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

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

Old 11-11-21, 08:59 AM
  #351  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1308:

33F this morning with a 25 mph headwind made this an extremely cold feeling commute. I wore my full fingered cycling gloves, but realized halfway to the office that I should have worn my winter gloves. My hands were painfully cold by the time I got to work.

Was passing a large group of transients who were standing on the MUP. One of them said, "Nice bike!", but the way he said it didn't make it sound like he was paying me a complement. As I went by he lunged at me, but he was inebriated enough to throw his coordination off and he missed. The whole group smelled like mouthwash, so I'm guessing that was their drink of choice this morning. I thought about calling the police, but decided it was just a drunken idiot who probably didn't know what he was doing.

Got to the client's office and discovered they are closed for Veteran's Day. That's OK. I have the whole building to myself and I can get a lot done without any interruptions.

On a sad note, last night I learned that a friend of mine had been riding his bike Monday when he had some kind of medical issue that caused him to crash. During the crash he broke two vertebrae in his neck and severed his spinal cord. He's currently on life support, paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. They were going to do some sort of brain scan to see if there was any activity, but as of this morning I haven't yet heard the results of the test.
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Old 11-11-21, 03:02 PM
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Sounds like you are having a rough one. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Hope something improves.
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Old 11-11-21, 03:28 PM
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Two short laps today… weird schedule due to the holiday. Tule fog in the morning.


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Old 11-12-21, 09:05 AM
  #354  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
Sounds like you are having a rough one. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Hope something improves.
Thanks. Unfortunately the decision was made yesterday afternoon to remove him from life support. At least he went doing something he loved.
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Old 11-12-21, 09:19 AM
  #355  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1309:

First "winter" ride of the season, and it was a doozy. 28F with a dusting of snow on the ground, with a layer of ice underneath that. But the big challenge was the 30-40 mph headwind with gusts pushing 60 mph.

I had packed for the road bike because frankly, the weather people were hyping up our first winter storm of the season so much that I had a feeling that there was no way the actual weather would live up to the predictions. Well, I was half right. We didn't get the 2" of snow and whiteout conditions they were saying we would, but it didn't completely miss us like I suspected. They were spot-on with their wind prediction.

Thankfully a couple weeks ago I got my winter bike all tuned up and ready to go, so I transferred everything out of my backpack and into my panniers and left the road bike on the hangers. Riding a fat bike into that wind was slow. I was working hard just to maintain 5-6 mph. Going down hills I could hit 9-10 mph if I pedaled hard. It took me 40 minutes to ride the 4 miles to the office and I arrived a sweaty mess. Had my wheels slide out from under me a little around a corner, but kept the bike upright so it was only a minor "clenching" moment.

The wind was brutal enough that the radio is reporting at least 10 semis that have been overturned on the interstate, and a lot of cars in the ditch. I actually conceded a bit on riding my bike. I have a doctor's appointment later this morning. Normally I would just ride my bike there and back to the office, however with this wind (and the fat bike) I would probably be looking at a couple of hours total commute time for what will probably be a 15 minute appointment. My wife offered to come and pick me up and take me to the doctor, and then return me to the office. After a bunch of hem-hawing I decided to take her up on it. It's not that I couldn't have made the ride, but the idea of having to stay a couple hours late to make up the time on a Friday wasn't all that appealing to me.
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Old 11-15-21, 11:43 PM
  #356  
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Crashed this morning - ironically because I was doing a hard stop to turn around and take a photo for my funny-sign thread. My right thumb has internal damage worse than scrapes and bruises, might be broken or sprained. Comedy of errors at two different urgent cares. This is apparently beyond their capacity. Morning wasted. Not likely riding to work again until I feel like it's ok not to wear a splint, because gloves, you know. Might be after TG.

For another layer of irony about my busted thumb, prompted by Tundra Man's news about his poor friend, yesterday I started a thread on MTBR about crash armor. Theme being, once you have a crash helmet, what is the next most reasonable armor to wear? Supported by what data? Neck, back, pelvis injuries are drastic but rare, knee and elbow injuries are seldom that bad but common, shoulder injuries are hard to prevent.
https://www.mtbr.com/threads/proteck-your-neck.1196586/
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Old 11-16-21, 08:12 AM
  #357  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
Crashed this morning - ironically because I was doing a hard stop to turn around and take a photo for my funny-sign thread. My right thumb has internal damage worse than scrapes and bruises, might be broken or sprained. Comedy of errors at two different urgent cares. This is apparently beyond their capacity. Morning wasted. Not likely riding to work again until I feel like it's ok not to wear a splint, because gloves, you know. Might be after TG.

For another layer of irony about my busted thumb, prompted by Tundra Man's news about his poor friend, yesterday I started a thread on MTBR about crash armor. Theme being, once you have a crash helmet, what is the next most reasonable armor to wear? Supported by what data? Neck, back, pelvis injuries are drastic but rare, knee and elbow injuries are seldom that bad but common, shoulder injuries are hard to prevent.
https://www.mtbr.com/threads/proteck-your-neck.1196586/
Oh man, that sucks. Sorry to hear this, and I hope your thumb heals soon. Hopefully you'll be back to hitchhiking before too long.
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Old 11-16-21, 03:37 PM
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One great thing about the "dumpster fire that was 2020" was the chance to ride my bike down Las Vegas BLVD when it was almost completely empty. Wont ever get that chance again!
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Old 11-18-21, 05:38 AM
  #359  
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@ Darth Lefty - Sorry to hear about your crash.

Another four-day week for me and November continues to be generally mild and dry. Tuesday's ride home was a nightmare though. Firstly, I had students larking about on a SUP causing me to gently graze a parapet wall trying to avoid them moving the wrong way when I called out that I was passing - no real dramas. Secondly, I had a car emerge from a side road on my right at exactly the same time I was passing. I was on the major road and had priority but the driver's attitude was something along the lines of, "You're only on a bike and there's enough room for me to fit in." This was as close as I've ever come to being T-boned and my load shouty scream had no effect on the moron driving. Thirdly, I'm 200 yards from home and riding towards a T-junction where I'm turning left. In the last 30 yards a car decides to overtake me by driving on the wrong side of the road and then sharply turn left totally cutting me up. Only by me backing down in this game of chicken did I avoid being driven over or sent over his bonnet. Scary stuff.
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Old 11-18-21, 08:33 AM
  #360  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1313:

Backtrack to yesterday morning: I had just put on my backpack and was walking out the door getting ready to ride to the client location, when I suddenly remembered I had an 8 AM doctor's appointment. Thankfully the client location and the hospital are nearly the exact same distance from home, just in different directions, so I was able to make it to my appointment on time. Glad I remembered that.

About a half mile from the hospital I could see lights flashing ahead. When I got closer the road was shut down and it seemed like every cop in the city was in the area, including the SWAT team. I cut north a block thinking I could just go around, and they had that street blocked off as well. Had to ride a few blocks out of my way before I came to a street that wasn't shut down. Later on the news I heard that the police had been serving a warrant and it didn't go so smooth.

Back to this morning: Brrrrr. When I left the house it was 23°F with a stiff headwind. The pavement was dry so at least I could take the road bike, which cuts the wind noticeably better than my other bikes. The wind still slowed me down to 8-10 mph in the open areas. I arrived at the office pretty chilled with numb toes. My coworker who is about an 80% bicycle commuter drove to work, and when he saw me arrived he said, "I think I made the right choice about not riding today." I'm not sure I agree with him, but I can understand his reasoning.

About a 1/4 mile from the office I saw another guy on a bike. His bike was a single speed cruiser, and his gear didn't look like he was a routine cyclist. He definitely looked cold. He was riding down the sidewalk, ran a red light and then proceeded to ride on the wrong side of the road. When I see people like this my immediate thought is, "DUI; lost his license." He didn't appear to be riding because he wanted to ride.
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Old 11-20-21, 12:20 PM
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Thumb still hurting but I need to get riding again. Maybe I'll go shop for some poofy ski gloves. I don't think they sell pogies around here
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Old 11-22-21, 08:35 PM
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Tried just putting my splint over my glove and that worked all right. Should get three laps in this week!
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Old 11-24-21, 08:24 AM
  #363  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1317:

Arrived at work this morning, and as I was putting my bike in the rack something caught the corner of my eye. I spun my rear wheel around to see this:


Got 1,953 miles out of this tire. Usually I can get about 3.5k on a set of this brand, but I also normally rotate them front to back around 1.5k and I didn't do that this time around. Hopefully this tire will hold the remaining 13.81 miles I need to ride today. I have a replacement tire sitting on the shelf at home.
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Old 11-25-21, 12:32 AM
  #364  
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^^^ I used to rotate tires but no longer, just replace the rear one 2x as often. Just like a moto
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Old 11-25-21, 12:52 PM
  #365  
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A great week for commuting with no rain on all five days that I've worked (Sunday to Thursday) and you can't say that too often in November in the UK! A bit chilly in the morning as the sun is only just rising when I leave at about 07.45hrs but really quite mild on the ride home. My bike needs a good clean and new brake pads but it's running well and those Schwalbe Marathon Plus 25C tyres really do seem to be bullet proof.

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Old 11-29-21, 09:46 AM
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Be careful out there all you northern people, I just had my first Moto GP slide of the season on my way to work this morning.
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Old 11-30-21, 02:04 PM
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I rode Ranger to work in the dark this morning. The lights were charging elsewhere when I took this shot. It will be dark on the way home as well.



Still, the temperature was a mild 32°F (0°C), and my new balaclava kept me warm up top. Old-school sweats and a windbreaker were enough to keep my exercising parts at operating temperature.

I don't know how many more commutes I will have on dry/non-frozen pavement, but I'm trying to give each of my bikes one last ride before breaking out my winter steed. It's 44°F now, should be a nice ride home. Maybe I'll stop by the pub on my way...
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Old 11-30-21, 05:42 PM
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Unseasonably warm and sunny... which is nice for riding but bad for the lake level. Two not three laps Thanksgiving week, two unremarkable laps so far this week. Thumb healing up slowly.
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Old 12-01-21, 08:32 AM
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1320:

December already. Where did this year go?

Although the calendar says December, the thermometer still thinks it's October. Unseasonably warm this week. This morning was 35 F with a mild headwind. It had rained during the night so the roads were wet, but there was no rain falling as I rode to the office.

For the ride home tonight it's supposed to be in the mid to upper 50s. I brought a sweatshirt and shorts to swap out for the jacket and long pants I wore on the way in.

Looking at my spreadsheet, it appears I'm going to break the 3k commuting mile barrier on Friday. I usually commute somewhere between 3k-4k miles every year, so with a month to go I'm right on track.
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Old 12-01-21, 08:15 PM
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Every now and then you get a "Wow, that was a great ride!" Even in this WFH year, today was a commute that ticked that box. Had to run some paperwork by the office today, so I made a lunchtime ride of it. No sub-freezing weather today, it was 65F, mostly clear, light breezes. I don't expect to see many more like that in December here. Traffic was light, and if I hadn't hit one road that was being re-surfaced (and goodness knows it needs it!), I wouldn't have a single thing to complain about. Felt pleasantly exercised on my return to the home-office.
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Old 12-02-21, 05:56 AM
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A four-day week for me this week that started with my first puncture on Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. Of course, this happened less than a week after commenting a few posts back that they seemed bullet proof. Well, the 'bullet' was a chunky spike of glass that no normal bicycle tyre could have survived (I'm purposefully ignoring those solid or airless tyres). Anyway, this happened really close to work so I continued on and sorted it when my hands had warmed up! In 25C size these are a nightmare to get on and off and later today I'll be swapping the front and rear and also replacing my brake pads. Lots of rain around this week and much colder but just about manageable.
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Old 12-06-21, 08:41 AM
  #372  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1323:

Challenging commute today.

Our mild fall temperatures finally swung back to normal. Last week I wore shorts a couple of times. This morning was 9°F with a 20 mph headwind, which works out to a -12°F wind chill. It was definitely a shock to the system. My thighs took the brunt of the cold. By the time I made it to work and the showers, it looked and felt like I had a bad sunburn on my legs. Nearly an hour later my thighs are still burning.

First time this year I wore my goggles. I generally don't break those out until the temps drop below 20°F. Today's high is only supposed to be 18°F so I guess I'm wearing them home as well. My goggles don't have a mirror attached to them like my glasses, and I definitely miss that.

We were getting a few snow flurries this morning, but it was dry flakes and not accumulating so I went ahead and took the road bike. My shift cables froze up from the cold, so they didn't want to move in any direction that slackened the cable (upshifting on the rear and downshifting on the front) until I would smack the brifters a little to get the cable to move and get the levers to do anything. As a result, I wound up riding in some non-ideal gears at times just because I didn't feel like trying to get the bike to shift.

On Friday they gave me a new heart medication. By Saturday I realized it was kicking my butt pretty good. Constant headache, dizziness, extreme malaise and doing simple things like brushing my teeth would wind me. I sat around doing nothing a good chunk of the weekend. My wife was concerned about me riding to work this morning, but I told her one way or another I was going to make it. I did make it, but I was sucking wind pretty hard the whole ride even though I was only going about 10 mph. I'm going to give this medication a week, and if my body doesn't adjust then I'm going to tell the doctor I'm done with it. The whole purpose of taking meds is to make your health better, but if the side effects are worse than what it's trying to fix then I don't see the point.
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Old 12-07-21, 08:33 AM
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1324:

Woke up to unexpected snow. There was about 1/2" on the ground and still falling. I had packed my backback for my road bike, expecting dry roads. So I spent some time moving everything out of my backpack and into my panniers.

My wife and son were awake when I got up. That was weird. Turns out my wife had mixed up and accidentally given my son his morning meds last night before bed,. His morning meds are stimulants, so he had been awake since midnight. My wife felt guilty about it so she got up early and was taking him out to breakfast before they were coming back home and trying to go back to bed.

Took the fat bike. The snow covered roads weren't in too bad of shape as the snow was very powdery. The temp was 17°F when I left the house, and there was about a 15 mph cross wind. However, because snow wasn't in the forecast I hadn't gotten up as early as I normally would have to ride the fat bike, so I pushed pretty hard to try and still get to work on time. Normally it takes me about an hour to ride the fat bike to the office during the winter. This morning I did it in about 50 minutes, but it completely whipped me. When I arrived all of my clothes, including my socks, were completely drenched in sweat, and it took about 15 minutes for my heart rate to return to normal. I'm definitely not in winter shape yet.
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Old 12-08-21, 01:32 AM
  #374  
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Week shot, at least as far as cycling is concerned. Monday needed truck. Today rode but called home early because 2nd grader got suspended. Tomorrow he needs supervision. This is screwing up work too.
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Old 12-08-21, 02:42 PM
  #375  
noglider 
aka Tom Reingold
 
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
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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

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I've been commuting by bike a little bit! Yay!

I'm in college again, but my class is online, so no need to go to campus. Today I rode to campus to use the library. I also rode to rehearsal last night. Man, I love bike commuting.

These days I'm using Citi Bike or my street fixie. Last night and today, I'm on my fixie. I'm getting used to it once again. It's good for the job because it's reliable, and it was cheap. If it gets stolen or vandalized, it won't be a disaster. It has 74 gear inches which seems just about right for me.

Last night on the way to rehearsal, I nearly got hit three times. I made the mistake of taking 10th Ave in Manhattan in the evening rush hour. It's one of the feeder streets that lead to the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey, one of only three crossings from Manhattan to New Jersey. Drivers were very aggressive. I am normally very assertive and often ride in the middle of a traffic lane. Some SUVs came up from behind me, about to pass me with little or no clearance at all, and the drivers honked at me. I rarely do this, but I veered out of their ways, because they really might have had the nerve to hit me.

I also had another incident on that ride, but I won't discuss it, because I'm trying to let it go. If I got stressed over every annoying thing that happens in NYC traffic, I'd never have a peaceful moment. These events happen often. When people in sparser areas discuss the bad things that happen, I smile, because those are the things that I shrug over.

I won't be taking that route at that time of day again.


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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

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