Things I've learnt from commuting

[zeabre]

YES! Always pack the night before. The SO will also be less irritated if you don't have to dig for bibs at 5 in the morning! Make sure that your backpack is waterproof if carrying any electronics...FA makes a nice one with a red coverall. Only issue is it acts like a parachute, like today, riding back in 50km winds. Had a decent ride though, even joined up with two other guys braving the weather. That's what it's all about...

[zeabre]

ps...I have an extra bib and underwear at work...just in case the inevitable brainfart happens.

Oh...and another thing I've learnt...REMEMBER to take your wet cycling kit out of your bag after showering...nothing worse than having to put cold wet sweaty kit on in the arvie. I won't make that mistake again!

[Johan Bornman]

I've learnt that forgetting your work socks at home is a bigger oversight than forgetting your underpants. Going commando at work is no big deal but everyone look at you funny wearing a pair of cycling socks.

 

I have to agree. I've sat in an open plan office wondering how to hide my Defeet Eyeball socks on my ankles.

 

The look very cool on the bike, but peeping out from between a pair of black trousers and shiny shoes they are not.

 

They looked something like this. Defeet don't make the Eyeball ones anymore. Good news for commuters.

 

http://www.defeet.com/product.php?id=559

[Don1]

Ive noticed how trucks seems to veer slightly toward you, and then move away from the yellow lines again once they past you - Also noticed how an offroad route I rode to work in the morning was fenced up and blocked by the time I returned in the evening.

[Slowbee]

or the shoes. cycling shoes just don't seem to go well with the corporate suit.

 

, cat-i, in a business suit ? useless wifoud pichta's ...

[DamMTBer]

, cat-i, in a business suit ? useless wifoud pichta's ...

 

LOL - Cycling bib in meeting Groot K@K

[Christopher Brunsdon]

I miss commuting. As much as what I love my new job and my new salary, I really miss my commute. Been a month now

[DamMTBer]

LOL - Cycling bib in meeting Groot K@K

 

I can commute from Harties to JHB CBD, but shirt thats darem ver.

 

Will maybe give it go day pub holiday...

[GLuvsMtb]

Time spent in the car is often wasted, time spent in the saddle is rewarding

Master a solid bunny-hop and it may save your life one day

Make eye contact with drivers that are about to turn, you can tell a lot looking in someone's eyes (ie wether they know you are there or not)

Use the full lane when turning in a traffic circle, this way the cars cannot ride you off the road

Hand signals mean very little, but keep using them.

There is a pecking order when commuting:

1. Busses and trucks have right of way

2. In the absence of Busses and trucks, Taxis have the right of way

3. In the absence of Taxi's BMW's have right of way

4. In the absence of BMW's, the most aggressive driver has right of way

5. The cyclist have right of way

6. The pedestrian have right of way

 

If you have to choose between confronting a motor vehicle or a pedestrian while riding, choose the pedestrian.

[GLuvsMtb]

Oh and another trick:

I commute home in the afternoons and then back in the mornings. This way I have a car at work, and my wife's at home if I need to go somewhere. Its also not that easy to bail out of a morning commute if you feel a bit lazy, as the wife works in Pinelands and I work in Tyger Valley

[Tuxstir]

last year around this time.. i sat in a interview.. the longest interview ever... 5 hours of psycho babble and stuff...

 

but during the coarse of the interview, i asked about the required personal transport in the one contract they sent me a few days before.

" thats just to make sure you get to work on-time they said"

" ok cool ' i replied so you don't mind if I cycle to work" (edenvale to germiston)

"no but that distance you'll never make it" came the reply

 

well not only did i make it .. i do it fairly often ....

 

my biggest problem with commuting is not the ride, the traffic, the odd puncture, but rather the attitudes of the couch potato collages. who think that cycling, or for that matter any form of exercise is for the mentally handicapped.

 

i enjoy the ride. the freedom, the fact that i get ride out all my frustrations. how often through traffic I'm faster than those in cars.

 

things i have learnt

1: you can never be seen enough.. 1 light is not enough

2: be loud.. my 155db hooter saves lives (mine)

3: protection is key. Your helmet is as important as the bike itself for a good ride.

4: nobody can think. so you have to think for them

5; it doesn't matter what you ride.. as long as it gets ridden.

[Flowta]

Oh and another trick:

I commute home in the afternoons and then back in the mornings. This way I have a car at work, and my wife's at home if I need to go somewhere. Its also not that easy to bail out of a morning commute if you feel a bit lazy, as the wife works in Pinelands and I work in Tyger Valley

 

Where do you commute from?

[Pieter1]

I'm going to start comuting soon Just one question; How do you get your 'work' clothes to work without creasing them? Better to have some at work?

[Tiny K]

I knew an elderly gentleman (Read really old) who used to cummute to work from Table View to Houtbay and back again ... toughen up Tiny K

 

Well I have two issues with that one..... firstly his ride was flat(ish) - I will be riding from Wellington to Gordon's Bay = 67.55Km with 407m of climbing. Secondly, the ladies in the office won't be too happy with a smelly male in the office

[Nobody]

I'm going to start comuting soon Just one question; How do you get your 'work' clothes to work without creasing them? Better to have some at work?

 

 

 

I try wearing denims, but I have found that you can "roll" your clothes up and they crease less. Pack well because if you get a mechanical and need the tools from the bottom of your back pack you will unpack everything and it will not go in as neatly.

I found carrying a plastic shopping bag folded neatly is useful for broken tubes, chains or whatever went wrong.

[tombeej]

I'm going to start comuting soon Just one question; How do you get your 'work' clothes to work without creasing them? Better to have some at work?

 

 

Yes, ideally clothes all waiting for you at the office when you get there. Helps if you have an office. If not, and you have no private place to store clothes, follow the format that some of us do: drive in to work and leave the car there, then your first ride is the one home that evening. Next day, up early and back into the office. The car is waiting for you there (with bag of clothes & toiletries). Depending on how fit you are, and how far from home you work, you can start this once a week, building up to multiple times.

 

I usually have a few sets of everything at the office (jocks, socks, shirts, belt, pants, etc.) to make sure I don't forget something.

 

With commuting, preparation makes or breaks it all.