How was your ride today? Week of May 24th

Submitted by pinkrobe on

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Forums: 

Early

Submitted by Julie Gregg on

is the time to ride in, 5 rabbits on my front lawn as I was leaving and lots of critters out and about around the path, quite a few cyclists making the commute this morning, I'd say we are in full swing for "summer" commuters, until people's vacations start up then there will be a drop off of numbers again. It's a nice day out there folks so hope you all enjoy it!

Lost in the 'burbs

Submitted by pinkrobe on

I was bored yesterday afternoon, so I went for a ride. 20th St. to N Glenmore, across the causeway [that's what it's called, right?], by the hospital at 10.1 km/h, then working my way down past Glenmore Landing and Pump Hill to eventually pop out down by Anderson. There were a couple of times I thought about busting out the GPS, but there were just enough alleys and offset gates to allow me to squeak through. The burn back on the 37 St. path was awesome!

Today's ride was pretty good. Chillier than I would have liked, but okay otherwise. Traffic was surprisingly heavy, both in terms of cars and peds. We got stuck behind somebody in an SUV who was new to driving downtown - really random, and bloody slow.
___________________
Who causes accidents?
Swrve!

horns are loud

Submitted by sj_mckenna on

A car honked at me today for no good reason. It was either than or they accidentally hit the horn. Judging by the length of the horn, it wasn't just a brush by accident. It was quite loud... and angering!!!

Hissed at by a Goose

Submitted by gyrospanner on

Nice Ride in, kinda' on the cool side. Love that sun!

There were a pair of geese with their five little ones going to cross the MUP in front of me and the one in front was sure pissed at me! HISSSSSSS!

I hissed back.

a fellow "hisser"

Submitted by Dionysis on

Good to hear I am not the only one who hisses back at our feathered "friends" ;-)
A couple of years ago I was in the same situation except the adult attacked as I went by. Nice bruise on my arm from that beak!

The most bizzare thing

Submitted by juliea on

The most bizzare thing happened to me yesterday. I was coming in later than usual, around 10am, and at Edworthy park there were about 20 women jogging with strollers all coming towards me, occupying both lanes. As I'm approching them none of them move into the correct lane so therefore I'm weaving in the center through a stroller on each side. It was quite a terrifying experience.

Bowling Pins

Submitted by gyrospanner on

Why do I have this image of splitting two bowling pins in my head? That would be a scary situation that I wouldn't have enjoyed either!

I guess this means that boot camp season is beginning.....

Boot Camp Season is well underway

Submitted by mike runs on

Last Thursday I had to ask about 30 of them to clear the ramp from the Princes Island bridge down onto the north pathway.

It shouldn't be a terrifying experience. Stop the one who appears to be their leader and tell them to get their group under control and share the pathway. I've done that several times with packs of runners groups.

Another Reason

Submitted by BCDon on

to take it easy on the pathways on the weekends. Fortunately I don't run into much of this when commuting but as the weather gets nicer I'll likely see more.

That's a scary thought - splitting down the middle. I can imagine that someone near the end would get offended and say or "do" something.

Me three

Submitted by RichieRich on

had this happen... and last ones in the group had the guts to tell me that next time I should notify them by voice/bell of my arrival. This after insessently ringing my bell and politely yelling cyclist and "please move over". The runners up front didn't even bother notifying the ones behind. Again, poor group leadership and lack of understanding that a multi-user trail applies to more than 1 group. Worse than a trying to herd cats. sheeeeesh.

yes, it's a fairly common phenomenon in the Western World.

Submitted by theorangejacket on

I know this group and the same thing has happened with me. I think it's "new mother with cute baby" syndrome. Their personal progeny is so awesomely cute and adorable that basically the entire world should recognize this fact and therefore should logically revolve around them.
They are genuinely surprised to discover that you do not necessarily share their passion (and patience) for their babies.

"oh look, she just spit up on your new couch...isn't that the cutest thing ever?"

Subspecies

Submitted by RichieRich on

My encounter with the chattering bipeds was devoid of ankle-biters. These bipeds definitely were of the abstract random variety compared to the preferred concrete-sequentials. Likely share similar genes to the less-obscure "Sunday-driver" family. Follow similar patterns of group-mentality: http://dharmaconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/herdingcats.jpg

Sunday driver  –noun
a slow and leisurely driver who appears to be sightseeing and enjoying the view, holding up traffic in the process. (Also a term of address.) : Move over, you Sunday driver!

Definition: a vehicle driver that is unskillful or drives slowly, endangering others by inconsistency, poor judgment, or inexperience

I think more than anything I

Submitted by juliea on

I think more than anything I was stunned and speechless that that this happened. I would assume that as traffic is approching from the opposite direction they would move into the appropriate lane...I guess that's assumnig too much. Next time I will definitely be ringing the bell.

And here is one from the Twilight Zone

Submitted by gyrospanner on

I was coming home in Bowmont Park tonight and encountered 2 old ladies with 2 off-leash dogs.

I rang my bell well in advance of the foursome - the dogs were on both sides of the path and did not move. One old lady was holding her umbrella over the yellow line like she was going to skewer me, and both old gals froze as well....

I weaved my way through them all, no words were spoken, no movement by any of them, and I knew that I had just passed through the twilight zone, just for a moment, anyways...

Maybe tomorrow's rain will force the zombies to stay home?

There will be rain...

Submitted by pinkrobe on

I've got most of my winter gear with me today - jacket, mittens, leg warmers, arm warmers, clear glasses, rear fender. I was going to switch to the winter bike shoes, but I put them somewhere in my basement and I can't find them. D'oh!

The ride in was fine. Traffic moved briskly. My legs were feeling good, even after last night's SS mtn bike session.
___________________
Who causes accidents?
Swrve!

Rain

Submitted by amf673 on

I rode my mtb with the fenders today and packed along my Gore-tex. I saw a guy on the river with a big boat gathering up pairs of geese, ducks, rabbits, squirrels ... He asked me how long I could tread water.

you guys are scaring me!! I

Submitted by Julie Gregg on

you guys are scaring me!! I wore my little running shorts and didn't bring any alternate for the ride home, I figure skin dries, cloth holds water. At any rate, seems the forcast discouraged most this morning as I saw only 3 other cyclists during the entire journey. One thing I forgot was a giant garbage bag to wrap everything in my pack for home time.

Dogs and Walkers

Submitted by bclark on

The stories remind me of a couple situations this week and last.

Riding to work the other morning there was a guy walking towards me. I was on a downhill but not going too fast. He was on the far opposite side of the path. When I caught his attention it looked to me like his expresion was one of abject fear...like I was about to mug him. It was weird...I was going nowhere near him.

On a less "fearful" note...riding home the other day a gentleman was walking his dog in the same direction I was travelling. The dog was not on a leash but near the right side of the pathway. When I rang my bell the dog immediately moved over to the right with no instruction from it's owner. I was pretty sure the owner hadn't heard me either so I rang again and he turned around to make efforts to get his dog off the path. I passed him and said...no problem...your dog moved over on it's own when it heard the bell. So there are some very well trained dogs out there.

New commute = losing my way

Submitted by InglewoodGuy on

First ride to the new office, from the core to Elbow & Glenmore area. Rode down Elbow River pathway to Stanley Park, then turned up 4A St with the intent of hitting the 5th St on-street bikeway south. Due to my preoccupation with avoiding a truck that was cutting me off, I think I missed the turn and next thing I knew I was way west of Elbow. All in all, a more scenic route. Hopefully I figure it out tomorrow. :)

The sad thing is I did test ride the new route a few months ago. I blame early morning brain fog.

I rode in the past couple

Submitted by litui on

I rode in the past couple days, but copped out today since they're predicting descending temperature.

I started riding completely on the road for my route and cut it down by 1 km, but have had to modify my route a touch going home due to the bridge construction on 25th Ave.

http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/342183?key=859a5c602015d8dee7ab418...
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/343352?key=c9bb9f2de954b3341d51982...
--
Please support my MS Ride: http://msofs.mssociety.ca/2010bike/Sponsor.aspx?PID=1222429&L=2

Perfect

Submitted by InglewoodGuy on

Thanks for the map, that's the route I was looking for. I kept going on Crescent Ave. (Like the route litui showed above.) I've also taken the orange route you show, would probably use it for the trip home when I have more time. Plus climbing that hill at Sandy Beach is a bit of a grunt.

Looking forward to the ride home, should be entertaining in the snow.

Wet wet wet

Submitted by amf673 on

At least the pathway wasn't busy :) It was wet snow on campus (MRU) but just heavy rain by the time I got to the NW. Some enormous puddles along Sarcee Rd (next to the new Garrison whatever development) that would need a snorkle to traverse.

staying dry

Submitted by ride on

Constant rain with no let-up in sight.... what better day to get out all of my foul-weather gear and take it for a test ride?

From top to bottom:

  • waterproof helmet cover with beaver-tail back end, from MEC: kept my head dry!
  • bright yellow rubberized Sou'wester: kept my core dry
  • Neoprene paddling gloves from MEC: kept my hands dry
  • no-name coated nylon pants: soon got wet. I need a better solution for my legs; any suggestions?
  • nylon velcro-on over-booties from MEC: kept my feet dry
  • and lastly: super-foldable, lightweight siliconized orange nylon pack cover from MEC: kept my gear dry

How'd you make out today in terms of staying dry?

======
'ride' at 'bikecalgary.org'
Bicycles aren't obstructing traffic, they're part of traffic

Well...

Submitted by bclark on

Pretty much was soaked completely by the time I got home. The only exception was my shoes...funny that! On the bright side the new front fender I picked up the other day did a much better job at deflecting kicked-up pathway water than my original downtube splash guard. No eating goose-poop tainted water!

failed...

Submitted by olivier on

at staying dry, that is. I managed to stay rubber side down all the way south, where it was snow and slush, so that was good. I was pretty much soaked, but generated enough heat to stay warm-ish. Just my hands regretted not having warmer gloves with me.

Must be quite wet to the west, judging by the significant increase in water flow for the Elbow and Fish Creek since yesterday. Confirmed it when I got home:

http://environment.alberta.ca/apps/basins/default.aspx

Dry

Submitted by vonbergm on

I kind of like the rain. Reminds me why all that raingear always rides in the bottom of my (waterproof) pannier: Waterproof breathable pants and jacket (hood fits under the helmet), gore tex shell gloves, MEC waterproof overboots. And fenders of course, so that I don't make a mess out of whoever rides behind me. Fun ride. Jut gor to remember to oil my chain for tomorrow....

Yup got absolutely soaked.

Submitted by scottmeyers on

Yup got absolutely soaked. I dedicated todays ride to building character and strengthening my resolve. I would have to say that in these conditions about 20km is tops before I got to cold and stupid to pedal. tomorrow I will pack better gear with me.

Note - that second sentence is an excuse for being to lazy to leave with proper clothes this morning.

Please support my ride to Conquer Cancer

Damp toes

Submitted by pinkrobe on

I kinda wish I would have looked a little harder for bootie #2 this morning, but it wasn't a bad ride home by any stretch. I forgot about braking distances increasing, and then quickly remembered. If a front fender would fit on my bike, that would be even better, but I only ride in conditions like this maybe 8 days each year, so...
___________________
Who causes accidents?
Swrve!

Ride I was

Submitted by Spinner on

going to suggest MECs Whoosh pants. water proof and sort of breathable (Zippers on the legs). But I took a look and they don't have them anymore. I've used them since last spring and on cold winter days, and are still going strong, where as I had to replace the jacket a couple months ago.

Dericho

Submitted by Spinner on

Yes it's the Dericho jacket. So far its pretty good. I wore it in the shower for about 10 minutes to check how water proof it was and it didn't leak. Pit zips are good for keeping cool. I haven't had it long enough to say how durable it is, but it seems to be better quality than the whoosh jacket.

All good except the hands

Submitted by mercator on

Turns out my windproof gloves are not at all waterproof. The neoprene booties kept my feet warm but the shoes got pretty wet. Fortunately I didn't need the snorkel after all.

I passed quite a few people with bare legs and arms, they looked kinda miserable.

tapped out and caught a ride

Submitted by denimjeff on

beautiful ride in this morning. empty pathways, no wind and a fellow commuter heading south from downtown (thanks for pushing the pace this morning, made it 5 minutes earlier than usual...). listened to my wife when she called at 4 to suggest that i catch a ride home with her. only the second commute i've missed since november (the other was 60+km headwinds home on a fixed gear) feel like half a man...oh well at least i'm dry :) really need some rain gear to avoid this wimp out situations in the future.

Glad I biked today

Submitted by olivier on

I look at the clock. 4:53. Roll out of bed. Stare out the window. The roads are damp, but my car covered in snow. Gotta work today, then head straight to an evening commitment.

I could take the train, but I'd have to scrape off my car to get to a station. Plus, this evening wouldn't be convenient on transit.

I could drive, but given the traffic pileups yesterday, that's not an appealing option. Not to mention the parking near Eau Claire...

I could walk, jog, roller blade, skateboard or something, but I'd probably have to stop for lunch halfway to the office.

So the bike wins again!

Actually, I really did enjoy the solitude of the ride this morning, as no one else was out. Cycling is the only quiet time in my life. :-)

Few Bikes and a Facial

Submitted by gyrospanner on

I also noticed very few bikes this morning, very few in the cage & racks at work, also.

When I got in I had the usual Dirt & Goose Poop Facial from the pathways. Maybe next week will be better weather for commuter challenge....

Ride was better for me than a coworker

Submitted by Dionysis on

He was riding in along 9th Ave. at around 7:30 yesterday morning when he was clipped by a car. He ended up crashing onto the sidewalk. The car stopped and the lady got out but did not stick around long. Unfortunately, my coworker did not get the license number but he felt vindicated because in the collision, her mirror was ripped off. Wonder how she will explain that to the insurance people?
He went for x-rays but it looks like he got away with just the scraps and bruises - even his bike was OK.
Needless to say, he is going to stick to the paths from now on!

Take a lane

Submitted by vonbergm on

That sucks. A reminder that we should take the lane if cars can't pass safely. Don't leave the decision whether it is safe to pass or not to the cars. They have no idea.

always a difficult decision

Submitted by BCDon on

Do I take the lane or not. In hindsight it is easy to make the choice but in reality it is more difficult. Even when it "looks" like you have enought space, if the driver isn't paying attention you can get clipped. So far I've been lucky and haven't been mirrored (although I have been brushed aside by a fender and had a driver pull in front broadside causing me to T-Bone). But, I have been real close to being mirrored and it was in an area where there was LOTs of room and the driver saw me. But, she was on a cell phone and distracted, after following decided to "pass" and came way too close, even for me and I can tolerate a foot without a problem. She ended up with a couple of people taking exception and a good slap or two on the window to draw attention to the fact that there was someone else in the universe besides herself.

But, in daily commuting it is sometimes tough to figure out when to take the lane even though we, as cyclists, have the "right" to take it whenever we need to.

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