New commute: I am clearly mad



W K <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "Trevor Barton" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
>> Don't forget that petrol evaporates anyway all the time the car is sitting there doing nothing,
>> so it's just wasted in an unused car.
>
> At what rate? Rather low.
>
> Anyway - in that case get a diesel!

Hmmm, I starting to worry that there are a number of people here taking my comment about driving and
threfore saving time so as to get more exercise, and the various other comments frollowing it by me
and others as serious.

They have all been toungue in cheek. I was kidding. Of course it's silly to drive rather than
cycling just so that there is more time to get more exercise, I doubt that there's many forms of
exercise that are better than cycling. Petrol evaporation is (a) hardly a big problem because
these days cars are designed for environmental reasons not to evaporate much, and (b) the same
amount of petrol, roughly, evaporates uslessly if the car is stopped and moving. Indeed the extra
sloshing about while the car is in motion probably makes more evaporate. Irony does not mean a
surplus of iron!

Trev
 
"Dave Kahn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Toby Barrett) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>
> > This morning, I have just cycled to work (25 miles, 1hr 46mins, 14mph). I feel OK but a bit
> > worried about the trip home! Had to tell someone.
>
> Well done. If you can do that 2 or 3 times a week you will find that you become a lot stronger and
> your average speed will start to creep up without too much conscious effort on your part.

Ho Ho. 150 miles a week "no conscious effort".

Doing a lot less than that it was a great consious effort to get out of bed early enough in the
morning to do it!
 
Mark <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Toby Barrett wrote:
> > This morning, I have just cycled to work (25 miles, 1hr 46mins, 14mph). I feel OK but a bit
> > worried about the trip home! Had to tell someone. ...
> I've been cycling to work at least once a week every week this year. It's 21 miles each way, and
> I've done it twice a week for the past 3 weeks. Takes 1hr10 to 1hr20, depending how hard I go. I
> usually use the first trip of the week for a tempo effort; this week I did 60 minutes with an
> average heart rate of 156 bpm. ...

Thanks to everyone for the feedback; I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one insane enough to
do this kind of thing.

The journey back was tough - but I got there. Not so much from tired legs (although I had these) but
it was so-o-o-o cold for the last 10 miles. Particularly my head and hands. (I had a winter training
cap and Altura gloves.) Obviously, clothes suitable for a 35 minute ride (my previous commute) don't
cut it on a longer ride. Or maybe it was just bloody cold last night.

Hopefully, next week the weather will warm up a degree or two....

Toby
 
Simon Brooke <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I used to commute 21 miles each way by bike... but not every day, I also had a 2cv for when the
> weather was horrible. In average to good weather it was a very pleasant way of de-stressing at the
> end of the working day. With a serious headwind on the way home, it was horrid.

I used to have a 2CV, but when the weather was horrid it often wouldn't start!

It got sold as all the cycling to work made it pretty much redundant.

Toby
 
Helen

[email protected] (dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) wrote in message news:<20040225054215.06733.00000338@mb-
m05.aol.com>...
> I'd suggest (and I may well have been a boy scout in a previous existance due to the amount of
> precautions here...) and not in any particular order :-
>
> 1. Stocking up on the bad weather cycling gear (lightweight) to carry with you in case of need
> 2. Decent lights for those dark evenings
> 3. Reflective/fluorescent wear/accessories to be highly visible
> 4. H*lmet is you want to wear one
> 5. Spare kit in terms of light bulbs, batteries, inner tube, puncture patches, pump etc., etc..
> 6. Take a mobile phone (and keep it charged up) to make any emergency calls (even though
> realistically the risk of having to do such is small
> 7. Wear ID, so in case of dire emergency, you can be easily identified - carry a whistle, so that
> if you do come off & end up in a ditch, you can alert passers-by to where you are.
> 8. Join CTC or British Cycling for the insurance cover on self.

Got most of these covered (lets not get into number 4!). A couple of things I need to sort:

1. A new rechargeable battery for my Smarts - it was charged the night before, but was running out
when I got home.

2. The rattle in by back wheel turned out to be a broken spoke. Get that fixed before the bike
breaks down in the middle of nowhere in the dark and freezing cold!

Toby
 
Toby Barrett wrote:
> Mark <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
>> Toby Barrett wrote:
>>> This morning, I have just cycled to work (25 miles, 1hr 46mins, 14mph). I feel OK but a bit
>>> worried about the trip home! Had to tell someone. ...
>> I've been cycling to work at least once a week every week this year. It's 21 miles each way, and
>> I've done it twice a week for the past 3 weeks. Takes 1hr10 to 1hr20, depending how hard I go. I
>> usually use the first trip of the week for a tempo effort; this week I did 60 minutes with an
>> average heart rate of 156 bpm. ...
>
> Thanks to everyone for the feedback; I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one insane enough to
> do this kind of thing.
>
> The journey back was tough - but I got there. Not so much from tired legs (although I had these)
> but it was so-o-o-o cold for the last 10 miles. Particularly my head and hands. (I had a winter
> training cap and Altura gloves.) Obviously, clothes suitable for a 35 minute ride (my previous
> commute) don't cut it on a longer ride. Or maybe it was just bloody cold last night.
>
> Hopefully, next week the weather will warm up a degree or two....
>
> Toby

Well done, maybe get one of those insulated polystyrene hats. Mittens might be preferable to gloves
though sometimes one can't operate the levers properly so those two finger gloves might be better.
As you say in a week or two we may not need such warm clothing - heres hoping. Anyway once again
well done, you deserve to feel proud of yourself.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely. http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk
 
> Why not drive to work every day, that way you'd save all that time and you could use it for
> exercise?
>
Well, if I was to do my excercise after work/dinner, I wouldn't have much time for excercising at
all. As it is now I get up at 5 in the morning. Have a light meal and get off to work which takes
2hrs+. I'm at work from 0800 to 1600 and take a shorter route home, abt. 1hr, which makes a total of
3 hrs of riding. I come home for dinner at 5 PM, and after that I'm free to take care of my kids and
family. This is why I commute. Hjalmar
 
Well done on the commute!

Toby Barrett wrote:
>
>
> Got most of these covered (lets not get into number 4!). A couple of things I need to sort:
>
> 1. A new rechargeable battery for my Smarts - it was charged the night before, but was running out
> when I got home.

I was using cateye daylites (2 * 10W lights) and having problems with it running before I got home
on the days I had to use it both ways (even with just one beam on). Got a new battery which sorted
the running out of charge but within a week the whole unit stress fractured, it was over 2 years old
and had done over 15000 miles on the bike. Slightly irritating as I now have a spare 6V battery
rechargeble battery.

I replaced it with a 3W dynamo* powered lamp and a hub dynamo and really have not looked back. I had
always assumed that a 3W hub dynamo system just would not give enought light (how could it? the 2.4
Watt never readies from my youth never did) but how wrong I was. I'm on my second winter with the
dynamo and would not consider any other method of powering my main light for commuting. I cycle
along completely unlit roads no problem at all.

Rear lights are all LED and I have a backup front LED light just in case;-)

My commute is no longer quite as long as yours though at just 15 miles each way.

[*] It is really a generator not a dynamo.

--
newsspamtrap at thegerhards dot com
 
dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>> Got most of these covered (lets not get into number 4!).
>
> Oh good. Note for no.4, it's why I put "if you want to wear one" :)
>
>> A couple of things I need to sort:
>>
>> 1. A new rechargeable battery for my Smarts - it was charged the night before, but was running
>> out when I got home.
>
> It's not funny when the rechargeables go :-( I've had that happen to me with my Smarts and I was
> not a happy bunny. A thought - what about a Cateye HL-EL 300, one of the lights with 5 big LEDs &
> a 20-hour run time? You can get one for £26.39 from CycleXpress online. I got one for the
> offspring for Christmas, and he uses it on his tourer to do the school run on. I've cycled with
> him a few times at night down unlit Norfolk country lanes, and it seems fine. Not as bright as the
> smarts - but I suppose investing in a couple and you should have good illumination with a long run-
> time and cheaper than a really bright light, but short run time. End of random thought process.

I use a EL-300 alongside my Sigma Ellipsoid 2.5W halogen. The latter runs for about 3 hours with 5
2000mA NiMh AA cells with 5 hours of charging so I use it only on the unlit part of my circuit which
takes about 20 minutes. The two lights together are great for lighting my way and the EL-300 is good
for street lit roads. Using this set up saves me charging so often and menas I have a back up if the
Sigma dies.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely. http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk
 
"W K" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Dave Kahn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

> > Well done. If you can do that 2 or 3 times a week you will find that you become a lot stronger
> > and your average speed will start to creep up without too much conscious effort on your part.
>
> Ho Ho. 150 miles a week "no conscious effort".
>
> Doing a lot less than that it was a great consious effort to get out of bed early enough in the
> morning to do it!

The _speed_ will increase with no conscious effort as he gets stronger. More speed for the
same perceived effort. My current commute is 200 miles a week and at peak times it's quicker
than driving.

--
Dave...
 
[email protected] (Dave Kahn) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > [snip]
>
> The _speed_ will increase with no conscious effort as he gets stronger. More speed for the same
> perceived effort. My current commute is 200 miles a week and at peak times it's quicker than
> driving.

Hmmm. Not sure about that. Did my second ride today: 6 minutes slower. That's not how it's
supposed to work!

I'll probably get a bit quicker, especially when I step it up to twice a week in a week or two, but
with my previous commute (about 90 miles a week) I found the biggest speed up came as the weather
improved. At least I'm starting during the worst of the weather.

Toby
 
[email protected] (Toby Barrett) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> [email protected] (Dave Kahn) wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
> > > [snip]
> >
> > The _speed_ will increase with no conscious effort as he gets stronger. More speed for the same
> > perceived effort. My current commute is 200 miles a week and at peak times it's quicker than
> > driving.
>
> Hmmm. Not sure about that. Did my second ride today: 6 minutes slower. That's not how it's
> supposed to work!

Unfortunately the training effect takes a bit longer than that to work. Your strength will increase
over a period of months if you do that commute regularly.

> I'll probably get a bit quicker, especially when I step it up to twice a week in a week or two,
> but with my previous commute (about 90 miles a week) I found the biggest speed up came as the
> weather improved. At least I'm starting during the worst of the weather.

Everyone goes faster in the warmer weather. The reduced density of the air is probably the biggest
factor in this.

--
Dave...