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Things I've learnt from commuting


zeabre

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And with the mtb option you can practice your bunny hops with all that pavement mounting and obstacle / cover-less manhole avoiding .

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So did my first ride to work. Its only 6km though. Will maybe look for a longer route in the future.

 

Thing is, i'm pretty tired now...

Edited by P.A.K.
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Welcome to the clan, PAK. Take it easy for the first week or so, get used to doing two rides a day, and no recovery rides, then start upping the mileage. And don't, for heaven's sake, go skinny dipping with the wife after 12 one night, you may just end up taking the car to work for the next two weeks (doctor's orders lol)

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So did my first ride to work. Its only 6km though. Will maybe look for a longer route in the future.

 

Thing is, i'm pretty tired now...

You'll get use to it pretty soon. My commute is 18.5km each way. The first time I rode three times a week I felt dead. But you grow stronger quickly. In about a month's time you will see a huge improvement.

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Thinking about this after another post I made elsewhere, hand signals. Obviously there'll exceptions, but use them, you'll find traffic a lot more accommodating on the whole if they realise where you want to go when changing direction.

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Thinking about this after another post I made elsewhere, hand signals. Obviously there'll exceptions, but use them, you'll find traffic a lot more accommodating on the whole if they realise where you want to go when changing direction.

 

A definite plus and a valid point.

Recovery - yes need lots of it initially, 'specially at my age. (Slowly, slowly catch a monkey)

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Just did the first commute in to the new office. Distance = 17km. Time to office, incl shower time = 1h45. Things I learnt = I need a spare shirt for the small (500m) ride from the gym to the office, to soak up the post-shower/ride heat & moisture. 2) I can't do this on Thursdays. My domestic comes in at 8h30. Means I get to the office 2 hours later than normal. Best thing though? Incl shower time (which I'd do at home anyway) I'm just 10 mins slower than using the car on a bad traffic day. And it feels awesome.

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Thinking about this after another post I made elsewhere, hand signals. Obviously there'll exceptions, but use them, you'll find traffic a lot more accommodating on the whole if they realise where you want to go when changing direction.

+1

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This might just be the sadistic side of me, but it is enormously satisfying when you cycle back in the afternoon and traffic is backed up for kms and you fly by the cars in the cycle lane. :w00t:

 

On the other hand it really sucks when you run out of spare tubes and the last tube completely burst i.e. cannot be patched. Happened on Wednesday when I got a puncture. First puncture Tuesday afternoon, 2nd puncture Wednesday morning and 3rd and last puncture Wednesday afternoon. Eish, not cool. :wacko:

 

Commuting definitely comes with its ups and downs.

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"It's actually pretty common for motorists to be passionately concerned for our safety. Granted, it usually takes the form of a screamed "get on the sidewalk!" or a flung bottle, but I'm sure they'd give me a rational argument if they had more time..."
LOL
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This might just be the sadistic side of me, but it is enormously satisfying when you cycle back in the afternoon and traffic is backed up for kms and you fly by the cars in the cycle lane.

yeah, dig that feeling.

 

 

 

man, i'm loving the cape town cycle lanes. its like they built a commuting route just for me. work near the stadium so, commuting from milnerton ridge three times a week, +/- 20kms each way. hardly have to deal with traffic and the scenery's not bad.

not looking forward to winter commuting though...

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Something I thought of the other day from bitter (repeated) experience as a single person. When you leave the office ...

 

check you have your house keys, check you have your house keys, double check you have your house keys, triple check you have your house keys, check that you have your house keys again, then double check, then triple check and check again ...

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yeah, dig that feeling.

 

 

 

man, i'm loving the cape town cycle lanes. its like they built a commuting route just for me. work near the stadium so, commuting from milnerton ridge three times a week, +/- 20kms each way. hardly have to deal with traffic and the scenery's not bad.

not looking forward to winter commuting though...

You CT guys have it so easy!

I do home in Pretoria to work in Germiston (65km) which is about 50/50 tar & dirt. Have to go past squatter camps, through an industrial area with trucks & taxis and past general OR Tambo congestion. And Jozi drivers ain't the friendliest!!

 

Did the to- and from work for the first time on Tuesday. 130k and a full day at work is a killer!

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not looking forward to winter commuting though...

My second commute was in the rain. It started out being a light drizzle and ended bucketing down. Surprisingly the ride was not that bad at all, and I did not have a rain jacket. The 20km commute is just short enough that you are not miserable and cold by the end of the ride.

 

It will take some adjusting to the cold, especially the first 5km of the ride. This year I have the rain jacket, which makes a huge difference.

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You CT guys have it so easy!

...

 

Did the to- and from work for the first time on Tuesday. 130k and a full day at work is a killer!

Well what can we city? The Mother City looks after her people.

 

Respect on the 130km commute. You gonna struggle to keep that up for 5 days of the week. :P

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