NOTE: use Perl; is on undef hiatus. You can read content, but you can't post it. More info will be forthcoming forthcomingly.
All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report
an endless discussion thread about what features to include.
-- Jarkko Hietaniemi
Stories, comments, journals, and other submissions on use Perl; are Copyright 1998-2006, their respective owners.
there's no bad weather, only bad equipment (Score:2)
I used to cycle ~8km to work (uphill to work, downhill on my way home), and I really enjoyed it. Especially because there was a shower at the office. My new office is only 2km, which is just enough to get warmed up (or soaked if it pours..)
Anyway, get a decent raincoat and rain pants, proper fenders, and put your stuff in a waterproof pannier (I use those [ortlieb.de]). I was considering getting spikes for my back wheel, but thanks to the shorter way to my current office, and global wa
Re:there's no bad weather, only bad equipment (Score:1)
There's no shower at my office, that's one of the reasons I've been putting off biking. But it is downhill most of the way to work, and it's cool in the morning, so it's not too bad...
Someone at work asked about fenders, and there's one spot where they water a hillside and all the water runs down across the bike path to the creek, which took me by surprise the first day...now I just slow down for it. I get to take the bike path for the first couple of miles, but if it rains too hard, the freeway undercrossing is washed out, the way around is long, and the best part of the trip is ruined. So I'll just avoid the rain for now :-)
A pannier would be nice, as I don't really care for a backpack and the accompanying lack of airflow and inevitable sweatspot. But as I'm carrying a laptop, I think the backpack provides better shock absorption...though I guess you would pad the laptop in the pannier.
No ice or snow to be found around here (except sometimes on a very clear day in the mountains). The most important equipment on the way home is water. I normally go through a couple of 22 oz. bottles...someday I may try one of those camel pack things.
Reply to This
Parent
Re: (Score:1)
And besides, there's a hairpin turn at the bottom of the hill.
panniers designed for laptops (Score:1)
There are panniers specifically designed for shock absorption of laptops. I use the Arkel Commuter [arkel-od.com] bag. It looks decent, too!
As an alternate solution, before I had that bag I just rolled up a fuzzy fleece jacket and put that under the laptop as a kind of pillow. Because nearly all the shock is vertical, this simple solution worked fine.