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Things I've learnt from commuting


zeabre

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Do you were glasses for debris at the same time as the buffs? If yes, how do you deal with fogging glasses from buffs?

 

try putting your lips against the buff when you exhale and blow through the buff. i

ts a pain, i hate it too. 

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personally never use the buff over my mouth or nose ... can't stand the feeling!

 

One around the neck/ears and the other over the head and up on the chin.

 

try putting your lips against the buff when you exhale and blow through the buff. i

ts a pain, i hate it too. 

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personally never use the buff over my mouth or nose ... can't stand the feeling!

 

One around the neck/ears and the other over the head and up on the chin.

agreed! over the mouth nose cause fogging and a wet snor. 

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Bit late. But did the Tuesday drizzle commute. The SKS bluemels I put on a while back kept me nice and dry. Honestly don't know why it took me so long to get them.

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Bit late. But did the Tuesday drizzle commute. The SKS bluemels I put on a while back kept me nice and dry. Honestly don't know why it took me so long to get them.

 

Please tel more ...

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Just full length mudguards on my gravel bike (cotic escapade). Keeps the spray in the wheelwells and not down your backside, bb, crank, face etc. Clean drizzle from the top is not the least bit distracting. Kinda nice really. It's usually the ocean of filty streetwater in your shoes/down your back/into your mouth that ruins a drizzle commute.

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I was forced into commuting in January after my vehicle was written off. The incident happened at a bad time of year when all the repair shops and assessors were on leave, and it took about a month for the claim to be sorted out with insurance. 

 

That prodded me to cycle in to work (its about 10 km), which is what I have been promising to do for years but never got round to it. The route is a mix of suburban road, one steep off-road section and small length of single track, then bike path next to a highway, some on road cycle paths, finishing up on a dedicated cycle path on the Brisbane River. Doing it on my Trance is a bit overkill, but so be it. The trip home I vary, I go a long way round (14 km) to avoid peak hour traffic on a section of suburban road I do not feel comfortable on.

 

Anyway, I now have a replacement new car, but still commute in twice a week. There is a certain satisfaction of making a good time, and a great sense of satisfaction when you overtake the cars going slowly on the highway.

 

The advantage of using a Trance as a commuter is that when all the racers and e-bikes overtake you, you can just say to yourself - well its all about the bike. But after a month of cycling, the ratio of overtakee to overtaker improves, not that its a race. Well maybe an informal competition to make it interesting....

 

What I have learnt: integrating commuting into your work routine gets your fitness levels way up. I am probably more fit than I have been in years. When I did some trails recently, hills that used to render me breathless are just simply pedalled away without fuss. I admit the commute has not improved my trail skills - those are now the limiting factor.

 

I just hope I keep it up in winter. Luckily it does not get excessively cold /wet here, but I probably need to get lights that light up the road, not just safety strobes.   

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Last winter I bought some over-booties for the rainy days. What a pleasure to get to the other side with dry warm feet. Also a bonus to not have to fit wet shoes for the ride home.

Also ... if it’s really cold I would wear leg warmers - but not if it’s raining. If it rains the leg warmers get drenched, and together with the wind and cold your knees freeze

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https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/za/en/sks/mudguards

And sure. They don't look great. But this is my comnuter bike. It must get me to work dry and on time and bonus if that is in a good mood (always is).

Did you get yours from Chain reaction? I need to get mudguards for this winter and was wondering the best place to look. If you did order from them, how did you find the shipping & delivery time?

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Did you get yours from Chain reaction? I need to get mudguards for this winter and was wondering the best place to look. If you did order from them, how did you find the shipping & delivery time?

CWC and Takealot have mudguards , I have the long one (SKS X-Blade Rear Mudguard) for the rear wheel and a small holdfast one for the front (these can be manufactured at home from plastic bottles if your so inclined)

 

edit: details added

Edited by Albatross
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Interesting commute this morning .... 

 

 

At 15:00 I look at the weather forecast, then decide if I take the car or bicycle home ... knowing that I MUST return with that mode of transport the next morning.

 

Thursday afternoon showed a slim chance of rain for Friday morning.

 

Friday morning the forecast was 55% chance of rain !!  And it LOOKED like it !!!

 

 

O-well, smile and get on with it ....

 

A couple of times I encountered "riding through thick mist", enough so that cars were using window wipers.  Yet I never got wet from rain, just this light mist layer.

 

 

What a magic feeling !!

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Did you get yours from Chain reaction? I need to get mudguards for this winter and was wondering the best place to look. If you did order from them, how did you find the shipping & delivery time?

Used crc ja. Wasn't too long. 2weeks I think. Skynet is unpredictable though. I hope they go back to DHL.
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Reason I went full length is to truly prevent my bb becoming a fountain of nastiness, feeding my cranks alternatingly to enschloppen my shoes.

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