Bike Commuting

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24901802

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16790112

Just tried commuting on my bike from Santa Monica to downtown Culver City today. I took the Exposition bike path, which was fine until I needed to get off of it to head south.

Google recommended I take National and--lo and behold--there's no bike lane with cars flying past at 55mph+ on blind hills. That's a death trap.

On the way home I left early to avoid traffic. I took Venice Blvd, since it has a protected bike lane all the way until McLaughlin which Google Maps called "bicycle friendly." No bike lane, of course, with cars flying past leaving a foot of distance between me and death. One testy driver in a BMW didn't want to wait the 15 seconds for me to pedal into the left turn lane to get back onto the Exposition bike path, honking and then flying by nearly killing me. Jeez lady, I'm not the city planner. Don't kill me to save 15 seconds.

How does Culver City put zero bike lanes going north to south connecting to the Exposition path? How do these drivers maintain their licenses?

What's a cyclist to do?

As mentioned in the title, BikeForums.net is a treasure, and you should bookmark it

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/33429181

The staggering health improvements from bike commuting (Shifter)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15958402

Coal Rolling Is a Menacing Crime—And It's on the Rise

Paywall-free link: https://archive.ph/3tLtL

The crash occurred on September 25, 2021, the first crisp day of fall after a hot Texas summer. Claudius Galo intended to ride a hundred miles or more that morning. “There was a chill in the air. It felt so good. The energy was high,” he recalls of the small group that gathered to ride with him.

Galo had moved to the Houston area from Rio de Janeiro, about 14 years prior. A calm and inquisitive engineer who works in the oil and gas industry, Galo had become unhealthy and overweight in his late thirties. He tried running but got hurt, so his doctor recommended adding swimming and cycling. Now 45, he’d lost 60 pounds and completed six Ironmans and almost a dozen half Ironmans. Tamy Valiente, 45, had come to the United States from Costa Rica nine years before. Inspired by the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in her twenties, she’d dreamt of becoming a competitive bike rider, but first, “I had to raise my babies,” she says. After going through a divorce, she eventually saved enough money to buy a bike frame and slowly began building her first racing bike part by part. She would often wake at 4 a.m. to train on the narrow roads close to her home back near San José, where buses crept by within inches of her handlebar. To Valiente, the U.S. felt like paradise. “The roads seemed safe. The traffic laws were actually enforced,” she says.

On the day of the crash, David Reynolds, a 45-year-old tattooed photographer with two teenage children, had ridden 11.5 miles to meet the group at Hockley Community Center, about 30 miles west of downtown Houston. Cycling was his “Zen time,” when he could zone out and let all his worries wash through him. Though he wasn’t training for an event, he had ridden for nearly 600 consecutive days. “I just like to ride,” he says. The group that rolled out that morning included three other experienced cyclists: Craig Staples, Brad Stauffer, and Keith Conrad. The six regularly met up to ride through Waller County, an agricultural and ranching community just outside the sprawling metropolis. The group would become known as the Waller 6.

. . .

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/20850985

The safest road, mountain bike and urban helmets as rated by Virginia Tech

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/18598001

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/18597997

Been considering a belt driven commuter and wanted to see what you all thought. Thanks!

I would like to avoid exposing them to the cold/wind but I am concerned that they'd get crushed bungee'd into a basket and would not fit into my backpack.

Hi, I commute to work (7km each way) and somehow I feel that by bike could be more sporty.

Instead of buying a new bike, I'd like to know tips on how can I changey seat and handlebars to get this feeling.

Can any of you recommend a material to learn about this?

My bike is below

Thanks

Dynamo hubs, belt drive, internal gears... I will get a bike with all these beautiful stuff, but it will be really expensive!

Right now I have a traditional city bike with a basic derailleur by shimano and chain. It works, but I have to do regular maintenance and regulations. And I already bent the derailleur a couple of times, it happens so easily!

What stuff and upgrades you would like on your commuter bikes?

Two men accused of driving up to cyclists in rural south-west France and pushing them into ditches for fun have gone on trial in Toulouse for organised violence and could face up to five years in prison.

The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested last year after a spate of cyclists being pushed off their bikes on quiet country roads. One victim told the newspaper La Dépêche: “It was April … I’d gone out on my bike for the afternoon. When I got to a little country road … I felt a car was following me silently. It was driving very slowly behind me when it could easily have overtaken me. Then after a few minutes it drove up beside me. The car’s passenger suddenly pushed me down.”

theGuardian👉

« Ce sont des faits graves mais surtout je tiens à le dire d’une stupidité affligeante », souligne la représentante du ministère public avant de requérir leur placement en détention provisoire.
👉 in french

"And what about grocery shopping?"

I'm still learning, and I still need a car for a lot of things, but this is still greatly satisfying!

ITA:
"E come fai a fare la spesa in #bici"?
"Così!"

Sto ancora imparando e posso migliorare, comunque non posso rinunciare alla macchina, però sono belle soddisfazioni!

#bikeCommuting @bikecommuting

Hello fellow bike commuters,

I have the impression that my underwear doesn't last as long as it would without me cycling to and from work five times a week. My boxer briefs get holes too quickly between the legs. Since I can't remember a time where I didn't cycle, it's difficult for me to know if this is due to cycling or the normal way for them to die.

Can anyone here tell me about their experience? Is this related to cycling frequently? More importantly, do you know of special cyclist underwear which is not the sporty padded type but something you could wear all day and which would't rip so easily.

Love this website, the layout is great and the explanations are simple and straight-forward.

I've got a thick-ass rack on my Aventon Aventure 2 (probably larger than 2 cm), and many panniers simply do not have hooks that fit around it. Any suggestions for brands / products?

I'd prefer a rolling bag, but I'll take any!

Hello! I would like to share the route I made for myself and my story how I finished it recently. The route I will describe starts in Belgrade, goes along the Danube River, through Djerdap National Park to the border with Serbia, and returns to Belgrade through Kucaj-Beljanica National Park. The route is compilation from parts of different EuroVel routes.

Route Summary:

• Total length: about 700 km;
• Total elevation: about 5000 m;
• Highest climbing category: 2;
• Highest point: 960 m above the sea;
• Estimated days required: 6-7;
• Overall level: medium;
• Recommended lowest gear: 1:1
• Recommended tires: 35+ mm or MTB;
• Link to the routeplanner;
• Link to Kamoot;
• Total price, including hotels and food in restaurants: 385 Eur (Fall 2023);

I made a blog post with detailed information about every part and also additional photos inside.

I've recently started commuting via bike on a Trek FX-3 Disc. I just found out that it has a handlebar with some stupid proprietary "IsoZone" technology which makes it incompatible with a lot of stuff due to crimped bar ends. I want to replace it with a different handlebar. I just use the bike for commuting, other close-by travel needs and just riding for fun sometimes.

Anyone have any recommendations for which handlebar I should get?

Thanks

I just recently got into using a bike for commuting and I was wondering if this is a good way to secure my bike? I know, previously, people would recommend only needing to lock the back tire to a solid object, but I’ve seen videos of people easily cutting the back tire, breaking it and taking the frame/front tire. My method of locking is sort of similar, except I do lock around the splash guard. If this isn’t very secure, I’d have to get a longer ulock or chain, because there doesn’t appear to be an easy way for me to lock around the back tire, frame and solid object with my current ulock. Any suggestions are appreciated.

The photo is just for the cover :)

Has anyone cycled through Bosnia and Herzegovina? I'm planning my next solo trip and I'm thinking of going from Belgrade to Sarajevo, crossing the border at Bajina Basta Water Power Plant one way, after visiting Sarajevo it looks like I can cross the border at Bijelina. Most of the videos on YouTube are about cycling back through Croatia, but this is not an option for me due to visa restrictions... The whole route (~700km with +-8500m of altitude difference) looks like an interesting challenge and a great opportunity to get to know BiH.

But I have a lot of general questions about road quality, driver culture in relation to cyclists, water accessibility, etc. I'm also worried about the mountains near Sarajevo: from the border to Sarajevo and from Sarajevo to Tuzla. How good are these mountain roads for cycling? Is it possible to zigzag on the most difficult climbs?

Thanks in advance!

A common frustration in my part of the world is that transit does not run very often, and there are only 2 spots for bikes on the front of buses. There have been many times when I've had to wait an extra hour just to see if the next bus happens to have a spot for my bike.

Every time this happens, I promise myself that I'm going to someday spend the money to buy a folding bike (which can be taken on the bus if it's folded).

In my head, riding a folding bike is a joyous experience, partly because of Dr Sharon riding a Brompton in Ted Lasso, but I'm curious what it's actually like.

My dream folding bikes are any model of Brompton, a RadExpand 5, or a Tern Link D7i.