The daily "I cycled to work" thread
Discussion
m444ttb said:
Is anyone else lucky enough that their commute time and direction is setting them up perfectly to be blinded both to and from work? Yet sunglasses make everything else too dark. Grumble grumble grumble... :P
Yes. On the way in heading east down Holburn it's bad and on the same street going west on the way back it's even worse. I can see the square root of f
k all at times.
Got ill last week so had a few days of driving, and I was on holiday for a week before. Its done me some good having only commuted once in the last 10 days I think. Not from a physical point of view but from a mental one. The same crappy route day in day out gets a bit tiresome.
I woke up looking forward to my ride in this morning even with it drizzling and me still coughing.
I woke up looking forward to my ride in this morning even with it drizzling and me still coughing.
m444ttb said:
Is anyone else lucky enough that their commute time and direction is setting them up perfectly to be blinded both to and from work? Yet sunglasses make everything else too dark. Grumble grumble grumble... :P
A number of times I have felt blessed that I live to the East of my office. I pretty much always have the sun on my back. (But rarely the wind, it seems.)First commute in today after my crash the week before last.
Having destroyed my best bike, I was back on the old £200 2nd hand 2009 Allez which I moth-balled back in May. I felt a bit nervous in the traffic, but happily it was uneventful!
I probably can't do the full commute any more really because if I wait until it's light enough to contemplate the unlit single track country roads, it's quite late when I get to the office, I made an exception today because I didn't want my last commute of the year to have been a disaster because generally the experience I've had since April has been overwhelmingly positive. I am a Southern Railway season ticket holder, so perhaps easily pleased!
Having destroyed my best bike, I was back on the old £200 2nd hand 2009 Allez which I moth-balled back in May. I felt a bit nervous in the traffic, but happily it was uneventful!
I probably can't do the full commute any more really because if I wait until it's light enough to contemplate the unlit single track country roads, it's quite late when I get to the office, I made an exception today because I didn't want my last commute of the year to have been a disaster because generally the experience I've had since April has been overwhelmingly positive. I am a Southern Railway season ticket holder, so perhaps easily pleased!
idiotgap said:
First commute in today after my crash the week before last.
Having destroyed my best bike, I was back on the old £200 2nd hand 2009 Allez which I moth-balled back in May. I felt a bit nervous in the traffic, but happily it was uneventful!
I probably can't do the full commute any more really because if I wait until it's light enough to contemplate the unlit single track country roads, it's quite late when I get to the office, I made an exception today because I didn't want my last commute of the year to have been a disaster because generally the experience I've had since April has been overwhelmingly positive. I am a Southern Railway season ticket holder, so perhaps easily pleased!
Get bright lights, then you can ride the unlit lanes?Having destroyed my best bike, I was back on the old £200 2nd hand 2009 Allez which I moth-balled back in May. I felt a bit nervous in the traffic, but happily it was uneventful!
I probably can't do the full commute any more really because if I wait until it's light enough to contemplate the unlit single track country roads, it's quite late when I get to the office, I made an exception today because I didn't want my last commute of the year to have been a disaster because generally the experience I've had since April has been overwhelmingly positive. I am a Southern Railway season ticket holder, so perhaps easily pleased!
Glad ride went ok though
TwistingMyMelon said:
Get bright lights, then you can ride the unlit lanes?
Glad ride went ok though
I do have a powerful light, it's not being able to see that concerns me. I had great fun on the Dun Run this year. I just think I'd be very exposed out by myself in dark and might just get wiped out.Glad ride went ok though
Maybe I'll try it one day and see how I get on.
Start of week two with the new commuting bike After 10 years on my dutch clunker (3 speeds, 20+kg weight, brakes that don't etc etc) I decided I'd saved enough on tram tickets and/or petrol to justify a new bike.
After far too much, in depth research I ended up with a Canyon Commuter 6.0 which is their commuter-specific geometry and parts but without the wacky frameset of the more expensive versions. Essentially, I had decided that I wanted a belt drive (cleaner, less maintenance) and dynamo hubs (with great lights) as well as a decent set of gears and mudguards/rack. The Canyon was the only bike with everything I wanted in a decent light(ish)weight package for sensible money.
Whilst the likes of Cube, Cannondale etc sell nice bikes with belt-drive, they were all either too heavy, too expensive or required subsequent mounting of mudguards/panniers/lights.
The bike rides a bit like my mountainbike but nippier, very quick acceleration, and wonderful in traffic. The disc brakes are good (although nothing like as awesome as the Hopes on my mountainbike) and the 11-speed hub shifts easily. The carbon forks and Al frame, combined with a rather swanky suspension-y carbon seatpost take out the worst of the cobbles and grave I mostly ride on and the Schwalbe Kojaks seep pretty fast (although yet to try them in wet/slippery conditions).
Plus I think it looks awesome
After 10 years on my dutch clunker (3 speeds, 20+kg weight, brakes that don't etc etc) I decided I'd saved enough on tram tickets and/or petrol to justify a new bike.After far too much, in depth research I ended up with a Canyon Commuter 6.0 which is their commuter-specific geometry and parts but without the wacky frameset of the more expensive versions. Essentially, I had decided that I wanted a belt drive (cleaner, less maintenance) and dynamo hubs (with great lights) as well as a decent set of gears and mudguards/rack. The Canyon was the only bike with everything I wanted in a decent light(ish)weight package for sensible money.
Whilst the likes of Cube, Cannondale etc sell nice bikes with belt-drive, they were all either too heavy, too expensive or required subsequent mounting of mudguards/panniers/lights.
The bike rides a bit like my mountainbike but nippier, very quick acceleration, and wonderful in traffic. The disc brakes are good (although nothing like as awesome as the Hopes on my mountainbike) and the 11-speed hub shifts easily. The carbon forks and Al frame, combined with a rather swanky suspension-y carbon seatpost take out the worst of the cobbles and grave I mostly ride on and the Schwalbe Kojaks seep pretty fast (although yet to try them in wet/slippery conditions).
Plus I think it looks awesome
idiotgap said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
Get bright lights, then you can ride the unlit lanes?
Glad ride went ok though
I do have a powerful light, it's not being able to see that concerns me. I had great fun on the Dun Run this year. I just think I'd be very exposed out by myself in dark and might just get wiped out.Glad ride went ok though
Maybe I'll try it one day and see how I get on.
Last 2 years I carried on through winter, 2 x lights each end and all is good
On the unlit back lanes I find it fine, its easier when it is quiet as I can run the lights at full beam and see everthing, when you get the odd car i dip them which is a pain. The roads I use are quiet straight , so a car can see me from a fair way off. I skip the main a road and ride down a gravel track which is a bit errie and no one about. The B road is a pain, as people can pass close, so I try and avoid and go a longer way through Swindon Town centre
I guess it vdepends on the roads you use, but I found winter not half as bad as I use to think it would be, plus it is a lot more of a challenge .
Running big tyres helps as you cant pick out potholes and the such
You could argue that it is easier to spot a cyclist with bright lights and high viz on an unlit road than it is on a lit road with nothing on them
timnoyce said:
Yeah, I have done once a week for the last month! It's uplifting actually and the getting up gets easier! I've got a tight work and family schedule so fitting in long rides is pretty much impossible at conventional times. The dawn raid is great... quiet roads, great sunrises and a sense of satisfaction for the rest of the day!
Just twigged we've a mutual friend who you rode revolve with, Trevor. troc said:
I ended up with a Canyon Commuter 6.0. ...very quick acceleration, and wonderful in traffic....carbon forks and Al frame, combined with a rather swanky suspension-y carbon seatpost take out the worst of the cobbles and grave I mostly ride on a.
Plus I think it looks awesome
I'd never heard of these but that actually looks like a perfect spec for a city commuter.Plus I think it looks awesome
Looks amazing too.
AC43 said:
I'd never heard of these but that actually looks like a perfect spec for a city commuter.
Looks amazing too.
It's lovely Looks amazing too.
Only gripe is that it's set up Euro-style (because I ordered it in and had it delivered to the Netherlands) so the brakes are the wrong way around - combine this with the fact it's practically silent when riding on tarmac and I've had a couple of whoopsie moments when emergency braking with the wrong wheel on bends and stuff (biking in Holland, especially during the morning commute is a free-for-all a bit like the Pamplona bull-run, bloody good fun but you really need to watch out!).Huntsman said:
Bit damp this morning. I timed it for the first time since I started. I was taking 30 mins, today was 26 mins.
Damp roads lead to reduced rolling resistance, so it should be easier for you to go faster. The other 3:57 benefit is all you though! 
Winter bike for me this morning, the winter training starts now. (It's a heavy old beast.)
TwistingMyMelon said:
You could argue that it is easier to spot a cyclist with bright lights and high viz on an unlit road than it is on a lit road with nothing on them
Absolutely. You're far easier spotted against a dark background, and it's far easier to hear, see and anticipate traffic on a quiet back road where you can see lights and hear engines from a good way away.My old commute was 2-3 miles at each end in traffic with 7 or 8 in the middle through quiet country lanes and I considered them relief from the stress of the start/end.
I cycled home half way last night taking me from the city to Croydon in the light. I got a Southern Railway train home from there but was turfed off one stop from home due to a broken down train.
I couldn't take my bike on the replacement bus service so I had little choice but to take the dark country roads 5 miles or so back. It wasn't as bad as I expected but I didn't feel comfortable. I only had my city be-seen lights with me.
I might give it a go all the way when I get my proper front light back from the mate that's borrowed it.
I couldn't take my bike on the replacement bus service so I had little choice but to take the dark country roads 5 miles or so back. It wasn't as bad as I expected but I didn't feel comfortable. I only had my city be-seen lights with me.
I might give it a go all the way when I get my proper front light back from the mate that's borrowed it.
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