Tales from today's commute....

[summerdays]

Commute both ways much drier than expected. One eejit, on a wide double parked road, light traffic, and I can see blue lights in the distance, no where to pull in properly so I pull in next to a car and stop. There is only one other car which is in front of the blue lights.... He keeps going until parallel with me and then stops!!! So I had to move forward to make space. Lots of good driving and overtakes today!

 

[Sittingduck]

Miserable looking out of the office window. Not looking forward to the ride home

 

[mythste]

It happened. The perfect ride in this morning! Still air, a little bite to the cold that kept me pleasant. Even managed to take almost 3 minutes off the 17 miles.

Here's to a catastrophic journey home

 

[hennbell]

Rare wet ride this morning, I just don't have the proper kit to deal with rain.

 

[mythste]

Rare wet ride this morning, I just don't have the proper kit to deal with rain.

I never realised what a difference a cap could make in the rain - not having to squint to see where you're going is a revelation! One of those lovely little things that has made a huge difference.

 

[Sim2003]

@hennbell

Overshoes and a spare set of shorts and t-shirt for me when it rains ,

 

[Simontm]

That is all
Numpty count:0
Actually, I did enjoy the lad in Sainsbury's face when I told him I'd already been Cycling for 40 minutes

 

[martinclive]

Decided to drive today inorder to take some bulky items of post home from work and would you believe it - crash on the guided busway! Looks like a van skipped the lights and got walloped by a bus coming through at roughly the time I normally cycle through there.

+1 car today so missed it - looking like a good call for the homeward journey...................

 

[Rasmus]

Finally got the perfect combination of good legs, strong tailwind and no traffic - first KOM south of the border this morning

Also received only light on the way home - an excellent day all round.

 

[RoubaixCube]

The ride home was just the usual as far as commuting in london is concerned. Im coming down the road at about 16 mph, Addison Lee driver seems to be to be a little 'off' he was indicating left but was pulling out really slowly and i had slowed and waited for him to pull out. He didnt so i scooted past him and saw he was texting while at the wheel. In all honesty i should have knocked on his window. He proceeded down the road in his sluggish handling fashion while he was on his phone and I stayed a few cars behind him as i didnt want to get caught out if he decided he suddenly wanted to turn left. I know that guy wouldnt of checked his mirrors first before turning.

I passed an Audi A4 driver that seemed to take offense that I overtook him when he got caught up in traffic and filtered past him twice. No words we're exchanged, No words needed to be exchanged - His abhorrent driving after i overtook him the first time did all the talking. He drove himself right up to the curb at traffic lights not giving me enough room to filter past on the left hand side. the proceeded to cut me up twice while i was in the bus lane before eventually getting stuck in the bus lane and unable to switch lanes because he was sandwiched between some busses while i filtered out infront of him and carried on my journey without much fanfare.

Not long after that, two girls in a mini cooper did a rather close pass TWICE. From the look on the driver's face I think she was totally oblivious to what she was doing, but I was safe and she had both hands on the wheel.

On the last leg of the journey I was being tailgated by a guy in a van who was on his phone. Traffic was BAD down my end and It was it was scary just to filter to the front of the traffic lights when there was quite a long tailback but I dominated the center of the lane instead of taking the left hand side and indicating that i had to turn right and switching lanes as i sometimes do. I dont think white van man was happy but nobody was hurt and i made it home safely.

 

[Aunty Tyke]

The ride home was just the usual as far as commuting in london is concerned. Im coming down the road at about 16 mph, Addison Lee driver seems to be to be a little 'off' he was indicating left but was pulling out really slowly and i had slowed and waited for him to pull out. He didnt so i scooted past him and saw he was texting while at the wheel. In all honesty i should have knocked on his window. He proceeded down the road in his sluggish handling fashion while he was on his phone and I stayed a few cars behind him as i didnt want to get caught out if he decided he suddenly wanted to turn left. I know that guy wouldnt of checked his mirrors first before turning.

I passed an Audi A4 driver that seemed to take offense that I overtook him when he got caught up in traffic and filtered past him twice. No words we're exchanged, No words needed to be exchanged - His abhorrent driving after i overtook him the first time did all the talking. He drove himself right up to the curb at traffic lights not giving me enough room to filter past on the left hand side. the proceeded to cut me up twice while i was in the bus lane before eventually getting stuck in the bus lane and unable to switch lanes because he was sandwiched between some busses while i filtered out infront of him and carried on my journey without much fanfare.

Not long after that, two girls in a mini cooper did a rather close pass TWICE. From the look on the driver's face I think she was totally oblivious to what she was doing, but I was safe and she had both hands on the wheel.

On the last leg of the journey I was being tailgated by a guy in a van who was on his phone. Traffic was BAD down my end and It was it was scary just to filter to the front of the traffic lights when there was quite a long tailback but I dominated the center of the lane instead of taking the left hand side and indicating that i had to turn right and switching lanes as i sometimes do. I dont think white van man was happy but nobody was hurt and i made it home safely.

Good grief,what a journey!

 

[RoubaixCube]

Good grief,what a journey!

Traffic was unusually bad on the route home today. Normally i dont have half as much trouble. Maybe the odd close pass or two somewhere but thats about it. A few weeks ago i did get 'bullied' by a knobjockey in a merc convertible. I had filtered to the right hand side at some traffic lights and wanted to switch back to the left and he was going so slow and was forcing me to hold up the rest of the traffic till i gave him a shouting at.

 

[andyfraser]

I was held up by cars tonight. It was peeing down and Google was reporting slow or stationary traffic everywhere so I stayed off the main roads as much as possible. Got to (the now famous) Hook St and found a traffic jam! So many cars trying to go both ways along a single track road! I got through it quite quickly but the traffic in the other direction went all the way to the entrance to the park where I turned off (so it could've gone a lot further). It was really nice to be on the cycle paths it was that wet and that dark.

 

[andyfraser]

Traffic was unusually bad on the route home today. Normally i dont have half as much trouble. Maybe the odd close pass or two somewhere but thats about it. A few weeks ago i did get 'bullied' by a knobjockey in a merc convertible. I had filtered to the right hand side at some traffic lights and wanted to switch back to the left and he was going so slow and was forcing me to hold up the rest of the traffic till i gave him a shouting at.

It was the same here. I was glad to have the option of getting off the road.

 

[Sim2003]

@RaveInAGrave Sound like fun . The close pass thing though I'm sure the driver didn't realise how much room was actually needed . The Tail gating can be rather odd one to deal with though especially when it comes to lights and junctions. I have even jumped through a Amber/Red light not knowing if the car behind would stop in time If I did, on this occasion I'm glad I did because he followed me through the then red light.

Just have to do what ever keeps you safe. After a ride like that Im sure you were glad you got back home safe.