Cycle commute!

Malt_Vinegar

Malt_Vinegar

Malt_Vinegar

Don
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
17,156
Location
In a house
So guys, who here cycles to work, and what do you ride on, and how far do you ride :D

I just started again this morning, and it feels good to be back on the bike, saving petrol and helping me with my Cardio! I ride a really basic 2001 Giant ATX 840 hardtail with knobbly tyres! Hardly an elite commuter machine, but i like bouncing it up kerbs and taking nice little grassy short-cuts which rules out a road bike :)

Same as this one, but i have a few different bits and bobs on it. stc-rc cranks, and different pedals/saddle/cat-eye dual lights.
ATX%20840.jpg


At the moment I am cheating a bit, I start my journey in thatcham, but drive to calcot, (10 miles) and then ride from calcot to twyford. Its about 9 miles further, and took me 40 minutes this morning taking it easy :) I figure as i get quicker i will try the longer distance and see how it goes. I dont particualry like riding the thatcham-calcot stretch, its NSL single carriageway for most of the way, and pavements are limited :(
 
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badbob said:
You did 19 miles in 40 minutes? That's pretty darn good, you must have been doing 26mph+ all the way? and uber fit. Crap bike for riding on road though.
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noooo, i did 9 miles, with an old bike, laptop on my back and knobbly tyres :D

I drove the first 10, to avoid the nasty NSL section!
 
badbob said:
So 9 miles in 40 minutes? That's crap...are you a girl driving with the hand brake on? ;)
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Something like that :p Bear in mind I am riding through a town centre, so its nota straight route along a road, i have to stop/start a lot and weave in and out of stationary traffic, hop kerbs when idiots dont leave enough room for me to pass! I also had to answer my phone at one point :D

I will try and get a better run on the way home tonight. Will keep you posted, i have a target time to beat now!!
 
badbob said:
Don't do that, it makes you a idiot crazy cyclist. If there's no room on the left, wait. You can go on the right but not recommeded...would only do it in a traffic jam, with no oncoming traffic. And careful no one opens the door or decides to pull out.
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In that case i am deffo an idiot crazy cyclist!

badbob said:
Try and do 16 miles in less than 40 minutes :-)
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I dont have a 16 mile route to try :p I did once do a 14 mile route in 55mins, i did it a few to my old place of work before i moved office always under the hour. Bear in mind that the last time i rode was back in 2001 when i bought the bike, and i was only using it for jumping!!
 
monkeyspank said:
Get some of these mate
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDeta...60022196&N=Specialized Crossroads EX Tyre Set

they look like they have updated the design a bit since I got mine but they have a road tread down the middle and nobbles on the side for when you go off road.

Knobbly tyres on roads is hard work and noisy.
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Handbuilt Wheels - Front Disc
Hub Upgrades: Deore 6 Bolt Disc
Rim Upgrades: XM317 Black Disc
Spoke Upgrades: ACI Black S/S DB
Pro 11 Hub Colour: Black
£46.00

Handbuilt Wheels - Rear Non Disc
Hub Upgrades: Deore
Rim Upgrades: XM317 Black
Spoke Upgrades: ACI S/S DB Black
Pro 3 Hub Colour: Black
£47.00

2x Continental Sport Contact Tyre Size: 1.3" £27.00

2x RIM TAPE £2.00

Thats what i was thinking of getting, means i can whip off the commute wheels, and drop on my off-road wheels if required :)
 
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snowdog said:
Hmmm why do you all have mountain/sporty/special bikes?

Nobody has a normall city bike like this :

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/4284/gazelle20next20smallqy0.jpg

?
The majority ( say 90% of all bikes, if not more) are city/granny bikes here.
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Are they riding 20 miles a day on those??

Apart from anything else, I had this bike in 2001 when i used to ride a lot, so now im using the same bike as it was expensive, and a nice bike to ride :)

Oh, and not to mention that if I was to ride that, i would look like a complete ****
 
snowdog said:
Wearing helmets on normall slow bike commuting doesnt make you look like a woman then :confused: ? When I was in london all guys looked like gals they all wore helmets :confused: and even lined up behind cars in a jam instead of driving past em. That's looking like a woman :p.

Mum does, 14 km to work work then 14 km back again.
What's so tough about it just pedal for 45 minutes aside that it's great on sunny days, nice relaxing ride on cycle paths.
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Cycle paths??? dont have a huge load of them available!

I wear a helmet whatever riding I am doing. If I was on a woman bike i still would. However, I could'nt find mine this morning unfortunatly so had to go without. :(

If i cant locate it i will be buying a new one before i do any more riding.

Besides, the only riding i do that isnt for fun is going to work, in which case, i just lob my laptop and cables into a backpack and head off. Why would you go shopping on a bike?!
 
mrthingyx said:
7 miles to work on a double suspension effort from Halfords - can't remember the brand... it's the one they import from Spain.

I can normally do it in about fifteen/twenty minutes. But I have managed it in under that. Although I wasn't in much of a mood to do anything once I arrived at work...
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7 miles in 15 minutes, thats just under 30mph average speed?!

wow, nice!!
 
Update time guys!

Due to some crap weather (well, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it! :p) I only started cycling to work properly last week. I have worked out I am cycling about 9.1 ish miles.

Monday Last week I was struggling to do much less than 44-45 minutes for the journey. I was not really using the road to its full extent, and stopping more than if i was planning more carefully. I did get this down to 42-43 mins by Friday, but felt I was carrying too much weight.

I have decided that carrying a 1.5 litre camelback for a 9 mile ride is a bit daft so thats staying at home for now. I am also only taking my laptop+powepack home on Fridays, and back in on Monday mornings, and leaving it locked in a drawer at work. (same with my work shoes too)

This morning I suprised myself, was running late, and had my laptop/shes etc with me. The motivation for not being late meant I did the run in a PB!! I got it down to 34 minutes, which is just over 16mph average speed :D I was most chuffed considering this is still on nobbly tyres on my mountain bike.

I found my brother's racing bike over the weekend, its a specialized visp 05, which seems to have some crappy reviews, but by the looks of it, its never been used, the seat post does not have a clamp, and the brakes are rubbing and have never been setup. It has some look SPDs on it, with shoes that fit me, so I might have a go on that after this week, and see how it is. If its pants, I wont bother, stick to what I have, and maybe get some slicks for the MTB.

So, anyone else started recently, or got any updates?
 
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Shoei said:
In the process of building a bike up to try and get my self fit again.
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Sounds like a fun ride home :D

I set a new PB this morning. Was running late and had to be under 35 mins to get to work on time! (previous PB was 34, set yesterday!)

It seems I thrive under pressure. 32 minutes (just over 17mph average) today, probably slightly under that too, but I didnt note the second hand position when i set the bezel on my watch! I think a trip computer is needed now that my PB is likely to increase by smaller amounts each time.

Oh, my cranks are creaking horribly at the moment i tried tightening them, but it seems to have made no difference. Is this likely to be the bottom bracket dying?
 
teulk said:
Ive just got a Halfords Carrera Crossfire for £200 and i find it to be a very good bike. I only got it to get my fittness up and to try and get into cycling. Please dont say i could have got this or that for that price, im happy with what i have and to me its a good bike.
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Its not really the bike thats important!!

If you are happy with the bike thats all that matters! Do you commute at all, or just ride for fun?
 
There is a shower here, but i am told not to use it untill it has been serviced/cleaned fully, it is a legionairres risk apparently. As soon as it is sorted I will be using it.

However, currently I shower in the morning before I lride. Then find that after my 9.1 mile ride in, I towel myself down, to dry any sweat off, have a quick wash in the sink, and get changed :) A bit of underarm spray, do my hair after wetting it/drying it to remove helmet hair and apply some product!

Good to go :D
 
daven1986 said:
I cycle about 8 miles on a specialised globe sport disc - tis a hybrid.

takes me about 1 hour cos i have only just started and it is a bit hilly, but im enjoying it and i cycle come rain or shine. hoping to improve my time to around 40 mins.

any advice on how to improve my speed? - might get some thinner tyres one day
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I went from 50 minutes+ to 32 on my MTB (knobbly tyres and poor gears!)doing the same 9.1 mile journey in less than a week. (17mph+ average) Just keep on riding!! You will find you improve quickly. I am lucky because I happen to have a reasonably high level of fitness already and transferring it to the bike seemed to happen quickly :)

My tops tips!!

1- Make sure you pay attention to traffic signals, and try to time your approach so you dont have to stop/start too much on your journey.

2- Make sure you have a good saddle.

3- Dont carry more than you really need.

4- Keep setting goals, helps keep things interesting

I just started to use a road bike, but after the first two rides on it, i was hating it! I still managed just over 35mins on one leg, but my ride home was nightmarish. Lots of little things going wrong meant stopping and fixing things a lot during the trip. I made some changes tonight, and will see how i fair tommorrow, i want to break the 30 minute barrier before wednesday next week :D
 
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