Tales from today's commute....

[Andy in Germany]

I do not understand why he could not just take the next right hand turn instead of ignoring the road signs and putting everyone at risk.

Because he's a motorist: everything else else is In The Way. Including rules.

 

[fossyant]

Thanks! tbh it's necessity both out of the fact there's still a drive at the end of the ride, plus the fact I'm off the beer and G&Ts are a tenner...

G&T a tenner. Blimey, I'd be getting a small batch Gin from my local distillery for £40 a bottle and some nice 'mixers'.

 

[fossyant]

I'm actually off work today and tomorrow.

So I extended the 'faux commute' loop a bit this morning. Although it is a loop, I seemed to get a head wind all the way around. Wound up stuck behind a couple of inattentive dog walkers for quite a while. I'm always checking behind me when I'm out walking the dog. Especially if I'm dawdling a bit.

Motons were reasonably well behaved - makes a difference going out after 9 am. However, I did get one trying to wave me out from a T junction - he was in a right turn filter lane and there was traffic - not sure what he expected. Never mind he was trying to turn into a road that was closed in the direction he wanted to travel - and very clearly signed as such. I was in the way as he wanted to drive on the wrong side of the road.

I do not understand why he could not just take the next right hand turn instead of ignoring the road signs and putting everyone at risk.

If I do a 'faux' commute, I do it at lunch time. My 'real' commute is done on quiet roads, and off road routes into Manchester.

 

[fossyant]

Bit cooler this am, started easy, but decided to SCR a chap on a gravel bike, so ended up in the 41m bracket this morning, about as quick as it gets on 'the tank'.

 

[wafter]

G&T a tenner. Blimey, I'd be getting a small batch Gin from my local distillery for £40 a bottle and some nice 'mixers'.

Yeah, that's the approach to the weekend (well, my council version being the cheapest gin and tonic I can stomach).. however the older, lonlier and closer to death I get, the more I see value in just sitting in a pub and having the odd nice, casual interaction with random folks.

Monday night I alerted a seat-deprived bloke to my table as I was leaving (popular pub, rarely space especially outside in the sun) who was very grateful and upon seeing my Brompton said something along the lines of "you can always trust cyclists to be decent" or similar, which was nice. I find little things like this make a big difference when one's self-worth is on the floor.

For the sake of reference the cost of said tipple tends to vary from £8-13 in my recent experience, with the quality and presentation of said beverage somewhat reflected in the price.. ultimately all a bit crap when it takes less time to consume the drink than it did to earn the money to pay for it.


Last night was again pretty decent. I took the long way from work to the hoops; upon arrival only managing 75% of what I usually do due to the unrelenting sun, exhaustion and sweaty hands slipping off the monkey bars during the knee-raises. Then it was back into town for a G&T at the White Horse on Broad St; sitting in the centre of this glorious city and watching the world go by..

Didn't feel much like going home afterwards so meandered aimlessly about the place for a while in the glow of the sinking sun..

.. then back along the tow path; noticing the fish loitering conspicuously close to the surface; for reasons best know to them.

Finally a bit more snippy-snippy of the brambles that perpetually encroach upon the cycle path - beneficial for all but also offering some semblance of revenge for the hole torn in my lovely base layer last year.

All in all about 28 miles yesterday for a total of 80 miles for the week; the bare minimum being around 45-48 miles for the three days. A reasonable effort that can hopefully be built on during the remainder of the week; assuming my legs don't fall off.

 

[biking_fox]

Had a couple of days off at the start of the week to ride around Anglesey with some mates, great fun lovely riding and beaches. Even sunshine. Commuting also pleasant until this morning's heavy overcast. Almost made it in dry before the rain opened up in the final couple of minutes. Windy too. Emptier roads though which is much appreciated.

 

[straas]

set off earlier this morning and managed a bit of commuter racing, unfortunately the others were less observant of red lights so didn't last all the way in.

Treated myself to a sausage and egg sandwich from the canteen.

 

[Alex321]

Windy and colder troday than it was on Wednesday.

At 12ºC, cold enough that I was thinking I'd have been more comfortable with arm warmers on, but not quite cold enough to stop and put them on (they were in the outside pocket of my rucksack).

 

[HLaB]

A bike breakfast at work this morning and I also decided to take the gravel bike for a change. Lol, it being slower I got up earlier to make sure I caught the train. I shouldn't have bothered. With a strong tailwind I was about the same time. At least I saw a mate I hadn't saw for a while.

The real reason for taking the gravel bike was so I could explore at night. Annoyingly about half way my map of bridleways was wrong but at least the land owner was a pleasant chap and helped me get back on track. Also annoyingly for the first time in 17years I jerked my knee around then too. It felt like a real stabbing pain like 17years ago too but in my other knee 😐 Putting the bike in the wee ring seemed to make it manageable but it still doesn't feel right. I was tempted to go the short way home but I'd have to deal with traffic so I stuck to the planned bridleway route.
.

lol, I realised when I was about 1.5miles from the station I only had 8mins to the train and that took my mind off my knee and I made it with about 2mins to spare. 40mins train journey later the knee was a bit sore again and I couldn't be bothered opening my backpack to get my front light out as technically it was near lighting up time so I took shared paths and bridleways back to the house. The bike needs a bit of a clean but it'll wait till tomorrow as its not bad.