[Less of Lena]

When I walk outside, I often have to walk on the streets. There are many places here that don't have sidewalks. I always wear sunglasses. I appropriately walk on the side of the road and toward oncoming traffic.

However, folks in this part of the country aren't very diligent about keeping on their side of the line (it's a big frustration of mine -- drivers here are absolutely TERRIBLE!). So although I'm on the opposite side of the street, I'd still like to see what's coming up behind me. I just don't trust these drivers to stay where they're supposed to be.

Does anyone know of any featherweight clip-on rear-view mirrors I can get for my glasses? I'd feel so much safer if I could keep an eye on these folks.

TIA!

[Suzanne 3FC]

I've never seen them, are you sure they make them?

My 5th grade teacher claimed to have them though I never saw them, and it was the early 70s, lol. Yet she always knew everything that was going on behind her back

[Less of Lena]

Happy First Day of Spring to you, Suzanne! Thanks for responding!

When I saw this morning that no one had an immediate answer, I tried Yahooing (I should probably always search first, ask second, but I was hoping someone already knew the answer!). Anyway, I found something that sounds interesting on a cycling website!

The glasses are called Take A Look and seem to be sold at cycling shops. I saw a few others mentioned, but they didn't get as many raves as Take A Look. They're supposedly lightweight, can attach to glasses, don't give any distortion and are very inexpensive ($15).

If I have time today, I'm going to see if I can get some! I'll come back and post what I find!

[Less of Lena]

Hehe your teacher had "eyes behind her head"... my mom had them too!

[Less of Lena]

Update: I found the Take A Look mirror at REI. It was in the biking section. Even the sales associates hadn't heard of it. There were a few other mirrors but none that could attach to glasses (they were for helmets).

The Take A Look packaging looked a little tacky (not slick like some of the others), but it seems the product itself will be just what I need. The only drawback is that it attaches to the left side of the glasses. Since I'm walking on the left side of the road, I want the mirror on my right.

I'll have to tinker with it to see if I can make it switch.

Now the weather will have to warm back up so I can walk outside again! Will post a review as soon as I do!

[CheeseBurger&Thighs]

When I was a kid I had glasses that if you looked in the corners you could see what was behind you. I got them by collecting UPC's from a cereal box. They were pretty cool. They looked like regular sunglasses..no mirrors attached or anything.

[busker]

I figured I'd just end up having to get a mirror for my bike handlebars. Or stay off the main roads (which is difficult in metropolitan Boston).

I bought a bike to commute to work & back (10 miles round-trip) last Friday. Now the weather just has to warm up and cooperate! Today would've been a good day, but I was late (even with a car). If I'd known it would be such a beautiful day (52 degrees) I would've gotten up a couple hours earlier. *sigh* I guess I should start getting up earlier anyway, since daylight savings is coming up soon, I'm sure.

--Janis

[Less of Lena]

Oh, how I miss biking in Boston!!! Up and down the Charles, along the Esplanade or along Mem Drive... through the Commons and the Public Garden, especially in Spring, when everything is in bloom... Is it as beautiful now as it was in the 70s?

If I still lived in Boston, I'd probably drive a lot less than I do now! And still be in the shape I was back then!

[busker]

I'm out in the suburbs, so it's not quite as bike-friendly as along the Charles, although the minuteman bike trail is about 5 miles from my apt. (And I just got back from riding 10 miles round trip to work and back). I decided to go home early, get my bike, ride to subway (half-way mark), get some dinner, go on to work, did some school homework, gave a fife lesson, and then rode back. Riding in the dark's a bit scary, but I think I've got my route down so that I can more or less stay off the busy streets. (And I've got my blinky lights and stuff.) I should get a reflective vest too. Right now I've got a red winter coat, but it's not going to be cold for too long, and it gets pretty hot along the way anyway.

I think I really should get a side-view mirror though... you just can't really hear what's coming up behind you with the wind in your ears. At night, you can see headlights, but not in daylight/twilight.

--Janis

[Less of Lena]

Wow, sounds like you had a busy day!

When I was at REI the other day, there were a lot of items in the accessories in the bike section. There were a couple of nice mirrors that could fit on either your helmet or on your handlebars.

If I recall, there's an REI in Framingham, right (back behind Shopper's World)? Can you get there?

[busker]

Hmm... I don't know. There's a Wal-mart behind shopper's world, but Framingham's a bit far from Billerica. I was going to look around this weekend. I tried to buy an "eclipse illuminite" vest on-line, but they must be totally backordered or not making them any more, because nobody has them in stock. (It looks ideal, though. I just want something light I can put over coat/fleece/t-shirt and is REALLY bright in day & night). The coats look ok, but I don't want a full coat - I want it for summer too, and I don't think the red is quite as visible as flourescent yellow in the daytime. Also, the coats only have parts of it that are reflective (sleeves, etc). I want to be light up like a lightning bug from all sides, not just my arms or the top of my torso.

I see people on bikes or jogging (from in the car) and can't figure out what the heck all those little bouncing stripes are until I'm up on them. (And the little stripes don't catch my attention nearly as much as their headlight on the pavement anyway).

My legs hurt a little today - not much, as I'm used to pushing at the gym at this point (and since I had my inhaler, I didn't have the cold-air asthma-issues as when I first attempted to ride to work). But basically, they're telling me the cycling is a "new movement" I'm not used to, and I worked them out pretty good yesterday without going overboard. Even with the extra mileage and hills and stuff, it didn't seem as bad yesterday as it did on Saturday. I also think I'm finally figuring out the concept of the gear system.

When I was a kid, I always just kept it on "overdrive" unless I had a big hill. Apparently muscling it and coasting is not the "proper" way to ride a bike. One person likened it to weight-training vs. cardio. If you're in the high gears, you're weight-training (burst of strength, and then nothing, burst of strength, and then nothing). If you're keeping an even cadence, (cranking at the same rate, relatively same workload) you're "spinning" which is more like cardio. While I prefer weights to cardio, myself, yeah - I can't just keep lifting weights for an hour or more without stopping every few minutes. And I need to be concentrating more on cardio to lose weight anyway... so...

I guess it's like when I started the elliptical trainer. At first I hated it - it felt "too easy" yet my heart-rate shot up to 150+ and I was dripping with sweat. Within a week, I had to push myself on the thing to get up to 135 (because my body had adjusted). I feel the same thing happening with the bike - so while the cardio sucks (initially) I'll be used to it soon enough, and it won't feel like such a drag to do.

I actually complain to people that my body's responding like a well-trained athlete. "Yeah, my resting heart-rate is at 54 beats per minute, I touch a weight and I gain muscle, and it's really hard to get my heart-rate up over 140 anymore." While I suppose this is all REALLY good (kudos to good genes!) it doesn't help in that I can't shock my body into losing any more weight. I seem to be stuck on this semi-permanent plateau in terms of weight-loss. Owell - I guess it's a good thing that my goal was just to be in good enough shape to keep active, rather than fitting into a size 12 dress again...

*frustrated, but resigned to just keep plugging away*

I'm hoping that the bike commuting will help because once the weather's nice, it'll mean a :30 minute cardio workout twice a day up to 5 days a week. (Unless the weather's crummy - then I'll drive).

--Janis

[Less of Lena]

Y'know, I never thought about that aspect of cycling, cardio vs weight training. Cycling along the Charles is mostly flat and that's most of what I used to do. I guess I was all cardio!

I haven't done much serious cycling since those days. I don't even own a bike any more. . It's nice that you can get 60 minutes of cardio a day while commuting! Nice multi-tasking!

You're right about the visibility of bikers at night. I worry about some, because they aren't very noticeable until I'm up on them. I'm a careful driver, but many aren't. It's scary.

[busker]

I got a rear-view mirror for my bike and put it on last night. I have yet to decide whether it's worth it or not. I think first I need to tighten it up so the wind doesn't blow it around so easily.

I also got a bright totally fluorescent-yellow jacket. Unfortunately, it only has "reflective piping," but I've also got a reflective vest with giant bands of white reflective tape on it that I can also wear at night.

It's amazing how little there is in the line of reflective clothing. Everything is black, navy blue, charcoal or light grey, or green. With little reflective strips or a 1" reflective brand-name logo, or (like my jacket) reflective piping. Who the heck can see all that tiny stuff from 100' away and closing?

Yes, I worry about night-time, because I've seen bicyclists and joggers out, and usually it's not the reflective clothing that catches my attention, but their headlight down on the pavement. I wonder, "What's that?" and I can't figure it out until I'm nearly on top of them. So I've got reflective leg-bands, the flashing rear light, the flashing front light, the bright yellow wind-breaker, the bright yellow & giant-striped reflective vest, the reflectors on the bike and my helmet. Now I just need a giant flashing red led-sign with an arrow that says "Please don't hit me!"

I want them to say, "Look at that dork on the side of the road!" and avoid me. Not, "Where'd that dork come from that's stuck under my tire?"

But, riding in today with the yellow jacket seems to have made a difference even in daylight riding (as opposed to my regular red coat). Everyone gave me a lot of room, or slowed down when they went around me. (More-so than the other day). I know it annoys people to have to slow down and drive around the bicyclist, but I try to stay off the main roads unless I have no choice. An unfortunately, there's pretty much only one way to work and back that's not on the highway.

They have a lot of "proposed" bike-trails - where they pave over all the decommissioned railroad beds around here (which there are a lot of), but so far, the only ones completed are the Minuteman Commuter Bike Trail (Bedford to Alewife station) and the esplanade on both sides of the Charles (and I believe they've been that way for a couple of decades now). Nothing's happened with the rest though. (*sigh*) If they completed the "Yankee Doodle" bike trail (gag, barf, stupid-name, eek), I could go out my front door, go into town, hook up with the minuteman, go into another town, do my grocery shopping, go to work, go to the country... I could go a LOT of different places, since this place was crawling with railroads when it was a heavy textile mill area.

--Janis