My Morning Commute

[hozn]

Yeah, I completely chickened out this AM (i.e. failed rule #9 and of course #5). I had all my waterproof gear out (which I fully expected would only keep me dry for 30 minutes or so), but decided that I’m too sleep-deprived to risk getting cold/wet (likelihood of getting sick is rather high). So I drove. That was really nice Felt very conflicted, since it was the first time in a couple weeks that I didn’t have kid dropoff duty so I could have left as early as I wanted (and ridden longer if I wanted). Opportunity squandered!

Tomorrow looks a little more moderate, so I’m planning to bike in then. Probably to FMCCIII, come to think of it.

[jhr]

I thought of taking the bus today, especially since when I first looked out my window at around 7:45 it was raining especially hard, but I feel like it’s actually slightly more inconvenient to deal with heavy rain when dressed for work and waiting for the bus (my work clothes will inevitably get soaked) than to just bike and change.

I also built a wheel for the first time last night and I wasn’t going to let a little rain stop me from testing it out.

[cyclingfool]

@jhr 66386 wrote:

I also built a wheel for the first time last night and I wasn’t going to let a little rain stop me from testing it out.

Nice! Congrats on the wheel build! I know the feeling. I ended up building both the front and rear wheels that are on my bike now. I enjoyed the process, like the results, and saved a ton of $$$.

What kind of wheel did you build up?

[guga31bb]

Also saw what is probably the fewest ever other bikers this morning. I go along Custis and over Key Bridge and only saw three other cyclists (all going the opposite direction).

My “waterproof” jacket and pants were definitely not, but it was raining quite hard.

[jhr]

@cyclingfool 66392 wrote:

Nice! Congrats on the wheel build! I know the feeling. I ended up building both the front and rear wheels that are on my bike now. I enjoyed the process, like the results, and saved a ton of $$$.

What kind of wheel did you build up?

A cheap wheel for my singlespeed bike: Sunrims CR-18 rim, straight-gauge stainless spokes, a flip-flop hub from a wheel I damaged before.

(It was the rear wheel but since the hub is symmetrical I didn’t have to deal with dish which probably made it a lot simpler. Next I want to do a front wheel with a Shimano dynamo hub I got really cheap, but it’s the disc brake compatible version so I’ll have to dish the front wheel which I suppose will make up for it unfortunately.)

[cyclingfool]

@jhr 66396 wrote:

A cheap wheel for my singlespeed bike: Sunrims CR-18 rim, straight-gauge stainless spokes, a flip-flop hub from a wheel I damaged before.

(It was the rear wheel but since the hub is symmetrical I didn’t have to deal with dish which probably made it a lot simpler. Next I want to do a front wheel with a Shimano dynamo hub I got really cheap, but it’s the disc brake compatible version so I’ll have to dish the front wheel which I suppose will make up for it unfortunately.)

Nice. Well done.

I did a front first for the same reason… didn’t have to worry as much about dish. On my rear with a standard Shimano freehub, I just used the flip-flop method and a cut cable tie on the frame as a feeler to get the dish right. I was a little intimidated to begin with, but it turned out fine. I’m going on 1,000 miles on that rear wheel and even more on the front, and both have held up well. No truing needed or broken spokes or any other problems yet (knock on wood). Only training I had was several hours of reading online, the experience of having replaced a few spokes in the past and truing up the wheel, and a couple tutorials printed out from the Internet, with Sheldon Brown’s being my number one go-to.

My next build will also be a front with a dynamo hub, probably also disc compatible – not because I use discs but because I want an all black Shimano dynohub, and those only seem to come in the disc-compatible Alfine. The Alfine’s good, though. I had it on my last bike, and it worked a charm for several thousand miles.

Anyway, well done. I’m sure the wheel is good!

[lordofthemark]

They said it would be a “light” rain.

So.

6th commute in.

First time on back to back Fridays. (IE first time I commuted after commuting only 7 days earlier)

First commute in what I have to call miserable conditions.

I really need to get one of those nifty yellow biking jackets.

I do not think I will bike commute more often than once a week till I get a better bike.

[consularrider]

Hey, compared to yesterday morning it was “light” rain. I headed out at 6:15 to meetup with Dirt for the I my LBS Kumbaya Friday Morning Commuter Coffee Train Convoy and spent most of the next two hours with that liquid sunshine. The coffee and 20 minutes out of the rain at the Java Shack was most welcome indeed.

[jhr]

I saw many more bikes this morning than yesterday, and tons of runners. The rain was lighter today, but I also wonder if it being the second day in a row and people getting sick of being cooped up inside had something to do with it, too.

[ronwalf]

I’m still debating whether to bike or bus in. I don’t mind getting soaked, but the half hour afterwards of cleaning is disheartening. I now have six rags caked in aluminum dust – all metal that was perfectly good rim on Wednesday.

[sjclaeys]

I couldn’t make it to FCC#2 but I had fairly heavy rain from the airport to 14th Street. The new rain pants worked very well.

[sjclaeys]

Was there an announcement for today’s Kumbaya ride?

[KayakCyndi]

@sjclaeys 66451 wrote:

Was there an announcement for today’s Kumbaya ride?

Pete posted it to Facebook yesterday or Wednesday. I met up with the train near East Falls Church and enjoyed playing in the rain. No such thing as bad weather … just bad gear.

[eminva]

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[cyclingfool]

Fellow cyclists spotted count up to four today from yesterday’s three.

I had my Burley in tow this morning… not for the kid today, but rather for cargo duty; I have a couple large Amazon boxes here at the office whose contents won’t fit in my panniers or bungee to the top of the rack.

[Author]

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