Tales from today's commute....

[The Rover]

Haven't added to this for a while but I have been commuting, honestly!
Set off this morning at 5.45 into a 20mph wind and it was 2-3 degrees, never the less it was a decent ride in.
Set off home at 4ish not long after a very heavy hailstone shower so as well as being cold I was riding through loads of slush, I had a couple of miles of this and then it looked OK for a while before the hailstone arrived again, this time I had to ride with my left hand covering my face as it was brutal! This continued for another 20 mins before it started snowing! Add this to 40mph winds and it felt like a blizzard.
Finally made it home 15 mins later than it normally takes to find a very angry missus who was a bit annoyed that I'd actually ridden home and hadn't rung for a lift. ( I'd missed 2 calls from her ).

Probably the worst conditions I've ridden in but I've still got some perverse enjoyment from it!

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Probably the worst conditions I've ridden in but I've still got some perverse enjoyment from it!

Just shows you it's do-able doesn't it. The Rover 1 - 0 Mother Nature, well played chap.

 

[martint235]

Enough of the headwind already!! I was almost blown to a standstill on Welling Way and then had to pedal down Whitefoot Lane in 53x17 just to maintain any kind of speed (I usually hit 30 down there). All in all it meant another slow one but hey ho.

No muppets strangely enough but quite bad traffic between Penge and Norwood.

 

[summerdays]

Windy .... yep windy.....

And an incredible number of females... at one point at a junction it was 5 females to one male.... and one of them was riding a very nice blue Thorn bike I think! And the one that made it to the top of an incline first.... the one on the mint green sit up and beg bike!!!

 

[HarryTheDog]

Stiff Crosswind then headwind. When I got to Rainham/Dagenham and turned the corner into the headwind I immediately met a young man I had never cycled with before at some lights. We chatted and decided to share the work in. Made the last 10 miles a little easier.( same trick as last Friday sharing the work with somebody) He would like to cycle more but his 8yr old and 6 yr old boys keep him busy on the weekends. I told him to take them MTB/Cyclocross racing, he had not considered that before, so I filled him in on Mud Sweat and gears and Eastern Cyclocross League races and how I used to take my kids.


Should be fun on the way home with a huge tailwind.

 

[Mehmet]

Fairly pleasant first half to the commute; second half not so. Had a guy stuck on my rear wheel heading down Upper Street which always makes me nervous, then a Luton van decided to squeeze me and a few other cyclists going through a pinch point.

7/10, hoping for an improvement tomorrow.

 

[apb]

i cleaned my bike on the weekend. I just could face putting it through another storm the day after i cleaned it, so i caught the bus and regret it.

 

[Origamist]

Not as bad as I thought this morning, but the wind is blowing a hoolie now.

I had a phantom puncture feeling for 16 miles - but it must have been in my head...

 

[RoubaixCube]

WINDY!!! 17-18mph gusts. I honestly want to cycle but i dont fancy being blown into the wheels of oncoming cars by cross winds. Looks like public transport for me today

 

[donnydave]

I had a close shave comedy clipless moment, I normally unclip my right foot and put it down when stopping. Queue strong gust and desperate unclipping of left leg just in time to get it down on the ground and avoid embarrassment. Blended the frantic movement into pretending to stretch so it looked like I did it on purpose. I think I got away with it.

 

[donnydave]

Not as bad as I thought this morning, but the wind is blowing a hoolie now.

I had a phantom puncture feeling for 16 miles - but it must have been in my head...

I had that too! It felt like the rear was really really flat and I could feel the valve thumping round. Lots of glances to the floor, bounce around on the seat etc but in the end everything was fine. Very odd.

 

[Ciar]

Windy and tired legs and the cold handing on to me with it's snotty fingernails = today's ride in Bleh!

 

[mangid]

New tyres on bike yesterday (puncture due to split side wall), started off, and thought why's the bike no noisy ... Turns out Pro 4's are a lot noisy that the Gatorskins i had on.

 

[fossyant]

New tyres on bike yesterday (puncture due to split side wall), started off, and thought why's the bike no noisy ... Turns out Pro 4's are a lot noisy that the Gatorskins i had on.

That's not noise, that's the 'whoosh'. Pop in some Latex tubes and they get more 'whooshy'.

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Had a couple of side swiping moments from the wind this morning through gaps in hedges, nothing too major but should of been more ready. Gusts into the mid 40's for the return leg should make it a slog and a half.