Tales from today's commute....

[donnydave]

I was all ready to brave the weather, rolled off the end of the drive, front tyre was flat. Oh well, into the box of spares. Remove front tyre, ooh only one inner tube left in stock at home. Ah. Its a million years old and has started to perish, wont hold any air. Oh well, get changed and get into the car, forgetting that 10 mins previous I had rolled the bin to the end of the drive and reversed the car straight into the bin. Thankfully there's no damage to the completely and utterly irreplaceable back bumper of my car - using an ultra-rare jap import with even more ultra rare factory option bodykit as a normal car is looking less and less like a good idea!. I can't express in words how relieved I was that there was just a very light scuff and it wasn't cracked. Get half a mile down the road and realise that my security pass for work is still in my cycling bag so have to turn around. Now I'm really late, my driving route is different to my cycling route to work and the traffic is now absolutely mental so I roll into work at 9.20. Nobody noticed. Picked up my favourite mug and its been chipped in the dishwasher. Sigh some more, mope around a bit. Its someones birthday - they've brought cakes in to share! Suddenly the day has taken a turn for the better!

 

[Gert Lush]

Hardly. Cycling in 37C heat - indeed, doing anything in 37C heat - sounds awful.

Oh I know, I barely function much over 25C

 

[summerdays]

Wow that was fun. I had to cycle as my wife had booked our car in for its MOT and she could not deliver it to the garage, so I put the bike on the back & rode to work. Perrinpit lane had a blown-over "road closed" sign & was coned off, but I knew I could get through. Lots of cars thought the same... and had to turn around rather than risk killing their engines. OK I got slightly wet feet (although kept warm by neoprene overshoes) and I picked the wrong pair of gloves but it was fun riding in the floods.

This evening I must find the time to pop the tyres off and drain the wheels, and have a relube of the hubs into the bargain. The Revolt 3 has a sealed bottom bracket cartridge so there's not much I can do about that, really.

The fields had turned into lakes this morning (I hadn't realised so much rain had fallen overnight!) and traffic was bad! And what a wind! I have worn lots of layers today, including my down jacket.... I couldn't go fast enough to build up any warmth!

 

[Rasmus]

They blocked off the cyclepath access on the suspension bridge at some point during the day. I went around and cycled across anyway - much less scary than this morning!

 

[martint235]

Front puncture on the way home but strangely stress and fuss free. Took around 10 mins to be on my way again.

No real numpties and a couple of empty roads which is strange

 

[ianrauk]

Once again, missed all the heavy rain and blessed with a nice tailwind for the journey.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Got drenched this morning and the flooding was ridiculous considering it had only rained overnight. Ground must have been frozen and the water couldn't drain through.

On the plus side used the Tricross for the first time in a couple of weeks, on the negative side the rear mudguard is now on its last legs and I had to rebodge it with blu tac when I got home.

 

[martint235]

Nice quick journey in today, only held up by the odd bit of queueing traffic. Thought I was going to get a bit of SCR on the road to Selhurst station but when the lights changed to green it was like the other bloke was in mud. Oh well.

No real numpties but a few pointless MGIFs, can't pretend to understand it but it seems to keep them happy.

UPDATE: a downside to today, the shower at work is out of action. As is the sink in the shower room. Wet (or slightly damp as I've had them for a while) wipe shower this morning then

 

[martinclive]

Annoyed - lost my Garmin 20 outside Tishka in Cambridge - think I may have dropped it going in for Bfast and some chav has had it away - b*locks!

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

I swear tomorrow, when I get in to work I am going to irritate / bore the hell out of everyone who drives in, telling them what I saw "one of YOUR lot" do this morning

 

[apb]

Lots of wacky races going on his morning. One guy i was following for a while didn't take it kindly being dropped. though even with all his determination to over take those who showed no respect for his authority, he failed in his task to regain first position.

I use to be that guy, but no more.

I'm sure it was the bike he was riding. "I need carbon fibre" he's thinking to himself.

 

[rugby bloke]

Well I got my Boris Bike proper flying this morning, over took both a Brompton and a road sweeper ! Enjoying the apparent cease fire between cyclists and taxis that seems to be in place. It would appear we can all share the same road if none of us act like idiots.

 

[Origamist]

Had a massive blow out on Tuesday evening - shotgun sound effect and all. Catastrophic tyre-wall failure - two and half inches and too big for my tyre boot. Thought about using a tenner (I'm a high roller), but decided against and opted for a pick up - was only 6 miles from home so not too much bother. Am debating whether to carry a spare tyre in future...

New tyre fitted yesterday - a Schwalbe One - they come up narrower than the previous Continentals in the 25mm flavour, so am thinking I might be able to get away with a 28mm on the front...

Commute this morning was fine - one dead badger and a super strong smell of weed from a white van were the only things of note.

 

[glenn forger]

Had a massive joint before the ride, saw a badger driving a white van.

 

[summerdays]

Morning commute fine and felt so much warmer than yesterday, then the homeward commute included me cycling past a row of parked cars, still on my side of the road, with a car coming towards me.... All would have been fine if the idiot BSM driving instructor behind me had not allowed their pupil to try to overtake without enough room, ending up with them having to pull back diagonally to avoid the oncoming car and me having to stop .... Or ride into the side.... Actually wish I had done that as it was at low speed....