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invisiblehand;10167 wrote:

if you’re commuting in all weather, you want fenders.

ftfy

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Last time I got hit, my immediate reaction was to scrape myself off the ground, pound his hood into the shape of a cereal bowl, then proceed to convince myself not to remove him from the car via. the driver’s window. Thankfully he ended up being a nice guy and I didn’t have to go WWF on him. Driver apologized profusely, we had a nice little chat after I got out of the ambulance. He had USAA insurance, which didn’t hesitate to replace E V E R Y T H I N G. Helmet, lights that broke, my bag that tore, and most importantly my bike. I think the reason I was so mad was the completely unlikely way I got hit… Broad daylight, 4 in the afternoon, stopped at a red light in the middle of the left turn lane behind a big SUV. I’m in hi-vis reflective everything, dual SuperFlashes strobing on the back, and cars all around me. I’m the most visible thing on the planet, until WHAMMO!

No hard feelings towards him honestly. For some reason I almost feel bad for severely denting his hood.

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@vvill 10127 wrote:

Haha, okay. Unfortunately I don’t have any “action” shots (i.e. being out of the house walking around in this) but my wife did get a couple before I went out. The first one is taken at night, second one was the next day after i added a couple of ast minute things.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]451[/ATTACH] <= you can see the lights really well here. The green ones are "backlighting" the lightning bolt. The blue light strip is facing down and is still doing a lot.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]452[/ATTACH] <= not so much here. You can see the on-off switch, it's above my left shoulder. Attached with a spare clamp I had laying around and twist ties. …one of these weekends I will probably end up putting some of these [lights] on my MTB commuter

You are my hero, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

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Tuesday evening was a new one. 6:30pm, nice and dark. Thanks to my headlight, I spot a ninja jogging on the center line with a well-lit oncoming jogger. Being safety conscious (and wearing my Trail Patrol vest), I YELL “ON YOUR RIGHT!!!!!” (since he’s on the center line with a whole empty lane to his right) and slow my approach down to about 20mph.

As predicted, he IMMEDIATELY swerves hard right, directly into my path. In the same breath, almost as if one sentence, I belt out, “OR ON YOUR LEFT, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!”

Sometimes I wish I could reach out and smack someone at speed…

This morning: 6 joggers and 1 cyclist. ALL SEVEN WEARING ALL BLACK. I made a comment to each one, not that any of them will listen.
Me: Hi-vis everything, lots of reflective strips, dual SuperFlashes on the tail, LED headlight on full strobe. You can see me!

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Solution: Check another LBS. A-1 carries the Armadillos, so does Spokes.

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@DaveK 9919 wrote:

The tags for this thread are fantastic. Also I just use my belt to hang my u-lock if I’m riding around town, I keep it out of “nature’s pocket”.

Holy crap, I just noticed that. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

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I’m still just wearing shorts, your legs generate a lot of heat when pedaling!

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I saw him once wrapped in a big American flag, in the dead of winter. Looked a lot warmer than me!

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Luckily my work is a “closed” compound and policed, so in four years of everyday commuting I’ve yet to even carry a lock.

That said, when I go to training classes at public buildings, you bet your spandex I bring my coil lock. The training building in Old Town has an underground garage with a wheelbender rack that I lock it to, or I hide it in the far corner behind the stash of old cop cars covered in dust.

I’ve noticed that the rack here at work contains a good number of locks as permanent residents. I’m guessing the owners just leave them here and don’t need them at home. If you’re in a public building though, I’d definitely at least throw a lock on there. Only takes one ^%&*!$@ to swipe it and ruin your day.

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@creadinger 9487 wrote:

If you want the really cheap version – I would put on 2 pairs of socks either thermal, wool, or whatever. Rip a plastic grocery bag in half and put the front half of your foot in each half. Then just put your shoes on. The plastic will keep the wind from ripping all the warmth off your feet. It seems to help if you don’t cinch up your shoes too tight to keep the blood flowing in your feet too.

This method worked pretty well for my 6.3 mile commute but if yours is much longer, you will probably have to spend some money.

Did that exact method for 3 years before shelling out for the Lakes. I didn’t know what I was missing! WARM FEET!!!

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No iPhone here, but it works just fine on my iOS 5 iPod Touch.

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@Dirt 9463 wrote:

Just out of curiosity, how do people care for their cycling boots? Goretex and most synthetic boots are easy. Just dry them after your rides. The Lakes are leather. They require care. I’m an old school hiker/backpacker/mountain climber. I grew up using Snowseal on boots. Basically it is a wax-based waterproofing treatment. I’ve always used it on my climbing boots and it has always served me well with the Lake Boots.

Mink oiled my Lakes when I got em, and hose off the salt at the end of the snow. That’s pretty much it.

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Yikes! Glad to hear you’re alright Pete. I took a shot this past winter on the ice when I tried to be polite and scoot over for a car coming up behind me. The pavement-to-2″-icepack transition snagged the bike and sent me to the ice at 20mph in a dead fall, landed straight on my right side. Didn’t hurt, so I jumped right back on the bike and continued the icy ride in to work.

Two days later I could barely walk, the bruise appeared about 12 hours after the accident, wish I’d taken a picture. Everything from belt to ankle on my right side was purple. Friggin OWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

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@Dirt 9390 wrote:

Bikeman (google will find them) keeps them pretty well stocked. Previous years’ versions are often on-sale. I got my roadie ones there for cheap. Performance runs sales on them from time to time.

This.

I called Bikeman and he had them in my size, in his hand, within seconds. He boxed them up while I was still on the phone and I had them about two days later. I will shop at Bikeman again.

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This morning’s headwind breeze was almost completely ignored due to the GORGEOUS sunrise and cloudscape I was witnessing. Days like this make me glad to be pedaling.

Although it was a little nippy without a jacket on…

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