Finally carried out first proper longish commute!

UndercoverElephant

Daniel B wrote:

Hello all,

thought I would resurrect this thread, as I have finally had the offer in writing, and handed in my notice earlier this week.

I plan to car it in the first week or two, until I can suss out the lay of hte land, and what I will be able to leave there day to day, if I can stash a pai of shoes, and trousers/shirts for the week, then I can afford to go very lightly encumbered.

I have not yet ordered that beast of a backbox, but whether i need it will depend on what quantity of kit I have to carry each way.

I will plan to start with one day a week, then go to two, and take it from there.

One question for you, I have a fair amount of what I deem to be 'best' gear, ie Assos/Santini/Mavic/Craft - do you guys tend to use this for your commuting, or do you go for some cheaper brands that will do the job?
If the latter, what do you tend to go for, or do you just keep an eye out for end of line bargains?
And would you go for bib shorts over this distance or just normal shorts?

Cheers

Dan

Congratulations on the new job! As for commuting kit, we are, as a rule, torn. Some people deem commuting not good enough for their best kit, others son't do enough riding at other times to justify other kit. Me? I'd say that 19 miles each way would warrant having comfortable kit. Maybe not Assos level, but something comfortable.

London_Falcon

Forgive me if this is obvious but I have one other suggestion. I do 17 miles each way once or twice per week. Since I started I have been religiously using the Endomondo app on my BBerry to track mileage, average speed etc. It's really motivational to see the miles rack up and the times drop. If you chose Strava instead there is a thread showing leaderboards etc on here.

eyko

craker wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

But there is another route that goes out along Greenham common, and kind of runs parallell to the A4, and this is only 20 miles, so I might be tempted to try this route - not familiar with all of the roads, but could suss it out easily enough.

Bury's Bank Road skirts the northern edge of Greenham Common. Windy, bumpy and popular with drivers avoiding the A4 through Newbury. After that I guess you'd be on the Brimtpon / Aldermaston / Burghfield road. All in all bumpier and more picturesque than the A4. The A4 runs through the basin of the Kennet valley so its flat all the way.

There's lots of parallel routes between Newbury and Reading - north through Bucklebury is also promising.

My one worry with that would be that drivers treat it (bury's bank that is) as a rat run. With the rest of the journey after that on quite narrow roads with lots of blind bends. I'm not the biggest fan of the A4 from Newbs to Rdg, but I'd take it every time over that.

daniel_b

Thankyou for those replies gents!

Eyko - yes fair point, I will try both routes, and see what they are like traffic wise, and make a decision based on that, hopefully the 'back route' will be viable, as it will be more scenic, less traffic lights, and is a shorter distance.

London Falcon - thanks for your post, I have never used Strava, and currently do not hav a smart phone, but will be getting one soon - I do however have a couple of Garmins, a FR 305 and a 205, and am not sure if I can use those on Strava?

Totally agree with you, climbing mileage, and falling times are a big motivational pull for me, and currently what drives me on in my running programs.

Uncercoverelephant - thanks for your reply, I think my Mavic bibs (£90 down to £55) and my Craft bibs (£90 down to £31) are fairly thin material, someone on here even alluded to the Craft ones as being akin to wearing ladies uderwear - not sure how he knews that!
My Santini's seem to be a bit more heavy duty, so I may well use that one pair, and look for another end of line pair that often pop up on Prendas, and use those for commuting, and save the other 4 for weekend rides.
Additionalyl I have some non bib Nike shorts which will probably do for the odd ride should I need to supplement my other stock.

CiB - I already have a VAST array of kit as my gf will testify, and in fact I have started flogging the odd bits off here and there, but you are correct, I have started thinking of things I may NEED to buy for this commute!

Kieran_Burns

If you do use Endomondo - befriend me and I'll be sure to send abusive pep talks while you ride

My latest have been something like:

"bounce on my pedals and make me spin"
"take me, take me up the hills and ride me slow"
"rub my brakes hard and make me shudder" (it's a Tricross)

Keeps him laughing and makes the miles pass by

daniel_b

Kieran_Burns wrote:

If you do use Endomondo - befriend me and I'll be sure to send abusive pep talks while you ride

My latest have been something like:

"bounce on my pedals and make me spin"
"take me, take me up the hills and ride me slow"
"rub my brakes hard and make me shudder" (it's a Tricross)

Keeps him laughing and makes the miles pass by

Thankyou KB, I will ummm, err keep that in mind :shock:

I am rather taken with Strava and have just signed up, am I right in thinking you either use Strava or Endomondo?

My GPS tracking for running and cycling is either my FR305, or my Edge 205, am I correct in thinking that you carry out a route, and then simply upload the tcx file to strava?
Does Strava then see if any of the areas you have covered fit in with any existing segments and input your position/time on the leaderboard - is that how it works?

Similarly, if you run/ride a certain course, you can then create your own segment for any portion or portions of that ride?

Am I along the right lines here....?

bails87

I use my phone and record rides to Strava and Endomondo simultaneously. (Mileage count and 'leagues' on Endo, racing on segments on Strava!)

If you're uploading from a GPS device then there's no reason why you couldn't upload to both if you wanted to.

CiB

Strava, Edmundo and all that are ok but if you want to dice with the best you need to be on our SC Stats board. Link below...

Ignore the top 20 or so who just live on bikes and have no lives of which to speak beyond their cycling, and ignore those below pos 50 as they don't do enough to matter. No. The real competition is around #43 - #35. That's where it's at. Join the fun.

daniel_b

Hello all,

thought I would update this thread, and also ask if anyone on here (CiB?) is able to reset my password on the stats board, as I do not seem to be able to log in :oops:

Anyway, I fitted that box that I posted a pic of further up the thread, and it's bloody good actually, £18 delivered from Amazon, has gone up since, but it's very solid, and I put a towel in as a liner if you like, to stop stuff rattling about.
It fits better than the pic I posted, as my seat is a fair bit higher, so I have it close in, but stil have a good level of access.

This week was the fisrt time I cycled in, delayed start due to picking up a sodding cold.

Have cycled in twice this week, and am averaging somewhere around the 1hr 15 mark for the 20 mile ride, which is what I was hoping for - would like to get it down to closer to an hour, but there are a fair few traffic lights, some with a long wait, so I think cracking the hour would prove impossible.

I am keeping work shirts and trousers at work, shoes, and a bag of toiletries - in the morning I am taking in on the bike, towel, underwear, lock, FOOD, tools/tubes etc etc, wallet, phone yadda yadda.

So far so good, only interesting bit is walking through the office in lycra, but I try and strategically place/carry various bags to disguise this fact

Thankyou for all the advice above people, very much appreciated, and very useful too 8)

Oh just to add, the A4 is a 'dream' of sorts out to Theale (I take the back roads from there which are even nicer) being in mostly good condition, and plenty plenty wide enough for no near passes.

Cheers

Dan

gbsahne001

what time are you on the A4? as I think we share some of the same roads. I'm in and out of Reading from Knowls Hill and then out to Theale, where I peel off and head up to the other side of Bradfield .

daniel_b

Hiya,

it depends what shift I am on, but if it's 8am, then I would tend to be on the A4 from around 6.20 - 6.50, and an hour later for when I start at 9am.

I have seen several commuters out ona variety of bikes already, which is always encouraging :-)

gbsahne001

Daniel B wrote:

Hiya,

it depends what shift I am on, but if it's 8am, then I would tend to be on the A4 from around 6.20 - 6.50, and an hour later for when I start at 9am.

That's why I've not seen the Carrera then, it's a bit earlier than when I come through, as I'm usually not on the A4
(otherside of Reading) until about 8am.

Daniel B wrote:

I have seen several commuters out ona variety of bikes already, which is always encouraging :-)

The true mettle of the commuter is when the weather starts to turn and the nights draw in, even now a drop of rain and the numbers of bicycles plummet.