My Morning Commute

[KelOnWheels]

Seriously though, do I get the Vis 360+ (250 lumens) for $170 from Amazon, or get the Vis 360 (120 lumens) from REI for $150 and get the $20 gift card and the 10% dividend?

Wait, that’s over twice the lumens for $20 more. Why am I asking this question? :confused:

I’m thinking with that and a Cygolite 400 I should be able to see, yes? Because I really can’t commute if I can’t see

[thecyclingeconomist]

@KelOnWheels 37302 wrote:

Seriously though, do I get the Vis 360+ (250 lumens) for $170 from Amazon, or get the Vis 360 (120 lumens) from REI for $150 and get the $20 gift card and the 10% dividend?

Wait, that’s over twice the lumens for $20 more. Why am I asking this question? :confused:

I’m thinking with that and a Cygolite 400 I should be able to see, yes? Because I really can’t commute if I can’t see

Why are you all (Kel) messing around with 250 lumens? Get a real light. A light with a CREE XML LED puts out 900 plus lumens (yes, you can lower it too, all lights have a switch afterall) and you can get them either on ebay or lightjunction.com for under $100.

The headlights on the MVT south-bound right next to the airport aren’t fun, but I throw the switch on both my lights to high, and I can see the path all the way to the turn up and over the little overpass (I also ride at 9pm, so I don’t have to worry that someone is coming head-on.)

[KelOnWheels]

Well heck, I can get a 1200 lumen Cree XML T6 for $35.

[crysb]

My rear blinkie fell off three times today before it finally burst apart and the back cover went flying into the woods somewhere on Custis. I tried looking for it but ended up just finding the front piece and the batteries… so it’s technically operational, but without a back cover there’s nothing to hold it onto my bike. Briefly occurred to me that I might super-glue it to my helmet but I doubt that’d work out well.

Otherwise, about 15 minutes of light rain in the beginning, tired legs on the climbs, and when I arrived at work mine was the only bike in the office corral except for the likely abandoned bike that hasn’t moved in weeks. Got excited because I did see another bike in there by the time I left.

[Dirt]

This morning’s sky was lovely… even in the city.

I know the photo is kinda blurry. My brain is too, so I kept it.

[thecyclingeconomist]

So, I’ve ridden in cold many a time as I’ve been commuting full time for about 7 years or so and was just a “roadie” for many before that, but road in all kinds of conditions. But… it seems each year when I see the temp below 32 I over-react with the layering… This morning was my annual relearning experience. 😎

Mile 1: HOLY CRAP, it’s actually cold… (coasting at 25+ mph down the hills from Fairlington to 4-mile-run), Mile 2: DANGIT! Stupid fogging glasses (Stop, rearrange balaclava), Mile 3: ARGH!!!! OVERHEATING… MUST…GET…CLOTHES…OFF… CLAUSTROPHOBIA!!! (Make rapid stop, and rip off all layers in what passers-by must have thought was rather intriguing. I don’t care as I now think it’s about 125 degrees under my shell and 2 layers under), Mile 4: Now too cold again without wind-stopper layer on, stop, pull off a layer and put shell back on… Miles 5-9: Ah screw it, I’ll know better next time.

[Certifried]

The best laid plans…..

So, I went to bed early. I woke up ~30 minutes before the alarm, and was feeling happy that I’d slept well, looking forward to my alarm going off and actually (finally) riding to work. My alarm goes off and I wake back up, the first wimpy thought through my head is “holy shit, it’s cold”. So, I went back to sleep until my “driving today alarm” went off. Now, once again, I’m disappointed that I didn’t ride in.

Maybe I need to sell my car so I actually don’t have a choice but to ride

[rcannon100]

Maybe I need to sell my car so I actually don’t have a choice but to ride

The wife has our car, and takes the replicants to replicant school. My choice is the bus/subway in the morning – or to bike to work. That’s no choice at all. Plus, living in N Arlington along the Custis, the way in is all down hill!

[Dirt]

Riding through the winter doesn’t happen overnight. There are always gonna be days where you don’t want to ride. Build into the process. Ride a few of the cooler days, then drive. Get used to it and what you need to do to stay warm and NOT OVERHEAT. Keep a journal of what works at what temperatures.

Bottom line is this… It is actually still early season for winter commuting. It is a good time to try stuff out and then drive for a few days. Depending on how the winter goes, it is usually late January and early February that are the true gut-check days. February and early March are usually not as cold, but are sometimes even tougher because you’re pretty much hungering for daylight commutes and warmer temps.

Cycling is about the journey… not the destination. If you’re not having fun then change things up.

[Dirt]

@thecyclingeconomist 37342 wrote:

CLAUSTROPHOBIA!!! (Make rapid stop, and rip off all layers in what passers-by must have thought was rather intriguing. I don’t care as I now think it’s about 125 degrees under my shell and 2 layers under).

That’s one of the reasons why I threw money at the cold this year. I have serious claustrophobia issues. It’s got to be way down into the 20s before I’ll even put a hat on.

Rock on!

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Certifried 37377 wrote:

The best laid plans…..

So, I went to bed early. I woke up ~30 minutes before the alarm, and was feeling happy that I’d slept well, looking forward to my alarm going off and actually (finally) riding to work. My alarm goes off and I wake back up, the first wimpy thought through my head is “holy shit, it’s cold”. So, I went back to sleep until my “driving today alarm” went off. Now, once again, I’m disappointed that I didn’t ride in.

Maybe I need to sell my car so I actually don’t have a choice but to ride

I’ve been fortunate to be able to ride almost every day since I moved about 5 weeks ago, because I moved quite a bit closer to my work. But when I lived on the Hill and my ride was kind of a pain, I also had a really hard time commuting through last winter (my first winter of riding). Hell, even this summer I was only bike commuting 2-3 days a week. One thing to remember is that not riding doesn’t make you a bad person or not one of the cool kids. If you beat yourself up for not riding, you’ll probably be more likely to just get frustrated and stop riding altogether for the winter. Nothing wrong with that, but picking it up again in the spring could be tougher, and you’ll be a much stronger rider going into summer if you ride during the winter/spring. As I kept telling myself, the fact that you ride even once makes you a badass, since most people will never do it…so focus on picking a few nice days to ride and enjoy those rides. If that ends up only being one day a week, who cares? That’s still pretty good, particularly since I know you have a pretty rough bike commute.

[Certifried]

@TwoWheelsDC 37399 wrote:

I’ve been fortunate to be able to ride almost every day since I moved about 5 weeks ago, because I moved quite a bit closer to my work. But when I lived on the Hill and my ride was kind of a pain, I also had a really hard time commuting through last winter (my first winter of riding). Hell, even this summer I was only bike commuting 2-3 days a week. One thing to remember is that not riding doesn’t make you a bad person or not one of the cool kids. If you beat yourself up for not riding, you’ll probably be more likely to just get frustrated and stop riding altogether for the winter. Nothing wrong with that, but picking it up again in the spring could be tougher, and you’ll be a much stronger rider going into summer if you ride during the winter/spring. As I kept telling myself, the fact that you ride even once makes you a badass, since most people will never do it…so focus on picking a few nice days to ride and enjoy those rides. If that ends up only being one day a week, who cares? That’s still pretty good, particularly since I know you have a pretty rough bike commute.

thanks, great words of wisdom there. I don’t think I beat myself up too badly, but I do wish I’d ride more. I’m still fighting this cold, and was all prep’d to ride this morning. Once again, I didn’t, but felt my excuse was valid. I’m still coughing up a lot of crap out of my chest. I did, however, stop deciding whether to use my trainer or not based on whether I was going to ride the next day or not. That way, no matter what, I at least got a decent trainer ride in. Actually, the trainer feels harder than a real ride! So I’m still getting my exercise in now, which makes me feel OK about not riding because I’m too wimpy LOL.

[dasgeh]

You could always set up some kind of incentive system for yourself — e.g. if you drive to work, you commit to making your lunch as well. Or if you already bring in your lunch every day, make it something cheaper and slightly less appetizing. Instead of hot yummy leftovers, you get PB&J. It’s not horrible, but it’s not ideal. So you make your choice broader than “be cold and bike — and have yummy lunch” v. “be warm and drive — and get stuck with PB&J”. (I’m a foodie, so the lunch thing works for me).

Full disclosure: I have tried to do this in the past and failed, but always with a good excuse, like I’m pregnant and fetus doesn’t like PB&J. I am hopeful that I’ll be better when I get back to commuting. In February. Oh no, I’m doomed!

[TwoWheelsDC]

@dasgeh 37439 wrote:

You could always set up some kind of incentive system for yourself — e.g. if you drive to work, you commit to making your lunch as well. Or if you already bring in your lunch every day, make it something cheaper and slightly less appetizing. Instead of hot yummy leftovers, you get PB&J. It’s not horrible, but it’s not ideal. So you make your choice broader than “be cold and bike — and have yummy lunch” v. “be warm and drive — and get stuck with PB&J”. (I’m a foodie, so the lunch thing works for me).

Full disclosure: I have tried to do this in the past and failed, but always with a good excuse, like I’m pregnant and fetus doesn’t like PB&J. I am hopeful that I’ll be better when I get back to commuting. In February. Oh no, I’m doomed!

This allowed me to justify buying LOTS of new bike stuff and eating LOTS of chinese food. “I rode today, so I saved money and burned calories…I earned this plate of General Tso’s and new pair of bibs!”

[thecyclingeconomist]

Skip to 2:30-ish for the more entertaining part… stupid reduced coefficient of friction forced my bike to enter into a power slide and me with it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y_9VYWVvQU

[Author]

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