There’s always other riders/pedestrians/ that it might do good for.
My kit is in my manbag rather than on bike, it’s useful to have at track or XC practice. (Part of my coaching requirements is current first aid/CPR training).
Yike!
My cat must have walked over the keyboard! (she does this a lot-- it’s attention-seeking), and I didn’t notice.
Can a mod either edit, or open the post again for me to edit?
A small saddle bag of tube/patches/levers/CO2 & a multitool & whatever fits in my jersey pockets, which includes food, phone & money/ID for a regular ride; overstuffing bars & maybe an extra tube & CO2 for a long ride, w/ pump in on the bike for me.
We were doing a standby at a race one time when a woman comes up & asked for a Band-Aid. My partner told her we didn’t have any. She was incredulous that an ambulance didn’t have a Band-Aid; how did we do first aid w/o Band-Aids, blah-blah-blah. My partner politely informed her that most people in need of just a Band-Aid don’t call 911 for an ambulance & therefore, we didn’t carry then but if she wanted a 4"x4" gauze or a trauma dressing we would be happy to assist her but that was probably way overkill for her little cut.
My post never said it was a bad thing to have, just that if I only needed a Band-Aid or something to clean out a cut I would be at the end of my commute quickly enough that I didn’t see the need for carrying that with me all the time & that if I have an injury bad enough that it needs treatment right then & there it’s probably more than couple of Band-Aid’s worth of cuts/scrapes.
Now when I was a bike medic, we had everything between a two-person team that was in a BLS ambulance except for the stretcher - O2, AED, & first-aid/trauma supplies while other departments were certified for ALS/paramedic bike units had even more than we did - O2, heart monitor, all ALS drugs & IV setups, intubation kit, & first-aid/trauma supplies; the proverbial 10 lbs in 5 lb panniers!
I don’t think that we’re able to re-open it for you to edit (or at least, if we can, I don’t know how), and I’m not entirely sure what you meant to type. If you PM me, I can fix it.
Honestly that’s my thought too.
I do always carry band-aids, but that’s my on-my-person everywhere carry, not specific to biking.
I had a rim/tire combo that started giving me trouble and baby powder fixed it. Never had an issue with Gatorskins since.
I did my dry run of the route to work.
The first leg is a back road that has a wide asphalt sidewalk where bikes are allowed. I cross the highway, and the bike/sidewalk is there with “walk” lights that apply to bikes on the sidewalk.
After I cross the highway, I turn onto one of the “rails-to-trails” routes here-- a wide paved route where bikes, pedestrians, and small vehicles with electric motors are allowed (no gas engines). It’s called the Nickelback Trail, and I ride this several miles. I cross the White River here.
Then I pull on to 116th St. It is a major street, but is has a bike lane. I was doing 17 - 21.7 mph the whole time.
Next is the Monon Trail, another “rails-to-trails.” You can actually rent a bike or electric scooter here, and there’s a station with a bathroom and a place to refill water bottles, and a vending machine with sports drinks. There’s also one with trail mix and protein bars, and granola bars.
Last leg is short, and it’s short stretches of roads near the synagogue. Most of the hills are here. Bike lanes again.
1hr. 20 minutes.
Was not winded at the end, although my thigh muscles were a little sore.
My blood sugar was pretty low, and probably should have drunk something along the way besides plain water.
Took an Uber home, one of the big ones, so it could fit a bike. Original plan was to get a meal somewhere, and rest about 2hrs, and go back, but my sugar didn’t come up like it should have after eating-- should have been 90 - 100, and it was 79.
Was going to try biking Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple of weeks, and work up to Mon, Wed, Fri, and hope to eventually get to every day, but it has rained this week so far.
Sounds like a great route well-suited to e-biking. What’s the total mileage?
Shame about the weather, but if it was ideal every day you just know you’d be sorely tempted to ride every day. And injure something.
Impressive. I cycle commute semi regularly and (includes stoplights but still) I typically average 14 to 15 for the ten miles each way. Depending on which direction (one is slightly increase in elevation) and wind. Average moving speed usually 15 to 16.
You are fast! Or I am slow.
Is your bike an e-bike like hers?
It also seems her route is largely devoid of needing to stop. Traffic lights and even stop signs destroy the average speed of any journey regardless of vehicle.
I missed she was riding an e bike!
In that case I feel less inadequate! I had a longer ride a few weeks back to my dentist appointment. More like 20 each way. A good portion on a bike path. Really frustrating this guy on an e-bike flying past me, smoking a cigarette, not pedaling at all.
In her other threads about buying the bike, and to her great credit, she said she wanted one she had to pedal, not just sit still and let the bike do all the work like a wimpy e-motorcycle. So she was indeed working on that ride.
Unlike me on my throttle-equipped e-bike wimpy e-motorcycle that is never pedaled except to accelerate from a standstill.
Wow, I’m jealous of that route.
That’s funny-- the throttle is what I use to get going from a standstill. Otherwise, I use it only to accelerate very quickly through an long intersection. Otherwise, I’m pedaling. I keep the pedal assist mostly on 2; 3 uphill, and down a gear or 2 (it has 7).
It’s a bike, though, no doubt about that. It looks like one, and you have to pedal to get any range or speed out of it. If you just throttled all the time, you’d get an initial speed of about 12mph, but it would slow down to about 6, and use up the battery in 20 miles. If you pedal, and keep the pedal assist mostly at 2, or 1, you can get 50 miles.
Congrats! Sounds like a safe and bike-friendly route for the most part. Rule of thumb is to drink before you’re thirsty and eat before you’re hungry - this is good advice for everyone during activity and not just those watching sugar levels. So, maybe take a quick break somewhere pretty in the middle at around the 30-45 minute mark to eat a snack and wash it down with a few swigs from your water bottle. Also, like any new activity, it will take a few times to get things dialed-in - be patient with yourself and stick with it and this will become routine for you. And, the more you ride the less shocking riding will be on your body, and soreness wont be an issue - your body gets used to it. Have fun! Sounds like you are well on your way!
Wow. My e-bike is an elderly second-hand POS that originally came from Costco IIRC. So certainly nothing to brag about. With draggy mountain bike tires to boot.
On pure throttle w no pedal it tops out at about 23mph no-wind. With favorable wind I’ve seen 25. Here in SoFL it’s a day’s car drive to the nearest hill, so slope simply isn’t a factor. At full throttle / full speed it’ll go about 40 miles on a charge. Or it did when the battery was new; Now it’s more like 20 and I expect I’ll need a new battery (or whole bike) soon.
It’s better to take small sips regularly than stop & take large gulps so its not sloshing in your stomach
Everyone I ride with eats while still on the bike; pull a bar our of your jersey pocket, eat it, & tuck the wrapper back on your pocket. Only stop to refill the bottles on long or hot rides
Agree. But our OP is just getting started with this and won’t likely be one-handing the handlebars while tearing open a snack bar with her teeth, and sipping from a bottle, without missing a pedal stroke. I’m just suggesting practical advice for her at this stage is all.
Well, actually, if it’s on PA 5, it’ll go faster, but still only tops out around 15mph. I keep it at 2 most of the time, and sometimes one. 3 for a steep or long hill. It throttles slower the lower the PA is set.
I think it’s engineered to be like that, though. A lot of places regulate how fast ebikes can go with the motor (on throttle), but with pedaling, there’s no limit other than the limit on a particular road.
I did discover today that it will go faster than 21.7mph if I want to put forth the effort.
This is true. On a regular bike I am used to, riding no-handed isn’t a big deal, but one-handed on this bike I’m still learning. Because it’s heavy, the handlebars and front tire are heavy and a little harder to control. Getting better-- can give hand signals to turn just fine, but getting the water bottle out of the cage is still difficult. I’m not left-handed, but I do things like this on a bike left-handed, because I want my right hand to be ready to brake.
This bike doesn’t feel “part of me.” I had a mid-line Schwinn 10-speed my parents bought me for my bat mitzvah, that I rode for almost 20 years-- over the years replaced nearly everything on it, but little by little, and it felt so natural to ride that bike. I’ve have several bikes since, but nothing like that Schwinn.
But I’m getting there with it. Odometer just rolled past 200, and I’m finding I’m coming from dead-stops more or less without thinking about it.