Cycling Question.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Thanks guys, I'm actually thinking of cycling for transport more than anything....
Have to have a bag on my back too.

[Sharla]

At least put a rack on the back of your bike for your bag rather than carry it on your back.

It doesn't have to cost much or be anything elaborate - you can go for a very basic bag rack as long as it holds the weight you need it to carry but don't put anything on your back.

You might want to make sure you wear some pretty bright clothing and have plenty of lights on your bike too. You'll be shocked by how easily motorists can just not see you.

The thing about the rain is that if you're transport cycling you are probably going to have to stop and start a lot. That's when you get cold. It's worse than running which allows you to bounce up and down on the spot or run up and down the street whie you wait for the lights to change.

Don't forget to put a tube repair kit somewhere on your bike - you probably know about that but it's an easy detail to forget so I thought I'd tell you anyway. It's not fun walking your bike home too far or running late because you get a flat.

[Von Milash]

spinning will help your wind, but slightly different muscle groups are getting used.

I have a spinning bike.. fantastic investment if you can afford one.

[donnydarkoIRL]

LoL Ok Ok Ok.....
Thanks for the enthusiasm.

You see I want to cycle to a weight training session in the mornings.

How long would it take to cycle 20 miles lets say?

[Sharla]

If I'm going to be honest I HATE TRANSPORT CYCLING!

It's not so bad in groups in places where cyclists ride often and drivers are used to them or in places like Japan where everyone cycles.

Here though to get from A to B it's risky. I've been hit THREE TIMES. Or technically hit twice and doored once.

Each time the car drivers were really sorry and took full responsibility for it but what bothers me is that these people were nice. If nice people can hit you by accident when you do nothing wrong then assholes or people hitting you when you make a mistake are a LOT worse!

Once I waited for all the traffic to go across a busy one way road and went to cycle across to get to the footpath on the other side. A woman decided she'd missed her turn and went and reversed the wrong way down a one way street and hit me!

Another time i was going straight ahead through some traffic lights. A car turning left into that road didn't see me - she was focused on the car behind me and decided she had time to get in ahead of it and drove straight into the side of my bike. I saw her coming and yelled stop 3 times but she said afterwards she heard something and just didn't wake up to it. I was thrown in front of oncoming traffic in the next lane but luckily they saw it all unfolding and stopped without hitting me.

Another time a taxi driver in a rush to get something while he waited for a client swung his door open at the last second without looking as I was cycling past. I'd left about a metre gap between me and the parked cars be he still caught the front of my bike by about 2 cm. I was flung over the handle bars - again into the next lane. Luckily the oncoming traffic was stopped at some lights up ahead and I was pounced on by 3 nurses that happened to be in the area at the time. Plus he gave me a lift to work with my mangled bike afterwards.

Transport cycling something you do when you're transitioning between other forms of transport but it's not worth it for exercise. 12 miles of transport cycling is not going to make someone as fit as you any fitter. It'll benefit a sedentiary person who just needs to move but not an athlete! Especially as someone with a young family who needs you I don't think it's worth the risk.

At least don't cycle at night or in overcast conditions! PLEASE!

Anyway cyclists might average about 25 to 30 km an hour over a longish distance but a lot depends on the type of bike you have and how much it all weighs. A good cyclist will be cycling at 40 km an hour and faster but that's not easy to obtain on normal roads with traffic lights and especially on a mountain bike as opposed to a road bike.

The best idea if you're fixed on this is to cycle the distance and judge for yourself. Go by your own benchmarks rather than what is acceptable in a cyclists world because so much depends on your equipment and the road it's hard to predict.

[donnydarkoIRL]

I'm just debating in my head whether to do this or not. There's a world class weights gym available to me in the mornings, but there are no buses and bringing a car to town is a liability as parking is so expensive, I'm really undecided, but if it's more than an hours cycle it's not worth it.

[md]

Cleats are a good investment to attach your feet to the pedals if you decide to go for it. Once you get used to them you'd be able to give your hamstrings some work too.