How was your cycle commute?

[Orang Utan]

I suffer withdrawal from cycling too. When I last went up to visit my folks, I didn't cycle for 6 days and it made me sad
Which reminds me, I must buy train tickets soon for both coming holidays, so I can bring my bike up in the guard van

 

[gentlegreen]

I got in my mid-week 20 miles on the way home not fully up for it - think I have the annual lurgy on its way ... It happened last year at this time when I was trying to get in a ride every other evening until the bitter end (while there was still light to get safely past the unlit railway path sections.)

 

[joustmaster]

i too had been suffering cycling withdrawal.
I hurt my wrist (getting off the sofa) two days before i cycled london-amsterdam. I just scoffed loads of ibuprofen and ignored it. so i've been having a bit of time to rest it up..

I cycled today though. for the first time in 3 weeks.

my conclusion.. its cold.

 

[likesfish]

My puma hunter jacket is waterproof for my epic 1.1mile commute mostly downhill
Unfortunatly I need waterpoof trousers.

Brighton council brought a container load of bicycle lights so free cycle lights yay!

 

[gentlegreen]

It was 16 degrees in Bristol.
I was however a little anxious because as I headed to the half way point on my ride, I was aware that I was soaking my tee shirt due to wearing a jacket over it and I had no dry shirt to change into - so I rode back at a decent pace.

 

[friedaweed]

For all us who like to go for a ride

 

[a_chap]

What's the point in having a cape? Isn't it best to just get soaked and dry off at your destination?

I prefer to get to my destination as dry as possible OU. Wearing waterproofs for me is like "boil in the bag" - after even a few miles I'm soaked because of sweat. The cape allows plenty of air circulation so prevents the build up of sweat.

 

[gentlegreen]

I keep meaning to try a cape - anything's better than waterproof leggings.

 

[8115]

Oweee. The bruises are coming up

 

[gentlegreen]

Time to get yourself sorted with a few basic tools.

I can't believe it took me so long to learn the basics.
Bizarrely in 1981 I could have drawn you an almost complete exploded diagram of a Norton Commando - apart from the gearbox.

 

[a_chap]

I keep meaning to try a cape - anything's better than waterproof leggings.

A cape won't keep the lower part of your legs dry if you're going fast or it's very windy. So you'd need spats to go with them.

http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php?page_id=product&product_id=67

 

[gentlegreen]

Shame about the shoe size range.
.. but I'm used to that by now.

 

[Dogsauce]

Does anyone make helmets with a thin bit of gauze over the vents to keep the effing wasps/flies out of your hair?

 

[gentlegreen]

I've yet to have that happen to me.
Perhaps you could try a hair net.

Think yourself lucky ...

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Does anyone make helmets with a thin bit of gauze over the vents to keep the effing wasps/flies out of your hair?

Yes - the last helmets I saw for sale in Lidl and Aldi had them. A lot of cheap helmets have them IIRC.

 

[pissflaps]

if you insist on wearing a helmet, make sure it's not a cheap one.

 

[joustmaster]

if you insist on wearing a helmet, make sure it's not a cheap one.

even cheap ones meet the same british safety standards, right?

 

[pissflaps]

which isn't saying much for the standards against which helmets are measured.

 

[8115]

Rode my weekend bike slowly and casually throughout my commute. No accidents but I did look like a scally the whole way

 

[tendril]

took a spill on the way home. Back end went out turning sharply left. Hard down onto the femur-sacrum joint. Very sore to touch and gonna have to beaut of a bruise. Very wet road and I think it went out going over a welted seam where the road had been repaired. Must pay more attention!

 

[gentlegreen]

welted seam

Can they do that with tarmac ?

 

[tendril]

Can they do that with tarmac ?

well it was really the smooth (and very slippery in the wet) pitch they seal the edges with sometimes, maybe welted was the wrong terminology

 

[gentlegreen]

well it was really the smooth (and very slippery in the wet) pitch they seal the edges with sometimes, maybe welted was the wrong terminology

I had to look it up myself.

 

[tendril]

I had to look it up myself.

Welted seams are something to look for in waterproof clothing.

 

[gentlegreen]

Nothing so neat as that on my route - rural / rustic all the way - making an MTB a sensible choice.
The key problem for me from now on is the tarmac edge of the railway path being obscured by leaf-mould and mud.
(I prefer to ride close to the edge.)

 

[a_chap]

Have had two wisdom teeth taken out. So no commuting for me today. Or tomorrow.

 

[Onket]

First day going to the train station that is further away.

I have joined the losing weight group at work FFS. Urgh. etc

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

which isn't saying much for the standards against which helmets are measured.

At the risk of repeating myself for the zillionth time on these boards the Aldi and Lidl helmets are TuV approved - the toughest certification regime in the world. Many expensive helmets don't make the TuV grade such as the pretty and £80 Catlike whisper. So a £7.99 helmet can not only match but outperform a much more expensive one in the safety stakes (but probably not in the styling stakes).

If you want to talk about the standards by which helmets are measured...perhaps you have very high expectations for a device which is some high impact polystyrene and a few layers of paint. The CE test for integrity is rated to 15kph, a speed most of us exceed as an average on a bike journey. Theres an argument the protection they offer is as much as anything psychological.

 

[pissflaps]

cool story bro.

 

[gentlegreen]

Part of the plastic strap assembly on my Bell helmet is broken - doubtless it renders the helmet even more useless than usual.

Cheap helmets have never been an option for me as I have an oversize head.