Tales from today's commute....
- Thread starter martint235
- Start date
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OP
OP
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
In hindsight, it may not have been the right day for shorts. Very wet, quite cold with the wind.
On a positive note, no muppets and two nice drivers who backed off and gave me loads of room going into a couple of bits where I usually have one idiot at least.
On a positive note, no muppets and two nice drivers who backed off and gave me loads of room going into a couple of bits where I usually have one idiot at least.
Nearly got wiped out by someone deciding to turn right into a side road without using their mirrors or indicating.
Filtering past stationary/crawling pace traffic down the middle of the road in quite a wide cross-hatching area. I'm usually fairly cautious when filtering, i make sure my speed is appropriate to the width of the road and oncoming traffic and side roads etc. If someone indicates right I will hang back until I can undertake them on the left and I'm careful when going past junctions used as ratruns.
Was free-wheeling slightly downhill but probably only going 15mph tops because looking ahead to the next pinch point which was blocked by traffic. I know the side roads which drivers try to use as a shortcut to beat the lights and this wasn't one of them. Suddenly I see this car which was in line with a side road just as I was starting to pass it turn its front wheels full lock right without indicating and start accelerating to make the turn in front of an oncoming car.
Even with two annoyingly bright flashing front lights he/she just hadn't seen me, they clearly hadn't bothered to look. Somehow while shouting at the top my voice I managed to scrub off enough speed to make a super sharp turn into the side road at the same time as the car and somehow avoid going over the bonnet of the car or falling off my bike.
If I had been going any faster or the road was narrower or I had reacted slower I might not have been so lucky, so a lesson to be cautious and always alert when filtering past slow moving traffic because some motorists are entirely incompetent.
Filtering past stationary/crawling pace traffic down the middle of the road in quite a wide cross-hatching area. I'm usually fairly cautious when filtering, i make sure my speed is appropriate to the width of the road and oncoming traffic and side roads etc. If someone indicates right I will hang back until I can undertake them on the left and I'm careful when going past junctions used as ratruns.
Was free-wheeling slightly downhill but probably only going 15mph tops because looking ahead to the next pinch point which was blocked by traffic. I know the side roads which drivers try to use as a shortcut to beat the lights and this wasn't one of them. Suddenly I see this car which was in line with a side road just as I was starting to pass it turn its front wheels full lock right without indicating and start accelerating to make the turn in front of an oncoming car.
Even with two annoyingly bright flashing front lights he/she just hadn't seen me, they clearly hadn't bothered to look. Somehow while shouting at the top my voice I managed to scrub off enough speed to make a super sharp turn into the side road at the same time as the car and somehow avoid going over the bonnet of the car or falling off my bike.
If I had been going any faster or the road was narrower or I had reacted slower I might not have been so lucky, so a lesson to be cautious and always alert when filtering past slow moving traffic because some motorists are entirely incompetent.
Tin Pot
Guru
Yeah, lot of nutters out there. Stay lucky!
RoubaixCube
~Tribanese~
- Location
- London, UK
This afternoons commute - bloody cold!
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Quite a bit of ice on one road, in my commute, that is uphill. Completely misjudged how much and as i got off my saddle to start the climb and my back wheel slipped away.
Clipped in and landed on my hip. feeling a bit sore, but happy that i just got up and continued on. WVM stopped and ask if i was ok and then proceed to tell me there is ice on the road. Thought that was really nice of him.
Clipped in and landed on my hip. feeling a bit sore, but happy that i just got up and continued on. WVM stopped and ask if i was ok and then proceed to tell me there is ice on the road. Thought that was really nice of him.
I was lucky with the weather this morning. The rain woke me up with the sound of it beating down on the Velux window. Uggggghhhh.. very dark, cold and wet. Welcome back to the week's cycle commute. Luckily by the time I had left home an hour later it had stopped. It was still cold though and the roads were very wet. And the traffic... GAAAHHH!! Far too much traffic....
Nocode
Senior Member
- Location
- Orpington, Kent
Yeah, I wasn't quite so lucky... Wet, so very wet. Fun though!
....except the bit where I nearly got taken out at the Tubbenden Lane roundabout by a driver turning right (to come down Tubbenden Lane where I was coming from) and not giving way to me! Despite me being (1) in the primary position on the roundabout, (2) signalling clearly and (3) having 2 decent front lights on the bike. I think it was a combination of the driver not seeing me and also following suit from the van driver who went straightover the roundabout, also without giving way to me the lowly cyclist.
Arjimlad
Tights of Cydonia
- Location
- South Glos
Shorter 6.5 mile route today due to a horrible cold developing. Bah !
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
Commutes weren't too bad, probably had one layer too much in this morning, and just about right tonight. Not as cold as I was expecting as long as you were moving, and plenty of cyclists about!
OP
OP
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
A perfect storm of issues this morning: blister on left foot; insect bite on right foot; headwind and cr**py traffic meant I achieved an average of under 13mph for the first time ever on a commute. I was in grave danger of pushing it past an hour!!!! 
Still I obviously wasn't going quick enough to attract any muppets!!
Still I obviously wasn't going quick enough to attract any muppets!!
