Tales from today's commute....

[C R]

The day was ugly and grey throughout, but dry overall. Two commutes today as I went home for lunch and reached my 50 mile target for April. With a bit of luck I may even reach 75 miles this month.

 

[subaqua]

it's also much cheaper than dive kit :-p

I am not convinced on that one ...

 

[dhd.evans]

March was the last time i had any bother with drivers worth commenting on. Hit this downhill section this morning on the aerobars and in the big ring so was cruising at about 40mph. Although this guy clearly can't judge speed:

 

[C R]

Another miserable looking ride, but dry. Had a close pass by a MGIF cyclist in a narrow potholed path, otherwise, uneventful ride to work.

 

[DCBassman]

(Black Polo...)

 

[Arjimlad]

@dhd.evans nasty twerp in the Polo. Worth reporting ? He'll say you were going faster than he thought..

Had a moderate tailwind this morning down the A38, it felt pretty quick but was some way off any personal record performances from last summer.

Looking forward to warmer temperatures next week.

 

[si_c]

Another damp ride in this morning with intermittent rain. Back on the quick bike again today having replaced the BB when I got in last night, the cage on the old one had totally disintegrated, explaining the half inch of play in each direction.

 

[dhd.evans]

@dhd.evans nasty twerp in the Polo. Worth reporting ? He'll say you were going faster than he thought..

Had a moderate tailwind this morning down the A38, it felt pretty quick but was some way off any personal record performances from last summer.

Looking forward to warmer temperatures next week.

Potentially; he and I were travelling the same route as well and as we parted ways he was fair staring me down so i gave him the universal "i've got my eye are on you" gesture. Hopefully there won't be another encounter like this on that hill. Tailwinds precipitated the 40mph stint so i'm saddened i had to slow down!

 

[Sixmile]

I dropped off the kids to school since my wife was on nightshift last night. I seen the traffic tailed back quite a bit so pulled over and got the kids out to walk the last 1/2 mile. We even had the scooters in the boot so let the lil one scoot to her sisters school, then scooted back to the car to get her bag and I locked the car again to walk the other direction to her nursery. "We have to drive to Nursery" she says, "Mummy always drives". Fifteen minutes later we were at the Nursery and I ran back to the car, bike off the roof, seasucker in the boot, changed shoes and rode 14 mile onto work. Setting off after 9am meant I was a little late into work but still made decent time since the roads were a lot quieter than pre 9am. Got a wee surprising 'overall top 10' on one of the roads too

 

[gaijintendo]

Though I had a chain drop after a quick stop to check I fidndd leave my house keys in a lock at home.

I hadn't left them, and I didn't drop a chain, i have just been riding fixed so much i had forgotten what a low gear felt like!

 

[John_S]

Last night I had a couple of mechanicals on the way home which was annoying but still that beat a commute home earlier in the week.

On Monday on an urban road I had a car nearly pull out in front of me from a side road but it stopped just in time however it was over the white lines and creeping. Then the car having pulled out of the side road after I'd passed then proceed to do a really close pass on my just before pulling over to the left hand side of the road and stopped right in front of me. In the heat of the moment I'm afraid to say that I did resort to the use of some fairly agricultural anglo saxon sent in the direction of the inconsiderate driver.

Then after that I'd got out of the city onto some smaller roads and I had a car come past me pretty quick for what was a small rural road and having just sped past me it then went past a junction a short while after that before slamming its brakes on and started to reverse towards me which was nice of them.

 

[ianrauk]

Unexpected rain this morning. The weather report was for dry but foggy. They didn't include the rain bit. OK it was fine rain, not exactly stair rods, but rain never the less so it counts towards the rainy commute total.

Rainy commute # 26 for the year (for comparison the same point last year, only 6 rainy commutes & 31 over all for 2017).

Apart from the rain it was a nice, fastish commute, trying to keep up with a full on roadie along the A21. One of my regular cycle commuting same route chums. I can still feel Sunday's 140 mile Audax in my legs though.

 

[Spartak]

Picture taken on Montpelier Station, Bristol on this mornings commute.....

 

[confusedcyclist]

Sorry to dissent from @Tizme and @Randombiker9 but if those zig-zags are the standard 2m, then I think he had both feet on the road well away from the kerb when you were 12m away. I'm not sure what speed you were doing but the old 1999 CTC standard for hire bikes is to stop with two brakes from 15mph in 5.5m and I understand that's the same as in BS6102/1. Even from a bit faster than 15, if you locked a wheel and couldn't stop in 12m, then either your brakes or (sorry) your braking method need attention before you hurt someone (probably yourself), or you should go slower unless you can see a much clearer path ahead.

No need to be sorry, dissent should be celebrated! Yes, I could have been travelling 20-25 mph when I realised he was about to step out, I could have travelled a bit slower too, but as I mentioned, I was already slowing as I expect people to dart out at this crossing, it happens all the time there as people seem to be lulled into a false sense of security due to a number of roads being pedestrianised and bus only lanes in the area which makes the roads there quieter than elsewhere. I could have applied more force on the front brake also, but I was certain I was able to dodge the chap, so waited a little longer whilst I determined which way he would move. Had I been less sure of this, I would have come to a dead stop sooner no problems.

 

[overmind]

I was cycling home along the Bath Road in West Reading last night and hit a huge pothole which was concealed by a puddle. I only skirted the edge of the puddle but the front wheel dropped at least 10cm and I almost went AOT over the handlebars but just managed to hold on.

I have reported it on fixmystreet.com. It seems it was reported 7 years ago. Shocking!

https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/92848