Tales from today's commute....

[Shut Up Legs]

Very wintry today. I got home about 30 minutes ahead of a moderate rain storm which is about to hit. Tonight's minimum is 4, and tomorrow's max is 9. I commute in all weathers, though, so it's just a point of interest for me instead of an inconvenience.

Yes, I can hear the rain starting...

 

[HarryTheDog]

Due to the rain of biblical proportions I decided to do a half drive half ride commute on my 29er. It was a bit of a gamble as I had just had the rim replaced on the rear wheel and it is tubeless and I have not ridden on it yet and overnight it lost all its air, anyway I pumped it up and threw it in the car.
Driving though Hornchirch there was a Kia Sedona in front of me,( big MPV) a young girl ( 13-14) was running along the pavement with a brolly up. She just ran straight out in front of the car without looking. I hammered the anchors on fully expecting to be jumping out in the next 2 seconds to call an ambulance and administer first aid. No the Kia driver by some unknown power managed to stop it on a sixpence in the pouring rain, the girl neither looked or apologised despite missing death or serious injury by inches, she just carried on running.

When I got to Rainham the rain was coming down in buckets. Still jumped on the bike and good job to. Traffic was solid everywhere. A13 was closed in several places due to flooding and a very nasty accident in Barking. I was soaked but grinning like a loon, it was like having a luke warm shower. My neoprene overshoes kept the rain out for 200 yards as I had to go through an axle high flood, my Gore active rain jacket was as wet inside as out by the end of the ride.

Bloody tubeless tyre let nearly all its air go as I leapt off a kerb in Barking, emptied 2 gas canisters into it and it was fine till work. Best buy a couple for the journey home.Hopefully it'll be bedded in now.

 

[ianrauk]

I just don't get it. The weather Gods must love me at the moment. After all the rainstorms last night I thought I was going to be in for one hell of a wet commute. Even when I got up this morning it was still raining. However by the time I had left at 7.45 it had eased to just a very fine mizzle. 5 minutes into the commute and it was dry. Amazing. However..1: the roads were an absolute mess with a a couple of floods 2: The weather for the commute home looks very wet indeed.

 

[martint235]

That was stupidly wet. It was like swimming. However as I was wet through by the top of Welling Way I quite enjoyed the rest of the commute. No muppets (I could be cruel and suggest this was because I only saw one other cyclist). I'm now preparing myself psychologically for clambering into wet kit later.

 

[Andrew_P]

Well, I was confronted with this, should I detour around it or plough on through.... Well egged on by two ladies I couldn't resist..

Hmmm

Oh my has my ego been writing cheques my gravel bike cannot deliver?!?

Nope made it just hope the BB survived it lol

 

[Tin Pot]

I was up around midnight sitting on the front door step watching the torrential and lightning with a beer in hand.

Felt like the old days, when I didn't care about anything.

 

[Twizit]

Was supposed to be a day off the bike letting the train take the strain. Cancelled trains everywhere stopped that idea so opted for a late cycle commute in. No rain but drenched by the time I arrived... from sweat - horribly muggy this morning.

Just the one muppet on a Boris bike on the E-W segregated highway - heading straight towards me, on the wrong side of the track merrily chatting away to his mate next to him with a Union Jack tied around his neck. A very loud "Oy" soon got his attention

 

[subaqua]

well the roads were like rivers. went and voted and there were queues at 07.15 !! rode along temple mill lane from crownfield road and was expecting a flood in the cycle lane at bottom of rail bridge but not what I saw. came up to the axles so was soaked.

it carried on bucketing down through Viccy Park which was flooded across the road in several places. the canal towpath was flooded too.

HOW MUCH RAIN last night ?

 

[MichaelO]

Was supposed to be a day off the bike letting the train take the strain. Cancelled trains everywhere stopped that idea so opted for a late cycle commute in. No rain but drenched by the time I arrived... from sweat - horribly muggy this morning.

Same here. Gave up on the trains at 8:30 and cycled instead. Stationary traffic for at least 10-12 miles of the commute!

Could be a very wet one home.

 

[beetlejuice]

Absolutely glorious sunshine up north, not a dark cloud in sight. Lovely ride in and added an extra mile on because it was so nice ☀️☀️

 

[subaqua]

How wet did I just get . wet enough to wring socks out , trousers , pants and shirt . was lovely warm rain too .

 

[Glow worm]

Well, I was confronted with this, should I detour around it or plough on through.... Well egged on by two ladies I couldn't resist..

View attachment 132763

Hmmm

View attachment 132764

Oh my has my ego been writing cheques my gravel bike cannot deliver?!?

View attachment 132766

Nope made it just hope the BB survived it lol

View attachment 132767

Appropriate that the van in the pics is advertising 'splash poo' - it had come to the right place

I must have had some of Ian's weather gods looking down on me on my way home just now. It went very dark as I left the office in Cambridge and started spitting, I managed to ride out of it and stayed just slightly ahead of it all the way home. As I opened my front door the heavens opened. I don't think I've ever managed to outpace weather before!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

NIce fast (for me) ride in this morning but this eveing I felt more like pootling home so didn't rush too much and on a whim took a route I wouldn't normally use.

Along one of the lanes I encountered a young girl riding a bike with two flat tyres. I offered help and found the tubes were down due to neglect rather than being punctured but had rucked up inside the tyre after being ridden flat so they had to be removed to be reseated anyway.

After that good deed, karma brought me three close passes on the rest of the trip, one of them from a vehicle with a Cycle Shrewsbury "We give cyclists space" sticker in the back window. Typical.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

NIce fast (for me) ride in this morning but this eveing I felt more like pootling home so didn't rush too much and on a whim took a route I wouldn't normally use.

Along one of the lanes I encountered a young girl riding a bike with two flat tyres. I offered help and found the tubes were down due to neglect rather than being punctured but had rucked up inside the tyre after being ridden flat so they had to be removed to be reseated anyway.

After that good deed, karma brought me three close passes on the rest of the trip, one of them from a vehicle with a Cycle Shrewsbury "We give cyclists space" sticker in the back window. Typical.

Good things will happen to you because of that good deed.

Well done that man!



Graham

 

[HarryTheDog]

Wet ride home, due to the warmth I noticed quite a few cyclists and pedestrians had given up on waterproofs and were in shorts and T shirts and just got wet . Chatted with a fellow MTB'r, he had not commuted for 3 years and decided to return to the bike today because of the London disruption to public transport, he had forgotten how much fun it was speeding past cars stuck in a jam.