm talking about.

Still, I did stop for one photo:



By the time I pulled into the driveway, I had emptied the 32 oz. water bottle, and my head was pounding with the onset of heat exhaustion.

Next time the forecast is for a heat index over 100°F, this 58 year-old geezer is driving to work.

*
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