Tales from today's commute....

[Andy in Germany]

Very strange experience on the way in today. I pulled onto the river path which is almost dead straight for a kilometre at this point. Suddenly I saw a light appear in the distance: there's only two ways onto the path and it wasn't near either, so it was switched on as the owner saw my light.

Fair enough: someone wants to ride by night vision I'm not complaining. I was having trouble judging the distance though because the light was shining directly at me, and suddenly I saw it reflected in a puddle and realised it was on "my" side of the 2m wide path and only a few metres away, so I braked hard and swerved left.

It was a pedestrian; they'd been walking on the left side of the path. It's a shared use path but convention here is that people and bikes stay to the right to avoid exactly this sort of situation. On top of that they'd been shining their torch at my face as I approached, rather than down where they were about to walk. Now they were clucking their way into the distance about "cycling too fast; slow down...".

As I rode on I looked back and they'd switched their torch off again...

 

[Andy in Germany]

In other news, it was misty earlier this week, and the villages looked even more like a postcard than usual.

 

[Alex321]

It had been raining fairly heavily most of the night here, and was still raining when I got up.

But it was dying down by the time I got on the bike, and all the water on the way in was what was coming up from the road (quite a lot of it!). My feet were soaked, but the rest of me wasn't too bad.

Actually not a bad ride in at all, though I hadn't been looking forward to it when I got up and looked out at the weather.

 

[Jenkins]

Definitely got away with it this morning - the heavy rain & strong winds that were forecast to hit at commute time never materialised and it was merely damp and breezy. Warm enough at 6am for just a long sleeved summer weight jersey. There was even bright sunshine for the ride home, but that's when the wind did pick up.

 

[Alex321]

Definitely got away with it this morning - the heavy rain & strong winds that were forecast to hit at commute time never materialised and it was merely damp and breezy. Warm enough at 6am for just a long sleeved summer weight jersey. There was even bright sunshine for the ride home, but that's when the wind did pick up.

Even the wind had dropped a fair amount by the time I rode home this afternoon, though what there was, was against me. And just a few spots of rain in the last mile or so, with the roads dry all the way home.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Showers on the way to and from work. This afternoon saw a beautiful, fully defined rainbow over Sheffield. No picture though as I was in the middle of my usual Wednesday rush home to start my second (unpaid) job as Dad's Taxi.

If the showers hadn't got me, I'd have still been wet due to the burst water main on the way home.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Even the wind had dropped a fair amount by the time I rode home this afternoon, though what there was, was against me. And just a few spots of rain in the last mile or so, with the roads dry all the way home.

No rain here, but blowing a serious hooley against me on the way back tonight: normally I can comfortably be in the highest middle gear 99% of the route back, but today I was down one or two gears all the way, and occasionally three. I barely reached top gear on a downhill section.

Wide flat plains have disadvantages...

 

[fossyant]

Clear skys, but damp this morning - I'm sure it was raining at 5am when the cats got me up.

I think the winter tyres can go on this weekend - thorns are decimating my current tyres along the canal.

 

[rivers]

First commute in nearly 2 weeks thanks to covid. Felt slightly harder than usual, but not too bad. Lovely, crisp morning

 

[Arjimlad]

Rode to the office for the first time in ten days this morning. Lovely sunshine but as @rivers says lawks it felt hard, must have been the colder air!

 

[Jenkins]

Somewhat chillier this morning - first time this end of the year for thin thermal gloves under the mitts and three layers up top instead of the single layer yesterday & Tuesday.

 

[palinurus]

Overtaken by an Invacar today- haven't seen one of those for some time.

 

[Alex321]

Nothing much to report really today. Pretty uneventful rides in and home. Raining a bit for the first few miles on the way in, then dried up.

Needed the front light on full mode pretty well until I hit Cardiff this morning. Next week I suspect it will need t be on most of the way home, but I should have a week or two without needing more than flashing mode in the morning.

As per usual, took a slightly longer way in to avoid the steep hill up Sandy Lane at the start, so 15.71 miles in, 15.06 home.

 

[biking_fox]

Forecast this morning (in manchester) was for heavy rain from lunchtime through to tomorrow. It's now 16:30 and not started raining (forecast is for current rain). Should I try to nip home early and beat it or will I get soaked whatever?

Lights here are variably necessary between 5-6pm depending on cloud cover. Not required for an 8:15am ride in. Clocks go back this weekend, so will require lights every night, but may escape them on morning riders all year.

 

[fossyant]

Forecast this morning (in manchester) was for heavy rain from lunchtime through to tomorrow. It's now 16:30 and not started raining (forecast is for current rain). Should I try to nip home early and beat it or will I get soaked whatever?

Lights here are variably necessary between 5-6pm depending on cloud cover. Not required for an 8:15am ride in. Clocks go back this weekend, so will require lights every night, but may escape them on morning riders all year.

Rained a bit after 5 on my way home. Didn't need waterproofs. The cobbles bit back though. Ive got a tight 270 cobbled climb on the canal near home. Its tight in the dry, but with added clippings and wet cobbles, the front wheel went on the climb, dumping me on the cobbles. Good job the laptop is in a padded shock case. New tyres are resistant to thorns, but not great on wet cobbles.