Tales from today's commute....

[biking_fox]

Yesterday suited up against the downpour, to reach the garage and find a flat tyre :-( good excuse not to ride in the rain and took the heavingly busy and almost as wet, tram. Fixed tyre last night - 1cm metal shard! Not even M+ will stand up against those. Wonder how long it had been working it's way through.

Patch all held, today was cold blustery rain/drizzle. Not terrible considering.

 

[fossyant]

Not the best commute. Started rather wet and blustery. Descending into Reddish Vale from Brinnington, took it easy as it was wet, then bam, on the floor sliding into the verge/bushes on my right shoulder and head. Something very slippy on the tarmac and my rear end just went, corrected but by then I was off the track into the grass and down I went. Covered in mud, bars flipped round, both front lights ripped off (fortunately looks like the mounts are easily repairable). Torn elbow on both waterproof and jersey under and a gashed arm.

Got to work, cleared the mud out of the helmet vents. Then, in the toilets, rinsed the helmet and gloves of mud, wiped me down, then cleaned the toilet floor (dirt everywhere) - it was more like a MTB ride than a commute. Patched arm with Germoline, dropped two ibuprofen down my neck, then popped to the Co-Op for superglue. Both mounts now drying (glue). Bike seems to have got away with it - the Ortlieb panniers took the brunt, as did one of my Ergon grips, that will need some of the scuffed rubber tidying up once home

 

[cyberknight]

Not the best commute. Started rather wet and blustery. Descending into Reddish Vale from Brinnington, took it easy as it was wet, then bam, on the floor sliding into the verge/bushes on my right shoulder and head. Something very slippy on the tarmac and my rear end just went, corrected but by then I was off the track into the grass and down I went. Covered in mud, bars flipped round, both front lights ripped off (fortunately looks like the mounts are easily repairable). Torn elbow on both waterproof and jersey under and a gashed arm.

Got to work, cleared the mud out of the helmet vents. Then, in the toilets, rinsed the helmet and gloves of mud, wiped me down, then cleaned the toilet floor (dirt everywhere) - it was more like a MTB ride than a commute. Patched arm with Germoline, dropped two ibuprofen down my neck, then popped to the Co-Op for superglue. Both mounts now drying (glue). Bike seems to have got away with it - the Ortlieb panniers took the brunt, as did one of my Ergon grips, that will need some of the scuffed rubber tidying up once home

ouch glad your semi ok ! could have been diesel patch maybe ?
i decided not to risk it last night with the heavy rain we had all yesterday i think i made the right choice as the roads were flooded again with run off from the fields , i guess since my collar bone accident im less inclined to risk things and with my arthritic hand even less so atm .

 

[fossyant]

ouch glad your semi ok ! could have been diesel patch maybe ?

Shouldn't be diesel as there is no vehicle access other than local council, so may be. The 'track' is usually covered in a fair amount of debris, and I always take it easy in the wet, the back just 'went' this morning. Fortunately, it looks like the brackets have repaired OK - the Fenix light bracket was more of a concern as a metal part had ripped through the light mount that attaches it to the bar 'strap' - I've managed is disassemble it, and put it back together with a little more superglue on a couple of components.

 

[fossyant]

State of my kit. Commute or MTB ride ?

 

[Pgd]

State of that helmet, @fossyant . Ouch, though; glad you're (mostly) OK.

At the beginning of the week I belatedly realised that I had my first decent opportunity (given our shift patterns, childcare, evening commitments etc.) to attempt the full 30 miles from my house in West Sussex into the office in central London, returning again the following day (using trains in between). Tuesday morning was perfect: dry, cool, no wind; completed in around 2hrs 45mins (Strava reckons 2hrs 20mins moving time). However, because I planned it last-minute, either I misread the forecast or it had changed since I checked; because by Tuesday evening it quickly became clear that I was going to suffer on my way home the next day... and so it transpired. Continuous rain, occasionally heavy, blustery headwind, for the entire 30 miles back . Character-building, innit...

 

[tinywheels]

the sun is shining the trains on time wahooo

 

[wafter]

Not the best commute. Started rather wet and blustery. Descending into Reddish Vale from Brinnington, took it easy as it was wet, then bam, on the floor sliding into the verge/bushes on my right shoulder and head. Something very slippy on the tarmac and my rear end just went, corrected but by then I was off the track into the grass and down I went. Covered in mud, bars flipped round, both front lights ripped off (fortunately looks like the mounts are easily repairable). Torn elbow on both waterproof and jersey under and a gashed arm.

Got to work, cleared the mud out of the helmet vents. Then, in the toilets, rinsed the helmet and gloves of mud, wiped me down, then cleaned the toilet floor (dirt everywhere) - it was more like a MTB ride than a commute. Patched arm with Germoline, dropped two ibuprofen down my neck, then popped to the Co-Op for superglue. Both mounts now drying (glue). Bike seems to have got away with it - the Ortlieb panniers took the brunt, as did one of my Ergon grips, that will need some of the scuffed rubber tidying up once home

Man, that sucks

Puts my lost trouser legs into perspective; good luck getting it all sorted / healed!

 

[cyberknight]

back to what i would call spring clothing yesterday , pretty chilly coming home last night , at least its dry

 

[templehead]

Me and this Brompton are not bonding at all... the hills up to the train station aren't a problem on my electric Dawes, but the gearing seems massively high and my knees just don't have what's required for that sort of thing these days. And I have to say it's really not a nice thing to ride at all; it feels wobbly and unstable (I suspect this is a characteristic rather than a fault as they're both like this). I'd sack them off, but my problem is that the Dawes is massive and there's only two spaces for bikes/pushchairs on the local trains.

I think, like Bob Dylan, that it's going electric sometime soon, which will solve at least some of its problems...

 

[tinywheels]

I hate working weekends

 

[biking_fox]

Me and this Brompton are not bonding at all... the hills up to the train station aren't a problem on my electric Dawes, but the gearing seems massively high and my knees just don't have what's required for that sort of thing these days. And I have to say it's really not a nice thing to ride at all; it feels wobbly and unstable (I suspect this is a characteristic rather than a fault as they're both like this). I'd sack them off, but my problem is that the Dawes is massive and there's only two spaces for bikes/pushchairs on the local trains.

I think, like Bob Dylan, that it's going electric sometime soon, which will solve at least some of its problems...

It's not normally that hard to fit a smaller chainring?

Not a good ride - started dry but really quite wet after a few minutes. Did stop to waterproof up, so not terrible. Then arrived at work to find I'd left all my keys in on my other cycling bags... contemplated the bonus 6 mile round trip to collect them, and the rain returned in force, so I've left the bike in the post room and got the receptionists spare office key.

Bonus fox cub on the Floop though.

 

[cyberknight]

Knackered, kids messing around all night and up before 4 am for ride in.working on cocodamol and coffee today

 

[Maylian]

After being off the bike for a few weeks (wheel being replaced, away for work, needing to drive a few times) I cycled in on Friday and a slightly longer route home and it felt tough.

This mornings slightly damp ride by contrast felt great. Strava says it was slower than normal, but I felt good with a lot of energy in the bank (possibly a long ride home tonight depending on weather). All going very well, until with 30yards to go, I almost got doored by someone opening their vehicle door into a bike lane. Thankfully I managed to dodge it, and the guy seemed genuinely shocked...hopefully he looks properly in the future.

 

[cyberknight]

coming home it was chucking it down for the 1st couple of miles so i was in full waterproofs , of course it stopped so i had to strip down as i was too hot .