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That's awesome Rick! My commute is 12km each way.. and I find that's a good hike!

 

It's funny how quick you get used to it.. I've had to take the car a couple times in the last few weeks and on the drive home in gridlock, I find myself sitting there thinking "this is so pointless.." I can make it home in 32-33 minutes on the bike.. can take anywhere from 20-40 minutes in the car depending on traffic.. Plus I get an awesome workout! :)

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When I started, I thought of it as a good way to stay in shape and get to look at the river. I expected to hate the riding itself. Well, one year later I'm looking for the quickest routes and not worrying about riding next to the river, and I find myself enjoying the mechanics of the ride more and more.

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I used to push hard each way on the commute. Now I don't push as hard and enjoy the rides more - only means a couple minutes difference each way. The road bike is better than the mtb for that - other than 4 flats in 2 months.

Buying some Continental gatorskins tonight. Supposed to be very puncture resistant.

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A couple question for you folks...

 

What are you folks riding (Giant, Cervelo, Argon, etc.)?

 

What do you do for clothing? I doubt they would let me wander about the office in spandex and lycra....

I have a Giant 5 hybrid that I ride a bit, but mainly I ride a Ridley Crossbow Cyclocross bike. My brother in law used to race and it is his old cyclocross race bike. A bit overkill for the trails, but is sure do ride pretty.

 

I wear light running type shirts and do ride spandex riding shorts under some lightweight wading shorts. If I wear spandex and a bike shirt to work the ridicule is almost unbearable. And while I give as good as I get, it is just too much ammo for my colleagues to shoot back at me. You can get underwear with the padded butt also. I will say that on a hot day I go without the extra shorts and try hard to make a clean getaway without being seen in the spandex.

 

There is a shower at my work which is 100% necessary for the ride I'm doing.

 

 

 

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Guest NamasteMushroom
A couple question for you folks...

 

What are you folks riding (Giant, Cervelo, Argon, etc.)?

 

What do you do for clothing? I doubt they would let me wander about the office in spandex and lycra....

 

I ride a Trek Hybrid to work and back. It is more on the road side of things with ultra skinny tires; it's a rocket. On a flat road in a school zone the other day a guy in a car pulled up beside me and told me I was speeding and going "53km/hr."...needless to say I responded with "so are you."

 

I also just bought a full suspension GT from my brother's quasi father-in-law. It's 8 years old but was only used two or three times. I rode the Elbow River loop on a regular mountain bike last weekend and figured a full suspension bike was in order when i do something like that again. The loop is a good ride- but the non-stop rain and cold made it a trying 42km.

 

 

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I've had my eye on a nice Argon 18 or maybe a Cervelo, but it seems like the Cervelos are as common as grass on the streets and roads hereabouts. I used to ride a nice hand built Marinoni until it was stolen. That bike served me well for a lot of years.

So long as you don't have a relationship with gravity like mine, there really aren't many bad frames out there (the madone being an exception). But, if you want something novel, you'll have to pay for it. The pinarellos are just beautiful up close and they don't seem to have gone as far down the light-is-right road as some. If you want a forever bike like your Marinoni, you still can't beat Ti, but there is a weight penalty.

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I actually had to smack the side of a car with my hand this morning because they came so close to me! I was going west on Lansdowne Avenue coming up to the first roundabout before heading up into the Elboya area across from Stanley Park. I heard the car coming up behind me and saw them in my little 'take-a-look' rearview.. normally if a car comes to a turn at the same time as me, they'll wait, but this one decided to take the turn beside me.. which I don't have a problem with actually.. so long as you give me some room. 18 inches was okay with me.. but when it got to about 6 inches (and after my heart started beating again) I got a bit annoyed.. I literally just had to take my hand off the handlebar, turn my palm outward, and pivot at the elbow to smack the car. Yikes! I think they must have thought they hit me at first because they jerked to the left real quick. Not actually what I had in mind.. but in hindsight.. probably a good result! First time for everything I guess.. most people are very courteous and give me room. I rarely have 'incidents'.. this was the first of the year and I'm basically riding to/from work everyday of the week..

 

 

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I got clipped by a side mirror once years ago. It caught my left elbow and sent me into the curb and up and over the sidewalk bending my front rim and popping the tire in the process. I saw their break lights the watched them speed off never to be seen again. I was picking bits of gravel out of my leg for days after that...

 

Now with everyone driving and texting it seems to be worse. This morning on my way to work I saw a guy reading a stack of printerd papers braced on his steering wheel... he had no clue he was in and out of my lane, his lane, and the far right lane as well.

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I actually had to smack the side of a car with my hand this morning because they came so close to me!

When I was a bike courier in our fine city, we would commonly use the U-lock instead of your hand and hit the window not the body of the car.

 

Jay

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Guest NamasteMushroom
When I was a bike courier in our fine city, we would commonly use the U-lock instead of your hand and hit the window not the body of the car.

 

Jay

 

LOL Nice!

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

I'll try to watch. But I really wanted to see them swoosh by me on a straightaway somewhere near the end so I could see just how slow I really am on a bike!

 

I'll miss most of it. Riding the Kimberley Gran Fondo this weekend. I expect to average about 25km/h. The top riders in this will likely average over 40 - similar to that of pro riders. This means the leaders will have been resting for over 2 hrs before I finish.

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