My commutng week so far

"Russell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello all. Long time no post!

Normally I ride the 54 mile round trip to work about twice a week, but
this
week thought I would go for a record & do it 4 times. Now I'm beginning to
think Hants/Sussex roads are not fit for "road" bikes!

Monday going: Almost killed by a woman doing pirouettes (in her car that
is)
behind me in the wet on Portsdown Hill.
Monday coming back: Front lamp fell into road at exactly same place.
Plugged
back in & still worked, had to hold it for remaining 20 miles home. Later
I
found it was just a nut come loose in the lamp casing. (See note at bottom
of post)

Tuesday coming back: Rear brake mechanism fell off in Havant. Managed to
wind it round downtube bottle cage & get home.

Wednesday: Drove, no incidents!

Thursday: Bottle cage holding heavy lead acid battery broke off in Oving.
Wound battery round crossbar & left it swinging for the remaining 4 miles.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

Regarding the front lamp, I'm very impressed. It bounced across the road,
hit a car and bounced back to my side & still worked. Its the Cateye RC220
job (same lamp as the ABS ones I think). I'm sure if it had been one of
the
Opticube plasticy jobbies it would have smashed to bits.

Russell

That's an impressive distance to commute on a bike. How long does it take
you? I would like to commute to work (a 25 mile round trip) on a bike but
the problem is it would take over an hour each way along hazardous roads and
it is very undulating. I can't really find a good route from Horsham to
Holmbury St Mary.

Adam

Russell said:

Hello all. Long time no post!

Normally I ride the 54 mile round trip to work about twice a week, but this
week thought I would go for a record & do it 4 times. Now I'm beginning to
think Hants/Sussex roads are not fit for "road" bikes!

Monday going: Almost killed by a woman doing pirouettes (in her car that is)
behind me in the wet on Portsdown Hill.
Monday coming back: Front lamp fell into road at exactly same place. Plugged
back in & still worked, had to hold it for remaining 20 miles home. Later I
found it was just a nut come loose in the lamp casing. (See note at bottom
of post)

Tuesday coming back: Rear brake mechanism fell off in Havant. Managed to
wind it round downtube bottle cage & get home.

Wednesday: Drove, no incidents!

Thursday: Bottle cage holding heavy lead acid battery broke off in Oving.
Wound battery round crossbar & left it swinging for the remaining 4 miles.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

Regarding the front lamp, I'm very impressed. It bounced across the road,
hit a car and bounced back to my side & still worked. Its the Cateye RC220
job (same lamp as the ABS ones I think). I'm sure if it had been one of the
Opticube plasticy jobbies it would have smashed to bits.

Russell

sounds like your bike is in need of a good service

--
"You can't see paradise if you don't pedal" (Fowler, Chicken Run)

On 16/02/2006 22:57, Russell said,

Quoted message said:

Hello all. Long time no post!

Normally I ride the 54 mile round trip to work about twice a week, but this
week thought I would go for a record & do it 4 times. Now I'm beginning to
think Hants/Sussex roads are not fit for "road" bikes!

Are you sure that it isn't your bike that isn't fit for the roads? ;-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

"Paul Boyd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 16/02/2006 22:57, Russell said,

Quoted message said:

Hello all. Long time no post!

Normally I ride the 54 mile round trip to work about twice a week, but

this

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

week thought I would go for a record & do it 4 times. Now I'm beginning

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

think Hants/Sussex roads are not fit for "road" bikes!

Are you sure that it isn't your bike that isn't fit for the roads? ;-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Probably but its mostly attachments that keep breaking or falling off, as
the front light switch today.
Russell

Adam Lea said:

That's an impressive distance to commute on a bike. How long does it

take

Quoted message said:

you? I would like to commute to work (a 25 mile round trip) on a bike but
the problem is it would take over an hour each way along hazardous roads and
it is very undulating. I can't really find a good route from Horsham to
Holmbury St Mary.

12.5 miles? That's not far *at all*! Or do you have a ....
<whisper>mountain bike</whisper>?

With a good road machine, clipless pedals, a decent riding position and
a bit of fitness, you'd do it in well under the hour. 45 minutes is a
reasonable commuting time. A lot of people spend much longer than that
cooped up in cars, trains or busses!

"TheBagbournes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Adam Lea said:

That's an impressive distance to commute on a bike. How long does it

take

Quoted message said:

you? I would like to commute to work (a 25 mile round trip) on a bike but
the problem is it would take over an hour each way along hazardous roads
and it is very undulating. I can't really find a good route from Horsham
to Holmbury St Mary.

12.5 miles? That's not far *at all*! Or do you have a ....
<whisper>mountain bike</whisper>?

With a good road machine, clipless pedals, a decent riding position and a
bit of fitness, you'd do it in well under the hour. 45 minutes is a
reasonable commuting time. A lot of people spend much longer than that
cooped up in cars, trains or busses!

Well it's probably more like 10 miles if I take the most direct route of
Warnham > Walliswood > Holmbury House via the network of unclassified
country roads. The 12.5 mile figure is as measured in the car which is more
of an up and across route.

I do have a mountain bike which I have recently added road tyres too. Would
a road bike make a lot of difference? It's not the distance that bothers me,
it is more the undulations. It's almost 200 meters of climbing in total to
get to work which would really slow me down. I don't have the time to be
spending an hour plus there and back.

Due to the rural nature of the route I would only feel comfortable doing
this route on a bike during the daylight. I wouldn't trust the drivers
around here to look out for me in the dark.

Adam

in message <[email hidden]>, Adam Lea

(') said:

I do have a mountain bike which I have recently added road tyres too.
Would a road bike make a lot of difference?

A bit. Maybe 5% over an MTB with slicks? Obviously this depends a bit on
the bikes concerned - it would be more like 10% between my good road
bike and my good mountain bike. A lot depends on how aerodynamic a
riding position you can be comfortable in. Over ten miles anyone ought
to be able to average 16-18mph fairly comfortably. When I used to
commute a 42 mile round trip I used to average 16mph, and there was at
least 100 metres climb in that.

Quoted message said:

I don't have the time to be spending an hour plus there and back.

How much time will you spend in the gym if you don't ride there and back?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; It appears that /dev/null is a conforming XSL processor.

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

How much time will you spend in the gym if you don't ride there and back?

--

I do strength training in the gym, not cardio. I currently use the bike to
get to the town centre (four mile round trip) and leisure rides during the
summer.