hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr0612.txt

Episode: 612
Title: HPR0612: Urban cyclist - Commuting
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0612/hpr0612.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-07 23:52:27

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Hello, this is Guitar Man from the Ogcast Planet, IRC Free Node Room, and this is my hacker
public radio episode on the urban cyclist and commuting.
First off, I recently listened to Poké's HPR episode on threading and tapping and whatnot,
and I thought it was kind of neat to hear about his IRC Nick and how that came to be,
so just quickly go into that. I got my IRC Nick name from a Jerry Reed song called Guitar Man,
which Elvis then borrowed, and I just liked the lyrics of that, seemed to resonate with me
and the performance was kind of fun and whatnot, so it sort of seemed like a fun choice.
So, on to the topic at hand. I cycle every day. I have been doing this for over two and a half years.
I don't claim to be a health nut, and I don't claim to be an expert on bicycle repair,
but hopefully there's some information in here that may be of use to you.
A lot of it may seem like common sense, but maybe you hadn't thought of it, or forgot it,
or maybe you know all of it, whatever the case may be.
So the first question you might ask is, why would you want to commute via bicycle?
Why would you want to go to work via bicycle?
So the first logical reason would probably be to save money is one possibility.
If your situation is somewhat like mine, I would have to spend about $8 a day to commute where I need to go.
So that's a big savings over, you know, it doesn't take long to save a good chunk of money doing that.
Physical fitness is another one. I do sit at a desk all day, perhaps some other computer people are doing the same.
And if you have a family, there isn't a whole lot of time for exercise.
So that's another possibility for you.
Carbon footprint, if that's something that concerns you, that's also a good, you know, reason to cycle.
And that's not even, and the next one would be of course not having to be stuck in a closed space with a bunch of strangers.
My bus, you know, my route to work, there's a section of town I need to go through, and it's, you know, tends to be unpleasant.
So not a fan of transit, transit's cool if it's not busy.
And if the, you know, the clientele on there are cool, but it's not always the case.
So moving on, why wouldn't you want to commute? Well, you could get injured or run over very real reality.
I recognize, I ride in traffic every day, and that is a risk that I take, and it may be the death of me one day.
So that's a real proposition there.
The effects of inhaling all of the car exhaust, I'm not a scientist, I'm not sure.
Perhaps, you know, that could be a problem in the future. So you may want to consider that aspect.
You know, the weather isn't always on your side either. I make a commitment to ride in all weather pretty much, including, you know, if it's a little bit of snow, I'll do that too.
Rain, I'll do that.
But, you know, there are ways you can prepare for those circumstances to some degree.
My commute one way is 13 kilometers, roughly, or eight miles, just over eight miles.
And in a day, I'll ride 26 kilometers, or 16, roughly 16 miles.
So if you're thinking about commuting your first question, you know, your first question might be, is it feasible to do this in the first place?
Is it a doable distance? Are there suitable routes or routes?
If the distance is too great, can you augment part of your trip on transit? Is there a safe place to store your bicycle when you arrive at work?
These are all things that you need to sort of consider up front. You can use Google to find out this information in terms of distance.
I've seen for my particular city that the university has a partnership with Google where there's a cycling map which has the bike routes and whatnot.
So you might want to look into whether that's available to you by searching Google for bicycle routes and in your city and see what comes up.
So let's suppose that you've got that out of the way and you've realized that the distance is doable either via augmenting partly with transit or that it's a doable distance anyway.
And there's a route that you can take that isn't a freeway or something like that that's not, that's going to be crazy.
Just as a side note, there are other options in terms of maybe getting an electric bicycle to, but that's not necessarily going to cut down your time or a gas powered bicycle as well.
That may cut down more time. The electric bikes tend to have a little bit less power to them.
And if you're going to go the electric bike route, I would suggest a kit on a regular bike because if you look at these jobbies that are that look like scooters, they're not very useful when the battery dies.
It's very difficult to make those pedals do anything good. And the reason those pedals are there is legally they have to be there.
Otherwise, it's, it's not a electric bicycle if they don't have those there. Anyway, moving forward, make sure that the bike that you do have is in decent working order.
And get a tune up for sure if it's been sitting there just in the dusty corner, make sure that and make sure you go to a bike shop that you've heard good things about.
Of course, your brake pads should have pads still there. They should respond when you when you pull them, your gears should shift smooth and not fall out if you're fighting that the whole way.
And you know, you know, get it either tune up or get those replaced tire pressure should be up to what it's listed on the tire itself. The seat and handle bar should be raised to an appropriate height for you.
The seat being, you know, you're sort of just on tip toes when you're on the seat, maybe, you know, a little bit, a little bit more of the toe on the ground if you're uncomfortable with that with that.
In the course of the tune up, some of the bike shops will actually when you pick it up, we'll fit it to you so that the seat is raised proper and the angle of your body is is proper to the handlebars.
So some of them will do that for you, the shop that I went to did and that really helped out.
Other things you're going to need is a helmet, a bike lock or two brightly colored clothing. If you ride in almost all weather, like I do, you're going to need weatherproof boots, coat, pants, gloves, lights on your bike for the rainy and snowy weather or night rides.
Things to have in your backpack, energy snacks, perhaps, like a nut mix or something like that. If you didn't eat enough before you left the office, I found myself partway home and really just lacking in energy.
That can really help out some kind of granola bar, whatever it may be, water if it's a longer trip or if you're starting out, you'll find you'll need more water.
So especially in summer, actually, even in summer, I'll pack water. I don't usually pack water in the winter or fall months, maybe even not spring, but definitely in summer, you don't want to get dehydrated.
A replacement tube, perhaps two, I actually just recently had a situation where I had three tubes go on me in two days. So patch them up and have them in your backpack.
Other things to have will be, of course, the pump to pump that up. If you do have a problem on the road there and a patch kit for maybe on lunch break, you can patch it up.
And that kind of thing, bus fare, if you do get stranded and you don't have a replacement tube or the tube that you replaced is popped as well, you know, bus fare in case you need to get yourself to work with the bike if your transit system allows for that.
I would not recommend you lock up downtown in an area that is not busy. It depends on your city, really, but the theft rate of bicycles in my city is ridiculous, and it's one of the top property crime places in North America.
So that's a real issue for us, you know, the situation is that either park your bike beside a much more valuable bike and have two locks on yours.
The more that yours looks like a hassle, the better for you in terms of, you know, keeping your bike, I've had one bike stolen already.
So never lock your bike to a pole or a weak structure. Again, seems like common sense, but, you know, a lot of people don't think about that when they're just running into the store.
You know, so somebody can pull the pole up and presto the bike is there.
Lock your wheel if you got quick release, lock your wheel to the frame, two locks, of course, makes it look like more of a hassle than one.
Drivers, they often cannot see you in my experience, or they are not looking for you. So you want to ride with that in mind.
Be careful when riding by parked cars, riding too close to them, you can get dored, meaning they'll, you know, they can open the door at any given moment.
I know there might be sort of pressure to ride really close to the parked cars, but the lane is yours to take if you need it, you know, and you don't want to piss the drivers off too long by keeping that lane all to yourself.
But if it's an issue, it is an issue of safety, riding beside parked cars, you need to make sure that you are not in the way of the door or you could get hurt.
Drivers often aren't clear on the rules of the road, neither are cyclists for that matter.
You know, I've seen right turns happen in front of me when I'm in the bike lane on the right side and them getting angry at me.
So I think education is needed on both parts.
Do follow the rules of the road, don't give your fellow cyclists a bad name, stop or the very least slow down considerably at stop signs, be mindful of pedestrians.
Troubleshooting, so some of the most common problems on route when you're commuting, chain falling off, most people know this one, assess that and you may need to get your hands dirty.
Sometimes there's a technique where you can shift into the higher cog on your gear shift there and pedal gingerly and sometimes it'll slip in but not always.
So you can also make it worse depending on the kind of the way the chains fallen off. So you want to approach that one with caution.
If you get a flat tire, investigate the cause before you just change the tube.
This one I had to revisit this rule myself. I lost a lot of tubes recently as a result of glass that I did not see embedded in the tread that as I looked around it, I didn't see it but when I pumped the tire up, I noticed later on that I could see the glass shards there and I hadn't had missed them.
When I changed it the first time, so and of course that tube popped soon afterwards.
Yeah, the line are not blocking the screws on the rim of the wheel is another one that can cause some agitation on the tube and cause it to break.
And then another one that I've heard about that hasn't happened to me is a spoke poking through the rim onto the tube of the tire and that can cause the tire of the tube to pop.
So some weather tips, rainy weather, sometimes only rubber boots are going to protect you.
So I have a change of shoes at the workplace if that's an idea, also a change of clothes is a good idea.
It depends on the rain gear, some of it's good, some of it isn't.
Make sure you have a towel to dry off with at the office.
Hygiene tips, if you have a shower at the office, respect your co-workers and use it.
The very least, bring a towel and some shower gel and do a quick spiffy up there.
Change of clothes like I mentioned is good.
So in closing, commuting via bicycle is a way you can save money and get exercise and limit the carbon footprint.
For IT workers, this could be a cool thing because a lot of us sit down at desks all day and exercises difficult to fit in.
And if you like pizza and beer like me, if I didn't cycle, I could be in worse shape than I am.
So depending on the life you lead and the kind of work and the distance of work, it might be something that you could try.
And if you try it and you like it, hey, that's a good thing.
So thank you for listening to this segment on the urban cyclist and commuting.
And thank you for supporting Hacker Public Radio. And thanks for listening. Cheers.
Thank you for listening to Hacker Public Radio.
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Thank you.