Tales from today's commute....

[HarryTheDog]

This morning found myself getting a little fed up with the relentless headwind which seems to have been going on for weeks.
Did my good deed for the day on the way home, spotted something falling out of another cyclists bag ahead. Found it was a woolly hat so picked it up and chased him down to return it. He was quite pleased to get it back which was nice.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Chain snapped on the way home.

Fortunately, I carry a SRAM Powerlink so was able to (eventually) effect a repair.

Amazingly this is the first time I've ever had a chain break on me and probably made every mistake it is possible to make while carrying out the repair. First of all I forgot to thread the chain over the cassette and so had to remove/refit the rear wheel. Then I realised that i hadn't threaded the chain through the frame triangle (schoolboy error). Luckily, I hadn't pulled the link fully tight at this point and was able to separate it again by hand and re-thread it properly.

Luckily for me, the chain broke as I was riding through a village and so I had a good streetlamp under which to work. Additionally, a guy came out of a nearby house and seeing I was struggling a bit to hold all of the things you need to at the same time, offered to hold the bike upright and shine my front light onto the area I was working. Nice one!

It made me realise how much I would have struggled if it had happened somewhere dark. I need to find a way of carrying my headtorch with me on my commute.

https://www.strava.com/activities/485892797

Graham

 

[Archeress]

Last commute of the week, although I might go into loonie-versity on Saturday to get some work done.

Hugs
Archeress x

 

[Origamist]

Let myself down tonight by bailing early. Should have continued home as the wind was not in my face, it had stopped raining and I was feeling good! Still managed 21 miles, but felt a fraud on the train.

 

[fossyant]

Let myself down tonight by bailing early. Should have continued home as the wind was not on my face, it had stopped raining and I was feeling good! Still managed 21 miles, but felt a fraud on the train.

Not with your mileages.....

 

[RoubaixCube]

This evening-just-gone's commute was a rather eventful one. I came across a bloke on a white specialized or cannondale who insisted on pushing past and in front of me at two sets of traffic lights but when the lights went amber he went at such a slow pace and both times i had to pull out a little and overtake him, annoying little bugger. Then i witnessed a RLJ (Cyclist) almost get pancaked by a bus who was attempting to turn right down a narrow street.

A few folks in big transit sized vans making room for me to pull out and filter through on this mornings commute. Avoided a few left and right hooks here and there

 

[HarryTheDog]

Sorry in advance, Long rant this morning.
My commute was a real pain in the butt, worst for a long while. Silly old man in a beaten up ancient ford escort van gave me the closest pass I have had in a long time for no reason whatsoever through Hornchurch, Made me screaming mad but I could not catch him to give him to give him a piece of my mind.

Then a single decker bus driver could not judge my speed he went for a overtake with a car coming the other way with not enough time to make it.

He got halfway past and started to pull in on me rapidly, I saw the danger and bunny hopped sideways onto the pavement.( lucky it was a lowish kerb) I caught him at the lights and really wanted to pull him out of the cab and beat him to a pulp, but he apologized ( by hand gestures and facial expressions)first so I calmed rather quickly.

They say things come in 3’s. A youngish arse in a hatch back came up the bus lane in Dagenham at probably 70mph, I heard the engine scream behind me and headed for the pavement via a drop kerb as the dick flew past, he then dodged back into the normal lane and got held up, I went past and he looked like a proper nasty looking axe murderer so I didn’t react, then the dick did it again, this time I was still in the bus lane and got quite a wind blast as he streaked past. Complete knob! I caught him at the lights and the guy glared at me as if to dare me to do something. I was mad but decided discretion was the better part of valour and just did the old exasperated headshake and ensured the dick went off the lights before I did. ( make sure the idiots are in front not behind) sometimes I think a headcam would be useful for days like this.

 

[RoubaixCube]

@HarryTheDog

Youre a w1zzard harry!

On a side note. Ive started my commute. Its cold, light winds and a little drizzle.

Going to be 17mph winds tonight when i start my ride home so I'll need to take more care

 

[Arjimlad]

Usefully, my wife drove past me this morning which informed me that we have a brake light failure on the car. Another thing on the jobs list.

And motorists let me out, waited for me, and passed sensibly.

 

[Andrew_P]

Nothing wrong with smacking the odd car that get's too close. My favourite has been using my voice - shouted 'Oi' at a woman that pulled out from shops on me, she didn't half jump.

I was quite surprised at how hard it was, it was like a brick wall solid. Never done it before and it was a spontaneous reaction quite peculiar.. To add insult on the way home last night I got overtaken close by another Homebase lorry who was in the Lorry/Bus lane overtaking me while undertaking cars FFS.

 

[Andrew_P]

Week before Christmas was the worst so far with yelling and death swerves.

Now it seems to have settled into a regular background him of hatred on the evening rides home.

So many in a rush and desperate to keep The Cyclist behind them even though, as you say, The Cyclist simply sails past again at the next set of lights.

Morning rides are still quite pleasant though for me, and overall the vast majority of drivers are reasonable and polite.

I might see if I can find a different route home avoiding some of the A roads without adding too much time.

Are you still doing South London ---> Surrey if so welcome to my world. You can here the nutters accelerating alongside you despite 50 yards away there is backed up traffic.. bizarre behaviour when you analyse it

 

[Tin Pot]

Are you still doing South London ---> Surrey if so welcome to my world. You can here the nutters accelerating alongside you despite 50 yards away there is backed up traffic.. bizarre behaviour when you analyse it

Yeah. I'm in it for another three months. A more "scenic" route avoiding Croydon and Carshalton would be nice. It's a shame Purley is so mountainous, and just as busy.

 

[Tin Pot]

Bailed on the ride, but made up for it with a 5.5 mile trail run when I got there.

 

[Arjimlad]

I just remembered that on my earlier-than-usual ride from work to my daughter's school last night, a barn owl drifted across the road in front of me. I have never seen one round here like that. Magic !

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Tyres turned up today at work - only ordered them Wednesday. So will be a gentle pootle home with all four of them slung over my shoulder in a while