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2020! The “How was your commute?” thread!

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2020! The “How was your commute?” thread!

Old 11-03-20, 10:10 AM
  #576  
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I have not ridden to work since September when I started driving my kids to school again. But we're having a few unseasonably warm days (after some decidedly unseasonably cold days), so I arranged for my wife to drive the kids to school today, and I rode, just to get one more ride in for the year. Nice and sunny, low winds, and about 3C/37F, with a forecast high of about 15C/60F this afternoon.

Nice to see the regulars here keeping up. I'll check in again in the spring, when @Tundra_Man is up to about 1200.
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Old 11-04-20, 05:09 AM
  #577  
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A late start to the bike commuting week due to rain and winds. A very pleasant commute this am with the temp at 34 f degrees and dark skies. I guess they will be dark skies from now till early March or so. Anyway it was so nice to be able to ride.
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Old 11-05-20, 05:26 AM
  #578  
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A very nice commute to work today, though some of the roads were wet and some were not. I did not think it rained but I could be wrong. Anyway the temp was a warm 44 f degrees this am with dark skies. Light was coming up on the horizon about five minutes before I arrived at work.
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Old 11-05-20, 07:55 AM
  #579  
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pretty nice. I hate daylight savings time though. I would rather ride in the dark in morning traffic is way less. On the way home now its getting dark and its rush hour sucks.
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Old 11-09-20, 07:15 AM
  #580  
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66 this morning! 2nd commute since my subtaral dislocation (don't look it up!). Didn't wear the boot this morning.. went ok but the foot is giving me the finger right now. We'll see how the commute goes after work.
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Old 11-11-20, 05:08 AM
  #581  
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a very nice yet uneventful commute to work this am with the temp at 57 f degrees and again wet roads.
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Old 11-11-20, 08:23 AM
  #582  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1078:

We got 5" of snow yesterday. For whatever reason, the city opted not to plow the streets. The snow was kind of wet, and by this morning the temp had dropped to 16F which turned all the streets and MUP into an icy rutted mess.

I rode the fat bike, making sure to take corners very gingerly to avoid hitting the ground. I did have the bike slide out from me once, but I was going so slow that I easily caught myself from going down. It took me 50 minutes to go the 4 miles to the client's office.

About a mile from the office I encountered the Parks & Rec truck coming the opposite direction as they attempted to plow the MUP. By this point, however, the ice was pretty well established so their blade didn't do a whole lot. I guess it's the thought that counts.

Saw three huge owls in a tree, so that was pretty cool.

It's Veteran's Day and the client is closed today. The company I work for is open, which means I'm the only person working in this big building. Kind of nice actually, as there shouldn't be any interruptions to getting work done. As I arrived in the underground parking garage where the bike rack is, I noticed a hose coiled up against the wall. I seized the opportunity to rinse off all the road salt and muck from my bike without worry of spraying other people's cars.
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Old 11-12-20, 11:15 AM
  #583  
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Originally Posted by Tundra_Man
About a mile from the office I encountered the Parks & Rec truck coming the opposite direction as they attempted to plow the MUP. By this point, however, the ice was pretty well established so their blade didn't do a whole lot. I guess it's the thought that counts.
Ha! In college (Purdue, late 90's) the grounds crew started clearing the snow at 8 but the first big lectures were at 7:30. The crew had a big rotating brush instead of a plow, it polished the packed snow very nicely
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Old 11-13-20, 07:06 AM
  #584  
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27 degrees this morning. But somehow I managed to be hot, oops too many layers and a lack of wind. Got the heated insoles out and just enough juice to last the trip. Commuted 4 days this week and don't see why I can't commute all 5 days. Funny I can cycle just fine but I can barely walk lol
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Old 11-23-20, 09:19 AM
  #585  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1086:

With the Covid levels spiking again, last week they sent us back home and told us to plan working remotely "at least through the end of the year." I'm guessing it will be longer. I'm still getting up early, riding to the office and riding back home every morning before I start my work day, but it's going to be a real challenge to motivate myself to do that all winter. We've had some snowy days already, and some temps in the low teens and it was tough to force myself to ride when I didn't really have to. Once winter gets into full swing I'm going to have to dig deep to keep it up day after day. Usually by March I'm getting pretty tired of winter riding, but keep doing it because I don't have any other way to get to the office. It will be interesting to see if I can persevere when I no longer have that built-in motivation.

23F this morning, but no snow or ice so I took the road bike. I had a dental appointment at 7 AM, so riding there and back home was my commute. It was pretty much the same distance as the client's office. It felt colder than 23F for some reason, maybe because of the wind.

Had a guy roll down his window and scream at me to "get the **** out of the way." Of course, he waited until I had just turned left onto a side street and yelled as he continued on going straight. Coward.

Here's my latest commuting compilation video:

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Old 11-23-20, 08:33 PM
  #586  
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Got all kids into their assorted daycares this afternoon, and rode the bike to work. Discovered on arriving at 3 I'd forgotten my keys - went home and got keys and truck. But hey, rode to work!

Once again wacked out GPS

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Old 11-24-20, 12:07 AM
  #587  
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Not totally commuting related. I lost my backpack last week due to an unfortunate incident with a careless memory and a park bench. My preschoolers created a diversion.

Just bought a new pack and some stuff to put in it. Pack, tire levers, multi tool, and sealant. With the REI sale it came to just over $100 and with my dividend it came to... $7. They don't make the Blowfish any more and it's jet black anyhow, so I chose a M.U.L.E. and a Crank Bros F-15. Still need to find a Stan's Dart in stock. A few things like pump and my other stem remover were in my frame bag, so I can make do. Probably the worst loss was my light. Dunno how shipping from HK is right now... Only sentimental loss was my Dad's Sierra Cup which never got used anyhow since I don't go for long dog walks any more. Forgot to add quick link and need to get a cheapie Leatherman knockoff from the hardware store
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Old 11-24-20, 08:05 AM
  #588  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
Once again wacked out GPS

Just for reference, the idea behind tri is that you swim and THEN get on your bike. I don't think you're supposed to ride your bike out into the river.

Is there an underpass, large buildings, or heavy tree cover where the GPS goes haywire?
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Old 11-26-20, 11:25 AM
  #589  
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I've already made cookies and cranberry sauce. Turkey and stock will start around lunchtime, fixings need the turkey fat so they get done at dinner time.

I got another ride in yesterday. I couldn't tell you what's causing it. Just the same old iphone GPS in the same old hip pocket.


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Old 11-27-20, 05:56 PM
  #590  
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First bike ride in the city

Rode for the first time in a major city and it ended up saving me 5 minutes of walking because I was so scared the entire time that I rode at walking speed 😂
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Old 11-30-20, 08:04 AM
  #591  
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1089:

Back on the bike after four days off. It was really tempting to just throw in the towel this morning and not ride, but I forced myself to do it. Even a mile and a half into it I found myself thinking, "I should just turn around and ride back home and call it quits." I didn't succumb to that temptation, though, and pushed through.

Cold this morning at 12F, but the sun was out (once it came up) and there was no wind. Did my typical "work from home" commute where I rode to the office and then turned around and rode back home. 8.52 miles total. My toes were pretty frigid by the time I got to the house.

Took the road bike, as there's currently no snow or ice on ground. About a mile from home I noticed that both of my brifters stopped functioning in the direction that would slacken the cables (shifting to the smaller ring/cogs.) I'm guessing the cables were freezing up so they weren't sliding freely in the housing. That's the first time I've ever had this happen on this bike. This effectively gave me a single speed for the final hilly part of my commute.
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Old 11-30-20, 08:30 PM
  #592  
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Today we were supposed to get rain, more or less all day. But I left early, got to the station 5:10 Am before the rain started, which is what matters.

And when I got off the train, 6:15 AM, it still wasn't raining, so I got to my office dry. Not that important, but I like it. :

True, I got pretty wet when I went out to get my breakfast, 8:00, so I know it rained. Nonetheless, it wasn't raining when I left for the station at 3:50 PM. Got on the train dry. That's how I like it.

And when I got off the train, still no rain. The sun had only just gone down, the sky was completely black, the air was warm and humid, and the wind was blowing straight toward home. I barely had to pedal for the first two miles. So far, all in all, a pretty good day for commuting.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking when there was a flash of light, bright light, and then I saw a bolt of lightning come down and hit the horizon right in front of me. I just happened to be looking right at it for once, and I distinctly saw it come down from the sky; and a few seconds later (not nearly as many as I'd have liked) the sound began, ripping through the sky above me, moving toward where I saw the bolt, followed by a deep boom. Cool, I thought, and maybe I should put on my rain jacket now... or just pedal a little faster, I'm almost home.

About two minutes after that, the sky just opened up. It didn't take a half mile from when I saw the first raindrops until I felt the water coming through my nylon windbreaker and my two layers of cotton and I felt that cold wed drippy feeling. Not actually cold, just wet. At this point I turned onto a rather busy two lane road, so I was way over by the curb, riding through standing water most of the time, puddles up to six inches occasionally. A lot of the storm drains got clogged with leaves pretty fast, so there was a lot of random crap floating down the side of the street, which is where I was riding. By the time I got home (and my commute is only 4.4 miles now!) I was utterly sopping wet. I couldn't have got wetter by swimming. Well, okay, a little bit maybe. That is, when I took off my shoes I poured a quarter cup of water out of each one. If I'd been swimming, that'd be a third of a cup.

Just after the rain started in earnest, my headlight (dynamo hub with nice LED units front and back) flickered and went off. I yelled obscenities at it and jerked the front wheel off the ground a couple times, coming down with a resounding splat each time, to show it I wasn't in a mood to be gentle to unreliable bike components, and it came back on. Miraculously it stayed on all the way home.
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Old 11-30-20, 09:53 PM
  #593  
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It was in the low 20's this morning on my commute to work. Had enough layers on which keep my body and legs warm but I needed shoe booties and/or thermal socks because my toes were frozen. It will be in the high teens in the morning so I have that to look forward too.
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Old 12-01-20, 07:34 AM
  #594  
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Not a bad ride

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Old 12-01-20, 07:48 AM
  #595  
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About the same as yesterday minus the good tale wind. Tried my first attempt at using the GoPro yesterday. Uploaded the full video to YouTube.. might be kinda long and boring but the next ones will just be highlights.

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Old 12-01-20, 08:12 AM
  #596  
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Originally Posted by Darth Lefty
I got another ride in yesterday. I couldn't tell you what's causing it. Just the same old iphone GPS in the same old hip pocket.
I think your iphone is trying to make sure you'll never be able to make a warranty claim. You know you're not supposed to take it swimming, right?

Originally Posted by rhm
Just after the rain started in earnest, my headlight (dynamo hub with nice LED units front and back) flickered and went off. I yelled obscenities at it and jerked the front wheel off the ground a couple times, coming down with a resounding splat each time, to show it I wasn't in a mood to be gentle to unreliable bike components, and it came back on. Miraculously it stayed on all the way home.
Interesting, you must have shaken some water loose inside something. I've never seen anything like that on my dyno systems, but I think I'd find a place to keep that bike indoors (instead of the garage) for a day or so to try and dry everything out.
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Old 12-01-20, 09:37 AM
  #597  
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Originally Posted by esmith2039
About the same as yesterday minus the good tale wind. Tried my first attempt at using the GoPro yesterday. Uploaded the full video to YouTube.. might be kinda long and boring but the next ones will just be highlights.
Pretty cool. I ran it at 2x speed, which kept it interesting. I also did a little Googling to figure out where you were at once you hit Central Ave, and from there I could follow along on a map. I've been to several places right by your commute (Kemper Arena, Central Station, WWI Memorial, Crown Center, etc.) so I'm somewhat familiar with the area, which made it more fun to watch.
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Old 12-01-20, 10:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Tundra_Man
Pretty cool. I ran it at 2x speed, which kept it interesting. I also did a little Googling to figure out where you were at once you hit Central Ave, and from there I could follow along on a map. I've been to several places right by your commute (Kemper Arena, Central Station, WWI Memorial, Crown Center, etc.) so I'm somewhat familiar with the area, which made it more fun to watch.
Cool learned something new, didn't know about the 2x! I used to drive thru these areas alot but riding the bike at 12mph you really get to experience I think.Thanks for watching!
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Old 12-01-20, 01:12 PM
  #599  
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I should have gone in yesterday but instead spent two hours looking for my badge... Today, dropped off kid at school and littles at daycare, took the van home and got out the bike. Got halfway to work and realized I forgot my keys. Got a new badge when I finally made it in. So that's a 1.5x commute today.
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Old 12-02-20, 05:34 AM
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I was finally able to ride again. It was a cool 36 f degrees on my ride in today and the roads were dry. There was an almost full moon with no clouds, so pretty. I took winter route today, which is the most direct route. At least I was out riding.
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