I commute by bike. In that guide it mentions the danger of the doors of parked cars suddenly opening in front of you. I second this - it happened to me yesterday. I managed to swerve around it but it hit me in the midriff and the bottom of the door caught my shin.
It didn’t knock me off but it bumped me into the road into the path of cars coming up behind me. Fortunately it was a slow road and the car behind me stopped. All I’ve got is a swollen and bloodied shin but it could have all ended so differently.
It’s amazing that people open their car doors without looking properly in the wing mirror to see what’s coming up behind them, but they do and as a cyclist you have to take account of the dumbest common denominator on the road.
I don’t have any roads that have parked cars on them on my commute, actually.Well, lemme take that back.
I drive up the street near my house, which is a residential are - it has parked cars, but I can pretty much drive up the middle of the street.
Then I make a left onto Central Avenue. Major two-lane road. No parked cars.
Then I make a right into Colonie Mall, and ride through the mall, rather than taking the big turn onto Wolf Road - it’s a very busy turn, with lots of traffic straight off the highway.
At the end of the mall, I turn back onto Wolf Road. Another major two-lane road. No parked cars.
When I can, I make a left into the office parking lot.
So thankfully I can avoid that particular problem at least.
Do all you people who bike to work have a shower there or something? I can’t imagine sitting in my office all day smelling like a field hand. Of course, here in the DC area, you’ll smell like a field hand after walking from your door to your car at 6:30 in the morning, anyway.
Sweat is just dilute salt water. If you shower before you leave, you can just dry off at work and you shouldn’t have a problem. If you’re really concerned use a lightly scented body powder. When I used to ride to work, I didn’t need to worry as I worked beverage delivery and spent the whole day outside sweating.
I just wanted to add my voice to those suggesting running with daytime lights - the biggest danger for bicycling IMNSHO is the car/truck driver who doesn’t see you. So anything you can add to raise your visibility is a good thing. Even the headlight.
No shower, but I find it’s not that bad. My sweat doesn’t smell bad. When I get into work, I change my clothes & shoes, and wash my face in the bathroom. (I don’t wear makeup). I make sure to wear plenty of deodorant, etc., and honestly, it’s worth it to me for the exercise and the gas savings.
For the longest time I was worried about the shower thing, but someone else in another thread pointed out they don’t, so I just take a second, quick shower when I get home. It’s not that hot in the mornings anyway.
We have a shower. An alternative, to which I might resort depending on the office building we move to in a few months, is to join a health club within “I won’t sweat enough to stink” range of your office. Or, take a sponge bath in an appropriate facility, I suppose.
I hate health clubs. I HATE HEALTH CLUBS. They may be OK for some people but I find I twitch at the least thought.
Seriously, I don’t sweat that much in the three miles, and the AC is run high at work, so after I wash my face, I just sit in the AC - fresh clothes help - and pretty soon I cool down.
One thing to consider, different people sweat, and stink, at different rates. I start to stink when I get out of the shower. If I don’t shower after biking everyone will notice. Other people can put in a double shift as a lumberjack, and you’ll never notice their B.O.
Not everyone who rides to work will work up enough of a sweat to matter. And not all of those who do work up a sweat will stink from it.
I just pack a small towel and keep an extra stick of deodorant by my desk. If you take a shower before you go, you’re not that likely to stink after a 30-minute ride if you change as soon as you arrive. After ten minutes sitting under the air conditioner, you wouldn’t be able to pick me out of a lineup as the one who rode to work.
My cycling clothes do get pretty stale smelling, however. I keep them outside to air out so they don’t grow fungus, but they’re still not great. When I get home I immediately put the clothes in the laundry and take a shower.
I would vote for clipless pedals before toe clips. I have ridden with people that got their foot caught in a toe clip and a traffic light and went down hard. (Knee injury)
With clipless you will fall 1-3 times as you learn. I suggest that people learn on a sidewalk with a lawn next to it. Come to a stop. if you don’t get unclipped in time, you fall on the lawn.
As far as bike clothes go, both Nashbar and Performance Bike have larger women sizes ( I saw a pair of XXL shorts at Performance) unfortunately you can’t sort by size.
For rain wear, you want something that breathes. Vinyl is no good, Gore-tex is wonderful.
I ride to work a few times a week, I have no shower at work. I shower beforehand, and use Gold Bond Powder before I put on my bike clothes. When I get to work, I use a towel to dry off and then I change. No smell issues.
I agree with Rick re clipless. Once I started using them, it was a revelation from which I have no intention of retreating.
It’s not really about power on the upstroke, although that’s a common fallacy. See here:
Another thing not mentioned here is that clipless shoes have a completely (or nearly completely) rigid sole, which feels better and presumably results in better power transfer. That’s not a feature of clipless as such, of course, but it is something you won’t find outside of cycling shoes.
You can get clipless shoes in which the cleat is recessed into the sole so that you can walk in them easily. Some of them even look like ordinary shoes.
Don’t go for some highly rigid purist road system in which the cleat is so large you can’t walk to and from your bike, and you have no freedom of movement while clipped in: they are for serious road spiders.
Go for something much more basic and user friendly. I use the Shimano SPD mountain bike system but there are several out there.
Toe clips are a pain to get into, and nowhere near as comfortable.
I have an old steel framed Trek that commutes about the same distance as you every working day, rain, hail or shine. It’s done that for 12 years now and it has no corrosion worth speaking of (although admittedly it doesn’t rain as much here). Wipe it down? You’ve gotta be kidding me. If you have to do that after every rainy ride, it will start to impinge upon your willingness to ride. Just lube the chain when the rain washes it off.
They just renovated one floor in my office building, and put in showers. I’ve started riding to work for the last couple weeks. It’s about 8.5 miles on the way in, and I’m dripping by the time I get there. It’s a great route, though; it’s about a mile down to the Charles River, and then it’s bike paths along the shore all the way[sup]*[/sup]. I take a different route home, so it’s about 20 miles a day. Feels good so far.
When I got my bike, I tried road shoes. Maybe they’re a tiny bit more efficient, but I had to pack my sneakers with me everywhere. Even to go into a convenience store for a Gatorade, walking on that linoleum is taking your life in your hands. Or feet, whatever. I’ve got mountain bike shoes now, with the recessed cleat, and at least I can walk. I’m still packing my shoes and a change of clothes, but I’m going to get a pair of street shoes to just leave at the office.
It’s not perfect. There are places where the paving needs work, or it’s too narrow. And I could start a Pit thread about the people walking in the middle of the path with their earbuds cranked up to 11.
I don’t mind wiping my bike down. Not at all. Actually, riding to work almost seems like cheating. It’s a sinfully easy way to exercise, and most of all, it’s fun. Very few types of exercise are actually fun!
I haven’t yet decided on the clip shoes. I wish there was some place I could go try them and see it they were for me. I am definitely a casual biker and don’t want to spend money on them if I’m going to end up hating them.
Nashbar has larger sizes? I couldn’t find anything on their website. I wil try!
Yeah, Rick, I shower in the morning, too. BTW, I don’t know if I ever thanked you for diagnosing my car over the Internet. It was indeed the wheel bearing. It cost me a lot, but it was in pretty bad shape. Thanks!
Thanks for the info, folks! I’ve always wondered exactly how people who bike to work here in Sweaty McSwampland manage.
I’m still not keen on doing it, though. I don’t really stink when I sweat after having a shower, but my hair gets all yucky from that and the helmet. Besides, I’m well served by public transport and my commute is pretty green, as far as that goes.
Also, my oldest son has now gotten big enough to ride with me, and we’re starting to take rides after work or after dinner, and I find that to be a pretty good deal, other than trying to keep up with him .
I fourth or fifth the clipless pedals. (BTW, the reason they are called clipless is that bicyclists could not free their feet from the clips used in velodromes, back in the day.) I bought a road bike used from a friend, without pedals. I took my clipless off my MTB and put them onthe road bike, and put bear claws with toe clips that I borrowed from another friend, and put them on my MTB. I much prefer the clipless. The easiest way to learn to get them on and off is to have your SO hold your bike on and practice. At first, I would almost panic getting them off, but really, my biggest problem was getting into them.
One thing I do, that I haven’t seen here, is I drive maybe one day a week to take a lot of stuff in, especially anything heavy. I usually bring clothes for a week, and a lot of food. (I regularly ride my bike to swim early in the morning, and eat after I get to work. I also snack a lot - the last time I drove I brought in a 3lb bag of almonds and a 5 lb bag of walnuts.)
I wear nothing but technical shirts when I ride. They always dry by the end of the day.
I also drive once a week. The rest of the time, I just carry a backpack back and forth. I bring my change of clothes & shoes for the day in the backpack.
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