Tales from today's commute....

[fossyant]

Just finished getting changed, walked into the office and said, 'well at least is isn't raining today' - looked at colleague, just getting off a wet through rain coat. I'd missed it by 10-15 minutes ! Yes !

 

[cyberknight]

puncture on the way to work then soaked on the way home perfect!

 

[richardfm]

Just finished getting changed, walked into the office and said, 'well at least is isn't raining today' - looked at colleague, just getting off a wet through rain coat. I'd missed it by 10-15 minutes ! Yes !

I was fine going in at 6:45 but got soaked coming home at 8:45.

It was colder this morning though. I can feel a need for gloves coming on.

 

[fossyant]

I was fine going in at 6:45 but got soaked coming home at 8:45.

It was colder this morning though. I can feel a need for gloves coming on.

A few of my other cycling collegues got soaked. The sun shines on the rightious ! Made it home too without getting soaked.

 

[Jenkins]

No rain - a light shower passed through just before I left for work - but really needed the thermal top this morning. Much brighter & warmer for the return although a strengthening head wind.

 

[HLaB]

A bit arduous of a commute for me but that was mainly due to the train strike. The train I usually get which stops at just stations before mine was cancelled leaving one train that stopped at every stop (the other already being cancelled by the strikes). That was total chaos, I was glad I get on at the start of the line and I was able to quickly tie up the bike and grab a seat just. Within a few stops it was standing room only and before long folk just couldn't get in the doors. I was wondering how I'd get off but fortunately one of blokes standing was also a cyclist and he had put his bike on the outside of mine and one other passenger got off at Stevenage (with many more desperate to get on towards London), and that created a big enough gap to squeeze through to get off. The main cycling bit of the commute was also arduous but that was my own choice as I chose to do a interval work out on it. Kinda unfortunately the last interval was still going on when I got to town which was total gridlock so I turned away from town to finish before doubling back to the chaos. Lol, the only thing moving through town was a bike.

This evening was a little less arduous as at least 2 trains were running when I turned up and whilst of course the one I was on (and likely the later one) was busy and I was standing a bit longer than usual at least I got on.

 

[cyberknight]

nasty !
over 2 hours overtime call due to breakdown so i didnt get home till 2.30 am

 

[fossyant]

WFH today - Aygo gone in for MOT retest, son's car has a sticky brake calliper, so I've had to run him to work as no trains are running. Got to pick him up later so a grand total of 3 hours in the car today. Argh.

 

[vickster]

WFH today - Aygo gone in for MOT retest, son's car has a sticky brake calliper, so I've had to run him to work as no trains are running. Got to pick him up later so a grand total of 3 hours in the car today. Argh.

Why can't he cycle to work?

 

[fossyant]

Why can't he cycle to work?

Lazy !

 

[vickster]

Lazy !

So you pander

 

[fossyant]

So you pander

Either that or he loses his job and we pick up the fallout !

 

[Arjimlad]

Yow! It's mayhem out there!


Four phone addicts and one really vicious deliberately close pass.

The sort that if I knew where the driver lived I would fantasise about trimming off the tyre valves overnight to prevent his behaviour harming anyone else.

Of course I'll have to be content with the "positive outcome" email of warning letter, fixed penalty or prosecution.

 

[fossyant]

Damp one today. All was going well until I was leaving Alexandra Park. Rumble rumble. Argh a flat. I was less than a mile from work. Do I trundle on or fix in the rain ?

Tried to pump tyre up but it was leaking too much - not a thorn then. Tube out, found a big shard of glass that had gone through the protection layer. Not bad considering the tyres have been on 6 months and no flats so far.

Down side is my hands were filthy and have taken soap and water as well as washing up liquid to clean !

 

[EckyH]

Made my first "full" commuting today. If nothing goes wrong: roughly 23,5km one way to Münster.
All went fine until I took one turning too early. That should have been a warning.
Fortunately that was near work and I managed to find the right way quickly. Apropos quickly: I needed just one hour to get to work. So fast, so good.
The next mistake was to take the stairs instead of the elevator: the left lower leg cramped. During my meetings I tried to get rid of the cramp but that worked only partly.
Then I decided to ride home before the next video call. One and a half hour should be enough time. But somehow the front wheel started to touch the fender. No big deal with the multi tool, but the minutes went by.
As I reached the city boundary of Münster I started to grasp why the ride to work was so fast: tailwind. Ok, one or two gears lower than on the way there and it should work despite the cramp. So the way home started to become a challenge: don't be late at the video call and don't let the cramp go worse. Of course I got lost near Nottuln, but fortunately I got lost at the same crossing two weeks ago, could remember the alternative route and I didn't lose too much time.
I got home only two minutes late, hurried to log into the video call - only to realise that the video call is half an hour later than I thought.

Few hours later I had to ride to the supermarket, went to the garage to take the bicycle and saw that the rear tire (of course the rear tire!) is flat due to a puncture.

A day for the history books...

E.