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

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

Old 10-01-21, 10:42 AM
  #301  
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First 3 miles were great, then a spoke broke on the rear wheel.
Nuts.
I was still much closer to home than work, I headed home, threw the offending wheel into the back of the car and drove to work. Going to drop by my brother's shop on lunch to go about getting that fixed.
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Old 10-04-21, 09:18 AM
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Has anyone seen the movie "Hero" with Jet Li? There is an excellent fight scene in a forest where the ground is thick with yellow leaves (colour is very important in the movie). On the trail portion of my ride this morning, I was reminded of that scene. A cool and windy weekend blew lots of leaves off the trees, and portions of the trail had more leaves than gravel or pavement showing. Nothing like the movie, though.



As usual, a photo is a poor substitute for seeing it oneself. Have a good week!
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Old 10-04-21, 10:25 AM
  #303  
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Riding in today I saw what sure looked like two white supermarket chicken eggs. Intact. Did not have time to stop and investigate.

I've gotten pretty good with my 38-17 and might be time to consider trying a 16t sprocket
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Old 10-04-21, 11:42 AM
  #304  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
I've gotten pretty good with my 38-17 and might be time to consider trying a 16t sprocket
Pfft. Go for the gusto. Get a 46t chainring and power up those hills!
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Old 10-05-21, 11:58 AM
  #305  
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I passed a couple walking their bikes. Not long after I stopped to fuss with an adjustment and they came upon me and asked me for some air. The lady had a flat. I obliged but the leak was obvious. I wanted to give them some sealant but couldn't find my valve tool. The man pumped up the tire and told the lady to burn rubber... I packed up and half a mile later came upon them again. I gave them my pump, an old Walmart cheapie. Told them to pay it forward. Gives me an excuse to get a new toy, right? Guess I'm boned if I get a flat going home, though!
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Old 10-06-21, 09:02 AM
  #306  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1282:

First day back after a week of vacation. Sleep schedule got kind of messed up so when the alarm went off at 6:30 it felt like it was the middle of the night.

Had an appointment scheduled at 8 AM, so the first thing I did was ride to the hospital. They got me right in and it was a quick blood test, so I was walking out the door at 8:10. Nice. I figured I would be at work earlier than anticipated and wouldn't have as much time to make up.

Then about four blocks from the hospital I was riding on a leaf covered back street when suddenly I hit something big. It was one of those hits where you know immediately you are going to have a flat. In fact, the hole was large enough that I could hear the hissing of the air.

A block away was a school that had a 3 foot ledge next to the sidewalk. I walked the bike over to it and figured the ledge would make a decent makeshift workbench to fix the flat. Got a new tube installed and went to fill it with my CO2 inflator when it decided to release all of the gas into the air instead of the tire. I had a second cartridge, so I tried that one with the exact same results. Apparently my inflator has gone bad.

Moments before my first failed inflation I had seen a guy ride by on a cargo bike. I wished he had been about three minutes later as I could have flagged him down and asked if he had a presta pump.

Not having any better ideas I packed everything up, put the wheel back on the bike and walked several miles in bike shoes to the client's office. The failed tire repair and walk wound up taking me about an hour.

I texted my wife and asked her to drop off my floor pump on her way to work. Hopefully I can get the tube inflated for the ride home. I'll have to figure out a way to jam enough of the floor pump into my backpack to carry it home as well.
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Old 10-06-21, 12:57 PM
  #307  
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Riding home from work last Tuesday on my new bike, I'd forgotten to adjust the tension on the Look pedals so they were harder to unclip from. Had a driver intentionally or unintentionally try to squeeze me into a curb while going under a railroad bridge. I stopped in time to avoid that, but couldn't make a strong enough effort to unclip and though stopped, went down hard (at my weight, any fall is a hard one). Smacked my head hard against the concrete bridge abutment, but didn't really feel it thanks to my helmet. Landed on my right arm/shoulder, and yes, I felt that. Still feel it. But two upsides: 1)the bike was OK!, and 2)there's video of it:

Went back to riding the TriCross with its SPD pedals that are easier to clip out of. Have also adjusted the Looks on the Aethos to keep that bike (and me) out of trouble.
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Old 10-07-21, 04:11 AM
  #308  
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Another pleasant commute this morning with the temp at 48 f degrees.
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Old 10-07-21, 04:34 AM
  #309  
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Almost a carbon copy of last week with just one ride out of my six commutes affected by rain. By 'affected' I mean that I was wetter than an otter's pocket by the time I got home! My only visual treat was to see three swans flying close above me as I cycled across the old Briton Ferry bridge over the River Neath.
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Old 10-07-21, 09:44 AM
  #310  
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Last night I saw a guy riding one of those really tall bicycles. Rare, expecting to see a long chain to his feet. Nope, the crank was at the bottom of the frame. He was wearing stilts! Looked really weird.
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Old 10-07-21, 09:44 AM
  #311  
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Originally Posted by Welshboy
...wetter than an otter's pocket...
I had to look that up, and I'm a bit sorry I did.

Chilly - verifiably below freezing this morning, and foggy for the ride in. Had my heart skip a beat when making a slow, tight, downhill turn on gravel when my front wheel was turned but the bike kept going straight. Managed to stay upright. Hills seemed a big tougher this morning for some reason.
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Old 10-08-21, 09:58 AM
  #312  
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Frosty - as in, everything had a layer of frost on it this morning. I mostly dressed for the weather, but I had forgotten my toe covers at the office yesterday, and didn't have them this morning, so my toes got a bit cold. Otherwise, it was nice and sunny and calm for the ride in. Today's heart-stopping moment was courtesy of a bird that flew out of a bush right in front of me, then thought better of it and flew back in. But for a split second, I thought there was going to be a collision.

This picture was taken yesterday afternoon on the ride home. I liked how the low sun was shining through the trees, casting alternating light and shadow on the carpet of leaves covering the trail.



Have a great weekend everyone. It's Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, so long weekend for me!
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Old 10-11-21, 04:03 AM
  #313  
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Back at the Monday morning ride this am. The temp was a warm 60f degrees, with a some either mist or extremely light rain. I saw it in my headlight when I was getting on my bike, and decided I would ride anyway. The mist/sprinkle never amounted to anything so it was a pleasant ride today.
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Old 10-11-21, 01:45 PM
  #314  
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It’s windy and sunny here in California, from the wrist to the deltoid, not just here in the elbow. It’s a dangerous combination because everything is still really dry. So there is a red flag warning and a wind advisory and a gale warning all at once. As for myself, I was almost inconvenienced by a Sugar Pine cone that fell out of a tree on the pathway right in front of me. I could’ve been scratched!


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Old 10-12-21, 08:01 AM
  #315  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1286:

Got up early because I had to be at the hospital for a CT scan by 7 AM. Dark morning, and the temp was 45°F.

For some reason the drivers seemed to be extra aggressive. Given I was leaving nearly an hour earlier than I normally do I thought maybe traffic would be calmer.

While I was waiting at the receptionist desk an older woman told me I had, "nice legs." That was weird.

CT scans are a breeze. You just lay on a table for about five minutes while it moves back and forth under a scanner. I think this was the 4th one I've had. Probably the easiest heart test of all the different kinds I've experienced. Was in and out of the hospital in about 20 minutes and then made it to the office on time .

Posted my latest commuting video. It's been a while since I released one:

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Old 10-13-21, 10:07 AM
  #316  
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Chilly is the word. Not downright cold, had frost yesterday but notably warmer this morning, maybe about 40 the whole way in, but still chilly. Cool enough that I regretted not wearing something to cover my legs, took the whole ride for my muscles to warm up. Was smart enough to wear a long sleeve shirt and gloves, so at least my fingers didn't go numb.
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Old 10-14-21, 07:31 AM
  #317  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1288:

Yesterday we had a "severe wind warning" all day with steady winds at 25-30 mph and gusts well over 50 mph. It was raining in the morning so I took the hybrid with fenders. Had that tailwind pushing me on the way to the client, but that meant I had to fight it on the way home. I was really missing the way my road bike cuts through wind while struggling to hold 8 mph against the gale.

This morning was the coldest morning we've had so far this season (it's been an unusually warm fall) at 40°F. Usually we're starting to see these morning temps mid September. I was dressed in shorts and a sweatshirt when I glanced at the thermometer before leaving the house. 40° is generally my cutoff for shorts (pun somewhat intended,) so I decided to pull the long pants out of storage for today's ride. I threw my shorts in the backpack for the ride home when it should be closer to 50°. I decided to stick with the sweatshirt rather than moving to my jacket.

I'm glad I switched to long pants. While today wasn't as windy as yesterday, it was a steady 15mph headwind the whole 8 miles to the office. This made things a bit chilly. My legs, torso and face were fine, but my arms, fingers and toes got pretty cold. The warm shower at the office felt really, really good.

In another month or two 40° will feel downright balmy, but I don't have my winter skin yet. Tomorrow morning the temps are supposed to drop into the low 30s, with a possible freeze.
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Old 10-14-21, 09:19 AM
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Really very mild and dry as a bone in the UK so it's been four lovely days on my fender-less road bike. I normally work Monday to Wednesday but I couldn't resist bagging a Sunday shift (double-time yay!) as we're short-staffed with people either off with Covid-19 or isolating and it looks like I'll be doing four days next week as well.
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Old 10-14-21, 09:34 AM
  #319  
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Cold this morning at about -3C (27F). I'm not hardy like the T-man, and I can feel my enthusiasm fading as the days get colder. Face and digits were all cold during the ride. Apart from the cold, it was pretty nice - sunny and hardly any wind, so I can't complain too much. While riding straight into the blinding sun at one moment, I nearly ran into some garbage cans set out on the curb.
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Old 10-15-21, 05:39 PM
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Lame week in bike commuting which is a shame because October is great for riding. Work meetings too close to ride times, kid getting busted, etc. Got two short laps. Definitely not going to hit 1000 this year, more like 700, but that's a big improvement over last year.

Est. $250 gas money not spent using my truck at $4/gal. That's like half a payment!
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Old 10-18-21, 12:10 PM
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Unplanned extra riding today as I left a computer peripheral in a handful of legos that I emptied out of my pocket before I left home.
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Old 10-19-21, 04:10 AM
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Apparently somehow I missed posting yesterday about my ride. I thought I did but anyway, it is the second day this week I have been able to ride so it has been a good week. The ride this morning was colder than yesterday by 7 degrees and this morning temp was 43f degrees. As long at the pedals keep moving all is good.
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Old 10-19-21, 10:40 AM
  #323  
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Got a late start, then got slowed down a bit by a headwind, and ended up getting to the office 7 minutes after the start of a (virtual) meeting. I wheeled my bike right into my office, got set up as quickly as possible, and joined in, hoping that people didn't notice me occasionally wiping sweat off my face.

On the plus side, it was on the plus side of 0 (Celsius) this morning (i.e., just above freezing). I forgot to put on my toe covers, but didn't even realize my toes were cold until I arrived at my office building.

We elected a new mayor yesterday. The candidate I voted for didn't win, but thankfully neither did the guy who wanted to scrub all the bike lanes.
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Old 10-20-21, 12:25 AM
  #324  
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This wasn't today, it was last week, but not atypical for this commute. Not my favorite way to make a left turn.
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Old 10-20-21, 04:43 AM
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Another pleasant commute this morning. Cloudy skies were blocking the almost full moon I was hoping to ride with.
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