Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Because he's a motorist: everything else else is In The Way. Including rules.
Tales from today's commute....
- Thread starter martint235
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Because he's a motorist: everything else else is In The Way. Including rules.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
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
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
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
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
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'.
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.
Last edited:
biking_fox
Guru
- Location
- Manchester
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
Matt
- Location
- Manchester
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.
Treated myself to a sausage and egg sandwich from the canteen.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
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).
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
Marie Attoinette Fan
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.
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.
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
I messed up a bit this morning, I misjudged an overtake on a busy cycleway and made the poor cyclist I was passing jump.
Thing is, I knew I had room to spare and could ride fast enough to be well out if the way, but I appreciate she didn't.
I sometimes have this problem in summer: I'm an experienced cyclist, having cycled almost every day for about 20 years, but when the summer cyclists come out I have to get used to riding with them again.
Thing is, I knew I had room to spare and could ride fast enough to be well out if the way, but I appreciate she didn't.
I sometimes have this problem in summer: I'm an experienced cyclist, having cycled almost every day for about 20 years, but when the summer cyclists come out I have to get used to riding with them again.
biking_fox
Guru
- Location
- Manchester
Typical summer cycling - dark overcast sky, not quite raining, light wind, light traffic. Not warm.
What a dream of a ride in this morning. Took a slightly longer route in this morning and at about the 1/2 way point fell in behind a chap on a fixie. He was clearly very fit and if he'd been on a roadie, could have blown me away, but instead he took a ride leader role and gave me the perfect hand signals for us to maintain a comfortable 32kph average giving plenty of room for safe overtakes and not going for any dodgy gaps.
Was hoping to see him on Flyby's to say how much of a good start to the week it gave me, but thanks to the guy on the Bristol-Bath path this morning!
Was hoping to see him on Flyby's to say how much of a good start to the week it gave me, but thanks to the guy on the Bristol-Bath path this morning!
PedallingNowhereSlowly
Senior Member
'faux commute' this morning was a bust. I think I might give it up for Mondays. Carbrainz spoil everything.
It didn't start well. A moton passed on a blind bend en route out of the estate. Sign-written van for a local company. Needless to say they won't be seeing any custom from us in future.
Then at the T-junction on joining the main road, I stopped. Yes, there was a gap in the traffic, but it would have been tight and risky. Carbrain behind in an original Toyota Aygo courtesy car floored it past me into the gap ending up with barely a crisp packet between his back bumper and the vehicle he pulled out in front of. For extra spiceyness, the overzeoulous application of throttle resulted in loss of traction as he made the escape manoeuvre.
I was forced into a pothole by another moton executing a close pass - only then to slow down and make a left turn. On the next side street I was faced with an oncoming moton who wouldn't give way for the parked cars obstructing his path pushing me right to the kerb (I was already committed and in primary position well before he reached the obstruction - I think it was a case of SMIDSY)
There after things were okay for a bit.
I found a battered 2001 Toyota Hilux pickup on a piece of common land. I thought it had been joy-ridden and abandoned, as the near side rear light cluster had been smashed off and the centre section of the rear bumper was resting on the floor. There's no vehicular access - just footpath with permitted cycling - so absolutely not legal for the vehicle to have been there - and pretty pointless too. There was a street just meters away it could have been safely parked on. On checking when I got home, the vehicle did surprisingly have a current MOT.
I then witnessed a carbrain, about 300 meters away from a pedestrian crossing put his foot down as the lights went amber. They were well red by the time they sailed through the crossing - I wasn't close enough to see whether the pedestrian light had gone green - but I felt it was fortunate none of the waiting school children stepped out.
Positively though, I have to give kudos for the first driver ever in the history of this commute to hang back behind me at a reasonable distance for the half mile or so I travel on an A road - it's a gradual descent so I cover ground at ~ 20 mph and unsurprisingly catch up anything that overtakes at the pair of mini-roundabouts the road leads to. There's a toucan crossing and multipe pedestrian refuges over this stretch. To have a driver that did for once what I would do, in their position, made a refreshing change.
It didn't start well. A moton passed on a blind bend en route out of the estate. Sign-written van for a local company. Needless to say they won't be seeing any custom from us in future.
Then at the T-junction on joining the main road, I stopped. Yes, there was a gap in the traffic, but it would have been tight and risky. Carbrain behind in an original Toyota Aygo courtesy car floored it past me into the gap ending up with barely a crisp packet between his back bumper and the vehicle he pulled out in front of. For extra spiceyness, the overzeoulous application of throttle resulted in loss of traction as he made the escape manoeuvre.
I was forced into a pothole by another moton executing a close pass - only then to slow down and make a left turn. On the next side street I was faced with an oncoming moton who wouldn't give way for the parked cars obstructing his path pushing me right to the kerb (I was already committed and in primary position well before he reached the obstruction - I think it was a case of SMIDSY)
There after things were okay for a bit.
I found a battered 2001 Toyota Hilux pickup on a piece of common land. I thought it had been joy-ridden and abandoned, as the near side rear light cluster had been smashed off and the centre section of the rear bumper was resting on the floor. There's no vehicular access - just footpath with permitted cycling - so absolutely not legal for the vehicle to have been there - and pretty pointless too. There was a street just meters away it could have been safely parked on. On checking when I got home, the vehicle did surprisingly have a current MOT.
I then witnessed a carbrain, about 300 meters away from a pedestrian crossing put his foot down as the lights went amber. They were well red by the time they sailed through the crossing - I wasn't close enough to see whether the pedestrian light had gone green - but I felt it was fortunate none of the waiting school children stepped out.
Positively though, I have to give kudos for the first driver ever in the history of this commute to hang back behind me at a reasonable distance for the half mile or so I travel on an A road - it's a gradual descent so I cover ground at ~ 20 mph and unsurprisingly catch up anything that overtakes at the pair of mini-roundabouts the road leads to. There's a toucan crossing and multipe pedestrian refuges over this stretch. To have a driver that did for once what I would do, in their position, made a refreshing change.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Nippy this am but no rain. Got two weeks of four day bike commutes coming up. Normally 3.
Yesterday brought an unexpectedly sunny ride in; anticipating smug, worry-free passage along the tow path following Wednesdays bramble massacre. The reality was more sobring with plenty of spikey limbs overhanging the route; having either grown / blown into the path, or simply been missed last time.
By the journey home the temperature had dropped significantly; the outside now offering far less incentive to remain out and about... so it was to the hoops via a modestly extended route then straight back to the car following the necessary punishment for a little under 20 miles for the day.
This morning I awoke early again and with left with 15-20 minutes in hand and left with the battered secateurs tucked into the Brompton's bag. I spent more time than I should have trimming more errant brambles with the odd thanks from passing cyclists and a positive chat with one of the boat-dwellers.. all of which was appreciated. Thankfully my fears that one of the boat folks might take offense at me trimming "their garden" proved unfounded..
Overcooked the trimming a bit and had to take a more direct route to work; arriving just in time despite having to wait for sausages while the butcher chatted up one of his fellow market dwellers.
As always, much better than taking the car all the way!
By the journey home the temperature had dropped significantly; the outside now offering far less incentive to remain out and about... so it was to the hoops via a modestly extended route then straight back to the car following the necessary punishment for a little under 20 miles for the day.
This morning I awoke early again and with left with 15-20 minutes in hand and left with the battered secateurs tucked into the Brompton's bag. I spent more time than I should have trimming more errant brambles with the odd thanks from passing cyclists and a positive chat with one of the boat-dwellers.. all of which was appreciated. Thankfully my fears that one of the boat folks might take offense at me trimming "their garden" proved unfounded..
Overcooked the trimming a bit and had to take a more direct route to work; arriving just in time despite having to wait for sausages while the butcher chatted up one of his fellow market dwellers.
As always, much better than taking the car all the way!
Last edited:
