Saw something new today. The path wasn’t very crowded, but I came up behind a guy and said “on your left.” No reaction. He was on a bike, steering with one hand, and that hand had a plastic grocery bag wrapped around his wrist. So I had to slow down to his speed anyway. As I made my way past him, I discovered that he was talking on his cell phone.
Nice. And scary. :eek:
Sweating is never a problem for me. Mostly because I very rarely sweat. And it is almost always cool here in the mornings.
Pump your tires up every morning and keep your chain lubed up. I have clipless pedals so I also keep those lubed.
I keep a couple of pairs of shoes at work so I have a little less weight in my backpack. A simple brown or tan pair and a black pair.
I’m a member of our local cycling coalition. If there is one in your area, I highly recommend joining and if they offer classes, definitely take them. Ours offers a few like bike maint. and street skills and are pretty helpful for all levels of cyclists.
Preach it brotha! ON YOUR LEFT <crickets chirping>
A very long section of the bike path I take in every day is actually two separate paths. One pedestrian, one bikes. Guess where the majority of joggers with iPods run? Them and the dog walkers with 12 foot leashes need to get run over. By someone else preferably.
As far as what I have at work, I find that it’s nice to have a spare floor pump here. Nothing is worse than riding a low tire. It feels like you are dragging an anchor, and it gives you a much better chance at getting a flat. I have a spare pair of clothing and underwear, just in case I space out and forget anything or get wet. (I space out more often).
The clipped bike peddles scare me. Bike crashes happen really insanely fast, and I have saved myself from impact several times by the fact that I am able to dismount fast. I’d rather not give a shit about the added oomph it gives me if I have to break my arm again.
I’ve put over 6,000 mile on in the last two years, and I never wipe my bike down. I just use lots of dry lube, and store it where it stays dry. It’s not a pretty bike. It’s a commuter’s bike.
Too often I’ve been experiencing “On Your Left!” and then they move left !!!
Duh!
I’m going to get a good old bicycle bell - maybe that’ll be better.
…and if you fasten your feet to the pedals, I’ll emphasize the practice, practice, practice part. I don’t use them but I can say it’s really funny to be following a bicyclist, watch them come to a stop at a traffic light, and see them fall over neatly because they couldn’t unclip in time. TIMBER !
FWIW, you can unclip faster than you can pull your feet out of toe clips. That said, in the absence of hills, you can get by fine without either.
May I ask where you got those? I’ve been looking for something like that for my road bike.
Thanks!
ETA: never mind, I read the rest of the thread and found a link…
sorry! :smack:
My wife has ridden to work for 15 years on plain old flat pedals. She has had some hilly commutes too.
On the other hand I love my downhill style spd’s.
For several years I used pedals that were clips for track bikes. Those were really cool.
Eh, I’m not a joiner. I’ve no interest in joining a bike club where everybody is a “serious” biker. I wanna keep the fun aspect, and I have to admit, bike shops and bike groups are really unfriendly around here.
I’m not sold on the clipless pedals though I did look at a bunch of shoes today and got the idea. My SO has them for his bike, so I’m thinking maybe I could try them out first…it won’t be the most comfortable thing, but his feet are not huge, and I can wear a couple of pairs of socks and I’ll at least get the idea before I buy it. I mean in my backyard, not for real.
I did buy my first pair of gel gloves today…pearl izumi. My previous pair was just a plain old non-gel glove. I wanted to buy the ergo saddle but none of them had it in stock but one. I’ll go back tomorrow and get it.
I made my own panniers - they cost me ten bucks. Army Surplus musette bags (Danish army, I think) joined together strap to strap, secured with the spring of a Pletscher rack and bungeed to the bottom.
They’re reasonably waterproof - treated canvas. You can easily double bag.
Of course, this is on the ass end of an old Raleigh. It would look like crap on many other bikes.