Tales from today's commute....

[HarryTheDog]

As others have said a bit cold this morning, I pulled up beside a MTB'er at the lights and noticed he had no gloves on so remarked that his hands must be freezing. He said yes and I think I forgot to buy any gloves last year as well. I rode off thinking did he mean he had ridden all last winter with no gloves because "he forgot" to buy any. Nowt so wierd as folk, I would remember freezing my flippin fingers off.

 

[si_c]

Definitely a chill in the air this morning, lots of mist and frost on the fields. Still warm enough in long sleeve jersey and shorts, but my summer full finger gloves aren't cutting it, so time to get the regular winter long fingers out.

 

[Twizit]

Yep, twas a little nippy.
Still in shorts and short sleeve shirt but with the additions of knee warmers, long sleeve base layer and a pair of glove liners. Nice and toasty.
Lovely sunny morning for a commute. Last day of the school half term holidays today (or inset day or what ever it is they call it) so it will be back to school run traffic tomorrow.

Braver man than I. Think I was affected by being too cold on the Saturday morning weekend ride so went fairly full on cold weather gear today including the winter boots - but I do suffer with cold extremities. Think I may be a tad over dressed for the home route though!

 

[lazybloke]

First frost of the season.

Only planned to cycle to my local station today so only wore a cheap softshell jacket over my office clothes (shirt and trousers). Then missed my train and had a half hour wait at minus 1. Brrr!
Looks lovely out there now.

 

[J1888]

Finally an excuse to use the Btwin Aerofit winter jacket that I bought in May, when it was reduced to £55 (now back up to £79).

Even used the ninja hood that it comes with, though it wasn't really cold enough for that tbh.

Interesting observation was that heading southbound after the bridge on Blackfriars Road, there is a ped crossing about 50 meters before Southwark Station.

• This ped crossing was not there when the Superhighway was first extended there, but it's now been there a good while.
• I tend to go quite slowly on this stretch as it's an area where many peds tend to begin to step into the cycle path without looking
• The crossing is not used that regularly when I'm commuting (i.e. 9am, 5pm etc)
• A bloke was waiting to cross from the right, so I could see him, as could the bloke in front of me who slowed down to a stop in order to let him cross.
• About 15 bikes coming up northbound should have been able to see him but not one of them stopped to let him out - in fact, when he began crossing when there was a gap of a few seconds, one cyclist instead of stopping, swerved to avoid him and had a look of surprise on her face

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say other than pointing out how clearly people either don't look at their surroundings properly, or they just don't care.

 

[Randombiker9]

First day back to college. On way too chain came off. Managed to fix it in time and still got to college on time. Rest of the commute was fine and on way back car honked when i was stopped and traffic lights were red and bus pulled out without checking his mirrors.

 

[BoldonLad]

So there I am outside Tesco in central Bristol this morning with my very expensive Genesis Equilibrium which is ensured “only” if I have a gold standard lock….which I don’t. I thought I would be “thief” safe with two “cheaper” locks attached to the bike stand. I usually try to keep a close watch on the bike but this morning did not (fool!) and as I was at the checkout I could see one of the Tesco assistants looking out the window….at my bike….and 3 youths who were viewing it very closely whilst on their mobiles!! I ran, they left and the security guard told me that they had spotted my bike and thought it was a good steal!! Whilst I was pleased that they were admiring my beautiful piece of stainless steel road hog….I was not best pleased that they were within minutes of grabbing it. As the security guard pointed out….”they would have had that bike in a few minutes. The silly thing is my bike is only insured if it has a gold standard lock and I will certainly not be parking my beloved commuting machine until I have the proper lock. Of course I do realize that a thief will if determined smash through any lock, but at least if it happens again I will be insured.

Did the "Security Guard" not feel even a slight inclination to err well, do his/her job?

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

I swear that some people have nicked the lights from a runway and stuck them on their bike!

 

[J1888]

Decided to take Cs7 to my folks instead of my normal Wandsworth Rd route. Bonkers is the only word to describe it - loads of slow moving traffic, crazy cycling and bad driving. Not for thee faint hearted

 

[HarryTheDog]

on the way home some teenage oik decided it would be huge fun to run at me and pretend to try and knock me off. I briefly considered stopping and punching him in the gob but by then I was 50yds further down the road, shrugged and moved on.

 

[L Q]

Last night nearly got taken out on a tight cycle path by a complete dick who was texting and not looking where he was going, he didn't half jump when I shouted in his face as he nearly wiped me out.

This morning had my 1st puncture in 2 years just as it was peeing it down, great and to top it all off I had to wrestle with the tyre to get it back on, don't know why but I really struggled with it this morning.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Cracking ride in, my winter tights kept me toasty, after 12 miles I got to Dagenham and saw a winking bike light in the far distance and gave chase. 4 miles later I caught him and he was an old adversary I have run into 2 or 3 times a year over the last 4 or 5 years and he is always up for a bit of a race and we have had some epic tussles. His weak spot is hills and I timed my attack up a hill. I fully expected him to come tearing after me as per usual but no he didn’t. When I got to some red lights at a X roads he took a left turn and kept away from me track standing and creeping forwards. When the lights turned green he came back onto the same road as me but kept his distance. Weirdly he was acting like he wanted to keep away from me, we have never talked but we have never fallen out as far as I know. I am gong to have to say Hi next time we meet but that could be months away.

 

[bonker]

Decided to take Cs7 to my folks instead of my normal Wandsworth Rd route. Bonkers is the only word to describe it - loads of slow moving traffic, crazy cycling and bad driving. Not for thee faint hearted

It's a jungle out there. I got chatting to a chap this morning who rides Dorking to Westminster and he said that stretch was by far the most dangerous part of his journey. I think everyone I have spoken to on the CS7 has said the same, particularly the Tooting stretch. It not just the cars. the pedestrians (and some cyclists) are just as dangerous.
In the evening Epsom is also pretty dangerous but at least its only the cars and lorries you have to watch out for.

 

[mjr]

Decided to take Cs7 to my folks instead of my normal Wandsworth Rd route.

Curious - if you're after quiet, why Wandsworth Road rather than London route 3 (Larkhill Rise/Lane and Manor Road)?

 

[J1888]

Curious - if you're after quiet, why Wandsworth Road rather than London route 3 (Larkhill Rise/Lane and Manor Road)?

No particular reason to be honest - I used to live in Balham and that's route I chose when I first started commuting - preferred it as it's less hectic than the CS7, and can hook off right before Vauxhall to avoid the hell that was (may be better now with the segregated lanes) the large junction. I take CS7 every now and then just to mix it up a bit - on average probably about once every 3 months, but while it's always been busy at rush hour, last night seemed particularly chaotic.