Confessions of a new commuter

Just moved into my unit in Mitcham, and started commuting on the peddly
treddly to work this morning. Observations, and questions.

1) Took me around an hour, and I was knackered at the end. Average
speed would've been around 20 kph, at a guess. (Really need to get
a cycle computer on my bike...) I didn't start getting my second
wind until about 40 minutes into the ride. Likely to improve with
fitness, I assume? (I damn well hope so... :-)
2) Lane splitting. Hit a wall of traffic north of Ferntree Gully Road
heading south on Springvale Road. My hybrid has barely enough room
to pass in the middle of two lanes of traffic (forget about passing
on the left side of the left lane; it Ain't Gonna Happen). I assume
a road bike would improve this (it'd cut the width of the
handlebars considerably, but there's still the panniers to deal
with...)
3) Route this morning: meandering through to Mitcham Road via the back
streets (south of the railway line), west onto Canterbury Road,
south onto Terrara Road, deviating onto Hanover Road, then west
along Burwood Highway, south along Springvale, west along Ferntree
Gully to Monash Uni. Suggestions for a better route? (not that
there's anything particularly wrong with this one) Maybe south
along Hartland and Highmont to Highbury Road?

Lots of stuff to buy along the way: road bike; lights and pannier racks
for said road bike (speaking of which -- I have two takers for the
panniers I mentioned in another posting; if one declines the postage
costs, the other is in Melbourne, so consider them gone); new shoes (the
old ones are not comfortable any more); ... But for now, I'm riding.
Just wish it didn't take so much out of me to the point that I'm puffing
for half an hour after I get in to work. :-)

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congrats! I tram to work, would take me longer to get ready then i
would to ride.

yeah dont worry about the fitness before you know it, it will b
taking, 40 minutes and you will doing 50 km loops just to fill i
time!! well exaggerating, but you know what I mean!

Its personal I guess, I always found, Blackburn Road nicer to ride o
then Springvale road, its usually not "quite" as heavy with traffic an
it found it a better road for riding on as well, nicer asphalt

good luck with the commuting! and the bike upgrading.



Stuart Lamble Wrote:
Just moved into my unit in Mitcham, and started commuting on the peddly
treddly to work this morning. Observations, and questions.

1) Took me around an hour, and I was knackered at the end. Average
speed would've been around 20 kph, at a guess. (Really need to get
a cycle computer on my bike...) I didn't start getting my second
wind until about 40 minutes into the ride. Likely to improve with
fitness, I assume? (I damn well hope so... :-)
2) Lane splitting. Hit a wall of traffic north of Ferntree Gully Road
heading south on Springvale Road. My hybrid has barely enough room
to pass in the middle of two lanes of traffic (forget about passing
on the left side of the left lane; it Ain't Gonna Happen). I assume
a road bike would improve this (it'd cut the width of the
handlebars considerably, but there's still the panniers to deal
with...)
3) Route this morning: meandering through to Mitcham Road via the back
streets (south of the railway line), west onto Canterbury Road,
south onto Terrara Road, deviating onto Hanover Road, then west
along Burwood Highway, south along Springvale, west along Ferntree
Gully to Monash Uni. Suggestions for a better route? (not that
there's anything particularly wrong with this one) Maybe south
along Hartland and Highmont to Highbury Road?

Lots of stuff to buy along the way: road bike; lights and pannie
racks
for said road bike (speaking of which -- I have two takers for the
panniers I mentioned in another posting; if one declines the postage
costs, the other is in Melbourne, so consider them gone); new shoe
(the
old ones are not comfortable any more); ... But for now, I'm riding.
Just wish it didn't take so much out of me to the point that I'
puffing
for half an hour after I get in to work. :-)

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MikeyOz

"Stuart Lamble" wrote in message
...
Just moved into my unit in Mitcham, and started commuting on the peddly
treddly to work this morning. Observations, and questions.

1) Took me around an hour, and I was knackered at the end. Average
speed would've been around 20 kph, at a guess. (Really need to get
a cycle computer on my bike...) I didn't start getting my second
wind until about 40 minutes into the ride. Likely to improve with
fitness, I assume? (I damn well hope so... :-)

Keep riding. As you get fitter the time will come down. When I first took up
commuting (July 1976 to studies at Monash) my first ride took me over 45
minutes. Within 2 weeks I had this down to 25 miutes and sometimes 20
minutes. Your time should coome down to about 30 minutes.

3) Route this morning: meandering through to Mitcham Road via the back
streets (south of the railway line), west onto Canterbury Road,
south onto Terrara Road, deviating onto Hanover Road, then west
along Burwood Highway, south along Springvale, west along Ferntree
Gully to Monash Uni. Suggestions for a better route?

Follow the Ringwood to Chadstone bus route (check the Melways)- down
Hartland Rd, Highmont Dv, RT on Highbury Rd, LT into Camelot Dv, RT into
Capital Av, LT at roundabout into Westlands Rd -all this is quite flat or
slight downhill, better than the ups and downs, and traffic of Burwood Hwy &
Springvale Rd.

At High Street Rd go right to Springvale Rd. Take Springvale through Glen
Waverley, then turn left on Waverley to Blackburn Rd then ride this divided
section of Blackburn to Monash. This should avoid a lot of the traffic
heading along Springvale to get to the freeway.

Just wish it didn't take so much out of me to the point that I'm puffing
for half an hour after I get in to work. :-)

That puffing is a symptom of you getting fitter ;-)

Cheers
Peter

On 2005-02-28, MikeyOz wrote:
Its personal I guess, I always found, Blackburn Road nicer to ride on
then Springvale road, its usually not "quite" as heavy with traffic and
it found it a better road for riding on as well, nicer asphalt

Blackburn Road is fine south of Waverley Road, and that's the way I went
whilst living with my parents (they're in a place between Blackburn and
Springvale Roads), but north of WR, I strongly distrust it. Two lanes in
both directions, undivided road ... too much aggravation for the other
vehicles.

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Follow the Ringwood to Chadstone bus route (check the Melways)- down
Hartland Rd, Highmont Dv, RT on Highbury Rd, LT into Camelot Dv, RT into
Capital Av, LT at roundabout into Westlands Rd -all this is quite flat or
slight downhill, better than the ups and downs, and traffic of Burwood Hwy
&
Springvale Rd.

At High Street Rd go right to Springvale Rd. Take Springvale through Glen
Waverley, then turn left on Waverley to Blackburn Rd then ride this
divided
section of Blackburn to Monash. This should avoid a lot of the traffic
heading along Springvale to get to the freeway.


Good route! (I wish I had more of those)

Alternative is to use Blackburn road to Highbury (while it is still wide)
and then turn right. Turn left after the quarry/housing slums and then back
track a little to Lawrence Rd. Follow this over High St Rd, turn onto Regent
St until Waverley. Both of these are quite wide. Then take Forster Rd
through to Monash. The hills are quite mild, particularly going South.

On 2005-02-28, Peter Signorini wrote:
"Stuart Lamble" wrote in message
...
3) Route this morning: meandering through to Mitcham Road via the back
streets (south of the railway line), west onto Canterbury Road,
south onto Terrara Road, deviating onto Hanover Road, then west
along Burwood Highway, south along Springvale, west along Ferntree
Gully to Monash Uni. Suggestions for a better route?

Follow the Ringwood to Chadstone bus route (check the Melways)- down
Hartland Rd, Highmont Dv, RT on Highbury Rd, LT into Camelot Dv, RT into
Capital Av, LT at roundabout into Westlands Rd -all this is quite flat or
slight downhill, better than the ups and downs, and traffic of Burwood Hwy &
Springvale Rd.

Reads somewhat complicated, but on the map, it's pretty straightforward.
I'll give it a go on the trip home, see what it's like. Might well end
up being a lot easier; Burwood Highway was definitely the worst part of
this morning's commute. Thanks.

Just wish it didn't take so much out of me to the point that I'm puffing
for half an hour after I get in to work. :-)

That puffing is a symptom of you getting fitter ;-)

I know; I just like a bit of a whinge. :-)

Much appreciated.

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"Stuart" == Stuart Lamble writes:

Stuart Blackburn Road is fine south of Waverley Road, and that's
Stuart the way I went whilst living with my parents (they're in a
Stuart place between Blackburn and Springvale Roads), but north of
Stuart WR, I strongly distrust it. Two lanes in both directions,
Stuart undivided road ... too much aggravation for the other
Stuart vehicles.

Yeah, I've ridden Blackburn Road between Burwood Highway and Wellington
Road, it's not much fun. Warrigal Road is about the best link I've
managed to find between Burwood Highway and Wellington so far, and that
ain't great.
--
Cheers
Euan

"Stuart Lamble" wrote:

Reads somewhat complicated, but on the map, it's pretty straightforward.

Yes it s easy to do and quite direct. I sometimes use this as part of a
training loop from my place to Jells Park then back along the Dandenong Ck
Trail.

I'll give it a go on the trip home, see what it's like. Might well end
up being a lot easier; Burwood Highway was definitely the worst part of
this morning's commute. Thanks.

No worries. Another option, depending upon wich part of Mitcham you're
coming from could be to ride down Boronia Rd to the Dandenong Ck Trail, then
take it down to High Street Rd, or maybe even Waverley Rd. It'd be a very
peaceful route, if a bit longer.(Don't go as far as Ferntree Gully Rd uness
you want some serious hill training. The FTG Rd hill is notoriously steep
and probably carries lots of traffic in the morning) Then you could cut
across to Springvale Rd or Blackburn Rd to get down to Monash.

Cheers
Peter

"Stuart Lamble" wrote in message
...
Just moved into my unit in Mitcham, and started commuting on the peddly
treddly to work this morning. Observations, and questions.

1) Took me around an hour, and I was knackered at the end. Average
speed would've been around 20 kph, at a guess. (Really need to get
a cycle computer on my bike...) I didn't start getting my second
wind until about 40 minutes into the ride. Likely to improve with
fitness, I assume? (I damn well hope so... :-)
2) Lane splitting. Hit a wall of traffic north of Ferntree Gully Road
heading south on Springvale Road. My hybrid has barely enough room
to pass in the middle of two lanes of traffic (forget about passing
on the left side of the left lane; it Ain't Gonna Happen). I assume
a road bike would improve this (it'd cut the width of the
handlebars considerably, but there's still the panniers to deal
with...)
3) Route this morning: meandering through to Mitcham Road via the back
streets (south of the railway line), west onto Canterbury Road,
south onto Terrara Road, deviating onto Hanover Road, then west
along Burwood Highway, south along Springvale, west along Ferntree
Gully to Monash Uni. Suggestions for a better route? (not that
there's anything particularly wrong with this one) Maybe south
along Hartland and Highmont to Highbury Road?

Lots of stuff to buy along the way: road bike; lights and pannier racks
for said road bike (speaking of which -- I have two takers for the
panniers I mentioned in another posting; if one declines the postage
costs, the other is in Melbourne, so consider them gone); new shoes (the
old ones are not comfortable any more); ... But for now, I'm riding.
Just wish it didn't take so much out of me to the point that I'm puffing
for half an hour after I get in to work. :-)

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@" to "usenet".

Heh, you're obviously a good bit fitter than I was when I started riding
Good effort. You'll still breathe heavily at the end of the commute, but
after a while, it's not uncontrolled gasping anymore and You feel good
immediately afterwards rather than just wanting to collapse somewhere cool
and quiet.

"Stuart" == Stuart Lamble writes:

Stuart (Really need to get a cycle computer on my bike...)

Yes, you do! I'm a commuter, it's pretty much all I use my bike for.
I'm kicking myself that I didn't get one 19 months ago when I started
this commuting by bike m'larky. Don't repeat my pain, get a 'puter :-)

Stuart I didn't start getting my second wind until about 40
Stuart minutes into the ride.

You might be starting off too hard, I take it real easy for the first
10-15 minutes of the ride, depending how cold it is, before upping the
effort and I've noticed a marked difference.

Stuart Likely to improve with fitness, I assume? (I damn well hope
Stuart so... :-)

Yes, you'll get fitter and it'll get easier. Have you ever had any
cycling coaching? I.E. has anyone actually taught you how to use the
pedals properly sit on the bike and that sort of thing?

If the answer is no, again don't repeat my pain :-) About two months
ago I figured that if cycling was going to be my main modus transportus
then it'd make sense to get some coaching. Yet again I'm kicking myself
that I haven't done so earlier. Two months down the track and I knocked
4 minutes pedaling time off of my commute (about six minutes total when
lights etc are taken in to account) and that's not through a huge leap
in fitness but technique. It doesn't cost the earth and will make your
cycling a lot more enjoyable.

Stuart 2) Lane splitting. Hit a wall of traffic north of Ferntree
Stuart Gully Road heading south on Springvale Road. My hybrid has
Stuart barely enough room to pass in the middle of two lanes of
Stuart traffic (forget about passing on the left side of the left
Stuart lane; it Ain't Gonna Happen). I assume a road bike would
Stuart improve this (it'd cut the width of the handlebars
Stuart considerably, but there's still the panniers to deal
Stuart with...)

My approach to lane splitting runs like this: Are the motorists I'm
about to overtake going to have to overtake me when the lights go green
and is that going to cause more congestion? If the answer is yes, I
claim the lane and wait in traffic like everyone else. It's a lot less
stressful and you don't lose that much time.

I've only ever used a road bike for my commute, so far it's served me
well although tram tracks need a lot of respect in the wet. I've
Ortleib panniers about which I've no complaints. They do what they say
on the tin, keep things dry.
--
Cheers
Euan