Tales from today's commute....

[Effyb4]

I got wet this morning, so it was a choice between wet cycling clothes or work stuff to ride home in. I decided to wear the cycling top with my work jeans. The jeans turned my white saddle blue

 

[samsbike]

Is you commute rural or town?
What is making you nervous?

Commute is all town.

I think the nervousness is not being seen sufficiently and not being able to see enough far ahead.

This despite a dynamo front and a flashing front. Guess I am not used to riding at night.

 

[ianrauk]

Commute is all town.

I think the nervousness is not being seen sufficiently and not being able to see enough far ahead.

This despite a dynamo front and a flashing front. Guess I am not used to riding at night.

Why are you not able to see enough far ahead in town?. The thing is you are cycling where there is more then enough light. From streetlamps, motor headlights, shopfront lights, even the moon, it's near enough as bright as day in towns and cities. The best thing you can do is wear some clothing with reflectives. (and I'm not talking hi-viz which doesn't work at night). Cycle assertively, taking the lane when when needed and use clear signalling.

 

[fossyant]

Drying cupboard stunk like wet dog this afternoon - someone had stinky wet MTB shoes in there (I had dry feet this morn).

Decent ride back, but got flagged down by some guy in the village before home. Nearly didn't stop but he said, 'hold on, can you tell me about those lights'. I'm a bit wary about pulling over for anyone, but he looked reasonable enough and was a bit older than me, I thought why not.

He'd seen the two Hope's on low, but it was the C&B Seen City Slicker that had grabbed his attention from the other end of the high street ! They were on 'pulse'.

Explained where he could search for them and he eventually asked how much - I said £100 for front and back. I didn't dare say anything about the two Hopes . He took a gulp, but thought they were fab. He said he was off to google and was thankful I had stopped.

I refrained from boring him to tears about lights you'll be glad to know

 

[fossyant]

Commute is all town.

I think the nervousness is not being seen sufficiently and not being able to see enough far ahead.

This despite a dynamo front and a flashing front. Guess I am not used to riding at night.

You get used to it. There is nothing better than riding in the complete dark with just you and your million power light

 

[cosmicbike]

First commute for me this year, and despite heavy rain forecast it stayed dry on the way in. Nice mild weather too. Much the same on the way home.

 

[Jenkins]

The battery pack on my Solarstorm X2 appears to have given up the ghost - freshly charged on Tuesday morning but only lasted for 1 minute on low on Tuesday evening's home trip leaving me with only the light from 2 x Cateye EL135s to negotiate 2 miles of unlit back road and 1/2 mile of bridleway which was interesting. A replacement pack has been installed.

 

[Simontm]

London Bridge trip cancelled at 6:50 this morning so a quick change and onto the bike.

Lovely, if a bit chilly ride in and now I know when the idiots go to work - it's 5 minutes after I usually leave. Nothing that materially affected me apart two 4x4s that didn't know their own widths causing traffic jams on a hill which was a pain but the roads were full of no indications, shoving outs, lack of width-knowledge and general idiocy. Five minutes difference! Amazing.

Of note for me was a man lit up like a refugee from a house party, Radio 4 on and a Polite notice high-vis in Surbiton! Dunno why he kept trying to overtake me, he neither had the bike nor the legs for that kind of thing

Numpty count: 0

 

[fossyant]

Bit of bonnet surfing this morning.

Had a van up my ar$e on some back streets so shot round a bend and ran out of road. There was a van in the middle of the road with no space either side.

He stopped, my bike stopped, I was ejected. Landed softly on the bonnet and rolled off.

Driver was a bit shocked. Said I was OK and we left it at that.

No damage done. I'll slow down next time.

 

[I like Skol]

Bit of bonnet surfing this morning.

Had a van up my ar$e on some back streets so shot round a bend and ran out of road. There was a van in the middle of the road with no space either side.

He stopped, my bike stopped, I was ejected. Landed softly on the bonnet and rolled off.

Driver was a bit shocked. Said I was OK and we left it at that.

No damage done. I'll slow down next time.

Bloody amateur, You are supposed to land on your feet or complete a forward roll then spring in the air shouting ta,daa

Take it easy, it is getting really crazy out there. After a few years of hardly anything it now seems road users have switched to just not giving a flying F... in the last few months. I have suffered some stupid moves and people seem to be passing ever closer through smaller and smaller gaps. I can see the way this is heading and it is across a bonnet, just like you!

 

[fossyant]

Bloody amateur, You are supposed to land on your feet or complete a forward roll then spring in the air shouting ta,daa

Take it easy, it is getting really crazy out there. After a few years of hardly anything it now seems road users have switched to just not giving a flying F... in the last few months. I have suffered some stupid moves and people seem to be passing ever closer through smaller and smaller gaps. I can see the way this is heading and it is across a bonnet, just like you!

I did jump up with my hand in the air and said I was OK. My own fault for cornering at full gas.

Did get a stupid pull out from a woman too busy drinking her coffee. Told her to put her fing cup down. Got the usual reply so she got a mouthful back. Should have removed some of her shiny blue paint off her new A Class.

 

[fimm]

A lovely chilly morning for my long commute. Seemed to get a lot of poor, closer than necessary, passes. Don't know if it was because I was slower then sometimes, or the hi-vis (which I don't usually wear).
Mind you, the worst pass of the week so far was on Tuesday. I swear the driver didn't deviate from a straight line at all.

 

[I like Skol]

I did jump up with my hand in the air and said I was OK. My own fault for cornering at full gas.

Did get a stupid pull out from a woman too busy drinking her coffee. Told her to put her fing cup down. Got the usual reply so she got a mouthful back. Should have removed some of her shiny blue paint off her new A Class.

I have even been thinking I should get a shirt printed that says 'F'k with me and when I catch you up you will lose a mirror and some paintwork!' I can't decide if this will make them think twice and give reasonable space, or encourage the morons to test me. I do often catch them up again shortly after a bad move

 

[RoubaixCube]

Chilly start today. Got nowt on but a thermal baselayer and a jersey! Going to pick up a gilet from evans later today so it should be warmer on the ride home at least.

Chilly in the shade but nice and warm in the sunshine!

 

[Leaway2]

3000 miles up for the year. The target is looking doubtful as I will be working away soon.