Tales from today's commute....

[ianrauk]

I missed the heaviest of rain. It was 8° when I left at 7.30am. I stuck with the Nightvision jacket but a few miles in I was starting to heat up too much, so undid the side zips to let some of the heat out. Luckily it only drizzled on and off so not really a full on wet ride.
It was rather gloomy out though.

 

[martinclive]

bloody well rode into someone on the way home! He's ok, I'm a bit bruised, my nearly new night vision tights and faithful trusty endura jacket are ruined, along with my new overshoes . On the guided busway, leaving Cambridge to the north, the bit after the college. I put my hand partially over my light as I was worried I was blinding an oncoming cyclist and then smashed straight into someone walking along. He was wearing entirely plain black of course, nothing even vaguely reflective (as he is rightfully entitled to of course, no doubt some will be hopping on one foot to point out). I'm in my 6th winter of cycling along there in the dark and I've never had any trouble spotting people before. I guess I'll have to slow down a bit and take extra care

That and the next section are terrible for ninja's walking along - seen people late a few times and if riding 2 or 3 of us together can be tricky - as you say, we tend to take those sections a little slower till north of New Road ...........hope you are OK

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Far too warm this morning on a ride that was pretty much just standard. Glad I opted for the guarded bike, roads outside home were dry but a few miles in they were soaked and filthy.

 

[donnydave]

thanks for replies folks, I think probably because I've done the same speed down there for the last few years without incident I've become complacent that its ok. Trouble is, I find it very difficult to go slowly, I have a rhythm and a certain level of pedal resistance that I tend to stick to. Clearly I need to make an extra effort to ease off a bit to give me a better chance of spotting the ninjas.

 

[glenn forger]

Dodged the showers, heard a clanging noise and the lense of my Aldi torch had fallen off, picked it up and screwed it back and the annoying rattle has disappeared, woo!

 

[LoftusRoadie]

Getting fed up with the wet towpath in winter (i spend about an hour on it) - the puddles rarely seem to go away and my bike looks like I have never cleaned it.
3 idiots coming in along Whitechapel Road this morning:
Car driver saw several people cycling along the blue cycle lane but still thought it would be a good idea to come out of the side road and then stop her car on the cycle lane to wait for a gap in the traffic just as the cyclists arrived there as well.
Another guy crossed over from the pavement thought the separated bike lane on to the bus stop without looking. Not a problem as I was 50 meters away but then he decided that apparently he wouldn't wait for a bus so crossed back through the cycle lane back to the pavement just as I was arriving. Don't people look?
And finally a bunch of us had to wait behind a van until the lights turned green (there was nowhere else to wait as there were cones narrowing the road) - the van took off but I decided to wait as I could see the cones were narrowing the road even more and I knew I wouldn't be able to get in front of the van. But a cyclist thought he would try and after telling me to hurry up he tried to get in front of the van, realised he couldn't and ended up slamming on his brakes and just managing to unclip from his peddle before he fell off.
Can we just have some dry weather please!

 

[martint235]

Slow. Bad traffic. Got to see a kid bounce of a car bonnet which is always slightly amusing. The good people of Norwood regard the whole of Selhurst Road as a giant pedestrian crossing, particularly the kids. This one misjudged it but at least he bounced, got up and ran after his mates. Driver didn't seem amused though

 

[Glow worm]

Got a proper soaking on the way home. At least it wasn't that cold. The bike has now had a good hose down to get all the crud off- always very satisfying at the end off a wet ride.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Got a pleasant suprise on the way home, caught a guy up who I often use to commute with from 6 years ago, we regularly cycled together for 3 yrs then he gave up after 3 hit and runs and finally moved away. He has moved back and had another story, he started cycling again a few months ago and got hit by a car in Romford writing of his brand new Cannondale caad. He got paid out for the bike and 2,000 quid for injuries. However he kept nearly all the dosh and bought a secondhand Jamis instead for a princely 200 quid off a mate.
His bike fitness is way down but he has still been playing rugby so not completely knackered. I improved his commute time by nearly 15 minutes just by dragging him along . Not like the old days when we used to knock merry hell of of each other nearly every time we met.

 

[I like Skol]

Nice ride into work tonight. Managed to dodge the forecast rain which was nice and stopped to help push a broken down car out of a junction where all the motorists were just trying to squeeze around the stranded vehicle. I arrived at work feeling refreshed and a little surer of my place in heaven

 

[I like Skol]

he gave up after 3 hit and runs and finally moved away. He has moved back and had another story, he started cycling again a few months ago and got hit by a car in Romford writing of his brand new Cannondale caad.

Maybe he should consider being a bit more careful?

 

[HarryTheDog]

@I like Skol , He's just unlucky. 1st one a van deliberately knocked him off then tried punching him in the head whilst he was on the floor, the excuse being he was holding him up. I say tried to hit him, my mate got up punched his lights out and put his windows in, (allegedly of course for legal reasons). He's a 18st or so front row forward with a temper, silly van driver!. The next 2 were at the same junction by red light jumpers luckily both times he was only just moving across the junction, saw the danger and just his front wheel got taken out and he just got knocked to the floor, one was a stolen car witnessed by the police. His latest was a berk exiting a roundabout through him.
He is excitable but is fairly careful.

 

[martint235]

I'm actually getting slower. No idea why. Struggled to get a 14mph today. Possible ideas are: rear hub needs attention which I'll be sorting at the weekend (but I can't see this knocking 1mph off my speed); I'm wearing a Night Vision Pro (it's not the tightest fitting in the world but still...); my saddle is making a noise, fairly sure I know what it is and will fix it tonight (it's a mental thing, bike making noise always slows me down); my heart attack is going to happen before my cardiologist appointment next week (not high up my list); I'm turning into a fat b******d (hmmm)

 

[ianrauk]

Grey, grey morning.. little chilly too. Just started to spit with rain when I got to the office so was lucky on that front.

Saw a complete bellend of a cyclist this morning trying his best to get himself killed. There was a hgv making it's way along a blocked up A21, there really wasn't any safe way past so just had to roll behind. But not matey boy, no, he decided that undertaking the lorry was the best way to go. Into an ever decreasing gap. I honestly though he was going to get killed. How he managed to squeeze by I don't know.


Anyway.. 12,000 miles for the year reached.....

 

[ianrauk]

I'm actually getting slower. No idea why.

Because you haven't been cycling very much at the weekends.