Tales from today's commute....

[Berk on a Bike]

A bit of exercise certainly sets you up for the day doesn't it. Don't work too hard though. Still need some energy for the home commute. Lol.

Haha! I slip into energy conservation mode as soon as I hit my desk

 

[HarryTheDog]

It was a morning of meeting fast people going slow. Through Barking I caught up with a guy on a Argon 18, pointy hat, tri bars, shaved and oiled legs looking like he was about to enter a event. As soon a I got to his rear wheel he waved me past. I reckon he is doing a evening ten today. Then coming up to Canning Town I went past another handy looking chap with a Velothon wales top on, so he was obviously worn out from yesterday.

 

[Origamist]

10C and with a tailwind meant for a speedy first 20 miles, but by Salford I had fallen below a 19mph average....

Geese poo everywhere on the canal path - it's far easier to dodge the geese than their green excrement.

Park Road, Hale is scheduled to be closed tomorrow (more surface dressing?) - so I'll have to take a slight detour.

Weather looks good for the week - not too hot, not too cold. A bit of wind, but nothing gale force!

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Felt really refreshed this morning, glad I didn't cycle at the weekend and rested the pins. I was tired toward the end of last week, 375 miles for the 5 days, so although it was less than I want to be doing at the moment it's still giving me a good workout.
Gorgeous morning today, headed out past Download Festival and saw the crowds leaving, most looking rough as, appears they had a good weekend! Just as I pulled in at the shelter I glanced at the Garmin, 39.9 miles, gah, physcologically hurt

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Had an off this morning, completely my own fault. Riding along the cycle path and it is quite busy so luckily not going fast at all. I'm a few bike lengths behind a bike who is similar distance behind another. I get a fly in my eye so take off my glasses to sort it and bang I go straight into the bike in front.

The two bikes in front had stopped for some reason, no idea why as I didn't have my specs on so couldn't see . Anyway I end up on the deck, pretty sure I went into a litter bin, bars twisted and left lever bent right in, not a scratch on me. Bike in front of me is fine. I felt like a right muppet and totally accepted it was my fault but the bloke was completely fine about it.

Limp to work, dump my rucksack and ride the bike to my LBS who straightened out the bike for me and give it a quick once over and didn't charge me a penny.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Felt really refreshed this morning, glad I didn't cycle at the weekend and rested the pins. I was tired toward the end of last week, 375 miles for the 5 days, so although it was less than I want to be doing at the moment it's still giving me a good workout.
Gorgeous morning today, headed out past Download Festival and saw the crowds leaving, most looking rough as, appears they had a good weekend! Just as I pulled in at the shelter I glanced at the Garmin, 39.9 miles, gah, physiologically hurt

Amateur mistake

 

[Mo1959]

Had an off this morning, completely my own fault. Riding along the cycle path and it is quite busy so luckily not going fast at all. I'm a few bike lengths behind a bike who is similar distance behind another. I get a fly in my eye so take off my glasses to sort it and bang I go straight into the bike in front.

The two bikes in front had stopped for some reason, no idea why as I didn't have my specs on so couldn't see . Anyway I end up on the deck, pretty sure I went into a litter bin, bars twisted and left lever bent right in, not a scratch on me. Bike in front of me is fine. I felt like a right muppet and totally accepted it was my fault but the bloke was completely fine about it.

Limp to work, dump my rucksack and ride the bike to my LBS who straightened out the bike for me and give it a quick once over and didn't charge me a penny.

Ooooft, that could have been a whole lot worse. I nearly toppled when losing my balance starting off at an uphill junction near home too, and that's without clipless so I will definitely stick to my flatties!

Glad you're ok and got the bike sorted so quickly.

 

[ianrauk]

Had an off this morning, completely my own fault. Riding along the cycle path and it is quite busy so luckily not going fast at all. I'm a few bike lengths behind a bike who is similar distance behind another. I get a fly in my eye so take off my glasses to sort it and bang I go straight into the bike in front.

The two bikes in front had stopped for some reason, no idea why as I didn't have my specs on so couldn't see . Anyway I end up on the deck, pretty sure I went into a litter bin, bars twisted and left lever bent right in, not a scratch on me. Bike in front of me is fine. I felt like a right muppet and totally accepted it was my fault but the bloke was completely fine about it.

Limp to work, dump my rucksack and ride the bike to my LBS who straightened out the bike for me and give it a quick once over and didn't charge me a penny.

Amateur Mistake

Glad you weren't hurt

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Amateur Mistake

Glad you weren't hurt

Beat me to it

Glad you're ok @Supersuperleeds. I want to see you complete 20k this year so no hurting yourself ok.

 

[Bazzer]

Warmest 5.20am I have experienced for several months. Not as many bunnies as yesterday, (over a dozen on a local road of around 3/4 of a mile) and few local pheasant audible.
Sucessfully nailed a PB on commute. 1 hour 1 minute for the 17.4 miles. Pleased with this, with change of clothes and lunch in rucksack and route includes over a mile of potholled unmettaled road. Too warm for about half the journey and three traffic light stops damaged the time, but get the lights right and 55 mins should be feasible, maybe even 50.

 

[Simontm]

Ever had one of those days where you just think sod it, why do I do this?

Started off fine, someone far too fresh and eager overtaking me on the Portsmouth Road as I was warming up then past Surbiton it began...

Numpty 1 - Some idiot on a mountain bike comes bombing round under Berrylands on my side causing me to brake hard and get a foot down sharpish, to which I earned an "eff off" from the hooded pillock.
Numpty 2 - Another cyclist on the A3 underpass, again on my left causing me to swerve into the ped lane - actually very lucky because we were meeting just at the point where you can't see anyone coming because of the angle of the slope and roof.
Onto Worcester Park, so far so good until, Numpty 3 - van reverses into main road, on a bend, behind parked cars and nearly causing me to go into its side
Numpty 4 - Woman decides that she is going to try and pass me before a speed bump, with parked cars both sides of the road and a bus coming the other way. I presume the sight of the bus made her change her mind as she braked at the last second as I was trying to work out where the hell I was going to go.
Numpty 5 - A school mum overtakes just as we get to a traffic island then Numpty 6 - Bloke, 2 seconds later decides to overtake me on the blind bend. So jamming on brakes in quick succession
Numpty 6 - Young lass decides to overtake as we entered a pinch point
Numpty 7 - Ped walks straight out without looking
Numpty 8 - as I turn left to go through the ponds at Carshalton, car in road decides it is happiest on the wrong side of road (must be related to the cyclists)
And then to top it off, somewhere past Carshalton a grinding and clicking starts on my front wheel. So a noisy remainder of a trip to work (appears to be the disk brake needs adjusting so will do that before going home tonight)

<sigh> Somedays

 

[Sittingduck]

Zombie town this morning - most of 'em on bikes! Bah

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

No amateur mistakes this morning, made sure the Garmin didn't stop at 39.9 miles, went on to do over 50 instead
Saw a huge range of folk on bikes this morning, flip flop wearers, full race kit, a very eye catching blonde lady giving it the beans, and even one guy in full looking winter kit including a buff up to his eyes, wtf he must of been melting in there!
Felt a bit drained about an hour after I got in so demolished a great 2nd brekkie, 4 eggs, 3 toast , beans, 2 fried slices and 2 cups of tea, nom nom nom

 

[Origamist]

Decidedly muggy this morning - 13C when I left and 15C when I got to work. Sweated heavily and extra snotty due to hay fever - not a great combo...

They were taping over the drains on Park Road earlier - so more surface dressing about to be laid. I'll avoid this hill for a week or so in order for them to sweep away the loose gravel.

Feeling a bit stiff in the lower back - my attempts at getting aero are not getting any easier as I get older...

 

[helston90]

My overbearing tale from today's commute was arriving at the office after 20 miles to realize I had forgotten my locker key- which contained all of my work clothes.
A quick trip to mountain warehouse and boots and I'm set for the day- fortunately a quiet one which doesn't involve any client meetings- just ignore the bright yellow flanders socks and SPD's which i'm wearing.