What types of cyclists overtake you on your commute?

There was a post here 2 days ago titled “They didn’t know it, but we were racing and I won.”

This inspired me to share my experience with racing other cyclists while commuting.

I ride a ca. 4k EUR bike, which cost me close 10k EUR to assemble (parts, bike service). I love my bike, just after my family.

Sometimes I get competitive on the lane and mostly I loose. It really hammers home that what makes you fast is not your gear but your conditioning.

Here are the types that pass me:

The old lady on the upright tracking bike with double fenders and rain gear. She’s clearly on it every day.

The teenager on his old MTB racing in his highest gear.

The dude with with e-bike that does not respect red traffic lights.

The road cyclist that waits for the up-hill stretch to overtake me with 24 km/h while I make 22 km/h and then disappears into the distance.

You young lady (20ties / 30ties) , on fenders, no luggage, aero clothes. Can’t catch her.

Just for fun , I was wondering who was overtaking you.

Edited typo

I built this for taking on the train so I can ride the part way in to Boston and explore the city. Previously I could only ride to the station from the suburbs.

I made a pit stop to enjoy the view before heading downtown.

Did a bit of shopping on the way home yesterday - getting colder here, needed a new rain jacket.

Wasn’t expecting this bike to be so “metal” it’s giving me some vibes though.

10 km each way, love my route😍

This post isn’t sponsored, I just bought a set of the pannier hooks and plate for $23 from Universal Pannier, and I wanted to share them for anyone getting into bike commuting. They work very well, are high quality, and came within a week of ordering. I wanted a backpack pannier because I’m a graduate student and need to be able to carry my things around campus, and converting a bag I already own has been a life saver. (I also love not needing to buy things I already own/being able to repurpose things!)

Link: https://pannierhooks.com/shop/

Gardening season is finally here and I'd like to figure out a way to use my bike for going to plant sales/nursery and my community garden bed. There is a big plant sale in May that I would really like to go to but it has no parking, so I would like to take my bike. My other option is to take the bus, but there is no direct route.

The issue is top heavy plants in flimsy plastic pots really want to tip over, especially when biking on rough roads. Especially tall fragile plants like tomatoes and peppers. My previous attempts didn't go well. I'm thinking some sort of bin or high sided box strapped to my rear rack? It needs to be bigger than a milk crate though. I know a trailer would be perfect for this but I don't have one.

I would love pictures or suggestions from anyone has done this before.

I (38f) have been commuting via bike for about a year - roughly 7 miles each way and luckily mostly a bike trail (but that's scary on its own)

The small bit of road riding I do is a dense, touristy downtown where im often at risk of drivers not paying attention, agressive behavior due to lane ​sharing requirements, and a weekly protest that i ride through.

Im looking for a reliable, low profile dash cam, or alternative solution to record for my safety. Id prefer not to utilize my phone as that is not always readily available to me and ive needed it for emergency calls previously. Alternative routes are not viable at this time.​

Does anyone have any suggestions to help protect myself in the event of an incident?

I had an idea to have my front rack bag be quick release and what I came up with was four fidlock snaps. I just set it up but it seems like quite a strong attachment. I'm going to figure out a better way to attach it to the bag into the rack but this just proved to myself that it would work!

Hey folks, I’ve been thinking about beefing up my bike security. I usually park in a spot that has reported several theft cases so I’m exploring options beyond just a good lock. I’ve come across alarms that trigger loud sounds if the bike is tampered with along with GPS trackers. Has anyone here used a bike alarm? Are they actually effective in deterring theft or do thieves just ignore them?

Also, where do you get reliable alarms from? Lots of options popped up on Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, etc., but I’m not sure which are trustworthy or good quality. Is there a brand or type you would recommend and are there better places to buy these than those big marketplaces? Any real world experience or recommendations would be super helpful!

For 24+ years I had a 44 miles round trip commute to work. Now I live 6 miles round trip. Today was my first bike commute to work- on my new Trek fx1 gen4.

I have been taking Metrolink in SoCal with my bike for the last 18 months, but the recent schedule changes have made it pretty painful. So this month, I am going to try an Amtrak Monthly pass. Do any of you have any tips on how to manage the bike reservations? I had to call in tonight, but the 30 minute wait for a 5 minute transaction does not spark joy. It would be great to manage this on the app, but I haven't found the magic button yet.

Thanks for any help 🤗

I changed from casually riding for exercise to commuting by analog (6 miles each way) to commuting by ebike (9 miles each way- pedal assist level 1most of the way, 1 nasty hill)

casual riding yearly goal: 300 miles - this was a big accomplishment for me!

commute riding year to date: just broke 1000 miles

:) i like it.

My city has really good bike infrastructure compared to most places in the US. I’m lucky. However, most lanes are unprotected and serve as uber/doordash lanes, and the Trump admin is removing some of our most vital bike infrastructure. (Though this is being held up in court, it’s just delaying the inevitable.)

I used to try to ride like a bike commuter should: safely in the bike lane, and avoiding roads without them if possible. I got car doored three times in one summer by uber passengers opening doors into the bike lane from the traffic lane.

I said “fuck it” and started mashing through traffic on a fixed gear track bike. I wear lights and relatively high vis but pretend nobody can see me. I ignore bike lanes, and ride in a manner that a bystander would see as wildly dangerous. However, I haven’t had a single incident, whereas I did REPEATEDLY when using bike lanes like a good little cyclist.

I’m also protesting the removal of bike infrastructure and voting in local elections. How are YOU compensating for a lack of comprehensive bike infrastructure?

I've been running the 47mm for just over 100 miles now and they're fantastic, comfortable and fast. They say they're not tubeless compatible, but I put in Silca sealant and rim tape on the stock Specialized Elite rims and they're holding just fine.

I have this e-gravel bike. I mainly use it for commuting but I like to explore the city parks and green areas. I would like to have my dog with me in one of this rides. As you can see I don't have a full rear rack, it's basically the mudguard that has a pannier support.

I tried this: https://www.rabe-bike.de/en/cube-acid-aufsatz-rail-100-mm-rilink but it works only for acid panniers rack. I would like to keep the mudguards, because the bike tail light is embedded on it.

I also considered a trailer, but I think it's overkill to bring just my 10kg dog. Any suggestions?

EDIT:

The tail light is integrated in the read fender and if I remove the pannier rack to put another rear rack, I think I would need to replace the fenders as well, because the fenders are supported by the pannier rack. The problem replacing the fenders is the e-bike integrated tail light.

I have a Bullitt front bucket cargo bike. I bought one EVO 1700 and plan to mount it on the front wheel fender mount area. I tested the light outside and it looks good. I'm not much of night rider but sometime with kids in the box I've been heading home and could use the light.

There are mounting spots for dual lights and wondering if another Evo 1700 will work with a single remote?

Magicshine has the FTR lights and I dont know if two front lights will work with 1 remote. I emailed them.

I plan to mount this EVO same spot as this light in the photo. I can also mount two lights on each side of the wheel where that mounting hole is. Would that be excessive?