My Morning Commute

[sethpo]

@kcb203 87957 wrote:

realized that I’d ruined a brand new $50 Continental 4000s tire by rubbing it on the chainstay approximately 8,058 times. Would have been cheaper to call a cab.

Good news. Here’s a replacement 4000s tire for only $43….

And seriously, I get the LBS trying to make a buck but when you are trying to sell me the same tire for $70 that I can buy online for $43 then something is wrong w/ your business model.

[jrenaut]

@run/bike 87953 wrote:

…was soupy.

I really can’t decide whether I was more comfortable in the sticky hot before it started raining or being wet and slightly cooler after. It probably doesn’t matter.

[mstone]

@sethpo 87959 wrote:

Good news. Here’s a replacement 4000s tire for only $43….

And seriously, I get the LBS trying to make a buck but when you are trying to sell me the same tire for $70 that I can buy online for $43 then something is wrong w/ your business model.

That’s less than wholesale, and an unrealistic expectation for price. The reason that one is so cheap is that it’s the old model, obtained off someone’s clearance when they dumped them to stock up the new model.

[mstone]

@kcb203 87957 wrote:

I broke a spoke this morning four miles from home and 10.5 from work. After removing it, removing the rear brake cable to open the brakes as wide as possible, I realized I could ride with considerable rubbing of tire on chainstay. I was happy to save the cost of a taxi or the delay and inconvenience of asking my wife for a ride. So I rode on, and by the time I got to work, realized that I’d ruined a brand new $50 Continental 4000s tire by rubbing it on the chainstay approximately 8,058 times. Would have been cheaper to call a cab.

Next time, you may be able to limp along a bit better if you have a spoke wrench and adjust the adjacent spokes a bit. (Loosen the ones going to the other side, tighten the ones going to the same side as the broken one.) Depends on how many spokes you had to start with.

[dasgeh]

@run/bike 87953 wrote:

…was soupy.

Ditto, though there were these odd pockets of nice, cool air in random places. For a while I was trying to figure out what was going on, but then I just sat up and enjoyed it.

[kcb203]

@mstone 87966 wrote:

Next time, you may be able to limp along a bit better if you have a spoke wrench and adjust the adjacent spokes a bit. (Loosen the ones going to the other side, tighten the ones going to the same side as the broken one.) Depends on how many spokes you had to start with.

I thought about it, but it’s a 24 spoke wheel and I didn’t want to totally taco it. Ahh, the perils of commuting on a carbon racing bike. I figure it saves me 2 minutes x 150 days per year = 300 minutes or five hours. I just hope I didn’t damage the frame with the rubbing. I’ll have to take a closer look.

[consularrider]

@jrenaut 87964 wrote:

I really can’t decide whether I was more comfortable in the sticky hot before it started raining or being wet and slightly cooler after. It probably doesn’t matter.

It rained? I came out of a meeting and saw the dark clouds, but nothing in my part of Rosslyn.

[jrenaut]

@consularrider 87977 wrote:

It rained? I came out of a meeting and saw the dark clouds, but nothing in my part of Rosslyn.

I got rained on. Then it poured for a bit after I got to work. I hope it clears up for lunchtime and kid pickup time.

[dkel]

It was better for me to ride looking like this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5874[/ATTACH]

than to arrive at work looking like this again:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5875[/ATTACH]

For my hideously irritable and allergic eyes, this $3 solution (that fits over my glasses) from the hardware store was about 1% the price of the more stylish (i.e. less idiotic) Rudy Project solution. That said, I’d rather have the Rudy Project glasses, which are actually awesome, and wouldn’t increase my overall dorkiness.

[OneEighth]

Vitoria Zaffiro. $15 to $17 bucks. Long lasting. Don’t flat any more easily than Conti’s. Much higher PSI.
Available in white (important post-Memorial Day).

[chris_s]

Ugh. Buzzed by cars twice on Commonwealth Ave. Must fix my lane positioning.

[bobco85]

@chris_s 87993 wrote:

Ugh. Buzzed by cars twice on Commonwealth Ave. Must fix my lane positioning.

Was it on the northbound section just north of Braddock Rd? There is a white line on the right side, but no parking is allowed and it is not a bike lane. I think drivers may think the constantly open space is a bike lane and may try to push bikers toward that area.

I usually find Commonwealth Ave to be very friendly when using the sharrows as long as I stay in the range (I just imagine them as speed boosters so I make sure to aim for them).

[chris_s]

@bobco85 87999 wrote:

Was it on the northbound section just north of Braddock Rd? There is a white line on the right side, but no parking is allowed and it is not a bike lane. I think drivers may think the constantly open space is a bike lane and may try to push bikers toward that area.

I usually find Commonwealth Ave to be very friendly when using the sharrows as long as I stay in the range (I just imagine them as speed boosters so I make sure to aim for them).

No, southbound in the sharrow section south of Braddock. I was riding too far right. Any idiot should have been able to see that there wasn’t enough space to safely pass, but I gave them the opening by riding too far right. I am resolved to speed boost on the sharrows as is right and proper.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Thunderstorm moved through just as I was getting ready to walk out the door. Combined with the already complicated logistics of biking 13 miles to an offsite building for training(no place to keep wet clothes), means today was a bus day. But it’s hard to complain when it only takes me 30 minutes to get from Westover to Reston.

[Toonces]

@TwoWheelsDC 88060 wrote:

Thunderstorm moved through just as I was getting ready to walk out the door. Combined with the already complicated logistics of biking 13 miles to an offsite building for training(no place to keep wet clothes), means today was a bus day. But it’s hard to complain when it only takes me 30 minutes to get from Westover to Reston.

Same here, so I drove and traffic was surprisingly light. But, it was dry outside the Westover area and I wish I’d ridden! What bus do you take from Westover to Reston?

[Author]

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