HarryTheDog
Guru
- Location
- Basildon Essex
Nice tailwind ride in but I was feeling too ill ( hay fever ) to take advantage. I checked on Strava to see how my club mates are getting on and I think this guy is cheating,
Tales from today's commute....
- Thread starter martint235
- Start date
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I like Skol
A Minging Manc...
- Location
- Sunny Ashton-under-Lyne
Be careful out there folks! I don't know if it is the sunshine that is responsible but on the short return trip from the this morning's school run I experienced 3 incidents of unpleasantness and muppetryism.
1st was within 100yds of the school gates when one of the mums nearly got impaled on my bar ends at 20mph+. She looked straight at me as she checked the road then stepped out anyway. I should have known because she had her phone held out in front of her in that way which clearly demonstrates that she has only stopped updating her Facebook posts due to the huge inconvenience of having to look up before crossing the road. I skidded around her and shouted back 'why did you bother looking if you stepped out anyway?'
2nd was a van pulling out of a side street on my left right across the front of me while I was doing 30mph in the centre of the lane. I would have hit him just in front of his rear wheels if I hadn't reacted!
Final one was when I filtered into the ASL at a crossroads. The woman in a small car at the front was already part way across the stop line so I made sure I was well forward of her and could be easily seen. the lights didn't change for quite a while but she kept edging forward the whole time and was pretty damn close to running over my foot. I wouldn't mind if she might have felt I was pushing into her space but it isn't the sort of junction where a quick getaway is required and as she was going straight ahead there was no way I could have held her up
Anyway, watch yourselves, they are all out at the moment......
1st was within 100yds of the school gates when one of the mums nearly got impaled on my bar ends at 20mph+. She looked straight at me as she checked the road then stepped out anyway. I should have known because she had her phone held out in front of her in that way which clearly demonstrates that she has only stopped updating her Facebook posts due to the huge inconvenience of having to look up before crossing the road. I skidded around her and shouted back 'why did you bother looking if you stepped out anyway?'
2nd was a van pulling out of a side street on my left right across the front of me while I was doing 30mph in the centre of the lane. I would have hit him just in front of his rear wheels if I hadn't reacted!
Final one was when I filtered into the ASL at a crossroads. The woman in a small car at the front was already part way across the stop line so I made sure I was well forward of her and could be easily seen. the lights didn't change for quite a while but she kept edging forward the whole time and was pretty damn close to running over my foot. I wouldn't mind if she might have felt I was pushing into her space but it isn't the sort of junction where a quick getaway is required and as she was going straight ahead there was no way I could have held her up
Anyway, watch yourselves, they are all out at the moment......
Dec66
A gentlemanly pootler, these days
- Location
- West Wickham
That wind is really rather insidious; it's ostensibly a stiff easterly but it seems to shift around a bit and catches one unaware.
My commute home is south easterly overall, but the route goes south, then east, then south, then east, then south... And when it goes east, the wind is very insistent (as opposed to all over the place generally).
I meant to ask, which lights in Penge were you at with the Brommie boy racer yesterday?
HarryTheDog
Guru
- Location
- Basildon Essex
Headwind home, got flagged down by a newbie who asked for a pump, turned out he had nothing and his valve was completely missing. He had a way to go ( 20 miles) so I gave him a inner tube. He was Portugeese, lost his job as a PE teacher in Portugal due to having a degree so they had to pay him a certain salary and replaced him with someone without. He explained he did not want to be in the uk but he had to be for work, and was telling me how desperate it was there.
Whilst we were stopped, 6 other cyclist enquired if we needed help, the guy was nearly in tears of grattitude, he could not believe how friendly english people were. I explained its mainly just the cyclists
Then ran into a lady doing a liesurely 111 miles, it took her 12 hours but she had all day.
Whilst we were stopped, 6 other cyclist enquired if we needed help, the guy was nearly in tears of grattitude, he could not believe how friendly english people were. I explained its mainly just the cyclists
Then ran into a lady doing a liesurely 111 miles, it took her 12 hours but she had all day.
Tenacious Sloth
Guru
- Location
- Huntingdon, UK
Perhaps my gear cable change on the front derailleur wasn't quite as successful as I'd thought...
That would make a good M.C. Escher drawing.
Graham
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
Minor events on both commutes today.
I ran over a cat this morning. It was on a small country road with steep banks and the cat darted out from nowhere right in front of me. I felt a dull thud on the front wheel and heard a sharp 'miaow', but as I glanced back it kept running for the other bank, and when I went back to look there was no sign of it so I suppose it got away with a shock and a tyre-shaped bruise.
Then on the way home my rear gear cable snapped, just 1/4 mile from home.
Both could have been worse I guess.
I ran over a cat this morning. It was on a small country road with steep banks and the cat darted out from nowhere right in front of me. I felt a dull thud on the front wheel and heard a sharp 'miaow', but as I glanced back it kept running for the other bank, and when I went back to look there was no sign of it so I suppose it got away with a shock and a tyre-shaped bruise.
Then on the way home my rear gear cable snapped, just 1/4 mile from home.
Both could have been worse I guess.
Arjimlad
Tights of Cydonia
- Location
- South Glos
Lovely ten mile ride into work but halfway there a crazy woman in a Scenic does a "me too" unthinking pass in the face of an oncoming car, which was very close, and nearly crashed into the oncoming car. I was about 100yds from the next T-junction so it was, of course, utterly and completely pointless and unthinking. I am going to report this to the Police online.
Attachments
Once again I was passed from behind by a bus at my favourite junction. And as usual, I was starionary in the centre of the ASL, and the traffic light was still red. This was the 4th time this has happened to me at this junction. There's a pedestrian countdown at the lights, and bus drivers pre-empting the lights by setting off when the countdown gets to around 2 is pretty much the norm there now, but most don't go to the lenghts of swerving to the other side of the road to pass someone in front of them waiting for the green light.
Not sure what to do now. I have front and rear facing cameras for evidence, but who do I report it to? I've reported this to Roadsafe in the past. Nothing. I've reported it to TFL. Empty platitudes. Whom do I try next? Council? MP? Local paper?
Not sure what to do now. I have front and rear facing cameras for evidence, but who do I report it to? I've reported this to Roadsafe in the past. Nothing. I've reported it to TFL. Empty platitudes. Whom do I try next? Council? MP? Local paper?
Bodhbh
Guru
I took an off-road route in to work up an appetite for the Friday fryup, the bridlepath petered out in the middle of nowhere, I ended up getting lost, and riding thru, what I now suspect, was Stings backyard (by the river near Wilford cum Lake, Wilts). There were a few follys about and a couple of boathouses. Finished riding up the drive and having to lug the bike over an locked 8ft front gate to the road.
I was riding to the beer shop on the way home, in the rain, towing a Bob Yak. Behind me I heard a horn, but the driver somehow hit the horn so expertly that it was more like a sigh. The van that overtook was a mobile bike repair service.
Whoever was driving is an absolute maestro with the horn.
St Albans is terrible for traffic, I caught up pretty soon and got a wave.
Rode home through the lanes, clinking, with a trailer full of local beers.
Whoever was driving is an absolute maestro with the horn.
St Albans is terrible for traffic, I caught up pretty soon and got a wave.
Rode home through the lanes, clinking, with a trailer full of local beers.
