Tales from today's commute....

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Alex321

Guru
Location
South Wales
Fell off on some ice. Almost always follow the bus route in winter which gets both gritted and more traffic but nipped through the lane this morning as the rest of the route was OK and it was warmer today- obviously not uniformly so.

On the plus side I didn't damage my clothing because the road was nice and slidey. Not hurt, probably a bruise on my hip.
Ouch.

Hope you fell off to the left, so as not to damage the gears :smile:
 

palinurus

Velo, boulot, dodo
Location
Watford
@palinurus
Ouch.. glad to hear not too much damage to you or your clothing. What about the bike.

Luckily, in SE London, we have above zero temperatures today. Had a bit of rain last night so the roads were wet, but no frost or ice.
Bike seems OK. It was above zero this morning when I left. Perhaps a bit of a frost hollow in that spot.
Ouch.

Hope you fell off to the left, so as not to damage the gears :smile:

I did fall off to the left (which is my preferred side when it comes to falling off). But was riding fixed anyway.
 
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avecReynolds531

Veteran
Location
Small Island
Yesterday saw temperatures at -3C after a 12-hour night shift. Could not get warm, even with a (stated) 17% climb, one heavy touring bike, two full panniers & a D lock.

That's the first time, in 25+ years of commuting, that my winter gloves weren't good enough: two cautious descents into the headwind really brought out the wind chill.

Still, the bike is the finest way to get to, and, return home from work.
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Not a bad commute on Friday even with the dusting of snow. Sadly that hid some glass the local little darlings scattered in a certain area know for this behaviour so first P fairy visit of 2022 happened.
The pony had a mooch at the bike on her quest for food and the stunning sky on the return leg along the guided busway made up for the morning’s trauma
 

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palinurus

Velo, boulot, dodo
Location
Watford
Sunset at 16:13 today- should be still fairly light assuming I leave today around 16:40 as usual.

Oh well, delayed in the end. Was pretty dark when I left and the same happened today.

Noticed my mudguard was rattling this morning, saw it was almost in two pieces when I got to work (so looks like I did damage my bike in the fall last week)

Had to fix it at lunchtime with Duck tape.
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Well that hurt and I scuffed my nice bike ! Powering up a slope on the fixie and the chain snapped 😳 I ended up flying over the bars in a ball of snot ! Poor jogger witnessed the acrobatics and tried to help even though I was more concerned about the bike and the fresh bar tape that was now “ Used”
Thankfully I had a chain splitter and managed to complete the commute, scare students at school with my gruesome wounds and then ride eight miles home to my awaiting good lady who is used to the odd bike related war wound 😆
It’s always handy to have a passing Sheep called Bob to wash a bit of the blood off
 

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Got a annoying emai lfrom C2C last night they are reducing the size of the trains from 12 to 8 carriages due to lack of demand, seems they were not looking at my train where even at 05:57 it was 2 deep on the platform this morning. I got my bike parked up no problem, again people standing by West Ham maybe next week it will be a little harder getting a prime spot on the train.
I am having second thoughts about my new 40mm bontranger tyres, yes they are more comfy but they are really draggy also they have a really peculiar and sometimes alarming trait of "following the grip" sometimes it feels like the front wheel is in a force field and suddenly starts to go left or right and I can do sod all about it. At one time this morning on a pariculary narrow part of the path with a concrete edge by the canal the bike just suddenly went towards the water quite suddenly. My commute is nearly all on canal path with rubbish tarmac made bumpy by tree roots or hardpack/grit. I have never felt a tyre do this before its very strange my old 33mm tyres kept a straight line no matter the surface and undulations. Maybe I will get used to this, I dont know.
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Less bloody commute today with stunning weather. Leg is fine even with a weeping wound but hand was less comfortable but doable on the shorter eight mile ride along the guided busway and Roe Green Loop line (NCN55) to Bolton
 

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skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Another commute done along the amazing guided busway and Roe Green Loop line ( NCN55) to Bolton
Hand properly padded out with plenty of plasters to help make the ride less uncomfortable, I won’t show the leg shot just in case you haven’t had your tea yet 😆
 

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On my last commute home the chain dropped off the front chainring 6 ruddy times. Once home and on the bike stand found that the chain was near its limit and also there was a very large wiggle in the chain ring, put a new chain on and took the chain ring off and laid it on a flat surface and it seemed flat , measured the distance between the frame and each f the 5 spider arms and one was distinctly bent . Being aluminium and not that thick I figured if I tried bending it, it would snap so put the ring back on attached to just 4 arms. I may try bending it on the weekend.
when I looked online even though the bike is only 3 yrs old Praxis do not make that crankset anymore. . also seems specialized did a bodge on my CX crux and put a single ring on, on what was originally sold as a double ring crankset instead of putting a SRAM proper single ring on which the elite version of my bike has. since I have a praxis powermeter crankarm I am forced to buy another praxis. Off course now thier aluminium cheaper single ring mtb cranksets do not go to 40T ring so I am forced to get a carbon direct mount road single ring job costing around 270 quid and they are a bit like hens teeth to get .All the secondhand older aluminium Praxis zayante cranksets online have double rings on.
Anyway this morning commute quieter drivetrain and no drops and some rowers out on the river for some early morning training
626376



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